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St. Thomas’s Church, Toronto, is one of the oldest Anglo-Catholic congregations in Canada. Established in 1874, the parish has been, from its earliest days, at the forefront of the liturgical and musical life of the Anglican Church of Canada. Excellent choral and organ music are vital components of all Sunday services, Feast Days, and the liturgies of Advent and Holy Week. There are three choral services each Sunday, sung by a dedicated group of volunteers supported by section leads: “Sung Eucharist (Contemporary Rite)” at 9:30am; “Solemn Eucharist (Traditional Rite)” at 11am; and “Solemn Evensong and Devotions” at 7pm. The repertoire is diverse, from plainsong and Renaissance masterpieces to gems of the British cathedral tradition and contemporary Canadian compositions. Located in the historic Huron-Sussex neighbourhood, adjacent to the University of Toronto campus, the church was designed in the Arts and Crafts style by renowned architect Eden Smith (1858-1949), a parishioner.

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St. Olave’s, Swansea, is an Anglican church in the west end of Toronto. Traditional services of Holy Communion or Morning Prayer (sung Sundays at 10:30am) use the Book of Common Prayer. There are also Choral Evensongs throughout the year, our very popular “Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols” before Christmas and a special Good Friday service with readings and choral music. Its excellent acoustics, organ and grand piano make it a desirable venue for performing groups and recitals.

Choral Evensongs often featuring a visiting choir (about one Sunday per month at 4pm) are followed by afternoon tea and a music event (as listed in The WholeNote), such as illustrated music talks or recitals by guest musicians, or performances from our Arts Guild. Evening Prayer (various weekdays at 6pm) are followed by supper and talks on travel, history, applied religion, etc.

Our choir, under the direction of John Stephenson, leads the congregation in hymns and canticles, and also sings anthems and motets. Rehearsals are Thursdays, 7:30pm to 9pm, with a warm-up Sundays at 9:30am. Call to ask about paid positions, or come to a rehearsal to see what it’s all about. Singers are also welcome to join the choir at Choral Evensongs.

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St. Michael’s Choir School was founded in 1937, with the purpose of providing sacred music for services at St. Michael’s Cathedral Basilica. St. Michael’s Choir School is an all-boys school from grades 3 through 12 located in downtown Toronto. Comprised of between 250 to 300 students, St. Michael’s Choir School is a centre for musical and academic excellence. It is one of only six choir schools in the world affiliated with the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music in Rome. Each student attending SMCS is accepted on the basis of a vocal audition and sings in at least one of the school’s choirs. Each St. Michael’s Choir School student is trained in music theory, vocal and instrumental music. In addition to weekly Masses and numerous annual concerts, SMCS choirs tour regularly and perform at local events.

At SMCS, balancing the sacred and the secular is a longstanding tradition. St. Michael’s Choir School is not only famous for its music program, but also for its academic achievement, consistently ranking at the top of Fraser Institute surveys. For 75 years, graduates of the Choir School have pursued studies in science, education, medicine, law, business, and, of course, music. For more information visit our website.

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St. Bart’s, Regent Park preserves a timeless liturgy that includes all that is best in the Western Catholic tradition. The St. Bart’s Choir, under the direction of early music specialist Katherine Hill, sings at the Sunday Parish Mass (10:30am) and on other Feast Days throughout the year. The choir’s repertoire includes Gregorian chant and polyphony of the 14th to 16th centuries, as well as a wide variety of later English Cathedral music, sacred harp, Eastern Orthodox hymns, Baroque motets, new compositions, and motets and mass settings by Healey Willan. 

Organist Sebastian Moreno is likewise passionate about Anglo-Catholic music and ancient liturgy, focusing on medieval music’s influence in 19th-20th century composition. Music for liturgy is regularly enhanced by instrumentalists playing recorder, violin, viola da gamba, trumpet and medieval fiddle. Comprised of nine dedicated volunteers and choral scholars, the choir is always happy to welcome new members. Rehearsals are held on Thursdays, 7:15pm to 9:15pm.

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Continuing its long tradition of musical excellence, St. Anne’s presents a season of innovative performances, enhanced by our stunning sacred space which boasts religious artwork by the Group of Seven. Throughout the 2019/20 season, St. Anne’s will present a variety of concerts, including several recitals for solo instruments, as well as the popular “Community Cantate” in December. On April 19, St. Anne’s Choir will perform a concert celebrating the Earth and all Creation with music, including Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb and Winter’s Missa Gaia. Since its founding in 1964, the St. Anne’s Music and Drama Society (MADS) has presented one of Gilbert and Sullivan’s beloved operettas. This season, MADS presents seven performances of Patience, running from January 24 to February 2. For more information or to participate in our music programs, please contact us. Mervin W. Fick, Director of Music.

