Composer in Residence

Marie-Claire Saindon

Marie-Claire Saindon is a Franco-Ontarian choral composer with a penchant for vivid imagery and a great affinity for setting text. Her experience while studying music at McGill University and Université de Montréal ranges from accompanying dancers, to scoring films, to fiddling in a team of folk musicians on a historical steam train.

Based in Montreal as composer-in-residence for Chœur Adleisia, she runs creative choral/vocal composition workshops, scores films, and teaches fiddle. Recipient of multiple composition prizes, her choral works are published with Boosey & Hawkes, Hal Leonard, Cypress Choral Music, and her film scores can be found on documentaries hosted by CBC Gem and Radio-Canada.

Collaborative Pianists

Ken Cormier

Ken Cormier is a pianist equally at home in the classical, pop, and jazz genres. Upon completion of his classical studies at the UBC School of Music, his professional career began with 3 seasons as repetiteur with Vancouver Opera. He then moved into the world of professional music theatre, first with the Livent Company, and more recently with Vancouver’s Arts Club, in whose productions he continues to work regularly as keyboardist, arranger, and musical director. Ken has been with Chor Leoni since 1998. He makes his home in Burnaby with his wife Lisa and their two wonderful children.

Tina T. Y. Chang

Described as a “scintillating player” (Opera Wire) whose “…pianism was a wonder,” (Opera Canada), pianist and coach Tina Chang is currently on the music staff at Vancouver Opera, and recently at Wexford Festival Opera in Ireland. Based in Vancouver, she has been involved with various arts organizations, including Arts Club Theatre, Chor Leoni, Sound the Alarm Music Theatre, City Opera, and Against the Grain Theatre. She holds her own private studio, and has held adjunct positions at University of British Columbia and Dalhousie University. Find out more about Tina at www.TinaChangPiano.ca.

Voice Instructor

Robyn Driedger-Klassen

Robyn Driedger-Klassen has been seen on many recital, concert and opera stages. Known particularly for her zeal for contemporary music, she has performed and premiered many fascinating works of living composers. Her most recent film projects include a production with City Opera Vancouver of Jake Heggie’s monodrama, At the Statue of Venus (available on YouTube) and a piece for Turning Point Ensemble’s 1+1+1 Project with composer Jeffrey Ryan and flautist, Brenda Fedoruk.

Robyn lives and teaches on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded homelands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm|Musqueam, Sḵwxwú7mesh|Squamish & səlilwətaɬ |Tsleil-Waututh Nations. She is grateful to be on this shared territory and acknowledges a commitment to engage in ongoing acts of reconciliation.

Robyn is the Department Head and Division Chair at the Vancouver Academy of Music where she works mainly with advanced students of classical voice. She gains immense satisfaction and joy from teaching and her students regularly achieve glorious goals and live their wildest singing-dreams.

Giving unsolicited reading recommendations to anyone who will listen, and growing an epic garden are her superpowers. She lives with her husband and two young vocal critics who are capable of consuming shocking amounts of cereal each day. Robyn is adept at evading the ever-present question about why her family is “literally the only family without a dog”. By osmosis, she knows a considerable amount about black holes and deep-sea creatures, and she is an expert at avoiding Lego underfoot.

MYVoice Conductors

Carrie Taylor

MYVoice conductor Carrie Taylor

Carrie studied music at the University of Mary in Bismark, North Dakota and the University of Victoria in Victoria, BC, obtaining her Bachelor of Music and Professional Teaching Certificate. She has also studied at the Banff School of the Fine Arts.
Carrie has been teaching in the public school system for 32 years. She began her teaching career in Coquitlam and is currently teaching in Burnaby, where she enjoys teaching both band and choir. Carrie has also been the coordinator for the B.C. Provincial Honour Choir for the past several years and is one of the Directors of Vivo Children’s Choir.

Carrie, her husband Brent, and their three boys Evan, Aksel, and Grayson live in New Westminster.