CRMSS Ontario 2026 Course Description
CRMSS Ontario 2026 Dates:
Saturday, May 23rd
to
Sunday, May 31st
2026
Repertoire
Back to topThe Ambassadors: Travel and Diplomacy and Espionage, Oh My!
It's well known that many Renaissance composers were travellers. There were many types of travel, however: for employment, to gain a reputation and fame, or even because of exile. Musicians played an interesting role in politics and international relations too, showing off the power and wealth of their various patrons. In some extreme cases, musicians were accused of espionage and there are some documented cases of musicians definitely being spies! At CRMSS Ontario 2026 we will explore music written by composers who travelled widely, and music that reflects the complex political and diplomatic relationships of the time.
2026 marks 400 years since the death of John Dowland. Known for his famous and influential lute songs, Dowland also spent much of his time living outside England, employed in Germany and Denmark. Famously, on a trip to Rome to attempt to study with Luca Marenzio, Dowland (a Catholic) was "approached" by English Catholics in Florence who were plotting to overthrow Elizabeth I. Dowland apparently refused to get involved, turned around, and missed out on meeting Marenzio entirely.
There were many other diplomat and/or spy musicians in Renaissance Europe, including the Italian composer Alfonso Ferrabosco, who worked for the English court but was suspected of being a double agent for the Pope; and the famous scribe and manuscript collector Petrus Alamire, who was a spy for both Henry VIII, looking into Richard de la Pole and Richard de la Pole, looking into Henry VIII!
But there are so many more: some of the more famous travellers include Josquin des Prez, Cipriano de Rore, Tomás Luis de Victoria, Francisco Guerrero, Nicolas Gombert, and of course Orlande de Lassus. We will explore as much varied music as possible, tied together by the fascinating lives of these International Men of Mystery!
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 (or perhaps three) 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.
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 lead Dowland Day at CRMSS Ontario 2026, 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 hopefully 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 following people will make up the staff team at CRMSS Ontario 2026:
Greg Skidmore, Tom Castle, Victoria Meteyard, Sharang Sharma, Lucas Harris, and Dr. Kate Helsen.
We're also glad to have our first cohort of CRMSS Scholars with us at CRMSS Ontario 2026. In a major expansion of our previous CRMSS International Scholars program, our new CRMSS Scholars program is an opportunity for talented pre-professional Canadian singers to participate in a unique collaboration with some of the UK's most promising young ensemble singers. group of UK-based students studying at the University of York on the Solo Voice Ensemble Singing master's degree course paired with a group of Canadian students at similar stages in their musical development.
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 2026 are still being finalised. Below are descriptions of the performances that took place at recent CRMSS Ontario courses, which will hopefully give you an idea of what to expect this year. As the details of CRMSS Ontario 2026 firm up, we will post information here.
Vespers and Compline at the Basilica of Our Lady Immaculate in Guelph
In 2025, we completed our first CRMSS Ontario road trip! Our destination was the magnificent Basilica of Our Lady Immaculate in Guelph and it was a treat to spend the whole day there. We rehearsed there in the morning and this was followed in the late afternoon by Latin Vespers and then Compline.
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 gave the biggest concert yet of any CRMSS course, at New St. James Presbyterian Church, where we took advantage of the wonderful, full balcony to perform Spem in alium and other of our large-scale music in style! In 2025, our final concert was held at St. John the Evangelist Church, which will be the main venue for CRMSS Ontario 2026.
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.
Internal 'sharing' concert for CRMSS participants
Everyone who participates in CRMSS Ontario 2026 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 30th 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.
The course will begin on the afternoon of Saturday, May 23rd 2025 with a longer registration period, time for you to find your feet in our venue, St. John the Evangelist Church, and a welcome concert given by the CRMSS Scholars. 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 23rd, but this service will be simple and not contain the more sophisticated polyphony we will incorporate into Compline later in the week.
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.
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 2026 isn't yet confirmed. We will update this page when it is.
CRMSS Ontario 2026 Lute Events
Back to topOur plans for lutenists at CRMSS Ontario 2026 haven't been fully finalized. Please check back here soon for more information. In the meantime, here's what we offered at CRMSS Ontario 2025 to give you an idea of what to expect this year.
Two mini-CRMSS courses just for lutenists!
Introduction to the Lute for high school students
Date:
Sunday afternoon May 25th 2025, 2:00pm - 4:30pm
Location:
New St James Presbyterian Church
Cost:
$30
The workshop was aimed at approximately high school aged students with some experience on guitar, be it in the classroom or though private or self-directed study.
Students were introduced to the lute and related instruments in a hands-on setting, exploring how music for the lute sounds as we learned a short piece as a group, how lute music used to be written down, how the lute is held and played, and more. We used instruments on loan to us from private collections and various string banks. We took in some of the Renaissance lute's colourful history and learned 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, played a few RCM pieces to demonstrate how this music sounds on an actual lute or vihuela. A singer joined us so we could hear how the lute is used to accompany vocalists. Wilma van Berkel, a lute maker, presented a short talk about how these instruments come into being in her London Ontario shop.
Those who attended this Introduction event, were also welcomed to the concert on Lute Day, Tuesday May 27th 2025. This was given by participants in that event, as well as some of the rest of the CRMSS Ontario 2025 staff.
Lute Day at CRMSS Ontario 2025
Date:
Tuesday May 27th, 2025
Location:
New St James Presbyterian Church
Lucas Harris again ran a day-long workshop for lutenists at CRMSS Ontario 2025. This time, he specialized in psalm settings and worked on lute ensembles. The lutenists were again joined by singers drawn from among the staff at CRMSS Ontario 2025.
Cost
Back to top$650
Full price for a singer
$450
Student rate for a singer
This year our fees are unchanged from 2025. We believe these 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 2026 will be held at:
St. John the Evangelist Anglican Church, 280 St James St, London, ON N6A 1X3
You can find directions on our Contact page.