Media
Media Room
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.
January 19, 2017
An Exclusive Inside Tour of The Toronto Mendelssohn Choir Choral Library
2016-17 Season
Brian Chang, Musical Toronto. For any given performance at the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, there are 130 copies of each piece of music, one for each chorister. For a concert of small works, there could be 15 or 20 different pieces of music. That’s 1500-2000 pieces of music to coordinate, label, track, distribute and ensure their return before filing back away. The job of a choral librarian is the most underrated, most essential part of a choral administration. Lorraine Spragg is the librarian of the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir. Serving since 2004, she manages the maintenance, organization, distribution, loaning, and return of 406 works totaling 57,742 pieces of music.
December 29, 2016
Record Keeping: Why Mess With Handel’s “Messiah”?
2016-17 Season
Paul E. Robinson, Musical Toronto. Handel’s Messiah has been with us for a very long time. A work clearly beloved by millions of people, its presentation is an annual Christmas event in many cities. So why mess with it? People love it the way it is. What moved Sir Andrew Davis to rewrite the piece?
December 21, 2016
Charles Jennens: The unsung hero of Handel’s Messiah
2016-17 Season
Robert Harris, The Globe and Mail. In this season of goodwill and compassion, spare a moment for the forgotten man of Christmas.
His name is Charles Jennens. You probably have never heard of him, but every Christmas, you probably listen to, if not sing, at least some of the words he crafted together.
Jennens is the man who assembled the texts for Handel’s Messiah. The very fact that we call it Handel’s Messiah demonstrates exactly how much we value Jennens’s contribution to the oratorio. Yet a compelling case can be made that it is Jennens’s compilation of biblical texts, most from the Old Testament, that is as responsible for Messiah’s enduring power as Handel’s music. A radical suggestion.
December 20, 2016
Is Toronto Getting Tired Of Messiah Yet?
2016-17 Season
Michael Vincent, Musical Toronto. As for the chorus, the Toronto Mendelsohn Choir were on stage arranged on risers behind the orchestra. The aural effect was worthwhile. Rather than the typical arrangement of situating the chorus in the choir loft, on stage allowed for a centralised and cohesive reference emanating through the orchestra. TMC’s female voices were in particularly fine form, and the overall balance was both polished and powerful. I think we all agree how lucky we are in Toronto to have a choir like the TMC to keep choral music at such a high standard in our city.