The Toronto Mendelssohn Choir will end their season with epic Beethoven and a community concert, then launch 2025/26 with a new Composer-in-Residence. Conductor Jean-Sébastien Vallée will lead the choir — accompanied by the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony — in Beethoven’s Missa solemnis on April 4.
That’s followed by a Community Concert spotlighting Duruflé’s Requiem and new works by current Composer-in-Residence Aaron Manswell on May 9.
When their new season kicks off in the fall of 2025, Stephanie Martin will step into the role of Composer-in-Residence.
April 4
Beethoven himself described his Missa solemnis as he greatest work, composed between 1819 and 1823, around the same period that he began work on his seminal Symphony No. 9.
Beethoven took the time to study monophonic plainchant, a very early form of Christian sacred music, along with the sacred music of the Renaissance and Baroque periods, to prepare for what would be his second and last mass. It’s also his largest and longest composition outside of Fidelio.
Musically, he combined elements of the traditional Mass and the music he composed for concert performance. Because of its length, it is actually problematic for liturgical use, and he conceived of performance as a concert oratorio rather than in a church service.
It premiered in Saint Petersburg, Russia on April 7, 1824, sponsored by his patron Prince Nikolai Golitsyn, who would commission Beethoven’s string quartets Nos. 12, 13 and 15.
The work itself, however, was dedicated to another patron (and friend), Archduke Rudolf of Austria. Beethoven wrote the piece, in fact, to celebrate the investiture of the Archduke in the role of Archbishop of Olomouc.
That happened, however, in 1820, a full three years before the composition was completed.
The Missa solemnis was finished just four years before Beethoven died. He was by then completely deaf, and plagued by ill health, and had largely withdrawn from society because of his ailments.
The composer inscribed the opening of the Kyrie with the words, “From the heart — may it go again to the heart!”
The work has a history with TMChoir as well; the Choir gave the Canadian premiere of the work in 1927.
Featured Performers:
Find more details and tickets for the April 4 performance [HERE].
May 9
The Toronto Mendelssohn Choirs 130th anniversary season closes with a Community Concert.
Maurice Duruflé wrote his setting of the Latin Requiem for solo baritone, mezzo-soprano, mixed choir, and organ (or orchestra and organ). He wrote it during the German Occupation of France in 1941. The Vichy regime offered cash to several French composers to write extended works. Duruflé was commissioned to write a symphonic poem for 10,000 francs, but he decided to create a Requiem instead.
He was still composing in 1944 when the Vichy regime collapsed after the liberation of France. In fact, he’d continue working on it for another few years, completing it finally in 1947.
He composed the Requiem in nine movements, and incorporated themes from the Gregorian Mass for the Dead.
It was published in 1948, and in the end, Duruflé demanded and received 30,000 francs for his work.
Also on the program are:
Additionally, a selection of a cappella pieces from TMChoir’s anniversary year recording, Remember: 130 Years of Canadian Choral Music, including a piece by incoming Composer-in-Residence Stephanie Martin (see below), round out the concert.
Featured Performers:
Find more details and tickets for the May 9 concert [HERE].
Canadian composer and conductor Stephanie Martin will join Toronto Mendelssohn Choir as the 2025/26 Composer-in-Residence. During her tenure, she’ll be adding to the Choir’s repertoire with new works written for them.
She earned degrees from the University of Toronto and Wilfrid Laurier University, and is an Associate of the Royal Canadian College of Organists. Today, Stephanie Martin is associate professor of music at York University’s School of the Arts, Media, Performance, and Design, as well as a working composer and conductor. Conductor emeritus of Pax Christi Chorale, she is the Music Director of Schola Magdalena, a women’s choir dedicated to the music of the medieval period, as well as compositions by contemporary Canadian composers.
She is known for both instrumental and choral works, which have been performed across North America, Europe, and in Australia. Stephanie’s pieces have been commissioned by Voces Capituli, Antwerp; the Canadian Men’s Chorus; the Winnipeg Organ Festival; Saskatoon Chamber Singers; Halifax Camerata; Elora Singers, Kitchener-Waterloo Grand Philharmonic, and choirs in California, Illinois, New Mexico, Texas, and Virginia, among other organizations and ensembles.
She has recorded for the Naxos, Marquis, and Dorian labels, and her composition Nothing Gold Can Stay is featured on TMChoir’s album, Remember: 130 Years of Canadian Choral Music.
We’ll look forward to hearing her works to come with TMChoir.
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