Caron Daley is Director of Choral Activities, Associate Professor of Music, and Area Coordinator for Ensembles at the Mary Pappert School of Music at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Under her direction, the Duquesne University Voices of Spirit have performed across the Northeast and in Canada, including invited performances at the 2019 National Collegiate Choral Organization Conference (College Park, MD) and 2023 National Association for Music Education Eastern Division Conference (Rochester, NY). In 2018, the choir served as the ensemble-in-residence for the ACDA-Eastern Conducting Masterclasses, and in 2016 and 2022, performed with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in Heinz Hall. In 2023–24, the choir will record its first full-length album, “Wake up my Spirit”.

A native of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Caron has held past conducting appointments with the National Youth Choir of Canada, Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, University of Toronto, St. Michael’s Choir School, and Salem Academy and College. Caron frequently guest-conducts choral events, including recent festivals in Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, West Virginia, and Massachusetts. Passionate about conductor education, she founded the Halifax Choral Conducting Institute in 2012, which inaugurated a Women’s Conducting Intensive in 2019, and led the event until 2020. In 2024, she will serve as a conducting clinician for the American Choral Directors Association Eastern Division Conducting Masterclass.

A certified Dalcroze Eurhythmics teacher, Caron researches embodiment in choral singing and conducting. Her two-decade exploration of these topics has resulted in conference presentations at the Oxford International Conducting Studies Conference, International Conference of Dalcroze Studies, Phenomenon of Singing Symposium, Symposium for Research in Choral Singing, Motor Speech Conference, and Voice Foundation Symposium, as well as publications in Canadian Music Educator, The Choral Scholar, Choral Journal, Journal of Singing, and the International Journal of Research in Choral Singing. Caron is a guest author in Teaching Music through Choral Performance Vol. 4 and Vol. 5 and the Choral Conductor’s Companion. Her current interdisciplinary research investigates musculoskeletal injury prevention and intervention in conductors.

Caron holds a D.M.A. (Choral Conducting) from the University of Toronto, an M.M. (Choral Conducting) and M.A. (Vocal Pedagogy) from The Ohio State University, an Artist Diploma (Voice) and B.M. (Music Education) from Western University, and an A.R.C.T (Voice) from the Royal Conservatory of Canada. She currently serves as National Chair for College and University Choirs with the American Choral Directors Association and a Board Member with the National Collegiate Choral Organization. From 2019–21, she served as President of the American Choral Directors Association of Pennsylvania. In her free time, Caron enjoys walking the hills of Pittsburgh, riding her electric cargo bike, and playing music with her family.