The wardens and the organist search committee are delighted to announce the appointment of Shawn Potter as our next organist. He will begin work on Monday 24 February. Wesley Warren’s formal retirement takes effect as of 1 January, but Wesley and Donald Russell have very kindly offered to fill in on a part-time basis until Shawn takes over.
Shawn Potter has an outstanding record as a church musician. He originally comes from Nova Scotia, and completed a B.Mus. from Mount Allison University in 2010, followed by an M.Mus. in organ performance from McGill in 2012. He comes to us from First Baptist Church in Ottawa, where he has been organist and choir director since 2012, but prior to that had more than a decade of experience playing in Anglican and Roman Catholic churches, most notably (for us!) as organ scholar at our sister Anglo-Catholic parish of St John the Evangelist in Montréal. He has also been an accompanist for many noted Ottawa-area choirs, including the Ottawa Regional Youth Choir, the Capital Chamber Choir, and the Cantata Singers, and has given numerous recitals, including an 8-concert performance of the complete organ works of Dietrich Buxtehude. He took first prize in the Royal Canadian College of Organists national competition in 2013. Shawn lives in Ottawa with his wife (and fellow church musician), Jennifer Berntson, as well as their energetic first grader and busy toddler. When not in rehearsal, Shawn can usually be found baking all things sweet and savoury, tending his vegetable patch, or enjoying a cup of tea with a book.
Shawn was selected after a rigorous hiring process that included an organ audition and a full trial rehearsal with our choir, directed by a search committee that included members of the choir and clergy as well as the wardens and an external consultant. The committee set its sights high, as our Strategic Plan from November 2020 made it very clear that St Barnabas parishioners wish to continue the very high standard of traditional choral and organ music set by Wesley during his 37 year career with us. In Shawn Potter we have hired an excellent musician who we believe will make a great contribution to the parish. We wish him a long and successful career with us!
Finally, we would like to thank the members of the search committee for their hard work: in addition to ourselves, members included Patricia Kell and Bruce Patterson from the choir, Fr Jim Beall and Fr Murray, and our external consultant, Gilles Leclerc, long-time organist at St-François-d’Assise. Wesley also provided much helpful guidance on the process.
Diane Roussel and William Hallett (wardens)