Musical Director

Living in Brisbane since 2018, Guillaume Lemay-Yates is an emerging choral conductor. Guillaume is currently the music director of the Brisbane Apollo Male Choir and the Serenata Singers; Music Director for the Queensland University Musical Society (QUMS); Associate Music Director for the Scomodo Voce Singers and guest conductor for the Noosa Chorale in 2023. He also sings with Canticum Chamber Choir under Emily Cox, AM.

 

Originally from Montreal, Canada Guillaume grew up playing violin and saxophone. His first conductorship came at the age of 14, under the tutelage of Marc Deschamps, with l’Orchestre à Vent du Collège Notre-Dame. After high school, he privately studied jazz piano and harmony with Ralph Télémaque and singing with Sophie Charbonneau. He is currently studying choral conducting with Dr. Robert Stewart at the Queensland Conservatorium.

In 2012, Guillaume founded and directed a chamber choir, first known as La Septième Majeure, and later Harmony Parallax. Upon relocating to Australia in 2018, Guillaume joined QUMS and rapidly immersed himself in the Brisbane choral world. He is a regular member of several ensembles including the Scomodo Voce Singers, Fusion Vocal Ensemble, Brisbane Chorale and Canticum Chamber Choir. Guillaume also has regularly sung at Christ Church St Lucia under Christopher Wrench and at St Mary’s Anglican Church, Kangaroo Point under Dr. Phillip Gearing. 

Since June 2021, Guillaume is the Music Director of the Brisbane Apollo Male Choir. Apollo is a community choir with a membership dedicated to retired men. The choir presents between 14 and 18 concerts every year in community centres, aged care facilities and retirement homes. Guillaume has been the Music Director of the Serenata Singers since January 2023. This mixed choir performs approximately 15 concerts per years in aged care facilities and retirement homes. Apollo and Serenata sing a wide variety of music from show tunes and musicals to opera choruses and folk songs alongside classical choral pieces.

In 2022, Guillaume co-directed the Queensland Premiere of Craig Hella Johnson’s contemporary oratorio Considering Matthew Shepard, alongside Music Director Joshua Blake and Staging Director Lucinda Shaw. The oratorio was performed by the Scomodo Voce Singers in June 2022.

Outside of singing and conducting, Guillaume is an arranger, transcriber, and producer of sheet music. He regularly arranges music for QUMS, the Scomodo Voce Singers, the Brisbane Apollo Male Choir and the Pro Musica Singers. In 2021, Guillaume scored the musical titled “Baby Boomer” written by Denny Lawrence and Clarry Evans and produced the sheet music on their behalf.