Seaway Valley Singers

Who are we?
Established in 1993, The Seaway Valley Singers is a non-profit organization based in Williamsburg. Its members, as their title suggests, come from throughout the Seaway Valley in eastern Ontario: Chesterville, Crysler, Finch, Iroquois, Mariatown, Morrisburg, Mountain, St. Andrew’s West, South Mountain and Winchester.

Our purpose is to provide our members with the opportunity to improve their singing skills by learning and singing choral music, both sacred and secular for the entertainment of the general public.

For more information, please phone our president Dan Edwards (613) 543-3248 or the music director Robert Jones (613) 448-1647.

A brief history of The Seaway Valley Singers
Prior to the formation of The Seaway Valley Singers in 1993, the Morrisburg branch of the Royal Canadian Legion had its own choir which was directed by Wayne Johnston. In 1992 the Legion organized a carol-sing with its choir and they invited all the local church choirs: each choir sang on its own, and then at the end of the programme the massed choir sang together. One of the singers was World War I vet Jim Fraser who suggested that the village should form its own community choir. As a result, the Seaway Valley Singers were created and their first few rehearsals were held in the Morrisburg Civic Centre with Wayne Johnston as director. Months later Michael Goodwin was hired as conductor. Alex Thomson took over as conductor in the fall of 2000, Mark Ehlebracht –who served as the accompanist for the 2001-02 season–served as the conductor for 2003-04, and Robert Jones took over in the fall of 2004. For the first ten years the SVS was based in Morrisburg. In 2003 they began rehearsals in Williamsburg –a community more central to its members which come from all corners of the Seaway Valley.

Our Director
Robert Jones is a graduate of the University of Windsor and the University of Western Ontario and he has also studied at the Royal School of Church Music (Croydon, England). He also holds the Associateship and Choir Master diplomas from the Royal Canadian College of Organists. Bob was Director of Music at Central United Church in Sault Ste. Marie from 1982-99 when he moved to Ottawa to become Organist and Choir Director at St. Luke’s Anglican Church (Somerset Street). He also plays for the Saturday mass at St. Basil’s R C Church and conducted the two handbell choirs at Winchester United Church from 2004-12. Bob has been the director of the Seaway Valley Singers since the 2004-05 season, as well as the Bytown Voices (Ottawa). He has lived in Chesterville since 2001.

Our Accompanist
Margaret Whisselle graduated from Queen’s University in Kingston with a Bachelor of Music degree. Margaret began playing the piano at the age of 7. She was the original Seaway Valley Singers’ accompanist (1993-2000) and happily has been back since the 2010-11 season! She sang vocal solos with SVS and was a member of the “Renaissance Voyces” choir. Margaret has been the Organist/Choir Director at Iroquois United Church since 1987 and before that, fulfilled the same function at St. John’s Evangelical Parish. She has been teaching piano, vocals, and theory privately since 1986 in this area. She has been a performer at Brockville’s “First Night” celebrations and has appeared on television for interviews twice, in connection with this event. Margaret has performed in off-Broadway type shows at Upper Canada Playhouse. Currently, she is working with her two true loves….theatre music and opera. She is a repertoire coach/accompanist at Brockville’s St. Lawrence College’s Music Theatre Performance Program and is studying operatic repertoire privately. Margaret comes from the Ingleside area and is a mother of five.