Activities for 2008-2009

Forthcoming activities are here.

Description of Activities

COME SING AND PLAY MOZART'S REQUIEM
for choir, orchestra and soloists
directed by STEPHEN CANDOW

Sat., September 27th 2008, 10am-1pm (Note Time)
St. Matthias' Anglican Church, 555 Parkdale Ave at Queensway ( parking at rear off of Sherwood Dr., bus #14)
FREE FOR CAMMAC MEMBERS, $5 FOR NON-MEMBERS

The National Arts Centre is having a Mozart and Brahms' Festival this fall, so we thought we'd join in on the fun and have our own sing/play-along.

There will even be a free draw for two complimentary tickets to the NAC production of the Mozart's Requiem that same evening.

Stephen Candow developed his passion for the English choral tradition as a young boy soprano at the Cathedral of St.John the Baptist in Newfoundland. There, he was introduced to the organ and received his early musical training. He continued his education at Memorial University of Newfoundland and the University of Toronto in performance and music education. Prior to being appointed Organist and Director of Music at St. Matthew's Church in Ottawa in 2005, Stephen was Assistant Organist in Canada's "Methodist Cathedral", Metropolitan United (which houses both the largest pipe organ and functional carillon in Canada!). He has been choral accompanist for various groups including Toronto Mendelssohn Youth Choir, the Newfoundland Symphony Youth Choir, the Conservatory Boys' Choir, Voices, Ottawa's Seventeen Voyces and the Anglican Chorale of Ottawa.

If you would like the music before hand it can be arranged (section heads and soloists in particular).
Choristers do not have to contact us or pre-register.
For info please contact Elizabeth at 613-724-3719.
SATB soloists are required. please contact Janet at 613-728-9657

Orchestral musicians needed: two Bb clarinets, two bassoons, two D trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani, keyboard and strings. (Please note that the list of required instrumentalists given in the newsletter was incorrect).
Winds and other non-string players please contact Diana, preferably by email at dwinninger@rogers.com, otherwise call 613-523-3133.
All strings are welcome (contacting us would be appreciated but not necessary). Strings please contact Khalid at 613-829-7277

Preference will be given to those who contact us by before Saturday, September 6th for winds, soloists, concert master and string section heads.

MUSIC OF GILBERT AND SULLIVAN
Leader: Meredith Matthews, Stage Director, Savoy Society of Ottawa.
Sunday, October 5, 2008, 2:00-5:00pm
St. Matthias Anglican Church, 555 Parkdale Avenue at the Queensway
Parking at rear off Sherwood Drive. Bus #14.
Members: $10. in advance, $15. at the door
Non-members: $15. in advance, $20. at the door
Contact: Dorothy at 613-831-7265.

Come discover the fun of learning and singing Gilbert and Sullivan choruses from The Pirates of Penzance and The Gondoliers, which will be "taught" by Marlene Hudson, (from Gets You Singing and President of the Orpheus Musical Theatre Company). "Hail, Poetry!" from the Pirates will be a full-chorus item; and we will also have the pleasure of the company of Brian Reid, tenor (long time soloist with the Savoy Society of Ottawa), who will sing the Major General's Song with chorus. Meredith has requested a mezzo soprano to do the solo "When A Merry Maiden Marries" from The Pirates of Penzance. So, if we have a mezzo soprano who would like to participate in this way, please don't hesitate to come prepared to sing, memorized would be great!

Meredith has many accomplishments: to list a few, from Festival Ottawa Operas, to The Savoy Society's Gilbert and Sullivan Operettas, musicals with the Orpheus Musical Theatre Company, and lead soprano in the music hall hit, The BNA Act at the National Arts Centre, Ottawa. Meredith's latest project is "Meredith Matthews Gets You Singing", an eight-week adult group course on the fundamentals of singing' utilizing her expertise as a teacher and her desire to share all the benefits of singing with others.

Fundamentals of Good Singing
Saturday, October 25 2:00 - 5:00 pm
St. Matthias Church, 555 Parkdale Avenue at the Queensway
Members: $10. in advance, $15. at the door
Non-members: $15. in advance, $20. at the door

Here is an opportunity to explore the art of singing. Voice teacher, Wanda Procyshyn, will introduce you to the basics of singing - how to support the voice with breath, how to release your full vocal range, how to achieve good vocal tone and clear diction, how to warm up the voice. This workshop provides an opportunity to clarify all those ideas or concepts you have been told by conductors/teachers/colleagues, but don't quite understand. All questions are welcome and will be explored.

