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ABBY BOUTILIER
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Abby is a teacher with CCRCE, teaching various high school science courses. Abby initially joined Creative Voices when she was a student at CEC, being a very young member of the choir. After graduating from Mt A and St Thomas Universities, Abby moved back to the Truro area to teach. She was thrilled to once again join in singing with the wonderful women that make up Creative Voices. Despite how busy life seems to get, Abby makes being part of Creative Voices a priority in her life.
Esther Bejarano
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Esther is married to another Creative Voices member, guess who? Has a 6-year-old daughter that makes her listen to “We are the Voices” every day on the way to school…. every… day. It had been many years since she has sung in a choir and after realizing she needed to reconnect with her love of music she decided to join the Creative Voices family! Best decision ever!
Sheena Henderson
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Adele Kinley
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Adele retired after 34 plus years with Bell Aliant. She is the youngest of eight children. Loves to sing and spend time with family and friends. Hobbies include sewing, singing (she is a member of her Church Choir), ATV riding and just spending time at the lake with family and friends.
Ella McCurdy
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Ella is a young dairy/ poultry farmer and animal lover. She is a young leader in her 4-H club. Her hobbies include singing, soldering, and playing the fiddle.
Nancy Thurston
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A mother of two teens and happily married to her best friend for 24years, Nancy has always enjoyed music and singing. Attending local live musicals, concerts, and presentations when possible, Nancy decided after a very LONG break from choral singing to join Creative Voices during the 2019-20 year. Making uplifting music with this wonderful group of women is food for the soul!
Katherine Ogden
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Kathy, a resident of Truro, is a mother of two and an assistant curator of Natural History with the Nova Scotia Museum. She enjoys hiking, bird watching, wood turning, gardening, knitting and has recently taken up curling. Having sung with choirs off and on for years, she is happy to have re-discovered her creative voice with the Creative Voices of Truro!
Sonya Parks
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Sonya has been a member of CVT since it began and singing for many years. She started off singing Barbershop with the Truro Melodies and her Church choir. She is married and has 2 adult children. She is enjoying retirement and loves to travel. In her spare time, she loves to spend time at the cottage and play her autoharp.
Mary Piers
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Mary is a teacher with the CCRCE and lives at home with her partner, Darren, and their cat, Tulo. She has been a member of Creative Voices since the beginning and loves singing with her choir sisters. Her hobbies include singing, playing tennis, and reading. Any free time she has you will find her hanging out with her family and friends.
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Heidi Barbrick
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Heidi grew up in Tatamagouche and sang her way through school in choirs and plays. She is trained in Culinary Arts and as an Educational Assistant, but life had different plans, and her love of music and dance led her to become a Zumba Fitness Instructor, which she has been doing for 10 years. In her spare time, Heidi creates jewelry, builds furniture and does woodworking and renovations, decorates cakes, and makes handmade soaps and other products. Heidi lives in Murray Siding with her beloved husband of 25 years, their two sons, and their cats, Skittles, and Mia.
Janine Boutilier
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Jann has been a member of the choir since it began. A mom of two grown children, Jann spends a lot of her time volunteering and participating in community events. Jann is a huge fan of live music and attends many music festivals, concerts, and shows around the province. Her other hobbies include biking, running, swimming, hiking, and gardening.
Michelle DeCoff
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Michelle is a teacher with the CCRCE, teaching junior high English Language Arts and Healthy Living. She enjoys reading a wide variety of fiction and non-fiction, watching Netflix and spending time with friends and family. This is Michelle’s first year with Creative Voices and she is happy to be focused on singing in a choir again.
Emily Fultz
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A homebody at heart, Emily is grateful for the opportunity to be back in Truro making music alongside so many joyful and supportive women (including her very own mother)! She grew up singing and playing the piano in the Truro Music Festival, as well as dancing in various productions with Cobequid Dance Academy. Emily began choral singing with the Truro Youth Singers and also sang in Jackie’s teen female group, the Treble Makers. In her free time, Emily enjoys baking, exercising, reading, hiking, and spending time with her loved ones.
