Composers' Biographies
- Home
- Resources and Publications
- Store
- Music Publications
- Composers' Biographies
Thomas Annand has been delighting both audiences and critics alike with his many-faceted talents as organist, harpsichordist and conductor. After initial training with the late Graham Steed in Halifax, he studied organ, harpsichord and conducting at McGill University where he took his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees under the direction of John Grew. Further studies in Europe followed with Marie-Claire Alain and Lionel Rogg. After winning First Prize at the RCCO National Organ Competition in 1987, Mr. Annand embarked on a solo career on organ and harpsichord. Since then he has given recitals across Canada, the USA and Europe, has been featured on CBC and NPR, and has recorded several discs.
In 1992 he was appointed Director of Music at historic St Andrew’s Church, Ottawa and quickly became one of that city’s most active musicians. He is the organist and harpsichordist for the National Arts Centre Orchestra and the Thirteen Strings, both of which he has appeared with as soloist, and was co-founder and conductor of Capital Brass Works for six seasons. Mr Annand has taught at the University of Ottawa and was a former conductor and Artistic Director of the Ottawa Chamber Orchestra. He has been a featured soloist at the International Congress of Organists, the Carmel Bach Festival, the Boston Early Music Festival and the Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival. He is a regular guest conductor with the Thirteen Strings Baroque Orchestra and recently completed his second American tour with Les Violons du Roy.
In 2004 he was named a Fellow of the Royal Canadian College of Organists, and in 2004/2005 presented the Bach Harpsichord Masterpieces Series, performing all of Bach’s major keyboard works in seven recitals. For two seasons he hosted “Encounters with Bach”, a series of lecture-recitals at the Flentrop organ of the National Arts Centre as part of the NAC Great Composers Festival.
Two Christmas Anthems
Although he was born in Melbourne, and returned in 2005, Gordon Atkinson spent much of his life in England and North America. Following study in Melbourne with Dr AEH Nickson, he attended the Royal College of Music in London from 1950 to 1953 where Dr Harold Darke was his organ teacher. He was organist at St John the Baptist, Holland Road, Kensington, where two of his predecessors were Dr Healey Willan and Sir William Harris. He moved to Canada in 1958. He taught at the University of Western Ontario and Brock University, and was President of the Royal Canadian College of Organists (1976-78). As Director of Music at the Cathedral of St Catherine, St Catharines, Ontario he was consultant for the 3 manual instrument built by Orgues Létourneau. His Master's degree is from the University of Michigan where he studied organ with Dr Marilyn Mason, and his 30 minute work for Soprano Solo, SATB Choir and Organ, Psalms and Doxologies was submitted as the completion of his doctorate. The solo setting of Psalm 27 was performed at Central Synagogue in New York in January, 2006. He has composed a number of organ works including Celebration, commissioned by Marilyn Mason which was published in the USA in 2006. His choral pieces range from anthems for various combinations of voices, a set of songs for soprano and oboe to Immensity One: With Sounds of Exultation, for SATB Choir, Organ, Brass Quintet and Tympani. He has written eight settings of the Mass. Dr Atkinson's Adoro Te was played at The Scots' Church, Melbourne in 2007. It appears on a CD played by Dr Marijim Thoene at St Joseph Abbey, St Benedict, LA on the splendid Dobson Pipe Organ.
Soliloquy No. 2 (Te Deum Laudamus I)
Stuart Beaudoin has over 35 years of experience as a church musician in the Greater Toronto region. He has long been involved in various programs of the Royal Canadian College of Organists both in the Toronto Centre and in relation to the National Office. He also participated with the preparation of the Voices United hymnal of the United Church of Canada.
Stuart conducts a variety of chamber choir, orchestra and ecumenical groups. He holds a Master’s Degree in English from the University of Toronto and is an Associate of the Royal Canadian College of Organists. In 2016, he completed the Master of Sacred Music degree at Emmanuel College, University of Toronto with an emphasis on composition. A performer of all styles of music from the seventh century through the Christian contemporary style of the present, Stuart believes in offering all styles of good c for worship.
Denis Bédard, who was born in Québec City in 1950, first studied music at the Conservatoire de musique de Québec, graduating with first class honours in organ, harpsichord, chamber music, counterpoint and fugue. He continued his studies in Paris and Montréal, as well as in Amsterdam with Gustav Leonhardt, and was laureate of the Prix d'Europe in 1975 and of the CBC Radio Talent Competition in 1978. A professor at the Conservatoire de musique de Québec from 1981 until 1989, he was organist at St-Coeur-de-Marie church in Québec City for 19 years. Since 2001 he has been organist and music director at Holy Rosary Cathedral in Vancouver and organ professor at the University of British Columbia. He has given recitals across Canada and abroad. Denis Bédard has composed more than seventy works, including chamber music, orchestral and vocal music, and numerous organ works. His music, essentially tonal and melodic, is characterised by a concern for formal clarity and immediate communication with as large a public as possible.
