The Huron Heights Secondary School Music Department (Newmarket, ON) is excited to announce its first Consortium Project! With the incredible support of the Canadian Music Centre Ontario Region, this project will commission a new work for jazz ensemble and jazz choir with an alternate feature for instrumental or vocal solo.
Arts Huron and CMC Ontario are thrilled to work with acclaimed Canadian composer, Chelsea McBride. This new work will be written for big band instrumentation with some flexibility for reduced instrumentation and the inclusion of optional woodwind doubles. The jazz choir parts will be arranged in four voices, with an alternate vocal or instrumental solo.
The music will be premiered by the Huron Heights Jazz Band and C’est Jazz under the direction of Scott Cameron and Arlene Charters on May 8, 2025. After the world premier, all Consortium Members will receive exclusive access to the composition for 1 year, as described below.
Join The Project
School music programs, community bands, youth bands, arts organizations, post-secondary music programs, and individuals are invited to join the project by April 30, 2025. Two levels of support are available:
Consortium Members ($100 CAD)
- have their name appear in the introductory material of the score
- receive PDF copies of the score and parts
- digial delivery in May 2025
- have exclusive performance rights along with other Consortium Members through June 2026
Supporters ($50 CAD)
- have their name appear in the introductory material of the score
How To Join
PLEASE NOTE: Schools wishing to join the consortium that require an invoice and/or need to make their payment with a school cheque are asked to email artshuron@yrdsb.ca with their request.
- Use your current YRDSB School Cash Account or create an account (for tax receipts) on YRDSB School Cash Online: https://yrdsb.schoolcashonline.com
- If creating a new account, click "I don't want to add a student" once registered.
- Click "Make a Donation"
- Select or enter your dollar amount and choose Huron Heights Secondary School under "Select a Fund Destination".
- Skip "Tribute Information".
- Under Message to the Board, type Arts Huron Consortium Project in the Message (Optional) text box.
- Click "Add To Cart" and complete the checkout process using a valid credit card.
- Once your payment is complete, please send an email to artshuron@yrdsb.ca with the school, music group, or individual name you wish to have appear in the introductory material of the score. We will respond to your email to confirm our receipt of your contribution to the project. The PDF score and parts will be sent to this same email address if you joined as a Consortium Member.
About the Composer
Driven by an endless need for expressing herself creatively, composer and multi-instrumentalist Chelsea McBride is establishing herself as a mainstay of the Canadian and American jazz scenes. Now based in Miami, McBride recently made her first international trip guest conducting at the Perth International Jazz Festival and Sydney International Women's Jazz Festival in support of her recent big band recording, Aftermath. She successfully completed an 11-city cross-Canada tour with her big and, Chelsea McBride's Socialist Night School, in the summer of 2018, and has performed at JazzYYC, the Halifax Jazz Festival, and the TD Toronto Jazz Festival among others. She has been named one of Canada's top 35 jazz musicians under 35 by the CBC and was the inaugural recipient of the Toronto Arts Foundation's Emerging Jazz Artist Award.
Born and raised in Vancouver B.C., Chelsea was surrounded and fascinated by music. She started playing piano at the age of 3, and saxophone throughout elementary school. By the end of high school she had already performed in competitions at provincial and national levels. Chelsea pursued formal music studies and completed a Bachelor of Music at Humber College and a Master of Music in Jazz Arranging at William Paterson University. She is currently pursuing a doctorate in Studio Jazz Writing at the University of Miami's Frost School of Music, and making waves with her mature sound and multilayered approach to composition.
As a composer, Chelsea is active throughout both the classical and jazz worlds. She is an alumni of the Metropole Orchestra's Arrangers' Workshop and the Bowdoin International Music Festival's new music program. She has also completed multiple residencies at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. Her works have been performed across North America, Europe, and Australia. Chelsea has presented both hers and others' music at a number of international conference opportunities, most recently showcasing an arrangement of Wayne Shorter's “Oriental Folk Song” at ISJAC's 2024 symposium.
Whether it’s her big band (Chelsea McBride’s Socialist Night School), her pop-jazz sextet (Chelsea and the Cityscape) or her jazz trio (Chelsea McBride Group), Chelsea is a diverse musician who refuses to stay in one creative box. Chelsea maintains a busy binational performance schedule. She has released three albums with Chelsea and the Cityscape and three with her Socialist Night School.
Listen to Chelsea McBride's Music on BandCamp
