University of Alberta Mixed Chorus Conductors
; "Alberta Mixed Chorus Spring Concert")
1944–1947 Gordon Clark
Gordon Clark was a third-year University of Alberta student, just beginning medical studies, when he became founding conductor of the University of Alberta Mixed Chorus (UAMC). He was an excellent pianist and played cello in the University Symphony Orchestra, which he also conducted for one year. Clark took to the leadership of the new choral group with industry and enthusiasm. He led the Chorus for its first three years, until the demands of his other love, medicine, took precedence. He established the tradition of the UAMC spring tours, which still continue to this day. Gordon Clark was granted an MD in 1948. After five years of general practice in Vancouver, he completed a specialization in anaesthesia at the University of Pennsylvania and went on to have a distinguished career as an anaesthetist in San Mateo, California. He retired to Vancouver in 1985, where he continued to practise the cello several hours a day and performed with a chamber group. In 1994, Dr Clark attended the fiftieth anniversary celebrations of the Mixed Chorus, and was honoured with a lifetime membership in the UAMC Alumni Association.
1947–1968 Richard Eaton
In 1947, the year he became conductor of the Mixed Chorus, Richard Eaton was a newly-appointed Lecturer in the Department of Fine Arts, with an LMus (1938) and BMus in Organ Performance (1942) from McGill University. He had previously directed choirs in Victoria, Montreal, Toronto, and Ottawa. Professor Eaton was Head of the University of Alberta Music Division from 1948 to 1965. During that time, the Music Division became the Department of Music, and he became its first Chair. In 1951, he formed an adult community choir, the University Singers. In 2007, this choir, now known as the Richard Eaton Singers, is made up of over 150 choristers. Eaton was the Alberta Director of the Western Board of Music for twenty years and was one of the six signatories of the document establishing the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra in 1952. He also had a long career as a teacher, administrator, conductor, examiner, and broadcaster. Richard Eaton passed away in 1968. In 1997, he was posthumously inducted into the Edmonton Cultural Hall of Fame.
1968–1969, 1971 James Whittle
Calgary-born James Whittle was the UAMC assistant conductor from 1964 to 1968 while he was working on his BMus in Organ performance. He had earlier received a BSc in Mathematics from the University of Alberta. Richard Eaton asked him to take over as conductor of the Mixed Chorus during Eaton's sabbatical leave. When Eaton died suddenly in 1968, Whittle became the third conductor of the UAMC, meanwhile continuing in graduate studies. Whittle conducted the Mixed Chorus in its fine "In Memoriam R. S. Eaton" recording in 1969. Whittle handed over leadership of the UAMC to David Stocker in 1969, but when Stocker resigned as conductor in 1970, Whittle agreed to return for one more season (1970 to 1971). He was granted a BLS in 1972, and was the University of Alberta's much-respected music librarian until 2007. In 1995, Whittle was instrumental in the production of the Mixed Chorus' first CD, "Fifty Golden Years". Whittle has been the organist for St James United, Robertson United, Highlands United, and Christ Church Anglican churches. Since 1981, Whittle and his wife Linda have sung with the Greenwood Singers.
1970 David Stocker
David Stocker received his MM and PhD in Music from Northwestern University before joining the University of Alberta Department of Music in 1969 as its first Professor of Choral Music. He conducted the Mixed Chorus for a year, and, in 1970, was the founding conductor of the U of A Concert Choir. He taught at the University of North Dakota before joining the faculty of the Arizona State University School of Music in Tempe, Arizona, in 1978. He was Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities there until his retirement in 2001. During that time, he was active as a guest conductor and speaker, both nationally and internationally. He continues to compose and write arrangements for school and church choirs, and to edit and write music-related articles and books. He is Minister of Music at Valley Presbyterian Church, Scottsdale, Arizona, as well as senior editor for ChoralWeb Publishing Inc.
1971–1986 Ronald Stephens
Born in Hanna, Alberta, Ronald Stephens attended Normal School in Calgary. Following his wartime service in the RCAF, he enrolled in the University of Alberta, graduating with a BEd (1950) and BA (1954). He taught with the Edmonton Public Schools for fifteen years. He was the founding director of the Edmonton Centennial Singers and also directed the Royal Alexandra Hospital Nurses' Choir and the University Male Chorus. He sang with the UAMC from 1946 to 1951. He served as assistant conductor from 1947 to 1949 and President from 1948 to 1949. He was a charter member of the University Singers, now the Richard Eaton Singers. He continued his studies at the University of Oregon and was granted a MMus (1965) and EdD (1974). He was Professor of Music Education at the University of Alberta Faculty of Education from 1965 until his retirement and appointment as Professor Emeritus in 1986. He served as Mixed Chorus conductor for fifteen years, retiring in 1986. In 1994, Stephens was honoured with a lifetime membership in the UAMC Alumni Association. He served as choir director at Strathearn United Church for 34 years. During his retirement, he continued to share his enjoyment of people and choral music, conducting the South East Seniors Choir, despite his own declining health. Ronald Stephens died in 2002. In 2003 his widow, Edith Stephens, a longtime choir supporter, graciously agreed to serve as UAMC honorary president.
1979 Merrill Flewelling
1986– Robert de Frece
Dr Robert de Frece was raised in Three Hills, Alberta. He brings to the position of UAMC Music Director a wide range of credentials, including a BSc (1969) and BEd (1975) from the University of Alberta; a Dip. Ed. (1975) from the University of Calgary; and a MMus (1982) and DMA (1988) from the University of Oregon. He is a professor of Music and Music Education in the University of Alberta Faculties of Education and Arts. de Frece met his wife, Catherine MacIver, in UAMC during their undergraduate years when both were members of its executive. He directed choirs at Archbishop Jordan High School for nine years and was co-founder of the John Hugh MacDonald Singers and the Faculty of Education Children's Choirs. He was the founding music director of the U of A Faculty of Education Handbell Ringers. He also founded the Greenwood Singers in 1980, and continues to direct them. In 1984, he conducted a 1200-voice choir for the outdoor papal mass held during Pope John Paul II's visit to Edmonton. He served as Provincial Carillonneur for seventeen years, giving weekly recitals on the Centennial Carillon at the Alberta Legislature Building until the program was cancelled in 1996. He is an internationally respected author of basal music textbooks and has published choral compositions and arrangements for use in elementary and middle schools. In 1993, he was the recipient of the Faculty of Education Undergraduate Teaching Award and the University of Alberta A.C. Rutherford Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching. In 2002, his significant contributions to his community were recognized when he was the recipient of a University of Alberta Alumni Honour Award.