Our History
Founded in 1981 by Michel Marc Gervais, Pro Coro Canada is one of only a few professional choirs in Canada. In the years since its founding, Pro Coro has gained acclaim as one of Canada’s finest choral ensembles.
Pro Coro Canada’s first performance on September 27, 1981 featured the music of Italian baroque composer Claudio Monteverdi alongside 20th century composers Benjamin Britten and György Ligeti—an early indication of the choir’s penchant for both choral classics and new choral works.
Gervais served as Artistic Director and Principal Conductor until 1988 when he moved to Paris, France to establish the Maîtrise nationale de Versailles. Under his direction, Pro Coro Canada began its ongoing tradition of collaboration with local, Canadian, and international musical guests including the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, Vancouver Chamber Choir, and Stockholm Chamber Choir. One of Gervais’ last engagements with the choir as Principal Conductor was the 1988 Olympic Arts Festival, coinciding with the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics, showcasing the talents of Pro Coro Canada to the world. He would later return to guest conduct the choir several times, most recently in 2001 for Pro Coro Canada’s 20th anniversary.
Gervais also began the small chamber ensemble ConSept, which operated under the Pro Coro Canada banner as a seven-voice ensemble until 1995. ConSept was revived from 2016 to 2020 under the current Artistic Director Michael Zaugg to distinguish performances of contemporary music by a sub-group of the full choir.
Listen to Michel Marc Gervais' reflections on Pro Coro Canada's 40th Anniversary in 2021
Pro Coro Canada is molded after the Swedish choral tradition, and its model of curation and cultivation of classical a cappella choral singing through composer residencies, commissioning of works, public workshops and performances and broadcasting that took place from the late 1940s to the 1980s. During that time, due to a variety of historical, social and geographical factors, Sweden had become the centre of contemporary choral music and professional choral singing, attracting the attention of major international composers, creators/researchers, concert producers, and recording companies, and in return, influenced the development of choral art around the globe. Its figurehead, conductor and pedagogue Eric Ericsson, shaped choral leaders for 50 years, and Gervais, as well as all subsequent Artistic Directors and most guest conductors of Pro Coro Canada, have been influenced—if not directly taught—by his particular approach to choral singing and to artistic programming.
Eva Bostrand began her career in Sweden as a member of the Swedish Radio Chamber Choir, where she first met Michel Gervais in 1976 while he studied with Eric Ericsson. She moved to Edmonton in 1983 at the invitation of Pro Coro Canada and Alberta College Conservatory of Music to be a performer, voice teacher, and conductor of Schola Cantorum Boys Choir. In the years since, she has established herself as one of Edmonton and Alberta’s most sought-after choral and vocal pedagogues, being awarded the inaugural Gift of Music award in recognition of “her immense contributions to the music community, the City of Edmonton and the Province of Alberta” in April 2016. In 2004, she founded A Joyful Noise choir, which recently celebrated its 20th anniversary.
Listen to Eva Bostrand as she describes the early days of Pro Coro Canada.
Anders Eby, Artistic Director and Principal Conductor, 1988-1990
1988 saw the beginning of Anders Eby’s tenure with Pro Coro Canada, which he served while commuting all the way from his native Sweden! A distinguished conductor, Eby came to Pro Coro Canada only a few years after winning a Swedish Gramophone Award with Mikaeli Chamber Choir, which he had founded in 1970.
Eby also had a prolific career as a professor of choral conducting at several institutions across Europe, most notably the Royal Academy of Music in Stockhlom where he taught many of today’s choral leaders, including Pro Coro Canada’s current Artistic Director, Michael Zaugg, who studied at the Academy from 2002 to 2004, which further underscores the importance of Eby’s legacy to the success of Pro Coro Canada.
Anders Eby was succeeded by Søren Hansen of Denmark in the 1990-1991 season. Hansen served as Artistic Director of Pro Coro Canada until the 1994-1995 season. Since 1996, Hansen has served on the faculty of the Danish Royal Academy of Music, Aarhus as an assistant professor of choral conducting. Under Hansen’s direction, Pro Coro Canada began its longstanding practice to commissioning new choral works with Alfred Fisher’s Father and Son, first performed by Pro Coro Canada in May 1993.
The 1995-1996 season featured several guest conductors, including Austrian conductor Agnes Grossman who would become the Artistic Director and Principal Conductor for several seasons. A highly in-demand conductor, Grossman left Pro Coro Canada to become Artistic Director of the renowned Vienna Boys Choir in 1996.
Søren Hansen (left) and Agnes Grossman (right), Former Artistic Directors and Principal Conductors
Richard Sparks, Artistic Director and Principal Conductor, 1998-2011
Following Grossman’s departure, prior guest conductor Richard Sparks of the United States was offered the position of Artistic Director during the 1998-1999 season—a position he would continue to hold until 2011. Sparks commuted from his home in Tacoma, WA during his time with Pro Coro Canada. It was also during this time that Pro Coro Canada was a resident ensemble of the Winspear Centre. Sparks’ tenure also so the appointment of the organization’s first Associate Conductor, Trent Worthington, who had sung with the choir since the age of 16. Trent would later take up the mantle of Artistic Director himself.
Having accepted a new position at the University of North Texas during the 2009-2010 season, Sparks began preparing to find his replacement. The 2011-2012 season included concerts by several guest conductors vying for the position, including Michael Zaugg, who became Artistic Director and Principal Conductor beginning in the 2012-2013 season.
Zaugg’s tenure with the choir has seen the launch of the Emerging Artist Program, which fosters young choral talent among vocalists, composers, and conductors, the choir’s appointment as faculty in the Choral Art program at the Banff Centre, for which the choir received the Choral Canada National Choral Award for Oustanding Innovation in 2020, as well as critically acclaimed tours across 4 provinces of Canada. Over the past 14 seasons, Zaugg has led Pro Coro Canada with the same commitment to collaboration at local, national, and international levels, to musical excellence, and to exploring the richness of both the traditional choral canon and innovative new works from across Canada and the world.
Listen to Trent Worthington as he describes his journey with Pro Coro Canada as a performer and conductor.
Always with great respect and appreciation for the foundation of our past, Pro Coro Canada looks toward the future with great hopes to continue bringing excellent music to our communities in Edmonton, Canada, and beyond.