CRMSS Ontario 2025 Course Description
Lutenists - Click here!
CRMSS Ontario 2025 Dates:
Saturday, May 24th
to
Sunday, June 1st
2025
Repertoire
Back to topCRMSS Ontario 2025 Theme
The theme of CRMSS Ontario 2025 is Harmonia Caelorum: Celebrating Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina and Orlando Gibbons.
This year we again celebrate some important composer anniversaries at CRMSS Ontario 2025. Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina was born in 1525 and Orlando Gibbons died in 1625, their lives demarcating an important century in the development of High Renaissance style. These two composers defined, in different ways, late Renaissance compositional technique and voice, and Gibbons in particular paved the way for an elegance and poise in musical aesthetic that was not to reach its zenith until centuries after his death.
But why Harmonia Caelorum? What is it specifically about the music of Palestrina and Gibbons that brings to mind a heavenly harmony? Both composers wrote with a quiet confidence and a sense of inevitability, deep formal understanding, and clarity of purpose. Their music can conjure up ideas of "perfection" or "flawlessness", in a way that - for instance - Mozart has long been associated with. The "harmony of the spheres" was important as a philosophical concept during the time and the relationship between music and perfection or music as a mouthpiece for the divine order on earth was something that many composers engaged with during the Renaissance and which these two men in particular articulated to great effect.
At previous CRMSS courses, we have either focussed on a national style or on a particular collection of repertoire. At CRMSS Ontario 2025, we will experiment with a repertoire theme that is more open-ended and leaves greater room for interpretation. We will, of course, perform a lot of music by Palestrina and Gibbons(!) but we'll also explore music dedicated to the Virgin Mary in her role in Catholic devotion as "Queen of Heaven". There are also secular themes we can explore: astronomy and astrology, and even alchemy, were Renaissance idées fixes.
Particular repertoire highlights will include Palestrina's Stabat mater and one or more of his many mass settings. We will also concentrate on his lesser-known secular music. Gibbons pioneered the verse anthem genre, and we will use him as a spring board to explore the burgeoning Jacobean taste for solo vocal music.
What types of singing will happen at CRMSS Ontario 2025?
Choral
A major focus of the week's work is singing together as one large choir, exploring larger scale, mainly sacred a capella music of the Renaissance. The specific repertoire chosen will depend on the distribution of voices amongst the course participants.
We will also divide the participants into two smaller chamber groups which work separately, and look at different repertoire from what is covered in the tutti group.
Solo
While the majority of our time is spent preparing ensemble music in choral and small group contexts, good solo vocal technique is of course essential for good singing. This applies to music written in any style and during any time period, including the Renaissance.
Solo singing and good vocal technique are core parts of CRMSS and we believe that solo and ensemble singing can sit comfortably side by side, one informing and enhancing the other. We are in the process of engaging our Solo Repertoire Lead as part of our staff team. When that person is found, this page will be updated.
Participants are enthusiastically encouraged to bring their own solo repertoire written before 1630.
We are lucky to have had Lucas Harris, one of Canada's most prestigious lutenists, on our tutor team since 2018. Lucas will again lead Lute Day at CRMSS Ontario 2025, and will be available to work with solo singers, accompanying them on the lute in lessons and repertoire coaching sessions.
Consort singing: one and two per part vocal chamber music
Any serious amount of time spent getting to know the music of the Renaissance must include small-ensemble singing. The tutors will chose groups and assign them repertoire before the week begins, sending out scores and reference recordings so participants can prepare in advance and come with one or two pieces already learned.
It is in these small group settings that we can best explore secular repertoire from the Renaissance. We believe it is of particular importance that the secular music of this period be covered, as it provides a more vivid picture of the sorts of musical lives these musicians actually lived, be they composers or singers or both.
As with solo repertoire, there will be opportunities to work on small ensemble music that participants bring themselves.
The pre-formed small groups will all be at least two-singers-per-part. Everyone will be allocated into one of these small groups, and perhaps more than one if numbers allow. There may also be time set aside for even smaller, one-per-part consorts to form and experiment with other repertoire, both on an ad hoc basis and under the direction of a member of staff.
Tutor Team
Back to topThe tutor team for CRMSS Ontario 2025 is still being finalized.
