Our History
The Cantata Singers of Ottawa is dedicated to excellence in the performance of choral music from Canada and around the world.
The Choir was founded in 1964 by Gerald Wheeler, organist and choirmaster of St Matthew's Church in Ottawa. The choir consisted of 20 singers. The first concert was December 1964 at the National Gallery.
After one season, Gerald moved to Montreal and Brian Law took over as director of St Matthew's church and took over directing the Cantata Singers as well. In 1969, the choir was invited to sing Purcell's Dido and Aneas at the new National Arts Centre in November. To balance the NAC Orchestra, the choir increased in size to 44 members. The CSO became the choir in residence of the NAC and has performed in many NAC productions over the years, singing under many world renowned conductors such as, Eduardo Mata, Helmuth Rilling, Franz Paul Decker, Andrew Parrott, Trevor Pinnock, Ermanno Florio, Ivor Bolton, Richard Hickox, Paul Goodwin, Andreas Delfs, Jane Glover, Martin Pearlman, William Boughton, Thierry Fischer, Gerald Wirth, Earl Stafford, Frank McNamara, David Lockington and Eric Kunzel among others.
Under Brian Law, the choir sang in the Guelph Spring Festival and traveled frequently around Canada. In 1980 the NAC invited the choir to sing with the NACO in Carnegie Hall. They toured the Maritime provinces in 1980 and also Southwestern Ontario in 1987.
After Brian Law left for New Zealand in 1987, the choir did a national search for a new director and welcomed Laurence Ewashko who spent the previous few years conducting the famed Vienna Boychoir. Under Laurence's leadership the choir embarked on a successful tour of The Netherlands in 1988. In 1994 they went to Hong Kong and Taiwan, 1998 a tour of Austia and Hungary, and in 2001 a tour of Italy.
The choir has made numerous recordings with CBC radio and TV, and appears on the NACO CD recording of music by Alexina Louie.
The Cantata Singers also produces its own concert series every year and makes numerous guest appearances with other organizations. As part of its series, the choir supports local and national composers by commissioning and performing their works.
In June 2005, Michael Zaugg took over the baton of the choir as Music Director and is now leading the choir in new and exciting directions.