Shaping the Next Generation: Jean-Sébastien Vallée’s Commitment to Choral Education
At TMChoir, performance and education go hand in hand. While our concerts bring choral music to life on stage, our educational initiatives focus on people, nurturing the next generation of choral artists, leaders, and educators.
Our Artistic Director and Principal Conductor, Dr. Jean-Sébastien Vallée, brings this commitment to education to every facet of his work. In 2026, he will lead the Alberta Youth Choir this winter and the Ontario Youth Choir this summer. These engagements reflect his dedication to working with young singers at formative stages of their musical development.
Education has been a defining throughline throughout Dr. Vallée’s career. He is Full Professor of Music Performance, Director of Choral Studies, and Coordinator of the Ensembles and Conducting Area at McGill University’s Schulich School of Music. He has also held leadership roles with the National Youth Choir of Canada in 2020 and 2022. Across these settings, his work has centred on mentorship, artistic rigor, and creating meaningful learning environments for emerging musicians.
As Dr. Vallée articulates:
“Choral music is sustained through transmission, through the careful passing of knowledge, experience, and curiosity from one generation to the next. Strong choral institutions are built not only through performance, but through sustained investment in people. For me, education and mentorship are essential to the long-term health of our field. They create the conditions in which artists can grow with confidence, develop leadership skills, and contribute meaningfully to their communities. When we commit to mentoring emerging singers, conductors, and creators, we are not just preparing the next concert, we are ensuring the vitality, relevance, and continuity of the choral art form itself.”
TMChoir is proud to highlight this dimension of Dr. Vallée’s work. We recognize that strong choral institutions are built not only through performance, but through sustained investment in education and leadership development across the sector. This pedagogical philosophy guides our programs. From the Conducting Mentoring Program and Pathways: Choral Creation, to community initiatives such as Exchange and Singsation Saturday workshops, Dr. Vallée fosters opportunities for singers, conductors, and composers to deepen their craft, explore new repertoire, and connect with the wider choral community.
These efforts speak to a broader vision for TMChoir, one that sees education not as a separate activity, but as a natural extension of our artistic work. Whether guiding young singers in provincial youth choirs, mentoring emerging conductors, or leading TMChoir on stage, Dr. Vallée’s work underscores a belief that choral music thrives when knowledge, opportunity and inspiration are passed forward.
