Kurt Ala-Kantti, Director   Joanne Moorcroft, Accompanist   Christopher Askwith, Composer-in-Residence    5th Season  2007-2008  "In Good Company!" Kurt Ala-Kantti is director and founder of Harmonia, a choir he started in 2003 to promote and perform the music of Canadian and local composers, in addition to traditional choral music. Mr. Ala-Kantti is also Choirmaster at St. Mark’s Anglican Church, Cumberland, Artistic Director of Cross Town Youth Chorus, and Music Director for the Cumberland Community Singers. In the past, he has served for several years as Assistant-Director of the Ottawa Regional Youth Choir, directed by Barbara Clark, was Director of their Young Men’s Chorus, and was Music Director for Atlantic Voices. Kurt has studied vocal performance with Charlotte Stewart and choral conducting Dr. Lisette Canton, Wesley Warren and Barbara Clark, and is currently continuing to persue studies in music at Carleton University. He is a member of the Association of Canadian Choral Conductors (ACCC) and the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA).   With a keen interest in choral performance and excellence, he has been a member of several local choirs, including the Ottawa Regional Youth Choir, under Barbara Clark, and Ottawa Choral Society, under Brian Law. Currently he is a member of the critically acclaimed Ottawa Bach Choir, with which he has performed in Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto, Nova Scotia, Mexico City, Germany and Austria Joanne Moorcroft, Accompanist, holds a Master of Music in Accompanying and Chamber Music from the University of Western Ontario and a Bachelor of Music from Memorial University of Newfoundland.  Her teachers have included John Paul Bracey (UWO), John York, (Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London), and Maureen Volk and Kristina Szutor (MUN).  Joanne has also performed in masterclasses with Antonin Kubalek and André Laplante, and chamber music coachings with Ronald Turini.  Joanne has been heard in chamber recitals throughout Newfoundland and Labrador, Ontario and the Yukon.  Teaching positions have included Yukon Music Camp, Performing Arts Camp (Kittiwake Dance Theatre, St. John’s, NF), and Eastern Music Camp (Mount Pearl, NL).  She has worked in recent years with KW Symphony Orchestra, the Canadian Chamber Ensemble, Huron Country Playhouse and the Stratford Festival.  She has recently made Ottawa her home and is enjoying the musical community as a piano teacher, freelance accompanist and chamber musician Christopher Askwith, Composer-in-residence, Ottawa resident Christopher Askwith has recently completed his Bachelor's Degree in Music at Carleton University and is set to graduate this June. While there, he studied voice with Susan Blyth-Schofield and composition with Dierdre Piper and Kelly-Marie Murphy. This concert season is the first in which he has had his own works performed for a wide audience, with Harmonia and the Ottawa Regional Youth Choir.  Christopher is preparing to apply to go to McGill University in Montreal in 2007.              Still to be appointed for this season    P.O. Box 96, Cumberland, Ontario, Canada  K4C 1E5  Phone: 613-833-1812    Fax: 613-833-1994    e-mail: info @ harmoniachoir.com   Auditions being held this September for Harmonia, and the Young Men's Chorus!  Call or Email!