With a rich musical palette and an adventurous artistic spirit, Marguerite Witvoet fearlessly forges through a diverse range of musical territories. In her various roles as pianist, vocalist, composer, sound designer, music director and vocal coach, Marguerite is known as a creative and versatile musician.

Ms. Witvoet regularly performs as a solo artist, and has made numerous recordings with CBC, frequently interpreting works by established contemporary composers such as John Cage and Georges Aperghis, commissioning new works by Canadian and international composers, and performing works of her own composition. From 1997 to 2003, Marguerite was a member of the Standing Wave chamber ensemble, performing four concerts a year, collaborating with composers and other artists, recording frequently for radio and CD, and sharing responsibility for all aspects of a self-produced chamber series.

In 2002, Marguerite was nominated for a Jessie Richardson Theatre Award for Significant Artistic Achievement for musical composition and arrangement. Her first venture into sound design was deemed “outstanding” by critics and audiences alike, and was nominated for a Jessie Award in 2003 for Best Sound Design. Since then, artists of all disciplines have sought her out for creative collaborations.

As a music director, Ms. Witvoet has conducted the world premieres of five new Canadian operas and assisted in the development of numerous others, with companies such as Autumn Leaf Performance, The Banff Centre, Modern Baroque Opera Company, the Vancouver Playhouse and Vancouver New Music. Composers of these new works include Canada’s Wende Bartley, Chris Butterfield, Peter Hannan, Bruce Nicol, John Sereda, Rodney Sharman, Owen Underhill and Leslie Uyeda, the United Kingdom’s John Metcalf and Andrew Toovey, and America’s Michael Daugherty and Zak Settl.

Marguerite lends a compassionate approach and a critical ear to her work as a vocal coach and piano teacher for both professionals and amateurs. Working with a combination of intuition, keen observation, years of training, as well as a wealth of performance experience, Marguerite playfully and passionately inspires students to develop their own unique voice as musicians.


Recent projects include successful solo performances at the Festival Internacional de Música Clásica Contemporánea in Lima, Peru in November, 2008, and at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, Japan, in January 2009.  Marguerite recently directed the music and performed in We Were Here at the Firehall Arts Centre, Vancouver, BC, in April, 2009.  She also performed as a vocal soloist and cyber glove performer with the UBC DIVA Project at the Open Ears Festival in Kitchener, Ontario, in May, 2009.

Upcoming performances include a Redshift Performance in May 2010 and a DIVA performance in Sydney, Australia in June 2010. 

Marguerite is a member of AFM, SOCAN, CMRRA and GCFC.