STAIRWELL CAROLLERS SPRING 2026 - A CONCERT FOR ALL TIME AND PLACE

SACRED & PROFANE 

June 6, St. Barnabas Church, 70 James Street Ottawa. 7:30 PM. 

 TICKETS

Join us in an evening of choral beauty spanning the ages.

This diverse evening of religious and secular a cappella songs includes contemporary pieces such as award winning “Eya, eya gaudeamus” - composed by our director, Pierre Massie - and an arrangement of “Jerusalem” by Terry Brynaert, bass. 

Frank Ticheli’s heart-wrenching “Earth Song” is a mere 15 years old and cries out for peace in a time of war. Contrast this with Rob Dietz’ 1999 “Hine ma tov”, a joyous refrain in Hebrew encouraging us to ‘behold, how good it is for people to dwell together in unity’. 

Hear Thomas Morley’s “I Love, Alas, I Love Thee” or “Margot labourez les vignes”. Finally, imagine the church imbued with our choir’s offering of Gabriel Faure’s “O Domine”.

We are preparing some extraordinary works to share for this, our 48th Spring Concert. Join us in joy, in celebration and reflection, as we bring to life music for all the times and places of mankind. 

Pierre Massie and his award-winning a cappella choir, The Stairwell Carollers, invite you to an evening of choral masterpieces from the 15th century to the present day.

Our concert this season consists of 23 sacred and secular works from across the ages. As always, we will perform songs in several languages, including Latin, Italian, French, English, Hebrew and Icelandic.

The repertoire includes Missa brevis by Antonio Lotti, our second most popular sacred video on YouTube. We will also sing works by other well-known Renaissance and Victorian greats such as Tallis, Morley, Hassler, Janequin, Arcadelt and many more. The music spans several eras and includes contemporary works by Fauré, Ticheli, Gjeillo, our director Pierre Massie, and an arrangement by our bass, Terry Brynaert.

Bring your friends and enjoy our springtime musical smorgasbord. You won’t be disappointed!

To learn more about the Stairwell Carollers, visit: stairwellcarollers.com.

And to hear the Carollers singing, visit our YouTube channel.

TONIGHT! Stairwell Carollers Spring 2025 choral Concert

TONIGHT!

Stairwell Carollers Spring 2025 choral Concert TONIGHT  June 7th! 

St. Barnabas church 70 James Street Ottawa Don't miss us! Tickets on sale online and at the door.

https://www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/the-stairwell-carollers/events/-madrigal/

Our concert this season includes our most challenging repertoire ever. More than half of the songs are new to every one of us! The evening will consist of 23 secular and sacred works from across the ages. As always, we will perform songs in several languages, including German, Latin, Spanish, French, English and Swedish.

The repertoire includes the Kyrie from Rheinberger's Mass in Eb for two choirs, along with other works by well-known Renaissance and Victorian greats such as Morley, di Lasso, Dowland, Encina, Janequin and many more. The music spans many eras and includes contemporary works by Poulenc and Holst. We will also be singing the beautiful theme from the popular TV series, "Outlander".

Bring your friends and enjoy our springtime musical smorgasbord. You won't be disappointed!

To learn more about the Stairwell Carollers, visit: stairwellcarollers.com.

And to hear the Carollers singing, visit our YouTube channel.

Stairwell Carollers Spring Concert, Sat, June 1st 2024 at 7:30 pm

Prima Vera ~ The Stairwell Carollers 2024 Spring Choral Concert 

After an amazing weekend of choral workshops with choral technician Gabriel Lewis O’Connor, the Stairwell Carollers now are looking forward to their Spring Concert, Saturday, June 1st 2024 at 7:30 pm. 

Gabe leads the Stairwell Carollers at weekend choral workshops

Lots of new Stairwellers at our workshops 

For this concert the choir is returning to St. Barnabas Church, 70 James Street Ottawa, Ontario Canada, where they recorded their CD, Cantate Domino ( Sacred songs from the Renaissance).

