Artistic Director
W. Edward McCall
A native of Port Arthur, Ontario, Canada, Mr. McCall is a veteran music educator and choral conductor. He has taught students of all ages in both Canada and the United States. The Artistic Director of Cantus Novus is a champion for music education as evidenced by the conducting intern program that he initiated and by his interest in recruiting high school and college-aged singers to the group.
He is the CEO of the Organ Historical Society, headquartered in Villanova, PA, and is also the Director of Music at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Doylestown.
Previous appointments as choral educator include the faculties of Westminster Choir College (Princeton, NJ), Temple University (Philadelphia, PA) and St. Michael’s Choir School (Toronto, Canada). A significant posting for Mr. McCall was as Director of Choral Activities for high school and junior high schools at the Council Rock School District in Newtown, PA. He currently teaches private students across the Delaware Valley.
From the beginning of his professional career, choirs under Mr. McCall’s direction have appeared locally, regionally, and nationally. Appearances beyond the concert stage include television, professional recordings, symphony concerts, choral festivals, tours, and a Papal visit. In the United States, choirs under Mr. McCall’s direction performed at several PMEA All-State Conventions to enthusiastic acclaim. He has coordinated and directed dozens of choir tours including a ten-day odyssey to the People’s Republic of China. Additionally, he has conducted more than a few world-premiere performances of new choral works.
Mr. McCall holds a Master of Music degree in Choral Conducting and Music Education from Westminster Choir College. He studied conducting with Joseph Flummerfelt, Constatina Tsoulainu, Alan Crowell, Frauke Haasemann, Sir David Willcocks, John Rutter, Rodney Eichenberger, and Andre Thomas.
Accompanist
Jihye Park
Jihye is a native of S. Korea, where she earned a BA from Hanyang University in Seoul. She received an MA and a Graduate Performance Diploma from the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, MD and a DMA in piano performance from Northwestern University in Chicago.
Jihye has wide accompaniment experience, ranging from vocal and instrumental collaborations, summer opera programs and serving as recital accompanist. Currently living in S. Brunswick, NJ, she is also a staff accompanist at Westminster Choir College and a piano instructor at Rutgers University Prep School.
Conducting Intern
Leah Schick
Leah Schick is a senior at Temple University’s Boyer College of Music and Dance, pursuing a degree in Instrumental Music Education. She studied classical voice, violin, and piano throughout grade school, was the concertmaster of her school orchestra and the Montgomery County Youth Orchestra and participated in numerous honors orchestras and choirs. Currently she performs with several ensembles at Temple, including the Temple Symphony Orchestra.
In 2016 Leah founded the Presby Singer choir, a choir of residents ages 75-103 who live in Presby’s Inspired Life Assisted Living Home in Lafayette Hill, PA. In the summer of 2018, she taught voice, violin, piano, guitar, ukulele, and general music in San Cristobal, Ecuador, for one month to complete a research project about teaching music across a language barrier. She is an intern at the Philadelphia String Project, recently was the vocal music director for the Consortium for the Arts summer camp and created the Choir Across the Ages project, which included singers from ages of 7 to 103.
Cantus Novus is supported in part by the New York Life Foundation and Visit Bucks County Pennsylvania.
Cantus Novus is a member of Chorus America and the Guild for Early Music
