The Toronto Mendelssohn Choir’s annual Choral Conductors’ Symposium brings together five emerging conductors for a week of intense master classes and workshops with acclaimed conductor Noel Edison. During the week of January 28 – February 1, 2014 the conductors, selected through a juried application process, have the rare opportunity to conduct both the chamber-sized Elora Festival Singers and the large-scale Toronto Mendelssohn Choir. The Symposium concludes with a free public concert on Saturday, February 1, 2014 at 3 pm at Yorkminster Park Baptist Church in Toronto.

This year the Symposium will focus on Canadian composers; the conductors will work with the choirs on music by Calvert, Chatman, Corlis, Daley, Holman, Raminsh and Willan. They will also work on excerpts from some of the classical masterworks as well, including Dona nobis pacem from Bach’s B Minor Mass, The Lord is Great from Haydn’s The Creation, and Hear my prayer, O Lord by Purcell.

The five conductors coming to Toronto for the 2013 Symposium are:

Renata Dworak  is currently a graduate student in Choral Conducting at the Eastman School of Music. She is the Director of the Repertory Singers at Eastman and Music Director of Lakeville United Church of Christ in Lakeville, NY. She graduated from DePauw University with a Bachelor of Music Education and taught choral music at a High School in Indianapolis.

Jeffrey Moellman is a choral conductor, organist and member of the Royal Canadian College of Organists. He has been Director of Music at Guardian Angels Catholic Church in Orillia, Ontario since 2010. He received his Master of Music in Choral Conducting from Kent State University and his Bachelor of Music in Organ Performance from The Cleveland Institute of Music.

Sarah Morrison  is a music educator, choral conductor and soprano soloist. She began her singing career with the Toronto Mendelssohn Youth Choir. Sarah has a Master of Music Education from the University of Toronto and is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the Ontario Institute of Studies in Education. She sings first soprano in the Canadian Chamber Choir and has been the Artistic Director of The Oakville Children’s Choir since 2007. Sarah was awarded the Leslie Bell Prize in Choral Conducting in 2010.

Raymund Ocampo  currently lives in Tampa Bay, Florida where he is Associate Conductor of Master Chorale of Tampa Bay and completing his Master of Music in Choral Conducting studies at the University of South Florida. Prior to the move to Tampa Bay, Raymund was the Director of Music Ministry at Mt. Washington Presbyterian Church and the Founder and Artistic Director of ascend, a professional choir, in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Zachary Maxwell Thompson is a tenor and conductor. He has a Bachelor of Music in Music Education and Voice and is currently completing his Master of Music in Choral Conducting at Austin Peay State University in Tennessee. Zachary is Director of the Community School of the Arts Adult Chorus in Clarksville, Tennesse and is Assistant Conductor of the Unviersity Choir and Opera Chorus Master at Austin Peay.

Observers are welcome during the Symposium workshops; observer fees are $20 per session or $50 per day.

Media Contact:
Anne Longmore
416-598-0422, ext 224
marketing@tmchoir.org