👇👇👇👇👇👇👇

Get your tickets online HERE 

Dress rehearsal for our 2023 Spring Concert at St Barnabas

The Stairwell Carollers 2023 St Barnabas concert

Posts to come about the fantastic workshops with Gabe and all our new singers in the Stairwell!

A registered Canadian charity, The Carollers also help local charities with net proceeds from concert tickets, CDs, Digital Downloads and Streaming sales.  Since 1997 we have donated over $143,800 to local charities and scholarships.

About The Stairwell Carollers:

Pierre Massie created our a cappella choir in 1977 while he was a music student at Ottawa University. With wins in both the 2010 and 2013 Ontario Music Festival Association competitions, we are ranked among the best of Ontario choirs. 

Southminster Concert was the perfect start to my Christmas season!

Our first Xmas concert in 3 years was about to happen! I was a bit concerned about the look of the masks with our cheerful Christmassy cloaks, but no worries we were still cute as buttons ( cloak buttons that is) .

The sound was not affected either by the masks, according to our MC (former bass, but forever Stairweller, Keith). Thanks for being a great MC! We love you!

Warmup time! Pete runs us though the beginnings of all the songs before we go on and hums the first note of the first carol to us all the way till we enter.

 What a great beginning to a new chapter! Southminster was a resounding success! A lovely, warm and generous audience (even some in the choir loft!) and our new members shone!

Denyse said it best " I don't know how long I've been in the choir, it's many years, but this is a brand new choir! And all the new people are Stairwell Carollers just like me! This is your choir"

I just realized our green caroling cloaks are 24 years old! 

I made them 24 years ago!!! Oh... my... goodness...

Well, not ALL of them. Some were made through the years as the group grew larger, but they have weathered very well, and still look fresh and festive. Vogue patterns are the BEST!

Oh, and you may have noticed, the men are in much newer black cloaks - about ten years ago we needed more and surprise - the green fleece was NO LONGER AVAILABLE! 

I was freaking out at that point. We made an executive decision - I think it was Pete who said we could just use black for the guys - luckily the red fleece was still available.

Here is a link to a blog post I did about making the cloaks

But, I digress... 

More thanks are in order!

Thanks to David Ayer (bass) and his crew for lighting and tech setup!

No pics of the concert yet, but we have video "in the can" thanks to Michèle Auger, with closeups by Drew. Combined with professional audio recorded by our old friend Tom Barnes, Pierre will create YouTube videos to upload for next Christmas. I'll try to pull some stills to post from the video if no photos were taken.

And, many many thanks to our CD table and front of house people, headed by Matthieu Brennan.

Looking forward to our final concert of 2022 - this Wednesday at 7:30, St. Columba church 24 Sandridge Rd. Ottawa. 

Online is almost SOLD OUT !

LAST CHANCE Tickets at the door $25 - NO RESERVED SEATING, doors open at 7:00pm.

See you there!

Auditions - Join us!

About The Stairwell Carollers:

Pierre Massie created our a cappella choir in 1977 while he was a music student at Ottawa University. With wins in both the 2010 and 2013 Ontario Music Festival Association competitions, we are ranked among the best of Ontario choirs. 

A registered Canadian charity, The Carollers also help local charities with net proceeds from concert tickets, CDs, Digital Downloads and Streaming sales.  Since 1997 we have donated over $143,800 to local charities and scholarships.

Noël en 7 langues chanté a cappella - Concerts - Les Chanteurs Stairwell

2022 CONCERTS NOËL

 le samedi 10 décembre

Église unie Southminster,

15, avenue Aylmer, Ottawa, 19h30

Obtenir des billets pour le samedi 10 décembre

le mercredi 14 décembre

Église anglicane St. Columba,

24, rue Sandridge, Ottawa, 19h30.

Obtenir des billets pour le mercredi 14 décembre

Obtenez nos enregistrements professionnels ICI

NOS CD ET MP3 SERONT DISPONIBLES À L'ACHAT À TOUS NOS CONCERTS

Au sujet des Chanteurs Stairwell:

C'est en 1977 que notre ensemble vocal naît de l'initiative de Pierre Massie, un étudiant en musique à l'Université d'Ottawa. En tant que lauréats des concours de l'Ontario Music Festival Association de 2010 et 2013, nous pouvons affirmer que nous nous classons parmi les meilleures chorales de l'Ontario.

