The fourth annual TMC Choral Composition Competition received 19 entries from across Canada. The winner of this competition receives the $1000 Debbie Fleming Prize for Choral Composition and their work is performed by the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir in concert.
The 2018 competition asked emerging composers to submit a sacred or secular work for the Christmas season. Submissions were reviewed by the jury of TMC Interim Conductor David Fallis, Festival of Carols guest conductor Howard Dyck, and TMC Associate Conductor Ezra Burke.
The winner was There is No Rose by Russell Wilkinson. Russ is a retired lawyer living in Edmonton. Over the last 40 years he has sung with Greystone Singers (U. of S.), Edmonton Opera Chorus, Pro Coro Canada, I Coristi Chamber Choir and Da Camera Singers. Choral composition is a relatively recent endeavour which he hopes to continue in his retirement.
There is No Rose will be premiered at Festival of Carols on December 4 and 5th at Yorkminster Park Baptist Church. More concert details here: https://www.tmchoir.org/201819-season/festival-of-carols/ . The December 5th concert will also be webcast live across Canada and beyond on Livestream: https://livestream.com/TMChoir/FOC2018 .
The TMC Choral Composition competition (www.tmchoir.org/choral-composition-competition/) was launched in June 2015 with the awarding of the annual Debbie Fleming Prize for Choral Composition. Debbie Fleming is a TMC alumna who sang in the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir for 40 years and who retired in June 2015. The TMC is grateful for Debbie’s commitment to the enrichment of the TMC’s education program and to the growth of Canadian choral music.
Dr. Hilary Apfelstadt and Linda Beaupré receive 2018 President’s Leadership Award
Established in 2001 to commemorate Choirs Ontario’s 30th anniversary, the President’s Leadership Award recognizes individuals who, through their support or engagement in choral music-making, have made an exceptional contribution to the promotion and advancement of choral music in their communities. Choirs Ontario is proud to present this year’s award to Dr. Hilary Apfelstadt and Linda Beaupré in recognition of their remarkable contribution to the promotion and advancement of choral music in the province. The jury panel commended recipients’ outstanding impact on choral education and larger arts community in this province.
Linda Beaupré, through her amazing career, has changed the lives of thousands of young singers through her two exceptional organizations, The Bach Children’s Chorus/Bach Chamber Youth Choir and the Guelph Youth Singers. With her joyous approach to music making, and her unstinting dedication to excellence, Linda Beaupré is truly one of the foremost conductors in this country.
Ms. Beaupré is a musical force of nature who exemplifies the very best of humanity. Through her inspired leadership in her exemplary career, and with her excellence, inspiration, vision and artistry, her dedication and integrity, she has made a truly positive difference in Ontario and the world to thousands of children, creating and nourishing, over 30 years, organizations that count themselves among the very best internationally. Linda’s outstanding career as a conductor, educator, adjudicator, arranger, author and editor has positively inspired thousands of children and children’s choir conductors in Ontario and internationally.
Dr. Apfelstadt has been a model leader and educator. In her role as the Director of Choral Activities and Professor of Conducting, she fostered a collegial and collaborative community across all the Faculty of Music choral ensembles. During her tenure as the Elmer Iseler Chair of Conducting and Director of Choral Activities at the University of Toronto, Dr. Apfelstadt created one of the most diverse programs for choral conducting in the country. Her conducting, mentorship, and high standard of excellence and artistry fostered a love of choral music in all her students who continuously showcase her lasting positive impact in their ongoing work as some of the province’s leading conductors, music educators, and singers. An advocate for choral music across the broader community, she built and strengthened connections between the University of Toronto and various schools, youth groups, and community choruses such as the Orpheus Choir, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Young Voices of Toronto Choirs, and Cawthra Park High School Choirs. Dr. Apfelstadt has a sincere passion for promoting Canadian music locally and internationally.
Choirs Ontario applauds Dr. Hilary Apfelstadt’s and Linda Beaupré’s work and is pleased to be honouring them with this award.
The 2018 Presidents’ Leadership Awards presentation times and locations:
December 2, 2018 @ 2:30 PM
Choirs in Concert: For the Joy of the Singing – A Tribute to Dr. Hilary Apfelstadt
Elaine Choi, Trevor Dearham, Lori-Anne Dolloff, Mark Ramsay, conductors
Join the choirs of the Faculty of Music as they pay tribute to Dr. Hilary Apfelstadt, recently retired Director of Choral Activities, with a concert featuring the music of Orban, Balfour, and Pinkham.
