BIOGRAPHY
Claudel Callender
Claudel Callender is a versatile and passionate artist, whose musical and professional career is as rich as it is diverse. Funeral celebrant, musician, singing teacher, harmonizer, arranger and choirmaster, Claudel has dedicated his life to art in all its forms.
Versatile musician (singer, pianist, composer, pedagogue, and choir director), Claudel Callender explores a wide range of musical styles and genres with ease and joy. He holds a doctorate in vocal performance from the Faculty of Music at the University of Montreal. A recipient of numerous awards and scholarships, he has completed several advanced training courses with great masters including Richard Miller, Oren Brown, and William Riley in Banff, Toronto, Oberlin, and New York. He served as a singing teacher at McGill Conservatory from 1998 to 2004. Since January 2013, he has been a singing teacher and directs the choral singing class at Cegep de Joliette. In January 2016, he joined the UQAM music department as a lecturer for the classical choral singing class.
Since September 2012, he has given numerous conferences for the UTA (University of the Third Age) in Joliette, Repentigny, and the Laurentians. From November 2014 to June 2016, he held the position of General Director at the Fernand Lindsay Music Society-Opus 130.
At the concert, Mr. Callender performed major works from the sacred music repertoire from J.S. Bach to I. Stravinsky. He could be heard on the airwaves of the SRC during broadcasts such as Alternances, Mélodies, Jeunes Artistes, Les Grands Concerts de Radio-Canada, l’Écran sonore, and l’Opéra du samedi. In opera, he sang roles including Escamillo (Carmen), Valère (The Doctor in Spite of Himself), Don Alfonso (Cosi fan tutte), Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro), Lothario (Mignon), and Gottardo (The Thieving Magpie), notably with the Summer Opera Lyric Theater in Toronto. He also took part in the French premiere of Denis Gougeon’s chamber opera "Une certaine proposition" in Jonquière and Montreal at the Maisons de la Culture, as well as a revival in the original English version for Opera Ontario. He recorded a recital of "Negro Spirituals" on the Amplitude label with Mr. Grégory Charles.
In 2003, he participated in the tribute show "J. Brel, 25 years already!" hosted by Jean-Pierre Ferland with the Trois-Rivières Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Gilles Bellemarre. The same year, one of his students, Jérémie Delorme, then aged 8, performed the title role of "The Little Prince" by Richard Cocciante at the Théâtre St-Denis and the "Grand Théâtre" in Quebec City with Michel Rivard.
In 2004, he founded the professional vocal ensemble Vox Luminosa. That same year, his Mass of Forgiveness, written in memory of the "victims of September 11, 2001," was presented at the Lanaudière International Festival at the Joliette Cathedral, and then three times during the centennial of St-Joseph's Oratory with the Petits Chanteurs du Mont-Royal in 2005.
In March 2008, his mass was recorded on disc under the XXI-Productions label (DEP/Universal) and broadcasted on the show "Le Jour du Seigneur" by the SRC. In 2007, he launched the Art and Spirituality Series (which became the Vox Luminosa Series) dedicated to sacred music at the historic church of the Purification B.V.M. in Repentigny, where he is the principal organist.
With his ensemble, Mr. Callender has presented several important choral works including Sir Paul McCartney's oratorio "Ecce-cor meum," Gilles Vigneault's "Grand Messe" in its Montreal premiere, the "Requiem" by Fauré and Duruflé, Mozart's Coronation Mass, the "Gloria" by Rutter and Vivaldi, etc. He has also participated in numerous television recordings on the SRC, notably a "midnight mass" broadcast in "Eurovision" and a special show titled "Voices for Peace" in 2011, rebroadcast the following year. Claudel Callender was a music columnist on the show "Parole et Vie" on Canal Vox from 2009 to 2012.
In September 2012, Claudel released his first solo album titled "Presence," consisting of original compositions for piano and strings with the prestigious Claudel-Canimex Quartet. That same year, he became the new musical director of "The Singers of Place Bourget" in Joliette. The choir performed Gilles Vigneault's "Grand Messe" in Rome in the presence of the poet in June 2014 as part of the 125th anniversary of the Pontifical Canadian College. Mr. Callender was invited to perform extensive excerpts from his album "Presence" with a Roman quartet for the occasion.