Artistic Director Gary D. Cannon

The musical abilities and experiences of Gary D. Cannon are exceptionally broad, embracing conducting, singing, composing, teaching, and musicological research.

Cannon is active as a choral conductor throughout the Seattle area, with an extensive repertoire ranging from chant to music of today.  In January 2008 he was appointed Artistic Director of the Cascadian Chorale.  In the fall of 2008 he will assume the position of Artistic Director of the Vashon Island Chorale, having been guest conductor there in the fall of 2007.  As chorusmaster of the Northwest Mahler Festival since 2001, he has prepared major works by Mahler, Barber, Bruckner, and Vaughan Williams.  He is also currently the choir director at Bethel Lutheran Church in Shoreline, Washington.  He conducted the Annas Bay Chamber Choir, a professional 16-voice ensemble affiliated with the Annas Bay Music Festival, in its acclaimed inaugural season in the summer of 2006.  Cannon has been guest conductor of the Kirkland Choral Society and choir director at St. Thomas More Catholic Church in Lynnwood.  He has conducted various choral ensembles at the University of Washington, the Davis (California) Festival Singers, and the student vocal/instrumental ensemble Pulchritudina, which he founded.  He has studied and sung with some of the world's leading choral conductors, including Paul Hillier, Abraham Kaplan, Peter Phillips, Jeffrey Thomas, and Dale Warland.

As a tenor, Cannon has appeared as a soloist with the Auburn Symphony, Seattle Philharmonic, Rainier Symphony, Eastside Symphony, and at Midsummer Musical Retreat, in major works such as Mozart's Requiem, Mendelssohn's Walpurgisnacht, Gounod's St. Cecilia Mass, and P.D.Q. Bach's Iphigenia in Brooklyn.  Cannon's recital repertoire ranges from Schubert, Brahms and Barber songs to Mozart, Puccini and Britten arias.  Cannon sings regularly with The Tudor Choir, and has performed on soundtracks for many films and video games.  He has sung in the stage chorus for Seattle Opera, and premiered the role of Dennis Kearney in Jerome Rosen's opera, Emperor Norton of the U.S.A.

Cannon taught music history and fundamental theory for two years at Whatcom Community College in Bellingham, where he received the 2006 Faculty Excellence Award, the college's highest faculty honor. His musicological research emphasizes twentieth-century British music; particularly noteworthy is his work as founder and webmaster of the premier website dedicated to the composer William Walton. Cannon also periodically dabbles in musical composition, especially vocal and chamber music. He holds degrees from the University of California, Davis (B.A. in music, 1999), and the University of Washington, Seattle (M.Mus. in choral conducting, 2003), where he is currently researching a doctoral dissertation on the early life and works of William Walton.  More information about Gary Cannon is available from his website.

A conversation with Gary Cannon

Read the transcript here!