Nous sommes un organisme de bienfaisance canadien enregistré et les recettes de nos concerts, de la vente de CD, de téléchargements et de streaming nous permettent d'aider notre communauté. Ainsi, depuis 1997, nous avons remis plus de 143 800 $ en dons à des organismes caritatifs locaux et en bourses d'études.

2022 Stairwell Caroller CHRISTMAS CAROL CONCERTS - Dec 10th, 14th

Saturday December 10

Southminster United Church,

15 Aylmer Ave, Ottawa, 7:30pm.

Wednesday December 14

St. Columba Church,

24 Sandridge Rd, Ottawa, 7:30pm.

2022 CHRISTMAS CAROL CONCERTS

GET YOUR TICKETS FOR DEC 10TH

GET YOUR TICKETS FOR DEC 14TH

  Get our professional recordings HERE.

OUR CDS AND MP3S WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE AT ALL OUR CONCERTS

About The Stairwell Carollers:

Pierre Massie created our a cappella choir in 1977 while he was a music student at Ottawa University. With wins in both the 2010 and 2013 Ontario Music Festival Association competitions, we are ranked among the best of Ontario choirs. 

A registered Canadian charity, The Carollers also help local charities with net proceeds from concert tickets, CD and cookbook sales.  Since 1997 we have donated over $143,800 to local charities and scholarships.

Stairwell Carollers Ottawa Choral Concert this Saturday June 4th 8:00pm

Alle psallite cum luya, loosely translated as ' let us sing together, alleluia!' is more than just the name of one of the pieces we sing this season. In fact, it seems to encapsulate how we feel these days for several reasons.  RESERVE TICKETS HERE

To begin with, this is our first live musical offering for the public after two years of pandemic-induces silence - so for that alone, let us sing together, alleluia! 

 Second, during the late 13th and 14th century when this motet was composed, the first bubonic plague was starting to ravage Europe, sowing death and stoking fear and panic. 

Yet, one anonymous monk, shivering in his cloister, found the means of offering defiant praise against the specter of a frightening new world with a musical call to arms: Let us sing together, alleluia! 

The fact that his melody and words have survived 800 years into our century so that we might sing it during our own trying time: alleluia! 

Finally, having made it through the Covid-19 epidemic, the Stairwell Carollers have persevered, but in reduced numbers of male singers along the way. Moving forward, we need to build up our membership in order to sing at our optimum best. 

My challenge to any musically oriented guys reading this message: heed the call of the anonymous thirteenth century monk and join us: let us sing together, alleluia!

Director, Pierre Massie (thanks to Terry B. for the wonderful words)

We're looking for a few good Men!

The Stairwell Carollers are seeking tenors and basses to join our safe, fully vaccinated choral ensemble. A solid voice, a good ear, a great attitude, and proof of vaccination are all candidates need to qualify. Reading music is an asset but not a necessity.

Auditions for tenors and basses continue till August 2022 or until positions are filled. Auditions are held via zoom, Skype or Facetime. During the audition, the candidate must have access to software to read PDFs and play MP3 files.

Contact Holly at info@stairwellcarollers.com to set up your audition time.

About The Stairwell Carollers:

Pierre Massie created our a cappella choir in 1977 while he was a music student at Ottawa University. With wins in both the 2010 and 2013 Ontario Music Festival Association competitions, we are ranked among the best of Ontario choirs. 

A registered Canadian charity, The Carollers also help local charities with net proceeds from concert tickets, CD and cookbook sales.  Since 1997 we have donated over $143,800 to local charities and scholarships.

Dec 18 Christmas concert last of the season for the Stairwell - St. Columba Church

Our 2019 Xmas donation of $2000 was presented to Cornerstone Housing for Women at our 7:30 pm December 14th concert at Southminster United Church.

