Artistic Leadership

Noel Edison

Noel Edison - Artistic Director

Noel Edison is well established as one of the most versatile and charismatic conductors in the world today. As conductor and artistic director of two world-class Canadian ensembles, the large-scale Toronto Mendelssohn Choir and the chamber-sized Elora Festival Singers, Edison is widely recognized and appreciated for his skillful interpretive work with both choir and orchestra.

The 2011/12 season marks Noel Edison’s 15^th season as Artistic Director and Conductor of the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir. His vision for the TMC is to create performances that connect audiences emotionally with some of the greatest traditional and contemporary choral repertoire.

A native of Toronto, Edison moved to the scenic village of Elora where, in 1979, he co-founded the Elora Festival and, a year later, the Elora Festival Singers as its choir-in-residence. Since 1984 Edison has served as Artistic Director of the Elora Festival as well as Organist and Choirmaster of one of the few all-professional church choirs in Canada at the Church of St. John the Evangelist in Elora. In 1997 the Elora Festival Singers were selected as the professional core of the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir.

In 2002 the University of Guelph conferred upon Noel Edison the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Music and in 2009 he was appointed to the Order of Ontario, the province’s highest honour.

Noel Edison records regularly for the Naxos label and his extensive discography includes works by Arvo Pärt, the Berlioz Requiem, the Juno-nominated Mystery of Christmas, and Willan: In the Heavenly Kingdom. His latest recording with the TMC is a collection of Christmas music entitled A Festival of Carols: Music for Choir, Brass and Organ. Click here to purchase TMC recordings.

Matthew Otto

A gifted and vibrant musician, Matthew Otto is an active choral and orchestral conductor and collaborative pianist. He holds a Bachelor of Music in Composition (2007) and a Master of Music Performance in Conducting (2009) from the University of Toronto where he studied with Dr. Doreen Rao and David Briskin. He is twice recipient of the Elmer Iseler Fellowship in Choral Conducting (2007, 2008) and a finalist in the Sir Ernest MacMillan Foundation Fellowship Award in Orchestral Conducting (2010). Further conducting studies have taken place with Helmuth Rilling, Raffi Armenian, Agnes Grossmann, Ivars Taurins and Noel Edison at TMC’s Choral Conductors’ Symposium.

Otto has conducted numerous ensembles including the MacMillan Singers and Contemporary Music Ensemble at the University of Toronto, Scarborough Music Theatre and Hart House Jazz Choir. Last season, he served as assistant conductor of Pax Christi Chorale and worked with Canada’s premier treble choir, Toronto Children’s Chorus. Currently, he serves as Assistant Conductor of TCC's Training Choir III and Director of Music at Blessed Trinity Roman Catholic Church in Toronto.

Matthew Otto began his role as TMC Associate Conductor in September 2011.

James Bourne

One of Canada’s outstanding young pianists, James Bourne has been the pianist for the TMC since 2004. He is an artist of extraordinary musical flexibility, equally at home in the worlds of solo performance, chamber music, art song, cabaret, new music, and music theatre. James has had a broad musical education beginning with early studies at the Conservatoire royal de musique de Lille (Belgium), and including a post-graduate ARCM from the Royal College of Music (UK) in solo performance. He also holds a degree in French language and literature from the University of Western Ontario, and a Masters degree in collaborative piano, also from Western where he received the Alumni Gold Medal. James has appeared at the summer festivals of Banff, Parry Sound, Elora and Tanglewood among others. Recent collaborations have included recitals with Vicki St. Pierre, Carla Huhtanen and Colin Ainsworth, Opera Briefs with Tapestry New Opera, the Tapestry/Luminato production of Dark Star Requiem, and Luminato's 2010 production of Rufus Wainwright's Primadonna. James has also recently served as assistant conductor for the Dora-winning Luminato/Soundstreams co-production of R. Murray Schafer’s The Childrens Crusade in 2009, and Opera Atelier's production of The Marriage of Figaro (2010). He is director of music at Leaside Presbyterian Church in Toronto.