Amelia McMahon | Co-Director

​Amelia McMahon (She / Her / Hers) grew up in the Annapolis Valley and has just returned to Nova Scotia after making her home in Montreal for the past 21 years. She is an accomplished conductor, vocalist, and pedagog and is looking forward to re-immersing herself in the rich musical community of the East Coast. While in Montreal, Amelia was the Artistic Director of adult upper-voice community choir, La Chorale Harmonia; Music Director of St. Veronica's Catholic Parish's 11 O'Clock Choir; Music Director of the E-Minor Glee Club at St. George's Elementary School and was a sought after pop and jazz voice instructor and clinician. Additionally, under her direction as Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director, adult upper-voice chamber choir Choeur Adleisia has received a number of awards and accolades including being chosen to perform at the 2020 Podium Conference hosted by Choral Canada and winning the Equal-Voice Women's Choir category's First Prize in the 2019 National Competition for Canadian Amateur Choirs. 

Amelia believes in creating communities that nurture, challenge and innovate. A strong advocate for living Canadian composers, she has worked closely with Marie-Caire Saindon as Adleisia's Composer In Residence along with several conducting and composition interns. Mentored throughout her career by Maestro Iwan Edwards, Amelia also studied choral conducting at Université de Sherbrooke and holds a Bachelor of Music from McGill University in Jazz Voice. She has been the Voice Area Co-Chair at the McGill Conservatory and participated in the Steering Committee for Podium, 2020.

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Thomas Burton | Co-Director

Raised in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Thomas Burton is a dynamic contributor to Canada’s choral community. He is active as a conductor and singer throughout Canada and the United States. Thomas serves as Artistic Director of RESOUND Choir (Durham), Director of Music at Calvin Presbyterian/Deer Park United Church (Toronto), and is conductor of the Tenor/Bass Choir at the University of Toronto. Additionally, Thomas is Co-Conductor of the award-winning Eastern Horizon Chamber Choir (Halifax), and sings in the professional core of the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir.

An advocate for the community building power of music, Thomas enjoys conducting performers of all ages and abilities. He has had the privilege of working with such ensembles as the Pacific Chorale, the Toronto Amadeus Choir, Pro Coro Canada, and the Vancouver Chamber Choir. In 2022, Thomas served as Apprentice Conductor of the National Youth Choir of Canada.
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Thomas is a recipient of the Iwan Edwards Award in Choral Conducting, the Ken Fleet Choral Conducting Scholarship, and the Sir Ernest MacMillan Memorial Foundation Award. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Trombone Performance from McGill University and a master’s degree in Choral Conducting from the University of Michigan where he studied with Dr. Jerry Blackstone and Dr. Eugene Rogers.

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