Cara Kirkpatrick
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Originally from Alberta, Cara moved to Nova Scotia almost 20 years ago and she is happy to now call Truro home. She is married with one daughter and two grown-up stepdaughters. She is a research project manager and she loves to travel as well as natural history, camping, canoeing, and many other outdoor pursuits. Cara loves to see live music of all types and is happy to have the chance to participate as a performer with Creative Voices.
Madelyn Isenor-Ryan
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Madelyn is a graduate student at Yorkville University, studying her Masters in Counselling Psychology. Recently graduated from Mount Allison University with a major in Psychology, her favorite pastime at MtA was dancing on the dance team. Growing up in a musical family, Madelyn took piano, voice, and fiddle lessons. She started singing in a choir with the Truro Youth Singers and then went on to singing with Jackie’s previous youth choir, the Treble Makers. She is excited to join this lovely group of women, and also to sing in the same choir as her mom!
Theresa MacKinnon
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Theresa is an English teacher at Hants East Rural High School. She has been married to Jeff for 19 years Theresa is an English teacher at Hants East Rural High School. She has been married to Jeff for 19 years and together they have five children. Her hobbies include singing, exercising, and spending time with friends and family. She has been a member of Creative Voices since its inception in 2011.
Cyndi MacLean
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Ashley MacPherson
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Ashley is a birth doula and birth and baby photographer who loves to connect with other women and express herself creatively. Ashley enjoys singing and has fond memories of her time in school, singing in concert and jazz choir, jazz band, and musicals. When Ashley is not singing, taking or editing photographs, or supporting women through birth, you can find her writing, acting in community theatre, spending time with her three children and partner, Tyler, or her best friends and family. Ashley embraces the sisterhood she has found through joining Creative Voices and the opportunity to raise her voice to empower other women.
Erica Nielsen
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Erica grew up singing and making music alongside her mother, Lori. She has been fortunate to gain choral experience through the CEC Jazz choir, Dal Russian Choir, Nova Scotia Tattoo Choir, and a local women’s group, Village Blend. When not singing, Erica enjoys attempting to make pottery, reading, and playing the trumpet.
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Audrey Fultz
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Audrey was a member of junior choirs in elementary and junior high years, played the clarinet in the school band, and took piano lessons for several years. This is her first experience with a women’s choir and she loves the opportunity to make music with other women. She is the mother of two adult-ish kids and lives in an empty nest with her husband and cat.
Lori Logue
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Lori has been with the Chignecto-Central Region for almost 30 years supporting programs for students with Autism Spectrum Disorders. In 2013 she founded the Truro Chapter of Autism NS and heads-up the annual community fundraiser Walk the Walk. During the summer when she is not enjoying the beauty of Shortt’s Lake, she works as a Sous Chef to her son, who owns and operates a local food truck, Waffles On My Mind. Lori has sung in choirs her entire life. She has come to rely on music’s soothing power to help manage whatever life throws at us.
Andria MacAulay
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Andria is thrilled to return to the world of music in Truro having grown up involved with church choirs, Truro music festival, talented local piano teachers, the Truro band programs under Ron McKay and Paul Barrett and the Nova Scotia Youth Wind Ensemble. “Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and life to everything.” -Plato
Lori Nielsen
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Lori retired in 2016 from a 36-year finance career. She and her husband have two amazing daughters and two incredibly cool grandchildren. She’s been involved in church choirs from a young age, as well as school band programs. Lori currently plays trumpet in various bands in the New Horizon band program as well as being part of a singing quartet. Creative Voices is the first all-female group Lori has been involved with and very much enjoys learning and being part of a wonderful sound with such a gifted group of women.
