Nila Rajagopal

Danielle Sum Photography

Hailing from Ottawa, ON, Nila Rajagopal has quickly established herself as a promising choral conductor.
 
Nila’s collaborative spirit has granted her various positions within the choral world. Highly sought after for her expertise, she is currently Associate Conductor of the Amadeus Choir of Greater Toronto and Modern Sound Collective and sings with the Elmer Iseler Singers. She has previously held positions with the Toronto Children's Chorus, Oakville Choir for Children and Youth and TEMC Choir School.

In addition to her passion for choral excellence, Nila also is a skilled music educator. She is currently the music teacher at École secondaire Michelle-O'Bonsawin, where she founded the Chorale Michelle-O'Bonsawin, a highly skilled choir already recognized for excellence with two provincial awards and one national award. Increasingly recognized for her promising musical excellence, Nila was the recipient of the Doreen Rao Choral Award, the Iwan Edwards Award, the Ken Fleet Choral Conducting Scholarship, the Helen Hall Prize and was a nominee for the Leslie Bell Prize for Choral Conducting.
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As a clinician, Nila was guest conductor of the Festival des chorales franco 2022 and also served as masterclass mentor for emerging conductors at Podium 2022, Canada's national choral festival and conference. 

Nila also maintains an active freelance career as a choral soprano. Widely known for her accuracy and tone, she has currently sings with Elmer Iseler Singers and has previously held positions with Grace Church on-the-Hill, Pax Christi Chorale, the Mississauga Summer Chorale, the St. Basil’s Catholic Parish Schola Cantorum and the Choir of Grace Church on-the-Hill. She has sung in the Ontario Youth Choir for five years, the National Youth Choir of Canada for two years and was selected to participate in the 2020 World Youth Choir.
 
Born in a francophone neighbourhood in Ottawa, ON, Nila started learning music at a young age and studied piano, violin, trumpet and french horn. However, she only found her true musical voice when she joined the renowned choral program of the Centre d’excellence artistique de l’Ontario (CEAO) at De La Salle High School in Ottawa. She had the opportunity to tour nationally and internationally with the CEAO and became driven to pursue a career in choral music. She continued her studies at the University of Toronto, where she studied voice with internationally renowned soprano Nathalie Paulin, and conducting with Dr. Hilary Apfelstadt, Dr. Lori-Anne Dolloff and Zimfira Poloz. A passionate lifelong learner, she went on to pursue a Master of Music in Choral Conducting at McGill University under the tutelage of Dr. Jean-Sébastien Vallée and a Bachelor of Education at Laurentian University.

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Danielle Sum Photography