Meet VWMC Bursary Recipient: Emma Verret
The VWMC choir has been involved in financially supporting young musicians in Greater Vancouver to assist them with the costs involved in developing their talents at the Post-Secondary level. This past year we had two very talented young singers who were awarded bursaries to assist them in their music studies at UBC. These bursaries are provided through donations from members of the choir, and supporting members of our audiences. They not only receive money but they also get opportunities to perform with the choir in concerts to display their talents.
Hello Everyone! My name is Emma Verret, you may remember me from the most recent Vancouver Welsh Men’s Christmas concerts in December 2019 as a featured soloist. Since then I have been busy with graduating from high school and keeping up with my choir and singing schedule. That is until Covid-19 changed a few things. My time in quarantine mainly consisted of lots of homework, singing and learning new hobbies such as knitting and painting. Thankfully my schedule remained the same but everything I did transitioned online.
The final months of my high school experience was completed online in my own bedroom, as well as my final year in the choir that I had been a member of for the last eight years of my life. It was a strange experience to say the least. It was tough to end so many things in such a short and abrupt way though I was fortunate enough to still have a commencement ceremony for my graduation. A community church offered their space to the four local high schools in my area to have a safe and socially distanced commencement ceremony that was recorded and streamed online so our families could watch us safely from home. I was also so thankful to receive a $500 scholarship that I can put towards my education this Fall. Though we weren’t able to have a grad party of any sort, my friends and I organized our own photo shoot so that we could still put our dresses and tuxedos to good use.
This Fall I will be attending The University of British Columbia to study voice and opera in the music program. I am beyond excited to be studying what I am most passionate about in my life and to be able to attend such a beautiful university. I am very lucky that my class is small enough to still be able to have some in person instruction as well as being able to live on campus. I’m so happy to be able to do what I love, that I can hardly wait to see what the future has in store for me.