The following people are currently engaged to be part of the staff team:
Greg Skidmore, Tom Castle, Victoria Meteyard, Sharang Sharma, Lucas Harris, and Dr. Kate Helsen.
We're also glad to have CRMSS International Scholars with us again this year. This will be a group of students studying on the Solo Voice Ensemble Singing master's degree programme at the University of York in the UK.
Click on each name above to be taken to the Tutors page to read about that person.
Performances
Back to topThe details of the performances we will give as part of CRMSS Ontario 2025 are still being finalised. Below are descriptions of the performances that took place at CRMSS Ontario 2024 and CRMSS Ontario 2023, which will hopefully give you an idea of what to expect this coming year. As the details of CRMSS Ontario 2025 firm up, we will post information here.
Latin Choral Vespers at The Chapel of Windermere on the Mount
Because of a substantial programme of repair works at St Peter's Seminary, we moved our regular service of Latin Choral Vespers to The Chapel at Windermere on the Mount in 2024. This was another spectacular venue, and it was a privilege to sing here. The service, conducted entirely in Latin and using the Tridentine Rite, involves a large amount of Gregorian plainsong interspersed with polyphonic motets and psalms.
Choral Evensong at St. Paul's Cathedral
In 2023 we travelled to St. Paul's Cathedral in downtown London to perform an English cathedral choir style Evensong service. We sang the Magnificat and Nunc dimittis from William Byrd'sGreat Service, one of the masterpieces of the English cathedral choir repertoire.
Final course concert
The culmination of any CRMSS week is the final public concert given by the participants. It is during this concert that we showcase all the different sorts of music that have gone on over the course of the week, including all of our different ensembles: tutti, chamber choirs, small groups, and soloists. St. Paul's Catherdal hosted this concert us in 2023 and at CRMSS Ontario 2024 we hosted the biggest concert yet of any CRMSS course, at our host venue New St. James Presbyterian Church. We took advantage of the wonderful, full balcony to perform Spem in alium and other of our large-scale music in style!
Daily evening church services
Throughout the week, at the end of each day, we will sing the beautiful service of Compline. Our Compline service is simple, sung in English, and is largely made up of plainsong, with a few simple motets for contrast. It is designed not as something pressured or necessarily to be worked towards, but rather as a way of bringing our day together to a peaceful close - precisely as the service was designed to do in its original monastic context. These services mainly serve as a way for us to come together as a course and to experience the daily rhythm of liturgical music making that formed the wider context for most of the music we will be studying. At CRMSS Ontario 2025, we will be singing our Compline services exclusively at St. John the Evangelist Church, one of our two host venues.
Internal 'sharing' concert for CRMSS participants
Everyone who participates in CRMSS Ontario 2025 will have a chance to perform any of the music they work on over the course of the week, be it in their pre-formed smaller groups or in groups they form themselves or the solo repertoire they work on or music they bring themselves... or anything else! This event will take place on Saturday, May 31st and will not be open to the public.
A Typical Day
Back to topWe are always in the process of tweaking the daily schedule to get things just right, and pacing our time together is very important to us. At CRMSS Ontario 2025 we will follow this basic outline, but the schedule below is very much subject to change. Special events happening throughout the week will mean any given day's schedule may deviate from this significantly.
Soft launch
After last year's successful trial of this format, CRMSS Ontario 2025 will again begin with a 'soft launch'. The course will begin on the afternoon of Saturday, May 24th 2025 with a longer registration period and time for you to find your feet in our venues, New St. James Presbyterian Church and St. John the Evangelist Church. The singing that day will only consist of a tutti rehearsal, followed by drinks and nibbles (that might perhaps extend well into the evening!). We will sing Compline on the evening of the 24th, but this service will be simple and not contain the more sophisticated polyphony we will incorporate into Compline later in the week.
The right pace
The week is a busy one and it's important that everyone gets enough down time.
Attendance at Compline each evening will not be compulsory, but is greatly encouraged! The feedback we've received from those who did attend every night in previous years has been that it is a wonderful way to bring each day to a close, but we also understand that some of you may need your sleep! You will be entirely welcome to attend Compline and not sing if you need some vocal rest.
