Music at St. George's

The Choir of St. George’s Church is a group of nearly 30 singers who enjoy the fine acoustics of the building and the support of a colorful and dramatic Casavant organ and mid-sized grand piano. Over the past 20 years the music for worship at St. George’s has evolved with the changing demands of liturgical reform and shifting tastes. The wonderful Anglican choral tradition remains alive here, along with new emphases on music of ethnic diversity and wide-ranging spiritual reach, from Gregorian plainchant to Taizé meditations and beyond.

 

 

Gerald Manning, Organist and Director of Music, has served St. George’s since 1987. He moved to Guelph in 1969 to join the Department of English, and during his university teaching career he also served as organist and choir director at two other Guelph churches, the Church of St. James the Apostle and Dublin St. United Church. His early musical training in piano took place in Calgary, Regina, and Edmonton, followed by organ studies with Hugh Bancroft in Edmonton. He holds the ARCT and AMus diplomas in piano and the ARCCO (ChM) diploma in organ.  

 


The Organ is one of the treasures of the parish. Originally installed in 1926 as part of a major bequest to St. George’s from the Cutten family, this instrument with its four manuals includes a substantial Antiphonal division at the back of the church that provides important support for congregational singing as well as dramatic and effective variety for organ repertoire. In the 1970s the organ received additional stops and considerable brightening of tonal resources, including the opening of a chancel wall to allow the Great and Swell divisions to speak directly into the nave. In 1992 further renovations improved the tonal layout and provided solid-state action for the console.

Click here for organ specifications.../images//Organ_Details.doc


 

St. George's Carillon - The Cutten Memorial Carillon
 

The carillon, originally a gift from the Cutten estate in 1926, is one of only 12 in Canada, and it is one of the most recently-renovated carillons in North America.  Our carillon is attracting considerable attention since the renovation and expansion in 2006 by the Meeks-Watson firm of Ohio.  The tower is home to 36 carillon bells, and the tolling bell which alone weighs nearly 4000 lbs. 

Several regular carillonneurs provide carillon bell music for regular services, weddings and funerals by request and civic and social occasions by prior arrangement with the church office.   Guest carillonneurs have played from as far away as California.

56 stairs above ground level, the carillonneurs play the carillon by striking baton-like keys which are connected to 36 bells in a 3-octave natural bell carillon.  Visitors are generally welcome in the tower.  Small children are not usually able to manage the stairs, and anyone contemplating a visit should be aware of the physical demands of the staircase.

If you would like a tour, please contact Don Hamilton at dhamilton@rogers.com.  Or just be near the Church prior to our 10:30 service most Sundays, to hear a wonderful outdoor concert!