The Saskatoon Chamber Singers is an auditioned, mixed-voice choir ranging between 28 and 35 singers. We are passionate about performing modern Canadian and international compositions while sustaining and reviving music from the classics. Directed by James Hawn, we present four concerts a year at Knox United Church, one of Saskatoon's finest acoustic spaces for choral music. The Chamber Singers' concert season includes a Remembrance Day concert (an annual fixture on the Saskatoon choral calendar for twenty years), a Christmas concert, and two winter and spring concerts of varying themes. Repertoire from the first fifteen years of these Remembrance Day concerts is available on our first CD, Remember.
Our History
The Saskatoon Chamber Singers was founded in 1977 by a group of former Greystone Singers (University of Saskatchewan) who wanted to continue singing in a quality choral ensemble. They invited Robert Solem, director of choral activities at the University of Saskatchewan and director of the Greystone Singers since 1962, to be the choir’s musical director. The choir’s first concert, on December 14, 1977, was presented with the Saskatoon Chamber Orchestra – they were billed as the Saskatoon Chamber Orchestra and Choir – and included Vaughan Williams’ “Flos Campi,” Vivaldi’s “Gloria,” and Scarlatti’s “Su le sponde del Tebro.” The official launch, however, came on April 3, 1978, at Knox United Church. Typical of much of the repertoire ever since, the varied program included two recent Canadian works, including Ruth Watson’s Missa Brevis. The Chamber Singers quickly developed a reputation in Saskatoon, and received national exposure. During the 1978-79 season, they provided recorded program music for the Gateway Players’ production of The Lark. In 1979, the choir performed Brahms’ Neue Liebeslieder Walzer in a concert during the Learned Societies Conference that was broadcast on the national CBC network, the first of several concerts to be broadcast. The following season they were the core group for the chorus of the Saskatoon Opera Association’s production of Carmen. In 2012, the choir released its first CD, “Remember,” with three tracks broadcast nationally on CBC Radio’s Choral Concert. In 2016, Saskatoon Chamber Singers commissioned All Suddenly the Wind with composition by Allan Bevan and it was subsequently published by Cypress Choral Music. Most recently, SCS commissioned Hold Me Enfold Me by Matthew Emery for the 2022/2023 season. The choir has been a finalist in both the CBC choral competition for amateur choirs and the International Choral Kathaumixw in Powell River, British Columbia, and participated in the non-competitive Festival 500 in St. John’s, Newfoundland. It has also been the guest choir at Saskatchewan Sings, and sang at the installation of Lynda Haverstock (a former member) as Lieutenant-Governor of Saskatchewan. In 2010, the choir performed at Podium, the biennial conference of the Association of Canadian Choral Communities, held in Saskatoon.