2016-17 Season

Toronto Mendelssohn Choir soars in a heavenly a cappella performance of sacred music!
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Toronto Mendelssohn Choir soars in a heavenly a cappella performance of sacred music!

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.

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Toronto Mendelssohn Choir announces winner of the 2016 Debbie Fleming Prize for Choral Composition

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 For 2016,, the competition called on unpublished Canadian composers to submit a sacred work, not more than five minutes in length, for SATB or double choir, either a cappella or accompanied by organ.

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Sacred Music for a Sacred Space, April 2017

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.

St. Paul's Basilica ceiling
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Sacred Music for a Sacred Space 2017 Program Notes

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.”

TMC media review
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From the Podium: A Who’s Who of the TMC Choral Conductors’ Symposium

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.

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An Exclusive Inside Tour of The Toronto Mendelssohn Choir Choral Library

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.