Personnel

Suzanne Fulton, Honour Choir Program Director

Suzanne Fulton began studying the voice almost 4 decades ago.  She grew up singing as a soloist in festivals and concerts, singing in school choirs, and singing in community choirs in Kamloops, BC.  Her passion for music eventually led her to UBC to complete a Bachelor of Music in Opera Performance.  This degree offered Mrs. Fulton the skills required to sing a soloist in oratorio and opera performances in Canada and in Europe in famous works such as Mozart’s “Le Nozze Di Figaro” (The Marriage of Figaro), Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, and Handel’s “Messiah”.

Following her opera degree, Mrs. Fulton taught private vocal lessons for a year and discovered her passion for teaching.  She went back to UBC to complete a Bachelor in Education and was hired right after graduation to be a music teacher in the West Vancouver School District.  She worked at Gleneagles Elementary for many years and is currently running the choral program at West Vancouver Secondary School.  Mrs. Fulton’s passion for music and education eventually brought her back to UBC to complete a Masters in Music Education.  Mrs. Fulton has studied choral conducting with inspiring teachers such as Dr. Graeme Langager, Richard Nace, and Geoffrey Boers.  She has also enjoyed being a member of the BC Choral Mentorship Project, collaborating with other conductors from the Lower Mainland and beyond.

Guided by her love for choral music, in 2013, Mrs. Fulton proposed the West Vancouver Schools’ Honour Choir courses as a way to provide a higher-level choral opportunity for students in SD #45 and the course was approved.  Annually there are over 100 high school singers enrolled in the program and they have won gold medal standings at festivals, toured Europe, and worked with world-class clinicians.

The West Vancouver Schools’ Ignite Your Passion Junior Choir was established as a training choir.  The idea is that students who are at a high level in the Junior Choir will be good candidates to feed into the Honour Choir courses from Grade 8-12.  This choir provides a chance for elementary students to gain more of the necessary prerequisite skills in terms of vocal technique, musicianship, music theory, and beginning sight singing/solfege.

Mrs. Fulton feels strongly that everyone has a voice and that music is an excellent vehicle for connection and belonging…something that she feels is of the utmost importance for our students.