Masque (Te Deum Laudamus I)
Professor Norman John P. Brown, BPhil (Oxon), MA, BA, FRCCO (Hon.), was born in Dover, England, in 1922, and passed away in Kingston, Ontario, in 2014. He was President of the Royal Canadian College of Organists from 1992 to 1994 and Honorary President from 2010. He was active in the College for many decades at both the Centre and National levels and was the author of the Centre Presidents’ Handbook. Norman began playing the piano at age six and took up the organ at age 14 when enrolled at Westminster School in London where he became school organist. He read Philosophy at Christ Church, Oxford, receiving undergraduate and graduate degrees, culminating in a BPhil thesis on Aristotle in 1948. While at Oxford, he took organ instruction at Exeter College and was encouraged to practise improvisation. It was also during this time that he converted from the Church of England to Roman Catholicism. In 1952, he became the founding member of the Philosophy Department at Memorial University of Newfoundland. In St. John’s, he played for occasional masses at the Basilica and for broadcasts on CBC Radio. His arrangement of the Newfoundland folksong “She’s Like the Swallow” was recorded under the baton of Ignatius Rumboldt and later published by Waterloo Music. In 1965, Norman was appointed to the Philosophy Department at Queen’s University, where he remained until 1987 and where he explored an increased interest in Medieval Philosophy, including Aquinas. He was the Organist and Choir Director at St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Cathedral in Kingston from 1975 to 2008. He programmed music from Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, and other Christian traditions and composed a number of introits, an anthem, a carol arrangement, and a set of much-loved pieces for the Feast of Corpus Christi. His improvisations inspired the devotion of musical colleagues, congregation, and clergy alike.
Giles Bryant - Since 1941, when he first began to sing as a treble in his school Chapel choir, Giles Bryant has been actively engaged with choral music, both as a singer and as an organist and choirmaster. He has an Honours degree in English Language and Literature from London University and holds both the Associate and Choirmaster's Diplomas (John Brook Prize) of the Royal College of Organists. He served in the Royal Air Force as a Pilot Officer (Instructor). Dr Bryant was organist and choirmaster of St Andrew's Presbyterian Church in Toronto. After working with Healey Willan on cataloguing his works, in 1968 he succeeded Willan at the Church of St Mary Magdalene. In 1979 he was appointed Organist and Master of the Choristers at St. James' Cathedral. He was the founder- conductor of the Clerkes and the Sine Nomine Singers, and has conducted the Festival Singers of Canada and the Toronto Concert Singers. In 1990 he became Chorus Master for the Toronto Philharmonic Orchestra. He is greatly in demand as lecturer and clinician on choral subjects, and has adjudicated choirs extensively in Canada, England and the USA. He has given organ recitals across Canada, in England, France, and Spain. Dr Bryant has written many articles on choral matters in Canada and in England, and is a contributor to the Encyclopedia of Music in Canada, and Grove's Dictionary of Music. He is the author of Healey Willan Catalogue (National Library of Canada 1972). In 1988 he was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Sacred Letters by Wycliffe College, for his services to Anglican Church Music, and an honorary Doctorate of Sacred Letters by Trinity College in 2001. He was National President of the Royal Canadian College of Organists from 1990 to 1992. He was awarded the FRCCO (Hon. Causa) in 1993. In 1996 he was given the Distinguished Service Award of the Ontario Choral Federation. He retired from St James Cathedral in 1999 and became Organist and Choirmaster at All Saints Church, Peterborough. He is Organist and Master of the Choristers Emeritus of St James' Cathedral and was named a Lay Canon of the Diocese of Toronto in 1998.
Variations on the Huron Carol 'Jesous Ahatonhia'
Dr. John Burge was born in Dryden Ontario in 1961 and grew up in Calgary studying the piano with Dorothy Hare. He holds three degrees in Composition and Theory from the Universities of Toronto and British Columbia and since 1987, has been teaching at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, where he is a full professor. For his outstanding work as a composer over the years, in 2013 he was awarded a Queen's University Award for Excellence in Research and Scholarship. He has composed a large body of instrumental and vocal music in all genres and his work, Flanders Fields Reflections, for string orchestra, received the 2009 Juno Award for the Best Canadian Classical Composition. Burge loves working with young musicians and is in high demand as a music festival adjudicator. In recent years he has joined the Red Leaf Pianoworks collective and has been performing solo piano recitals of his own compositions. A passionate advocate for Canadian music he was an executive member of the Canadian League of Composers from 1993-2007 (President from 1998-2006) and currently sits on the board of Directors for the SOCAN Foundation and is Chair of the board for the Music at Port Milford Summer Music School and Festival.
Barrie Cabena was born and educated in Melbourne, Australia. He continued his musical study at the Royal College of Music in London, studying organ with John Dykes Bower, composition with Herbert Howells, and piano with Eric Harrison. In 1957 he came to Canada to take up the post of organist of First St Andrew's United Church, London. In 1970 he was appointed to the Faculty of Waterloo Lutheran University (now Wilfrid Laurier). He is now Professor Emeritus. He served as National President of the RCCO from 1967 to 1969. Barrie Cabena is a prolific composer: his opuses number well over 400, of which 42 are organ sonatas. His music is published by Jaymar, Gordon V. Thompson, H.W. Gray, and Waterloo Music. Barrie Cabena’s honorary awards include a Doctorate in Divinity from the Atlantic School of Theology, the silver medal of the Académie française, the FRCCO diploma, and the Musician of the Year Award from the Kitchener-Waterloo Arts Council.
Improvisation, Opus 440 (Te Deum Laudamus I)
Fanfare and Little Rondo (Rejoice!)
David Cameron was born and educated in Toronto, where his teachers included Catherine Palmer, Douglas Bodle, Paul Murray and Eric Rollinson. Later graduate study in Potsdam, N.Y., St Louis and Chicago concentrated upon applied musicology and composition. In 1966 he moved to Kingston, Ontario, to become Director of Music at Chalmers United Church, a position from which he retired in 2010. He also taught organ and other subjects for Queen's School of Music from the inception of the B.Mus. program at the university, in the fall of 1969, until 2011.
As Music Director of the concert choir and chamber orchestra Melos, David Cameron's concert credits include thirty-seven Messiahs, most of the standard settings of the Requiem, both Bach Passions and the Mass in b minor, Leonard Bernstein's Chichester Psalms, and a long list of other works: the Duruflé Requiem, Bach's Ascension Oratorio, Mozart's Great Mass in c minor, K. 427, Haydn's Paukenmesse and several performances of his Lord Nelson Mass; staged versions of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas and Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors, and dozens of smaller works. In recent years Melos has been the only professional chamber orchestra between Toronto and Montreal to specialize in authentic performances of early music. In the fall of 2013 David Cameron retired to become Melos' Music Director Emeritus.
