Aella Choir

Founding Artistic Director

JENNIFER BERNTSON is Aella’s Artistic Director, as well as the Music Director of First Unitarian Congregation of Ottawa. She also directed the Ottawa Children’s Choir for 7 years, making music with both their youngest and most experienced choirs. She is passionate about crafting engaging choral concerts and bringing new audiences to the art of choral singing. She first fell in love with choral music in the Saskatoon Children’s Choir, with whom she toured extensively in North America, Europe, and Asia. She holds a BMus in Voice from Mount Allison University and an MA in Music and Culture from Carleton University, where she researched collective music-making as an expression of protest. Her free time is primarily spent with her husband (and Aella pianist) Shawn Potter, their energetic kindergartener and charming baby boy, and a lot of coffee.

COLLABORATIVE PIANIST

SHAWN POTTER holds an MMus in organ performance from McGill University, and in 2013 won the Royal Canadian College of Organists’ National Organ Competition (Godfrey Hewitt Prize). He is regularly engaged as a recitalist across Canada, with concerts including the RCCO National Convention (Winnipeg), the Tyska Kyrkan (Stockholm), and Christ Church Cathedral (Victoria). Shawn has accompanied many choirs in the Ottawa region, including the Capital Chamber Choir, Ottawa Regional Youth Choir, Musica Viva, the Ottawa Brahms Choir, and the Nepean Choir. He is the Director of Music at First Baptist Church.  When not in rehearsal, Shawn can most often be found baking all things sweet and savoury.

CURRENT MEMBERS

AMY RECKLING holds an MSc in Chemistry and has a passion for music. Originally from Newfoundland, Amy moved to Ottawa in 2010 and dove into the city’s choral scene, quickly joining the ranks of the Capital Chamber Choir and Calixa-Lavalee Choir. She has also sung with Lady Cove Women’s Choir and the Newfoundland Symphony Youth Choir (now Shallaway). Amy spends her days working at the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and when she is not singing can be found hiking through the wilds of Ontario with her partner and their dog Triss, sampling new beers, reading science fiction and fantasy novels, or gaming!

ARIEL MERRIAM is proud to be Aella’s first member from British Columbia. Born and raised on Vancouver Island, Ariel grew up singing in school and honour choirs, and later spent time as part of a small a cappella women’s group in Victoria. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in History and a Master of Public Administration from UVic. In 2021, Ariel moved to Ottawa to work for the federal government as a policy analyst, and was fortunate enough to join Aella the day after she arrived. She enjoys reading, baking, crochet, gaming, watching sunsets, and taking long walks along the river.

ELLEN BADCOCK is from St. John’s, Newfoundland, and holds B.Mus. and B.Mus.Ed. degrees from Memorial University of Newfoundland (majoring in piano).  Since moving to the Capital region in 2003, Ellen has been operating a private music studio in Kemptville, ON, as well as teaching piano at several elementary schools in the area.  She was previously the organist and choir director at St. James Anglican Church in Kemptville, and is currently the Director of Music at St. James Anglican Church, Manotick. When not occupied with music, Ellen also enjoys travelling, bingeing on Netflix and is an expert list-maker (often completing daily chores in alphabetical order).  

ERIN JOYCE fell in love with choral singing when she joined the Woodstock Fanshawe Singers during her undergraduate degree. She is currently a member of both Aella and the Capital Chamber Choir, and before moving back to Ottawa in 2012, she sang with the Conspirato Chamber Singers (London, ON) and Concerto Della Donna (Montreal, QC). A lawyer, who also holds a BMus in Cello Performance, Erin spends workdays at the Privy Council Office. Her evenings & weekends mostly involve nerding out about public international law, overanalysing books & television, and working with Jenn as Aella’s thoroughly overenthusiastic choir manager.

JENNIE GLASSCO is a Policy Analyst at Natural Resources Canada and a doctoral candidate in Cultural Anthropology at McGill University. She hails from Sydenham, Ontario, has been singing in choirs and playing piano since primary school. Throughout high school in Kingston, she took voice lessons and sang with the Cantabile Youth Choir, where her love for choral music was firmly established. In Montreal, she has sung with Les Muses Chorale, the St. Lawrence Choir, and the Seraphim Chamber Choir. Currently, she is also a member of the Capital Chamber Choir. An avid traveller, Jennie enjoys getting out into nature, gardening, and learning about new people and places. She is very excited to be singing with Aella!