Stephanie Isenor-Ryan
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Stephanie is a teacher with the Chignecto-Central Regional Centre for Education who currently works as the Director of Programs & Student Services. She and her partner, Brenda, have one daughter who attends university. Stephanie grew up playing Bluegrass, Oldtime and Gospel music in their multi-generational family band, The Pioneers. Other past choral experiences include being a member of The Aeolian Singers (Halifax) and Evensong (East Hants). Stephanie also enjoys directing the choir at Valley United Church.
Joye Sears
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Joye is an Instructor in the Veterinary Technology program at Dalhousie University and shares her life with an amazing man and his son (as well as two cats, a bearded dragon, and too many fish). In her “free” time she sings, directs plays, and attends Zumba classes. Joye is so grateful for the opportunity to make music with a dynamic group of talented, powerful women!
Natasha Tobin
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Natasha is an Occupational Health and Safety Coordinator for the Department of Agriculture in Bible Hill. Born and raised in Newfoundland, Natasha has called Colchester County home for many years. She currently lives in Truro with her partner and their daughter, with a couple of cats and dogs thrown into the mix. She is a musician and a lover of all things music, especially being part of a choir. She enjoys biking, hiking, and really anything that gets her moving and outside. Speaking of outside, Natasha is also a member of Colchester Ground Search and Rescue. This is her first year with the choir, and so far, enjoys the challenge of learning complicated pieces. She is grateful for the opportunity to sing with such a wonderful group of talented women!
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Jennifer Aucoin
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Jennifer is a Math & Science teacher recently returned from working overseas, and she is enjoying rediscovering Truro with her family. Her hobbies include reading, sewing, piano and guitar.
Bonny Bay
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Bonny has been in several choirs throughout Canada and each one is unique but what is similar is the feeling of belonging and how a diverse group of people can blend to create an extraordinary sound. Having recently returned to Nova Scotia has yielded her the opportunity to reunite with a great director and some singing friends from a few years ago. She is honored to be part of Creative Voices, a relatively new choir, and love how they, as a group, can create something quite magical that not only lifts them up and calms their souls but helps those listening feel moved by their energy and sound!
Stephanie Boertjes
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Stephanie is an educator with Chignecto Central Regional Centre for Education. She began singing in choirs as a teenager and is one of the founding members of Creative Voices. Her hobbies include singing, enjoying the outdoors and spending time with family and friends.
Lisa Jennings
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Lisa Jennings has been involved from early on and with her musical background she is flexible with what section she sings in, switching from Alto 2 to Alto 1 when needed. She is part of the Strategic Planning Committee and always the first to volunteer to decorate and set up for any of our events. She is a very quiet and humble driving force of the choir.
Deanna Jones
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“Deanna’s love of music was cemented at an early age, taking piano lessons and learning to play the French Horn through the band program in Truro. She has always enjoyed singing in ensembles. During her high school years at CEC she sang with the jazz choir, dance band, and as a cast member of the musicals. Music followed Deanna as she moved through life, singing with various choirs and playing her French Horn in community bands.”
Nicole Lennerton
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Nicole is a founding member of Creative Voices and has enjoyed singing with the group, on and off, for years. She is a proud wife and mother and foster parent. After graduating from the NSAC, Nicole obtained her Bachelor of Education. While she loved being a teacher, she also loves being home with her children. Nicole and her wife recently purchased a small business, Enchanted Forest. Creative Voices has allowed Nicole to continue with her love of singing while building meaningful relationships and connections with an amazing group of women.
Lori Mackey
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Singing has been an important part of Lori’s life since childhood. She has sung with various choirs over the years and has been with Creative Voices since its’ inception. She currently sings with the Alto 2’s, as she is quite comfortable in the lower register. Lori also enjoys spending time with her two children, being out and about in nature and challenging herself to learn new things.
Rene Wall
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Rene has been a member of Creative Voices for a number of years, and loves making harmonies with her choir sisters. She is the team lead for a web application team with the provincial government and loves to develop applications that make her clients’ jobs easier. She lives with her husband, numerous cats, chickens and other animals on their hobby farm on the Bay of Fundy. Her hobbies include crafting, reading and making music.