At Chalmers Church Dr. Cameron directed a semi-professional choir, which broadcast live every Sunday, performing repertoire largely from the English cathedral tradition, but with substantial representation of music by Canadians and other living composers. He is an active composer and the author of several harmony and counterpoint textbooks. A Fellow of Trinity College of London and of the Royal Canadian College of Organists, David Cameron served as the College's fiftieth President in 2006-08. Now in 2014 he continues as Chair of the National Examination Committee. In 2013 the College awarded him the diploma of FRCCO (honoris causa), just fifty years after he earned the FRCCO by examination.
Blessed Jesus, at your word
Then Shall Your Light Shine
The Lord's Dance
Processional on Vaughan Williams' Sine Nomine (Te Deum Laudamus I)
Michael Capon serves as Director of Music at St. George's Anglican Cathedral in Kingston Ontario, and is active as a performer, conductor, composer, and teacher. In addition to his church work, Michael has directed community choirs and orchestras, directed music for theatrical productions, taught music theory and organ students, and adjudicated at music festivals and competitions.
Recent compositions include I sought you, Lordfor a capella choir, premiered in Oactober 2010, Bless the Lord, O my soul for choir, congregation, and keyboard, premiered in May 2012, New Life Mass for congregational singing, premiered in October 2012, a newly-orchestrated version of In Flanders Fields, premiered in November 2014 by the Ottawa Choral Society, and Psalm 103, premiered at the consecration of Mary Irwin-Gibson as Bishop of Montreal in September, 2015.
Michael has won first prize in the Quebec-wide John Robb Organ Competition and Second Prize in the Royal Canadian College of Organists' National Organ Playing Competition, and has recorded for CBC Radio and Vision TV. He earned his Master of Music degree from McGill University in Organ Performance, and his A.R.C.T. (Royal Conservatory of Toronto) in Piano Performance.
Other church positions include Director of Music at Glenview Presbyterian Church and Timothy Eaton United Church in Toronto, Ontario; Director of Music at Christ Church Cathedral in Fredericton, New Brunswick; and Assistant Organist at St. George's Cathedral in Perth, Australia.
Love, Joy and Peace
Morning Prayer
Promenade (Te Deum Laudamus II)
Come Sing, O Church, In Joy!
Paul Chappel is a teacher and composer who has served in several churches in music ministry and as a lay preacher. He studied organ and conducting in Canada, the United States and England, and particularly enjoyed conducting lessons with Gerald Bales. His respect and admiration for Gerald Bales led him to initiate the Te Deum Laudamus memorial collection. As Archivist/Historian for the RCCO from 1996 to 2004, Mr Chappel did much valuable research and writing about important members of the College. Paul Chappel is a member of the Hamilton and Brantford Centres.
Meditation on Hyfrydol (Te Deum Laudamus II)
F.R.C. Clarke The late F.R.C. Clarke was Organist Emeritus of Sydenham Street United Church in Kingston, Ontario, and Professor Emeritus of Queen's University School of Music, of which he was Director from 1981 to 1991. He was born in Vancouver, and studied in Toronto, where his organ teacher was Eric Rollinson and his composition teacher Healey Willan. He completed an FCCO in 1952 and the degree of Doctor of Music from the University of Toronto in 1954. His book Healey Willan: Life and Music remains the most important volume on the subject of this composer. Dr Clarke's composition include many published anthems and organ works. F.R.C. Clarke passed away November 18th, 2009 at his home in Kingston, Ontario.
Three Easy Anthems
To My Humble Supplication
Variations in Fidelis (Te Deum Laudamus II)
Born and raised in Parry Sound, Ontario, Eleanor Daley received her Bachelor of Music Degree in Organ Performance from Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario and holds diplomas in piano and organ from the Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto and Trinity College, England. She has been the Director of Music at Fairlawn Avenue United Church in Toronto, Ontario since 1982. During this time, she has established a thriving choral program for which much of her music has been composed, thanks to the continuing support and talent of her choirs.
A prolific composer, Eleanor has a remarkable gift for melody. Her works are most notable for their sensitive interweaving of text and music. She has over one hundred published choral compositions and is commissioned extensively throughout North America. Included in her unpublished choral works are dozens of anthems, twelve Missae Breves, three pageants, and hundreds of descants, introits, and psalm settings. Her compositions have been widely performed, recorded, and aired throughout North America, Great Britain, Europe, South Africa, and the Far East. Her works are published by eleven publishing houses in Canada, the United States and Great Britain, including Oxford University Press (US and UK), Alliance Music Publications Inc., Hinshaw Music, Rhythmic Trident Publishing, the RCCO, Santa Barbara Music Publishing Inc., Treble Clef Press and Walton Music.
Rose Trilogy, commissioned by the ORIANA Women's Choir of Toronto, received the National Choral Award for Outstanding Choral Composition of the Year in 2004. Requiem, recorded by the Amadeus Choir of Toronto in 2000 on their CD, Songs of the Spirit, received the same honour in 1994, and won the National Choral Award for Outstanding Recording in 2002, all awards being given by the Association of Canadian Choral Conductors (ACCC).
