Tag Archives: toronto mendelssohn singers

Winterreise with the Toronto Mendelssohn Singers

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I’ve seen Schubert’s Winterreise done many ways.  There’s the classic one with baritone and piano and more rarely soprano (including a memorable performance by Adrienne Pieczonka as a passing cold front battered the hall!).  I’ve seen it done with projections and three singers and I’ve seen made into a film.  So there’s nothing particularly outré about arranging it to add a choir to baritone and piano.  The choir can function as Greek chorus or alter ego or whatever.  Any way that’s what Gregor Meyer did and what the Toronto Mendelssohn Singers conducted by Jean-Sébastian Vallée performed when they joined forces with Brett Polegato and Philip Chiu at Trinity St. Paul’s on Saturday night.

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In Time

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Friday night saw the first concert of the Toronto Mendelssohn Singers’ 2023/24 season at Jeanne Lamon Hall.  It was an intriguing programme both in the choice of music and in the use of dance in the presentation.  The bookends were two works written in 1707 by two 22 year olds; JS Bach and GF Händel.  The sandwich filling, as it were, was To the Hands by Caroline Shaw.

Bach’s Christ lag in Todesbanden BWV 4 takes us on a journey from dark to light with each movement or verse being a variation on the basic Lutheran hymn from which the text is taken.  It uses choir, strings, harpsichord and rgan to good effect.  The bonus here was a black clad Laurence Lemieux dancing an expressive, if somewhat lugubrious, choreography on the stage behind the musicians.

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Late September and into October

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october2023There are a few adds for September. This Saturday (16th) you can catch Rachel Krehm in recital with Janelle Fung. That’s at 3pm. Details here.  Saturday 30th is a busy day.  At 7.30pm at Church of the Redeemer The Happenstancers have a concert.of mostly 20th century music for soprano and chamber ensemble.  Details and tickets here.  At the same time and repeated at 4pm on the Sunday Confluence Concerts have a concert of Irish music, both traditional and modern art song.  That’s at Heliconian Hall.  Details etc.  Also from the 22nd to 24th Tafelmusik are performing Beethoven’s 4th and 5th symphonies at Koerner Hall.  Their take on Beethoven symphonies is unusual and very interesting.  And while Tafelmusik are absent from Jeanne Lamon Hall on the 22nd and 23rd, ther Toronto Mendelssohn Singers are presenting a programme including dance.  A choreographed version of Handel’s Dixit Dominus is a rare event!

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Toronto Mendelssohn Choir 2023/24

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Here’s what’s coming up at Toronto Mendelssohn Choir/Singers next season.

There are a couple of shows for the TM Singers; the professional core of the TMC:

  • September 22nd/23rd 2023 at trinity St. Paul’s there’s a multidisciplinary show featuring dance by Compagnie de la Citadelle.  The works on offer are Handel’s Dixit Dominus and Bach’s Christ Lag in Todesbanden.
  • March 16th 2024, also at Trinity St. Paul’s, it’s Schubert’s Winterreise in an arrangement for choir, baritone and piano featuring Brett Polegato and Philip Chiu.  The programme also includes works by Fanny Hersel and CClara Schumann.

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Little Match Girl Passion

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On Saturday evening the Toronto Mendelssohn Singers gave a very beautiful, carefully constructed and thought provoking concert. To start with it was at the Church of the Holy Trinity which, as most Torontonians will know, is a sort of social hub servicing the spiritual and material needs of Toronto’s homeless as best they can. All the more ironic as it sits in the shadow of that iconic temple of consumer capitalism the Eaton Centre.

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The Pilgrim’s Way

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Saturday night saw the inaugural concert of the Toronto Mendelssohn Singers; the professional core of the much larger Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, at Trinity St. Paul’s with Jean-Sébastien Vallée conducting.  There were four pieces on the programme; one very substantial and three shorter works.  Things kicked off with a pleasant but essentially conventional arrangement by Dierdre Robinson of Steal Away. This was followed by an Arabic piece by composer-in-residence Shireen Abu-Khader called I Forgive where the choir was joined by soloist Raneem Barakat.  This dealt with the short life and death of Egyptian LGBTQ activist Sarah Hegazi and was rather beautiful with intriguing Arab influences especially in the solo part.  Then came Elgar’s Lux Aeterna arranged for choir by John Cameron.

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Even more listings

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pilgrims-way-titleEven more listings for early/mid October…

  • October 1st at 7.30pm at Trinity St. Paul’s Toronto Mendelssohn Singers have a concert of (mainly) contemporary a cappella music titled The Pilgrim’s Way.  This is a new initiative in which the professional core of the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir will perform as a 24 person ensemble.  I’m quite fond of good professional choirs singing interesting stuff (see CD and concert reviews of The Crossing and LA Master Chorale).
  • Opera Atelier open a run of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas on the 20th at 7.30pm at the Elgin Theatre.  Meghan Lindsey and Colin Ainsworth are the lovers.  Also on the 21st and 23rd.
  • Toronto Operetta Theatre will perform Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld on the 21st at 8pm at the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts.  The cast includes Vania Chan, Tonatiuh Abrego, Gregory Finney, Joshua Clemenger, River Guard and Mairi Demings.  Also playing on the 22nd and 23rd.