Meet the Team

Dr. Zimfira Poloz is a passionate musician, educator, award-winning conductor, and internationally respected adjudicator and clinician. When working with young musicians, Zimfira believes that ‘brilliance has no age.’ By building the finest capabilities and encouraging superb artistry with boundless positive energy, she is able to unleash the creative and musical potential of every child unlike any other. Dr. Poloz has been decorated with numerous awards, including Honoured Representative of Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the city of Hamilton’s VIP Award, and the Leslie Bell Prize for Choral Conducting (Ontario Arts Council).
 

Zimfira teaches “Vocal Pedagogy for Young Choirs” at the University of Toronto, Music Faculty. She is a Canadian Representative for Choral Space – International Academy for Choral Arts as well for the Interkultur World Choir Council, and a mentor for ACDA International Activities. She is a Board Member for the World Alliance of Children’s Choirs (A Global Network of Children’s Choirs and Conductors) and curator/editor for the choral music publisher, Cypress Choral Music.

 
Zimfira established her musical credentials in Kazakhstan, where she served as founder and principal of the nation’s first choir school. Upon her arrival in Canada, Zimfira’s skill and passion was recognized by TCC’s founder and conductor Laureate, Jean Ashworth-Bartle, offering her a life changing opportunity. She then conducted at St. Michael’s Choir School, and eventually became the Artistic Director of Hamilton Children’s Choir and Young Voices Toronto. Now as the Artistic Director of TCC, Zimfira has come full circle and has returned to her home away from home.

Charissa Bagan, M.Mus. is the Associate Artistic Director of the Toronto Children’s Chorus, President of Choirs Ontario, and a Lecturer in Music at Toronto Metropolitan University. She served as the Artistic Director of the award-winning Bach Children’s Chorus from 2017 to 2024 and was the Junior Choir Conductor at St. Michael’s Choir School from 2011 to 2015.

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Recent projects include serving as Children’s Choir Chorus Master for GFN Productions’ 2024 performance of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers at Meridian Hall and for Opera Atelier's 2022 production of Dido & Aeneas at the Elgin Theatre. She has prepared choristers for performances of St. Matthew Passion with the Peterborough Singers and Carmina Burana with Pax Christi Chorale at the Meridian Arts Centre, and directed singers in a recording project for Canadian artist Eleanor King during Toronto Nuit Blanche 2023.

Charissa's additional engagements include presenting on music literacy at Podium 2024, Canada’s bi-annual conference for choral communities, serving on an assessor committee for the Ontario Arts Council (2024), guest conducting the Toronto Chamber Choir (2024), and adjudicating for the Ontario Music Festivals Association (2023). Upcoming appearances include presenting at OMEA’s 2024 Roots Conference in London, ON, guest conducting the Niagara Children’s Honour Choir in 2025, and adjudicating at the 2025 Kitchener-Waterloo Kiwanis Festival. 

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A nominee for the 2018 Leslie Bell Prize for Choral Conducting, Charissa has also been part of the conducting staff at the Zezere Arts Festival in Portugal, Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, and Young Voices Toronto. She holds a Master of Music degree from the University of British Columbia, along with extensive musical studies at the University of Toronto and training in Arts & Cultural Management at Grant MacEwan University in Edmonton. Additionally, Charissa operates a small studio of private students in piano, voice, and musicianship, and enjoys developing innovative tools and techniques to engage young children in music literacy.

Born and raised in Iran, Bahareh Ameri discovered her passion for music at a young age when she began playing the piano. After obtaining her bachelor's degree, she embarked on a journey of musical exploration, delving into the realms of piano and vocals. Her dedication led her to master the intricacies of Orff pedagogies, earning her certification as an Orff Specialist. She enriched her expertise through various courses and workshops at esteemed institutions like the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto and The San Francisco International Orff Institute.

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Bahareh's career highlights include her current roles as faculty at the Royal Conservatory and as a Music, Choir, Drama, and Band Teacher at Sathya Sai School of Toronto. She played a pivotal role in shaping music curriculum development for the Aga Khan Museum Resources Project. Her passion transcends linguistic barriers, as she adeptly teaches and develops music curriculum in both Farsi and English. Her journey has taken her to diverse corners of the world, teaching music in international, private, and public schools across Toronto,  Tehran (Iran), and Shanghai (China).

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Beyond classrooms, Bahareh organizes public performances, leads camps, workshops, and children’s music classes. She fosters a positive, creative learning environment, weaving music, singing, and movement to engage and inspire young minds.

