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Huronia's Choral Jewel
 Artistic Director
Conductor Gary Heard has
studied voice, piano, organ and bassoon.
He earned the highest mark in the province
of Ontario on the Solo Performers Associate in
voice. He sang with the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir for thirteen
years. In that capacity he has
performed the Beethoven Ninth Symphony
and the Strauss opera Daphne at
Carnegie Hall. He was a guest conductor of the North York Concert Orchestra at the Ford Centre for the
Performing Arts in Toronto. Mr. Heard has maintained a career as a
church organist and choir director for thirty years and is currently
organist/choir director at St.
Paul’s Anglican Church in Newmarket. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in
Psychology as well as a diploma in Arts Management. Mr. Heard was the conductor of the North Toronto Singers for fourteen
years and is currently in his thirteenth year as the Artistic Director of the
Serenata Choir in Midland.
Accompanist
Serenata is both fortunate and delighted to have Bob Bruer as its official
accompanist. Toronto born, Bob has been a resident of Huronia for almost
thirty years. As an associate educator
with the Royal Conservatory of Music, most of Bob’s career has involved
teaching piano and theory. Bob has
also worked for more than two decades as a church music director, first at
the Anglican parish of Penetanguishene and then at St. Paul’s
United church in Midland.
In
1992 Bob began undergraduate training in music therapy at Wilfrid Laurier University and
following the completion of his degree and internship training, he was
accredited as a Music Therapist in 1999 by the Canadian Association for Music Therapy. Beginning in 2004, Bob spent eighteen
months in St. Louis, Missouri pursuing a post-graduate degree in Psychiatric
Epidemiology. Bob most recently worked
as a Coordinator of Inpatient
Assessment at the Penetanguishene
Mental Health Centre. Bob
currently accompanies many groups and soloists in the Midland
area and is currently organist/music director at All Saints & St. James-on-the-Lines in Penetanguishene. In addition to accompanying Serenata, Bob is also the accompanist
for the Children’s Community
Choir in Midland.
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