Parkdale United Church - Calgary

Antonina Cox, Director of Music

Antonina Cox is happy to return to Parkdale United Church as a music director after being away for eight years, working at MacDougall United, St. Matthew’s United and Red Deer Lake United churches. She previously served at Parkdale United as a music director from 1999 to 2013.

Antonina is known in the community as a gifted accompanist and devoted teacher to many piano and theory students. She received her early training at the Special Music School in Minsk (Belarus) and was awarded the Golden medal of Honors. She earned a Bachelor of Musicology at the Conservatory in St. Petersburg (Russia), studying piano with internationally-renowned pianist Vladimir Shakin and many other musical disciplines, including composition and score-reading.

Upon returning to Minsk, she worked as an accompanist at the community centre and the State Opera and Ballet Theatre, and she also sang with an internationally acclaimed a capella group Camerata which toured in Alberta in 2010.

Since immigrating to Canada in 1992, Antonina has pursued her career in Canada as a collaborative accompanist and teacher. She studied organ performance at Mount Royal Organ Academy with Terrence Fullerton and Neil Cockburn, and in year 2001 received a Diploma of an Associate of the Royal Canadian College of Organists. She was a recipient of two scholarships for high marks at the exams.

Antonina likes to perform and has worked as an accompanist for many choirs, such as Calgary Bach Choir, Calgary Women’s Chorus, Cantaré Children’s Choir, Revv 52, the Dutch Canadian Choir and other groups and soloists in the city. In her spare time, she enjoys to travel, garden and be with her family and dog Kingsley.