You’re invited to come and see a brand new line of performances in our Spring 2026 Noon Hour Concert Series! Admission to the building is free, and a sandwich lunch is available for purchase prior to each recital between 11:30 a.m. - 12:15 p.m., with the concerts beginning at 12:15 p.m.
About Shoreline Chorus
Shoreline Chorus is a fifty-member mixed community choir based in Owen Sound celebrating its 27th season this year. Shoreline was founded by Ann-Marie MacDairmid of Thornbury.
Shoreline’s first show was presented November 21, 1999 with a program titled Showtunes.
Shoreline’s spring and fall programs have featured a wide variety of themes; broadway, movie, dance, jazz and blues, spiritual, gospel, folk, African, Remembrance and Canadian.
Summer programs were introduced in 2010 and include classical music from the baroque to contemporary.
In 2014 Shoreline started Christmas programs featuring sacred and secular music, vocal solos, instrumentalists and carol singing.
World travel has become a feature - Shoreline has toured in many cities and performed in solo and combined choir concerts. Destinations have been Cuba (2012), Netherlands (2014), Ireland (2016), Czechia and Germany (2018), Spain (2024) and the current trip to France in April 2026.
As a tour fundraiser, Shoreline prepares a themed variety show and silent auction on the last Saturday of September. Past themes include “Piano Bar Lounge”, “New York, New York”, “Viva Las Vegas” and “An Evening in Paris”.
The chorus is available for special events: singing the American and Canadian national anthems at Owen Sound Attack hockey games, the opening of the new schoolhouse at Grey Roots Museum in Owen Sound, the dedication and unveiling of two new monuments at the Thornbury Cenotaph: one dedicated to members of the Canadian Forces and the other to first responders and guests of the Georgian Bay Symphony in December 2025 for a sold out performance of 'Home for the Holidays'. Shoreline often performs at fundraisers, most often for the Canadian Foodgrains Bank.
The choir motto is: "Leave your worries at home and come to sing!"
About Ann-Marie MacDairmid (Director)
Ann-Marie, a native of Thornbury, Ontario, is the founder, director and accompanist of Shoreline Chorus in Owen Sound. She graduated with an Honours Bachelor of Music degree from Wilfrid Laurier University and a Master of Music degree in organ performance from The University of Western Ontario.
In April 2022, Ann-Marie took the position as Director of Music at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Kitchener. In addition to the usual church music director role, the position at St Andrew’s includes serving as the Artistic Director for the Noon Hour Concert Series. The schedule includes weekly performances by various musicians in the fall and spring. As a performer in the series, Ann-Marie plans her recital programs to reflect eclectic musical tastes, the most noted being her “Hallowe’en Special”.
Since 1999, Ann-Marie has been the accompanist for the Grand River Chorus in Brantford. Programs have included; Messiah, Elijah, Israel in Egypt, Missa Gaia and requiem masses by Brahms, Duruflé and Fauré. In 2010, the choir toured to Germany, Czech Republic and Austria. In Kitchener, Ann-Marie directs the Queen Street Singers.
Ann-Marie is an accomplished pianist, percussionist and choral conductor. She teaches music lessons locally and freelances as a piano accompanist and organist throughout Southwestern Ontario.
In June 2025 Ann-Marie received a June Callwood Outstanding Achievement Award for Voluntarism, which recognizes people for their “exceptional contributions to their communities and the province of Ontario.” Ann-Marie’s leadership of Shoreline Chorus, which she developed and continues to manage entirely as a volunteer, has created opportunity for engagement through concerts supporting many volunteer community activities including local food banks, therapeutic riding programs and church outreach initiatives.