Allegra Swanson grew up dreaming of the Broadway stage, which is not at all surprising, given that her parents met onstage in a production of Anne of Green Gables at, of all places, The Charlottetown Festival on Prince Edward Island.
Allegra didn’t end up becoming that musical theatre star, but she did end up in Montreal in the Classical Music program at McGill University, singing a little opera here and there.
At the time, 22 year Allegra Swanson may not have ranked the allure of a career in Arts Administration above that of the trodding the boards bathed in the limelight, but, having grown up in a house of thespians traveling the world from gig to gig, the allure of a steady job held some sway.
In the fall of 2020, Allegra and her family left Toronto and moved to, well, just down the street from me in Dartmouth Nova Scotia when she took over the Executive Director role at Music Nova Scotia.
She was also chair the 2024 Halifax Junos Host committee - for our esteemed listeners outside of Canada, the Junos Awards are our Grammy's and BRIT Awards.
I chatted with Allegra a couple days before the Junos kicked off their celebrations in Halifax, and now on the other side of them, I can tell ya, she did a bang up job.
You can listen to the When We Wake radio broadcast live every Saturday morning between 9:30-11:00 am Atlantic (GM -4) on 88.7FM on the South Shore of Nova Scotia, or on CoveFM.com across the globe.
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