Some lovely praise from Mark Holzman -
"Pierre - What a wonderful concert on Saturday night. Thank you for your community support over these many years and for choosing to donate to Cornerstone this year. The hard work and dedication shown by all the Stairwell Carollers is evident in the lovely music you all have composed, arranged, practiced and performed so beautifully. And how magical to see the transformation back to winter when we left the church! Attached are several photos of the presentation. Happy holidays to all. - Mark"

The concert was packed to the rafters with a wonderful audience! Even the choir loft was full! Thanks so much for a great night!

Reviews from The concert coming in -
"On Sunday I bumped into a couple of people who had attended the Dec 14th concert, and told me "how marvelous" it was.

Among many highly appreciative remarks were: How particularly they had enjoyed the piece "with all those various carols and yule songs in with the chant" (i.e., they meant "Christmas is...") and that they do hope that "Song of The Crib" will go onto the Carollers' next CD- "it was so beautiful".

Keith, Bass"

Cornerstone has shared with us the impact that donations like ours will have:

“Almost 1,000 women become homeless in Ottawa every year.

“Thanks to the support of our partners, donors, and friends, Cornerstone Housing for Women helps two hundred women every 
day, and nearly five hundred women each year transform their lives from crisis to hope, housing, and healing.

“We are the only Ottawa shelter and housing charity uniquely tailored to women that have experienced homelessness.

“We offer emergency shelter and supportive housing at five locations, and an outreach program. We give professional and 
spiritual care to a diversity of women. With support, women can transform their lives and have a fresh start.”

To hear some of the best Christmas music in Ottawa - click here to get your tickets to our final concert of the season on Wed Dec 18th, only $15 in advance.

By purchasing your ticket, you provide us with the funds to work towards our 2020 donation to another local charity. Thank you!

This brings our total giving to local charities plus music scholarships to students to just under $145,000.  This is the second time the choir has donated to Cornerstone – the first was in 2001 – and we are proud to be able to continue to support their important work.

David Rain

About The Stairwell Carollers:

Pierre Massie created our a cappella choir in 1977 while he was a music student at Ottawa University. With wins in both the 2010 and 2013 Ontario Music Festival Association competitions, we are ranked among the best of Ontario choirs. 
A registered Canadian charity, The Carollers also help local charities with net proceeds from concert, CD and cookbook sales.  Since 1997 we have donated over $144,000 to local charities and scholarships.

Cornerstone Housing for Women to receive Caroller's 2019 Christmas Gift of $2000

The Stairwell Carollers are excited to announce that our 2019 Xmas donation of $2000 will be presented to Cornerstone Housing for Women at our 7:30 pm December 14th concert at Southminster United Church!

Cornerstone has shared with us the impact that donations like ours will have:

“Almost 1,000 women become homeless in Ottawa every year.

“Thanks to the support of our partners, donors, and friends, Cornerstone Housing for Women helps two hundred women every 
day, and nearly five hundred women each year transform their lives from crisis to hope, housing, and healing.

“We are the only Ottawa shelter and housing charity uniquely tailored to women that have experienced homelessness.

“We offer emergency shelter and supportive housing at five locations, and an outreach program. We give professional and 
spiritual care to a diversity of women. With support, women can transform their lives and have a fresh start.”

To see the presentation of the donation to Cornerstone - and hear some of the best Christmas music in Ottawa - click here to get your tickets, only $15 in advance:

By purchasing your ticket, you provide us with the funds to work towards our 2020 donation to another local charity. Thank you!

This brings our total giving to local charities plus music scholarships to students to just under $145,000.  This is the second time the choir has donated to Cornerstone – the first was in 2001 – and we are proud to be able to continue to support their important work.

David Rain

About The Stairwell Carollers:

Pierre Massie created our a cappella choir in 1977 while he was a music student at Ottawa University. With wins in both the 2010 and 2013 Ontario Music Festival Association competitions, we are ranked among the best of Ontario choirs. 
A registered Canadian charity, The Carollers also help local charities with net proceeds from concert, CD and cookbook sales.  Since 1997 we have donated over $144,000 to local charities and scholarships.

