The JUNO award-winning Ottawa Bach Choir (OBC), under the artistic direction of Lisette Canton, invites you to join us for our 23^rd season of transcendent choral music! The professional ensemble has travelled the world, received national and international recognition, and also won a 2020 JUNO award for Best Classical Album of the Year: Vocal or Choral, for its album Handel: Dixit Dominus, Bach & Schütz: Motets!

The 2024-2025 Season Series offers three spectacular concerts:

(1) Bach: Weihnachts-Oratorium (Christmas Oratorio), Saturday, November 30, 2024, 7 PM, St. François d’Assise Church, 20 Fairmont Avenue, Ottawa

(2) Polychoral Extravaganza, Saturday, March 1, 2025, 7:30 PM, Carleton Dominion-Chalmers Centre, 355 Cooper Street, Ottawa

(3) Gloria!, Saturday, May 10, 2025, 7:30 PM, St. Patrick’s Basilica, 220 Kent Street, Ottawa 

Early Bird Subscription tickets, at a 15% discount, are available through our website for a limited time. Offer expires on September 2, 2024. Afterwards, regular subscription (at a 10% discount) and individual ticket prices will apply. For more information, e-mail us at info@ottawabachchoir.ca,

Don’t miss the chance to share our passion and discover the best that choral music has to offer!

Ottawa Bach Choir, Lisette Canton, conductor (Canto)
This season marks the 10th anniversary of the Ottawa Bach Choir and the release of this CD is part of the celebrations. It begins and ends with the music of J.S. Bach, Cantata no. 196 and the motet Der Geist hilft unsrer Schwachheit auf respectively, and includes music by Monteverdi, Buxtehude and Messiaen among others. In addition to authoritative and beautiful accounts of the Bach works, Monteverdi’s Cantate Domino and Messiaen’s O sacrum convivium! are especially enjoyable, but there are no weak performances in this impressive retrospective.

© The Ottawa Citizen 2012

The Ottawa Bach Choir (OBC) presents its opening subscription concerts in this season of magnificent choral works: J.S. Bach: Mass in B Minor, BWV 232, Saturday, November 14, 2015, 7:30PM, at Grace Church on-the-Hill, 300 Lonsdale Road, Toronto; and Sunday, November 15, 2015, 7:30PM, at Dominion-Chalmers United Church, 355 Cooper Street, Ottawa. This concert features the full setting of one of Bach’s last and greatest compositions, completed in 1749, but only first performed in its entirety in 1859. Today it is considered one of the greatest pieces of choral music ever written. The choir is joined by the Baroque orchestra, Ensemble Caprice, Matthias Maute, artistic director; and world-class soloists, including Daniel Taylor, Agnes Zsigovics, Jacques-Olivier Chartier, Geoffrey Sirett, Daniel Lichti, and more.

“Join the OBC and a spectacular cast of instrumentalists and soloists in performances of ‘the greatest musical work of art of all times and people’—Bach’s Mass in B Minor,” says Founder and Artistic Director, Lisette Canton. “It represents a timeless, crowning achievement of Bach’s musical and spiritual profundity, and continues to move listeners, placing it far above any work composed in Western history. We invite you to join us in this incredible musical experience.”

The Ottawa Bach Choir was founded in 2002 by Dr. Lisette Canton and offers a wide range of choral music from all historical periods, featuring some of Canada’s top choristers. With the combination of a scholarly and emotional approach, the OBC provides an unforgettable experience of choral music at its best.

The OBC has toured extensively in Canada, the United States, and Europe; most recently returning from a two-week tour of Venice, Leipzig, Lübeck, Groningen, and Amsterdam. The choir had the honour of being the first Canadian choir ever to be among the performers in the world’s most prestigious international Bach festival, the Bachfest Leipzig 2014. The OBC also recently performed in the much-anticipated Apocalypsis by Canada’s own R. Murray Schafer at the Luminato Festival, Toronto in June 2015.

