Media
Media Room
May 9, 2017
Toronto Mendelssohn Choir announces 2017/18 season
2017-18 Season
The Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, under the direction of Artistic Director Noel Edison, will present four subscription concerts during 2017/18 and will perform a number of great orchestral choral works with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra as they mark Peter Oundjian’s final season. The TMC is making two important changes for this season. Three of the concerts will now be performed on two nights. And, new subscription pricing means the more concerts patrons purchase, the more they save.
April 24, 2017
Good Friday with the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir
2016-17 Season
The concert opened with Gregorio Allegri’s Miserere mei, Deus — the piece that will forever be associated with the brilliance (and cheekiness) of Mozart, who, at the age of fourteen, wrote it down from memory after just one hearing. With the Miserere, Edison established an aesthetic tone that would govern most of the program: a precise and spacious treatment, notable for perfect intonation and for its restrained approach to tempo and dynamics. I don’t know who the unnamed stratospheric soprano was whose voice soared above all others, but her contribution was impressive.
April 18, 2017
Toronto Mendelssohn Choir soars in a heavenly a cappella performance of sacred music!
2016-17 Season
David Richards, Toronto Concert Reviews. The pared down version of the choir, The Mendelssohn Singers, sang the first half of the program from the balcony above and behind the nave. The positioning gave a wonderfully mystic effect to the music, allowing the audience to focus on the sounds that reverberated off the arched columns and the vaulted ceiling of the ornately decorated church. The music of Allegri, Pärt and Sanders all made use of plainsong and choral responses to give life to the texts. The recurring solo treble descants in Allegri’s Miserere Mei, Deus were particularly beautiful, the high “C” ringing throughout the church. This was a cappella singing at its finest.
April 4, 2017
Toronto Mendelssohn Choir announces winner of the 2016 Debbie Fleming Prize for Choral Composition
2016-17 Season
Montreal composer Elizabeth Ekholm has been awarded the Debbie Fleming Prize for Choral Composition for her composition Prayer of St. Francis. This is the second year of the TMC’s Choral Composition Competition for emerging Canadian composers. For 2016,, the competition called on unpublished Canadian composers to submit a sacred work, not more than five minutes in length, for SATB or double choir, either a cappella or accompanied by organ.
March 13, 2017
Sacred Music for a Sacred Space, April 2017
2016-17 Season
The Toronto Mendelssohn Choir returns to the beautiful setting of St. Paul’s Basilica for its annual Good Friday concert of sacred choral music. This year, the Choir will present an all a cappella program, filling the Basilica with only the sound of 4-part and 8-part vocal harmony. There will be two performances: Wednesday April 12 and Good Friday, April 14, at 7:30 pm.
February 23, 2017
TMC presents matinee concert of great choral anthems and audience hymn sing – Mar 4
2016-17 Season
The Toronto Mendelssohn Choir is joined by the Minster Singers (of Yorkminster Park Baptist Church) and organist William Maddox for this concert and webcast of choral anthems and an audience hymn sing on Saturday, March 4.
February 14, 2017
Sacred Music for a Sacred Space 2017 Program Notes
2016-17 Season
Noel loves the rich choral repertoire of the entire Easter season, and enjoys combining ancient music with contemporary. “The new has often been influenced by the old,” he says. “It’s like living in a modern house but with wonderful antique furnishings throughout. Both are worthy and both provide the sense of calm and personal reflection I love.”
February 7, 2017
Toronto Mendelssohn Choir announces exciting new concert in 2016/17 season
2016-17 Season
The TMC is thrilled to welcome the UK’s acclaimed Huddersfield Choral Society (founded in 1836) to Toronto this Spring. On June 4th these two world-class choirs will join forces and present a concert of choral classics through the ages, filling Yorkminster Park with a grand symphonic sound.
January 24, 2017
From the Podium: A Who’s Who of the TMC Choral Conductors’ Symposium
2016-17 Season
Brian Chang, The Wholenote. Twenty years ago, Noel Edison took the reins of the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir (in which I sing). Even then he knew it as “one of Canada’s great cultural institutions.” Predating every other major symphony orchestra and major arts organization in Canada, the choir has operated continuously since 1894 – and since 2010, it has hosted one of the preeminent training symposiums for emerging conductors in North America. This year, five candidates will workshop with Edison, associate conductor Jennifer Min-Young Lee, the Elora Festival Singers, and the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir over a one-week intensive. The week culminates in a free concert on Saturday, January 28, 3pm at Yorkminster Park Baptist Church in Toronto. I got in touch with this year’s participants, to talk early influences, choral philosophies and personal musical goals.