St. Bonaventure's College has one of the most comprehensive music programs in the province. Students are exposed to music beginning in Kindergarten and are given numerous opportunities to continue their appreciation of music until graduation.
The Choral Music Program is one of the hallmark activities at our school and commences in Kindergarten. The choirs include Kindergarten, Primary, Elementary and Elementary Chamber; the Junior/Senior High choirs are Treble, Chamber and Camerata. The Instrumental Music Program begins in Grade 4 and consists of four levels of concert band (Beginning Band, Concert Band, Symphonic Band and Wind Ensemble), two levels of jazz band (Junior and Senior), and numerous chamber ensembles.
Primary & Elementary Music
Classroom music starts in Kindergarten, where children are introduced to singing through folk songs and nursery rhymes as well as the Kodály and Orff pedagogies of music education. All Kindergarten students participate in a Kindergarten choir and perform in school concerts and the annual Rotary Music Festival, where they are continually awarded first-place awards and gold-medal standings. The primary grades add a tin whistle program starting in Grade 3, and every child is given the opportunity to perform on stage in the school's Christmas productions. Elementary music includes classroom instruction, Christmas musicals, Elementary Choir and the voluntary Elementary Chamber Choir — a group that has sung at Festival 500, with Alan Doyle, and with the Canadian Tenors in an internationally televised performance.
Commitment to community is central: throughout the year the children sing at hotels, the airport and hospitals, sharing their talents with the community — forming their commitment to becoming "men and women for others," a pillar of Jesuit education.
Instrumental Music
The program provides opportunities for young instrumentalists across four levels of concert band, two levels of jazz band, and numerous chamber ensembles. Although most students begin in Grade 4, the Beginning Band is open to any student from Grade 4 through Grade 12 interested in learning a band instrument. Since the school reopened in 1999, the instrumental program has garnered an impressive assortment of awards from local, national and international festivals, and in 2009 recorded its first CD, "Ascend," featured on CBC's Musicraft.
On the world stage
- The Vatican, twice: the Wind Ensemble performed in St. Peter's Square for Pope Benedict in 2011 and Pope Francis in 2017 — the latter before 50,000 people. Two students performed for both Popes.
- CBC Music Class Challenge 2017: first place, High School Instrumental — their video was broadcast during CBC's coverage of the 2018 Winter Olympics.
- Kiwanis Music Festival: 16 Group Rose Bowls since 1999, across the Wind Ensemble, Senior Jazz Band and choirs.
- International tours: Italy (2017, 2011), Spain (2015), the Danube (2013), California (2009), Florida (2007) and more.
- Heritage Music Festival, Anaheim: 11 major awards in one visit, including Most Outstanding Band and Most Outstanding Choir.