Mosaik

The Ottawa Boys Choir were thrilled to participate in MosaiK with guest conductor Kathleen Allan. The Canadian Mosaik Choral Festival enriches, energizes and inspires local community choral artists of all ages and levels of experience. Our mosaic of voices and song celebrates the broad range of communities in Canada and the choral art through workshops and performances in a non-competitive festival environment with a recognized choral professional; 2012 was Scott Leithead, then in following years Stephen Hatfield, Brian Tate, Mark Sirett, Laurier Fagnan, and Kellie Walsh. 2018 we had the team of guest conductor Jennifer Moir from Western University, and Soprano Essi Wuorela, of Finland's "Rajaton", and this year we welcome back Kathleen Allan!

Sponsored by Harmonia Choir of Ottawa, and Ecole secondaire publique De La Salle, choirs of all ages came from across the city to have the unique opportunity working together to sing in workshops and performance, led this year by guest conductor, and clinician Kathleen Allan. Workshops and rehearsals culminated in an evening concert in which participants performed their own eclectic programmes and combined on massed pieces.

Kathleen Allan is the Artistic Director and Conductor of the Amadeus Choir of Greater Toronto. Originally from St. John's, NL, Ms. Allan is in high demand as a conductor, composer and clinician and is equally comfortable working in early, contemporary, and symphonic repertoire. Recent guest conducting engagements include the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra, the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra and Early Music Vancouver. In 2015, Ms. Allan made her Asian debut conducting Handel's Messiah and Bach's Christmas Oratorio in Japan, and in 2016, she was the recipient of the Sir Ernest MacMillan Prize in Choral Conducting. She is a founding co-Artistic Director of Arkora, an electric vocal chamber consort dedicated to blurring lines between the music of our time and masterworks from the ancient repertoire.

Her compositions have been commissioned, performed and recorded by ensembles throughout the Americas and Europe, and her work has been featured at two World Symposiums on Choral Music. Her "In Paradisum" is the closing track on the Canadian Chamber Choir's JUNO-nominated recording, "Sacred Reflections of Canada."

Also in high demand as a soprano, she has appeared as a soloist with the National Broadcast Orchestra of Canada and Berkshire Choral Festival Choir, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and the Vancouver Bach Choir. In addition to freelancing regularly in Canada and the United States, she has sung as a member of the Vienna-based Arnold Schoenberg Choir under conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt, the Vancouver Chamber Choir, Skylark Vocal Ensemble in Atlanta, and the Yale Schola Cantorum. A passionate interpreter of new music, she has premiered over two dozen works for the voice. She holds a degree in composition from the University of British Columbia and a master's degree in conducting from Yale University.

• AELLA CHOIR - Aella is a treble choir composed of advanced singers from the National Capital Region, which performs without a conductor.
• CHORALE DE LA SALLE - one of the two host choirs for the MosaiK Chorale Festival. The choir is one of several choirs at École secondaire publique De La Salle.
• CUMBERLAND COMMUNITY SINGERS - CCS is a unauditioned choir that provides an opportunity for adults in Orleans (the east end of the City of Ottawa) and surrounding area, to sing a wide variety of choral music.
• HARMONIA CHOIR OF OTTAWA - one of the two host choirs for the MosaiK Choral Festival. While still maintaining a focus on Canadian and local composers the choir takes on an eclectic mix of repertoire each season.
• OTTAWA CARLETON CHORISTERS - The Ottawa Carleton Choristers is a choir of approximately 60 active and retired teachers and staff from the Ottawa Carleton District School Board.
• OTTAWA CATHOLIC SCHOOL BOARD CHILDREN'S CHOIR - The Choir is made up of 80 students in grades 4-8, who are chosen by audition. The choir sings in 2, 3 and 4 part harmony and they sing a wide variety of music, from sacred to secular to contemporary to world music.