JOLA SIKORSKI grew up singing with the Ottawa Chamber Choir and Ottawa Regional Youth Choir and playing in the Ottawa Youth Orchestras, Toronto Youth Wind Orchestra, and Hannaford Youth Band. She went on to complete a BMus in Performance at the University of Toronto in bass trombone before re-training in a different professional field. Jola spends her days working in health care and her mornings, evenings, and weekends as a personal chauffeur and short order cook in a house of chaos. She enjoys reading, camping, and rewilding her small urban space with native wildflowers and as many edible plants as possible in an ongoing effort to get her family to eat more vegetables.

JOSÉE RIVARD has been involved in Ottawa’s choir community for over a decade. She has been a member of the University of Ottawa Choir, Notre Dame Basilica Choir, Capital Chamber Choir as well as the former Ottawa Festival Chorus at the National Arts Centre. After completing her BFA in Visual Arts and English Literature, she was fortunate to teach both subjects at a high school level since the beginning of her career. She is also involved in the school’s theatre productions and enjoys modern dance both as a performer and spectator. She loves sharing her passion for art with her students, her friends, and her family, especially with her daughter and son. Josée is thrilled to be part of the Aella family and is looking forward to this new experience!

KARA MORRIS comes from Nova Scotia (Hello, fellow Bluenosers!) and now calls Kanata home. By day she works as a psychotherapist, having studied Creative Arts Therapies in Montreal. Along the way she studied music, theatre and psychology, worked in dinner theatre, performed in operas and operettas every chance she got, and travelled as much as possible. In recent years she's performed with the Savoy Society of Ottawa (and had a blast!). Kara enjoys visiting the ocean, walking in the forest, getting crafty, practicing yoga, spending time with her husband and two sons, and of course singing her heart out!  

KATARINA MICHALYSHYN grew up in Edmonton, where she sang with the Edmonton Youth and Children's Choirs and Korora (formerly Kokopelli) Youth Choir. She also played piano and oboe. Upon arriving in Ottawa for university, she was a member of the Ottawa Regional Youth Choir and is currently in the Capital Chamber Choir and Caelis Academy Ensemble. Katarina originally joined Aella for most of its first full season and came back after a 2-year break. She works as an economist at the Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer and volunteers with the Ottawa Children's Choir.

KELLY SYMONS' interest in music was obvious when, at the age of four, she picked out the notes to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star on the piano on her own and wowed friends and family. She enrolled in piano lessons soon after, and eventually completed the Royal Conservatory of Toronto’s Grade Ten piano and Grade Four theory exams. After obtaining an Engineering degree from the University of Toronto, working in the BC mining industry, and driving a fire truck for the volunteer Fire Department in Fraser Lake, she earned a Piano Technology diploma from George Brown College in Toronto. That wasn’t enough, so she auditioned for and entered McGill University where she studied piano and theory and was awarded both a B.Mus. and a master’s degree in Music Research. Since early 2015, she has been at the National Arts Centre where she creates and manages opportunities for young emerging artists to work with the professional musicians of the NAC Orchestra.

Kelly was part of several choirs during her time at McGill, with Robert Ingari, Patricia Adams and François Ouimet. She had a brief stint in the Ottawa Bach Choir with Lisette Canton, and in the St Margaret’s parish choir in Vanier with Nick Piper. Currently a member of the Capital Chamber Choir led by Jamie Loback, she is very proud to be a part of Aella where she is finding opportunities to expand her love of making music!

AELLA'S EXECUTIVE BOARD

Interim President: Erin Joyce
Artistic Director: Jennifer Berntson
Manager: Erin Joyce
Grant Writer: Amy Reckling
Treasurer: Caledonia Brown

Volunteer Committee

Graphics Creator: Deirdre Kellerman
Librarians: Jennie Glassco & Josée Rivard

pAST mEMBERs

AMY DESROSIERS

(2016-2019)

CECELIA WHITE

(2019-2023)

MAEVE COLLINS-TOBIN

(2021-2023)

TERI SLADE, founding member

(2016-2018)