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Vesnivka Choir is an award-winning women’s ensemble established in 1965 by founding artistic director Halyna Kvitka Kondracki. The choir has delighted audiences with its rich repertoire of Ukrainian classical, sacred and traditional folk music. Vesnivka Choir, together with its partner, the Toronto Ukrainian Male Chamber Choir, are often joined in concert by area musicians and professional soloists. Despite the challenges of these uncertain times, the choirs have continued to meet and rehearse on Zoom and in person following protocols as advised by Public Health. We are cautiously optimistic that we will be able to present a three-concert series in the new year, starting with a Ukrainian Christmas concert on January 9, 2022, followed by “Kobzar: Celebrating Taras Shevchenko” on March 6, 2022, and “A Tribute to Lesia Ukrainka” on May 1, 2022. We are working towards presenting live performances safely and following all Public Health guidelines and hope you will be able to join us when we return to in-person concerts. Our plans remain fluid pending Public Health developments. We encourage you to visit our website for updates.

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Tapestry Opera is an award-winning Toronto-based company that is dedicated to creating, developing and performing original Canadian opera. Tapestry is passionate about uniquely Canadian stories, told in innovative settings, unforgettably interpreted by world class singers and musicians. Tapestry supports emerging artists, develops new audiences and brings Canadian opera to the world stage. Founded in 1979, Tapestry is the voice of original contemporary Canadian opera.

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“…chamber music at its evocative best!” – WholeNote 2020 review.

Pioneering tour-de-force Ensemble Vivant's innovative, genre-diverse programming is rich with passionate, deeply communicative playing that touches the hearts and souls of listeners of all ages. EV are Opening Day recording artists with 14 internationally acclaimed CDs.

“…the highest-level chamber music-making. No matter the genre, there is magic in EV's music-making.” - Jazz legend/composer Rick Wilkins, C.M.

“…beautiful, poised performances...capture the passion and verve…Wilson’s piano gives this music unerring drive and plenty of sparkle.” - Toronto Star

EV: Catherine Wilson, piano/artistic director; Corey Gemmell, violin; Norman Hathaway, viola; Tom Mueller, cello; George Koller, bass. Collaborators: Kevin Turcotte, trumpet; Mike Murley, sax; Juan Carlos Medrano, percussion; and many others.

EV’s live and virtual invaluable educational/performance programs for children (endorsed by the scientific community) are conducted through the not-for-profit registered charity Euterpe: Music Is The Key (musicisthekey.org). Euterpe’s vitally important work was awarded a 3-year Ontario Trillium grant (2020) and a Canada Council Grant (2021).

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The Canadian Opera Company is Canada’s largest opera company, known for its artistic excellence and innovation, as well as attracting some of the world’s best opera performers. The company performs with its own acclaimed COC Orchestra and COC Chorus., and its spectacular home base at the Four Seasons Centre for Performing Arts in Toronto serves not only as a national stage but local hub for diverse musical artists and creators that reflect the city’s wide-ranging cultural influences. General director Perryn Leech joined the company in 2021, forming a leadership team with music director Johannes Debus and deputy general director Christie Darville.

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SINE NOMINE was formed in Toronto in 1991 to research and perform music from before 1500, and has given concerts in Canada, the United States, and the UK. The members have varied backgrounds in vocal and instrumental performance (wind instruments, fiddles, lutes, and percussion), musicology, medieval history, language, literature, liturgy, and manuscript studies. In preparing repertoire, we draw on all of these specialties, and experiment with improvisation and ornamentation, as well as medieval pronunciations and tuning systems, hoping to create performances which are intelligible and enjoyable to modern audiences – and which would not have been wholly foreign to medieval listeners! We blend vocal and instrumental music from medieval courts and churches with readings, and occasionally drama, liturgy, or dance, to provide insight into the artistic and intellectual culture of the Middle Ages.

Details of our 2021/22 Toronto season remain fluid, pending public health developments, and will be announced at a later date. Our current project is a detailed exploration of a 14th-century Italian manuscript with an unusually rich combination of vocal music and instrumental dances.

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The 24-voice DaCapo Chamber Choir was founded in 1998 in Kitchener-Waterloo under the direction of Leonard Enns. The mission of the choir is to identify, study, rehearse and present outstanding choral chamber works of the past 100 years and to champion music of Canadian and local composers. Although there is still much uncertainty ahead, we are moving forward with a (tentative) 2021/22 concert season.

