Cassie Luftspring
Artistic Director
Cassie Luftspring is a multi-talented musician with a passion for conducting, composing, singing, and playing the piano. In addition to her role with Elektra, she serves as the Artistic Director of the British Columbia Girls Choir.
Throughout her career, Cassie has held conducting positions with a variety of prestigious organizations, including the Vancouver Youth Choir, Vancouver Children’s Choir, Toronto Children’s Chorus, and many more. She is the former Director of Choral Studies at the Vancouver Academy of Music. As a professional choral singer, she led the soprano section of the Vancouver Bach Choir for several years, and has performed with renowned groups such as the Vancouver Chamber Choir and musica intima.
Cassie’s talent as a composer has been recognized through her seven wins in the Amadeus Choir’s Songwriting Competition, and her compositions and arrangements have been commissioned and performed by ensembles across North America.
A highly accomplished scholar, Cassie has received numerous academic awards, including the Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship and the Ontario Graduate Scholarship. In April 2025, Cassie was named a recipient of the King Charles III Coronation Medal. She holds a Master of Music degree in choral conducting from the University of Toronto and a degree in piano and composition from Queen’s University.
Stephen Smith
Pianist
Stephen Smith grew up in rural Nova Scotia, where he sang and played the piano from an early age. After initial studies in his home province in both piano and organ, he attended the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England. While there, he participated in national and international competitions and won numerous awards and distinctions. Since 1990, Stephen has lived in Vancouver, obtaining his doctoral degree in piano performance from the University of British Columbia, and contributing to the musical life of the city as a performer, teacher, conductor, composer and arranger.
Central to Stephen’s career is his long-standing relationship with some of Vancouver’s finest choral groups. In addition to his work with Elektra (which he has accompanied since 2001), he is also resident accompanist of the Vancouver Men’s Chorus, pianist for the Vancouver Bach Choir, and a frequent collaborator with the Vancouver Chamber Choir and many other ensembles.
As a composer and arranger, Stephen has been commissioned by dozens of individual choirs across North America, and by such entities as the National Youth Choir of Canada, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and the Women’s Commissioning Consortium of the American Choral Directors’ Association. His music is published by Cypress Choral Music, Rhythmic Trident Music Publishing, Alliance, and ECS, and self-published online at MusicaNeo and SheetMusicDirect. Stephen’s work as both composer and pianist can be heard on dozens of commercially-released recordings, including a solo album of classical piano miniatures entitled “Kaleidoscope,” available on all the popular music-streaming platforms.