Commissioned works for Canadian Choirs include the Elmer Iseler Singers, the Amadeus Choir, the Bach Children's Chorus, the Toronto Children's Chorus, the Amabile Youth Singers, St. Marys Children's Choir, the Cantabile Singers of Kingston, the Savridi Singers, the Vancouver Men's Chorus and the Victoria Scholars, as well as numerous other community and church choirs. Eleanor was commissioned by the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) to write a choral work for the 2008 Regional Conventions- the first Canadian composer to have received this honour. Other US commissions include the Master Chorale of Tampa Bay, Florida; Texas Women's University Choir; the Alliance World Festival of Women's Singing in Salt Lake City, and the Texas Choral Directors Association. She has also written works for choirs in other states including New York, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Kentucky, and Missouri. European commissions include the Norbusang Festival in Bodo, Norway, the Touch the Future Festival in Germany and Oxford University Press in Cambridge, England. Eleanor was invited to be the first Composer-in-Residence at the international choral festival, FESTIVAL 500, in July 2005, in St. John's, Newfoundland.
As well as being a highly respected choral clinician in Canada and the US, Eleanor is a busy freelance accompanist. She has worked with numerous choirs, including the Toronto Children's Chorus, the Elmer Iseler Singers, the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, the Guelph Youth Singers and St. Marys Children's Choir. She has been the accompanist for The Bach Children's Chorus under Linda Beaupre's direction since 1995 and was the accompanist for the Amadeus Choir under Lydia Adams' direction from 1991-2005.
Raymond Daveluy has had an active career as organist of several Montreal churches, including St Joseph’s Oratory from 1960 to 2002. He is well-known as a recitalist, adjudicator and composer. His compositions include organ and piano solos, a concerto for organ and orchestra, chamber music works and choral works. Many have been published by Europart-Music, by Jacques Ostiguy, and by Éditions Lucarel, and a good number have been recorded on disk. He himself has recorded organ works on several labels, including works by Bach, Corrette, Daquin, Franck, Marchand and Liszt. Raymond Daveluy taught organ and improvisation at the Conservatoire de Trois-Riviéres and the Conservatoire de Montréal, and served as Director of these two institutions between 1968 and 1978. He is a Member of the Order of Canada, Fellow (Honoris Causa) of the RCCO and a recipient of Canada’s 125th Anniversary Medal. Raymond Daveluy is now a member of the Ottawa Centre of the RCCO.
Mélodie (Te Deum Laudamus II)
Florence Durell Clarke was born in Rochester New York on April 29, 1891. Her parents, who were Canadian, moved to Hamilton where her father George J. Clark served as choirleader of James Street Baptist church from 1895-1906. Florence obtained a B.Mus. degree from the University of Toronto, where she studied composition with Sir Ernest MacMillan and violin with Ella Howard and Luigi von Kunits, a pupil of Anton Bruckner. She earned the diploma Licentiate of Trinity College, London, and became only the third woman to earn the designation Fellow of the Canadian College of Organists. An active member of the RCCO, Hamilton Centre, she was made a life member of the Centre and was also recognised as an Honorary member of the RCCO. Florence Clark wrote organ works, compositions for strings, vocal solos, and choral works. Her published compositions include Prelude on a 2nd Mode Melody and Carillon. Her manuscripts are in the Special Collections Department of the Hamilton Public Library. Florence Durrell Clark died on Christmas Eve, 1977.
Jeff Enns is a native of Waterloo, Ontario where he attended Wilfrid Laurier University studying organ, viola and composition. He was an organ student of Barrie Cabena. He has won a number of composition competitions and had his music performed in North America, Ireland, the U.K and Japan. He has received many commissions from choral groups across Canada such as Conrad Grebel College (ON), Halifax Camerata (NS), Xara Choral Theatre (NS), Saskatoon Chamber Singers (SK), University of Alberta Madrigal Singers (AB), Spiritus Chamber Choir (AB), and Vox Humana Chamber Choir (BC). He has an organ works published by Morning Star Music Publishers as well as the RCCO. He is presently music director at St. James Lutheran Church in Elmira, sings professionally with the Canadian Chamber Choir and the Elora Festival Singers and teaches violin and viola at the Beckett School in Kitchener.
Now Lord you let your servant go in peace
Toccata on 'Darwall's 148th' (Rejoice!)
Nicholas Fairbank is a member of the Victoria Centre of the RCCO, and keeps busy as a composer, collaborative pianist, harpsichordist and organist, conductor, adjudicator, clinician and teacher. After early studies in Vancouver he pursued further musical training in London, England and Paris, France, studying organ with Christopher Herrick, Richard Popplewell and Naji Hakim. He holds Master's degrees from the Université de Paris (Musicology & French literature), the University of California at Santa Barbara (French language and pedagogy), and the University of Victoria (Composition), as well as Associateship diplomas from the Royal Conservatory of Music (gold medal winner for pipe organ, 1981), and the Royal Canadian College of Organists (Willan and Barker prizes 1998). His composition teachers have included Stephen Chatman and John Celona. He is an Associate Composer of the Canadian Music Centre and a member of SOCAN.
Mr Fairbank is currently Instructor of Organ and Harpsichord at the Victoria Conservatory of Music, Music Director at First Unitarian Church of Victoria, and Artistic Director of both the Via Choralis chamber choir and Viva Youth Voices. As an organ recitalist he has performed across the country as well as in Europe and Mexico. His catalogue of compositions includes more than 80 works for voice, piano and organ solo, and for various choral and instrumental ensembles. www.fairbankmusic.ca
Winnagene Hatch is Director of Music at Lambeth United Church in London, Ontario. For many years, she has been actively involved as a published composer of choral music for church and school. One of her anthems is published by the RCCO. A graduate of the University of Toronto in Music and Education, and of the Royal Conservatory of Music, Winnagene Hatch is a former Secondary School teacher. She is a member of the London Centre of the RCCO, and has served on the Executive.
