Bio and Accolades

Pierre (Pete) Massie founded the Stairwell Carollers in 1977 and, in his own words, has had the honour and privilege of directing the group ever since.

Hailing from Timmins, Ontario, Pierre has made Ottawa his home since 1984.

At Ottawa University, under the expert guidance of his voice teacher - Gloria Richard, he received his Bachelor of Music and his Bachelor of Education in 1980; achieving a Grade 6 Conservatory equivalence on all brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments - as well as violin.

Currently, Pierre is most proud of the interest that our Dominion Carillonneur, Dr. Andrea McCrady, has taken in his music.

The photo above shows Pierre and Andrea posing with his original composition, Mourning Dove, and her arrangement of it for the Peace Tower Carillon. She premiered the piece on the Peace Tower Carillon Dec 5th, 2012 and has played it many times since. In 2013 she premiered his settings of Ça burgers and The Wassail Song for Parliament Hill's Tree Lighting ceremony. These pieces also have become part of the Carillon's repertoire.

Not only is he a local Ottawa composer chosen to be performed on the Peace Tower Carillon (The Voice of Canada), he is one of the few living composers in its repertoire.

MUSIC AWARDS
Pierre Massie's original composition, "I Saw a Swete Semly Syght"won First Place in the Toronto Amadeus Choir's International Christmas Song Competition. His lovely carol premiered Dec. 5, 1999 at the Ford Center for the Performing Arts in Toronto and was broadcast nationally on CBC radio on Christmas day.

In 2007, Pierre again took First Place in the same competition for "Eya, eya, gaudeamus". The piece was performed in Toronto by the Amadeus Choir on Friday, December 14, at the Yorkminster Park Baptist Church.

AUTHOR
Pierre co-authored one of the few French music theory manuals in publication, CONCEPTS MUSICAUX,  commissioned by the Ministry of Education. 

CHOIR FOUNDER AND DIRECTOR
In 1977 he founded his charitable choir, The Stairwell Carollers, which has gone on to raise thousands of dollars for local charities in the Ottawa/Outaouais region.

TEACHING AND COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
A music teacher in the Ottawa/Carleton School Board since 1987, Pierre retired recently from the post of Head of Fine Arts at Glebe Collegiate High School.

He received the OCDSB (Ottawa-Carleton District School Board) Arts Recognition Award for Secondary Integrated Arts for 2010-2011. Blog article with the particulars of the award is HERE.

For two years, Pierre was Director of the Osgoode Arts Council.

A more comprehensive Bio on Pierre can be found HERE.