Don Hall

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Conducting choirs now for a living, Dr. Jean-Marie Kent is the artistic director of the Seattle Children's Chorus and teaches a choir at Holy Names Academy in Seattle, WA.  She looks back on her time with U of R Chamber Singers as she prepares to return to Regina this August for the Chamber Singers reunion.

Q: What years were you in the Chamber Singers? What part did you sing? And who was the director at the time?

A: I sang alto in the chamber choir from 1985 - 1990, and the director was Kathryn Laurin.

Q: What stood out to you about Kathryn as a director?

A: She was incredibly bright and had great taste in music. One of the things Kathryn would always say to us when we were buried in our music was, "Look up and live." That stuck with me, and I still use it with my students. Kathryn is conducting at the reunion in August, and I'm excited to work with her again.

Q: What is your fondest memory of singing in the choir?

A: We went on tour to Toronto in my final year with the Chamber Singers. Travelling together was great. One piece of music that stands out to me is "Witness". It is a cappella, so you have to create the groove with just the singers in the choir. I also became close friends with many of the people in the group. Karen Donnelly still stands out as one of the funniest people I know. We used to sit next to each other-until we were separated for laughing too much. It was a really fun time.

I didn't realize what it would be like to be part of a group that is performing at a high level of excellence. That bar was set for me in Chamber Singers-that with the right group of people, you can achieve a high level of musicianship. It shaped the expectation that I have for myself and how my groups sound today.

Q: You came back to the Chamber Singers a few decades later as director. What do you remember most about that time?

A: I conducted the Chamber Singers from 2010-11 after I finished my Doctor of Musical Arts at the University of Washington. When I came back to Regina, the famous Saskatchewan photographer, Courtney Milne, had just died. He was originally known as a photographer of Saskatchewan landscapes, then he travelled the world and took stunning landscape photos everywhere. In the last part of his life, he was homebound and only took pictures of his pool and surrounding area. I based a concert around his artwork in those three phases of his life. I worked with David Gerhard, a professor in the computer science program, to create projections of his work during the concert-not just on a screen but all around us. That concert was an intense collaboration with a lot of people, including Courtney's wife, who opened Milne's entire library and collection of work to me. That was definitely a highlight.

Q: How did being in this choir influence your life?

A: I conduct choirs now for a living-I am the artistic director of the Seattle Children's Chorus and teach a choir at Holy Names Academy in Seattle, WA. When I came to study at the University of Regina, I wanted to be a music teacher. I didn't know what that would be like with a focus on choir. My background was in piano, and I had accompanied a small choir when I was in high school, but I didn't sing in a choir until I joined the Chamber Singers. I didn't realize what it would be like to be part of a group that is performing at a high level of excellence. That bar was set for me in Chamber Singers-that with the right group of people, you can achieve a high level of musicianship. It shaped the expectation that I have for myself and how my groups sound today.

[post_title] => From Student to Conductor: An Interview with Dr. Jean-Marie Kent, BMusEd ‘89 (Distinction) [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => from-student-to-conductor-an-interview-with-dr-jean-marie-kent-bmused-89-distinction [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2025-06-26 09:19:31 [post_modified_gmt] => 2025-06-26 15:19:31 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://www.degreesmagazine.ca/?p=9326 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 9338 [post_author] => 23 [post_date] => 2025-06-17 19:40:21 [post_date_gmt] => 2025-06-18 01:40:21 [post_content] =>

The University of Regina awarded Dr. Jim Tomkins an honorary Doctor of Laws honoris causa (LLD) during Spring 2025 Convocation ceremonies.

Dr. Tomkins has been a cornerstone of the University of Regina for over five decades, contributing as a mathematics professor, administrator, and leader. His journey with the University began in 1963 when, as a student, he worked for a local concrete company that laid the foundations for the Laboratory and Classroom Buildings on the then new campus. This early connection foreshadowed a lifelong association with the U of R.​

Read More [post_title] => Dr. Jim Tomkins [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => dr-jim-tomkins [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2025-06-26 09:19:31 [post_modified_gmt] => 2025-06-26 15:19:31 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://www.degreesmagazine.ca/?p=9338 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw )