Sitting in the audience at the TSO Messiah this past Sunday, I kept thinking how lucky I was to witness another performance of Messiah in the familiar Roy Thomson Hall.
The Ontario Arts Council has announced that Dr. Elaine Choi is the recipient of the 2023 Leslie Bell Prize for Choral Conducting.
Ottawa Bach Choir’s various renditions of Magnificat were enchanting for sure, but a venue with more generous acoustics would have suited them better.
Conductor Kathleen Allan joined the Amadeus Choir of Greater Toronto as their Artistic Director in July of 2019. Her first exciting season with the group was brought to an abrupt halt, though, by the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. Since then, she has been “blown away by the (choir’s) community commitment,” she says, which has played a massive role in allowing the group to return to full-scale live concerts, many of which have sold out in the last two years. This year marks the organization’s 50th anniversary. Founded in 1973 by Robert Palmai, Amadeus boasts an impressive history. Silver…
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Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists are making their Canadian debut in Ottawa on October 28 with Bach’s Mass in B Minor.
In her role as the 2023-24 composer-in-residence for the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir (TMChoir), Tracy Wong is not only thinking like a composer, she approaches her work with the mindset of an educator, a conductor, a vocalist, and a cultural translator. Under the baton of Artistic Director Jean-Sébastien Vallée, the TMChoir and the Toronto Children’s Chorus (TCC) will première Wong’s new composition, Patah Tumbuh, which translates from Malay to “broken – renewed,” alongside Orff’s Carmina Burana and Brahms’s Schicksalslied, as part of their Oct. 26 and Oct. 27 concerts at Roy Thomson Hall. As soon as the Ontario-based composer learned her…
Toronto, September 25, 2023 — The Toronto Mendelssohn Choir announces an exciting array of community events for the 2023/2024 season, led by an all-new Community Engagement team under the artistic direction of Jean-Sébastien Vallée. From free performances to choral workshops, the TMChoir returns this season with both long-time choral favourites and new community endeavours. To facilitate these new ventures, the TMChoir appointed Lesley Emma Bouza as Community Engagement Coordinator and Justin Jalea as Community Engagement Advisor. “This season, I’m excited to explore the diverse communities and identities that intersect within TMChoir and to better understand our choir’s own identity,” says…
In September 2023, the Professional Chamber Choir in Edmonton, AB, fired singer Erin Craig. The board for the choir, also known as Pro Coro, says it’s an issue with their contracting process. But Craig, who went on to protest outside the choir’s first concert of the 2023-2024 season on September 16, believes they were released on the basis of gender discrimination. It’s a controversy that started back in mid-July, when artistic director Michael Zaugg invited Craig to a coffee shop for a private meeting. Though neither Craig nor the board were available to comment on the nature of the meeting,…
On Tuesday, September 12, the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (OSM) launches its 90th season with two musical masterpieces of the 20th century. Kicking off his 3rd season at the helm of the OSM, Rafael Payare conducts Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass and Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. The programme highlights the Maison symphonique’s great Pierre-Béique, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. The first work on the program features an entire movement for solo organ. OSM organist-in-residence Jean-Willy Kunz brings his virtuosity to the fore on the high notes, while soprano Camilla Tilling, alto Rose Naggar-Tremblay, tenor Ladislav Elgr and bass…
