David Richards, Toronto Concert Reviews. The lights dimmed at St. Paul’s Basilica bringing a hush over the capacity audience and suddenly heavenly a cappella sounds began wafting down from the balcony in the rear of the church. Since 2007, the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir has made it a tradition to present a concert of music appropriate for Holy Week in one of the most beautiful churches in Toronto on one of the Christian church’s holiest days, Good Friday. As the choir began to sing, I squelched the temptation to look back; looking upward at the colourful ceiling paintings of the life of Paul was as far as I dared turn my head. I was transfixed in the moment. The words of Behold the Tabernacle of God reinforced the feeling that I was in a ‘sacred’ space.
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Toronto Mendelssohn Choir and Huddersfield Choral Society combine to create choral ecstasy!
Dave Richards, Toronto Concert Reviews. Yesterday’s concert was a momentous celebration of the great music that grew out of the nineteenth century British choral tradition. It included the music of the famed British composers Elgar, Vaughan Williams, Parry, Holst, Stainer, Sullivan and Tavener as well as Canadians Healey Willan and Elizabeth Ekholm, each heavily influenced by the musical traditions of England.
The concert began with organist Michael Bloss performing the long introduction to Handel’s Coronation Anthem Zadok the Priest. The first sound of the two hundred voice combined choir shook me so intensely that the majesty of the music overwhelmed me at a visceral level. It was a sound that produced goosebumps throughout the entirety of my body.
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2016-2017 Season and Media Reviews.
Elgar, Handel, Holst, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Parry, Stainer, Tavener, Vaughan Williams, and Willan.
Elgar, Handel, Holst, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Parry, Stainer, Tavener, Vaughan Williams, and Willan.
Sacred Music for a Sacred Space 2012 Program Notes
“If men take great pains to compose beautiful music for profane songs, they should devote at least as much thought to sacred song, nay, even more than to more worldly matters.” - Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, 156
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2011-2012 Season and Program Notes.
Martin, Morales, Nystedt, Purcell, Vaughan Williams, and Willan.
Martin, Morales, Nystedt, Purcell, Vaughan Williams, and Willan.
Sacred Music for a Sacred Space – 2012
Sacred Music for a Sacred Space podcast: enjoy musical excerpts and learn more about this Good Friday concert in this chat with artistic director Noel Edison and music broadcast Rick Phillips.
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