Dr. Gary D. Cannon is one of the Seattle area’s most versatile choral personalities, active as conductor, musicologist, and singer. He is co-founder, Artistic Director, and conductor of the Emerald Ensemble.
Since 2008, Cannon has served as conductor and Artistic Director of two prominent community choirs. The Cascadian Chorale, a chamber choir based in the Eastside suburb of Bellevue, performs a historical breadth of mostly unaccompanied repertoire including many premieres of works by local composers. The Vashon Island Chorale, numbering 60–80 singers, is a focal point of its island’s arts community. At the invitation of the Early Music Guild, he founded and directed a Renaissance choir, Sine Nomine (2008–15). He has three times conducted for Vashon Opera, and has served the Northwest Mahler Festival as their Chorusmaster for over a decade. Equally comfortably directing professional and volunteer ensembles, Cannon has also conducted Anna’s Bay Chamber Choir, Choral Arts Northwest, Earth Day Singers, Kirkland Choral Society, Seattle Praetorius Singers, several choirs at the University of Washington, and others. As of 2024, he has conducted the world premieres of at least forty-six new works.
Cannon gives pre-concert lectures for Seattle Symphony and has provided written program notes for choirs across the country. He has also supplied liner notes for several recordings by Choral Arts Northwest on the Gothic label. His research and writing topics span music of nine centuries, with special emphasis on William Walton and other twentieth-century English composers. He taught at Whatcom Community College (2004–6), where he received the Faculty Excellence Award, givven to just one adjunct faculty member annually. As a tenor, he has appeared as a soloist with Pacific Northwest Ballet, Seattle Philharmonic, and the Auburn, Eastside, Rainier, and Sammamish Symphony Orchestras, as well as Byrd Ensemble, Canonici, Les Chanterelles, Choral Arts Northwest, Master Chorus Eastside, St. James Cathedral Cantorei, Seattle Bach Choir, and Tudor Choir. He was the founding Secretary and long-time board member of the Greater Seattle Choral Consortium.
A California native, Cannon holds an undergraduate degree from the University of California at Davis, where he sang under Paul Hillier and Jeffrey Thomas and studied musicology with Anna Maria Busse Berger and D. Kern Holoman. His doctoral work at the University of Washington included conducting studies with Geoffrey Paul Boers, Peter Erős, Abraham Kaplan, and James Savage, musicology seminars with George Bozarth, and vocal training from Julian Patrick.
More information about Dr. Cannon is available at www.cannonesque.com.