About Cecilia Concerts

For thirty-five years, Cecilia Concerts has presented diverse, world-class chamber music experiences in welcoming, bilingual, accessible, and intimate settings that connect our communities, educate and inspire audiences and artists, and enhance the rich heritage and culture of K'jipuktuk/Halifax.  A non-profit charity, over the past three decades, we have presented inspiring performances by hundreds of emerging and established musicians, including countless GRAMMY, JUNO, Prix Opus, and Prix Félix-winning artists such as award-winning pianists Angela Hewitt, Angela Cheng, Jan Lisiecki, Sara Davis Buechner, Silvie Cheng, Enrico Pace, Charles Richard-Hamelin, and Andrew Armstrong; world-renowned flutist Marina Piccinini; violinists James Ehnes, Marc Djokic, Lara St. John, and Blake Pouliot; cellists Stépahne Tétreault, Bryan Cheng, Paul Wiancko, and Cameron Crosman; celebrated ensembles Kronos Quartet, Ulysses Quartet, and Rolston String Quartet; award-winning soprano and conductor Barbara Hannigan; opera stars Anne Sofie von Otter, Sondra Radvanovsky, Golda Schultz, Jane Archibald, Harolyn Blackwell, and Measha Brueggergosman; and CBC Music hosts Ben Heppner, Julie Nesrallah, and Marion Newman.

The Cecilia Concerts' Musician-In-Residence for the 2023/24 season is the multiple prize-winning cellist, Paul Wiancko. Cellist for the internationally celebrated Kronos Quartet, Wiancko regularly performs on the world's most renowned stages, including Carnegie Hall, the Barbican, and the Sydney Opera House. Our 2023/24 season's Composer-In-Residence is Ian Cusson, the distinguished Métis composer known for his operas, art songs, and orchestral works. Cusson's compositions frequently delve into the Canadian Indigenous experience, focusing on the history of the Métis people, the complexities of mixed-racial identity, and the confluence of Western and Indigenous cultures.

Our Sensory-Accessible Concerts series is led by award-winning pianist Jennifer King and Music Therapist Anna Plaskett. Now in it's 3rd season, this series of free live concerts is designed to be welcoming, friendly, and accessible for autistic, neurodivergent, and intellectually disabled community members and their families, as well as seniors with age-related changes in hearing and vision that can make loud noises and bright lights uncomfortable or for anyone with underlying conditions that can affect their sensory processing and make traditional concert environments challenging.

Our Bravura Nova Scotia–Cecilia Concerts Scholarship Fund provides a generous annual tuition scholarship to a Nova Scotian student aged fifteen or older who, while also enrolled in music theory, shows exceptional promise in an area of music performance.

Cecilia Concerts is a member of CAPACOA - the Canadian Association for the Performing Arts, the Canadian Live Music Association, the Atlantic Presenters Association, and Music Nova Scotia. Cecilia Concerts is also an allied member of IPAA - the Indigenous Performing Arts Alliance.

The Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia, The Honorable Arthur Joseph LeBlanc, ONS, QC is Honorary Patron of Cecilia Concerts.

Cecilia Concerts acknowledges that we are honoured to live, work, and present performances on the lands, surrounded by the waterways, of Mi’kma’ki – the unceded and unsurrendered ancestral territory of the Mi’kmaq. We acknowledge the Mi’kmaq as the past, present, and future caretakers of these lands and waterways. Our offices are located in K'jipuktuk, which means Great Harbour.

Vision 

To connect people across communities through the power and passion of live chamber music.

Mission

To promote a diversity of premiere chamber music experiences, nurturing and educating audiences and artists. 

Values

  • We value the audience experience through creativity, respect, equity, diversity, accessibility, reciprocity, and inclusiveness in our endeavors and relationships.  
  • We are committed to promoting music of the highest quality. 
  • We are committed to recognizing and developing local artists.  
  • We are committed to providing a safe environment free of harassment and discrimination in which we address systemic inequities and provide equitable access to chamber music. 
  • We are committed to engaging with communities to create the next generation of performers and audiences.  
  • We are committed to inter-organizational collaboration for strong partnerships with local and nationally allied concert-presenting entities and other community organizations. 
  • We honour and hold ourselves accountable to each other, our artists, audiences, partners, volunteers, and the community at large by honouring these commitments.

Board of Directors

Jules Chamberlain (he/him/his, il/lui): Chairperson
Fiona Crean (she/her/hers): Vice Chairperson
Isabelle Pédot (she/her/hers, elle/elle): Secretary
Ryan Huelin (he/him/his): Treasurer
Larry Bent (he/him/his): Past Chair
Rebecca Hiltz LeBlanc (she/her/hers): Director
Charles Hsuen (he/him/his): Director
Laura Jantek (she/her/hers): Director
Kalen Park (he/him/his): Director
Dillon P. Trider (he/him/his): Director

Staff Members

Gregory Morris (he/him/his)
Executive Director
music@ceciliaconcerts.ca
902 423 0143 extension 1