Thomas Annand began as St John's Interim Director of Music in September 2024 and serves in this role during the search process to fill the position of Direcor of Music. He comes to St John's as an experienced and gifted leader of music ministry.
After receiving First Prize in the RCCO National Organ Competition, Tom became a student of the great French organist Marie-Claire Alain. Since then he has performed across Canada, the United States, Europe and South America. He has been a frequent soloist with the National Arts Centre Orchestra and Les Violons du Roy and has performed at the Carmel Bach Festival, Boston Early Music Festival, International Congress of Organists, Montreal Bach Festival and Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival.
In his 29 years as Director of Music at St Andrew’s Church, Ottawa he presented 200 weekly organ recitals including the complete symphonies of Widor and integral cycles of the works of Mendelssohn and Franck, and with the Choir presented performances of Bach cantatas. He is also a noted harpsichordist (performing all the major keyboard works of Bach in seven marathon recitals in 2004/05), conductor (guest conductor of Thirteen Strings and founding conductor of Capital BrassWorks with whom he recorded a CBC SM5000 disc) and composer of choral and organ music. In 2022/2023 he accepted the position of Interim Organist at the Church of St. Andrew & St. Paul in Montreal, performing several concerts with the celebrated choir of that church in addition to weekly choral services.
In 2024 he recorded Bach Violin Concertos with the National Arts Centre Orchestra and James Ehnes, as well as the organ solo in the NACO recording and performance of Also Sprach Zarathustra under Alexander Shelley. He was the organ soloist in the recent performance of the Duruflé and Fauré Requiems at Montreal’s Place des Arts with La Chapelle de Quebec. This summer he was chosen to perform a solo organ recital in the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival celebrating the 60th anniversary of the organ at Dominion-Chalmers, and was organist in residence at York Minster Cathedral for one week with the Anglican Chorale.
Thomas is a Fellow of the Royal Canadian College of Organists (Healey Willan Prize) and holds a Master’s degree in Performance from McGill University where he was a student of John Grew and Hank Knox.
