The Cantabile Society of Truro
We are always looking for new singers. Cantabile Singers rehearse Monday nights and the Cantabile Children's Choir rehearses Tuesday afternoons. Send us an email, we'd love to have you!
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Artistic Staff of Cantabile Society
Bette Pring
Artistic Director of the Cantabile Children's Choir
Bette-Joan Pring studied Voice Performance and Piano at Wilfrid Laurier University from 1988-1992. Following those years, she worked as a private vocal and piano
instructor for many years, beginning in Burlington, ON and then in the Truro, NS from 1999 to present. Additional involvement as a collaborative pianist provided Bette with the opportunity to partner with the Tatamagouche Area Singers beginning in 2009, before taking over the role as Artistic Director in 2011 – a role which she continues to hold in their community. She further added to her choral involvements when she was
invited to assume the role of Artistic Director of the First Baptist Girls’ Choir in 2012 – a role she carried on until the choir’s close (under the name – Colchester Girls’ Choir) in 2023. This time was also paired with the role of Music Director for First Baptist Church Truro from 2012-2016. Her time with FBGC/CGC would see the choir achieve several provincial honours with FMFNS and enjoy the opportunity to premiere multiple original works.
Bette looks forward to her involvement with the Cantabile Children’s Choir. It is her desire to see a flourishing children and youth choral program through which mentorship and apprenticeship programs can foster young musicians into lifelong lovers of music.
Bette is employed full time with the Canadian Armed Forces as a Financial Service Administrator. Bette and her husband, Darren, make their home in East Mountain, NS
together with their 3 children.
Emme Bidwell
Accompanist of the Cantabile Children's Choir
Emme Bidwell (she/they) is a pianist, choral singer, and a writer. Born and raised in the US, Emme recently moved home to the Wallace River. She served in the US Army (2013-16) and sang in the Cadet Glee Club under Ms. Constance Chase at the United States Military Academy at West Point. With the Glee Club, Emme performed across the US, with notible concerts at Madison Square Gardens, Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, and the White House.
Emme's passion for music blossomed at a young age, listening to their grandfather, Tony Bidwell, play the organ (and many other instruments!) at St. Andrew's Anglican Church is Wallace, NS. Emme is excited to again have an opportunity to create and share their music with friends, family, and her community.
Chris Bowman
Artistic Director of the Cantabile Singers
Christopher Bowman (M. Mus Memorial University, B. Mus Mount Allison University) enjoys making music in many forms – as a conductor, solo and choral singer, educator, and composer. He is full-time Minister of Music at First United Church in Truro, Nova Scotia, and Artistic Director of the Cantabile Society of Truro, where he conducts the Cantabile Singers and works with the Cantabile children’s choirs. He also sings with the Juno-nominated Canadian Chamber Choir and takes great delight in the fact that choral music has given him the opportunity to sing in every Canadian province. Chris is active as a baritone soloist; his debut CD “Over Hill and Valley” with pianist David Chafe won Music NS and Music NL awards, and was nominated for an East Coast Music Award.
Chris loves working with choral singers of all ages and stages, and has conducted community, church, school, and university choirs in Atlantic Canada and Ontario. He is sought after as a clinician, adjudicator, and lecturer, and has taught in various university music departments in Atlantic Canada as a sessional instructor. As time permits, he is a composer/arranger of choral music, and in recent years has become interested in hymn writing; he and Valerie Kingsbury have written dozens of pieces of music for use in liturgical settings under the ‘Tidal Bore Music’ banner.
Chris’ favourite musical collaborations, however, are with his wife Laura, and their children Erica and Meredith. They live in Valley, Nova Scotia.
Belinda Adshade
Accompanist of the Cantabile Singers
Belinda Adshade grew up in Truro, NS and is thankful for a rich musical heritage that began with singing and playing in her church, and continued with her training in voice and piano locally, and as a student at Acadia University. Appreciated for her sensitive playing, Belinda has been accompanying soloists and groups since she was a teenager. She also has almost 30 years of experience both as a private music teacher (piano and voice) and as a music director for various churches in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. While residing in Miramichi, NB, she was additionally given the opportunity to teach music at Millerton School, and to accompany, and then direct, the community choir known as The Villagers. A former member of Cantabile, Belinda is pleased to have the opportunity to work with them again.