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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 Director of Choirs Jean-Sébastien Vallée and Director of Music and Organist Jonathan Oldengarm, every Sunday morning from 10:45 a.m. is an important musical moment. The Choirs of the Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul are among Canada’s most celebrated choral ensembles and sing nearly 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.

Browse our Recordings

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Lux
Requiem CD
A New Heaven CD

Upcoming Events

The Choirs

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 celebrated choral ensembles. Under the dynamic direction of Jean-Sébastien Vallée, the 40-voice semi-professional choir includes some of the finest singers from the greater Montreal area. The ensemble, known for its warm sound and clarity of texture, is acclaimed for its innovative programming and diversity of styles. In addition to providing music for the church’s regular worship services, the choir also presents concerts and choral services including performances with the Montreal Symphony Players’ Association and Ensemble Caprice. 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).

Auditions

Auditions for the Choir of the Church of St. Andrew & St. Paul are held annually for professional choristers. Auditions for amateur choristers will be announced as soon as public health conditions permit. For more information regarding the requirements and specific dates, please email the choir manager.

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.

Console of the 7,000-pipe Casavant organ, built in 1931.
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

Music Staff

Director of Music

Dr. Jonathan Oldengarm

Director of Music and Organist at St. Andrew and St. Paul since 2008, Jonathan is a sought-after soloist, continuo player, arranger, accompanist and improviser, whose innovative interpretations are informed by historical research. He has a passion for bringing great sacred music and hymnody to life within Christian worship, its native context. Choral accompanying and transcription in the early 20th-century Anglo-American orchestral tradition is a particular interest, given St. Andrew and St. Paul's magnificent 110-stop 1931 Casavant organ. Jonathan is a prizewinner of the RCCO National Competition, as well as the International Organ Competitions of Calgary, Dublin and Montreal; he also holds the FRCCO diploma, degrees in organ and harpsichord performance from Wilfrid Laurier and McGill Universities, and studied at the Hochschule für Musik in Stuttgart, Germany. His discography includes two independent releases (Christ Church Cathedral, Victoria, BC; and the Weimbs organ in Zell, Germany), as well as recordings with Les Petits Chanteurs du Mont-Royal and the Choir of the Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul on the ATMA label. Recent performance highlights include the Maison symphonique, Notre Dame Basilica and St Joseph Oratory (Montreal); the Montreal and Thunder Bay Symphonies, l'Ensemble Caprice and the McGill Chamber Orchestra; the MSO Chorus; Antwerp Cathedral, Belgium; the Grote Kerk, Vlissingen, the Castle Church, Wittenberg, Germany, and the St Augustinuskerk, Amsterdam, the Netherlands; the Pro Organo series, Ottawa, ON; and the 2008, 2009, 2014 and 2017 RCCO National Conventions.

Director of Choirs

Dr. Jean-Sébastien Vallée

Canadian-American conductor Jean-Sébastien Vallée is an internationally recognized conductor, scholar, and pedagogue. Maestro Vallée is Director of Choirs at the church of St. Andrew & St. Paul; Artistic Director of the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir; and Associate Professor of Music, Director of Choral Studies, and Coordinator of the Ensembles & Conducting Area at the Schulich School of Music of McGill University. Moreover, Jean-Sébastien will conclude his tenure as Music Director of the Ottawa Choral Society with the 2021-22 season. Prior to his return to Canada, Jean-Sébastien served as Director of Choral Studies at California State University, Los Angeles and was on the choral faculty of the University of Redlands. Ensembles under his direction have toured throughout Europe and North America, performed for the American Choral Directors Association and the California Music Educators conferences, and were awarded first and second places at the San Luis Obispo International Choral Competition in 2011. Dr. Vallée holds degrees from Laval University, Sherbrooke University, the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a doctorate in conducting from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In addition to his interest in choral, operatic, and orchestral music, Jean-Sébastien is an advocate for contemporary music, making one of his priorities to premiere and commission works by young composers and program rarely performed repertoire. As a scholar, his research interests are varied and focus primarily on Renaissance French music, the oratorical works of Michael Tippett, and conducting pedagogy, more specifically the connection between audiation and gestural communication. Dr. Vallée has been invited to present his research at several national and international conferences in North America, Europe and Asia including the American Choral Directors Association Conventions, Festival 500 in Newfoundland, the National Collegiate Choral Organization conference, Podium—the national convention of Choral Canada, the Hawaii International Conference on Arts and Humanities, and the World Symposium on Choral Music in Spain (2017) and New Zealand (2020). Maestro Vallée’s work has been broadcast internationally and can be heard on several recordings, including his recent albums entitled Lux (ATMA, 2017) Fauré & Duruflé Requiems (ATMA, 2018), and Distance (ATMA, 2021). Upcoming activities include concerts at the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music in Budapest and a tour with the National Youth Choir of Canada in 2022. https://www.jsvallee.com/

