Darren Hamilton is a musician, vocalist, arranger, songwriter, music educator, workshop clinician and music consultant whose musical journey encompasses a wide range of experiences in community and educational settings spanning over 20+ years. Darren has been an active community music member and gospel music enthusiast for most of his life. He has held numerous local church music leadership roles including Worship Leader, Music Director and Brass Band Director. In 2015, concluded an eight-year tenure as Regional Music and Worship Director for the Church of God of Prophecy - Eastern Canada. He has also served as a member of the Juno Award-nominated Youth Outreach Mass Choir (appearing on their 1997 CD release, Just Look) and as a member of the Juno Award-winning Toronto Mass Choir (appearing on their 2018 CD release, By Special Request). In 2017, he joined Toronto Mass Choir’s annual PowerUp Gospel Music Workshop clinician lineup as the director of the PowerUp Chorale which rehearses and performs several times during the conference weekend. Under his direction, the PowerUp Chorale recorded and contributed two songs to the 15th anniversary PowerUp Gospel Live album released in November 2019. Darren has also facilitated gospel music workshops at the annual Ontario Music Educators’ Association (OMEA) conference and for Long and McQuade’s March Break Learning Clinic Series. In the summer of 2018, Darren founded the Waterloo Region Mass Choir for which he currently serves as Artistic Director. In the fall of 2019, Darren became the Course Director of the University of Toronto Gospel Choir credit course, the first gospel music credit offering in the history of the Faculty of Music at the institution. Most recently, Darren has served as executive producer, co-producer, vocal arranger and composer on Waterloo Region Mass Choir's debut EP which released in April 2022. He has also served as creative director for video projects related to the release of the EP. In May 2022, Darren was the recipient of the 2022 MusiCounts Teacher of the Year JUNO Award. http://darrenhamilton.ca http://wrmasschoir.ca