Blue Pages 2020

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Elmer Iseler Singers (EIS) is a 20-voice professional chamber choir based in Toronto and founded by the late Dr. Elmer Iseler in 1979. Directed by the acclaimed Lydia Adams, the Singers are known for tonal beauty and interpretive range, and valued for their contributions to masterclasses and workshops with schools and community choirs.

The Elmer Iseler Singers have 15 recorded CDs featuring Canadian music. EIS with Toronto Symphony Orchestra were 2019 Grammy-nominated and 2019 JUNO-awarded for the brilliant Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Chandos CD recording, with Peter Oundjian conducting. EIS are 2014 National Choral Award recipients and JUNO nominees for “Classical Album of the Year: Vocal or Choral Performance” for Dark Star Requiem with Tapestry Opera and Gryphon Trio in 2017, and for David Braid’s Corona Divinae Misericordiae with Patricia O’Callaghan in 2019.

We are pleased to announce that the Elmer Iseler Singers will join the Viva Youth Singers in educational and collaborative sessions of mentorship with the EIS as vocal coaches in a study of Handel’s Messiah choruses in a virtual situation. We are excited about this new Get Music Initiative. The program of six sessions will take place in late October and throughout November 2020.

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Confluence - “an act or process of merging” - presents engaging concerts ranging from jazz to traditional South Asian music, opera to pop, across centuries and cultures. Artistic producer Larry Beckwith and artistic associates Andrew Downing, Marion Newman, Patricia O’Callaghan, and Suba Sankaran collaborate with a wide cross-section of Toronto's rich and diverse arts community to create intimate, thought-provoking programs, including cabarets, anniversary programs celebrating important figures in music, salons and lectures on a wide variety of musical topics, and commissions of new works by Canadian artists. Our 2020/21 online season features: “Something to Live For - A Billy Strayhorn Celebration”; “A Purcell Remembrance - The Exaltation of Poetry”; “Creativity and Aging - The Late Works of Olivier Messiaen and Leonard Cohen”; “The Mandala - The Beauty of Impermanence”; “The Butterfly Project - The Ballade of Chō-Chō San”; “The John Beckwith Songbook - Over 70 Years of Originality”; and “Gracias a la Vida - Spanish Serenades”. In September we launched The Fuse, a monthly podcast that supports the vibrant Canadian music scene with interviews and articles about musicians, artists, and administrators across the country.

“...this series has established itself as one of the most important and consistently interesting in the city.” - John Gilks, Opera Ramblings.

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The Barrie Concert Association, a charitable non-profit organization, presents 12 live performances of mainly Classical music from September/October to May. One-hour piano/organ recitals are also held the first three Wednesdays of every month - presenting classical, baroque, blues and light jazz.

During the COVID-19 situation, we daily get phone calls from subscribers hoping concerts can resume. They miss the music - and in these times probably need the music more than ever. However we can only start the performances again when it is safe to do so - we must care for the health challenges of the audience. We will keep you posted with developments as they happen.

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Music at St. Andrew’s is a community outreach program of historic St. Andrew’s Church in downtown Toronto. It was inspired by the church’s 2011 purchase of a Bösendorfer Imperial grand piano, which we share with the greater community. The piano is featured extensively in our free “Friday Noontime Recitals.” Our seventh season launches October 4 with performances by University of Toronto postgraduate music students and professionals. On Saturday, November 30 our candle-lit church will provide an atmospheric setting for dramatic readings from A Christmas Carol. Dickens’ beloved tale will be brought to life by opera star mezzo-soprano Marion Newman, classical music expert Rick Phillips and other talented readers, and complemented by musical interludes and a gingerbread reception. Our annual “Mardi Gras” concert returns Friday, February 21 with an exuberant evening of parades and authentic New Orleans jazz, performed by Patrick Tevlin’s Happy Pals, featuring pianist Jordan Klapman. COVID-19 has changed live music performances, but we’ll find other ways to bring music to our audiences. Stay tuned! 

Music at St. Andrew’s presents great music at affordable prices! Concerts take place at St. Andrew’s Church, 73 Simcoe St., Toronto.