To close the 2025/26 season, the JUNO award-winning Ottawa Bach Choir presents a concert titled Sacred and Profane. The concert takes place on May 9 with organist and pianist Jennifer
Loveless.
The program features Frank Martin’s Mass for Double Choir, along with music based on poetry by Shakespeare, including works by Vaughan Williams, Mäntyjärvi, Mathias, Perrie, Tavener, Harris, and others.
“Our final concert features a juxtaposition of sacred and secular compositions that merge the past with the present. Included is Frank Martin’s poignant Mass for Double Choir, one of the 20th century’s most inspiring choral compositions hearkening back to the Renaissance, along with charming works based on Shakespearean poetry by several contemporary composers,” says Founder and Artistic Director, Dr. Lisette Canton in a statement.
Frank Martin: Mass for Double Choir
Frank Martin’s Mass for Double Choir has become popular with choirs and audiences alike, but Martin seemingly had his doubts about whether it would reach an audience at all. The work for a cappella choir languished for four decades in a drawer from the period he wrote it between 1922 and 1926, and its concert debut in 1963.
Its premiere, in the end, came when Franz Brunnert, a choral conductor in Hamburg, Germany, asked for a copy of the manuscript “for study purposes”. Brunnert, luckily, was not true to his word, and performed the piece with his Bugenhagen choir. After another performance by the NCRV Vocal Ensemble in the Netherlands in 1970, not far from Martin’s home in Naarden, the compose finally consented to its publication.
It’s unknown why he kept it under wraps for so long. Attitudes towards church music were changing at the time, and that may have played a role.
Martin mentioned the Mass and another work during a 1946 lecture, saying, “Through a sort of instinctive modesty I have done nothing to have these pieces performed. It sufficed me entirely to have written them (…)”. He elaborated that he was afraid performance would spoil “the expression of very intimate feelings”.
The attitude may have freed up his expression. The piece is characterized by its combination of the traditional, such its nod to Renaissance vocal polyphony, and contemporary elements.
Jennifer Loveless, piano & organ
Organist, pianist, collaborative artist, teacher and vocal coach is a native of Ottawa. She earned a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from Concordia University, followed by a Master’s Degree in Organ Performance, as well as another Master’s Degree in Piano Performance, from McGill University.
She is the Titular Organist at Notre Dame Cathedral Basilica in Ottawa, and accompanist of the Ottaw Bach Choir.
Jennifer has also performed as a soloist and collaborative artist across has performed across Canada, England, France, Germany, Austria, Poland, Ukraine and the Czech Republic, including concerts at the Thomaskirche in Leipzig, Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris, Église de La Madeleine, The American Church in Paris and St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. Her performances have also been broadcast on Classical FM, CBC Radio, Espace Musique, and on CTV and CBC television
Concert Details
The Ottawa Bach Choir presents Sacred and Profane on May 9, 2026 at Knox Presbyterian Church, 120 Lisgar Street, in Ottawa.
- Find other concert details and tickets [HERE].
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