Becca Whitla

Becca works as a community music maker and teacher in Toronto. For Becca, music is a critical, vibrant and healing part of community life.

Becca:

• Is Co-founder and Co-director of the Echo Women's Choir
• Is Director of Chapel at Emmanuel College, University of Toronto
• Has a PhD in Practical Theology from the University of Toronto

She has also been the leader of the HERE Union Local 75 choir, music coach and consultant for the innovative and ground-breaking Theatre Gargantua, the music director for over 20 years at the Church of the Holy Trinity, and a teacher for Worldsongs Vocal Camp and Village Harmony summer singing camps.

In 1998, she and Alan released the CD "Parlour Songs & Heart Songs." She also recorded CDs with the HERE choir (I Still Have Joy) and Emmanuel College at the University of Toronto (One God, Many Peoples).

Becca accepted a ten-month full-time teaching contract at St. Andrew's College, affiliated with the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, starting from September 2019. We are all excited for her! See their posting welcoming Becca.

Alan Gasser

Alan is a singer, conductor and music teacher. He grew up in Ohio, singing in an Anabaptist church where his father was a song leader.

He has explored a broad range of musical styles, including:

• Classical music and opera
• Gospel singing
• Vocal jazz
• Experimental works
• Eastern European folk music

Alan has worked with the Echo Women's Choir since 1993. He is a founding member of the Georgian folk trio Kavkasia, which has recorded three CDs: Songs of the Caucasus, O Morning Breeze, and The Fox and the Lion.

Alan also founded Toronto's Georgian folk chorus Darbazi (CD: Darbazi & Friends: music from beyond the Black Sea) and is co-founder of the World Songs Vocal Camp. Recently, Alan established the hospice choir Singing Through Life, which performs in retirement homes across Toronto.

Alan has taught at all levels, from Toronto's public schools to its universities, including the Royal Conservatory. He has led workshops across North America, as well as in London (UK), San Francisco, for the Toronto District School Board, and for Village Harmony in Vermont.

Alida Doornberg, section lead

Mezzo-soprano Alida Doornberg is currently completing her Master’s of Music degree at the University of Toronto in the studio of celebrated soprano Monica Whicher. For the past two seasons Alida has performed with Voicebox: Opera in Concert as a chorus member and soloist. Opera roles include Dorabella in Mozart’s Cosi fan Tutte and Cornelia in Handel’s Julius Caesar with the Summer Opera Lyric Theatre of Toronto, and she’s looking forward to an upcoming performance of the role of Ino in Handel’s Semele with the Toronto Lyric Opera Centre.

Alida has participated in many prestigious summer festivals and Young Artist training programs including the Vancouver International Song Institute's French Melodie Immersion program, the Cowtown Opera Summer Academy in Calgary, the Taos Opera Institute in Taos, NM, and "Si parla, si canta" Italian language and opera program in Urbania, Italy. Alida is a graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston where she earned her Bachelor's of Music degree with Honours.