Caron Daley is Chair of the Performance Department, Director of Choral Activities, and Associate Professor of Music at the Mary Pappert School of Music at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Under her direction since 2015, the Duquesne University Voices of Spirit have performed across the Northeast and in Canada, including invited performances at the 2019 National Collegiate Choral Organization Conference, 2023 National Association for Music Education Eastern Division Conference, 2024 College Music Society National Conference, and 2026 Pennsylvania Music Educators Association Conference. The choir released its first full-length album in 2024, “Wake up my Spirit”.
A native of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Caron has held past conducting appointments with the National Youth Choir of Canada, Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, University of Toronto, St. Michael’s Choir School, and Salem Academy and College. She is frequently invited to guest-conduct, serving as guest Music Director of the Back Bay Chorale in Boston, MA in 2024, and conducting recent festivals in Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, and California. Passionate about conductor education, Caron led the Halifax Choral Conducting Institute from 2012–20, Duquesne University Choral Kaleidoscope from 2017–21, and in 2024, served as a guest clinician for the Graduate Conducting Masterclass at the ACDA Eastern Division Conference. As a choral singer, she has performed with the National Youth Choir of Canada, Festival Ensemble of the Backakademie Stuttgart, Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, Symphony Nova Scotia Chorus, Halifax Camerata, North Carolina Master Chorale, Bel Canto Company, and Columbus Symphony Chorus.
Caron’s research on choral embodiment and musician injury prevention has resulted in conference presentations at the Oxford International Conducting Studies Conference, International Conference of Dalcroze Studies, Phenomenon of Singing Symposium, Symposium for Research in Choral Singing, Motor Speech Conference, Voice Foundation Symposium, and Global Summit on Occupational Health in Music. Her research is published in Canadian Music Educator, The Choral Scholar, Choral Journal, Journal of Singing, College Music Symposium, and the International Journal of Research in Choral Singing. Caron is a guest author in Teaching Music through Choral Performance Vol. 4 and Vol. 5, Choral Conductor’s Companion, Choral Repertoire by Women Composers, and The Oxford Handbook of Musician Health Advocacy (forthcoming). She currently serves as Editor-in-Chief of Choral Canada’s Anacrusis journal.
Caron holds a D.M.A. in Choral Conducting from the University of Toronto, an M.M. in Choral Conducting and M.A. in Vocal Pedagogy from The Ohio State University, an Artist Diploma in Voice Performance and an Honours B.M. in Music Education from Western University, and an Associate Diploma in Voice from the Royal Conservatory of Canada.
