Dr. Joel Tranquilla is a conductor, singer, and music educator noted for his versatile musicianship and creative programming. As the Director of Choral Activities at Trinity Western University he oversees a program of six choirs and teaches various other courses within the School of the Arts, Media + Culture. In addition to his work at TWU, Joel is the Conductor of both the Valley Festival Singers in Abbotsford and the award-winning Coastal Sound Youth Choir in Coquitlam. A proud alumnus of the National Youth Choir of Canada (2004 and 2006), Joel was the 2012 National Youth Choir apprentice conductor and the winner of the 2012 Sir Ernest MacMillan Foundation Award in choral conducting. In June 2013 he was named the Emerging Artist of the Year at the Ontario Premier’s Awards for Excellence in the Arts. He has been a member of the Canadian Chamber Choir since 2007, and in 2014 he was appointed Associate Conductor of the ensemble.
In high demand as an adjudicator and clinician across the country, Joel is a past Guest Conductor of the New Brunswick Youth Choir and the Manitoba Provincial Honour Choir and was the Assistant Conductor of the 2012 National Youth Choir. Before moving to British Columbia, Joel served as Artistic Director of the Windsor Classic Chorale, Chorus Master of the Windsor Symphony Orchestra, and taught as a sessional instructor at the University of Windsor in Windsor, Ontario. 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.