TMC announces 2015/16 season

Inspiring performances ♦ Two Koerner Hall concerts ♦ Acclaimed soloists

The TMC’s 2015/16 season will build on the success of the 2014/15 season and create great musical experiences for audiences – from the drama of the story of creation captured in music by Haydn, to the romance of choral lieder by Brahms and Schubert, and the contemplative space created in the works of contemporary composers. Artistic Director Noel Edison cultivates the grand symphonic sound, clarity and flexibility of the Choir and brings it together with the emotional breadth of the choral repertoire to create concerts that take audiences on emotive journeys.

In addition to the TMC’s annual subscription series, the Choir will perform regularly with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and make guest appearances with other groups, including the Mississauga Symphony Orchestra.

The TMC’s own concert series includes four concerts plus a free community performance. Subscriptions go on sale in late May and single tickets go on sale in September.

German Romantics
with pianist André Laplante
Wednesday, November 25, 2015 | 7:30 pm

Koerner Hall, Telus Centre for Performance and Learning

TMC returns to the beautiful space and acoustics of Koerner Hall for a concert of choral lieder and solo piano music of the romantic period.  The audience will be immersed in the strong lyrical melodies, rich harmonies and expressiveness of works by Brahms, Schubert, Schumann and Mendelssohn.

The TMC is thrilled to welcome Canadian virtuoso pianist André Laplante as soloist.

Noel Edison, conductor
André Laplante, piano
James Bourne, accompanist

Festival of Carols
Wednesday, December 9, 2015 | 7:30 pm

Yorkminster Park Baptist Church

This popular annual concert is a rousing welcome to the season with a program full of choral, organ and brass music for Christmas.  The Choir will be joined again this year by the acclaimed 30-piece Canadian Staff Band and by organist David Briggs.  Audience members will be invited to join the choir and band in singing some favourite traditional carols.

Noel Edison, conductor

Jennifer Min-Young Lee, associate conductor
David Briggs, organ
Canadian Staff Band
John Lam, bandmaster

TMC Choral Conductors’ Symposium Concert
January 30, 2016 | 3 pm

Yorkminster Park Baptist Church

This free community concert brings together a pot-pourri of classical and contemporary choral music, two great choirs, and five conductors. It is the culmination of the TMC’s annual Choral Conductors’ Symposium where five emerging conductors from across North America spend an intensive week of workshops and rehearsals with Noel Edison.

Michael Bloss, organ
James Bourne, piano
Elora Festival Singers
Toronto Mendelssohn Choir

Sacred Music for a Sacred Space
Good Friday, March 25, 2016 | 7:30 pm
St. Paul’s Basilica

The TMC returns to St. Paul’s for a concert that fills the beauty of the Basilica with evocative and contemplative music. This concert will bring together Morales’ Parce Mihi Domine, one of the glories of the Spanish Renaissance, with stunning contemporary works. When the Choir premiered Canadian composer Timothy Corlis’ God so loved the World for choir and solo cello in 2013, it was met with resounding applause and a standing ovation. This concert will also include the premiere of a new TMC commission.

Noel Edison, conductor
Jennifer Min-Young Lee, associate conductor
John Marshman, cello
Jack Johnson, saxophone

Hawes: Quanta Qualia
Morales: Parce Mihi Domine
Corlis: God so loved the World
Whitacre: Her Sacred Spirit Soars

The Creation
Wednesday, April 27, 2016 | 7:30 pm
Koerner Hall, Telus Centre for Performance and Learning

From Chaos through to Sing the Lord, this grand oratorio tells the dramatic story of Creation, with text taken from Genesis, the Book of Psalms and John Milton’s Paradise Lost.  The Choir will be joined by the Festival Orchestra and guest soloists to fill Koerner Hall with the drama and intensity of Haydn’s masterpiece.

Noel Edison, conductor
Leslie Ann Bradley, soprano
Zach Finkelstein, tenor
Alexander Hajek, baritone
Festival Orchestra

F.J. Haydn: The Creation

Guest appearances in 2015/16

The Choir will join the Toronto Symphony Orchestra at Roy Thomson Hall for Vaughan Williams’ Symphony #1 (Sea Symphony) in October, Handel’s Messiah, conducted by Sir Andrew Davis, in December, and Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloe in June.  The Choir will also perform Beethoven’s Symphony #9 (Choral) with the Mississauga Symphony Orchestra in May.