PREMIERE! Es ist ein Ros entsprungen - The Stairwell Carollers - Youtube video

Sneak Peek!
David Rain's gorgeous arrangement of the classic German carol “Es ist ein Ros entsprungen” is included in our 2019 Christmas Concert program.

Here is the premiere performance via our Youtube channel.
Don't miss The Stairwell Carollers Christmas concert, An a capella Christmas, at Southminster United Church, 15 Aylmer Ave at Bank St, Saturday December 14th, 7:30pm.

The Carollers are pleased to be presenting a $2,000 donation to the Cornerstone Housing for Women at this concert.

Looking for that perfect Christmas gift? Stairwell Caroller CDs will be on sale at every concert. We accept credit cards and debit now too with The Square!

Tickets are $20 at the door, or $15 in advance at Compact Music, 206 & 785 1/2 Bank Street
- ONLINE TICKETS.

If you can’t make it to Southminster, you can still hear the Stairwell Carollers on Wednesday December 18th at St. Columba Church, 24 Sandridge Road, 7:30pm
- ONLINE TICKETS

About The Stairwell Carollers:

Pierre Massie created our a cappella choir in 1977 while he was a music student at Ottawa University. With wins in both the 2010 and 2013 Ontario Music Festival Association competitions, we are ranked among the best of Ontario choirs. 

A registered Canadian charity, The Carollers also help local charities with net proceeds from concert, CD and cookbook sales.  Since 1997 we have donated over $140,000 to local charities and scholarships.

NEW website for the Stairwell - Xmas Concerts this weekend!

Stairwell Carollers NEW Official website

Q.What is as painful as birthing a baby but took way longer than 8 Months??

A. A new website :P

When the internet was young, my husband and our darling director, Pierre, built our first website from the ground up. He learned the HTML, spent hours, days, weeks in the chair tweaking it. He loaded it with tons of content and photos (very special since the early internet was pretty wonky with managing the images.

Then, FOR YEARS, he kept his baby chugging along.

Then smart phones appeared. Mobile tech needs mobile websites. Nuh uh - ours had the weirdest look on mobile, and it was way beyond Pete to correct it. He was already dealing with frames and java script nightmares.

Basically our website had become a haunted mansion. With strange random pages still existing out in the nether net - if you had the link - and s-l-o-w- l-o-a-d-i-n-g problems.

Well, two awesome things about our facelift is it's NEW - and it's FAST!

Our brand new shiny website, using Wordpress is courtesy of Cypher systems, designed and managed by our director, Pierre (with editing and proofing help by fellow Stairwellers).

Speaking of CONCERTS ------------ coming up this weekend!

 The 2019 Christmas Concert program will feature a number of works by Pierre Massie – including his arrangements of Christmas favourites like “Do you hear what I hear” 
and “Mon beau sapin”, along with his original bilingual song, “The Stairwell Carol.” 
Two world premieres will be presented during the Carollers’ upcoming Christmas season: the beautiful, gently rocking “Mary’s Lullaby” written by alto, Lyndsay Bolden – and the imaginative, tour de force “Christmas is…” by bass, Terry Brynaert.

Both Lyndsay and Terry have been filled with excitement and anticipation watching their new pieces blossom in rehearsal.

David Rain's gorgeous arrangement of the classic German carol “Es ist ein Ros entsprungen” is also included in the program.

It’s a rare choir indeed that can boast such an abundance of creative energy. Ottawa residents can hear the results of this choral composer collaboration at the Stairwell Carollers Christmas concert, An a capella Christmas, at Southminster United Church, 15 Aylmer Ave at Bank St, Saturday December 14th, 7:30pm.

The Carollers are also pleased to be presenting a $2,000 donation to the Cornerstone Housing for Women at this concert.

And, if you’re looking for that perfect Christmas gift, the choir’s CDs will be on sale too. Net proceeds are used to help local organizations - since 1997 the choir has donated over $140,000 to local charities and scholarships.

