Dr. Charlene Pauls has enjoyed a long and varied musical career, as a choral conductor, vocal soloist, clinician, adjudicator, arts administrator, academic, and pedagogue. Drawing on this extensive experience and training, Dr. Pauls’ approach focuses on developing a beautiful and well-crafted choral sound through a deep understanding of healthy vocal technique. 

 

Dr. Pauls has appeared as a Soprano soloist on concert stages across Canada and internationally in Germany, England, France and Spain, under the baton of conductors such as Robert Shaw, Bramwell Tovey, and Helmuth Rilling. Drawing inspiration from these and many others, she has developed a collaborative leadership approach which she has further honed conducting community, university, youth, and church choirs. Successful performances at national and international conferences and competitions, including recent appearances at “Podium” and the World Choir Games, are a testament to the effectiveness of her approach.

 

This life-long commitment to learning gives Dr. Pauls capacity and capability across a broad swath of the musical canon. Although her formal training includes concentrations in Early Music and a dissertation on Bach, she is well-versed in opera, oratorio, song repertoire as well as musical theatre. Dr. Pauls has also been a proponent of contemporary compositions, and has been involved in numerous commissions focusing on Canadian composers. 

 

Dr. Pauls has long been an advocate of building community music, with church programs (currently as Music Director at the Church of the Incarnation in Oakville, Ontario) and also youth choirs (currently as Associate Director of the Oakville Choir for Children and Youth). A recent initiative called the Mosaic Music Collective was established to use music to create connections between recent newcomers and their new communities.

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In 2018, she was awarded the prestigious Leslie Bell Award, which "recognizes excellence in emerging conductors".

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Dr. Pauls has been the Artistic Director of the award-winning Guelph Chamber Choir since 2019. This organization has been a stalwart of the Canadian choral scene for more than forty years, presenting a four-concert main season including the highly-anticipated period performance of The Messiah each Christmas. 

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