Ensemble ArtChoral is a professional choir that has been steeped in the grand tradition of choral music in Quebec for over 40 years, with the mission to present professional choral music in Quebec, Canada and abroad. The ensemble won the Opus Award for Musical Event of the Year in 2020. Ensemble ArtChoral has established Maison symphonique as home for its Montréal concert series and is the professional choir in residence for 2023 to 2027 with Festival Classica and Le Nouvel Opéra Métropolitain. ArtChoral’s annual tour with Handel’s Messiah has become a staple of cultural life in Quebec.
The choir’s director, Matthias Maute has earned an international reputation for his work as artistic director of Ensemble ArtChoral, Ensemble Caprice and the Bach Society of Minnesota, and as co-artistic director of the Montreal Baroque Festival.
Ensemble ArtChoral has made 4 000 singer hires since March 2020, engaging more than 150 different professional singers. Ensemble ArtChoral is co-founder of the annual Mini-Concerts Santé and Mini-Opéras Santé. Since 2020, some 17 000 Mini-Concerts Santé and Mini-Opéras have been delivered “door to door” to nearly 133 000 children, adolescents, seniors, adults and families from underserved neighbourhoods across more than 100 districts, regions and cities. In 2021, Mini-Concerts Santé musicians from Quebec performed in all 10 Canadian provinces. Music for Hope, a documentary financed by the Canada Council for the Arts, was broadcast on Radio-Canada Arts.
Ensemble ArtChoral is co-founder of the Mécénat Musica Prix 3 Femmes, dedicated to developing new contemporary operas by emerging Canadian female or non-binary composers and librettists who demonstrate extraordinary promise in opera creation. The prizes are awarded to teams for original opera compositions in English or French as well as Jewish or BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of colour) works. Since 2018, 12 new operas have been created.
Ensemble ArtChoral is a partner in Art Choral, a unique project tracing the history of choral singing over six centuries. With 15 albums, 15 streaming concerts and 150 video clips featuring works by 50 composers from the 16th to the 21st century, the Ensemble has developed a world-class digital library of a cappella choral music throughout history, in partnership with ATMA Classique, Mécénat Marchand and Mécénat Musica.
Since 2022, Art Choral Coast-to-Coast-to-Coast has provided collaborative choral music to communities across Canada. Ensemble ArtChoral has also commissioned 13 female composers to compose choral music to be recorded and released on the ATMA Classique label, with the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.