O Love, How Deep
Little Prelude on St Agnes, Durham (Te Deum Laudamus II)
Chellan Hoffman was born in the rural community of Yorkton, Saskatchewan in 1967. She began lessons on electronic organ at age four and by age ten, was playing services in her church. While completing a Bachelor of Education degree at the University of Saskatchewan, she was introduced to the pipe organ at age 21. She pursued lessons, earned her CRCCO diploma, and gained valuable experience as a chorister and organist at St. John's Anglican Cathedral, Saskatoon.
In 1992, she moved to Calgary, Alberta, and became assistant organist at Christ Church Anglican. In 1996, she completed a Bachelor of Music degree in organ performance (with distinction), studying with Margaret Newman. She travelled on two choir tours to England, playing daily services in cathedrals including St. Paul's London and Salisbury. In 2008, she became assistant music director at Grace Presbyterian, and earned a Master of Music degree in organ performance (2011), under the tutelage of Dr. Neil Cockburn. In 2013, she was appointed music director of Knox United Church – an historical downtown building which provides both sacred space and bustling concert venue for the community.
Chellan collaborates with many choral and instrumental ensembles in western Canada, and is a tuning assistant with the firm, Pipework. An enthusiastic advocate for the instrument, she introduces the organ to the public through organ crawls, demonstrations and education programs. She served as Chair of RCCO Calgary Centre from 2008-2014 and participates annually in the Calgary Organ Festival as performer, event organizer, teacher, and symposium presenter. In her other life, she rides a motorbike, and is the mother of two boys who love hockey!
Derek Holman was born in England, and educated at Truro School and the Royal Academy of Music. He holds the degree of Doctor of Music from the University of London. Before emigrating to Canada in 1965, he was Warden of the Royal School of Church Music, and Organist of Croydon Parish Church. In Toronto he was organist and choirmaster at Grace Church on-the-Hill, and later at the Church of St Simon the Apostle. For ten years he conducted the Canadian Children’s Opera Chorus, and for almost thirty years was a professor in the Faculty of Music at the University of Toronto. He is a prolific composer, primarily of vocal and choral music. Dr Holman is a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music, the Royal School of Church Music, and the RCCO. In 2003 he was invested as a member of the Order of Canada.
Prelude and Fugue in stile antico (Te Deum Laudamus II)
Dennis R. Johnson, AAGO, is a native of Lindsberg, Kansas, and a graduate of Bethany College (Lindsberg, Kansas) and Wichita State University. A church musician since his early teens, he has published numerous choral, instrumental and keyboard works.
Robin John King was born in Toronto and began his music career there in the choirs of St James’ Cathedral and Royal St George’s College. He is a graduate of the University of Toronto (1985) where he studied organ and church music on a scholarship from the Bishop F.H. Wilkinson Foundation. His teachers included John Tuttle, William Wright, Godfrey Ridout and Talivaldis Kenins. A recipient of the Lilian Forsyth Scholarship in 1985, he continued to study organ and composition with Barrie Cabena. He was Music Director at Robertson-Wesley Church in Edmonton from 1988 to 1993 and Executive Director of the Alberta Choral Federation from 1994 to 2001. He has been the Music Director at St Andrew’s United Church, Edmonton, since 1995 and is the conductor of the choir Vocal Alchemy. He has won choral and handbell composition competitions, including the 2003 Carol Competition of the Amadeus Choir of Toronto, and is frequently commissioned. He has titles in print with Gordon V. Thompson, Kellman Hall and the RCCO.
Breathe on me, breath of God
Lead Me Lord
Morning Has Broken
Psalm 51, Have Mercy on Me
Idyll (Te Deum Laudamus I)
Jacobus Kloppers was born in 1937 in Krugersdorp, South Africa and studied at the University of Potchefstroom, the University of South Africa, and with Helmut Walcha at the Musikhochschule in Frankfurt am Main. He received a Ph.D. from the Goethe University in Frankfurt in 1966 with a dissertation on the interpretation of J.S. Bach's organ works. In 1976 he emigrated with his family to Canada. Since 1979 he has been Chair of the Music Department at The King's University College in Edmonton. He has been active as organist/choir director of St John's Anglican Church in Edmonton, organ recitalist, lecturer on Bach interpretation, organ consultant and composer. He is Adjunct Professor of Organ at the University of Alberta, an Honorary Fellow of the RCCO, Associate Composer of the Canadian Music Centre and member of the Canadian League of Composers. His approximately 60 compositions are predominantly liturgical organ and choral music. His pieces have been performed in Europe, North and South America and South Africa.
Cantabile and Scherzo on the name Gerald Bales (Te Deum Laudamus I)
Scott Knarr, a native of Kitchener, has been Director of Music at Mount Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church, Waterloo, Ontario since 2007. He completed a Bachelor of Music at the University of Ottawa and a Bachelor of Education at the University of Windsor. His organ teachers have included Frances Macdonnell, Karen Holmes and l'abbé Antoine Bouchard. Scott has composed primarily liturgical works for modest church choirs and his Responsory for Good Friday was particularly well-received. He recently completed a Master of Arts in Theology (2014) at Waterloo Lutheran Seminary, studying how singing in the choir impacts the chorister's experience of the worship service. He is a candidate for diaconal ministry with Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada.
Rachel Laurin was Associate Organist at St-Joseph's Oratory, Montreal, from 1986 to 2002 and Titular Organist at Notre Dame Cathedral, Ottawa, from 2002 to 2006. Since then, she devotes herself to composition, concerts, lectures and workshops. Born in the village of St-Benoît, Québec, she received most of her musical training with Raymond Daveluy in Montreal. Other teachers include Gaston and Lucienne Arel (organ), Raoul Sosa (piano) and Nick Ayoub (jazz).
