Canadian Children's Opera Chorus
Encyclopedia
The Canadian Children's Opera Company (Previously called the Canadian Children's Opera Chorus)(CCOC) was founded in 1968 by Ruby Mercer
and Lloyd Bradshaw. The Chorus consists of five divisions of approximately 240 boys and girls aged 6 to 19. The Principal Chorus has over 80 choristers, and they participate as the children's chorus in productions by the Canadian Opera Company
(COC). The current artistic director/conductor is Ann Cooper Gay. The CCOC performs many times in the year; in addition to COC productions, they perform with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra
, Soundstreams Canada
, the Hannaford Street Silver Band, as well as on their own.
The CCOC has toured across Europe and Canada, and continue to expand its repertoire of music in various languages including English, French, Italian, Serbian, Russian, Mandarin (Chinese), Hungarian, German, Inuit, as well as several African languages.
The Chorus' repertoire consists of a mix of traditional music and modern classical
pieces. The group also sings various genres of music including folk songs, opera, musicals and jazz. They have released five CDs.
Ruby Mercer
Ruby Mercer, CM was a writer, broadcaster, soprano and entrepreneur.Mercer founded Opera Canada, a periodical for which she served as editor from 1960 to 1990. She also founded the Canadian Children's Opera Chorus, and served as its first president...
and Lloyd Bradshaw. The Chorus consists of five divisions of approximately 240 boys and girls aged 6 to 19. The Principal Chorus has over 80 choristers, and they participate as the children's chorus in productions by the Canadian Opera Company
Canadian Opera Company
The Canadian Opera Company is an opera company in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the largest opera company in Canada and the third largest producer of opera in North America. The COC performs in its own opera house, the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts.-History:For 40 years until...
(COC). The current artistic director/conductor is Ann Cooper Gay. The CCOC performs many times in the year; in addition to COC productions, they perform with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra
Toronto Symphony Orchestra
The Toronto Symphony Orchestra is a Canadian orchestra based in Toronto, Ontario.-History:The TSO was founded in 1922 as the New Symphony Orchestra, and gave its first concert at Massey Hall in April 1923. The orchestra changed its name to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in 1927. The TSO...
, Soundstreams Canada
Soundstreams Canada
Soundstreams Canada is a new music presenter and producer based in Toronto, Ontario. Soundstreams was founded by artistic director Lawrence Cherney in 1982 as Chamber Concerts Canada. Soundstreams produces an annual concert series as well as music festivals and special projects. In June 2009...
, the Hannaford Street Silver Band, as well as on their own.
The CCOC has toured across Europe and Canada, and continue to expand its repertoire of music in various languages including English, French, Italian, Serbian, Russian, Mandarin (Chinese), Hungarian, German, Inuit, as well as several African languages.
The Chorus' repertoire consists of a mix of traditional music and modern classical
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
pieces. The group also sings various genres of music including folk songs, opera, musicals and jazz. They have released five CDs.
Touring Across Europe
Every few years, the CCOC goes on a tour across Europe with choristers from the CCOC's Principal and Youth Choruses. The tour generally lasts a few weeks. Over the course of the tour the CCOC does many concerts and in 2011, had the privilege to compete in the Summa Cum Laude International Youth Music Festival in Vienna for the first time. The CCOC placed 2nd in the treble category of the competition during their tour in July, 2011.Commissioned works
The CCOC has commissioned a number of works in the past, including the following:- Dragon in the Rocks (2008) (Alexander Rapoport)
- A Dickens of a Christmas (2005)(2007)(2010) (Errol Gay)/(Michael Patrick Albano)
- The Hobbit (2004) (Dean Burry)
- The Star Child (1998) (John GreerJohn GreerJohn Greer is a Canadian sculptor.Greer has exhibited his work since 1967 extensively in Canada and the USA, Iceland and Korea. Greer studied Fine Art from 1962–1967 in Halifax, Montreal and Vancouver. He taught sculpture at NSCAD University in Halifax for 26 years and is based in LaHave, Nova...
/Ned Dickens) - The Snow Queen (1993) (John Greer/Jeremy James Taylor)
- A Midwinter Night's Dream (Harry SomersHarry SomersHarry Stewart Somers, CC was the foremost English-Canadian composer of his period.He was born in middle-class Toronto in 1925 but did not become interested in music until his early teenage years, when he met a doctor and his wife, both pianists, who introduced him to classical music...
/Tim Wynne-JonesTim Wynne-JonesTim Wynne-Jones is an English–Canadian author of children's literature, including picture books and novels for children and young adults, novels for adults, radio dramas, songs for the CBC/Jim Henson production Fraggle Rock, as well as a children's musical and an opera libretto.-Biography:Born...
) - Dr. Canon's Cure (Derek HolmanDerek HolmanDerek Holman, CM is a choral conductor, organist, and composer.Holman attended the Royal Academy of Music from 1948 to 1952 and studied with Sir William McKie, Eric Thiman, and York Bowen...
/Robertson DaviesRobertson DaviesWilliam Robertson Davies, CC, OOnt, FRSC, FRSL was a Canadian novelist, playwright, critic, journalist, and professor. He was one of Canada's best-known and most popular authors, and one of its most distinguished "men of letters", a term Davies is variously said to have gladly accepted for himself...
) - Chip and His Dog (1978) (Gian Carlo MenottiGian Carlo MenottiGian Carlo Menotti was an Italian-American composer and librettist. Although he often referred to himself as an American composer, he kept his Italian citizenship. He wrote the classic Christmas opera, Amahl and the Night Visitors, among about two dozen other operas intended to appeal to popular...
)
Discography
- Dandelion Parachutes
- Creatures Great & Small
- Sir Christëmas
- There and Back Again
- A Midwinter Night's Dream
Past musical directors
- Ann Cooper Gay (2000–present)
- John Tuttle (1985–2000)
- Derek HolmanDerek HolmanDerek Holman, CM is a choral conductor, organist, and composer.Holman attended the Royal Academy of Music from 1948 to 1952 and studied with Sir William McKie, Eric Thiman, and York Bowen...
(1975–1985) - Donald Kendrick (1974–1975)
- Lloyd Bradshaw (1968–1975)
Awards
- National Award for Outstanding Choral Record (1989) for Derek Holman's Sir Christëmas awarded by the Association of Canadian Choral Conductors
- First Prize (1992) in the CBC Radio Competition for Amateur Choirs, Children’s Choir category
- First Prize (1993) in the CBC Radio Competition for Amateur Choirs, Children’s Choir category
- Second Prize (1998) in the CBC Radio Competition for Amateur Choirs, Children’s Choir category
- Recording of A Midwinter Night's Dream Nominated for a Juno AwardJuno AwardThe Juno Awards are presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music...
in 2007