Ottawa Bach Choir

J.S. Bach: Mass in B Minor, BWV 232

Saturday, November 14, 2015, 7:30PM

Grace Church on-the-Hill, 300 Lonsdale Road, Toronto

Sunday, November 15, 2015, 7:30PM

Dominion-Chalmers United Church, 355 Cooper Street, Ottawa

Tickets: Reserved $50, Adult $40, Senior $35, Student $15

Tickets are available online: www.ottawabachchoir.ca, by phone: 613-270-1015 (Ottawa) or 416-736-2100 x70191 (Toronto), or at the following outlets: The Leading Note, 370 Elgin Street, Ottawa; Compact Music, 206 & 785 1/2 Bank Street, Ottawa

Information: info@ottawabachchoir.ca or 613-270-1015 (Ottawa) or 416-736-2100 x70191 (Toronto)

Highlights of the Ottawa Bach Choir’s second season included a well received performance of Bach’s Weihnachts-Oratorium(Christmas Oratorio), a trip to Mexico City to perform Handel’s Messiah with the Orquesta del Nuevo Mundo and concerts of 20th century French repertoire and early German baroque works in Ottawa and Montreal.

Just back from its Carnegie Hall debut in New York City, performances this season included a Subscription Series, an Intimate Concert Series and the release of a new CD in honour of its 10th anniversary, Cantate Domino. The first concert, Baroque Christmas, included festive works from the German and Italian baroque. To celebrate the choir’s tenth anniversary, Bach’s Matthaüs-Passion (St. Matthew Passion), BWV 244, was presented with an array of international stars. The final concert of the season, Song and Spirit, was performed in advance of the OBC’s appearance at Podium 2012 featuring a newly commissioned work by Ottawa composer, Nicholas Piper. The Choir also performed at Ottawa summer festivals, Music and Beyond and Chamberfest.

Dear Music Lover,

It is my distinct pleasure, as Founder and Artistic Director, to invite you to subscribe to the Ottawa Bach Choir’s sixteenth season of magnificent choral music. Over the last 15 years, the professional ensemble has travelled the world and received national and international recognition. The choir released its 6th CD, ‘Twas But Pure Love, last season to critical acclaim, and returned from China in 2016, where it was invited to perform as Canada’s choral representative in the prestigious festival, Meet in Beijing 2016. In 2014, the OBC completed its 4th European tour, which included an invitation to perform in the Bachfest Leipzig 2014 at the Thomaskirche, in Leipzig, Germany, as the first Canadian choir ever to be invited.

Performances this season include a Subscription Series, the recording of the choir’s 7th CD, several Special Events and a concert at Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto. The season opens with a special concert and event, Bach & Beer, at St. Bartholomew’s Church, in collaboration with Ars Nova, the German Embassy and several local businesses.

The Subscription Series offers three spectacular concerts:

Nativity – December 1-2, 2017, 8 PM

Victoria: Officium defunctorum – March 10, 2018, 8 PM

Baroque Passion – May 4, 2018, 8 PM

The Ottawa Bach Choir is pleased to offer its audiences a subscription series for a limited time only. Get the entire 2017-2018 concert season for 10% less than regular ticket prices. This offer ends on November 30, 2017.

Come discover the best that choral music has to offer!

Lisette Canton
Founder and Artistic Director

Join the Ottawa Bach Choir, in collaboration with Ars Nova and the Rideau Club of Ottawa, for a delightful Spring Party, featuring beautiful music performed by the choir, along with delicious hors d’oeuvres, sumptuous desserts, wine and cocktails, and the good company of Ottawa’s cultural, business and diplomatic community, at the prestigious Rideau Club. Space is limited – don’t miss out!

Proceeds from this fundraising event will help support the great work of this world-class choir.

