The Toronto Mendelssohn Choir and Composer-in-Residence Dr. Matthew Emery.Toronto – Composer in Residence with the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir 2026-2027 season, Dr. Matthew Emery is a Canadian composer who “writes with an honesty which enchants” (Vancouver Sun), and whose music is “profoundly beautiful and moving” (CBC Music). His music has been performed in thirty-seven countries on six continents, and recent performance venues include the Great Wall of China, the White House and the Musikverein. Matthew has received over forty commissions and his music has been performed by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Vancouver Chamber Choir, Elmer Iseler Singers, National Youth Orchestra of Canada, National Youth Choir of Canada, European Union Youth Orchestra, Orchestra London, the Art of Time Ensemble, Rolston String Quartet, Dennis Wick Canadian Wind Orchestra, musica intima, Erin Wall, Susan Platts, Rena Sharon, Simone Osborne, Leslie Fagan, Tracy Dahl, and the Bach Music Festival of Canada Orchestra.
For TMChoir’s opening concert, Matthew has composed Agnus Dei: Truth Up Hold and Guide Me, a new work commissioned by the TMChoir as a musical, textual, and philosophical completion to Mozart’s unfinished Mass in C Minor, K.427. Here’s what Matthew’s has to say about his work:
“The work sets a three-stanza poem by Walter A. Ratcliffe, within which each stanza contains its own internal binary structure. This layered design mirrors the composition as a whole: while the text unfolds in three large sections, the recurring binary relationships create a kaleidoscopic musical form. I conceived this structure as a metaphor for faith itself; not as certainty, but as an act of searching, questioning, and wandering.
Instead of setting the sacred Agnus Dei text, I instead chose a secular poem that nonetheless resonates with many of the same spiritual concerns. Ratcliffe’s words evoke the traditional pleas for mercy and peace while placing the pursuit of Truth at their centre. This juxtaposition of secular language with sacred imagery reflects my own perspective, offering a contemporary and universal reimagining of the Agnus Dei.
Mozart remained a constant companion throughout the composition of this work. I first performed the Mass in C Minor as an undergraduate singer, and returning to study the score years later provided a meaningful point of departure for my own response.
Composed between May and August 2026, much of the initial draft was written aboard a high-speed train travelling between Luoyang and Shanghai, China.”
Dr. Emery studied at the University of British Columbia (B.Mus) and the University of Toronto (M.Mus, DMA). Matthew has received over thirty awards and prizes for his compositions and his work has been included on twenty-four albums, including a Juno nominated disc. His over seventy publications are published by G. Schirmer, Boosey & Hawkes, Hal Leonard and many others. Dr. Emery is an Assistant Professor at Wilfrid Laurier University. Prior to joining WLU, he taught at Carleton University, Western University, Concordia University of Edmonton, and at the University of Toronto.
Find more information at www.tmchoir.org
