Founding Member
David Stratkauskas is a native of Vancouver, where he completed his MA in Music Theory at the University of British Columbia, working under the notable theorist, Dr William Benjamin. During and after his university studies, he was active as an organist and choir director, collaborative pianist and accompanist, a jazz pianist, and a conductor of new music, appearing in festivals such as Sonic Boom. In 2003, inspired by his particular love for organ and choral music, David moved to London, where he was organist at St Michael’s Battersea and St Mary Stoke Newington. Several of his choristers from St Michael’s went on to organ and choral scholarships at Cambridge colleges. In London he also worked as a choral conductor of community and children’s choirs, a jazz pianist, and a teacher.
David returned to Canada in 2010 to take the position of Organist at the Church of Saint John the Divine, Victoria, where he has helped build a vibrant music programme with several choirs and a thriving Choral and Organ Scholarship programme, performing works from the sacred choral canon, alongside new music, such as works by Michael Finnissy, Jonathan Harvey, Tamsin Jones, and Kimberley Farris-Manning. David has directed the St John’s Chamber Singers and the Victoria Baroque in numerous performances of great Baroque works, including several of Bach’s cantatas and motets, Handel’s Dixit Dominus, Durufle’s Requiem, and Bach’s John Passion. He has worked with the Victoria Children’s Choir since 2011, and is currently the Artistic Director and conductor of the Concert Choir and Youth Choir divisions. In 2022 he was appointed Artistic Director of Vox Humana chamber choir.
David is married to Soile Stratkauskas, a baroque flutist and the Artistic Director and founder of the Victoria Baroque.