Friday, May 25, 2018, 5:30 PM
Rideau Club
99 Bank Street, Ottawa

Tickets: $85 ($60 tax receipt available upon request)

THE WHOLE NOTE

VOCAL AND CHORAL

Handel: Dixit Dominus; Bach & Schütz: Motets – Ottawa Bach Choir; Lisette Canton

Written by Dianne Wells

Category: Vocal and Choral

Published: 27 March 2019

Handel – Dixit Dominus; Bach & Schütz – Motets
Ottawa Bach Choir; Lisette Canton
ATMA ACD2 2790 (atmaclassique.com/En)

The Ottawa Bach Choir and Ensemble Caprice join forces in this recording for thrilling performances of Baroque masters Handel, Bach and Schütz. From the outset of Dixit Dominus, the quick pace and precision with which the chorus deftly moves through Handel’s ever-running and cascading phrases is awe-inspiring. Daniel Taylor guests for the alto aria Virgam virtutis in which the interplay between his golden voice and the continuo instruments is sublime. Soprano Kathleen Radke maintains a wonderfully relaxed vocal line through the execution of elaborate lines in Tecum principium in die virtutis and later she and Kayla Ruiz create enchanting chemistry in the soaring duet De torrente in via bibet.

Looking back almost a century, next on the recording are rarely heard Passion Motets from Heinrich Schütz’s Cantiones Sacrae. Heavily influenced by Italian madrigals of the time, Lisette Canton coaxes the full anguish of the thematic material from the choir in emphasizing dissonances and highly expressive rhetoric. The recording ends with homage to the choir’s eponym. In Bach’s Komm, Jesu, komm, excellent recording technique and choice of venue shine through, with a lovely resonance from the start and an erudite interchange captured in the dialogue of a choir divided into two sections by the composer.

To purchase the CD: https://ottawabachchoir.ca/en/product/handel-dixit-dominus-bach-schutz-motets-2/

The JUNO-nominated Ottawa Bach Choir (OBC) presents the second concert of the season, The Genius of Josquin, on Saturday, March 7, 2020, 8 PM, at St. Jean Baptiste Church, 96, Empress Avenue, in Ottawa. The concert highlights rarely performed sacred and secular music by the Franco-Flemish Renaissance genius, Josquin des Prez, who worked in France, Belgium, Italy and the Vatican. Repertoire includes Missa Pange Lingua, the exquisite Ave Maria and La Déploration de Johannes Ockeghem, as well as magnificent motets and chansons, all performed in the lush acoustic of Saint-Jean-Baptiste Church, in Ottawa.

The OBC has been nominated for a JUNO 2020 Award for its recording, Handel: Dixit Dominus; Bach & Schütz: Motets, in the category Classical Album of the Year: Vocal or Choral. Released on the ATMA Classique label, the album has been exclaimed as “staggering and movingly performed” (Gramophone Magazine), “among the very best” (American Record Guide) and “awe-inspiring” (The WholeNote).

The choir has also been invited to return to the world’s most prestigious international Bach festival, Bachfest Leipzig 2020,as one of a select number of ensembles worldwide (and the only Canadian ensemble) asked to present the entire chorale cantata cycle of Bach, in June 2020.

Founded in 2002 by Dr. Lisette Canton, the OBC offers a wide range of choral music from all historical periods, featuring some of Canada’s top choristers. With the combination of a scholarly and emotional approach, the OBC provides an unforgettable experience of choral music at its best. The OBC has toured extensively in Canada, the United States, Europe, and  China, and  had the honour of being the first Canadian choir ever to be among the performers in Bachfest Leipzig 2014.

Listing information:

Ottawa Bach Choir

Dr. Lisette Canton, Conductor                                                   

The Genius of Josquin

Missa Pange Lingua, Ave Maria, Le Déploration de Johannes Ockeghem, and magnificent motets and chansons

Saturday, March 7, 2020, 8 PM: St. Jean Baptiste Church, 96 Empress Avenue, Ottawa

Tickets: Reserved $50, Adult $40, Senior $35, Student $15, Children 12 and under are free

Tickets are available online: www.ottawabachchoir.ca, or at the following outlets:

Leading Note, 370 Elgin; Compact Music, 206 & 785 1/2 Bank Street, Ottawa

Information: info@ottawabachchoir.ca

JUNO-award winning Ottawa Bach Choir (OBC) – Virtual Bach – Der Geist hilft unser Schwachheit auf, BWV 226, by J.S. Bach, recorded June 12-24, 2020 with 22 separate videos.

