An experienced choral singer, Justin Jalea has been a member of numerous professional choirs across North America including Pro Coro Canada, the Bach Festival Singers, Luminous Voices, and the Chamber Choir of Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York. He is also a member of the Canadian Chamber Choir and was featured on their 2016 JUNO-nominated recording, Sacred Reflections. Justin has had the privilege of singing under renowned conductors including Helmut Rilling, Jonathan Cohen, and Yannick Nézet-Séguin. He currently performs with various ensembles including the Studio de musique Ancienne de Montréal, the Chapelle de Québec, and the Choir of St. Andrew and St. Paul.
Justin works at the intersection of human rights, social justice, and music. He has consulted for organizations such as Musicians for Human Rights, Americans for the Arts, the Young People’s Chorus of New York City, and the National Guild for Community Arts Education.
A two-time recipient of the Ellen Battell Stoeckel Scholarship from Yale University School of Music and also the CIBC Emerging Artist Scholarship, Justin is an experienced conductor. He has studied with such renowned conductors as Simon Carrington, Jeffrey Douma, Jean-Sébastien Vallée, and Lone Larsen. He has founded numerous vocal ensembles that promote compassion and action for various social causes, including the New York-based ensemble Inspire: A Choir for Unity, whose community-building work is featured in his recently published chapter on choral music and human rights in the Routledge Handbook of Human Rights and Music. Inspire produces interactive and educational musical experiences that amplify the work of organizations seeking to make society more just, and has partnered with organizations such as Sandy Hook Promise, 350NYC, Housing Works, Sadie Nash Leadership Project, and the United Nations.
He has also worked as a researcher on these and other human rights issues for organizations such as the Sheldon Chumir Foundation, PEN Canada, and the Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism at McGill University.
Currently, Justin teaches human rights at the Faculty of Liberal Studies at Durham College and is an articling student at the Toronto office of the international law firm, DLA Piper.
Justin holds a dual JD/BCL degree from the Faculty of Law at McGill University. He also holds a Master’s degree from the Institute for the Study of Human Rights at Columbia University in New York, as well as a Master’s degree and a Bachelor of Philosophy degree from the Universities of Alberta and Toronto, respectively.