The Ottawa Classical Choir was founded in 2006 by soprano Maria Knapik and conductor Michel Brousseau to give amateur singers the opportunity to work and perform with professional artists, to give the Ottawa community access to high quality classical concerts with international performers and to use the power of music to raise funds to help those in need.

The OCC's first project was a benefit concert in 2006 honouring The Day of the Child. Under the direction of Maestro Brousseau, this presentation of Great Italian Arias and Choruses was recognized to be one of the most memorable concerts at Ottawa's Dominion-Chalmers United Church in recent memory. The performance that followed at Montreal's Place des Arts received a standing ovation from a full house of opera lovers. The concert was not only a true success for the OCC, it also raised money for several orphanages.

The collaboration between Maria Knapik and Maestro Brousseau proved to be a winning combination as they developed new concerts, sharing their artistic visions and the resources of the OCC, Montreal's New World Philharmonic Choir, Les Chanteurs de Sainte-Thérèse and Choeur Tremblant.

Concerts during the 2006 and 2007 seasons included Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Requiem, Antonio Vivaldi's Gloria, and Mozart's Vesperae solennes de Confessore at Dominion-Chalmers United Church, the Sainte-Thérèse d'Avila Church in Sainte-Thérèse, and at the Notre-Dame Basilica in Montreal. The popularity of the Requiem concert inspired a repeat performance to a full house at the Notre-Dame Basilica in Montreal in November of 2007.

In response to the outstanding success of the Great Italian Arias and Choruses concert in 2006, the Ottawa Classical Choir again joined the New World Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir to perform these beautiful pieces in Montreal and Ottawa in February 2008. In May 2008, OCC joined forces with the New World Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir, Les Chanteurs de Sainte-Thérèse and Choeur Tremblant. The combination performed Giacomo Puccini's Messa di Gloria and the very rarely performed Messe solenelle de Saint-Rémi by Théodore Dubois. In August, over 70 members of the joined choir went on an exciting, meaningful and successful concert tour with Maestro Brousseau in Sicily, Italy.

2009 held more exciting projects as the combined choir performed Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem and the World Premiere of the Messe de la Délivrance by Théodore Dubois at the Fourth Annual Day of the Child Benefit Concert. In the fall of 2009, the choir teamed up again with the other choirs and orchestra for a CD recording of the two Dubois masterpieces, and the CD was released in April 2010.

In 2010 the choir performed Carl Orff's Carmina Burana to great acclaim, toured again in Sicily, performing Mascagni's opera Cavalleria Rusticana at several concerts, was invited to perform the Dubois masses at Carnegie Hall in New York, and performed George Frideric Handel's Messiah in the fall.

2011 is proving to be another exciting year, with a tour in France planned in August as well as a spectacular performance of the Verdi Requiem at the National Arts Centre, which took place in May.