The OBC is thrilled to be able to gather safely once again, following all public health and safety protocols, and to continue singing together! The safety of our artists and patrons is our priority and we continue to work hard to create a safe space for all. In order to assist with our commitment to the well-being of our patrons, musicians, volunteers and staff, we are implementing protocols that address public health and safety. We are committed to closely monitoring COVID-19 in our province and city in order to best provide a safe environment and to help reduce the spread of COVID-19 in our community.

Ottawa Bach Choir requires all staff, volunteers, contractors and singers to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

We will, however, no longer check for vaccination status of our patrons.

 What to expect when attending an Ottawa Bach Choir event in person:

• We ask that if you are experiencing any COVID-19 symptoms that you enjoy our performance streamed in our Digital Concert Hall and not attend the event in person.
• We ask that our patrons continue to implement mask requirements for indoor public spaces, and recommend that masks be worn in all indoor areas of the venue.
• We ask that you remain in your seat for the duration of the event.
• At the intermission and at the end of the concert, please minimize indoor social time and move efficiently through high-touch zones such as doorways and aisles. Visit with other patrons outdoors and distanced.
• Washrooms are open prior to, during, and after concerts.

The best way to receive up-to-date information on concerts is to sign up for our e-newsletter.

For its 19th season, the choir was impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic and had to reimagine much of its season. It presented digital concerts, beginning with Hodie!, featuring festive repertoire for the season, including Britten’s Ceremony of Carols, and works by Renaissance, Baroque and Contemporary composers with organist Matthew Larkin and harpist Caroline Léonardelli, followed by The French Renaissance, featuring Jean Richafort’s Requiem, as well as chansons by Lassus, Certon and Sermisy. The final concert of Bach’s Six Motets, along with the choir’s 8th recording, had to be postponed because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The OBC won the JUNO 2020 award in the category Classical Album of the Year: Vocal or Choral, for Handel, Bach & Schütz, on the ATMA Classique label.

PANM 360

OTTAWA BACH CHOIR – SIX MOTETS

by Elena Mandolini

“Johann Sebastian Bach’s six motets are part of the well-known repertoire of choral music. Despite (or perhaps thanks to) their great popularity, numerous recordings of these works exist, always offering a renewed listening experience. The Ottawa Bach Choir, under the direction of Lisette Canton, presents an exceptional interpretation of it in its most recent album, released on the ATMA Classique label. Since 2002, the choir has offered an exploration of choral music through the ages, but always keeping Bach’s work at the heart of its repertoire. Joining the choir are musicians Jonathan Oldengram (organ), Matthew Larkin (harpsichord), Lucas Harris (theorbo), Jean-Christophe Lizotte (cello) and Reuven Rothman (double bass). We will appreciate on the album the lively and nuanced interpretation of Bach’s motets. Each voice (human or instrumental) is distinct, we hear all the subtleties of the compositions. But you can also take a step back and appreciate the overall effect, where each detail fits together precisely. The contrast effects and the interpretation of nuances, forte or piano, are very successful and contribute to this dynamism that can be heard throughout the listening. All these elements also create a depth to the sound, which allows you to immerse yourself in listening.”

© April 27, 2023

Ottawa, Canada – Celebrate Oktoberfest with the JUNO award-winning Ottawa Bach Choir on Saturday, October 5th, 2024, at 5:00 PM, at St. Stefan – Serbian Orthodox Church & Hall. This exceptional evening includes beautiful music from Bach to the Beatles, a cameo appearance by countertenor Daniel Taylor, delectable German-inspired canapés, sumptuous desserts, local beer brewed by Kichesippi Beer Co., and wine. Also included is a raffle featuring fantastic prizes from local businesses, concert tickets, and more! Join us for an evening of delightful melodies, delectable treats and great company that supports the OBC and the arts community. Willkommen! 

