The Canadian Tenors - The Perfect Gift (2009)

The Canadian Tenors are a vocal quartet (originally a vocal trio) consisting of Remigio Pereira, Victor Micallef, Fraser Walters, and Clifton Murray, with Murray replacing earlier member Jamie McKnight. They perform music that is a mixture of classical and pop, featuring songs such as The Prayer and Panis Angelicus from the former genre, and Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah from the latter. The venues they have performed in include the Tel Aviv Opera House, and the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. They have also appeared on the 2009 Grey Cup broadcast and on CBC Television’s “Holiday Festival of Ice”.



The group was the creation of Jill Ann Siemens, who first had the concept of the group back in 2003. There was a series of tries over the next four years with a number of people and voices until they found the ideal mix. The group started as a trio (Philip Grant, Paul Ouellette and Ken Lavigne) and debuted in 2004 in Victoria. Over the next two years, six tenors quit or were fired. (Reference: Victoria Times Colonist, July 5, 2006). Siemens then did a cross-Canada search to find four new voices, and chose Micallef, Pereira, Walters and Jamie McKnight. A first album, The Canadian Tenors, was produced in 2005; singers at that time were Joey Niceforo, Craig Ashton and Leon Leontaridis. (Joey, Leon and another former Canadian Tenor, Giovanni Amenta, resigned over business differences and have since founded Destino, with Paul Ouellette) ((Reference: Victoria Times Colonist, July 5, 2006).



In 2007, Peter McCutcheon joined the group and together the foursome performed at the opening ceremonies for the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM). McCutcheon was later replaced by Jamie McKnight.



In January 2009, McKnight left the group, and Murray was tapped as his replacement. The official reason given for McKnight's exit was his desire to focus on musical theater.