Top Ten 2017 Stairwell Thankful Moments - 40th Anniversary

Number 1 - Wonderful friendships; here, Dr. Andrea McCrady, our Dominion Carillonneur poses with director Pierre and a fresh new Program Booklet designed by Terry Brynaert for our 40th Xmas concerts!

Number 2 - A beautiful CD cover design (also by Terry) for our Brand new 40th LIVE Christmas carol CD. Available HERE.

Number 3 - Doing what we do best -- fundraising for worthy causes. This money for Shepherds of good Hope was raised through a clever "Sponsor a Song" idea by David Rain (tenor).

Number 4 - Catching up with so many old friends and Stairwellers like Michel Benac and Joel Haslam. So many Stairwellers came by I can't list more names here for fear of leaving people out!

Pierre and Joel

Frances, Marie and Pierre

Number 5 - Fundraiser for OCISO - bonus - brilliant photos of us by Irena Zamchevska. 

Hosted by Adrian Harewood - exciting!

Number 6 - So thankful for our Stairwell Front of House Team - led by Michèle Auger.

Number 7 - Always a joy to rehearse with fellow Stairwellers - what a wonderful group of people - and so talented!

Number 8 - Hardworking singers that go the extra mile to make all the concerts about more than just the music. David just took over PR Head so I could focus on our social media, blog and Youtube. Josée heads the crew for reception food. Manon "puts out fires of all kinds" and liaises with our venue contacts. Maggie is one of our Latin experts, catalogues our practise tapes and monitors the website for errors. Susan handles advertising and has been Treasurer for years, and Andrea is our secretary.

And of course all of you I failed to mention here -- what a fantastic, committed group! A blog post outlining all of you and your specific tasks is in the works.

Number 9 - Our fans - we couldn't do it without you! Please continue helping us with your concert attendance, CD purchases and youtube subscriptions and views. And don't forget to audition!!

Number 10 - Our Taskmaster /Master maestro / Composer/ Director, Pierre Massie, keeps on truckin'- despite a crazy health scare that he fought through the whole season! We all love you, Pete!

The Stairwell Carollers:

Pierre Massie began our a cappella choir 40 years ago, in 1977,  while he was a music student at Ottawa U. 

The Stairwell Carollers are now ranked with the best of Ontario choirs, winning both the 2010 and 2013 Ontario Music Festival Association competitions. 

A registered Canadian charity, we also help local charities with our concert, CD and cookbook sales. Net proceeds benefit charity.

Please DONATE to support our 40th year workshops! 

Introducing our Choral Cacophony Podcast - and a brand new video!

Ottawa choir, The Stairwell Carollers, sing an ode to birdsong with "Le chant des oyseaux" - written by Clément Janequin.

I love singing this one! So much fun -- and so challenging too!
Scroll down to see sample music sheets.

Our new venture, Choral Cacophony Podcast, begins with Pierre working this very song!
Have a listen!

If you love our music, a Donation would be appreciated. Please DONATE to our 40th fundraising goal of $15,000 to celebrate this milestone.

All Donations receive a charitable tax receipt.

Audio: Tom Barnes.  Recorded at St. Barnabas Church, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, June 4th, 2016.
Videographers: Luc Nugent. Kolin Casagrande
Editing: Pierre Massie

Photos: Holly Massie

Visit our website

All our CDs are available on our website in both CD and MP3 formats.  

Net proceeds benefit charity.

About The Stairwell Carollers:

Pierre Massie started our a cappella choir in 1977 while a music student at Ottawa University. The Stairwell Carollers are ranked with the best of Ontario choirs, winning both the 2010 and 2013 Ontario Music Festival Association competitions. 

A registered Canadian charity, we also help local charities with our concert, CD and cookbook sales.

Ottawa's Stairwell Carollers sing Lirum bililirum - Youtube live concert video

The Stairwell Carollers sing a Renaissance tongue twister titled "Lirum bililirum ".
By Rossino Mantovano of Mantua, an Italian composer of madrigals.

  Enjoy!

Audio: Tom Barnes.  Recorded at St. Barnabas Church, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, May 31st, 2014.
Videographers: Gert-Jan van Heuzen, Kevin Millington.
Editing: Pierre Massie

Visit our website

About The Stairwell Carollers:

Pierre Massie started our a cappella choir in 1977 while a music student at Ottawa University. The Stairwell Carollers are ranked with the best of Ontario choirs, winning both the 2010 and 2013 Ontario Music Festival Association competitions. 

