April 25, Concert Hall, National Center for the Performing Arts

April 27, Shanghai Oriental Arts Center

April 28, Beijing Concert Hall

The Ottawa Bach Choir (OBC), founded in 2002 by Dr. Lisette Canton, offers audiences a wide range of choral music of the finest quality, performing music from all historical periods while keeping Bach's choral œuvre as the focus of its repertoire. Through a combination of both a scholarly and emotional approach to choral music, the ensemble expands all aspects of the artistic spectrum. The professional choir has received national and international recognition, and now in its fourteenth season. Performances last season included an invitation to sing R. Murray Schafer's Apocalypsis in the Luminato Festival in Toronto with 12 choirs from across Ontario as well as over 1000 performers. In 2014, the choir received an invitation - as the first Canadian choir - to perform in the prestigious international festival, Bachfest Leipzig 2014. The choir also performed other concerts in Venice, Lübeck, Groningen and Amsterdam. In 2012, the choir sang a 10th anniversary performance of Bach's Matthäus-Passion as well as an invitation to perform at Podium 2012, the biennial conference of the Association of Canadian Choral Communities (ACCC). In 2010-11, performances included a tour to New York City, highlighting debut performances at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, the Arts at the Park concert series and the Consul-Général de la France in New York. In addition, the Choir received its third invitation to sing at Roy Thomson Hall in the Choir and Organ Series, at Redpath Hall in Montreal, and in the Music and Beyond Festival in Ottawa. In 2008-09, performances included the Festival Música Santa Fe concert series in Mexico City, the Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival and a third tour to Europe, performing for the third time at Bach’s church, the Thomaskirche, in Lepizig, as well as at St. Paul’s Cathedral. The Choir was invited to perform and take over the duties of the Thomanerchor in May 2005 at the Thomaskirche, in Leipzig, and again in 2007. The choir has also performed in Bayreuth, Prague, Salzburg, Stuttgart and Vienna.

In addition to its successful performances of all of Bach’s major works, the OBC has sung several works from the Baroque period by Handel, Monteverdi and others. The choir also engages in an educational outreach program each season and has performed in over 40 schools in the Ottawa-Carleton region.

The OBC has been broadcast nationwide on CBC Radio, and has recorded five compact discs, with plans to record a 6th CD this coming August.

“...you immediately heard the choir's chief assets: a bright, clear and transparent sound; a springy feel for rhythm; beautifully shaded dynamics; and exemplary diction…” - NY Times

“What a choir! They deliver tight, chiseled sound, deliciously pure tone, exemplary balance, squeaky-clean vocal counterpoint, flawless German diction, and utterly convincing spirituality.” - American Record Guide Artistic Director: Lisette Canton

Lisette Canton is the Founder and Artistic Director of the internationally acclaimed Ottawa Bach Choir, and is also Associate Professor and Head of Choral Music at York University in Toronto

She has recently been a guest conductor at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New York, and taken the Ottawa Bach Choir on four successful European tours (2014/2009/2007/2005), including an invitation as the first Canadian choir to perform in the prestigious Bachfest Leipzig 2014. Dr. Canton has also conducted in Leipzig, London, Paris, Venice, Lübeck, Stuttgart, Bayreuth, Vienna, Salzburg, Prague, Amsterdam, Groningen, Mexico City, and has prepared choirs for Franz-Paul Decker, Johannes Ullrich, Pinchas Zukerman, Helmuth Rilling and John Rutter. She was also invited to perform in the International Choral Festival at the University of Caen, France in conjunction with the 60th anniversary of D-Day.