Kai Leung holds a Bachelor of Music from the University of Toronto, where he studied voice and composition. In addition to his role as Artistic Director of MSC Choirs, where he conducts Concreamus, Sehnsucht, and Frisson, he also serves as the Associate Conductor with the Orpheus Choir of Toronto, the Assistant Conductor with the Toronto Youth Choir and TCC’s Coro, and as the Assistant Conductor and Composer in Residence at St. Clements Church. Kai also sings baritone with the TMSingers and the Schola Cantorum of St. Basil’s Catholic Church, and is the conductor and choir manager of the Toronto Festival Singers, the professional synagogue choir at the Song Shul.
Kai is the 2020 recipient of the prestigious William and Phyllis Waters Graduating Award from the University of Toronto Faculty of Music. This award is presented each year to one graduating student from any stream who is deemed to have the greatest potential to make an important contribution to the field of Music. Kai has also been awarded the 2019 Arthur Plettner Scholarship, the 2019 Richard I Thorman Award, and the 2018 Lloyd Bradshaw Prize.
During his undergraduate years, Kai studied composition with Roger Bergs. His choral works have been performed all over Canada and Internationally by groups such as the Vancouver Chamber Choir, Resonance Youth Choir, Jokolo, the Vancouver Youth Choir, the Mississauga Summer Chorale, the Oakville choir for Children and Youth, and the Orpheus Choir of Toronto.
Meredith (she/her) is currently completing a Masters of Music in Choral Conducting at Western University, studying with Dr. Mark Ramsay. In addition to her role at Modern Sound Collective, she is also an Assistant Conductor with the Western University Singers and was recently an Apprentice Conductor with the Toronto Children’s Chorus. Previously, she has worked as an Assistant Conductor with the Bach Children’s Chorus and as an Apprentice Conductor with the Amadeus Choir of Greater Toronto. She has completed a Bachelor of Music in Music Education at the University of Toronto, studying voice with Mark Daboll, and she has earned two ARCT certifications in Piano and Voice Performance.
Beyond her passion for conducting, Meredith also greatly enjoys teaching piano, voice, and theory to students of all ages. In her free time, Meredith sings with Concreamus Chamber Choir and Octava Vocal Ensemble, an 8-member a cappella group.
Hailing from Ottawa, ON, Nila Rajagopal has quickly established herself as a promising choral conductor. She is currently enrolled in the Master’s program in Choral Conducting at McGill University under the tutelage of Dr. Jean-Sébastien Vallée and previously studied voice and music education at the University of Toronto.
Nila’s collaborative spirit has granted her various positions with organizations such as the Oakville Choir for Children and Youth, Toronto Children’s Chorus, the St. Lawrence Choir and of course, the Mississauga Summer Chorale. Increasingly recognized for her promising musical excellence, Nila was the recipient of the 2016 Doreen Rao Choral Award, the 2019 Iwan Edwards Award and the 2019 Ken Fleet Choral Conducting Scholarship.
Widely known for her accuracy and tone, Nila currently sings with the Ottawa Bach Choir and has previously held professional positions with Pax Christi Chorale, the Toronto Festival Singers, the St. Basil’s Catholic Parish Schola Cantorum and the Choir of Grace Church on-the-Hill. Nila was also selected to perform in highly regarded honour choirs such as the National Youth Choir of Canada, the Ontario Youth Choir and the World Youth Choir.
Nathan (he/him) is a singer and conductor based in Toronto. He is currently studying choral conducting at the University of Toronto in a Masters degree program with Dr. Jamie Hillman. He currently holds the role of Director of Music at Kingsway Lambton United Church. Nathan is also the assistant conductor for the Tenor Bass Choir at the University of Toronto. He sings professionally with the Toronto Mendelssohn Singers, Soundstreams’ Choir 21 and the Pax Christi Chorale. During his graduate studies, Nathan was awarded the Elmer Iseler National Graduate Fellowship in Conducting. When not singing or conducting, you can find Nathan running, swimming, playing board games, or spending time with friends and family.
Emily Parker is a Toronto-based conductor, soprano, and pianist. This year she has completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Music, where she studied voice with Mark Daboll and Monica Whicher and conducting with Ivars Taurins. She was awarded several scholarships over the course of her studies. Emily has also achieved the Royal Conservatory of Music’s Grade 10 level piano and Advanced Rudiments in Theory. Emily is the soprano section lead at Kingsway-Lambton United Church and works as a freelance singer and conductor. Her extensive choral background includes singing with the Orpheus Choir of Toronto, the Ontario Youth Choir, the University of Toronto’s MacMillan Singers, and the Canadian Renaissance Music Summer School. She was accepted into the National Youth Choir in 2020 and will sing with them in 2022, due to COVID-19. Emily has been with MSC for three years as assistant conductor of Frisson and member of Sehnsucht. She is excited to be directing MSC’s first soprano-alto choir.
Tyrese Walters (he/him) is a Filipino-Guyanese conductor and tenor from Brampton, Ontario. Tyrese has recently graduated from Western University with a Bachelor of Music with Honours in Voice Performance under the tutelage of Torin Chiles. In his final year, he leads the Student Choral Initiative – a student-led choir – within the Faculty of Music at Western University. Tyrese will be continuing his studies at the University of Toronto where he will be completing a Masters of Music in Choral Conducting under the direction of Dr. Jamie Hillman. Tyrese has sung with Chorale and the Western University Singers throughout his undergraduate degree, as well as being an Ontario Youth Choir alumnus from 2018 and in 2019 where he held the position of Tenor Section Lead.
Tyrese is in his 8th season with Modern Sound Collective, singing in Frisson, as well as being an active board member where he is currently serving as one of two co-chairs. Tyrese is super excited to be conducting Rocambolesco as well as working with Frisson as an associate conductor.
Outside of choir, you can find Tyrese immersed in musical theatre or thrifting.
Katie Hatanaka is a conductor, teacher, and soprano from Markham, Ontario. She recently graduated from Western University with a Bachelor of Music degree in Voice performance studying under the guidance of Bethany Horst and choral conducting with Kathleen Allan and Dr. Mark Ramsay. Katie ignited her passion for vocal music at the age of 6 through joining the Toronto Children’s Chorus and has continued to sing in various choirs since including Les Choristes, Western University Singers, and MSC’s Sehnsucht. Through an opportunity in her final year at Western to participate as one of six student conductors at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s inaugural symposium, “Lift Every Voice” (2022), Katie cultivated a love for choral conducting and has since been pursuing opportunities to further her skills as a choral conductor. She is currently the assistant conductor with Concreamus and is emerging artist with the Guelph Chamber Choir.
