For 35 years, The Stairwell Carollers have performed a cappella choral music in the Ottawa (Ontario, Canada) region, sharing songs from the Renaissance as well as the lovely carols of Christmas. It gives me great pleasure as the director and founder of The Stairwell Carollers to present you with our very first CD of madrigals -- now available as MP3s to download. At last, an opportunity to treat our listeners to the repertoire we sing outside the Christmas season. The Stairwell Carollers are a charitable a cappella Ottawa choir, who sing sacred and secular renaissance music, as well as settings of traditional and contemporary Christmas carols. As Director, I have composed many original pieces for the choir, as well as created lively and contemporary arrangements of traditional carols. Winner of the 2010 OMFA provincial competition, my non-profit choir has raised over $40,000 for local Ottawa/Gatineau charities,through the sale of concert tickets, CDs and cookbooks. Since 1997, our CD sales have generated over $40,000.00 in donations to various local charities. Some examples are, The Cancer Unit of the Civic Hospital, Cheo's Ronald McDonald House, Bruce House, the Multiple Sclerosis Society, Shepherds of Good Hope mission, The Ottawa chapter of Autism Society of Ontario, Le Gite Ami, and the Elizabeth Bruyere convalescent home. We also founded the Stairwell Carollers Scholarship, that helps deserving young musicians continue their music education at Canadian Universities. Recently winning 2nd place in the National Music Festival 2010, The Stairwell Carollers are now ranked amongst the best of Canada's choirs. I'm extremely pleased to inform you that proceeds from this MP3 version of the original CD (released on disc in 2006) will help charitable organizations in the Ottawa area. With your purchase, The Stairwell Carollers will continue fulfilling their charitable mandate for many years to come. Thank you for your support. Pierre Massie, creator and Director of the Stairwell Carollers since 1977 (updated from liner notes for the 2006 CD)