She has performed organ recitals in major cities in Canada, the United States and Europe, and has made more than eleven recordings as a soloist and with choirs and ensembles. In 2000 in Montreal, and 2001, in Ottawa, she played the six organ Symphonies by Louis Vierne, in three recitals. In 2002, at the inauguration of the Edmonton Winspear Centre's new Létourneau organ, she Premiered the Jacques Hétu's Concerto for Organ with the ESO conducted by Mario Bernardi. She played it subsequently at the Ottawa National Arts Center and at the Metropolitan United Church, in Toronto, in 2008 and 2009. She has also performed the Raymond Daveluy's Organ Concerto with the Hamilton National Academy Orchestra.
Rachel Laurin is an Associate Composer of the Canadian Music Centre and member of the "Ottawa New Music Creators". She has composed more than fifty works for various instruments, instrumental ensembles and orchestra. These works have been performed and recorded in major cities in America, Europe, Asia and South Africa. A complete CD devoted to her chamber music is available on ATMA label ("Festivals" ACD2 2295). Her compositions are published by Les Éditions Lucarel, Doberman, RCCO Publications (Canada), Europart (France), Hinshaw Music and Wayne Leupold Editions (USA) where she is "House Composer" since 2006. She has won many awards including the « Prix Conrad-Letendre », the Holtkamp-AGO Composition Competition 2008, and the First Prize at the Marilyn Mason New Organ Music Competition 2009. Her recent compositions include the Fantasy for harp and organ, Op. 52 to be premiered in July 2010 at the National Convention of the AGO, Washington D.C., and her Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, Op.46, to be premiered fall 2010. She is now working on her Second Organ Symphony (Eastman School of Music, Rochester, NY).
Petite Suite sur un Motet de Gerald Bales (Te Deum Laudamus II)
Sonate pur Orgue et Cor, Op 60 (1. Allegro; 2. Sur un Tableau de Thomson; 3. Rondo Fugato)
Gilles Maurice Leclerc is a native of Ottawa and studied organ with Gerald Bales and Patricia Wright and composition with Steven Gellman at the University of Ottawa, where he later completed a Masters degree in Musicology. He has been organist of Saint-François-d’Assise Church in Ottawa since 1977.
Published by the RCCO, Rhapsodie sur ‘Lasst uns erfreuen’ for organ was commissioned for the 2013 National convention of the RCCO, and Epilogue appears in volume 2 of Te Deum Laudamus. Some of his works were published by Éditions Laudem and Éditions Lucarel before he assumed the publication of his music. His other organ works are distributed through Opus II.
His music has been performed in Canada, the U.S. and in Europe. He gave a recital comprised of his organ works at Westminster Cathedral in 2008 as part of the Annual Festival of New Organ Music.A CD of some of Mr Leclerc’s organ works was released in 2005 to much acclaim. It is available through Opus II and, more recently, the Organ Historical Society.
Gilles Leclerc has served as President of the Ottawa Centre of the RCCO, chair of the 2003 Convention Committee and was a member of National Council for many years before serving as National President from 2010 to 2012
Epilogue (Te Deum Laudamus II)
Rhapsodie sur Lasst uns erfreuen
Frances Macdonnell was Organist and Choir Director of Christ Church Cathedral, Ottawa, from 1980 until 2003. A native of Ottawa, her first organ teacher was Dr. Godfrey Hewitt, organist of the Cathedral from 1931 to 1980. Ms. Macdonnell later studied at Queen's University and in London, England, where she gained the Fellowship diploma of the Royal College of Organists (FRCO).
After studying in England with Ralph Downes, she returned to Canada and was appointed Organist and Choir Director of Christ Church Cathedral, Ottawa, on Godfrey Hewitt's retirement in 1980. She directs the Cathedral Singers, a mixed voiced chamber choir which she formed in 1974; she has taken the Cathedral choir on tour to many parts of Canada - the Western Arctic in 1989, the Atlantic Provinces in 1992 and British Colnumbia in 1995; Christ Church Cathedral Choir is the only church to travel so widely within Canada. In 1990, the Cathedral Choir, under her direction, represented the Anglican Church of Canada at the official dedication services of the Washington Cathedral, Washington, DC., USA.
In 1982, the Cathedral's sesquicentennial year, she initiated the first of several Three Cathedral Festivals, involving the Cathedral Choirs from Christ Church Cathedral Ottawa, Christ Church Cathedral Montreal and St. George's Cathedral Kingston. In 1990, she instituted a Diocesan Massed Choir Festival, which became an annual event for over a decade, involving up to four hundred singers from parishes around the Diocese. In 1996, she created the first ever National Anglican Choir, uniting members of almost every Cathedral Choir in Canada for a long weekend in Ottawa to celebrate the Diocese's centennial. She took early retirement from her position at the Cathedral in 2003.
Ms. Macdonnell is an active member of the Royal Canadian College of Organists. She chaired the National Education Committee for six years, and the National Examinations Committee. She helped to institute a program of evening courses for parish church musicians in co-operation between the RCCO centres and local universities, a program which has now spread to many Canadian cities.
Stephanie Martin was appointed Assistant Professor in the Department of Music, Faculty of Fine Arts at York University, Toronto, 2004. She teaches harpsichord and organ, Gregorian Chant, Renaissance Music, Sacred Music and Art, and two courses on J.S. Bach. In addition, Professor Martin conducts Toronto’s Pax Christi Chorale, an 85-voice oratorio choir which performs masterworks with full orchestra and professional soloists. In addition to teaching at the University, conducting the Pax Christi Chorale, and heading the music at the church, Professor Martin is also the organist for the Toronto Community of the Sisterhood of St John the Divine.
