7 - Canada's choral landscape

Summary

Canada's choral culture is vibrant, diverse and widespread. Choral music is an integral part of every village, town, and city in this geographically large (just under 10 million square kilometers) but population-small (just over 33 million) country. Canada boasts world-class choirs and choral composers, whose works have gained international recognition.

What makes the Canadian choral scene unique and different from that of our southern neighbors, the United States? Is it our colonial past? Our bilingualism? Our geography? Our weather (a favorite Canadian topic of conversation)? Our collective desire to be distinct, in a polite and peaceful way? The impact of immigrant cultures and our concept of a diverse society? After all, the concept of Canada as a multicultural society is embodied in the Canadian Multiculturalism Act of 1985, which proclaims multiculturalism to be a “fundamental characteristic of the Canadian heritage and identity.” No doubt the answer lies in all of these influences and more.

While many Canadian choral works are solidly rooted in the folk, classical, and sacred music traditions of its founding peoples (primarily settlers from France and Britain), there is no doubt that immigrant communities, such as the Irish, the German-speaking Mennonites, Ukrainians and Eastern European Jews who came to our country in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, have also had an influence on composers and the way in which we approach choral music making.