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Soundstreams is one of the world’s leading contemporary music companies, and the largest global presenter of new Canadian music. Artistic director Lawrence Cherney and executive director Ben Dietschi are committed to showcasing the work of living Canadian and international composers with a focus on innovative thematic and experiential programming. Soundstreams also serves a broad community of music lovers through free outreach and education programs including Encounters, Bridges, SoundWave, and SoundMakers. Encounters is a free monthly discovery series featuring performances, discussions, and audience participation; Bridges helps talented contemporary composers from around the world launch their careers; SoundWave provides accessible tickets; and SoundMakers provides interactive learning experiences online and in the classroom.

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All voice. No limits. SoundCrowd’s vision is: to enrich the Toronto community with the proven health and social benefits of participating in and experiencing choral music; to make connections through voice and movement using repertoire that is exciting, fun and meaningful to all; and to create dynamic and original performances of music from all genres using the musical language of a cappella. 

SoundCrowd, the brainchild of artistic director Scott Pietrangelo, is Toronto’s first large-scale a cappella ensemble. The group made its concert debut in 2016 alongside former Barenaked Ladies front man Steven Page at Toronto’s Danforth Music Hall. Since then, they have been featured guests on a national TV show (The Social, www.thesocial.ca) and created viral music videos, performed at other notable Toronto venues (Princess of Wales Theatre, The Opera House), repeatedly sold out their own high-energy concerts, and travelled to New York City to perform at Carnegie Hall with choirs from around the world under the direction of Deke Sharon (Pitch Perfect, The Sing Off). SoundCrowd is an auditioned choir and accepts new applications in spring and summer.

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Small World Music Society is, “the beat of the globe in the heart of Toronto,” engaging audiences, enabling artists, and connecting industry, breaking down walls through the power of music. This year, the Small World Music Festival returned to Toronto stages to usher autumn in with a captivating and diverse mix of sounds new and old. Highlights included legendary Beijing-based Mongolian rockers Hanggai, globally acclaimed Tuareg soul rebels Tinariwen, a free day of global music programming at stackt market, and the anticipated Toronto debuts of NAMU’s fusion of Korean sounds, and Brazil’s provocative Teto Preto.

Throughout April and May, Small World will present the 18th annual “Asian Music Series,” embracing the scope of sounds from across the Asian cultural landscape. Arriving at various venues across the GTA, the Series unites emerging artists with internationally renowned figures and partners with premier presenters.

Small World Music Centre continues to present concerts and workshops as Small World’s intimate venue, and serve as a community space for creation and experimentation year-round inside Artscape Youngplace.

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Acclaimed as “a world-class orchestra,” (Russelsheimer Echo, Germany), Sinfonia performs, under the leadership of music director Nurhan Arman, in CBC’s Glenn Gould Studio and the Weston Recital Hall at the Toronto Centre for the Arts, as well as presenting innovative school programs. The orchestra has recorded for Marquis Classics, Cambria and Analekta, and won a JUNO Award for Best Classical Recording in 2009. The orchestra’s repertoire includes all the major compositions for string orchestra from the Classical, Romantic and contemporary periods. Sinfonia Toronto premieres many new works and has been recognized by the Canada Council for the Arts for its commitment to performing music by Canadian composers.

Sinfonia Toronto also plays every season on the main concert series in Barrie and Sault Ste-Marie, and has toured to other cities around Ontario from Brockville to Sarnia. The orchestra has enjoyed great success in international tours in Germany, Spain, Florida, and most recently on their 2018 tour in Peru, Argentina and Uruguay where every performance drew standing ovations and reviews such as one in the Buenos Aires Musical Tribune that hailed the orchestra’s Mozart Divertimento and the Dvořák Serenade as “definitive performances.”

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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), theatre, musicology, and medieval history, language, literature, liturgy, and manuscript studies. In preparing repertoire, we draw on all of these specialties, and work 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 even drama or liturgical action, to provide insight into the fascinating artistic and intellectual culture of the Middle Ages.

Our Toronto concerts this year will be on Friday, December 20, at 8pm and Friday, April 24 at 8pm; both are at Trinity College Chapel, 6 Hoskin Avenue.

Tickets will be available through www.brownpapertickets.com.