Choral Music

I began writing choral music while still a student studying at UBC as a member of the UBC Singers. Our director, James Fankhauser , enjoyed ending our concerts of serious music with some lighter repertoire, and would often solicit the students for some original arrangements. Several of us budding composers were only too happy to have our work performed by a first rate choir. Little did I realize at the time how handy my arranging skills would become later in my teaching career. After several years of teaching, I began writing music for my own choirs to sing, often for special occasions like Remembrance Day, when I was looking for something fresh to perform that I hadn’t heard a million times.
In terms of the texts for my choral music, I sometimes set existing poems to music, such as in my settings of “Crossing the Bar” and “Flanders Fields”. At other times, I supply my own original lyrics.