(photo credit Alicia Yee – Karen Barber, choir president presenting award to Sheheryar Qureshi)
The Addison Women's Choir Music Award was created as a way for our choir to give back to the community that has supported us over the last 36 years and to continue our legacy of the importance of music in our everyday lives. This year's recipient is Sheheryar Qureshi. He is a grade 12 graduating student from Preston High School. He has shown excellence of musical skills throughout his secondary education. He has demonstrated a strong passion for music both vocally and instrumentally. Sheheryar has shown leadership in the musical climate of his school. He is a true advocate of the musical arts. The Addison Women's Choir congratulates him on this well-deserved award.
The Addison Women’s Choir Music Award of $500.00 is awarded annually to a deserving student from any secondary school in Cambridge. Requests for applications for the award are sent out early in the new year to each school and we invite any student who qualifies to apply. The Addison Women’s Choir (formerly Addison Consort Singers) was established in 1982 by the late Duncan Addison. The choir practices on Tuesday evenings 7:30 to 9:30 pm, September to the beginning of May each year and singers are always welcome.
Current Music Director - Dr. Laura Curtis
Dr. Laura Curtis is a recent graduate from the PhD program in Music Education at Western University, where she also completed a Master’s degree in Music Education. She received an Honours Bachelor of Music, summa cum laude, from McMaster University, where she studied voice with Charlene Santoni and sang with the McMaster University Choir and the McMaster Chamber Choir, under the direction of Dr. Rachel Rensink-Hoff. Laura also holds a Diploma in Music Performance, voice, from Cambrian College in Sudbury, ON.
A recipient of the Dean’s Medal of Excellence and Humanities Medal for Special Achievement (2016), Laura was awarded the Undergraduate Student Research Award (2016), the Ontario Graduate Scholarship (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020), the SSHRC Canada Graduate Scholarship-Masters (2017), the SSHRC Canada Graduate Scholarship-Doctoral (2020), and the Michael Smith Foreign Studies Supplement (2021) for her research focusing on the affective impact of group singing on involuntarily childless women. Laura enjoys presenting her research to audiences at multiple conferences and symposia both within Canada and internationally.
Since 2004, Laura has established herself as a teacher of voice, piano, and music theory in and around her hometown of Orangeville, ON. She currently holds a position as lecturer in the Don Wright Faculty of Music at Western University. In addition to teaching and studying, Laura sang with the Headwaters Concert Choir in Caledon, ON, for more than ten years, the Dufferin Concert Singers and Amaranth Chamber Choir for one year, and had the opportunity to sing as a soloist with these ensembles on many occasions. Laura was also invited to conduct excerpts of Handel’s Messiah as a guest assistant conductor with the Headwaters Concert Choir.
Laura’s passion for learning and teaching, combined with a desire to foster and facilitate meaningful musical engagements in the community, has led her to volunteer as a committee member for the Orangeville and District Music Festival since 2014. Laura also enjoys her roles with Choral Canada as a member of the Advocacy Committee and the Student Chapter. She has also been sought after as a peer reviewer for Choral Canada’s journal, Anacrusis, and the International Centre for Community Music’s journal, Transform.
Collaborative Pianist - Justyna Szajna
Collaborative pianist Justyna Szajna enjoys a diverse career as a performer, chamber musician, accompanist, and teacher.
During her formative years, Justyna was the recipient of numerous awards and scholarships at the local, provincial and national levels. She received a Bachelor Degree in Piano Performance from the University of Toronto, a post-graduate Diploma in Chamber Music from Wilfrid Laurier University and a Masters Degree in Performance and Literature from the University of Western Ontario.
Much sought after as a collaborative pianist, Justyna has appeared in concerts throughout Canada, the United States, Mexico, Germany and her native Poland. She has performed with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Orchestra, was a soloist with the K-W Chamber Orchestra, and is a regular performer at the K-W Chamber Music Society, collaborating with international artists. Festival appearances include the Elora Festival, Huntsville Festival of the Arts, Festival of the Sound, and Northern Lights Music Festival.
Justyna currently resides in Kitchener, Ontario, where she serves as collaborative pianist and coach at the music department of the University of Waterloo, is on the piano faculty at the Beckett School of Music, and accompanies the Addison Women’s Choir.
As an educator, Justyna draws on her varied interests in world music, dance, visual arts, philosophy, golf, yoga and the Feldenkrais method. Her enthusiastic approach to nurturing young talents has made her much in demand as a teacher and adjudicator, and she enjoys the opportunity of working with students of different ages and skill levels in master classes and workshops. Her creative guidance and unique pedagogical methods help students develop into confident performers and solid competition winners.
Justyna is the founding member of Duo Antik, a violin and piano duo highly acclaimed for its dynamic interpretations and energetic performances, and the co-host of a new series of house concerts, bringing back the elegance and intimacy of parlour concerts from the past.