MacMillan Theatre, 80 Queen’s Park
$30, $20 senior, $10 student | BUY TICKETS ONLINE or call 416-408-0208
December 8, 2018 @ 7:30 PM
Mystical Light – A 2018 Holiday Concert by Bach Children’s Choir and Bach Chamber Youth Choir
A Tribute to Linda Beaupre
Presenting a glowing holiday concert including “Chasing the Northern Lights” to and “I Want To Stare At My Phone With You”. Our award-winning choirs will feature music from Raffi, Gordon Lightfoot, as well as many festive choral favourites!
Toronto Centre for Performing Arts, 5040 Yonge Street
$35/$40 | BUY TICKETS ONLINE
Lydia Adams’ receives Choral Canada Distinguished Service Award
The Choral Canada Distinguished Service Award is given in recognition of long-term service to choral music in Canada. Awards are based on the significance and extent of transformative service in building, nurturing or promoting the Canadian choral community through a primary career in Canada. The individual’s contributions may have been made through teaching, conducting, or leadership.
The Elmer Iseler Singers’ Board of Directors and Administration are proud and pleased to announce that Lydia Adams of Caledon, ON, Conductor and Artistic Director, is a recipient of the DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AWARD from Choral Canada, July 2018, presented at the Bi-Annual Podium National Conference in St. John’s, Newfoundland.
According to Choral Canada’s website “the Choral Canada Distinguished Service Award” is given in recognition of long-term service to choral music in Canada. Awards are based on the significance and extent of transformative service in building, nurturing or promoting the Canadian choral community through a primary career in Canada. The individual’s contributions may have been made through teaching, conducting, or leadership.”
First Lirit Composition Award goes to P.E.I. resident Jane Naylor
New award honours work created for women’s voices
The Lirit Women’s Chamber Choir is very pleased to announce the result of the first Lirit New Composition Award. This award will be given annually to a Canadian composer for an unpublished work for women’s voices.
Lirit received 10 submissions from Canadian composers across the country and abroad. We extend warm congratulations to Prince Edward Island resident F. Jane Naylor for her winning composition, “After Mountains”. This is a dramatic choral setting of a poem by the late Joseph H. Sherman of Sydney, Nova Scotia. It is notable for its feminine sensibility that evokes the strength of the Biblical matriarchs, its contrasting vocal sections, and its rich harmonic language. The composer will receive $1,500 and the piece will be premiered by the Lirit Women’s Chamber Choir in the spring of 2019.
Naylor is an Associate Composer with the Canadian Music Centre. Her works have been commissioned by eklektikos with funding from SOCAN, and commissioned and broadcast by the CBC. She has also received grants from the PEI Council of the Arts.
This composition is especially relevant to 2018, the 70th anniversary of the State of Israel: the ‘wanderer’ in the poem is the Jewish people, and the ‘woman’ is the land of Israel. Lirit Women’s Chamber Choir is a Toronto-based group of experienced choral singers. They are committed to exploring the joy and vast range of Jewish music, whether through Jewish texts, themes or composers. Lirit wishes to thank the Judy Dan Fund for Arts and Education for generously supporting this award.
Further information about Lirit and the award is available at www.lirit.ca
Further information about F. Jane Naylor
DaCapo Chamber Choir announces the winner of 2018 NewWorks choral composition competition
Congratulations to Douglas Price, composer of the winning composition, Laughter & Light
The requirement of this year’s NewWorks competition was that submissions relate to the idea of new home, suitable for inclusion as part of our season 18/19 theme of “resettlement”.
Laughter and Light by Douglas Price was selected as this year’s winner and reflects the perspective of a refugee arriving on a new shore. Jurors praised how its “harmonic and rhythmic language fit beautifully with the text”.
Originally from London, Ontario, Douglas is currently the inaugural Head of Music at the National Theatre School of Canada in Montréal. His most current composition project is a piece of musical theatre based on the true story of ‘Kitsault’, the most well-preserved ghost town in the world, located in the mountains of northern British Columbia.
Director Leonard Enns calls Laughter & Light (with text written by its composer) “a lovely musical “essay” that expands on the question lying at the heart of its text, “will this be where I call home?”…the music is questioning, yet hopeful, beginning as though tentatively testing a new ground to see if it will hold, and progressing gently but engagingly to a final and fresh harmonic universe, to a grateful arrival “Here in this new land. A new life, with laughter and light.”
DaCapo will premiere Laughter & Light at our May 2019 concert, with Douglas joining us for the concert.
For more information about Douglas and his winning composition, please visit our web site!