A registered Canadian charity, we help local charities with our concert, CD and cookbook sales.

Please DONATE to for our 40th year events! 

All Donations receive a charitable receipt.

Christmas in July

Christmas does belong in December.  And somewhere in the world, Christmas comes with sun and sand.

If you do LOVE LOVE LOVE Christmas...  Here's a way to help us fundraise for our 40th!

This Christmas carol playlist on YouTube will pay us when you play :)

Audio: Tom Barnes.  Recorded at various churches around Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Videographers: See individual video descriptions.
Editing: Pierre Massie

Visit our website

About The Stairwell Carollers:

Pierre Massie started our a cappella choir in 1977 while a music student at Ottawa University. The Stairwell Carollers are ranked with the best of Ontario choirs, winning both the 2010 and 2013 Ontario Music Festival Association competitions. 

A registered Canadian charity, we also help local charities with our concert, CD and cookbook sales.

Please DONATE to support our 40th year events! 
All Donations receive a charitable receipt.

Learning to fly

Flying a plane is hard.

All those buttons and levers, instruments - and hours of flying instruction. 

And practice.

Then, you take everyone's life in your hands each time you soar into the air; nothing beneath you and the ground but steel plating and rivets.

Singing in our choir isn't life-threatening. But it is hard. And it takes learning and skill and practice.

And now, after years of giving charitable gifts to others, we need to raise money for ourselves.

I'm asking everyone who loves our music 

- help us to FLY. 

Please DONATE to support our 40th year events! 

All Donations receive a charitable receipt.

 Listen to our Fundraiser Playlists too. Let YouTube pay us forward with your plays!

Here's our Sacred playlist below. Hit play and let it play while you play...

 

Audio: Tom Barnes.  Recorded at various churches, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Videographers: see individual video credits
Editing: Pierre Massie

Visit our website

About The Stairwell Carollers:

Pierre Massie started our a cappella choir in 1977 while a music student at Ottawa University. The Stairwell Carollers are ranked with the best of Ontario choirs, winning both the 2010 and 2013 Ontario Music Festival Association competitions. 

A registered Canadian charity, we also help local charities with our concert, CD and cookbook sales. Why should you buy our CDs ? Our professional recordings sound amazing and have excellent reviews. They are all available on our website in both CD and MP3 formats. Net proceeds benefit charity.

Stairwell Caroller Auditions coming up Mid August 2017 - email us now!

If you sing bass or tenor, and live within driving distance of the Ottawa (Canada's Capital) region, then the Stairwell Carollers may be the choir you're looking for. 

You still have time to email us now at info(at) stairwellcarollers (dot) com to set up your audition!

We don't do walk-ins, so please take a moment to email us to book your time. The emails come straight to me, so I will get back to you asap with your time.

Auditions for our choir are

Mid-August, 2017.

We are currently looking for tenors and basses, (sopranos and altos need not apply.)

Our audition process is relaxed and lasts ten to fifteen minutes. If you have a song that you think shows off your voice, we would love to hear it.

Don't bother about accompaniment, we are a cappella after all. Your voice is all we need to hear.

Our group is bilingual and we perform songs in many languages as well as in English and French, but bilingualism - or even reading music -  are not necessities.

Your voice quality, singing style and ability to learn a short song will be assessed at your audition. 

Email us ASAP to book your audition!

Here are TEN reasons why you should Audition for The Stairwell Carollers!

About The Stairwell Carollers:

Pierre Massie started our a cappella choir in 1977 while a music student at Ottawa University. The Stairwell Carollers are ranked with the best of Ontario choirs, winning both the 2010 and 2013 Ontario Music Festival Association competitions. 

A registered Canadian charity, we help local charities with our concert, CD and cookbook sales.

Please DONATE to for our 40th year events! 

All Donations receive a charitable receipt.

Earth Song - The Stairwell Carollers - YouTube live concert video

Ottawa choir, The Stairwell Carollers, perform Earth Song, a recent contemporary piece written by American composer, Frank Ticheli in 2007.

Another favourite of mine to sing, Earth Song holds a message of peace and environmental awareness for our modern age.

 

Audio: Tom Barnes.  Recorded at St. Barnabas Church, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, June 4th, 2016.
Videographers: Luc Nugent. Kolin Casagrande
Editing: Pierre Massie

Visit our website

Why should you buy our CDs ?

