Music at A&P

Sacred music in the heart of our city

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If you are passionate about choral and instrumental sacred music, The Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul is your home. Under the leadership of Conductor Léa Moisan-Perrier and Director of Music Stephanie Manias, every Sunday morning from 10:45 a.m. is an important musical moment. The Choir of The Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul is among Canada’s most celebrated choral ensembles and sings every Sunday and at many other concerts and special services throughout the year. The Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul is a multicultural Presbyterian congregation in Montreal, at Bishop and Sherbrooke Streets. All are welcome! Our services are also streamed live on YouTube.

Call for Auditions:
Volunteer Choristers

The Choir of the Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul is inviting auditions for the 2026-27 season from volunteer singers of all voice types. Please view the Call for Auditions document for information about The A&P Choir and the audition process; to indicate interest, fill in the Google Form found therein. Deadline to apply: August 18, 2026.

Intermezzi: Reimagined

This summer's recital series will look a little bit different...
Because of repairs needed to our organ, we have postponed our Organ Intermezzi to next summer. In its place, we are happy to announce INTERMEZZI: REIMAGINED. Audiences will have the chance to hear a variety of small ensembles at The Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul on Thursdays in July and August, at 12:15pm. Check out the list of performers below, and mark each date in your calendar!

Upcoming Events

The Choir

The Choir of The Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul

The Choir of The Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul is one of Canada’s most advanced choral ensembles. Led by conductor Léa Moisan-Perrier, the hybrid professional and volunteer choir includes some of the finest singers from the greater Montreal area. Current members and alumni of the Choir include professional choristers, opera singers, instrumentalists, and conductors. The Choir offers a collegial, fast-paced environment in which to experience great choral music within a vibrant, welcoming church community. The ensemble, known for its warm sound and clarity of texture, is acclaimed for its innovative programming and diversity of styles. The Choir of The Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul can be heard on several recordings, including LUX (ATMA, 2017), REQUIEM (ATMA, 2018) and DISTANCE (ATMA 2021).

The Organ

The organ of The Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul was built in 1931 by the renowned Casavant Frères of Ste. Hyacinthe, as that firm's opus #1457. It is one of the largest instruments on the island of Montreal, containing nearly 7,000 pipes. About 70% of the pipes are located in the chancel; the other pipes speak from the rear gallery. Only the Trompette en chamade (installed in 1992) is visible, mounted prominently below the Black Watch window.

The instrument was cleaned and overhauled by Casavant in 1976-77, and several stops and a new console were added by Caron, Gagnon, Baumgarten in 1992. The tonal work of these rebuilds lent the instrument a neo-baroque flavour, but was unfortunately of uneven technical and musical quality. The console was rebuilt by Casavant in 2001. A gradual tonal renovation of the organ has been ongoing since 2010, whose goal is to replace the 1970s and 1990s-era neo-classical stops with pipework of the early 20th century, of superior material and tonal quality. Like all of the Casavant instruments built between ca. 1890 and 1960, op. 1457 was conceived in the late-Romantic Anglo-American style, and remains a monumental essay in the genre.

The tonal design of the instrument was conceived for the playing of orchestral transcriptions and orchestrally-inspired solo repertoire and accompaniments; the Wagnerian orchestra, with its kaleidoscopic yet seamless colour changes, was the aesthetic ideal for many organists of the period.

Fast Facts
  • Built in 1932 by Casavant Fréres Ltée, Opus 1457
  • Rebuilt in 1977 (Casavant) and 1992 (Caron-Gagnon-Baumgarten Inc.)
  • New Main Console, and addition of a 3-manual Tower Console in 2001 (Casavant)
  • Ongoing restoration with vintage pipework, 2009-present
  • Main Organ: 4 manuals, 87 stops, 80 ranks
  • Tower Organ 2 manual, 26 stops, 30 ranks
  • Total: 113 stops, 110 ranks
Console of the 7,000-pipe Casavant organ, built in 1931.

Browse our Recordings

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Lux
Requiem CD
A New Heaven CD

Music Staff

Director of Music & Choir Manager

Stephanie Manias

Based in Montreal, soprano Stephanie Manias is heard regularly as a soloist and chorister with some of Canada’s most celebrated ensembles, such as la Chapelle de Québec, The Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul, and l’Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal. Stephanie is at ease in many styles of music, and specializes in music of the Renaissance and Baroque periods. A recent tour saw Stephanie performing with chamber ensemble La Cigale in Quebec, British Columbia, and Mexico. She also recently made her National Arts Centre and Carnegie Hall debuts. A prolific and versatile performer, she has been deemed at turns “angelic” and “fiery” (Montreal Gazette). Stephanie has been a member of The Choir of The Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul since 2008. Here, she has performed as a soloist in orchestral masterpieces by Bach, Handel, and Mozart, among others. Since 2016, she has held various management positions in the A&P Music Department and was appointed Director of Music in June 2025, where her passions for clear communication, musical excellence, and spreadsheets converge.