Tickets are $20 at the door, or $15 in advance at Compact Music, 206 & 785 1/2 Bank Street
- ONLINE TICKETS.

Hope to see you there on December 14th!

If you can’t make it to Southminster, you can still hear the Stairwell Carollers on Wednesday December 18th at St. Columba Church, 24 Sandridge Road, 7:30pm
- ONLINE TICKETS
About The Stairwell Carollers:

Pierre Massie created our a cappella choir in 1977 while he was a music student at Ottawa University. We are ranked among the best of Ontario choirs, winning both the 2010 and 2013 Ontario Music Festival Association competitions. 

A registered Canadian charity, The Carollers also help local charities with net proceeds from concert, CD and cookbook sales. 

Composer Quartet featured in upcoming December concert

The Stairwell Carollers are without a doubt one of the world’s most unique choirs, as their director, Pierre Massie, leads the choir while singing within the tenor section.

Pierre is an award-winning composer, and the Carollers regularly perform his original compositions and arrangements. In recent years, he has encouraged choir members to flex their own composer muscles too. The result is – that for the first time this Christmas – the Stairwell Carollers will perform pieces written by a veritable composer quartet from within their very ranks.

Two world premieres will be presented during the Carollers’ upcoming Christmas season: the beautiful, gently rocking “Mary’s Lullaby” written by alto, Lyndsay Bolden – and the imaginative, tour de force “Christmas is…” by bass, Terry Brynaert. Both Lyndsay and Terry have been filled with excitement and anticipation watching their new pieces blossom in rehearsal.

The 2019 Christmas program will also feature a number of Pierre Massie gems – including his arrangements of Christmas favourites like “Do you hear what I hear”
and “Mon beau sapin”, along with his original bilingual song, “The Stairwell Carol.”
I also share in the excitement – as my own arrangement of the classic German carol “Es ist ein Ros entsprungen” is included in the program.

It’s a rare choir indeed that can boast such an abundance of creative energy. Ottawa residents can hear the results of this choral composer collaboration at the Stairwell Carollers Christmas concert, An a capella Christmas, at Southminster United Church, 15 Aylmer Ave at Bank St, Saturday December 14th, 7:30pm.

The Carollers are also pleased to be presenting a $2,000 donation to the Cornerstone Housing for Women at this concert.

And, if you’re looking for that perfect Christmas gift, the choir’s CDs will be on sale too. Net proceeds are used to help local organizations - since 1997 the choir has donated over $140,000 to local charities and scholarships.

Tickets are $20 at the door, or $15 in advance at Compact Music, 206 & 785 1/2 Bank Street
- ONLINE TICKETS.

Hope to see you there on December 14th!

If you can’t make it to Southminster, you can still hear the Stairwell Carollers on Wednesday December 18th at St. Columba Church, 24 Sandridge Road, 7:30pm
- ONLINE TICKETS

David Rain has been taking his cues from the back of Pierre Massie’s head in the tenor section for going on 27 years.

About The Stairwell Carollers:

Pierre Massie created our a cappella choir in 1977 while he was a music student at Ottawa University. We are ranked among the best of Ontario choirs, winning both the 2010 and 2013 Ontario Music Festival Association competitions. 

A registered Canadian charity, The Carollers also help local charities with net proceeds from concert, CD and cookbook sales. 

Choral Concerts Spring 2019 PROGRAMME - Stairwell Carollers

What's as relaxing and soul satisfying as a babbling brook in early spring?

A Stairwell Caroller Spring Choral concert!   TICKETS FOR JUNE 1st ONLINE

The Evenings Programme

Here is a little teaser of the songs you will hear:

About The Stairwell Carollers:

Pierre Massie created our a cappella choir in 1977 while he was a music student at Ottawa University. We are ranked among the best of Ontario choirs, winning both the 2010 and 2013 Ontario Music Festival Association competitions. 

A registered Canadian charity, The Carollers also help local charities with net proceeds from concert, CD and cookbook sales.