Workshop leader is soprano Wanda Procyshyn. Wanda holds a Master of Music degree in early music performance from McGill University. She is now a much-admired soloist after extensive work in choral ensembles such as the Elora Festival Singers and the Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal. Wanda has been teaching privately since moving to Ottawa in 1996. With her keen ear, her understanding of musical style and her diagnostic approach to teaching singing, she has had remarkable success with her students.

Contact: Penny, (613) 721-4927

African Percussion, Song & Dance
With Isabelle Vadeboncoeur
Sunday, November 2nd, 2-5pm
St. Matthias Anglican Church
555 Parkdale ( at the Queensway, bus #14, parking at rear off of Sherwood Dr.)
$15 CAMMAC members and students, $20 others

Come experience the rhythms, steps and melodies of Africa with CAMMAC's own Isabelle Vadeboncoeur! Well-known for her kind spirit, enthusiasm and dedication, Isabelle has lived and studied in Africa for several months over the past few years. She also studied piano and clarinet at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal and piano performance at McGill University. She is known as a teacher of African percussion, song and dance; improvisation; choir; piano and chamber music at CAMMAC and elsewhere. She recently left her administrative position at CAMMAC to expand her performing career in Montreal.

Please note that this event is for ages 10 and up.

Registration is limited. Please call before coming, as there may not be any space left.
Info: Elizabeth at (613) 724-3719

Messiah Choruses:
Come learn Handel's Messiah in a relaxed setting!

WHAT:
For those who wish to improve their reading and knowledge of the Messiah choruses, in preparation for the December performance, we offer 3 Saturday morning rehearsals.

Organist and Choir master Alan Thomas will conduct the rehearsals. Rehearsing with Alan is always great fun - his piano accompaniment will jazz up any chorus in a surprising way! He will go over all the choruses which are to be sung on December 5th. Usually, we look at about half-a-dozen choruses every week, rehearsing some of the more difficult ones more than once.

No pre-registration necessary! But please come early on your first rehearsal, to register.
Join us for any rehearsal, or all three, whatever your schedule allows!

BYOM
Bring your own music. Copies will also be available for sale at a reasonable price.

WHEN & WHERE:
November 15, 22 and 29, from 10:00 to 12:15.
Parkdale United Church, 429 Parkdale at Gladstone (directions are here).

Cost:
Members: $5 per session (or $10 for all 3 sessions); $10 per session for non-members (or $20 for all 3)

For information: 613-260-2250

TRADITION - NEW AGE
A CAMMAC Active Listening Workshop

Sunday, November 16, 2:30 - 5:00
St. Matthias Anglican Church, 555 Parkdale Ave (directions are here).
Members: $10 in advance, $15 at the door
Non-members: $15 in advance, $20 at the door.

Gary Dahl wears several musical hats. He is well-respected in choral and recital circles as a baritone soloist. He is also a superb vocal instructor, specializing in a technique based on the Italian school of singing. He directs the Castenchel Choir in Old Chelsea, Quebec, and is a frequent clinician in workshops for choirs.

Come out on November 16 for a preview of Haydn's Theresienmesse of 1799. We will try to get a picture of "Papa Haydn" through the various stages of his career, and a feel for the changing times for musicians in the volatile years of the transition towards the 19th century. We will see how the master, in his later years, brings to this beautiful mass, a new expressive quality, preparing the way for what would come to be known as Romanticism.

Info: Bethany at 613-730-2369

Masterclass for Recorder Ensembles and Hour-Long Reading
with Sophie Larivière

Saturday, November 22nd
10 a.m. - 4 p.m.
St. Matthias Anglican Church, 555 Parkdale Ave. (directions are here).

This masterclass is an opportunity for ensembles to receive coaching from a skilled clinician to improve technical skills, ensemble playing and interpretation.

Based in Montreal, Sophie plays in several ensembles including l'Ensemble Caprice, L'ensemble Arion and the New York based Rebel, among others. She is well known in Germany, the United States and Canada. Her most recent local appearance was this past August with Sinfonia Orchestra. She runs the Montreal Recorder Festival with her husband, Matthias Maute, held each year in September. Sophie is featured on several highly acclaimed recordings. She teaches privately, at the university level and at CAMMAC.

There will be an hour long reading for everyone, including auditors and anyone else interested, at 12 noon.

Please note that the masterclass is now full, but people are welcome to audit any part of the day and/or come to the reading: $5 for members and $10 for non-members.

INFO: Elizabeth 613-724-3719 724-3719

Get ready for our annual "COME SING MESSIAH"!

