À Coeur Joie Canada

À Coeur Joie Canada

À Coeur Joie Canada. Founded in 1983, this society was created in order to pursue the work undertaken by the Alliance chorale canadienne. A member of the international movement À Coeur Joie, founded in 1940 in Lyon by César Geoffray, À Coeur Joie Canada promotes choral activities mainly through French-speaking choir directors. Its first director was Guy Saint-Jean (1983-8) who was succeeded by Richard Ducas in 1988.

The national office, located in Montreal, operates a documentation centre and a publishing firm specialized in Canadian choral music, and it houses the Amadeus bookstore. As well, À Coeur Joie is the depository of music published by the other À Coeur Joie movements (Belgium, England, France, Switzerland); co-publishing contracts allow it to reprint their scores. Among other events, À Coeur Joie Canada organizes residencies for choir directors as well as the Choralies internationales canadiennes (Quebec City 1985, 1987; Terrebonne 1991), and it publicizes its activities through its newsletter À Coeur Joie nouvelles (launched in 1989). Although they remain separate from À Coeur Joie Canada, branches of À Coeur Joie in the four Atlantic provinces have remained active. In 1991 they were in the process of being regrouped into À Coeur Joie Acadie, headed by the New Brunswick section. Branches in Alberta and Manitoba have continued to operate under divisions of Alliance chorale. See also Choral federations.