Awards & Recognition

June 27, 2026

A strong sense of community, growing student population and a breakthrough festival experience are shaping a successful year for the Mitchell Elementary School (MES) Grade ¾ choir program in part due to the leadership of Esprit Singers chorister Jessica Nickel

(L to R: Jennifer Thomson, Jessica Nickel and Jessica Taves).

May 15, 2026

University of Victoria, Victoria BC

 Selected to Perform at PODIUM 2026 – Choral Canada’s prestigious national biennial bilingual conference and festival, held in Victoria, British Columbia. PODIUM is the foremost gathering of Canada’s choral and group singing sector, and participation represents one of the highest honours within the Canadian choral community

July 2025 – Kitchener

Featured Ensemble at Organ Festival Canada 2025: Expanding Harmonies – Invited by the Royal Canadian College of Organists to perform two concerts for a national audience in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario.

July 7, 2025
St. Matthews Lutheran Church. 
The ensemble was also entrusted with the premiere of a newly commissioned work by composers Robyn Lynch and George Ruhl, performed with acclaimed organist Angélique Po.

July 9, 2025
St. Matthews Lutheran Church
Performed Esprit Singers commissioned works by Neil Weisensel with organist Sarah Svendson.

April 27, 2025
Centro Caboto Centre, Winnipeg. MB

Each year, since 2013, the Italian Canadian Foundation of Manitoba seeks to identify and honour an individual who has contributed significantly to the development and promotion of music in general, and opera in particular, in the province of Manitoba. In April 2025 Valdine Anderson was honoured with this award in a  sold out audience.

Esprit Singers is thrilled to announce the official publication of our commissioned piece, “Songs of Spring”, composed by the internationally renowned Sarah Quartel ! This stunning multi-movement work captures the energy, renewal, and beauty of the season, blending Sarah’s signature expressive harmonies with vibrant, lyrical melodies.

Commissioned with Esprit’s dynamic sound in mind, Songs of Spring is dedicated to ‘sisters everywhere’. This three-movement work combines a number of themes through the poetry of Sara Teasdale. The first movement, ‘Sister of the Sky’, focuses on the morning in early spring, with the voices ebbing and flowing like Teasdale’s birds swept out to sea. The central movement, ‘Fearless Heart’, is alive with movement, reflecting the energy of the season, while the final movement, ‘Sing before Night’, calmly flows into evening.Now, thanks to Oxford University Press, this exceptional work is available for choirs around the world to perform and cherish.

Experience the Music

Listen to the three movements first performed at our May 2024 concert of the same name here: [Insert links] from YouTube channel.
Find the published score on Oxfort University Press

We are honoured to have been part of bringing this beautiful piece to life and can’t wait to hear it performed by choirs everywhere! Thank you to Sarah Quartel for this extraordinary collaboration.

Susan Glass, one of our Strategic Advisory Council Members is a distinguished arts philanthropist and recently won the 2024 Edmund C. Bovey Award alongside her husband, Arni Thorsteinson. Glass, who chairs the National Arts Centre (NAC) Foundation, has devoted decades to supporting Canadian arts organizations, including the Royal Winnipeg Ballet (RWB), Banff Centre, and Winnipeg Art Gallery. She has been instrumental in championing arts initiatives, such as the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award, showcasing her passion for community service and the arts.

Congratulations to Linda Feasby for being inducted into the Manitoba Opera Hall of Fame. As a opera chorister, she has performed 55 operas as of spring 2024.

Esprit de Choeur is delighted that Paulina Gonzales, Soprano with Esprit de Choeur was awarded the WMC Phyllis Ilavsky Scholarship, December 2022.

Paulina completed her Bachelor’s Degree in Vocal Performance at the University of Sonora in Mexico and her Master’s Degree in Vocal Performance under the tutelage of Tracy Dahl at the University of Manitoba.

Esprit de Choeur is thrilled to celebrate the recognition for Valdine Anderson.  Valdine is recipient of the Manitoba Choral Association 2022 Award of Distinction for Artistic Excellence.

“Valdine strives to make concert events unique and meaningful, with artistic collaborations from past singers in the program, to utilizing upcoming professional musicians from the university in concert accompaniment roles, to highlighting intra-program collaborations between choirs in the organization.”

Esprit de Choeur is excited to share that two of our choristers, Heather Kozak and Olivia Maxfield earned a score of 98 and were awarded the Gordon Hignell Memorial Trophy at the 2020 Winnipeg Music Festival. Brava!

Esprit de Choeur was thrilled to be awarded the Helga Anderson Trophy, at the Winnipeg Music Festival Competition for the top community choir performance in 2013, just months after Esprit de Choeur’s inception.

Esprit de Choeur received second place nationally, at the National Music Festival in Edmonton, Alberta.