'Come Sing Messiah' is a very special event dear to the hearts of a large number of singers throughout the region. So come and join hundreds of voices singing this masterpiece by Handel.

Louis Lavigueur will conduct us, with Alan Thomas at the organ, a wonderful chamber orchestra (under concertmaster Kevin James) and our soloists.

Friday, December 5th, 2008
Dominion-Chalmers United Church, O'Connor @ Cooper (directions are here)

Conducted by Louis Lavigueur
with Chamber Orchestra, Kevin James, Concertmaster
Organist, Alan Thomas

Doors open at 5:30 pm. Rehearsal at 6:00 pm. Performance at 8:00 pm.

Tickets go on sale November 15th.
Singers $8 Audience $15
Seating is limited. Get your tickets early.

Tickets are available at:

• Book Bazaar, 417 Bank at Frank
• The Leading Note, 370 Elgin near Gladstone
• Granata Music, 1558 Merivale near Meadowlands
• Collected Works, 1242 Wellington near Holland

Cash only, please.

Scores available from Book Bazaar, The Leading Note and Granata Music.

Information: phone 613-237-3154

Our ever-popular sale of used music will be held again this year in conjunction with "Come Sing Messiah".

CAMMAC Annual Concert: Theresienmesse by Franz Joseph Haydn
Sunday, February 8, 4:00 p.m.
St. Matthias Church, 555 Parkdale Ave. (directions are here)

Choristers and instrumentalists of CAMMAC Ottawa-Gatineau will perform Theresienmesse, under the direction of Gary Dahl, in honour of the great composer Franz Joseph Haydn.

Choral music has shaped and directed Gary's life from the first sensory highs at hearing the church choir as a child in Yarrow, B.C. While pursuing a degree in English literature at the University of Winnipeg, he began his studies in voice and conducting. From 1977- 83 he was a member of the renowned Vancouver Chamber Choir, under Jon Washburn. It was in Vancouver that Gary met his vocal maestro, Luigi Wood, from whom he inherited a profound understanding of Italian bel canto technique. Further studies took him to the Banff Centre, New York, and Florence, Italy. Both as a baritone soloist and professional chorister, working with great conductors, Gary has observed the diverse methods of resolving vocal, rhythmic, interpretive, and ensemble issues. Since 1995, Mr. Dahl has been a musical presence in the Outaouais area as soloist in recital and oratorio, voice teacher, and choral clinician. He is conductor of the Castenchel Choir in Chelsea and is very much looking forward to working with the CAMMAC choir to honour Papa Haydn with a performance of his great Theresienmesse in Bb.

Our soloists are: Rosalind Pickett, soprano; April Babey, mezzo-soprano; Michael Carty, tenor; Cristinel Rusu, bass.
Our organist is Carol Wiebe.

This year, all the proceeds from this performance will be donated to The Leading Note Foundation's OrKidstra and KidSingers Youth Music programs -- for information see http://www.leading.note.com. In order to raise funds for these worthwhile and much-need programs, we encourage you not only to participate yourself but to bring along a musical friend. It is great fun.

Pictures of the soloists and conductor are here.

Registration fee
CAMMAC member, or student: $35
NOT a CAMMAC member: $50
Plus $10 refundable deposit for score.

The Leading Note will be stocking scores, if you want to purchase your own, or you may download the score from the Choral Public Domain -- Haydn's list of scores. And if you want to practice in advance, the midi files are available here.

Rehearsals and performance will be held according to the following schedule:

Location - St. Matthias Church, 555 Parkdale Ave. (directions are here)

Choir only
Saturday, January 10, 2:00 to 5:00
Saturday, January 17, 2:00 to 5:00
Saturday, January 24, 2:00 to 5:00
Friday, January 30, 7:00 to 10:00

Orchestra only
Sat., January 24, 11:00 to 1:00

Choir and orchestra
Sunday, February 1, 2:00 to 5:00
Saturday, February 7, 2:00 to 5:00 (dress rehearsal)
Sunday, February 8, 4:00 p.m. (concert)

For more information contact Margaret at 613-733-0182.

CAMMAC plans to hold its Chamber Music Workshop on Saturday, February 28, 2009.

The workshop is intended for all chamber music players, quartets, trios, duos, involving any combination of chamber instruments, including vocal. Please note that the Workshop will be held in a private home; contact Khalid Ahmad (see below) for particulars.

