Mission and Mandate2
Choral music is a space that welcomes the sharing of experience and celebrates the diversity of voices. We aim to foster a new generation of leaders and artistic innovators that will help craft the next evolution of Newfoundland and Labrador’s culture, and share it with the world.
Through participating in Shallaway Youth Choir, our choristers learn the value of independence, discipline, and confidence, while also gaining a true understanding of what makes communities and culture strong and vibrant.
Shallaway works with choristers and families to ensure that every child’s experience is one of fun, learning, growth, and development, both culturally and musically.
Mentorship
Shallaway not only teaches excellence in music, we help children explore their leadership potential in a supportive, compassionate and caring environment. The choir is an internationally recognized and celebrated organization with a major focus on mentorship. This mentorship takes many forms within Shallaway, including peer coaching and encouragement, reflective teaching practice, an advanced placement program for junior choristers, and apprenticeship programs for senior choristers.
Shallaway also partners with Memorial University through its degree programs in the School of Music and Faculty of Education and the Choral/Instrumental Scholarship Program of mentored leadership for senior university students.
Cultural Mandate
We continue to fulfill and redefine our cultural and educational mandate, alongside our commitments to social justice and inclusion. Seeing music through the lived experiences of artists from varied cultures and experiences our youth learn to respectfully engage and find a path forward.
History
Led by Artistic Director Kellie Walsh, the Shallaway family currently comprises over 425 choristers in eight ensembles, alongside a team of over 15 music educators. Our choristers range from Kindergarten where they first begin to express themselves through music, start to develop healthy vocal production, and commence learning the musical basics, through to high school a and beyond, where they have the opportunity to apply their advanced musical skills to demanding repertoire and engage in the transformative power of world-class music-making.
Founded in 1992 by Susan Knight,as a cultural response to the devastation of the cod moratorium, our choir has become a highly-accomplished, internationally recognized youth organization that expresses itself through choral music. Over the years, Shallaway has achieved both artistic and cultural acclaim and is now recognized as one of the world’s finest choirs. Not only has Shallaway placed first in several national and international competitions, but has also received numerous invitations to perform around the province, the country, and the world.
Our choir actively seeks out new ways to connect with other cultures in a progressive way. Steeped in the rich musical traditions of our own province and country, Shallaway has embraced the music of other cultures, with some 41 languages in our current repertoire. We continue to develop a dynamic program of intercultural outreach and exchange which has built cultural bridges throughout Canada, North and South America, Britain, Africa, Europe, Scandinavia, and Asia.
The Fishpin
The emblem of Shallaway is its fishpin – two fish, the larger of hand-painted fabric connected to and a smaller fish of painted wood, each one hand-crafted by artist Kim Marshall is an integral part of the performing uniform, symbolizing both the philosophy of the organization and membership in it.