In the spring of 2024, members of the Acadia University Singers embarked on an incredible choir tour across France and Belgium. Participating in WWI-oriented research projects conducted by Dr. Michelle Boyd (School of Music) and Wendy Robicheau (Acadia Archives), the choir offered concerts, visited the gravesites of Acadia’s WWI soldiers, toured Vimy Ridge, and – literally – sang in Flanders Fields, where John McCrae himself wrote his now-famous poem over a century ago. In this presentation, Michelle will share photos and recordings from the trip and will discuss the choir’s experiences and reflections from this deeply impactful trip.

 

 

Dr. Michelle Boyd is an Associate Professor at Acadia University’s School of Music, where she teaches courses on music history and culture and directs the Acadia University Singers. Her research on “Singing In Flanders Fields’” received two Harrison McCain Emerging Scholar Awards and is featured on the Society for American Music’s 2019 Digital Lecture Series. The recipient of the 2018 Acadia Associated Alumni Award for Excellence in Teaching, Michelle is currently the inaugural Evans Teaching & Learning Scholar for Acadia’s Faculty of Professional Studies, for which she is developing an open-access e-book about activism, advocacy, and social justice in Canadian music.

Michelle is an Acadia graduate: she holds a Bachelor of Music in piano from Acadia as well as an MA and a PhD in musicology from the University of Toronto.

In addition to her work at Acadia, Michelle is also the director of music at St. John’s Anglican Church in Wolfville, and enjoys playing French horn with the Acadia Wind Ensemble.

The project Michelle is speaking about today, the “Singing ‘In Flanders Fields’” project, has been an ongoing project for several years. Her research on this subject has received two Harrison McCain Emerging Scholar Awards from Acadia University and is featured on the Society for American Music’s 2019 Digital Lecture Series.