jeff joudrey, artistic director

Conductor Jeff Joudrey is highly regarded for his vision, musical leadership, and standards of excellence in choral music. Founder of the First Baptist Girls' Choir (1983) and Halifax Camerata Singers (1986), his leadership has provided challenging and rewarding choral opportunities for many Nova Scotia singers.

Over more than two decades his choirs have established enviable reputations for performance excellence and innovative programming. First Baptist Girls’ Choir has five recordings to its credit and has toured in England, Wales, The Netherlands, Iceland, Finland, Germany, and across Canada. The Halifax Camerata Singers were awarded the prestigious Healey Willan Prize for best overall performance in the 2010 National Competition for Canadian Amateur Choirs as well as first place in the competition’s Mixed Voice Chamber Choir category.

In addition to being Director of Music at First Baptist Church, Jeff is Chorus Master of the Symphony Nova Scotia Chorus and is in demand as a guest conductor, choral clinician, teacher, and adjudicator. He has served on the faculties of Dalhousie and Acadia universities and is President-Elect of the Association of Canadian Choral Communities.

A native of Nova Scotia, Jeff studied organ at Acadia University and the Haarlem International Academy in The Netherlands before going to McGill University to study with organists John Grew and Raymond Daveluy. His choral music mentors include Canadian conductors Elmer Iseler and Wayne Riddell, and German conductor Helmuth Rilling.