Associate Professor & Chair, Department of Music

Dr. Rachel Rensink-Hoff is Associate Professor and Department Chair of Music at the Brock University Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine & Performing Arts. She serves as Artistic Director of the Avanti Chamber Singers and is founder and director of the Niagara Choral Connections workshop series. Prior to her appointment at Brock University, she spent eight years on faculty at McMaster University. 2014 winner of the Leslie Bell Prize for Choral Conducting of the Ontario Arts Council, Rachel and choirs under her direction have been the recipients of numerous honours and awards. Her university women’s choir earned first prize in their category of the 2015 National Choral Competition for Amateur Choirs and in 2019 the Avanti Chamber Singers was named “Most Promising New Adult Ensemble.” She received the 2022 Arts in Education Award by the City of St. Catharines and in 2024 was awarded the Faculty of Humanities Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Rachel is Past Vice-President of Programming for Choral Canada and Past-President of Choirs Ontario and maintains an active career as adjudicator, clinician, workshop presenter and juror both locally and across Canada. She has served as guest conductor of the Nova Scotia Youth Choir (2017), the Alberta Youth Choir (2022) and the Ontario Youth Choir (2023) and has presented at conferences for Choral Canada, the Ontario Music Educators’ Association and Choirs Ontario and internationally with the American Choral Director’s Association and the International Federation for Choral Music World Symposium on Choral Music. Recipient of the 2010 Choral Canada National Choral Award for Outstanding Dissertation, Rachel has published numerous articles on choral pedagogy and repertoire in the Choral Journal, Anacrusis, and the Canadian Music Educator. Her ongoing research focuses on conductor training and mentorship, choral programming, and the relationship between creativity and mental health.

Rachel holds Master of Music and Doctoral degrees in choral conducting and music education from Western University. She has also completed additional choral studies as Conducting Fellow in the Chorus America Conducting Academy and participant in the Eastman School of Music Summer Conducting Institute, the Voice Care Network of St. John’s University, Minnesota, and at the University of Toronto.

Questions about the Brock University Choirs or Ensembles-in-Residence? Email rrensinkhoff@brocku.ca