Our professional recordings sound amazing and have excellent reviews. 
They are all available on our website in both CD and MP3 formats. 

Net proceeds benefit charity.

Pierre Massie our a cappella choir in 1977 while a music student at Ottawa University. The Stairwell Carollers are ranked with the best of Ontario choirs, winning both the 2010 and 2013 Ontario Music Festival Association competitions. 

A registered Canadian charity, we also help local charities with our concert, CD and cookbook sales.

Please DONATE to support our 40th year events for everyone! 

All Donations receive a charitable receipt

Top 10 storytelling moments for the Stairwell Carollers

If you're wondering about the story behind this photo, it's in my TOP TEN below...

Not a definitive list and in no special order :)

10. 10 years ago we celebrated our 30th anniversary of song. Yes, that's CTV's Joel Haslam!

9. Our Annual Stairwell Carollers Scholarship celebrates its tenth year in 2011.

8. Dressing the part for the 1988 Ottawa Tulip Festival.

7. Singing for the Governor General's Skating Party

6. Featured in Dynamic, the popular Choirs Ontario publication for our Provincial win  :)

5. Stairwell's own YouTube Channel

4. Our first CD, and Pierre's journey into composing - Qui creavit celum. CD cover photo, Denyse Mageau.

3. Stairwell on Vinyl in support of Manoir Ronald McDonald House inspired us to fund raise for charity with our music.

2.  The Name Game

1. The Regional Contact era. 

We appeared so many times on CTV Ottawa's popular show - after this show, Joel Haslam joined the group to sing tenor.

Check out my first blog post 7 years ago.

No judging.

What a ride!!

The Stairwell Carollers:

Pierre Massie started our a cappella choir in 1977 while studying music at Ottawa University. 

A registered Canadian charity, we help local charities with our concert, CD and cookbook sales. 

We are proud to have won both the 2010 and 2013 Ontario Music Festival Association competitions.

Please DONATE to support our 40th year events! 

All Donations receive a charitable receipt.

Music and Beyond Soirée at the National Gallery of Canada - a Euphonious Banquet!

The National Gallery Concerts -  PART ONE, The Rideau Chapel  

The National Gallery Concerts PART TWO - The Great Hall

We were invited to perform for Music and Beyond's National Gallery Soirée - held at the National Gallery of Canada - downtown Ottawa.

I had no idea what to expect. Yes, we have sung at the Gallery before, but never as part of a Festival. 

Exciting!

We were welcomed and given a schedule with a number of ten-minute singing spots in different spaces around the Gallery. 

We were escorted to our usual greenroom, which was very comforting. 

However, we didn't stay there long, before we were led into the dark underbelly of the Gallery. 

We were then bundled into a giant service elevator that closed with 10 foot high accordion folding metal doors. It gave us a one-way rough ride  to our singing locations.
 (most of us giggling as we watched the massive wall go by through the metal grate)

I felt a bit like an art installation being transported to my space.

Maggie, soprano, was more imaginative and said she felt like we were going down into the bowels of the Starship Enterprise. 

So, we sang in three locations -- two with Renaissance paintings - my favourite (both for the paintings and the acoustics!!)

 Our last few singing spots were in the Rideau Chapel.  

We have sung many times in the Chapel over the past ten years. If you aren't aware, it is an entire chapel that was to be demolished. Instead, it was disassembled and rebuilt within the National Gallery as a testament to its beauty.

So, it was an evening to remember! My only regret was that we didn't have the opportunity to hear and see more of the performers. There were so many and the few we saw, we had to rush by to our next spot. Not complaining, it was a rush to sing for such an appreciative audience (and there were lots of people in attendance!)

 It was one of those times I'd like to be in two places at once.

Here is the Facebook page for Music and Beyond where they have posted tons of great photos taken by their own photographers and submitted by members of the public. Check it out!

About The Stairwell Carollers:

Pierre Massie started our a cappella choir in 1977 while a music student at Ottawa University. The Stairwell Carollers are ranked with the best of Ontario choirs, winning both the 2010 and 2013 Ontario Music Festival Association competitions. 

A registered Canadian charity, we also help local charities with our concert, CD and cookbook sales.

Please DONATE to support our 40th year events for everyone! 
All Donations receive a charitable receipt.