Presidents of the College

List of Presidents 1909 - Current

Gilles Maurice Leclerc: 50th President of the RCCO / 50me Président du CRCO

Born in Ottawa in 1960, Gilles Maurice Leclerc has been a member of the RCCO for thirty years, and has served the College in many capacities: chair of the Ottawa Centre’s professional concerns committee, Centre President (1998-2001), and Coordinator of the 2003 National Convention. He also represented the Centre on National Council before becoming vice-president of the College and Chair of the Endowment Committee in 2006. He has served on both Centre and National Historical Organs committees and assists with press releases and translations for Pro Organo Ottawa. 

Gilles studied organ with Gerald Bales and Patricia Wright, choral conducting with Agnes Grossman and composition with Steven Gellman at the University of Ottawa, winning the Jean-Marie-Beaudet Scholarship for Composition in 1984, and going on to a Master’s Degree in musicology in 1992. His thesis was the first study of the music of Alexis Contant (1858-1918), organist of Saint-Jean Baptiste in Montreal. Gilles’ own career as a church musician has been primarily at his parish church of Saint-François d’Assise in Ottawa, where he oversaw the installation of a new Guilbault-Thérien organ in 1988, an instrument regularly featured in the Pro Organo Ottawa recital series. He also subs occasionally at Saint Patrick’s Basilica in Ottawa.Gilles Leclerc is also well known as a composer. In 1985, he was one of the winners in the CAPAC (now SOCAN) National Competition for Young Composers, and he premiered his "Élan" for piano live on Radio-Canada. He has written extensively for the French Roman Catholic liturgy and was invited to compose a new English Mass setting for Saint Patrick’s Basilica’s 150th anniversary. His liturgical music has been published by Les Éditions Lucarel and Éditions Laudem in Montreal, and the RCCO has published his works "Epilogue (Te Deum Laudamus II)" and "Rhapsodie sur Lasst uns erfreuen" (commissioned by the Ottawa Centre for the 2003 National Convention). He has also collaborated on the hymn books "D’une même voix" and "Catholic Book of Worship III" and has contributed articles to the Encyclopedia of Music in Canada and to various organ and liturgy periodicals in Canada and the U.S.

His organ music, performed in Canada, the U.S. and Europe, has been regularly featured since 2007 at the Annual Festival of New Organ Music in London, U.K. in the 2008 Festival, Gilles was invited to give a recital of his organ works at Westminster Cathedral. His first CD, "Gilles Maurice Leclerc : Oeuvres pour orgue/Organ Works, Volume 1",  was ranked by Richard Todd (Ottawa Citizen) among the top ten classical recordings for 2005, and it received notable reviews in Organ Canada, La Scena musicale (Montreal) and Choir and Organ.

His chamber music and organ works have been heard on CBC and featured in the Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival, the Seventeen Voyces Concerts, the Koffler Chamber Orchestra Series  and the Madawaska String Quartet Series in Toronto, the Vesperal Organ Recital series at Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral in Montréal and at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington D.C.  Since 2001, he has been on staff at Library and Archives Canada and joined the Music Division in November 2009.