Nila Rajagopal
She attended the Westminster Choir College Conducting Institute in 2017, where she had the opportunity to have masterclasses, lectures and seminars with Simon Carrington, Charles Bruffy, Bruce Chamberlain, Sabine Horstman and Artistic Director James Jordan. In 2017 she also attended the Halifax Choral Conducting Institute where she received instruction from guest conductor Lydia Adams and Artistic Conductor Caron Daley. At the end of the program, she conducted the pretisgious professional Elmer Iseler Singers in concert. Most recently, she has performed in conducting masterclasses with Andrew Megill, Christian Grases, Gabriel Crouch, Dr. Jerry Blackstone and Dr. Hilary Apfelstadt.
Nila also maintains an active freelance career as a choral soprano. Widely known for her accuracy and tone, she has held professional positions with Pax Christi Chorale, the Toronto Festival Singers, the Mississauga Summer Chorale, the St. Basil’s Catholic Parish Schola Cantorum and the Choir of Grace Church on-the-Hill. She has sung in the Ontario Youth Choir for five years, the National Youth Choir of Canada for two years and was selected to participate in the 2020 World Youth Choir. Born in a francophone neighbourhood in Ottawa, ON, Nila started learning music at a young age and studied piano, violin, trumpet and french horn. However, she only found her true musical voice when she joined the renowned choral program of the Centre d’excellence artistique de l’Ontario (CEAO) at De La Salle High School in Ottawa. She had the opportunity to tour nationally and internationally with the CEAO and became driven to pursue a career in choral music. She continued her studies at the University of Toronto, where she studied voice with internationally renowned soprano Nathalie Paulin, and conducting with Dr. Hilary Apfelstadt, Dr. Lori-Anne Dolloff and Zimfira Poloz. A passionate lifelong learner, she went on to pursue a Master of Music in Choral Conducting at McGill University under the tutelage of Dr. Jean-Sébastien Vallée. Committed to the future of choral music in Canada, Nila is also Office Coordinator at Choral Canada, Canada’s National Arts Service Organization for choral music, where she takes a key part in planning essential choral programs such as PODIUM, the National Competition for Canadian Amateur Choirs and the National Youth Choir of Canada. |