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Thomas Annand

About this Artist

Thomas Annand has been delighting audiences and critics alike with his multi-faceted talents as organist, harpsichordist, and conductor for over 20 years. After completing studies with John Grew and Hank Knox at McGill University, Annand spent a year in Paris studying with Marie-Claire Alain and researching the works of Widor and Dupré at the Bibliothèque nationale. He was the First Prize Winner in the 1987 RCCO National Organ Competition. In 1992 he was appointed Director of Music at St. Andrew’s Church, Ottawa and became the organist and harpsichordist for the National Arts Centre Orchestra under Trevor Pinnock and Pinchas Zukerman. In addition to the regular Sunday services at St. Andrew’s, Thomas Annand presents a popular noon-hour recital every Tuesday throughout the year and has recently overseen a complete restoration and re-voicing of the organ.

He was the conductor of the Capital BrassWorks for six seasons, recording two critically acclaimed recordings and performing at the RCCO National Convention. He has appeared regularly as a guest conductor of the Thirteen Strings Baroque Orchestra and is a frequent collaborator with Les Violons du Roy. A noted recitalist, he has been invited to perform as a soloist at the Carmel Bach Festival, the Boston Early Music Festival, the International Congress of Organists, and the Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival.

Annand’s repertoire covers a wide spectrum of 500 years of keyboard music, but his emphasis has been on the works of J.S. Bach. In 2004 he presented all the harpsichord music of Bach in a series of seven marathon recitals and is currently preparing for a complete performance of the Bach organ works. In 2010-2011 he presented the 10 Widor symphonies in their little-known original versions.

Thomas Annand has recently been attracting attention as a composer of choral and organ music with the publication of his Two Christmas Anthems by the RCCO, as well as performances of “Lyrics of Earth,” a setting of poems by Archibald Lampman commissioned by the Musica Viva Singers to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the founding of Ottawa.

In 2004 Thomas Annand was named a Fellow of the Royal Canadian College of Organists and was awarded the Willan Scholarship and the Doreen Porter and Heather Spry Prizes for highest marks in the examinations.