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Thursday, March 28, 2024

20 questions with Gail Suderman

Meet Gail Suderman, Artistic Director of the Good Noise Vancouver Gospel Choir.

Next up for the Good Noise Vancouver Gospel Choir is its annual gospel music workshop and concert Hallelujah Praise: Motown Meets Gospel (Feb 28 & Mar 1). The day-long workshop for gospel enthusiasts (no audition necessary) culminates in a concert the next day as participants join the 90-voice Good Noise Vancouver Gospel Choir in a soul-infused public concert. Visit https://goodnoisevgc.com for more information.

Meet Gail Suderman

From a young age, Gail pursued a two-path musical life, studying classical piano and learning all she could about gospel music. Today, she is the Director of Voice and Choral Studies at Kwantlen Polytechnic University and the Artistic Director of Vancouver’s dynamic Good Noise Vancouver Gospel Choir. She also runs a successful private voice studio, teaching award-winning classical singers and coaching R&B, rock, pop and musical theatre professionals, with students who have gone on to grace opera and concert stages throughout North America and Europe. Gail’s choirs have performed in concert with Barbra Streisand, Shania Twain, David Foster, Josh Groban, Holly Cole, Jim Byrnes as well as performing on CBC Radio and TV; Bravo, Vision and Knowledge Networks, Global TV and City TV and featured on the national Vision TV series “Gospel To Go”.

20 Questions with Gail Suderman

1. Your first job.

Working in a bank.

2. The job you always wanted as a child.

Veterinarian.

3. Your pet peeve.

Smartphone/texting addicts.

4. Your hero.

Anyone who perseveres through the challenges of life and doesn’t give up.

5. Your biggest indulgence.

I’d rather go for several little indulgences than one big one:  VIP seating at the movies, music books, handcrafted soaps, fresh-ground coffee, etc.

6. One thing no one knows about you.

I’d love to own/live on a farm.

7. Three things you would want with you on a deserted island.

The music of Bach and two dogs.

8. The one word your best friend would use to describe you.

Persevering.

9. If you were not Artistic Director of the Good Noise Vancouver Gospel Choir what would you be doing right now?

Travelling.

10. Hero or villain.

Hero.

11. Your life’s motto/mantra.

Just do it.

12. The one song that gets the most play on your iTunes playlist..

I don’t have an iTunes playlist, but if I did, anything by Stevie Wonder.

13. The last book you read.

Unbroken (still reading it).

14. If you were a cartoon character what cartoon character would you be?

Lisa Simpson.

15. What will it say on your grave marker?

I wouldn’t want anything on the grave marker that said anything about me, but rather encouraged someone who was reading the marker in their life’s journey.  Perhaps one of my favourite poems, “Mornings at Blackwater Pond”:

What I want to say is that the past is the past, and the present is what your life is, and you are capable of choosing what that will be, darling citizen.  So come to the pond, or the river of your imagination, or the harbor of your longing and put your lips to the world.  And live your life.

16. Who would you most like to have dinner with?

Johannes Brahms, 19th Century Composer (in Vienna).

17. Your idea of happiness.

Puppies, puppies, puppies.

18. If you could go back in time, what would you tell your twenty year old self?

Keep doing what you’re doing.

19. The one thing in your life that makes you most proud.

Keep doing what you’re doing.

20. To be or not to be?

To be.  Always to be.

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