Our Artistic Team
Jean-Sébastien Vallée, OCS Music Director
Jean-Sébastien Vallée is an internationally recognized conductor, scholar, and pedagogue. Maestro Vallée is Associate Professor of Music, Director of Choral Studies, and Chair of the Ensembles &Conducting Area at the Schulich School of Music of McGill University in Montréal. Dr. Vallée is Music Director of the Ottawa Choral Society, and director of the renowned choir of the Church of St. Andrew & St. Paul in Montreal. Previously, he served as Director of Choral Studies at California State University, Los Angeles, and was on the choral faculty of the University of Redlands.
In addition to his interest in choral, operatic, and orchestral music, Jean-Sébastien is an advocate for contemporary music, making it one of his priorities to premiere and commission works by young composers and to program rarely performed repertoire. As a scholar, Dr. Vallée has been invited to present his research at national and international conferences including those of the American Choral Directors Association, Festival 500 in Newfoundland, the National Collegiate Choral Organization, Podium (the national convention of Choral Canada), the Hawaii International Conference on Arts and Humanities, and the 11th World Symposium on Choral Music, in Barcelona.
Upcoming activities include Unisong 2019 in Ottawa, Howard Goodall’s Eternal Light at Carnegie Hall, concerts at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, a tour with the National Youth Choir of Canada, and lectures at the 12th World Symposium on Choral Music, in New Zealand. Maestro Vallée’s work has been broadcast nationally and internationally by CBC Radio and PBS and can be heard on several recordings, including his recent albums entitled Lux (ATMA, 2017) and Requiem (ATMA, 2018).
ANDREW HON, ASSOCIATE MUSIC Director
A native of Hong Kong, Andrew Hon has been active in both North America and his hometown over the past decade. Based in Montreal, Mr. Hon holds the position of Music Director of Hua Xia Philharmonic Arts Troupe. Previously, Mr. Hon served as the Choir Director at St. John’s United Church of Christ – Newport (USA) and the Head of Music at Fung Kai Innovative School (Hong Kong). He has been frequently invited as clinician for youth and children’s choirs in England and Hong Kong. As a professional chorister, Mr. Hon sang with the Yale Schola Cantorum and choirs of the Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul in Montreal, St. Thomas’s Episcopal Church (USA), and Marquand Chapel at the Yale Divinity School.
Mr. Hon’s recent conducting appearances can be found in Théâtre Maisonneuve, Alice Tully Hall at the Lincoln Center, St James’s Church Piccadilly London, Trinity College Chapel, Cambridge, Harvard University, the University of Birmingham, the University of St Andrews, and Hong Kong Cultural Centre. He has prepared choruses for AikKhai Pung, William Weinert, Paul Phoenix, and Stephen Coker, and studied with world-renowned conductors including Helmuth Rilling, Rolf Beck, Masaaki Suzuki, David Hill, Markus Utz, Grete Pedersen, and Stefan Parkman.
Mr. Hon earned master’s degrees in choral conducting from the University of Cincinnati (MM) and the Yale School of Music (MMA), where he served as the conductor of the Yale Glee Club Chamber Singers and the Principal Assistant Conductor of the Yale Camerata. He previously earned a BA in music from the University of California, Berkeley and a Postgraduate Diploma in Education from Hong Kong Baptist University. Currently, Mr. Hon is a doctoral candidate in choral conducting at McGill University, studying with Jean-Sébastien Vallée. At McGill, he directed the University Chorus from 2019 to 2021. Mr. Hon’s research, supported by an FRQSC doctoral fellowship, focuses on non-Christocentric Passion compositions in the twenty-first century and their social justice issues.
Scott Richardson, OCS Choir AccompanistScott Richardson is active in the Ottawa area as an accompanist and choir director. Scott grew up in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, and studied music at Mount Allison University. He later completed a Ph.D. in English literature at the University of Ottawa. Scott currently conducts Atlantic Voices and Musica Viva Singers, and is the rehearsal pianist for the Ottawa Choral Society. He has also accompanied the Carleton University Choir, the Canadian Centennial Choir and the Ottawa Children's Choir. As an organist and choir director, Scott has held various positions in the Atlantic Provinces and in Ottawa, and is now Music Director at Orleans United Church. |
