The Leading Note

Specialties

Located in beautiful downtown Ottawa, The Leading Note is Canada’s leading classical print music specialist. In addition to stocking a large amount of the standard repertoire for all instruments, we specialize in ordering music in very quickly (everything from more obscure repertoire to larger school, choral and orchestral orders). We also offer a very prompt and economical mail-​out service. Over the years, we have also developed an extensive choral octavo perusal library. Our choral/​vocal room includes a keyboard that can be used by choral directors and singers to try out repertoire. Our website now includes our fully searchable product catalogue for easy reference and ordering.

History

Established in 1999.

Opened in 1999 at 370 Elgin Street in downtown Ottawa, The Leading Note doubled its floor space at the same location in 2004 and quickly became a community hub for classical music. The Leading Note has long supported hundreds of community music organizations in many ways. A long term goal for owners Tina Fedeski and Gary McMillen was to give back to the community, especially supporting youth music education. In 2007 this dream was realized with the formation of The Leading Note Foundation and the development of OrKidstra, a program inspired by Venezuela’s El Sistema movement to give children from under-​served communities the opportunity to learn and make music together and the chance to benefit from the individual skills and community values that are inherent in music-​making. OrKidstra continues to grow with over 200 children participating in weekly after school music classes.