Children of the Heavenly Father
Born in Simcoe, Ontario in 1932, John McIntosh studied piano from age six, directed by his pianist mother. In high school he began organ lessons with Lansing MacDowell, proceeding to the University of Toronto where he studied organ with Charles Peaker, earning a Mus. Bac and an ARCT. At the Eastman School of Music he studied piano with Harold Weiss and organ briefly with Catharine Crozier and Russell Saunders but chiefly with David Craighead, earning M.Mus. and DMA degrees and the AAGO diploma. Here he met his wife, Diane, a fellow Craighead student. Following two years of high school music teaching, and three as a full time church musician, John and Diane settled in London, Ontario, where they raised two children and he spent 35 years teaching at the University of Western Ontario. For 25 of those years he was Organist/Choirmaster of St James Westminster Anglican Church. The McIntoshs now live in retirement in Goderich, Ontario, where John spends some of his time happily composing choral and organ music.
Jan Overduin is Professor Emeritus at Wilfrid Laurier University and Organist Emeritus at First United Church in Waterloo. He is the author of “Making Music – Improvisation for Organists”, and “Bach’s Die Kunst der Fuge”, in addition to many articles. He served as Director of Music at St Matthews Lutheran Church in Kitchener, and as Director of Music at First United Church in Waterloo, where under his supervision a 44-stop tracker-action organ by Gabriel Kney was installed in 2004. In 2005 the Kitchener-Waterloo Arts Foundation honoured him with its “Lifetime Achievement Award”. In 2009 he served on the faculty at the McGill Summer Organ Academy. He was the “Travelling Clinician” for the Royal Canadian College of Organists in 2009-2010, with concerts and workshops in British Columbia and Ontario, and a jury member for the 2010 Fairclough Organ Competition and the 2011 RCCO National Competition. Anthems by Overduin are published by Selah, Morningstar, and Kelman Hall. Although retired, Overduin keeps active as a performer, clinician, choir director, teacher, lecturer and consultant.
Aria and Dance on 'Nun Danket' (Rejoice!)
A native of Toronto, Kola Owolabi holds degrees from McGill University and Yale University in Organ Performance and Choral Conducting. In 2007, he was awarded the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Eastman School of Music. His former teachers have included Bruce Wheatcroft, John Grew, Martin Jean, Thomas Murray, Hans Davidsson and William Porter.
Dr Owolabi has held positions as Assistant Organist at St Michael's Cathedral in Toronto, and at the Church of St Andrew & St Paul in Montréal. While studying at Yale, he was organist at the University Chapel and directed the chapel choir at the Yale Divinity School. He is a published composer and has received commissions from the Royal Canadian College of Organists and the Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto.
In 2002, Dr Owolabi was awarded second prize and audience prize at the American Guild of Organists National Young Artists Competition in Organ Performance. As a recitalist, he has performed across Canada and the United States, appearing most recently at St Thomas Church Fifth Avenue in New York and Methuen Memorial Music Hall, in Massachusetts. He is assistant professor of organ theory and serves as Syracuse University's University Organist.
Chorale Prelude on Resignation (Te Deum Laudamus I)
Frederick Alan Reesor was born in Markham, Ontario, in 1936. At the age of 15, Alan played his first church service in Port Perry United Church. After receiving his B.Mus from the University of Toronto, Alan taught high school music. He was Organist and Choirmaster of St George’s Anglican Church, Oshawa, from 1959 to 1970. In 1970, he was appointed Chair of the Music Department at the University of PEI. Alan has been the Organist and Choirmaster of St Peter’s Cathedral, Charlottetown, from 1971 to the present. In 1981, he initiated a series of summer organ recitals at St Peter’s Cathedral and at the Church of St Simon and St Jude in Tignish. Alan performed a total of 70 organ recitals in Canada, U.S., England and France between 1959 and 2001. In 1996, he was made an Honorary Fellow of the RCCO. In 1998 UPEI made him Music Professor Emeritus. In 1999, he performed in the Cross-Canada Concert at the Canadian Organ Festival in Hamilton, Ontario. In 1992, he recorded a CD, Canadian Organ Music on Historic Organs of PEI.
Prelude on the Passion Chorale (Te Deum Laudamus I)
David Simon hails from Toronto and has completed his Masters in Organ performance at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music. He is Organist and Choirmaster for the Episcopal Church at Yale and Organist of Noroton Presbyterian Church. From age of twelve, he was organist for the televised daily Mass, broadcast nationally from St. Michael's Cathedral Basilica in Toronto. He later held positions as organist of St. Mark's Catholic Church, and Bevan Organ Scholar at Trinity College, University of Toronto and Director of Music for the Berkeley Divinity School.
David has completed recital tours in the United Kingdom and Ireland in addition to recitals in the United States and Canada. He has also accompanied choir tours of the Yale Schola Cantorum to Estonia, Latvia, and Russia as Organist in Arvo Pärt's Passio, and accompanied St. Paul's Church, Fairfield, Connecticut as organist in residence at Peterborough and Southwark Cathedrals, UK.
David holds Associateship diplomas with the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto and the Royal Canadian College of Organists, winning scholarships for national achievement. He is the 1st prize winner of the 2014 Toronto Center Organ Competition, and his composition, Fugue on the National Anthem, written for the 150th anniversary of Canadian confederation, received honourable mention in the John White Memorial Composition Competition.
Mark Sirett is Artistic Director of the award-winning Cantabile Choirs of Kingston, which he founded in 1996. He also directs Queen’s Choral Ensemble. A native of Kingston, he is a graduate in choral conducting and pedagogy from the University of Iowa. Formerly Organist and Music Director of St George’s Cathedral in Kingston, he has taught at the University of Western Ontario, the University of Alberta, Bucknell University (PA) and Queen’s University. Dr Sirett has won international awards in choral conducting, and his award-winning choral compositions have been performed by many of Canada’s leading choirs. He is in demand as a guest conductor, choral clinician and adjudicator. Mark Sirett is a member and former President of the Kingston Centre of the RCCO.