The Workshop will be coached by Brigitte Amyot, who will be known to many of you as a highly regarded teacher, violinist/violist active in the Ottawa/Gatineau region. Brigitte is a member of the Orchestre Symphonique de Gatineau, the Virtuosi Orchestra, and Harea String Quartet. As free lance musician, Brigitte has frequently played with the Thirteen Strings, Musica Viva, Savoy Society, Orpheus and many other local professional groups. Brigitte also conducts the junior strings of the Ottawa Youth Orchestra Academy, has founded the popular "Brigitte's Artistic Camp" in 2002, and more recently (2007) the music group "The More Strings the Merrier".

With Brigitte's wonderful teaching skills and famous musical sense of humour, this promises to be a really fun and fulfilling event for chamber music enthusiasts!

The fee for the workshop is $60.00 per group for each 1 hour coaching session Up to six groups can be accommodated, and each group should include at least one CAMMAC member.
Please note that this workshop is now full, but auditors are also welcome (free for members, $5 for non-members).

Each group is responsible for selecting and preparing its own chamber music piece for the Workshop. The selected music for each registered chamber group will need to be made available to Brigitte at least two weeks in advance of the Workshop.

For further information and registration in the Chamber Music Workshop, CAMMAC members and their chamber music friends interested in participating in this event are invited to contact:
Khalid Ahmad
Tel: 613 829 7277
Email: kmad@rogers.com

Sing the Waltzes!

Sunday, March 8 2:00 - 5:00
St. Matthias Anglican Church, 555 Parkdale Ave. (directions are here)
Members: $10
Non-members: $15

Don't miss a chance to enjoy the fun of singing Liebeslieder Walzer, opus 52 by Johannes Brahms (1833-1897). Celebrate Valentine's Day again!

These eighteen short "love waltzes" for vocal quartet with piano duet accompaniment have been immensely popular with singers and pianists since they were first published in 1869. Lively and uplifting, they express the playful and positive aspects of love and show a lighter side of the composer!

The afternoon will be a choral reading .We will do some movements in German, others in English, ending with an 'in-house' performance led by Marg Stubington.

A native of Montreal, Marg is a proud CAMMAC alumna. Her family first participated in the summer program at Lake MacDonald in 1972 when she was 11, and she returned as an enthusiastic camper year after year until age 19. For two years she was on staff as choir accompanist and chamber music coach.

Marg has very fond and clear memories of choral conductors who inspired her as a youngster: Gordon White, Christopher Jackson, Louis Lavigueur and the late Gaby Billette. As a developing chorister she never missed an opportunity for daily vocal training classes with Jan Simons in 'The Boathouse'! Her CAMMAC experiences had an enormous effect on her choice of career; she is very pleased to give back to an organization which has had such a positive influence on her life as a musician.

Marg is a graduate of McGill University and the University of Ottawa. She has been the Music Director of Vox Femina, Tone Cluster Chamber Choir, the Ottawa Gay Men's Chorus and an instructor at the Ottawa Youth Orchestra Academy. She was Music Director at Glebe-St.James United Church from 2001-2007. She now conducts Musica Viva Singers, directs the Leading Note Foundation's ' KidSingers" program and maintains a busy piano studio.

The entire score is on the internet at Choral Public Domain Library: http://www.cpdl.org
If you want to practice in advance, the midi files are available at: http://www.cyberbass.com/Major_Works/Brahms_J/brahms_liebeslieder.htm

Judy Cameron is doing the soprano solo (#7) and Tomo Adachi is doing the tenor solo (#17). Both are fellow CAMMAC members.

Information: Penny at 613-721-4927.

Forms and Styles in the Jazz Idiom #2
A CAMMAC Active Listening Event
With Yves Laroche

Sunday, March 22, 2:00 - 4:30
St. Matthias Anglican Church, 555 Parkdale Ave. (directions are here)

CAMMAC members $10
non-members $15 in advance
$5 supplement at the door

Yves Laroche, the informed practitioner and jazz educator, is back to introduce us to jazz structure, improvisation and arranging, as well as to quiz us on some of the best of jazz soloists. Yves is an active pianist, conductor, educator and arranger in the Ottawa jazz scene. He is a music professor at the University of Ottawa and music director at the Bells Corners Academy of Music. Host of Wednesday Jazz Nights at Café Nostalgica, he also plays regularly at the Ottawa International Jazz Festival. Recent music projects include performing with Capital Vox, Cantata Singers of Ottawa, Jazz Singers Night Out, and providing musical entertainment at the Westin Hotel. He is founder and regular guest of the Jazz Vespers Concert Series at All Saints' Anglican Church in Westboro. Recently, Yves received a Great Grant Award from the Trillium Foundation for programming jazz music in local elementary schools.

Info: Bethany 613-730-2369