The Choir

 After 70 years of continuous operations, the Kingston Choral Society occupies a special place in the Kingston music scene. Artistic Director Ian Juby has led the choir for over 25 years, and has over the last five years has moved the scope of the repertoire beyond the choral masterworks and extended classics which have been the group’s mainstay. Programs have showcased works by living composers from Canada and around the world, including Ola Gjeilo, Eric Whitacre, Daniel Elder, and the world premiere of a commissioned work by Juno Nominated jazz pianist Marianne Trudel for saxophone, piano and choir. KCS continues to embrace the splendour and grandeur of the great classics, and performances of Handel’s Messiah and Mozart’s Requiem have played to capacity audiences. In April 2022, KCS performed Johannes Brahms’ unrivalled Requiem, using his own English, 4-hands piano /edition, and accompanied by Clare Marion and Emily McPherson. The 2024/25 season closed with a standing room only performance of the Fauré Requiem. 

​A proud member of the Kingston Symphony Association, the KCS is lucky to perform with the spectacular musicians associated with that organization. This December, the choir will once again join forces with the KSO for three performances of the much-loved Candlelight Christmas at The Isabel Bader Centre – get your tickets early, as these performances sell out in November!  KCS also seeks out regional artists with which to collaborate, and routinely provides performing opportunities for developing artists from across the province. One such artist, Korin Thomas-Smith is now a busy professional, performing with companies across the continent, including the Glimmerglass Festival, Santa Fe Opera and the Canadian Opera Company.  

​In 2025/26, the KCS brings music lovers the masterworks by the world’s greatest composers which have become the choir’s hallmark, as well as newer works inspired by those classics. The season opens with Mozart’s Requiem, with the KCS 80-voice choir, soloists and 4-hand piano. Audiences are invited to experience this astonishing transcription of one of the world’s most loved masterworks, to enjoy the glory of the Requiem in a completely new way – human, intimate, exposed, yet still thrilling and intensely moving. Hear this glorious music like you’ve never heard it before. Featuring Clare Marion & Emily McPherson, piano, Kathryn Rose Johnston, soprano, Colleen Renihan, alto, David Walsh, tenor, & Bruce Kelly, bass. Also on the program: In Remembrance by Eleanor Daley, plus Mozart’s Ave Verum Corpus. Before the three performances of the beloved Candelight Christmas in December, the choir invites audiences to a KCS Christmas Party on Saturday December 6! Seasonal musical favourites by the KCS Chamber Choir and the large group, selections from Dickens’ A Christmas Carol read by the well known and loved Peter Aston, an audience carol sing along, and a bar to keep the evening Merry & Bright! Finally, the season closes in May 2026 with Into the Dreaming: works by Ola Gjeilo, Morten Lauridsen, Tomas LaVoy and Eric Whitacre to sing your dreams to life. The concert features Clare Marion, piano, and a string ensemble of regional professional musicians. A magical, serene and uplifting afternoon of music to end the season of beautiful music, beautifully sung.

​KCS rehearses Tuesday evenings from 7:30 to 9:30 at The Spire, 82 Sydenham St in downtown Kingston. 

The Kingston Choral society rehearses and performs on land situated on the traditional territories of the Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee, Huron and Wendat. We acknowledge their enduring presence on this land, as well as the presence of Metis, Inuit, and other First Nations from across Turtle Island. We honour their cultures and celebrate their commitment to this land.

People

Ian Juby

Artistic Director

Artistic Director Ian Juby’s encyclopedic knowledge of repertoire, skillful and respectful leadership are a huge factor in the success of the KCS. He has been with the organization for 27 years, first as Chorus Master, and now as the Artistic Director. Ian began his career as an award winning vocalist, studying Western University in London, Ontario. While at Western Ian was a member of the Faculty of Music Singers and the newly formed Opera Workshop. He studied choral conducting with Lanse MacDowell, Deral Johnston, Gerry Summers, Wayne Strongman and Wayne Riddell, and with Joseph Flummerfelt at the renowned Westminster Choir College in New Jersey.

Ian retired from a 30-year teaching career having groomed award-winning choirs, bands and musical-theatre students in high schools across Eastern Ontario. He was music director for the annual Kinsmen musicals at the Grand Theatre, and is the founding Artistic Director of the Kingston Capital Men’s Chorus. Over four summers, Ian travelled to Europe as director of the North Lakeshore Chorus, Canada, and he maintains an active voice studio in Kingston.

Clare Marion

Collaborative Pianist

Clare Marion is established internationally, as a steadfast and sensitive pianist. She appreciates diverse global relationships and collaborations with numerous soloists, chamber musicians, choirs, orchestras, musical theatre groups, dance studios and opera companies.

Clare studied and worked in the UK with Bath International Music Festival, Bristol Opera Company and Peter Gabriel. Now based in Kingston, ON, Canada, she has enjoyed partnerships with Cantabile Choirs, Thousand Islands Playhouse, Westben Arts Festival, and currently with the Dan School of Drama and Music (DSDM) at Queen’s University, The Isabel Voices, Kingston Choral Society and Kingston Symphony Orchestra.
Equally at home with instrumental and vocal repertoire, Clare has appeared in Canada and the USA with the Art of Lied, Canadian Operatic Arts Academy, Dream Big Collaborative Piano Festival, Instrumental Collaborative Piano Festival, ProMusica International Choral Festival, Tapestry Opera, and World Trumpet Society.

Embracing solo and concerto opportunities at the Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts, and with Keele Philharmonic, Bath Philharmonia, Quinte Symphony and Orchestra Kingston, Clare is excited for the 2024-25 season’s performances which feature Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with Orchestra Kingston, and Bartok’s Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion with Jenna Simeonov, Dr. Jamie Drake and Brydone Charlton as part of the DSDM’s Faculty Artist Series.

Clare balances her pianistic career with teaching privately and at Fleming College in Haliburton and has recently earnt a master’s in education degree at Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario.

Emily McPherson

Assistant Conductor

Emily McPherson is a teacher, conductor and performer from Napanee, ON. She holds a Bachelor and Master’s degree in Piano Performance from the University of Ottawa, where she studied under Andrew Tunis and Frederic Lacroix, and had the opportunity to perform for renowned artists such as Andre Lapalante, Anton Kuerti and Amy Lin. While in Ottawa Emily’s love of choirs flourished as she accompanied the Ottawa Regional Youth Choir and the St. Joseph’s Parish Choir, and was also featured as a soprano soloist with the Capital Chamber Choir, with whom she was a founding chorister. During her Masters, Emily made a special study of Art Song, focusing on the collaborative relationship between pianist and singer under the direction of Donna Brown. She was also the recipient of the University of Ottawa Choral Direction Scholarship, having studied with Lawrence Ewashko. 

Emily has been the accompanist and conductor of the Antigonish Choral Ensemble (N.S.) as well as the assistant conductor for the Nova Scotia Children’s Choir Camps. Upon returning to Kingston in 2015, Emily founded the Kingston Youth Choir, who since have received numerous invitations to perform with other local choirs, professional chamber music and opera ensembles at the Isabel Bader Centre and youth orchestras in the Ontario and Quebec regions.  She has been a collaborative pianist with Queen’s University and maintains a busy piano teaching studio. Emily is the Assistant Conductor with the “She Sings!” Women’s Choir, leads the youngest Cantabile singers  and is thrilled to have taken on the role of Assistant Conductor with the Kingston Choral Society. Emily also enjoys making music with her husband and two young children.