Elektra choir chooses Cassie Luftspring as new artistic director
The choral singer, composer, and musician will succeed long-time head and cofounder Morna Edmundson
Cassie Luftspring. Photo by Emily Cooper
A LONG-STANDING MEMBER of Elektra’s soprano section, professional choral singer Cassie Luftspring is officially the choir’s new artistic director.
She will carry on the legacy of outgoing artistic director Morna Edmundson, who cofounded Elektra in 1987 with Diane Loomer. Edmundson took on the role of artistic director in 2009 and led the choir through several great accomplishments, including 17 CD releases and more than 120 commissioned works.
Luftspring brings years of performance experience with Elektra to her role as artistic director. In this morning’s release, Edmundson emphasized that her successor “is just the right person to write the next chapter of Elektra’s story”, adding that the musician “understands from every angle what the audiences and the choral world look for” from the adult treble-voice choir.
An experienced conductor, composer, singer, and pianist, Luftspring currently serves as artistic director of the British Columbia Girls Choir and director of choral studies at the Vancouver Academy of Music. She also leads the soprano section of the Vancouver Bach Choir. Over the years, she has performed with such local ensembles as musica intima and the Vancouver Chamber Choir.
Luftspring has conducted for the Vancouver Youth Choir, Vancouver Children’s Choir, and Toronto Children’s Chorus, among several other organizations. She has won the Amadeus Choir of Greater Toronto’s Songwriting Competition seven times with her composition skills. She holds a master’s degree in music from the University of Toronto, where she specialized in choral conducting, and a bachelor’s degree in piano and composition from Queen’s University.
Elektra’s 38th season will conclude with Legacy on May 25 at the Good Shepherd Church in Surrey and on May 31 at Christ Church Cathedral in Vancouver. It will mark Edmundson’s final concert with the choir and serve as a tribute to her years of leadership.
The Legacy program will include Edmundson’s own “desert island playlist” of nearly four decades’ worth of Elektra commissions from Canadian composers. Audiences will also hear a brand-new work by Luftspring, as well as premieres from Laura Hawley and Tawnie Olson. 
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