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Joel Tranquilla
conductor

Joel Tranquilla (he/him/his) is a conductor and music educator noted for his versatile musicianship and creative programming. As the Artistic Director of the Halifax Camerata Singers and Chorus Master of Symphony Nova Scotia, he oversees a busy schedule of local choral performances, educational outreach, and community engagement. Camerata was nominated for an East Coast Music Award in 2025 in the Vocal Release category. As the Associate Conductor of the Canadian Chamber Choir, he has contributed to the long-term artistic visioning of that national organization, and has performed extensively with the ensemble, visiting communities in every province and the Northwest Territories, and working with countless singers, conductors, and composers. In 2016, the CCC was nominated for a JUNO Award, and their most recent album, Where Waters Meet, explores the music of Sherryl Sewepagaham, Hussein Janmohamed, and Carmen Braden.

In high demand as an adjudicator and clinician across the country, Joel is a past Guest Conductor of the Nova Scotia Youth Orchestra, New Brunswick Youth Choir, and the Manitoba Provincial Honour Choir, and he was the Assistant Conductor of the 2012 National Youth Choir of Canada. He was the winner of the 2012 Sir Ernest MacMillan Memorial Foundation Award, as well as the recipient of the Emerging Artist Award at the 2013 Ontario Premier’s Awards for Excellence in the Arts. He holds degrees from Mount Allison University, the University of Michigan, and Michigan State University, where his doctoral research was in the area of Canadian choral-orchestral works.

Major choral-orchestral works conducted include Vaughan Williams’ Five Mystical Songs (New England Symphonic Ensemble), Poulenc’s Gloria, Vaughan Williams’ Hodie, Ramirez’s Navidad nuestra (members of the Vancouver Opera Orchestra and Trinity Western University Choirs), Mendelssohn’s St. Paul (Sea to Sky Symphony and TWU Choirs), Handel’s Alexander’s Feast, Requiems by Fauré and Duruflé (Windsor Symphony Orchestra and Chorus), Bach’s St. John Passion, and oratorios by Allan Bevan and David Squires (TWU Choirs and Orchestra). Choirs prepared by Joel have appeared under the batons of Robert Franz, Kevin Mallon, Holly Mathieson, John Morris Russell, and Ivars Taurins. 

Joel believes in the power of music to build and strengthen community. He lives in Lower Sackville with his wife Meghan and their three kids Everett, Penelope, and Felix.

Joel Tranquilla
conductor

Joel Tranquilla (he/him/his) is a conductor and music educator noted for his versatile musicianship and creative programming. As the Artistic Director of the Halifax Camerata Singers and Chorus Master of Symphony Nova Scotia, he oversees a busy schedule of local choral performances, educational outreach, and community engagement. Camerata was nominated for an East Coast Music Award in 2025 in the Vocal Release category. As the Associate Conductor of the Canadian Chamber Choir, he has contributed to the long-term artistic visioning of that national organization, and has performed extensively with the ensemble, visiting communities in every province and the Northwest Territories, and working with countless singers, conductors, and composers. In 2016, the CCC was nominated for a JUNO Award, and their most recent album, Where Waters Meet, explores the music of Sherryl Sewepagaham, Hussein Janmohamed, and Carmen Braden.

In high demand as an adjudicator and clinician across the country, Joel is a past Guest Conductor of the Nova Scotia Youth Orchestra, New Brunswick Youth Choir, and the Manitoba Provincial Honour Choir, and he was the Assistant Conductor of the 2012 National Youth Choir of Canada. He was the winner of the 2012 Sir Ernest MacMillan Memorial Foundation Award, as well as the recipient of the Emerging Artist Award at the 2013 Ontario Premier’s Awards for Excellence in the Arts. He holds degrees from Mount Allison University, the University of Michigan, and Michigan State University, where his doctoral research was in the area of Canadian choral-orchestral works.

Major choral-orchestral works conducted include Vaughan Williams’ Five Mystical Songs (New England Symphonic Ensemble), Poulenc’s Gloria, Vaughan Williams’ Hodie, Ramirez’s Navidad nuestra (members of the Vancouver Opera Orchestra and Trinity Western University Choirs), Mendelssohn’s St. Paul (Sea to Sky Symphony and TWU Choirs), Handel’s Alexander’s Feast, Requiems by Fauré and Duruflé (Windsor Symphony Orchestra and Chorus), Bach’s St. John Passion, and oratorios by Allan Bevan and David Squires (TWU Choirs and Orchestra). Choirs prepared by Joel have appeared under the batons of Robert Franz, Kevin Mallon, Holly Mathieson, John Morris Russell, and Ivars Taurins. 

Joel believes in the power of music to build and strengthen community. He lives in Lower Sackville with his wife Meghan and their three kids Everett, Penelope, and Felix.