Stephen Candow – Artistic Director
Stephen Candow was appointed as the new Artistic Director of the St.John’s Choir in September 2015 Stephen holds a MMus from the University of Toronto (2001), and the conjoint BMus/BMusEd (1998) from Memorial University. Further abroad he has studied choral conducting and organ in Dublin, Ireland, at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, England, and at the International Summer Academy in Göteborg, Sweden. In 2011, Stephen returned to Newfoundland from Ottawa, where he was the Director of Music and conductor for the prestigious choir of Gentlemen & Boys at St. Matthew’s Church and the Choral Instructor at Ashbury College. His other previous posts include: Guinness Organ Scholar at Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, Ireland, Assistant Director of Music in Canada’s “Methodist Cathedral”, Metropolitan United, Toronto . A well-known choral accompanist, Stephen has been the accompanist for the Anglican Chorale of Ottawa, the Toronto Mendelssohn Youth Choir, the Newfoundland Symphony Youth Choir (Shallaway), Toronto’s Voices, and Ottawa’s Seventeen Voyces. Stephen enjoys working with singers both as a conductor, vocal coach and accompanist, and has worked with various choirs in Ireland, England and Canada. He is also the Artistic Director of the Avalon Boys’ Choir, as well as the Director of Music & Organist at St.Michael and All Angels Church.
Dr. Phil Roberts – Associate Director/Accompanist
Dr. Phil Roberts, D.Mus, M.Mus, B.Mus, ARCT, is the co-Founder and co-Artistic Director of PlayPianoNL, an organization dedicated to promoting pianists, performance, and collaboration in Newfoundland and Labrador. Visit www.PlayPianoNL.ca to find out more about this organization. He has served as visiting assistant professor of piano for the School of Music at Memorial University, as accompanist and vocal coach for the instrumental and vocal faculties at Memorial, and as a much sought-after collaborative colleague in the larger St. John’s community.
His solo and collaborative work has taken him across Canada and to the U.S. and Europe, where his impressively broad performance skills have allowed him to enjoy work in the genres of jazz, opera and musical theatre as well as classical solo and chamber music. In addition to regular performances in Memorial University’s Music@MUN concert series, Roberts has performed as a soloist with the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra and the Banff Chamber Orchestra, and has been broadcast nationally on CBC radio.
Dr. Roberts holds graduate degrees in piano performance from the University of Montreal and has nearly a decade of experience teaching at the university level. He is currently a freelance musician in St John’s, NL, as well as the pianist of Trinitas Chamber Ensemble (www.TrinitasMusic.com)and Minister of Music at Cowan Heights United Church in St. John’s. For more information and performance videos, go to www.facebook.com/probertspiano.