Judith Bean holds a Master of Arts Community Music and an Honours Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance (Wilfrid Laurier University), a Bachelor of Education in Vocal Music (University of Western Ontario), and a number of Kodály and Suzuki piano certifications. Her musical studies take her around the globe as she attends conferences and workshops, as well as serving an elementary music clinician throughout Ontario.

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A teacher with the Waterloo Region District School Board for more than thirty years, Judith has taught vocal music, drama, and dance to children from Grade 1 to Grade 6 at Blue Heron Public School in Cambridge. She is the former director of Menno Youth Singers, directed the Inter-Mennonite Children’s Choir for 7 years, and taught piano and voice at The Beckett School of Music in Kitchener-Waterloo for 18 years. In 2019, she was the conductor of the more than 1000 voice mass children’s choir and Teacher’s Orchestra at the Kodály Choral Festival at the Centre in the Square.

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She is delighted to be a member of the Artistic Staff of the Toronto Children’s Chorus and the Conductor of Pasio Training Choir.

Meredith Wanstall (she/her) is a Toronto-based conductor and music educator. Meredith is passionate about working with young singers, and is able to do so through her roles with the Toronto Children’s Chorus as Conductor of Spirito Training Choir and as Musicianship Coordinator, and with the Bach Children’s Chorus as Assistant Conductor of Choir I. Meredith has been an Associate Conductor with the Modern Sound Collective for several years, and this season will have the pleasure to work as the Assistant Conductor of Concreamus, which is MSC’s new music choir dedicated to the creation and performance of excellent new works by young composers. Beyond her passion for choral conducting, Meredith also greatly enjoys teaching private lessons in piano, voice, and theory to students of all ages.

Meredith has recently completed a Masters of Music in Choral Conducting at Western University, studying with Dr. Mark Ramsay and Dr. Tracy Wong. Previously, she completed a Bachelors of Music in Music Education at the University of Toronto, studying voice with Mark Daboll. Additionally, she has earned two ARCT certifications in Piano and Voice Performance, and has completed two levels of Kodály Certification at Western University.

Michael Denomme is a Conductor, Music Educator, and pianist originally from North Bay, Ontario, and is now based in Toronto. Michael holds a BMus in Music Education, as well as an MMus in Choral Conducting from the University of Toronto where he studied with Dr. Jamie Hillman, Dr. Zimfira Poloz and Uri Mayer. While at UofT, Michael worked as the Assistant Conductor of the MacMillian Singers and the Tenor-Bass Choir. He was the recipient of the Elmer Iseler National Graduate Fellowship in Choral Conducting in 2022-2023 and 2023-2024, and also received the Faculty of Music’s Teaching Award in 2023, for teaching assistant of the year.

Outside of the University setting, Michael is extremely passionate about children's choir and community choir, and is ardent about building community through choral singing. He is involved as a conductor at numerous youth and children’s choir organizations, specifically, the Mississauga Children’s Choir, the Toronto Children’s Chorus, and VIVA Singers Toronto. He has also contributed to the organization of multiple provincial treble choir festivals, most recently acting as the project manager for the 2024 Ontario Youth Treble Festival, which hosted 8 choirs and over 300 singers in Toronto for a full day of collaboration and performance.

Michael has also had the pleasure to participate and conduct in choral conducting workshops across North America, including the Vancouver Chamber Choir’s conducting symposium, the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music’s international conductors training program, and most recently the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir Conducting Symposium. Michael also has a deep passion for orchestral conducting, having performed with orchestras across Ontario over the past few years.

Saloomeh is a distinguished Registered Early Childhood Educator and elementary school teacher for Kindergarten to Grade 8. She is a Smart Start™ instructor/mentor and theory faculty at The Royal Conservatory’s Oscar Peterson School of Music, where she nurtures young children’s artistic and musical talents through dynamic and innovative teaching methods. Her early passion for music began with piano lessons in childhood, leading her to earn a diploma from the Tehran Music Conservatory. She further refined her musical expertise by studying solfège and harmony under the guidance of Tengiz Shavlokhashvili.

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As an Orff Specialist, Saloomeh has pursued extensive professional development, enriching her teaching approach through programs like Smart Start™, Music in Early Childhood, and Kodály Pedagogy. She designs engaging and developmentally appropriate activities that meet the needs of diverse learners, utilizing movement, singing, instrument playing, and visual arts. Her motivational and humorous style creates a vibrant and joyful learning environment, fostering a lifelong love of music in her students.

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Saloomeh’s dedication to music education is recognized by her receipt of the Lois Birkenshaw-Fleming and Keith Bissell Scholarships, which highlight her leadership and expertise in the field. Additionally, she was the conductor at Sistema Toronto, further showcasing her commitment to community music education. Saloomeh continues to inspire and guide future generations of musicians through her exceptional teaching and mentorship.