Founded in 2002 by Dr. Lisette Canton, the Ottawa Bach Choir offers audiences a wide range of choral music of the finest quality, performing music from all historical periods while keeping Bach’s choral oeuvre as the focus of its repertoire. The choir has garnered acclaim through award-winning recordings and worldwide tours, including in Canada, Europe, the United States, Mexico and China, featuring prestigious appearances at Bachfest Leipzig, Meet in Beijing, Festival Música Santa Fe, Ottawa Chamberfest, Carnegie Hall, and more!

For interviews and information, please contact:

Lisette Canton, Founder & Artistic Director, lisette.canton@ottawabachchoir.ca

Karen Frank, General Manager, karen.frank@ottawabachchchoir.ca

Listing information:

Ottawa Bach Choir

Lisette Canton, Conductor

Daniel Taylor, Guest Countertenor and Patron

Bach & Beer

Saturday, October 5, 2024, 5 PM

St. Stefan – Serbian Orthodox Church & Hall, 1993 Prince of Wales Drive, Ottawa

Tickets: $75 ($50 tax receipt available upon request)

Tickets available online: www.ottawabachchoir.ca

Additional Information: info@ottawabachchoir.ca

Ottawa Bach Choir & Baroque Orchestra / Lisette Canton
Canto 2011—55 minutes

This program is in honor of the Ottawa Bach Choir’s 10th anniversary. It’s a well constructed program that begins and ends with JS Bach, with the pieces arranged chronologically in between and encompassing modern times, the most recent composer being Eric Whitacre, who was born in 1970.

The first Bach piece is a wedding cantata from the young Bach, BWV 196. Two Monteverdi words are included: the title piece, ‘Cantate Domino’, and a longer ‘Beatus vir’. Following is ‘Hear my Prayer, O Lord’, by Henry Purcell, and a short piece each from Buxtehude and Saint-Saens. Four modern composers are represented: Olivier Messiaen, with his ‘O Sacrum Convivium!’; Rupert Lang, with an Agnus Dei in French; Eric Whitacre, ‘Lux Aurumque’; and, finally, from Knut Nystedt a work called ‘Immortal Bach’. The final Bach piece is a motet and chorale, ‘The Spirit Doth our Weakness Help’. All song lyrics are printed in the notes.

These works are all beautifully sung; I have enjoyed listening to this several times. The sound is excellent.

CRAWFORD

© American Music Guide 2012

The Ottawa Bach Choir (OBC) presents its second subscription concert in this season of magnificent choral works: Songs for Chamber Ensemble, Saturday, January 30, 2016, 8:00PM, at Southminster United Church, 15 Aylmer Avenue, Ottawa. A small ensemble of solo singers from the OBC will perform with pianist Frédéric Lacroix in an intimate setting. The concert will feature Brahms’ Zigeunerlieder, Debussy’s Trois chansons de Charles d’Orléans, Poulenc’s Un soir de neige, as well as works by Fanny Mendelssohn, Ottawa’s own Nicholas Piper, Schütz, Monteverdi, Pearsall, and more.

One of the main features of the evening will be Brahms’ Zigeunerlieder (“Gypsy Songs”). First performed in Berlin in 1898, the piece is a song cycle with texts based on Hungarian folk songs and originally written for solo singers. Although the origin of these songs is Hungarian, the entire cycle is sung in German; the original Hungarian text having been translated into German before the composition by Brahms. Another work of note is Poulenc’s Un soir de neige (“An evening of snow”). The work is another short cycle of sung poems describing the beauty and solitude of winter. This concert also features Deux chansons de la Belle Cordière by Ottawa’s very own Nicholas Piper. 

The Ottawa Bach Choir was founded in 2002 by Dr. Lisette Canton and offers a wide range of choral music from all historical periods, featuring some of Canada’s top choristers. With the combination of a scholarly and emotional approach, the OBC provides an unforgettable experience of choral music at its best.

