Artistic Staff

Jeannie Vanwynsberghe Pernal

Jeannie has focused her passions and talent on the development of young male voices for the last twenty-five years. She received her received her Bachelor of Music Education and Kodaly Certification from Brandon University. She specialized in Elementary Music Education and choral conducting. In addition, she was awarded her Voice Care Certificate from St. John’s University, North Dakota. Upon graduation from university, she secured a position as Director of Music at the all boys St. John’s Ravenscourt School in Winnipeg. In 1998 she moved to Vancouver, where she founded and directed the Boys’ Division of the Vancouver Children’s Choir. In October of 2001, Jeannie moved to Grande Prairie with her family, and formed the Grande Prairie Boys’ Choir. In 2013, Jeannie was awarded the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal for her work with the choir and the choir’s contribution to the community. Recently Jeannie and the boys were awarded the Con Spirito award for their contribution to choral music in the province of AB. She currently mentors under Elise Bradley of the Toronto Children’s Chorus and Trent Worthington of Edmonton. Jeannie is married to Steve Pernal, and together they have three children.

Trent Worthington

Trent Worthington is an Alberta musician who has been active in the Edmonton-area arts community for several decades. His activities include music performance and conducting, teaching, composing, recording, consulting, and having fun making music. He performed with Pro Coro Canada as a singer for almost thirty years, in addition to being chorus master and associate conductor for ten of those years. Trent has also been a founding member of VOCE The A Cappella Experience, and is a long-suffering member of the PreTenors Comedy Opera Troupe. Trent has written and arranged music for dozens of orchestras and choirs, including the Saskatchewan Honour Choir, the award winning Chronos Vocal Ensemble, The Redemptorist Community, iCoristi Chamber Choir ProCoro Canada, and the popular Edmonton Singing Christmas Tree. The Edmonton Metropolitan Chorus has produced an entire concert consisting solely of his compositions. He has served as an adjudicator for Festivals on a provincial and national level. Trent holds a Masters in Education degree from the University of Alberta. He has taught math, computing technology, special education and music in K-12 education, as well as teaching music at Alberta College and computing technology and music at King’s University College. Trent has also done studio work for television, film and music as editor, producer and performer, and has been a gigging musician for most of his life. Trent is currently teaching at George Simpson Junior High School in St. Albert, Alberta, where he lives with his wife Dianne.

Shamah de Villiers

Katherine Pernal

Jeremy Thielman

Jeremy grew up in Debolt, AB and started piano lessons at age 7. He performed regularly in the GP Music Festival and was twice recommended to the Provincial Festival. He achieved his ARCT in Piano Performance in 2007 and his Bachelor of Music (University of Alberta) in 2016. In between, he went to bible school, got married, started teaching piano, and started a family. Along with accompanying the boys choir, Jeremy also teaches piano and music theory, accompanies the voice students at GPRC, and enjoys family time with his wife and three kids.

Carmen Bartel

Carmen Bartel began her musical studies with Vera Schopp in Lanigan, Saskatchewan. She advanced to the studio of Dr. Lyell Gustin in Saskatoon where she completed her Licentiate Performer’s Diploma through the Trinity College of Music. Carmen went on to complete an Honours Bachelor of Music Degree from Wilfred Laurier University in Waterloo Ontario.

Carmen has lived in the Peace Region for approximately 30 years. She is a piano instructor for the Grande Prairie Regional College Conservatory and operates a private studio in Grande Prairie. Carmen is active in the community as an accompanist for college and community members. She currently teaches students from all areas of the Peace Region and is the accompanist for the Senior and Men of Note Choirs of the Grande Prairie Boys’ Choir.

Shaley de Villiers

Raised in Grande Prairie, Shaley de Villiers has been singing, playing, and performing in the Peace Region for almost 20 years. Whether she was playing piano, attending provincial voice and musical theatre competitions, or starring as Cosette and Hope Langdon in GPLT’s productions of Les Miserables and Something’s Afoot respectively, Shaley’s passion for music has always been evident. After studying voice for two years at Grande Prairie Regional College, she moved to the Augustana Faculty of the University of Alberta where she received her Bachelor of Music degree: Vocal Performance Major, with distinction in 2018. Since then she has been teaching at the Augustana Faculty of the U of A as their community voice instructor. In that time, she has had students perform in The Sound of Music, Les Misérables, and The Addams Family. She has also had students receive provincial recommendations to the Alberta Music Festival. Shaley spent the last year as musical director and conductor of the Camrose Golden Tones, a choir of senior citizens aged 65+. Shaley has now returned to Grande Prairie where she teaches private voice lessons, music theory, and ear training. When Shaley is not singing, she can be found watching baseball or talking about cats with her amazing husband, Grande Prairie Boys’ Choir alumnus, Shamah de Villiers.

Mary-Ann Lynch

Cam Irwin

Tairas Fournier

James Morrison