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| Pete directs at the rehearsal with returning Stairwellers for the 30th reunion celebration |
Da Capo
-- celebrating the choir's past -- illuminating our present
-- inspiring our future...
On our 30th year -- by David Rain, Tenor
December, 2007
Single file, they stride purposefully up the deep stairwell and gingerly place themselves across the narrow church steps, resplendent in their hand-made green and red Christmas cloaks. A warm round of applause erupts as a goateed, golden-haired gentleman with heavy black shoes follows them into view and bows humbly in acknowledgement.
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| Dress rehearsal |
From under his cloak, he deftly pulls out a shiny tuning fork and with a wide grin strikes it solidly across his right temple. “Do, so, me, do”, he can be heard chanting to the others, as he steps back to join them in line. Then, with a subtle lifting of his left eyebrow, the group responds as if one and suddenly the joyous strains of “Oh come, all ye faithful” are heard ringing through the pews, much to the delight of the gathered throng.
'Tis a scene repeated time and again each Christmas by one of Ottawa’s best kept secrets: the 24-voice Stairwell Carollers.
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| Ottawa U. stairwells |
They’re a choir quite unlike any other. From their very humble beginnings in the stairwells of the University of Ottawa, this tiny group of singers has grown to become one of Ottawa’s premier a cappella choirs, with three Christmas CDs and one Renaissance madrigal CD professionally-produced this past decade.
The choir is led by their dynamic founder and director, Pierre Massie, a man of many hats. For 17 years, his day job has been music teacher with the Ottawa Carleton School Board, and he is currently Head of Fine Arts at Glebe Collegiate High School. He has also found time to indulge his passion of leading the Stairwell Carollers since their inception in 1977.
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| Our Director, Pierre Massie |
He is renowned for his unusual style of conducting from within the tenor section itself, using everything imaginable within his reach to conduct with: his eyebrows and his eyes of course, not to mention his head, his music book, his nose, his ears and even his teeth.
Pierre is also an award-winning composer, twice having won first prize in the prestigious Toronto Amadeus Choir Christmas Carol and Chanukah Song Writing Competition, most recently this past November.
The Stairwell Carollers are not just about music, however. Right from the get-go they have been a true community choir in the best sense of the word; and their community has been a vast one indeed.
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| CFRA Xmas Exchange broadcast 1985 |
In addition to the hundreds of concerts they have performed in the Ottawa-Gatineau area itself, the choir ventures far afield
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