Ewa Krzatala-Slomowicz was born in Warsaw, Poland, where she studied harp and piano, before receiving her Master of Arts Degree in Music Education from the Music Education and Dalcroze Eurhythmics Faculty of the Academy of Music in Gdansk. In Canada, Ewa completed her post-graduate courses in Music in Early Childhood with Donna Wood and Kátalin Forrai, Kodály Pedagogy Certificate with Edith Lantos and Orff Pedagogy with Angela Elster.

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Ewa has been on the faculty of the Royal Conservatory Teacher Training and Children’s Department since 1996 teaching music classes for babies and children ages birth to 12 years as well as professional development courses for adults.  In addition, Ewa is Programme Coordinator for The Advanced Certificate in Early Childhood Music Education. Ewa is a national and international clinician and recently presented at the international conferences in Budapest, Hungary, Katowice, Poland and Camrose, Alberta as well as taught a professional development course for early childhood educators in Singapore. A tireless advocate of the importance of music in lives of young children Ewa has served as the President of the Early Childhood Music Association of Ontario for 15 years. Ewa is the recipient of the prestigious International Kátalin Forrai Award (The International Kodály Society, 2017). The core strength of Ewa’s lessons is the emphasis on joyful music making with an underlying emphasis on the art of music itself.

Professor Darryl Edwards is an internationally lauded singing teacher, celebrated for his effectiveness and innovation. At the University of Toronto, Canada, with individuals in the voice studio and groups in the classroom,  he continually creates significant pathways for ideal learning experiences and performance outcomes. His encouragements have most recently reached the students and voice faculty of the Hong Kong Academy of the Performing Arts as a Visiting Artist-Teacher, and the High Institute of Music in Damascus, Syria.

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A hallmark of Darryl’s abilities is his extraordinary nature in elevating young singers to their best, most skilled communicative selves from the practice room to the performing stage. This is true for everyone: young vocal artists-in-training in a choral medium, in their solo own performing moments, whether it be in a local music festival class, a house or church concert, to career artists who lift their intentions into superb outcomes in international concerts, opera engagements or competitions.  Each singer learns to develop the specific performing gateways and experiences that make all the difference from growing to knowing, and  to consistently creating.

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Coming soon

Monique de Margerie is a concert pianist, collaborative musician and educator. She was trained at the Montreal Conservatory and later at the Hochschule für Musik in Munich. She has taught at the Musik Hochschule in Freiburg, Germany, at Laval University in Quebec City, and at the Koenig American Conservatory in Paris. She has toured as a soloist or collaborator in China, India, Japan, Cambodia, Germany, France, and Italy. In 2011, Monique moved to Toronto where she founded her own music studio, sharing her passion for music, welcoming students as well as coaching musicians from all over the world.

Monique is also a pianist/collaborator at the University of Toronto. 
She has a particular place in her heart for choral music: early on in her career she conducted women's and children's choirs in Freiburg, Germany, and in Quebec City and, more recently, Monique has collaborated in the past with Young Voices Toronto with Zimfira Poloz and worked with conductors such as François Ouimet, Robert Filion, and Mitchell Pady. Her CD's are available on Galley Records: Freiburg 1994, a solo recording of works by Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms and Debussy, and a duo recording, Home Suite Home, with her husband, TSO bassoonist Fraser Jackson.

Dr. Grace Ha is a dedicated collaborative pianist, organist, and music educator. She was born and raised in South Korea and later growing up in Toronto. She studied piano with Boris Lysenko at the University of Toronto, where she earned Bachelor of Music, Bachelor of Education, Master of Arts, and PhD. She also has the ARCT Piano Performer’s Diploma from the Royal Conservatory of Music, and the Colleague Diploma from the Royal Canadian College of Organists. Currently, she is a collaborative pianist at the Timothy Eaton Memorial Church Choir School and Young Nak Korean Presbyterian Church of Toronto.

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Grace is a certified teacher at the Ontario College of Teachers and has a broad range of teaching experience in public, private, and international settings. As a school music teacher, she has taught in several elementary schools in the Toronto District School Board, including one with the Alternative, Developmentally Disabled and Physically Disabled program. At the University of Toronto, she has taught Music Education students in curriculum, conducting, rehearsal and repertoire courses. As a private music teacher, she teaches piano students of varying levels from beginners to university auditions. In the community, she has been volunteering with the Strings Across the Sky to empower indigenous youth in Northern Ontario with the passion for learning through the art of fiddling. As a scholar, Grace’s research focus is to foster children's creativity in music classrooms through multiliteracies.

