Music at the Cathedral
Music has been a part of St George's life from the founding of the parish in 1792. For much of the past 80 years, the Cathedral Choirs have been amongst the best known in Kingston and far beyond. In 1954, St George's choir was the first choir from North America to ever sing daily services in Westminster Abbey. Further trips to England in 1965 and 1979 firmly established the choir as a bastion of English Cathedral Music in Canada.
We welcome applications from experienced amateur singers at any point in the year. Fluent sight-reading skills are helpful.
Regular rehearsals are Friday at 5:30 and the choir sings for both Choral Eucharist on Sunday and Evensong on Wednesdays (twice monthly). Interested singers are invited to use the form at the bottom of this page to arrange an informal audition time with Brad Barbeau, director of music.
Several works have been premiered by the Cathedral Choir, including most recently Dr. Mark Sirett's 'Here is the Place' in 2022 for the Installation of Dean Douglas Michael.
Choral Evensong is held on the first and third Wednesdays of the month at 7pm. This service is designed to allow for reflection and calm and is held midweek in the evening to provide a break to our busy lives.
One of the treasures of the Anglican tradition, evensong is a service of sung evening prayer. It is the only Cathedral service led almost entirely by the choir. The interspersing of music—spanning from the Renaissance to our time—between familiar passages of scripture and ancient prayers, creates a contemplative mood. Lasting about 40 minutes, the service is a wonderful way to end the day.
In the late 1920's the Woodstock Organ Company provided St. George's Cathedral with a three manual organ on which today's instrument is based.
Dr. George Maybee initiated a massive rebuilding project, completed in 1963. Thirty-two new ranks were installed along with a new console closely resembling that of Westminster Abbey. The British firm of Hill, Norman and Beard was chosen to complete the work.
In the mid 1980's the organ was again rebuilt. A solid-state electronic console replaced the previous electro-pneumatic console.
The most recent renovation was completed in 2012 by Sylvain Brisson and Alain Gagnon, including a new console, and restoration and expansion of all divisions.
In 2023, news came about that St. James Cathedral in Toronto was planning to replace its aged but beautiful J.W. Walker & Sons (1979) organ console. The console was most likely to be scrapped. This provided a wonderful opportunity for the St. George's Cathedral organ to be paired with a console best-suited to its specification. The fourth manual would provide the ability to eliminate difficult to use 'floating' divisions, and allow the player full access to the instrument while playing.
In August 2023, several Cathedral musicians made the trip to Toronto to recieve the console. It has since been restored and electrified, and has been in use ever since. The three-manual console installed during the 2012 restoration has been sold to an Ontario-based organ building firm.
A number of secular groups use St George's as a performance space.
As part of the Cathedral's outreach to the Kingston community, we are pleased to make our spaces available for Queen's University Music Students to rehearse and perform. If you are interested in taking advantage of this, please get in touch via the form on this page.
