St. Matthew’s Anglican Church in the Glebe’s new director of music Owen Spicer has always enjoyed challenges. As a boy, he began pipe organ lessons as soon as his legs were long enough to reach the pedals. Even with his training on piano, violin and in choral music, the organ is a notoriously difficult instrument to master, but master it he did.
Now a young man, he faces the challenge of sustaining and bringing his stamp to St. Matthew’s storied music program which has contributed significantly to Canada’s excellence in choral music. Past choir members include world-famous bass-baritones Gerald Finley, Philippe Sly, Joel Allison, counter-tenors Daniel Taylor and Matthew White and soprano Elizabeth Bowman, former editor-in-chief of Opera Canada.
“All those incredible people,” says Spicer. “It’s a bit intimidating the kind of breadth of tradition here.”
Spicer particularly likes St. Matthew’s acoustics. “I’ve played and sung here a handful of times before becoming director of music, he says. “I was always struck by how the space adds its own magic to the music being created. The room has an energy and sound that musicians respond to, and I’ve already had some transcendent moments in this sanctuary.”
Spicer, who obtained a Master’s in Organ Performance and Choral Conducting from Montreal’s McGill University, has a strong interest in revitalizing the children’s choirs at St. Matthew’s. In his former position as music director at Cornwall’s Trinity Anglican Church, he launched the Jubilate Children’s Choir which provides free music education to the broader Cornwall community. He hopes to build similar community bonds here.
A versatile musician, he brings the extraordinary combination of youth, experience and an eclectic musical background to St. Matthew’s. As a teenager he played in a folk band, a rock band and as a bass accompanist to a blue grass duo. (He also plays clarinet).
Raised in London, Ontario, he was an accompanist at Wesley-Knox United Church from an early age which is where he learned to play the organ under the guidance of the church’s musical director Karen Schuessler. More recently, he has been an accompanist for Matthew Larkin’s acclaimed Caelis Academy Ensemble in Ottawa, the St. Lawrence Choir, and the Stratford Symphony Orchestra. He was also assistant organist at Ottawa’s Christ Church Cathedral.
When studying at McGill, Spicer was appointed organ scholar at Christ Church Anglican Cathedral. It was a demanding position. Although he was a student, his responsibilities were extensive, and he had to play there several times a week. But he found it inspirational.
“There’s a depth in the Anglican church music that I found when playing at Christchurch Montreal,” he says. “It was an immersive experience that included weekly Evensongs and three services every Sunday. I would play for two or three of them. That was like baptism by fire.”
It was at Christ Church, where he was first exposed to Choral Evensong, a centuries-old contemplative service that focuses on singing Psalms, canticles and prayers. He found the language of the prayers and the rhythm of the service deeply meaningful. “Because the prayers stay the same, you can internalize the language and really memorize things. They become second nature,” he says. “The music changes but the words stay the same. You find your own meaning in these texts and get the composers’ take on each line. As you go through the different settings of the same text, you find what each composer chooses to find meaningful. Having a really rich text that gets turned over and over again each week is really cool.”
Choral Evensong is offered at St. Matthew’s on the first Sunday of most months (not during the Christmas period or the summer). Spicer hopes that the frequency can be increased to twice a month.
Spicer’s parents were musicians who met in in a ceremonial military band. His father was principal trumpet for Orchestra London (Ontario) and taught at the University of Western Ontario’s Faculty of Music. His mother played the euphonium and piano and studied music therapy with a focus on childhood education. She also ran Wesley Knox’s primary choir (ages 4 to 7).
In 2024, Owen was awarded First Prize in the Osborne Organ Competition hosted by the Summer Institute of Church Music.
Margret Brady Nankivell is a parishioner at St. Matthew’s and chair of the fundraising committee.
All Saints, Nepean, elevation by T. Fuller — Ottawa West Deanery