EnChor East Singers is an SATB community choir, drawing members from Halifax, Bedford, St. Margaret’s Bay, Fall River, and beyond. The group has built a respected reputation supported by their appreciative audiences since 1982. The choir rehearses weekly to learn a varied repertoire of classical, contemporary, and folk pieces, presenting concerts two times each year. EnChor East members are enthusiastic about working together to develop skills in choral singing, build community through music, and experience the fun of success!
Krista’s love of singing began in her early years in Stephenville, NL, and has seen her progress from elementary school chorister to conductor of her own ensembles. She has continued her choral education through involvement with several local choirs, and keeps active in the professional community by participating in masterclasses and workshops.
Krista aspires to provide an experience that challenges singers to improve musically, while valuing the social benefits and community connections of choral involvement. She is thrilled to be leading EnChor East Singers and hopes her choristers come to share in her love of choral music!
A Collaborative Pianist in the Fountain School of Performing Arts at Dalhousie University, Dean Bradshaw is a professional musician who wears many hats: Accompanist, piano teacher, church organist, choir director, composer, and university instructor. He has worked with the National Ballet of Canada, the Maritime Conservatory of Performing Arts. In recent years he has composed and recorded his own ballet music through an ongoing commission from the Atlantic Dance Teachers Association.
Way back in 1982, a group of United Church Women sat around a coffee table. For some reason the conversation shifted, “Wouldn’t it be nice to have a singing group here at Bedford United Church?”
And thus began The Bedford Singers!
Over the years the group evolved; a name change to EnChor East Singers, a move that more accurately reflected the changing demographic of the membership, who come from as far as Hants County to St. Margaret’s Bay.
There have been choral trips to New York, where the group participated in a momentous performance of Karl Jenkins’ spectacular “Armed Man, A Mass for Peace.” This was followed a few years later by a trip to Ottawa where the choir took part in Canada’s 150th anniversary concert.
COVID years were hard for many performing arts groups. But the choir, determined to survive, is still going strong. Forty-two years later, Enchor East Singers is under the direction of its seventh conductor, Krista Vincent, and long time accompanist, Dean Bradshaw.
In 2024, in an effort to respond to the changing contexts and realities of the choir and the community, the board decided to begin a process of research and deliberation, involving all members of the choir and culminating in the development of a strategic plan. This will provide a focus and a way forward for the choir for the next 3-5 years.