Choir Conductor

Léa Moisan-Perrier

Music Director and Conductor of the Orchestre symphonique de l’Estuaire, Léa Moisan-Perrier is recognized for her vibrant stage presence, the sensitivity of her interpretations, the originality of her programming, and her ability to connect with both musicians and audiences. The 2026–2027 season sees debut engagements with the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre philharmonique du Québec, and the Ontario Philharmonic. A frequent guest conductor, she has collaborated with leading ensembles including Orchestre symphonique de Laval, Orchestre classique de Montréal, and Orchestre symphonique de Sherbrooke, among others. Moisan-Perrier was appointed Assistant Conductor to Yannick Nézet-Séguin for the 2025–2026 season, following two years as a member of the Orchestre Métropolitain Conducting Academy. After the success of her debut on the podium with OM in December 2025, her appointment was renewed for a second season. Léa’s operatic experience includes significant credits as an assistant conductor at Opéra national du Rhin (Offenbach’s Barkouf), and Opéra Orchestre national Montpellier Occitanie (Massenet’s Grisélidis). Additionally, she has served as Assistant Conductor to Yannick Nézet-Séguin for the Orchestre Métropolitain and Festival de Lanaudière co-productions of Aida, Macbeth, and Tristan und Isolde. Since 2025, she conducts the productions of the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal Opera Workshop and, next season, returns to assists Nézet-Séguin for Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier, presented in collaboration with Opéra de Montréal. In addition to her orchestral work, Moisan-Perrier serves as the conductor of Montréal’s Choir of The Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul. Her dynamic leadership and refined musicianship has supported collaborations with organizations like Ensemble Caprice and the Musicians’ Association of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal for ambitious repertoire across the choral canon. A graduate of the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal, Léa completed her Master’s Degree in Orchestral Conducting, after graduating with a Master’s in Choral Conducting (Université de Sherbrooke), a Bachelor’s in Classical Voice (Université de Montréal) and Piano Performance (Conservatoire). She is an Associate Conductor with Tapestry Opera’s groundbreaking Women in Musical Leadership Program.

Organist-In-Residence

Isabelle Demers

A native of Québec and a doctoral graduate of the Juilliard School, Isabelle Demers is Associate Professor of Organ at McGill University (Montréal, Québec). She was formerly the Joyce Bowden Chair in Organ and Head of the Organ Program at Baylor University (Waco, Texas). She has appeared in recital throughout Europe, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, and Canada, and was recently a featured performer of the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Dr. Demers is in continual high demand by her colleagues as witnessed by performances for numerous regional and national conventions of the American Guild of Organists, the Institute of Organ Builders and International Society of Organbuilders, the Royal Canadian College of Organists, and the Organ Historical Society. She has released multiple CD recordings on the Acis and Pro Organo labels.

Associate Organist and Assistant Conductor

Manuel Piazza

Manuel Piazza joins us from St. Thomas’s Anglican Church in Toronto, where he served as Assistant Director of Music from 2023 to 2026 and founded the parish's children's chorister program, the St. Thomas's Choristers. Manuel completed his BMus at the University of Toronto, studying with John Tuttle and serving as choir director and organist at Our Lady of Sorrows Church, organ scholar at Trinity College (UofT), organ scholar at St. James’ Cathedral, and an organist at St. Michael's Cathedral. The next year, he was organ scholar at Truro Cathedral, where he played for Evensong thrice weekly under the direction of Christopher Gray. In May 2022, he graduated with an MM from the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, where he studied repertoire with Martin Jean, improvisation with Jeffrey Brillhart, and conducting with Gloria Yin and Dale Adelmann. Additionally, he was organ scholar at Trinity Church on the Green, under Walden Moore, and accompanist to the Schola Cantorum, under David Hill. Following graduation, he was Interim ADoM at Trinity Church, Boston, working with Colin Lynch. Manuel’s playing has been praised for its “seamless registration changes ... imaginative stop selections, smoothly shifting tone colours … (and) abundant energy” in Organ Canada. He won first prize in the 2021 RCCO National Competition and second prize in the 2024 Elizabeth B Stephens International Competition. Other awards include the Godfrey Hewitt Memorial Scholarship, the Mary Baker Scholarship in Organ Accompanying, the Julia R. Sherman Memorial Prize for excellence in organ playing, the Aidan Kavanagh Prize for Academic Achievement, and the Ernest MacMillan Memorial Foundation Prize. Manuel Piazza is a student of Isabelle Demers at McGill University.

Organ Scholar

Áron Sipos

Originally from Budapest, Hungary, Áron Sipos is currently an undergraduate student at McGill University, where he studies organ with Isabelle Demers. Previously Áron studied organ with László Stachó and Ferenc Monostori, and music theory and composition with Boglárka Terray and Márton Levente Horváth. Between 2021 and 2023, Áron was organist at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic church in Ecser, Hungary. Since his arrival in Canada, Áron has been organ scholar at The Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul in Montréal under the guidance of Interim Director of Music Stephanie Manias and conductor Léa Moisan-Perrier. At the church Áron helps the Director of Music with the organization of the library, plays for Sunday services once or twice a month in addition to smaller weekday services, and assists the music team in rehearsals and other events as needed. In the 2023-2024 academic year, Áron was also organist at the chapel of the Montréal Diocesan College. Áron is the recipient of third place and a special distinction for sight-reading in the 2022 National Hungarian organ competition. In 2024, Áron appeared in a solo recital at The Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul as part of their Organ Intermezzi Summer Organ Concert series, as well as two solo recitals in Budapest. Áron is recipient of multiple awards and scholarships, including McGill University’s Hugh Brock and Schulich scholarships, and Cambridge University’s Undergraduate Trust. A student with varied interests, Áron is also profoundly interested in history, mathematics and philosophy.