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Composer-in-residence, TMChoir 2025-26

This season I’m delighted to be serving the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir as their composer-in-residence. Several people have asked me: ‘Just exactly what does this mean? Do you live at Koerner Hall? Is it a full-time job? Do you sing in the choir?’ Fortunately, I don’t have to live in the basement of the concert hall, nor is this a full-time job, and I don’t know that I’d pass the gruelling audition for TMChoir! My actual role is to compose three new pieces for this season, to head a mentorship program for composers, and to present a lecture. I am privileged… Read More »Composer-in-residence, TMChoir 2025-26

Ave Verum Corpus: a silver lining story

This is the true story of a little piece of music called ‘Ave Verum Corpus’. If you are a fan of choral music, you’ll probably be familiar with the text ‘Ave Verum Corpus’. If you sing in a choir, you might have performed settings by Mozart, William Byrd, or Elgar.  ‘Ave Verum Corpus’ was the first piece that I wrote for the Gallery Choir of the Church of Saint Mary Magdalene back in March 2007, and it’s a classic tale of ‘a cloud with a silver lining’. On a dark Thursday night, one of those monstrous March snowstorms descended on… Read More »Ave Verum Corpus: a silver lining story

Xmas cake

Seasonal delights: Frost and fruitcake

Here is all of the very most pressing seasonal news. I finished the epic task of baking a traditional, dark and fruity Christmas Cake on ‘Stir Up’ Sunday with an old friend who is luckily a much more experienced baker than I am. She put me right on several culinary details that averted small disasters. Who knew there were different ways of measuring dry and wet ingredients! I do now. The recipe is a special one, passed on to me by my dear friend Janet, who in turn received it from her Mother. Who knows how far back the recipe… Read More »Seasonal delights: Frost and fruitcake

The Sun, the Wind, and the Man with the Cloak

The Sun, the Wind, and the Man with the Cloak (SWMC) In May 2017 Pax Christi Chorale gave me a beautiful parting gift: a commission to write a big new piece for them. Here’s what happened. De-programming with my colleague Paul Ciufo at O’Brien’s Irish pub after our first operatic project The Llandovery Castle, I recalled a childhood storybook shared with a group of wide-eyed, cross-legged kids in the public library. Book upon her knee, the librarian entranced us with Aesop’s ancient fable of ‘The Sun, the Wind, and the Man with the Cloak.’ The Story Two elemental protagonists, arguing… Read More »The Sun, the Wind, and the Man with the Cloak

Sundial, Mount pleasant cemetery

Finding Willan’s grave

Sometimes I receive correspondence from people in far off places wanting to learn about Healey Willan, our great 20th-century Canadian composer. It’s because I was music director at the Church of Saint Mary Magdalene for a short time, and I’ve done some Willan research in the Library and Archives Canada, delivering some academic papers and performing lots of his choral music. Last week one such visitor came to me from San Diego California. We had done the usual round of Willan sites, visiting churches and talking to people who knew Willan well. But when my guest suggested we visit the… Read More »Finding Willan’s grave

In search of Shofar

Way back in my university days, my professor suggested I write a paper on the Jewish ceremonial instrument the Shofar, since I was interested in this sort of thing. I never took up that assignment, and now I wish I had. Years later, Bruce Hill would come home from leading choirs for High Holy Days at Holy Blossom Temple, and tell me how stirring and impressive the sound of the Shofar had been. I never attended one of those services, so regrettably never heard the thrilling ‘Tekiah’ call of the Shofar, and I wish I had. Now I’m preparing to… Read More »In search of Shofar

The JUDITH team

One of the great things about a big project like Parry’s oratorio JUDITH is bringing alot of people together. Our performance will require 100 adult singers, 43 orchestra players, four professional soloists, four boys and their understudies, and an audience of 900 listeners. If we are able to raise enough funds we will release a DVD recording of the concert, and then our audience could be several thousand people. One choir member told me she was sorry her grandmother could not come to hear JUDITH since she is not mobile and can’t leave the house. So, our recording of JUDITH… Read More »The JUDITH team

Bruce Kirkpatrick Hill Memorial Fund

In March 2012, I was looking for a way to remember Bruce in a meaningful way. Marsha Goold initially set up a fund to help me through that rough time, and many friends contributed immediately. But after things settled down, remarkably, there was a bit left over. I asked for financial advice and approached a couple of different organizations. I needed to find a group that would be willing to do the ongoing work of administering the fund, acknowledge donors with tax receipts, and use the money to do something that would honour Bruce’s passion for choral music, his commitment… Read More »Bruce Kirkpatrick Hill Memorial Fund

JUDITH at Koerner Hall

You may know Jerusalem and I was glad, but it’s unlikely you have ever heard a major work for choir and orchestra by C.H.Hubert Parry. Why has a major oratorio by one of Britain’s best-loved composers been neglected for 125 years? Pax Christi Chorale is determined to turn the tide on Parry’s unjust obscurity in the realm of oratorio. You will be the first audience to hear Parry’s Judith in North America when this dramatic work is revealed at Koerner Hall on May 3, 2015. Judith’s first performance in 1888 was very favourably received. Though Parry was self-critical and struggled… Read More »JUDITH at Koerner Hall

Allan gardens

Allan Gardens

I had the great pleasure to experience a guided tour through the Allan Gardens Conservatory with my Pax Christi friends Emily and Jennifer. Our hosts Virginia, and Curtis the Foreperson of Plant Production, led us through this peaceful, indoor oasis. Right now Toronto’s “crystal palace” boasts a spectacular display of poinsettias and Christmas garlands. The soaring glass dome built in 1910 replaced the original garden pavilion built in the 19th century which was destroyed by fire. Filled with a permanent collection of tropical plants, the slightly humid atmosphere is a balm for dry lungs ravaged by dry and over heated… Read More »Allan Gardens