The OBC has toured extensively in Canada, the United States, and Europe; most recently returning from a two-week tour of Venice, Leipzig, Lübeck, Groningen, and Amsterdam. The choir had the honour of being the first Canadian choir ever to be among the performers in the world’s most prestigious international Bach festival, the Bachfest Leipzig 2014. The OBC also recently performed in the much-anticipated Apocalypsis by Canada’s own R. Murray Schafer at the Luminato Festival, Toronto in June 2015.

Ottawa Bach Choir

SONGS FOR CHAMBER ENSEMBLE

Saturday, January 30, 2016, 8:00PM

Southminster United Church, 15 Aylmer Avenue, Ottawa

Tickets: Reserved $50, Adult $40, Senior $35, Student $15

Tickets are available online: www.ottawabachchoir.ca, by phone: 613-270-1015, or at the following outlets: The Leading Note, 370 Elgin Street, Ottawa; Compact Music, 206 & 785 1/2 Bank Street, Ottawa

Information: info@ottawabachchoir.ca or 613-270-1015

This season, the Ottawa Bach Choir expanded its repertoire of Bach’s greatest works with a glorious performance of the Mass in B minor, performing with some of the the best voices and instrumentalists in the world. The culmination of the work the Choir achieved thus far was highlighted with the release of its first CD, Festival Baroque, and its first tour to Europe with performances in Prague, Stuttgart and in the Motette series at the Thomaskirche in Leipzig, Germany, the home of J.S. Bach for 27 years.

Over the past ten years, this professional choir has performed throughout the world and has been acclaimed on both the national and international levels. As the choir moved into its second decade after an amazing tenth anniversary, the choir presented Ein deutsches Requiem (A German Requiem) by Johannes Brahms, Masters of the Renaissance, which included a cappella works by two of the period’s most important composers, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina and Tomás Luis de Victoria, and the final concert of the season, Baroque Magnificence, which included Bach’s early cantata, Himmelskönig, sei willkommen, BWV 182, Handel’s early choral masterpiece, Dixit Dominus, and Charpentier’s Exaudiat Pour le Roy.

In this 13th season, the choir’s Subscription Series featured a performance in the Shenkman Arts Centre series in Orleans, Ontario, with the OBC singing Christmas Around the World, and it performed two other concerts, the masterpiece by Orlando di Lasso, Lagrime di San Pietro, and Now is the Month of Maying, highlighting madrigals and part-songs by Renaissance masters as well as Haydn’s 13 Part-Songs. The second Venetian Carnival gala performance also took place in February, and the choir was also featured in Schafer’s Apocalypsis in the Sony Centre in Toronto in June, along with 11 other professional choirs from Ontario.

The Ottawa Bach Choir (OBC) would like to welcome you to its seventeenth season of glorious choral music. Over the past sixteen years, the professional ensemble has travelled the world and received national and international recognition. Last season, the choir recorded its seventh CD and performed – for the fourth time – at Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto. In  2016, the choir released its JUNO-nominated CD, ‘Twas But Pure Love, to critical acclaim, and toured China, where it was invited to perform as Canada’s choral representative in the prestigious festival, Meet in Beijing 2016. In 2014, the OBC completed its 4th European tour, which included an invitation to perform in the Bachfest Leipzig 2014 at the Thomaskirche, in Leipzig, Germany, as the first Canadian choir ever to be invited. The choir has also performed at Carnegie Hall, across Canada, and in Europe, in Germany, England, France, Italy, the Netherlands, as well as in Mexico, and more.

Performances this season include a Subscription Series, the release of the choir’s seventh CD, Baroque Passion, and several Special Events.

The Subscription Series offers three spectacular concerts:

Christmas in Venice – December 1, 2018, 8 PM

La Sainte-Chapelle – March 2, 2019, 8 PM

Mozart Celebration – May 4, 2019, 8 PM

The Ottawa Bach Choir is pleased to offer its audiences a subscription series for a limited time only. Get the entire 2018-2019 concert season for 10% less than regular ticket prices. This offer ends on November 30, 2018.

Join us and discover the best that choral music has to offer!

Lisette Canton
Fondatrice et directrice artistique