Karel ten Hoope

Karel (Joseph) ten Hoope. Organist, conductor, critic, composer, born Amsterdam 28 May 1917, died White Rock, BC, 20 Aug, 2012; naturalized Canadian 1958. He studied at the Amsterdam Conservatory and in Utrecht at the School voor Katholieke Kerkmuziek. He emigrated to Canada in 1951 and studied composition with Robert Turner in Vancouver. Settling in New Westminster, BC, ten Hoope formed two choirs - the Karellers (1955-63) and the Handel Society of Music in 1966. He relocated the latter choir to White Rock, BC when he moved there in 1987 and remained as its conductor for 29 years until his retirement in 1995. He was conductor 1961-5 of the Vancouver Bach Choir and music director 1969-87 at Vancouver's Holy Rosary Cathedral. In White Rock he served as organist and choirmaster at the Roman Catholic church Star of the Sea. He was music critic 1954-74 for The Columbian in New Westminster and became music critic in 1987 for the Peace Arch News in White Rock.

Many of his compositions were written for use in Holy Rosary Cathedral; they include seven choral masses, four wedding songs, and several motets. A Proper of the Mass, Mass I and Mass II have all been published (Empire 1966); there is also an unpublished Mass III which, like Mass I and Mass II, is a congregational setting. For his church in White Rock, ten Hoope set liturgical texts to Gregorian chant and composed motets, including "Hail Mary, Star of the Sea."