Whether they perform in liturgical or concert settings, Montreal’s Schola Saint Grégoire specializes in Gregorian chant and other, related liturgical repertoires such as Milanese, Beneventan, and Old Hispanic chant, as well as liturgical dramas, plainchant, and more.
The Schola Saint-Grégoire has participated in liturgical celebrations in churches across Quebec, and has performed a great number of spiritual concerts in Canada and abroad.
(Photography: Andrew Macrae)
Among others, the ensemble has taken part in the “Événements Arts Sacré” at Montreal’s Centre de Créativité du Gésu; the “Espaces spirituels” at St-Viateur d’Outremont Church; the “Concerts Spirituart” at Montreal’s Saint-Baptiste Church; the “Festival de musique sacrée de l’Outaouais”; the “Messes estivales” at St-Dominique Church in Quebec City; the “Journées du chant grégorien à l’abbaye de Clervaux” in Luxemburg; the “Festival du Monde Arabe de Montréal”; the “Gregorian Chant Festival” at Toronto’s Church of St Mary Magdalene; and the ninth “International Gregorien Festival of Watou” in Belgium.
It all began in June 1994. At the instigation of Jean-Pierre Noiseux, a small group of Gregorian chant devotees assembled to sing Mass in the chapel of the Carmelite Brothers Convent in Montreal. In the fall of the same year, namely the third Sunday in Advent, the group, reinforced with a few additional singers, performed again in the same Carmelite chapel and returned thereafter to sing Mass once every month for a number of years. That experience was the true beginning of the adventure.
Thanks to the sympathy and encouragement of Father Jean Primeau (+), a Clerk of Saint Viateur, and of this father’s successors, from the time the Schola was founded its members were able to meet regularly in the St-Viateur-D’Outremont parish quarters to rehearse Gregorian chant and study the musical notation of medieval manuscripts. Since 1999, the Schola participates in the Eucharist at St-Viateur-d’Outremont Church every second Sunday of each month, from September to May.
Calendar of Events in 2009-2010
Sunday Mass at St-Viateur-d’Outremont Church
N.B. All Masses at St-Viateur Church begin on Sunday at 11 AM.
September 13th 2009: 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time
October 11th 2009: 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time
November 8th 2009: 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
December 13th 2009: 3rd Sunday in Advent
January 10th 2010: Baptism of Our Lord
February 14th 2010: 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time
March 21st 2010: 5th Sunday in Lent
April 11th 2010 : 2nd Sunday after Easter
May 23rd 2010: Pentecost Sunday (takes place during the 3rd « Journées grégoriennes » in Montreal)
Concert
Saturday, May 22nd at 8 PM in St-Viateur-d’Outremont Church : Pentecost Concert (Free Admission with a suggested Freewill Offering of 10$ or 20$)
Highlight performances by the Schola Saint Grégoire
Great Music of Western Chant Traditions (Milanese, Beneventan, Old Roman, Old Hispanic, and Gregorian chant, and Plainchant in New France), a concert under the direction of Juan Carlos Asensio Palacios (Director of the Schola Antiqua of Spain), presented at the Fourth Annual Colloquium of the Gregorian Institute of Canada (Hamilton 2009).
L'Office des XI mille Vierges (or Office of St Ursula)
Passion, a meditation on the theme of the Cross
Le Cercle de l'extase, a meeting of Gregorian Chant and the Sufi music of the Whirling Dervishes of Alep (Syria), a production of the Montreal Arab World Festival
La vie de Jésus (spiritual concert)
Vigile de la Pentecôte (Beneventan Chant)
Messe de l'Épiphanie (Plainchant in Montreal as it was sung around 1900), for the centenary celebrations of St-Viateur-d’Outremont parish.
Psaumes de la haute reconnaissance (Gregorian Chant and poetry by Pierre Mathieu)
Le jeu de l'Étoile (Liturgical drama for Epiphany from the eleventh century)
Recordings on CD:
Chant bénéventain de la Pentecôte (Schola Saint Grégoire SSG-001) – out of stock
Le Cercle de l'extase (Atma classique ACD2 2361)
Schola Saint Grégoire de Montréal (male voices)
Director and voice: Jean-Pierre Noiseux Solo Cantor: Martin Quesnel Second Solo Cantor: Alain Vadeboncoeur Cantors: Isaiah Ceccarelli, Rudolph Villan Occasional Cantor: Pierre Cartier