Choirs General Manager

William Duffy

William Duffy is a California-born, Montréal-based countertenor and conductor. William first encountered music as a young Suzuki violinist, though he often faced stern disapproval from his teacher for improvising alternative endings to classic violin repertoire. This propensity for variation persisted, and re-directed his musical focus towards piano, singing, conducting, and teaching. William appears frequently as an early music soloist in Canada, most notably with Clavecin en Concert led by Luc Beauséjour (Montréal), and Theatre of Early Music conducted by Daniel Taylor (Toronto). William’s upcoming engagements include performances of David Lang’s Little Match Girl Passion and J.S. Bach’s Markus-passion with the Church of St. Andrew & St. Paul (Montréal). As an educator, William has worked with choirs of all types, including the San Francisco-based Chanticleer Skills/LAB Choir, the award-winning Cantabella Children’s Chorus, and the Schulich Singers. William currently studies choral conducting at McGill University with Dr. Jean-Sébastien Vallée.

Assistant Choirs Manager

Stephanie Manias

Known for her lush voice, dramatic artistry, and flexibility among many different genres of music, soprano Stephanie Manias is a frequent performer in the greater Montréal area. She is heard regularly as a soloist and chorister in some of Canada's most celebrated ensembles, such as Studio de Musique Ancienne de Montreal (SMAM), Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal (OSM), and La Chapelle de Québec with Les Violons du Roy. A member of the choir of the Church of St Andrew and St Paul for over ten years, Stephanie has held the position of Head Chorister since 2016. She has been a featured soloist in A&P’s productions of major masterworks by Bach, Handel and Mozart, as well as in its annual CBC Christmas Sing-In. Originally from London, Ontario, Stephanie is a graduate of the Voice Performance program at the Schulich School of Music at McGill University, where she studied with Canadian soprano Joanne Kolomyjec.

Director of Music Emeritus

Wayne K. Riddell CM

Wayne Riddell has been described by music critics as "a choral trainer of genius". The founder and former director of the Tudor Singers of Montreal, Mr. Riddell has established a reputation as one of Canada's distinguished musicians who instills in those who sing under his direction a consistent sense of ensemble and musicality which have been hailed by the most demanding of audiences and charmed the most difficult critics. His drive, personal discipline and sense of humour are reflected in the respect and devotion of all who have worked with him, whether artist or support staff. Mr. Riddell and the Tudor Singers have toured from coast to coast in Canada many times, as well as concertizing extensively in Europe and the United States. The choir has been frequently broadcast on the C.B.C. and has several recordings to its credit. Mr. Riddell is a graduate of McGill University where he also served for a number of years as Director of Choral Music Activities. He also studied in West Germany as a guest of that country's government. In 1980 the choir was awarded the first Healey Willan Prize by the Canada Council. He was chorus master of the Montreal Symphony and has been invited as guest conductor of that and other orchestras. Mr. Riddell is in constant demand as an adjudicator, workshop leader and guest conductor with many of Canada's leading choirs and orchestras. In addition, Mr. Riddell maintains an active performing and conducting career abroad. In July 1988, Wayne Riddell was named a member of the "Order of Canada" in recognition of this outstanding contribution to choral music. In May 1992 he was honoured with the "Distinguished Service Award" from the Association of Canadian Choral Conductors.