TMCommunity
Creating New Choral Experiences
From free performances to choral workshops, we invite you to an exciting array of community events for the 2023/2024 season.
Pop-Up Concert
Wed, Oct 4 mid-day
(between 11am & 2pm)
Come find us in:
Brookfield Place • First Canadian Place
Scotia Plaza • Bay Adelaide Center
Toronto Mendelssohn Choir Pop-Up Concerts bring the experience of choral music to a variety of spaces and audiences in and around the city. Hear members of the TMChoir in short, twenty-minute performances of beautiful music in a variety of styles, from the masterworks of the past to the newest creations of today’s choral composers.
*Watch this page for upcoming pop-ups!
Singsation
Sat, Oct 21
Sat, Jan 27
Sat, March 16
Sat, April 20
All workshops are from 10:30am – 1pm
We welcome you to our Saturday morning singing workshop, Singsation. Each workshop is led by a member of TMChoir’s artistic community and these facilitators will guide you in the exploration of their choral music of choice across a variety of genres, cultures and musical eras. Start your Saturday with people who love to sing!
Exchange: A day of choral community workshops
Feb 3, 2024
Join the TMChoir and the Toronto choral community for a day of workshops, masterclasses and lectures on a variety of topics centred around choral music, vocal music and musical community building. Facilitators come from across the TMChoir and musical communities. This one-day event will include events for every choral music enthusiast, from the armchair music fan to active choral singers of every level.
Take the Podium
Conducting Symposium
May 21-25, 2024
Application deadline
Dec 8, 2023
Our annual Choral Conducting Symposium returns this season! The program invites emerging conductors and those who wish to refine their skills to participate in a five-day series of workshops and masterclasses with Artistic Director Jean-Sébastien. Participants will have the rare opportunity to conduct the 140 voices of the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir and the 24-voice professional core of the TMChoir in rehearsals throughout the week and in the concluding free public performance, which is live-streamed.
Choral Composition Competition
Application deadline
Jan 13, 2024
The Debbie Fleming Prize for Choral Composition was created in 2015 to support the winner of the new annual TMChoir Choral Composition Competition for emerging composers. Debbie Fleming is a TMChoir alumna who sang in the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir for 40 years and who retired in June 2015. The winning work is premiered by the TMChoir.
Lesley Emma Bouza, Community Engagement Coordinator
While completing her degree in saxophone performance at the University of Guelph Lesley discovered the potential of her singing voice and has never looked back. She then went on to study voice at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama before returning to Canada to become an active Toronto based musician. Some of Lesley’s career highlights include Lesley Sings Joni, a Joni Mitchell tribute concert, Steve Reich at 80 with Soundstreams, Dido and Aeneas at Carnegie Hall with Les Violons du Roy, and a tour of Taiwan as a member of the Swingle Singers. In addition to being a busy performer, Lesley is an accredited music therapist.
Read Lesley’s full biography.
Justin Jalea, Community Engagement Advisor
Human rights activist, conductor, and JUNO-nominated tenor, Justin Jalea is an internationally sought-after consultant for projects that seek positive social change through the arts. In his dual role of musician/activist, Justin has collaborated with organizations such as Americans for the Arts, the National Guild for Community Arts Education, the Young People’s Chorus of New York City, and the United Nations. Justin is a seasoned choral artist having sung with professional choirs throughout Canada and the United States, including the Canadian Chamber Choir, the Choir of St. Andrew & St. Paul, Pro Coro Canada, Luminous Voices, and the Choir of Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York.
Read Justin’s full biography.
