Julia Davids née Olson (born March 17, 1972) is a founding member and artistic director of the
Canadian Chamber Choir
The Canadian Chamber Choir (Choeur de chambre du Canada)'s mission is to build community through choral singing. The CCC is a national ensemble that provides a professional choral environment for Canadian singers, conductors and composers, and tra ...
London, Ontario
London (pronounced ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River, approximate ...
.
Education
She has two degrees from the
University of Western Ontario
The University of Western Ontario (UWO), also known as Western University or Western, is a public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thames R ...
(B.Mus.Hons.Ed. and B.Ed.), two master's degrees from the
University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
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, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
(Voice Performance and Conducting), and a Doctorate in Music from
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world.
Charte ...
.
Career
Davids is a
performer
The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which are the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. Perfor ...
, educator, and conductor. As a sopranosoloist, she is an avid performer, having appeared with the Amabile Youth Singers, the Ontario Youth Choir and the National Youth Choir, Opera Atelier, the Vancouver Cantata Singers, the Toronto Chamber Choir, the Toronto Consort, the Guelph Chamber Choir, the Aradia Ensemble, the Forces of Virtue, the Peninsula Music Festival, the Publick Musick and the Mark Morris Dance Company in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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As an educator, Julia has given workshops on vocal pedagogy with many groups, including the Royal Canadian Guild of Organists. She has served on the faculty at Loyola University Chicago, and currently is Director of Choral Activities at North Park University in Chicago, IL.
As a conductor, Dr. Davids has directed several choirs including the Canadian Chamber Choir, the Northwestern University Women's Chorus, the Camerata Singers of Lake Forest, the 2006 Nova Scotia Youth Choir tour.
In 2004, Davids took over from
Iwan Edwards
Iwan Edwards (October 5, 1937 – March 4, 2022) was a Welsh-born Canadian choral conductor. Over a forty-year span he founded and conducted several choirs. He was appointed Member of the Order of Canada in 1995.Artistic Director of Canadian Chamber Choir.
She served as the final director of the Camerata Singers of Lake Forest from 2004-2008.
Davids serves as Director of Music Ministries a Trinity United Methodist Church in
Wilmette, Illinois
Wilmette is a village in New Trier Township, Cook County, Illinois, United States. Bordering Lake Michigan and Evanston, Illinois, it is located north of Chicago's downtown district. Wilmette had a population of 27,087 at the 2010 census. The ...
violin
The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...
ist Martin Davids.
Beginning in August 2010 Dr. Davids will assume the Stephen J. Hendrickson endowed chair as director of Choral Activities at North Park University, Chicago.
In addition, in 2009, Dr. Davids took over as director of the North Shore Choral Society a 140-member community chorus, has been a prominent musical force serving the northern suburbs of Chicago, Illinois, and beyond for over 75 years.
She is co-author with Stephen LaTour of the book Vocal Technique – A Guide for Conductors, Teachers, and Singers.
In August 2016 Dr. Davids was the guest conductor/director of the Nova Scotia Choral Federation (NSCF) Adult Choir Camp Choir, which involved a 6-day intensive rehearsal schedule and finale concert.