Kevin Zakresky
Kevin Zakresky was appointed Assistant Conductor of Chor Leoni Men’s Choir in 2010 and is also on the faculty at Simon Fraser University and Douglas College. Hailed as one of North America’s “rising star” conductors by Vancouver Sun music critic David Gordon Duke, Kevin has expanded his career in the last few seasons to include conducting, masterclasses and workshops, as well as vocal and piano performances in the United States and Canada. The recent winner of the BCCF’s Youth Music Award, Zakresky also directs Chor Leoni’s MYVoice program, a choral experience for young men throughout the lower mainland.
Increasingly in demand as both a choral and orchestral conductor, the 2012 season sees Zakresky guest conducting the Prince George and West Coast Symphonies, rejoining the faculty of the innovative Vancouver International Song Institute, serving on the faculty of the BC Choral Federation’s Choral Directorship Course, acting as an adjudicator and clinician throughout western Canada and volunteering for Musicians without Borders in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He also publishes regularly in choral and vocal periodicals. His next article: “Operas from the Playground: Benjamin Britten’s Opera Roles for Children” will appear in the May 2012 edition of the NATS journal.
Zakresky finished his DMA degree in Choral Conducting at Yale University in February 2012, winning the prestigious Aidan Cavanagh Prize for Distinguished Intellectual Achievement. While at Yale he was director of the University Chapel Choir and assistant conductor of the Yale Camerata. His major teachers were Marguerite Brooks and Simon Carrington, and he coached with Helmut Rilling and Stephen Layton. Before studying at Yale, he completed a masters degree in conducting at UBC, studying with Bruce Pullan. www.kevinzakresky.ca
