ARTISTIC DIRECTOR & ARRANGER

Anita Comba

Anita is a choral conductor and collaborative pianist for whom choral music represents a powerful and enduring form of connection. With early beginnings on the piano, her musical journey has encompassed a wide range of roles: collaborator, soloist, coach, teacher, arranger, music copyist, and ultimately choral director. She values this diversity and the way each discipline enriches and informs the others.

Anita studied piano performance and pedagogy with Dr. Robin and Winnifred Scott Wood (BMus, UVic). As a soloist, she has performed with the Victoria and Prince George Symphony Orchestras. Her range as a chamber musician has led to collaborations with brass, string, and woodwind players. In the vocal realm, she has worked extensively with singers in art song and opera, including several years with Vancouver Opera.

Anita’s long tenure as pianist with Pandora’s Vox and Espiritu Vocal Ensemble earned her the position of Resident Pianist. In 2016, she was awarded the Joyce O. Maguire Award for outstanding, long-term service as a choral accompanist. These years of playing under the inspired direction of Gillian Hunt gave her the courage to take on, in 2009, the role of Music Director with the Langley Community Chorus.

Alongside her continued directorship with the LCC, Anita has served as Artistic Director of Espiritu Vocal Ensemble since 2022. She is deeply committed to honouring and extending Gillian Hunt’s legacy of excellence in choral performance.

Currently, Anita serves as Past President of the BC Choral Federation. In 2025, she was the recipient of the Willan Award, which recognizes outstanding service to the British Columbia Choral Federation and confers membership in the Willan Council. She lives in Langley with two golden retriever dogs… oh, and a husband and son!

ACCOMPANIST

Boyana Makedonska

Bulgarian-Canadian pianist Boyana Makedonska is an active performer and educator based in Vancouver, B.C. Her introspective and sensitive sound has led her to perform across Canada and the U.S. as a soloist and chamber musician. She has attended summer programs including the Seattle Piano Institute, Orford, Tuckamore Chamber Music Festival and Alberta PianoFest where she has performed for renowned artists including John Perry, Evelyne Brancart, Sara Davis Buechner, Kyoko Hashimoto and Dr. Murray McLachlan.

Boyana has received several awards from local festivals as well as national competitions. Most notably, she was awarded the 2021 City of Victoria Medallion - the highest award for piano - in the Greater Victoria Performing Arts Festival. That same year she also won the Roberto and Mary Wood scholarship competition - the highest overall award in the GVPAF. She was also an award winner at the National Music Festival (FCMF) in the Emerging Artist Category.

In addition to performing, she is an advocate for music education, teaching theory and piano. Boyana holds a Masters in Piano Performance from the University of McGill under the tutelage of Dr. Ilya Poletaev and Prof. Eitan Globerson. In addition, she completed a Bachelors of Music with distinction in Piano Performance at the University of Victoria under the tutelage of Prof. May Ling Kwok as well as an ARCT piano performance diploma from the Royal Conservatory of Music.