About the Choir
Shoreline Chorus (Shoreline) is a 55 member SATB community choir based in Owen Sound, Ontario, under the direction of Ann-Marie MacDairmid. It was started in 1999. We welcome everyone, whether as a chorister or an audience member, to share our love of singing and join us as we share great choral music within our communities. It is a non-audition group and anyone who can carry a tune, is willing to attend most practices and work hard at home is welcome to join. Tenors and basses are especially welcome. Students are also encouraged to sing and fees for students are waived.
Ann-Marie started Shoreline simply out of a desire “to conduct my own choir and sing music that I wish I had had an opportunity to sing when I was going to high school.”
Rehearsals are on a 12 – 14 week schedule depending on the season (Fall, Spring and Summer). They are usually held from 7:00 to 9:00 pm on Wednesdays at St. George’s Anglican Church Hall, Owen Sound.
Fall programs have included Broadway, Doo-Wop, Motown, Movie, Dance, Jazz and Blues, Movie, Christmas and American Bandstand music. Fall concerts are presented in November.
Christmas programs include both religious and secular music. Shoreline performs Christmas concerts in Owen Sound and in nearby communities.
Spring programs have included a range of spiritual, gospel, African, folk, travel and Canadian themes. Our 25th Anniversary concert featured Missa Gaia and songs of the earth. Concerts are in late May or early June.
Summer choir programs are somewhat in ‘classical’ style; music by Bach, Mozart, Schubert, Handel, Haydn, Faure, Copland, Thompson, Shearing, Weill, Barber, Rutter, Chilcott and more have been featured over the past years. Concerts are presented in August.
Fundraiser shows are usually presented “cabaret style” at the end of September. Choristers don’t just sing for their guests, they also serve refreshments during the intermission. The shows are Shoreline’s main fundraisers and include a silent auction, bake sale, Ashanti coffee and Georgian Bay apples.
World travel has become a feature. Accompanied by some family and friends, Shoreline has toured in many cities and presented solo concerts, joined with friendship choirs, and sung in local churches, monuments and castles. Ann-Marie uses these travel opportunities for both learning by individual choir members and showcasing Canadian music, composers and arrangers. Destinations have been Cuba (2012), Holland (2014), Ireland (2016), Czech Republic and Germany (2018) and Spain (2024).
In April of 2026 Shoreline plans to travel to France, sightseeing and performing in Paris, Strasbourg, Lyon and Reims, Beaune. In the spring there will be a concert at St. George’s Anglican Church in Thornbury to present the trip music before travelling.
The Shoreline Chorus is available at a nominal fee to churches and groups for special events. A few to mention are singing the National anthems at Owen Sound Attack games, providing music at the opening of the school house at Grey Roots Museum, the Thornbury Cenotaph Dedication Ceremony and concerts to raise funds for the Canadian Foodgrains Bank.
About the Director
Ann-Marie, a native of Thornbury, Ontario, is the founder, director and accompanist of Shoreline Chorus in Owen Sound. She graduated with an Honours Bachelor of Music degree from Wilfrid Laurier University and a Master of Music degree in organ performance from The University of Western Ontario.
In April 2022, Ann-Marie took the position as Director of Music at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Kitchener. In addition to the usual church music director role, the position at St Andrew’s includes serving as the Artistic Director for the Noon Hour Concert Series. The schedule includes weekly performances by various musicians in the fall and spring. As a performer in the series, Ann-Marie plans her recital programs to reflect eclectic musical tastes, the most noted being her “Hallowe’en Special”. She enjoys choosing a ‘theme’ and then incorporating the music ranging from dazzling pedal solos to ragtime to gospel preludes.
Ann-Marie is the accompanist for the Grand River Chorus (GRC) in Brantford. GRC performs four concerts each season, and during the past 26 years, programs have included; Messiah, Elijah, Israel in Egypt, Missa Gaia and requiem masses by Brahms, Duruflé and Fauré. In 2010, the choir toured to Germany, Czech Republic and Austria. In Kitchener, Ann-Marie directs the Queen Street Singers. QSS sings at local church services, entertains at fundraisers and on several occasions have performed at the Christkindl Market in Kitchener.
Ann-Marie is an accomplished pianist, percussionist and choral conductor. She prepares programs in a wide variety of musical genres including Baroque, Classical, Spiritual, Gospel, Big Band, Jazz and Blues, Folk, African, Broadway, Movie and Canadian music. She teaches music lessons locally and freelances as a piano accompanist and organist throughout Southwestern Ontario.
In December 2010 Ann-Marie received a Paul Harris Fellow award from the Thornbury-Clarksburg Rotary Club for service in Rotary and in the community.
In June 2025 Ann-Marie received a June Callwood Outstanding Achievement Award for Voluntarism, which recognizes people for their “exceptional contributions to their communities and the province of Ontario.” Ann-Marie’s leadership of Shoreline Chorus, which she developed and continues to manage entirely as a volunteer, has created opportunity for engagement through concerts supporting many volunteer community activities including local food banks, therapeutic riding programs, and church outreach initiatives.