Short Bio: 53 words
Morna Edmundson is one of Canada’s best-known choral conductors with a strong reputation for excellence. Based in Vancouver, she is Artistic Director of Elektra Women’s Choir and EnChor Choir, an auditioned SATB ensemble for mature voices. She is passionate about the positive role choral music plays in our lives as performers and listeners.
Medium Bio: 122 words
Morna Edmundson is one of Canada’s best-known choral conductors with a strong reputation for excellence. Based in Vancouver, she is Artistic Director of Elektra Women’s Choir and EnChor Choir, an auditioned SATB ensemble for mature voices. Passionate since childhood about choral singing, Morna obtained degrees and diplomas in vocal music in Vancouver, Bellingham, and Stockholm, Sweden. Morna has adjudicated in North America and Asia, conducted state and provincial honour choirs and community choir festivals, gives frequent workshops with youth and adult choirs, and advocates for and encourages the next generation of choral professionals. Her accomplishments have been recognized with many awards including a Vancouver YWCA Woman of Distinction Award and a Doctor of Letters honoris causa from the University of British Columbia.
Long Bio: 406 words
Morna Edmundson is one of Canada’s best-known choral conductors with a strong reputation for excellence. Based in Vancouver, she is Artistic Director of Elektra Women’s Choir
and EnChor Choir, an auditioned SATB ensemble for mature voices. Morna is known around the world as a pioneer, advocate, and resource for women’s choral singing. In a 35-year career, she has promoted challenging, exciting, and meaningful repertoire through tireless years of advocating for Canadian choral composers and choirs. With Elektra, she has commissioned over 100 original compositions and arrangements, greatly expanding the body of music available. Her strong network of composers and conductors helps the industry to thrive. Parallel activity in recording this new music has generated a body of 17 CDs, many of which contain first recordings of commissioned works. Morna is known as a strong advocate for the Canadian choral music scene, taking a keen interest in the development of other choirs of all voicings, presenting at conferences, and mentoring the next generation. The Repertoire section of elektra.ca is a living online resource for other conductors, featuring all music Elektra has sung since 1987, constantly updated and enriched. Passionate since childhood about choral singing, Morna obtained degrees and diplomas in vocal music in Vancouver, Bellingham, and Stockholm, Sweden where her teachers included Eric Ericson. Under her leadership, Elektra is a proud leader in the women’s choir community, programming a season of concerts, commissioning, recording, and engaging with women of all ages and their conductors through a suite of community engagement programs. For fourteen years Morna shared her love of quality repertoire with a new generation of singers in her role as Associate Artistic Director of Coastal Sound Music Academy. Morna has adjudicated in North America and Asia, conducted state honour choirs, co-directed the American Choral Directors Association National Women’s Honour Choir, and gives frequent workshops with choirs of all ages. She curates a series of Canadian compositions and arrangements for accomplished treble choirs at Cypress Choral Music. Morna’s accomplishments have been recognized with the BC Choral Federation’s Healey Willan Award (2000), a BC Community Achievement Award (2009), YWCA Woman of Distinction Award, Arts and Culture category (2011), UBC Alumni Builder Award (2017), and in 2020 was inducted into CBC Radio’s In Concert Classical Music Hall of Fame. In 2021, she guest hosted an episode of CBC’s This is My Music. In 2023, she was awarded a Doctor of Letters honoris causa from the University of British Columbia.