At CRMSS Ontario 2025 we will renew our commitment to adhere to our (complicated!) schedule and keep to time, especially toward the end of each day.
Attendance at the talks will also not be compulsory, but very much encouraged. These are excellent opportunities to get a glimpse into the context behind the music and hear from world renowned experts in Renaissance music and culture.
Of course, if you feel at any time that you need a break, you are welcome to approach any tutor and ask.
Lectures, Symposia, and Round Table discussions
Back to topThe course will include some sessions in which we - don't - sing! These discussions will provide context for the practical music making which is the focus of the course, and highlight the importance of scholarship in performance.
Our complete line up of talks and lectures at CRMSS Ontario 2025 isn't yet confirmed. We will update this page when it is.
CRMSS Ontario 2025 Lute Events
Back to topTwo mini-CRMSS courses just for lutenists!
Following on from the success of Lute Day at previous CRMSS courses, we will be offering more events for lutenists at CRMSS Ontario 2025.
Introduction to the Lute for high school students
Date: Sunday afternoon May 25th, 2:00pm - 4:30pm
Location: New St James Presbyterian Church
The workshop is aimed at approximately high school aged students with some experience on guitar, be it in the classroom or though private or self-directed study.
We can be a little flexible with the age range, so if you are a little older or younger than high school age, please get in touch with us to discuss whether this event is right for you. This event will not be open to adults other than our CRMSS staff members and it is designed for teenagers.
All CRMSS staff who will be present at this event have had police checks and are experienced in working with young people.
Students will be introduced to the lute and related instruments in a hands-on setting, exploring how music for the lute sounds as we learn a short piece as a group, how lute music used to be written down, how the lute is held and played, and more. We will uses instruments on loan to us from private collections and various string banks. We will take in some of the Renaissance lute's colourful history and learn how this instrument became hugely popular all over Europe in a relatively short time.
Some participants may have played lute music on guitar in school or lessons, for example through the curriculum of the Royal Conservatory of Music. Lucas Harris, one of Canada's leading lute players, will play a few RCM pieces to demonstrate how this music sounds on an actual lute or vihuela. A singer will join us so we can hear how the lute is used to accompany vocalists. Wilma van Berkel, a lute maker, will present a short talk about how these instruments come into being in her London Ontario shop.
If you attend this Introduction event, you are welcome also to come back for the concert on Lute Day, Tuesday May 27th. This will be given by participants in that event, as well as some of the rest of the CRMSS Ontario 2025 staff.
Lute Day
Date: Tuesday May 27th, 2025
Location: New St James Presbyterian Church
Lucas is working on the details of this year's offering and we will update this page when we have more information.
How to participate
You will need to register for both of these events. Clicking the buttons below will take you to the relevant online registration form.
The registration deadline is Monday, April 14th 2025.
The details of these events are still being worked out. Please get in touch with us if you have any questions! You can find more information on how to get in touch on our contact page. You can also follow us on social media to be made aware of any updates.
Cost
Back to top$650
Full price for a singer
$450
Student rate for a singer
$30
Introduction to the Lute
This year our fees are unchanged from 2024. We believe both rates represent extremely good value and we are proud not to have raised our fees.
Anyone who is or was enrolled in full or part-time education in one or both of the 2024-25 or 2025-26 academic years, studying any subject, qualifies as a current student.
If finances are a barrier to participation, please speak to us about it and we will try to assist, as we're able.
If you would like to support the tuition fees of others who need it, please get in touch with us about making a designated donation. You can read more about supporting CRMSS on the Donate page of this website.
Travel and Accommodation
If attending either the full course or just Lute Day, you will need to cover your travel to London Ontario and your accommodation, if required. While CRMSS doesn't bear these costs, we do try to help as much as we can with your logistics, including arranging for you to be picked up and dropped off at local bus or train stations or London International Airport.
We can also help you find your accommodation, by helping arrange the sharing of Airbnbs or similar.
Location
Back to topCRMSS Ontario 2025 will be held two venues:
New St. James Presbyterian Church in London, Ontario: 280 Oxford St E, London, ON N6A 1V4
St. John the Evangelist Anglican Church, 280 St James St, London, ON N6A 1X3
You can find directions to both these venues on our Contact page.