LAVINIA KELL PARKER

Hailed as a composer of “original and fresh” design, Lavinia Kell Parker (b. 1977) has been the recipient of diverse acclaim including the New Genre Award from the International Alliance of Women in Music, the ACCC Choral Composition Award, and the Ruth Watson Henderson & the New York Treble Singers Composition Competitions. Professional and amateur choirs have performed and commissioned her music. Most recently she was composer-in-residence with the South Carolina Erskine College Choraleers, and she had the joy of singing (and eating gelato!) with them on their tour of Italy.

Lavinia’s avid interest in choral writing has been fostered in part by her experience as a church musician and director of various ensembles, the most profound being at an adult rehabilitation center in Rochester, NY.  She writes, “the intimacy involved in choral singing promotes community and can effect social change.” Lavinia knows firsthand this connection and met her husband, pianist Brad Parker, in a choir directed by Noel Edison at Wilfrid Laurier University.  Together, with their two children, they frequently travel to Lavinia’s hometown of Churchill, Ontario. Lavinia is an Associate Composer of the Canadian Music Centre.