In 2012 the TMC found a way to tour its music internationally (without the high airfare) and make choral concerts more accessible - webcasting. TMC webcasts have brought great choral music to people unable to attend concerts - whether they be in the Toronto area, or living somewhere across Canada, or anywhere in the world with internet access.
For five Saturdays every season, beginning in our 1999/2000 season, the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir has been inviting those who love to sing, from across the GTA, to attend choral workshops where they can sing through major repertoire with guest conductors and members of the TMC.
Lois Marshall was internationally regarded as one of the great sopranos of the 20th century. In 1947, at just 22 years old, and at the beginning of her career, she was engaged by Sir Ernest MacMillan as a soprano soloist singing, on three successive nights, the soprano solo work in the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir’s Bach festival.
We are proud to be part of the careers of some of the new generation of choral conductors. In 2011 the TMC created the position of Associate Conductor to provide talented and world-class-potential choral conductors at an early stage in their career with coaching, training and mentoring. We've had four Associate Conductors to date.
In 1973 the CBC commissioned Canadian composer André Prévost to write a work to be performed by the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir under Elmer Iseler, and broadcast on CBC Radio. The work was Missa de Profundis.
TMC's third conductor was Sir Ernest MacMillan, Canada's "Musical Knight."
Legendary Canadian actor and broadcaster Lorne Greene was narrator and MC for WWII fundraising and Remembrance Concerts in which the TMC performed.
The Toronto Mendelssohn Choir first performed Handel's Messiah in 1932 under conductor Herbert A Fricker (2nd conductor of the TMC). It has performed Messiah every year since.
Dr. Augustus Vogt, founder of the TMC, died in 1926. In April 1929 a stained glass window to his memory was unveiled in St. Paul's Bloor Street.