The VBC is pleased to announce the winner of our 3rd annual Choral Composition Competition as Lavinia Kell Parker. This year our jury reviewed nearly 30 anonymous submissions and selected Ms Parker’s piece “There Shall be Christmas” for SATB a cappella choir. Ms Parker will receive a cash prize of $2000 provided by a generous anonymous donor, as well as a virtual premiere as part of our Christmas video project. The premiere will be available in December 2020 as part of our new and upcoming virtual season.
Lavinia Kell Parker’s use of improvisation with traditional compositional elements has garnered her the New Genre Award from the International Alliance of Women in Music, and top prizes in choral composition including the ACCC, the New York Treble Singers and the Ruth Watson Henderson Choral Composition Competition. Her choral works have been performed by elite choirs internationally and over the airwaves with CBC radio and PBS television. An educator of 20 years, she has focused on bringing the joy of music to children and is the founder of Coulee Composers, a composition club for children in southern Alberta. Lavinia is an Associate Composer of the Canadian Music Centre and an Instructor at the University of Lethbridge Conservatory of Music.