Cantando
A Collective Singing Community

Diane Murray-Charrett ~ Artistic Director 

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Diane started singing in choirs at age 7 and never looked back! Her undergraduate and graduate training focused on vocal pedagogy and the development of young voices, and she led choirs in her public-school music teaching positions for the duration of her career. Her conducting training includes study with choral pedagogues Dr. Rodney Eichenberger, Dr. Doreen Rao, and Dr. Lori-Anne Dolloff, as well as masterclass sessions with Lydia Adams, Diane Loomer and Anton Armstrong. She holds a Teacher-Artist diploma from the Choral Music Experience Institute and has conducting experience that includes school and community children’s choirs, boys’ choirs, youth choirs, church choirs and adult community choirs. The concerts she produces are well known for their theme based, eclectic choral performances which integrate music, drama, and poetry.

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Originally from the prairie provinces, Diane has lived in Ontario for the past 20 years and is currently a PhD candidate in Music Education at the University of Toronto where her research focusses on transformation in music education. She holds a Master of Music Education from the University of Toronto, a Bachelor of Music Education from Brandon University, and Orff Certification from the University of Manitoba. Diane was the founding conductor of the Gaudeamus Choirs of Halton Hills from 2006 – 2019, and now conducts the choirs in the Cantando Collective Singing Community. Previous conducting experience includes the Hamilton Children’s Choir, the Oakville Choir for Children and Youth, and the regional elementary choir of the Halton District School Board. She was the founding Musical and Artistic Director of the Saskatoon Youth Music Theatre summer program and has also been active as a musical theatre director for dozens of school and community musical productions.

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Diane was honoured to recently share her research on singer identity in children at the national PODIUM conference in Toronto, and The Singing Network’s EXchange conference at the World Choral Expo in Lisbon, Portugal. In her doctoral work, she continues to examine how social, cultural, and political dynamics influence participation in group singing. A longtime member of Choral Canada, our national organization for choirs, she currently serves as President-Elect for the Board of Directors.

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Diane is committed to sharing the magic of singing with people of all ages and stages, and welcomes your participation in the Cantando Collective Singing Community!