In November, we will complete the “Road to Refuge”, and introduce the year's environmental theme. The concert will begin with several reflective works, as we acknowledge ongoing global challenges and remember the personal and general losses of the past two years. In March, the focus will be on nature - particularly on our avian friends. In May, we will cap off the environmental theme with a new commission by Nicholas Ryan Kelly. Guest artists include Catherine Robertson, Miriam Stewart Kroeker, and Jennifer Enns Modolo.

During our "hiatus," we released archival concert recordings and "Garage Choir" recordings on our YouTube channel. And our NewWorks CD is available to stream on all major platforms (read the review of this CD in the April 2019 issue of The WholeNote.) Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter @DaCapoChoir!

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Music at St. Andrew’s is a community outreach program of historic St. Andrew’s Church in downtown Toronto. This program was inspired by the church’s 2011 purchase of a Bösendorfer Imperial grand piano, which we share with the greater community. The magnificent piano is used extensively in our free, mostly classical “Friday Noontime Recitals” featuring University of Toronto postgraduate music students and professionals. The weekly 45-minute recitals run from October to November and February to May. Our seventh year was cut short by COVID-19, but the recitals will return Friday, October 1. Attend in person (current COVID-19 protocols apply, pre-register please) or watch online afterwards. More details on our website. On December 4, St. Andrew’s will provide an atmospheric setting for our annual dramatic readings from A Christmas Carol, plus seasonal music. Watch for more programming details on our 2021/22 season.

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

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The Upper Canada Choristers is an SATB community choir in Toronto with a history of collaboration with choirs and professional guest artists. UCC is committed to excellence and diversity. Cantemos is UCC’s auditioned Latin-American ensemble. Founding artistic director Laurie Evan Fraser, and accompanist Hye Won Cecilia Lee, provide the professional musical leadership for this vibrant organization.

Despite the challenges we face in these uncertain times, the choir continues to meet and rehearse regularly in person and on Zoom, following protocols as advised by Public Health.

Our 2021/22 concert season opens with To Sit and Dream - Voices of Women, devoted to choral works written by women through the ages, including Ontario’s Sarah Quartel. The concert will be live-streamed from Grace Church on-the-Hill on October 1. On December 3, the choir will perform From Darkness Into Light featuring Chanukah, Kwanzaa, Christmas, and non-seasonal music with themes of light. Our spring concert on May 13, “The French Connection”, features the Faure Requiem with baritone soloist Bradley Christensen.

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Music Toronto - celebrating our 50th season. What to say?

A legacy organization in classical music, we present the world’s best chamber ensembles and solo pianists. Nowhere else in Toronto can you hear the Juilliard and St. Lawrence Quartets, Stephen Hough and Marc-André Hamelin live on stage in a perfect small concert hall downtown. Up close and personal.

But not only the world’s greats. Favourite Canadians artists like David Jalbert, the Gryphon Trio, Ensemble Made In Canada and the Lafayette Quartet. Acclaimed international artists like the Miró Quartet and pianists Vanessa Benelli Mosell and Benjamin Grosvenor. And watch for the Toronto debut of the Korean Esmé Quartet who have enjoyed a very rapid rise to well-deserved stardom.

The greats, the acclaimed, the well-known and loved, the new – music making at its finest. We also celebrate our 50th anniversary with two commissioned works, Kelly-Marie Murphy for pianist David Jalbert and Jeffrey Ryan for the Gryphon Trio.

Please join us for the special experience that is live in-person chamber music. It will inspire your thoughts and engage your emotions.

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The Hannaford Street Silver Band is Canada’s award-winning professional brass band. Its mission is to honour the traditions of this art form and place them in a contemporary context with a unique Canadian point-of-view. Guided by the vision of artistic director David Pell, the band facilitates innovative creative projects and collaborates with the best of Canada’s diverse artists. Our 2021/22 season features concerts that showcase collaborations with artists such as Measha Brueggergosman and vocalist Suba Sankaran with Toronto’s amazing Indo-fusion band Autorickshaw. This season includes live and streamed concerts with both our 10-piece virtuoso ensemble and the full 27 member brass band.

The HSSB is committed to youth and music education through the vibrant Hannaford Youth Program. Directed by Anita McAlister, this program is a fantastic opportunity for brass and percussion players ages 7 to 24 to participate in three bands where they learn music, social and leadership skills.