Toronto Mendelssohn Choir

Festival of Carols
2025-12-02 19:30 - 2025-12-04 19:30 (America/Toronto) | Yorkminster Park Baptist Church, 1585 Yonge St., Toronto, Ontario, M4T 1Z9, Canada
In this performance
Traditional carols and festive works
The Treasures by Stephanie Martin (World Premiere & TMChoir Commission, generously underwritten by Deborah Finlayson & Dan Leader)
Runtime: 90-minutes, no intermission. This year, the performances will be professionally recorded for an upcoming album.
House Program

On the music
Celebrate the season with one of Toronto’s favourite holiday traditions! Hailed as “a joyous affair” (Ludwig van Toronto), this festive evening invites you to sing along to holiday classics, led by Maestro Jean-Sébastien Vallée. Enjoy a performance that warms hearts and lifts spirits, featuring The Treasures, a new commission by Composer-in-Residence Stephanie Martin. Inspired by Lucy Maud Montgomery’s poetry, it reflects on the simplicity of Christmas joys. Continue or start a new tradition with the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir!
About the Artwork
sometimes to the left by Julie Liger-Belair. Julie Liger-Belair creates assemblage pieces or three dimensional collages, using found objects, paper ephemera, and Japanese paper in handmade frames or found containers. Her larger scale pieces combine painting and collage on wood cradle boards.

Singsation with Jean-Sébastien Vallée
2026-03-07 10:30 - 13:00 | Yorkminster Park Baptist Church, 1585 Yonge St., Toronto, Ontario, M4T 1Z9, Canada
Join Artistic Director Jean-Sébastien Vallée for a Singsation workshop.
It’s a community singing workshop, and a wonderful way to spend a Saturday morning – with people who love to sing!
The Theme: Bach’s Passions: Drama, Devotion, and Music

Experience an inspiring Singsation with our own Artistic Director, Jean-Sébastien Vallée, as we explore Bach’s extraordinary settings of the Passion story — from St. John and St. Matthew Passions to the intriguing reconstructions of the lost St. Mark Passion. Together, we’ll compare these masterpieces, uncovering how Bach wove drama, devotion, and musical brilliance into each work. Experience the emotional depth, rich choral textures, and timeless beauty that have captivated audiences for centuries — and enjoy the thrill of singing this unforgettable music in community. Discover the enduring power of Bach’s Passions and leave with a deeper connection to some of the most moving works ever written.
Your Conductor:
Internationally recognized conductor, scholar, and pedagogue Jean-Sébastien Vallée was named as the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir’s 8th Artistic Director in June 2021. In addition to his work as Artistic Director of the TMChoir, Jean-Sébastien is Associate Professor of Music, Director of Choral Studies, and Coordinator of the Ensembles & Conducting Area at the Schulich School of Music of McGill University. Jean-Sébastien has conducted ensembles throughout North America, Europe and Asia and has prepared choruses for leading orchestras including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, and the National Arts Center Orchestra in Ottawa. In addition to his interest in choral, operatic, and orchestral music, Jean-Sébastien is an advocate for contemporary music, making one of his priorities to premiere and commission works by young composers and program rarely performed repertoire. He has recorded extensively under the label ATMA Classique. Learn more about Jean-Sébastien.
The workshop will take place in Cameron Hall at Yorkminster Park Baptist Church.
Ticket: $15 (+ fees) online or $20 at the door
Register for the Workshop
Singsation is made possible through the support of our donors

Bach: St. Matthew Passion
2026-03-24 19:00 - 2026-03-25 19:00 | Koerner Hall, TELUS Centre For Performance And Learning, 273 Bloor St W, , ON, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 1V6, Canada
In this performance
St. Matthew Passion by Johann Sebastian Bach

Runtime: 3 hr 10 min, with one 20-minute intermission
On the music
Bach’s St. Matthew Passion is a monumental work of drama, devotion, and unparalleled musical genius. With its soul-stirring arias, intricately woven chorales, and emotionally charged narrative, this spiritual masterpiece remains one of the greatest choral works ever written. Under the baton of Jean-Sébastien Vallée, the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, along with exceptional soloists and instrumentalists, brings Bach’s timeless music to life in a profoundly iconic performance.
Buy Tickets – Mar 24
Buy Tickets – Mar 25
About the Artwork
The Embrace by Fabrizio Sclocco. Fabrizio Sclocco’s work interrogates the fluidity of identity and the complexities of selfhood. His paintings depict figures that resist conventional categorization, occupying a space between vulnerability and strength.

Singsation with Elaine Choi
2026-04-11 10:30 - 13:00 | Yorkminster Park Baptist Church, 1585 Yonge St., Toronto, Ontario, M4T 1Z9, Canada
Join Elaine Choi for a Singsation workshop.
It’s a community singing workshop, and a wonderful way to spend a Saturday morning – with people who love to sing!
The Theme: Finding Resilience Through Song

In October of 2024, conductor, educator, and friend of TMChoir, Elaine Choi was diagnosed with breast cancer. Her public display of resilience as she embarked on her cancer journey has inspired musicians across the country. Together, we will journey with Elaine through the music that showed her adversity in the darkness, enabled her to find courage within, and most importantly, build an unwavering community of support and love. Experience how repertoire creates connection and highlights our shared resilience in this Singsation. Immerse yourself in the art of togetherness, and celebrate the strength found in hope and human connection – through song!
Your Conductor:
Elaine Choi (D.M.A.) immerses herself in Canada’s vibrant choral community as a conductor, educator, adjudicator, chorister, and collaborative pianist. She currently serves as Director of Music at Timothy Eaton Memorial Church, Artistic Director of Pax Christi Chorale, and Founder & Artistic Director of Babεl, an ensemble dedicated to highlighting choral music of the Asian diaspora. Active nationally and internationally, she has led performances at the PODIUM National Choral Conference (2024), Ontario Youth Choir (2024), Luminato Festival (2025), AMIS Festival (2025/2026), and the Bangkok International Choral Festival (2022), among others. Elaine earned her Doctor of Musical Arts in Choral Conducting from the University of Toronto under the mentorship of Dr. Hilary Apfelstadt and was awarded the Ontario Arts Council’s 2023 Leslie Bell Prize.
Learn more about Elaine Choi.
The workshop will take place in Cameron Hall at Yorkminster Park Baptist Church.
Ticket: $15 (+ fees) online or $20 at the door
Register for the Workshop
Singsation is made possible through the support of our donors

The Sacred Veil
2026-04-25 19:30 | Metropolitan United Church, 56 Queen St E, Toronto, ON, M5C 2Z3, Canada
In this performance
The Sacred Veil by Eric Whitacre
Mystical Hope by Stephanie Martin (TMChoir Commission & World Premiere)

Runtime: 90-minutes, no intermission
On the music
Grammy Award-winning composer Eric Whitacre’s The Sacred Veil is a deeply personal meditation on love, loss, and healing. Written with poet Charles Anthony Silvestri, it tells the true story of Silvestri’s wife, Julie, who passed away from ovarian cancer at 36. Through its luminous harmonies and intimate text, the piece explores the profound connection between love and grief. “Heartbreaking but also bracing” (LA Times), this poignant work is presented in partnership with Metropolitan United Church as a vigil for Cancer Awareness Month.
Buy Tickets – April 25
About the Artwork
Lionhearted by Michelle Marin. Michelle Marin creates intimate paintings, drawing on her technical knowledge as a craftsperson and artist, as well as her experiences and observations as a healthcare worker, to explore what it means to be human.
