Joan's Journey: Beethoven & Economics

Joan Fearnley has had a unique path that leads her to choir directing. Joan holds a master’s degree in economics. After a 10-year career in pharmaceuticals as a consultant, Joan and her husband ran into issues trying to find a daycare to accommodate her son and their younger daughter. But because of their age difference, the children would have had to be separated into different daycare facilities. Because of this, Joan decided to leave work and take care of her kids full-time.

During this time at home, Joan’s love for choir and classical singing became an even more serious hobby. Joan spent her young life assisting in choirs. She even conducted her first choir at the age of 12—it was her local brownie chapter. Joan began singing in her church choir at the age of 15 and began conducting the same choir two years later. She emphasizes that she didn’t have any special talent in singing or conducting, just that there was no one else willing to conduct her church choir! During her time in university, she joined the St. Lawrence choir in Montreal and began taking vocal lessons at 21. Joan recalls feeling starstruck and excited when she finally got to sing with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra through the St. Lawrence Choir. She had the chance to sing the soprano part for Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. Joan explained that “there was a gazillion high As for the sopranos…and I was like, I can’t do this, I’m yelling through these!” At that point, she decided to 1. start taking lessons, and 2. learn how to sing in German.

Joan was more ambitious than the average hobby singer. She eventually began taking singing gigs with churches, choirs and organizing her own recitals. Eventually, she began making money—her serious hobby became a side hustle. Through her connections to the Notre Dame Cathedral in Ottawa, Joan was asked to take on the women’s choir. Initially, she had decided to try it out for six months, and it just took off from there! Five years later, she was also asked to take on the children’s choir at Notre Dame and extended her choir conducting and directing efforts to non-religious choirs such as Bytowne Voices. During this time, she also found a new vocal teacher and continued her solo vocal efforts completing a handful of solo recitals with pianist Frédéric Lacroix. Joan admits jokingly that the recitals were all her teacher, Barbara Ross’s fault.

It took her quite some time to finally be able to identify as a musician and a singer. Joan felt like an outsider for most of her musical career because she never went to university to study music. Additionally, she feels insecure about her piano and music theory skills but vows to work on them. However, Joan’s intensive research on composers, namely her research on Nadia and Lilly Boulanger, and her dedication to the craft prove just the opposite. Joan’s journey to music has been a long and winding one. But her perseverance and passion are what matters most.