The Canadian Experimental Choir
What is the Canadian Experimental Choir?
Based in Montreal, the Chœur Expérimental du Canada is a collective of experienced singers, composers and conductors with a passion for promoting new Canadian choral music.
Inspired by the New York-based choir C4, the CEC represents a new way of functioning as a choir, with an emphasis on collaboration and the sharing of each member's expertise.
Instead of a single artistic director, the CEC is led by several choral conductors, serving Canadian composers.
What is our mission?
To support emerging and established Canadian composers by organizing readings, workshops, recordings, and performances of new works.
To create choral music in a new, more democratic way, where decisions are shared by those with expertise in specific areas (composers, choral conductors, or singers).
To foster the development and promotion of local choral music and create an environment conducive to experimentation, risk-taking, and the development of our composers and conductors.
Why?
Emerging composers rarely have the opportunity to hear their works performed.
To progress, the composer must hear their piece sung by real voices. The only way to achieve this is to hear their works actually sung.
Current software is still unable to accurately mimic choral singing on specific words. This is not a problem for orchestral composers, for whom this software perfectly mimics instruments.
The CEC therefore proposes to address these difficulties by offering recorded reading sessions, workshops, and concerts, organized by a group of musicians passionate about new music.