Sharing Joy Through Song!
Spring Concert – April 26, 2026
Mark your calendars for our 2026 concert season!
Thank you to our Sponsors
Thank You to our Winter Season of Light Sponsors
We can’t wait to share another beautiful season of music with you!
Join Achill – Your Community Choir!
Photograph by Kate Karklins – Klikd Images
As the Headwaters Region’s premier community choir, we currently have 65 singers. There’s always room for more! Our concerts feature songs diverse in style, culture and message.
Rehearsal Location:
Upstairs at Westminster United Church,
247 Broadway, Orangeville, ON, L9W 2Z5,
from 7:00 P.M. to 9:30 P.M.
New Members for 2026 Welcome: Wednesday, January 7, 2026, at 7 P.M.
Please contact “info@achill.ca“
if you wish to attend and to receive further details including a Pre-registration Form so that you can pick up your set of vocal scores at the first rehearsal. These scores are on loan, to be returned to Achill’s Librarian.
Also you can connect with us on facebook.com/AchillChoralSociety
SHAWN GRENKE
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Conductor, pianist, and organist Shawn Grenke is Director of Music at Eglinton St. George’s United Church in Toronto, Collaborative Pianist with the Elmer Iseler Singers, and Artistic Director and Conductor of the 80-voice Achill Choral Society in Orangeville, Ontario. A native of Belleville, Ontario, Shawn began his musical training as a chorister and pianist with the Hastings County Board of Education Concert Choir under the direction of the late Rudolf Heijdens. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Mount Allison University (New Brunswick) and a Master of Music degree from the University of Toronto.
Shawn has performed in concerts across Canada, the United States, and Europe, including appearances in Poland, South Korea, and at international choral festivals such as Let the Future Sing (Sweden), the Xinghai Choral Competition(China), and Le Mondial Choral Loto-Québec World Choral Competition (Laval, Québec). He has also performed at Roy Thomson Hall (Toronto), the Winspear Centre (Edmonton), on CBC Radio, and at numerous concert series and festivals worldwide.
Currently a Doctoral candidate (ABD) in Choral Conducting at the University of Alberta, Shawn is completing his dissertation on a collaborative choral commission with composer Andrew Balfour. In support of this project, he was recently awarded a SSHRC Fellowship (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada) through the federal government.
His academic achievements also include the Alberta Graduate Excellence Scholarship, the Opera Edmonton Assistantship Award, and the Centennial Bursary Fund Award. While in Alberta, Shawn served as Artist-in-Residence at St. George’s Anglican Church and as a Teaching Assistant with the University of Alberta’s Opera Program.
NANCY DETTBARN
COLLABORATIVE ACCOMPANIST
Pianist and Organist Nancy Dettbarn is the Minister of Music at the Westminster United Church in Orangeville, Ontario and is a member of the Music Faculty at the University of Toronto since 2007. Nancy received her degrees at the prestigious Shepherd School of Music at Rice University in Houston, Texas.
Nancy is a faculty member at the Lakefield Summer Music Festival and has piano studios in Toronto and Orangeville. She is a dynamic adjudicator and clinician who provides workshops on piano and the Alexander Technique for musicians, and plays throughout the area and in the United States as soloist and collaborator.