Claire Harris is a Toronto-based collaborative pianist, specialising in opera and contemporary repertoire. Claire is in demand as a versatile pianist, coach and collaborator in Toronto. She works as a pianist and vocal coach at the University of Toronto as well as maintaining a private coaching studio.
 

Claire is one third of Opera Revue, a Toronto-based company bringing opera and multi-discipline performances to unusual venues. She is also the pianist and vocal coach for Canadian Children's Opera Company's Principal Chorus, Associate Director with Opera by Request, Toronto, as well as working regularly as a répétiteur and coach with companies such as Windsor Symphony, Abridged Opera, Loose Tea Music Theatre and Toronto Children's Chorus.

Claire is one of the regular performers for Crossing Borders, a company performing works by living composers in Canada and internationally. As well as her work in opera and new music, she is the pianist for Amarras, a Toronto-based contemporary Argentinian Tango ensemble.

Prior to moving to Toronto in 2018, Claire was a staff accompanist at the Royal College of Music, London, as well as working with companies including English Touring Opera, the Rossini Young Artists' Festival, Opera Alumnus, and the Academie de La Roche D'Hys annual opera workshop in France. Originally from New Zealand, Claire holds a Bachelor of Music from the New Zealand School of Music and a Masters from the Royal College of Music, London, England.

Sheldon began piano lessons at age 10 and, a year later, enrolled at St. Michael’s Choir School in Toronto. Upon graduation he went on to earn a Bachelor of Music degree (Theory and Composition) from the Faculty of Music at the University of Toronto with later supplementary studies at the Gaelic College in Cape Breton and the Juilliard School in New York. Sheldon also has extensive choral experience, serving as Director of Music and Organist for more than a decade at St. Clare’s Church (Toronto), as Choirmaster for the Appleby College Chapel Choir (Oakville) and as piano accompanist to the Oakville Children’s Choir for 7 seasons, and for Young Voices Toronto (formerly High Park Choirs) for 16 years thereafter.

Sheldon is also an accomplished and award-wining composer, arranger and orchestrator. Many of his fine choral works have been published by Cypress Choral Music, Rhythmic Trident, and Alliance Music and are available world-wide.

https://www.watermarkmusic.ca

Originally from Nova Scotia, Toronto-based pianist Dakota Scott-Digout has been heard in recital across North America as both a collaborator and soloist, gaining praise particularly for his performances of chamber music and art song. Dakota is an in-demand and passionate educator, maintaining a full studio of piano students. A strong proponent of choral singing, Dakota serves on the artistic staff of the Toronto Children’s Chorus and is the collaborative pianist for Toronto’s VOCA Chorus. He is highly sought as a vocal coach and is a collaborative pianist and coach for undergraduate vocal classes at the University of Toronto.
 

Dakota holds degrees in piano performance from Université de Montréal and Mount Allison University. Currently, he is pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts at the University of Toronto where he was named the 2020 winner of the Gwendolyn Koldofsky Prize in Accompanying, awarded to the top collaborative pianist at the Faculty of Music. His principal teachers have included Stephen Runge, Jimmy Brière, and Steven Philcox. Particularly passionate about French repertoire, Dakota’s research interests are centred around early twentieth century performance practice and the mélodies of Gabriel Fauré.

Hungarian-Canadian pianist Gergely Szokolay enjoys a versatile career as a soloist, chamber musician and vocal coach, and has performed across Europe, North America and Japan. He has worked with renowned artists Josef Gingold, Agnes Grossmann, Marcel Moyse, Aurèle Nicolet, János Starker, Zoltán Székely and Paul Tortelier, and appeared at festivals such as the Bartók Festival in Hungary, Domaine Forget, Festival of the Sound, Orford, Ravinia, and the Toronto Summer Music Festival.

Gergely previously held faculty positions at The Banff Centre’s Advanced Music Program and McGill University’s Opera Studio, and was principal collaborative pianist with the Canadian Children’s Opera Company and the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir. In 2020, Gergely was visiting artist faculty at Bard College Conservatory, overseeing Bard’s 2020 Contemporary Festival Celebrating the Music of György Kurtág and hosting a panel discussion with the composer. 

A dedicated pedagogue, Gergely maintains a private piano studio and is a piano and theory instructor at Upper Canada College and Havergal College. In 2019 he was awarded a Certificate of Excellence in recognition of his outstanding commitment to music education and his students’ achievements at Crescendo International Competition at Carnegie Hall in New York City.