Giving back
Truro’s Ross Thompson is passionate about music and takes great pride in passing his knowledge along to young singers.
Ann Legere teaches the Truro Youth Singers, is involved with both the Truro Music Festival and the provincial board and has been a member of the Cantabile Singers for 20 years.
“Ross ompson is a treasure in the community,” Legere said recently. “I admire his expertise and how he shares his love of music with so many people. Ross is doing marvelous work, he is so talented in so many areas. We are so fortunate to have him in the Truro area.”
ompson, a highly quali ed music teacher, had a number of singing students in the recent Truro Music Festival.
“I’m kind of a vocal coach for young singers who want to improve their skills,” ompson, 62, said. “I introduce students to different styles of music. e most important thing I do is to help them use their voice in a healthy way.
”Being retired, I have the opportunity to give back to the choral and vocal community which I do through workshops and working with the Nova Scotia Choral Federation and o ering private voice lessons, helping students prepare for university entrance.”
ompson continues to do solo singing.
“I sing with the Rhapsody Quintet and Voclypse Productions out of halifax. It’s kind of a time when interesting projects come along, and, I grab them.”
Thompson has been one of three conductors during the 37-year history of the local Cantabile Singers. Je Joudrey directed the choir for its rst 17 years (19811998). ompson directed for the next 15 years and Chris Bowman took over in 2013 and is now in his fth year.
“I recall being approached to take the reins of the well established community choir,” said ompson. “e programming I tended to do was a little less classical and geared towards a more popular audience. we did a series of decade themed concerts drawing on popular music from the 40s and 50s, we did a 60s concert as well. We expanded the number of concerts per year to four basically to accommodate various styles of music.”
It was during this time that ompson started the Cantabile Boys Choir, an outstanding step. As a recent interview warmed up, I found myself wanting to learn more about how this man’s journey led him from big-city Calgary to small-town Truro.
Thompson smiled broadly when asked about his youth.
“My mom was very musical,” he told me. “She was extremely encouraging. As a child, before we would go to bed at nights, she would sit at the piano and sing and play. Music has always been a big part of my life.”
ompson would later attend Lord Beaverbrook High School in Calgary. ere were approximately 2,000 students. ere was a theater in the school, vocational education, theatrically activities and choral music opportunities. ompson was president of the student council and he played guard on the football team, the Lord Beaverbrook Beavers. “It was a great school to attend, it was a great school to grow up in,” he said.
ompson would go on to attend the University of Calgary, receiving his bachelor of music degree.
He then studied at the University of Toronto, the opera division. After a brief return to Calgary, ompson was given an opportunity to audition for the Canadian Opera Company. He worked three years in Toronto for the opera company. “I then made a decision to become a music teacher in the public school system. I came to Nova Scotia in 1988 and attended Acadia University.”
Graduating with a bachelor of education degree, ompson went to work for the Annapolis Valley School Board.
“e nice thing about this was, I was teaching in the public system but I had opportunities to sing with Symphony Nova Scotia and other musical organizations in the province.”
It was 25 years ago that ompson founded the Annapolis Valley Honour Choir. He wrote a number of family Christmas musicals for the town of Wolfville, including the highly successful ‘Fuzziwig’s Family christmas Frolic,’ based on a character from Dickens’ Christmas Carol.
In 2002, ompson received the Prime Minister’s Award for excellence in teaching; meeting Prime Minister Jean Chretien added to the honour. ompson, who met his partner Helen Bell through a mutual love of choral music, has lived in Green eld for 20 years. With many talents, Thompson has delighted audiences province wide. e warm, personable voice teacher can be reached by email rossthompson65@gmail.com.