Profile

In only ten years, RYS has evolved into a unique and mature organization. We provide an accessible, high-quality musical education that is rooted in community and embraces a folk-arts approach to music-making. Collaborations with contemporary artists from diverse cultural traditions and styles broaden the realm of possibility for choral music, creating innovative sounds and exciting performance experiences.

With our dynamic new artistic director we have embarked on unique and inventive seasons of programming featuring folk singer-songwriters, international percussion, modern electronics, and world premieres.

Artistic Staff

The talented and dedicated staff of Riverdale Youth Singers are responsible for bringing the music to the chorus, and for bringing the chorus to the community.

Ryan Slashinsky, Artistic Director
	Ryan's passion for choral music-making and music education has compelled him to pursue such endeavours all his life, as a singer, accompanist, conductor, and teacher. He has studied music and education at the undergraduate and graduate levels, focussing on choir, piano, composition, and alternative education, and has facilitated academic workshops at local and international conferences. He is particularly devoted to working with young people, with extensive experience in various public schools and community organizations. Embracing a vision of music-making that is participatory, inclusive, dynamic, and collaborative, Ryan strives to assist young people in working together to acquire new artistic skills, while building a sense of belonging and respect for diversity in community. In addition to RYS, Ryan currently teaches at Alpha Alternative School. This is his second year with RYS.
Rasa Gudiene, Accompanist
	Rasa Gudiene is an organist, pianist, piano and choral singing teacher, and an ESL instructor. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Music, and a Master of Music in Organ performance, both from the Music Academy of Lithuania. In addition, Rasa received her Bachelor of Arts in the English Language, Literature and Education. She has also recently been certified as an ESL instructor and presently teaches ESL for adults. Rasa is a Director of Music at the Parkwoods United Church, Toronto. Lately she has been associated with the Canadian Children's Opera Chorus as an accompanist. Rasa also works as a piano and choral singing teacher at the Royal Music School. Rasa continues her career as a performer. Since 1993 she has appeared in more than one hundred organ recitals in Europe and Canada, participated in numerous international music festivals and seminars as an organist and pianist.
Doug Hammond, Coordinator
	Doug Hammond studied music at York University and is currently working on his Masters Degree in Musicology and Choral Conducting. He has performed with many choirs and has had the opportunity to sing in many international venues including Klester Tepla, Czech Republic, Toronto's Roy Thompson Hall, and performing in the musical "Emmanuel" in New York City. Doug is also looking forward to performing in an upcoming concert of Mozart's Requiem conducted by John Rutter at Carnegie Hall, New York. Doug joined the Riverdale Youth Singers in January 2008 as assistant conductor and is very excited to begin his second year with the choir in his new role as the choir coordinator.

Board of Directors

The Board of Directors of Riverdale Youth Singers is made up of volunteers -- community members who share the vision of RYS. They're people like you! The current board of directors is:

• Alex Bisset, chair
• Laurie Smith, secretary
• Sue Craig, treasurer
• Sheila and Rudy Gill, publicity and recruiting
• Cassandra Kirchmeir, fundraising
• Michael Stein, concert coordinator
• Rob Crabtree, Steven Carrasco, Lou Outow, Members-at-large

History

RYS was founded in September 1999 by Mark Bell who was the conductor until May 2005. Under Mark’s spirited leadership RYS enjoyed six successful seasons that established RYS as a credible and creative choir in Toronto. The Young Singers choir (Choir I) was introduced in 2003 conducted by Anne Massicotte. From 2005-2007, Teodora Georgieva and Alki Leontarakis developed the musicality of RYS even further, challenging the choirs to learn a classical repertoire and music theory, and introducing a Boys’ Choir. RYS has enjoyed the privilege of wonderful accompanists: John Govedas until his untimely death in May 2005, followed by Ted Moroney, and Rasa Gudiene. We owe much to all of these talented musicians and educators for helping RYS work towards exceptional musical education and artistic excellence in choral music performance.

Our choristers have been invited to participate in performances with professional ensembles and organizations, have won several first-place awards at competitions such as the Kiwanis Festival, have commissioned several new choral works by local composers and performed their world premiers, and have contributed to community events, fundraisers, and gatherings.

Supporters

The Riverdale Youth Singers organization is completely volunteer-run and many of our activities would not be as successful if it weren't for the many people and organizations helping us out behind the scenes. We gratefully acknowledge all our ongoing volunteers for their kind assistance and support. You are the community in our community choir!

St. John's Presbyterian Church
(rehearsal, office, and storage space)

RYS would have no home without the generous ongoing support of Rev. Charlotte Stuart, the Session & Congregation of St.John's Presbyterian Church. Located at 415 Broadview Avenue in Toronto, St. John's provides free rehearsal, office, and storage space for the choir.

CCj/Clearline
(webhosting, domain name service)

The RYS website and the riverdaleyouthsingers.org domain are hosted by CCj/Clearline of Kitchener, Ontario. CCj/Clearline's corporate mandate includes a commitment to provide nonprofit organizations with internet services on a pay-as-you-can basis.