Jesus, Your Boundless Love
Sicilienne (Te Deum Laudamus II)
Heather Spry was a 1976 graduate of the University of Toronto with a Master's degree in composition. She also was an associate of the Royal Conservatory of Music and held the Choirmaster's and Fellowship diplomas of the Royal Canadian College of Organists, winning both the Willan Scholarship for the highest overall marks and the Rollinson Prize. Subsequent to earning her Fellowship, Heather was an active member of the Examinations Committee of the RCCO. Ms Spry, the accompanist for many Toronto based choirs including the Orianna Singers and the Ontario Youth Choir, served as organist and choir director at several Toronto churches, her final position being First United Church in Port Credit. Also a master carilloneur, Heather was from many years University Carilloneur for the University of Toronto. Her life was tragically cut short by cancer in 1996. The Heather Spry Scholarship of the RCCO was established in her memory.
Kenneth Stevens was born in London, England in 1930 and trained as an electrical engineer. He had a strong avocation for church music as a member of his parish choir and taking organ lessons. After serving three years in the RAF he immigrated to Canada in 1956. He settled in St. Catharines, Ontario and continued his organ studies with Eric Dowling. He began as organist and choirmaster of Christ Anglican church in 1958 and has continued to be active as Organist/Choir Director in various churches in the Niagara area, retiring from full time church work in 2007. Currently a resident of Welland, he remains an active supply organist and member of the executive of the Niagara Centre of the RCCO. He was also Secretary/Treasurer of the Niagara and Huron branch of the RSCM until 2010. His compositions include a number of anthems and carols as well as organ chorale preludes.
Nancy Telfer received her degrees in music education and composition from the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario. Since 1979, she has composed over 300 works for soloists, chamber ensembles, orchestras, bands and choirs, many of which are published in Canada, the United States and Europe. Because of her experience with adult and children's church choirs, she has been commissioned to compose music for many different denominations. In 1994 she was commissioned by the RCCO to compose an anthem for its national convention. Nancy has presented workshops on five different continents and was invited to be a member of two of the juries for the first World Choral Olympics in Austria (2000). In 1993 she presented workshops for the National Liturgical Association of Pastoral Musicians in the United States and in Australia. She has been invited to conduct massed choirs on many occasions. Her books, Successful Sight-Singing, Successful Warmups and Singing in Tune, are published by the Neil A. Kjos Music Company.
Surely He Has Borne Our Griefs (Te Deum Laudamus I)
Bert Van der Hoek is Organist Emeritus of Elmwood Avenue Presbyterian Church in London, Ontario, and composer of several published church anthems. In 2004, he retired from working for many years in the music retail business. He was born in Holland, and emigrated with his family to Canada in 1952. He studied organ and theory in London, where his teachers included T.C. Chattoe, William Wickett and Barrie Cabena. He holds the RCCO Associate diploma. A member of the London Centre of the RCCO, Bert Van der Hoek has held various executive positions, including that of Centre President.
Trumpet Air (Te Deum Laudamus II)
John W. Vandertuin, ARCT, AMus, BMus (hons), MMus, DMA, FRCCO (hon) is a Canadian organ
recitalist, composer (a member of SOCAN), organist and choir director, teacher and music critic. Blind from birth, he made his recital debut in Paris at age 14, while a student of Jean Langlais, performing works by Vierne, Langlais, and J.S. Bach. He earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree with highest honours from the University of Michigan, studying with Dr Robert Glasgow. He has received a number of scholarships, prizes and awards including the Prix Conrad Letendre in Montreal in 1979, and first prize in the improvisation category of the national Healey Willan Organ Competition in 1980. Dr Vandertuin has performed across Canada, the USA, and the Netherlands, as well as at National Conventions of the RCCO, broadcast nationally by the CBC and Radio Canada, and on the Christian television programme 100 Huntley Street. His many compositions for organ have been published by the RCCO, Concordia, Darcey Press, Fairbank Music and his own Tuinmeester Editions.
Pastorale on 'Darwall' (Rejoice!)
Gregory Walshaw is Organist and Music Director at St Andrew’s United Church in Brantford, Ontario. He has been the accompanist for the Renaissance Singers since 2002, and has performed with the McMaster University Choir, McMaster Chamber Orchestra, the Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Orchestra and Arcady. His compositions are predominantly sacred choral works, or works for organ, but also include solo vocal pieces and original scores for theatrical productions. He is a summa cum laude graduate of McMaster University (BMus), a Colleague of the Royal Canadian College of Organists, and is currently pursuing a Master of Sacred Music degree at Emmanuel College in the University of Toronto.
God's Glory Bright
Little Toccata in D (Rejoice!)
Ruth Watson Henderson has an international reputation as one of Canada’s leading composers and as an admired pianist and organist. Known especially as a composer of choral works, she has done much to promote the artistry of children through her compositions for treble voices. Recently commissioned works include the highly acclaimed From Darkness to Light, a cantata commissioned by the AGO national convention in 2002; a setting of the Magnificat for the Mount Royal Kantorei of Calgary; and The Voice of Niagara, a choral work with orchestra for Chorus Niagara’s 40th anniversary. Recognised for her lifetime of service to music, Ruth has recently been honoured with an honorary Fellowship of the RCCO. She was awarded the National Choral Award for Outstanding Choral Composition (1992) for Voices of Earth, and the Distinguished Service Award by the Ontario Choral Federation (1996). Ruth is currently the music director at Kingsway-Lambton United Church in Toronto, and the accompanist of the Toronto Children’s Chorus.
O Holy Spirit, By Whose Breath
Celebration
Suite for Organ & Piano
Suite for Organ & Violin
Toccata and Fugue (Te Deum Laudamus I)