"United in Song" Stairwell Caroller concert in Arnprior May 5th, 2018

St. John Chrysostom balcony Arnprior, Photo - J. Robert Macdonnell  DESIGNER FOR LITURGICAL SPACE

We are thrilled and excited that our first concert of the Spring 2018 season will be in a glorious venue. As you can see in the photo above, Saint John Chrysostom was beautifully renovated by J. Robert Macdonnell  DESIGNER FOR LITURGICAL SPACE and we will all feel blessed to sing in this space May 5th!

You can see more details about the complete renovation HERE.

40th Anniversary Concerts - Spring 2018

"United in Song"

Saturday, May 5th 8:00pm

St. John Chrysostom Church, 295 Albert St, Arnprior

with guest choirs from Glebe Collegiate 

and guest soloist Gabriel Lewis-O'Connor 

from the world renowned a cappella group Chanticleer.

For Saturday, May 5th ONLY advance tickets $15 

• ONLINE from CANADA HELPS
• Purchase tickets at Glebe Collegiate Music Dpt, 212 Glebe Ave
• Purchase tickets from choir members
• Other locations in Arnprior will be posted soon..
• Tickets at the door are $20.

"Eya, eya, gaudeamus"
Saturday June 2nd 7:30pm  

Church of St. Barnabas, 70 James Street, Ottawa

For Saturday June 2nd ONLY advance tickets $15 

• ONLINE from CANADA HELPS
• Leading Note, 370 Elgin St., Suite No. 2
• Compact Music, 206 & 785 1/2 Bank Street locations
• Books on Beechwood, 35 Beechwood Ave.
• Tickets at the door are $20.

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Sunday, May 27th, 2:30pm

St. Martin's Anglican Church

2120 Prince Charles Road, Ottawa, ON

Please contact St. Martin's for ticket purchase info.

About The Carollers:

Pierre Massie began our a cappella choir, The Stairwell Carollers, back in 1977 while studying in the French music program at U. of O. We are ranked with the best of Ontario choirs, having won the 2010 and 2013 OMFA competitions. 

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

Please DONATE to help make our 40th year workshops happen! 

St. Joseph concert in Orleans - a Yuletide Love Fest! Gala 40th Concert Tomorrow!

A brand new church! And what a beauty! You are going to see lots of Chrismassy pics from this venue over the next couple of weeks. 

Oh, yeah - we did a Stairwell Carollers Christmas carol concert here- Bonus! 

Everything about this church was top drawer. Our reception from the outset was exuberant and the church representatives very helpful. 

Our solid tech crew, led by René, bass, always get to the venue early to set up lighting equipment and tape down electrical cords for safety.

We arrive shortly after the tech crew to get notes from the director, warm up and do rehearsal of Beginnings and endings of songs.

Our director Pierre gives his all despite a recent hospital stay. Dedication!

Before

 

After - a packed house - and our first time singing a Christmas Concert in Orleans - wonderful!!

Thanks to everyone who helped out! And thanks so much to S. Joseph for the generous munchies after the concert. We again proved ourselves to be the Eatwell Carollers!

It’s a concert not to be missed! 

Come hear the Stairwell Carollers sing “A Canadian Christmas” TOMORROW at Knox Presbyterian Church, 120 Lisgar Street, 7:30pm (December 15th, 2017).

The Stairwell Carollers will present a special 40th anniversary donation of $3,000 to the Shepherds of Good Hope on the 15th - a result of their first ever “Sponsor a Song” fundraising campaign.

Tickets are $20 at the door, 

 $15 in advance at 

http://www.stairwellcarollers.com/Concerts.html; 

The Leading Note, 370 Elgin St; 

Compact Music, 206 & 785 ½ Bank St locations; 

Books on Beechwood, 35 Beechwood Ave.

Hope to see you at Knox Presbyterian TOMORROW!

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.

Ars Nova Stairwell Caroller concert musings - very late Saturday post

Thanks to Ars Nova for sponsoring Saturday's wonderful concert at historic St. Bartholomew church. This Stairwell Carollers concert was presented in tandem with the Governor General's church 150 year celebration.

Many of us were a bit nervous before the show started. Some just had the usual first concert anxiety; others were singing their very first concert as a Stairwell Caroller!

No matter, we sang, we enjoyed ourselves and, best of all, the audience seemed to enjoy our singing too!

At the reception afterwards, we found out that the audience was packed with choristers!

I feel validated.

Da Capo -- 30th anniversary spring tour of la Petite-Nation

Looking forward to our upcoming 40th anniversary celebration,  it made me think back to our 30th anniversary (can't believe it's almost 10 years already!) and all of the fun things we did.  I will recap them in the coming weeks up to our start of our 40th year this Fall.

Back in 2008, we did a wonderful tour of la Petite-Nation, just across the water in the Outaouais region of Québec, specifically the lovely region of Montebello.

les Mélomanes, an organization of artists from the area, hosted our tour.

We had an amazing meal at a farm.

Diane, alto, and her husband Ernie provided some entertainment.

The owner of la Ferme Cavalier roasted a whole lamb for us!

Yes, there is more! I will follow up soon with another post about this amazing weekend we had -- lots more memories and a Found-Art gallery visit!

St. Barnabas' stained glass -- a jewel on Ottawa's James street

St. Barnabas church on James Street in downtown Ottawa is one of our favourite singing venues. It  has amazing acoustics (we recorded our Cantate Domino CD there) within an art-bedecked interior.

Bright jewel tones dominate all the windows.

Even the working windows are enhanced with stained glass. The golden glow from these windows flood the church in the afternoon. The contrast in colour to the other windows is striking.

DA CAPO - Stairwell Caroling at the Rideau Hall Skating Party - 2001

Back in 2001, when Adrienne Clarkson was The Governor General, we got to do a singing Gig for the Annual Rideau Hall Skating party.

The plan was to remain inside, caroling for the guests when they came indoors to hang out, eat and drink, and warm up from the cold (yes, there was skating outside!)

Dress up time!!

Here's my Blog Post all about costuming  with tips and tricks to pulling together  a Victorian Look!

I used my Drama teacher costume scrounging skills to toggle together an outfit for myself  and encouraged Susan, Diane, Denyse and Jen to raid their own closets for pieces to create a Victorian silhouette.

The men were a problem. No, not like that. There is never anything in a guys regular closet that can approximate Victorian costume, so I went to Ottawa Little Theatre and got authentic Tail Tuxes for them. At the time, Ottawa Little Theatre was the best resource for Fab costumes on a shoestring budget.

The choir was smaller then, but not this small! The gig was a bit of a last minute request, so the most available of us went. It worked out well, with the parts divided fairly equally.

We had a wonderful time singing and soaking up the opulent Rideau Hall ambience. Sadly, we never got a photo with Ms. Clarkson, but I snapped a shot of these guys...

Rideau Hall is a living museum, and it was great to visit, but I can't imagine living there. Room after room are set up as parlours, sitting rooms, dining halls.

Huge, echoing spaces with marble floors - a bit cold and castle-like for a home.

Of course our voices echoed marvellously too. It was very easy to sing there. People were very appreciative and we wandered freely through the endless rooms, singing a couple of songs and then moving on.

Our only disappointment was that they didn't feed us.

Oh, there was food! tons of food. But, not for... the hired help.

So I took photos in the bathrooms!