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Pax Christi Chorale

Blest pair of sirens

Stand on a street corner in Toronto and you may see architectural vestiges of our Victorian past; extravagantly crafted stone treasures, surrounded by modern towers of concrete, glass and steel. In a similar musical landscape, Pax Christi Chorale commissions new music, but in a fast-changing world, we take a second look at pieces once unjustly judged as unfashionable. On Sunday October 19 at 3pm, we will blow the dust off this seminal repertoire at Grace Church on-the Hill in Toronto. Our choral scholars, orchestra, and special guests, the Aslan Boys Choir will be joined by actor Emilio Vieira, who will… Read More »Blest pair of sirens

The Parry Diaries

Jan. 2013 A choir member lends me some old scores bound in red leather – two oratorios by a major composer – King Saul and Judith by C. H. H. Parry. March 2013 Had my family around me for Easter thank goodness. After dinner show my Dad the score of Judith and sing through the big tune. Tough going without his reading glasses, but still beautiful. April 2013 Pax Christi performs Handel’s Solomon with orchestra, soloists, off book and dramatized, high school students from Fr John Redmond. Excitement palpable! Oct. 2013 Great Canadian Hymn contest brings together composers from across… Read More »The Parry Diaries

Passion and Peace: Q and A with Susan Mahoney

Pax Christi Chorale is putting the finishing touches on our Spring concert “Passion and Peace” coming up on April 26 in Kitchener and April 27 in Toronto. We’re performing Jean Langlais’ Missa Salve Regina, Faure’s Messe Basse and Randall Thompson’s Peaceable KIngdom. Here’s a short interview with Susan Mahoney about the repertoire.   Q – All of the music in this concert was composed in the 20th century. Why did you want to move away from the Bach-Mozart-Handel canon? There’s room on the dance floor for everyone. Not every choir will take musical chances like Pax Christi does. That’s why… Read More »Passion and Peace: Q and A with Susan Mahoney

Support the Arts: Invest in the city

There is a matrix of small arts groups that keeps our city vivid and warm despite the cold winter. Not all of us have huge audiences, but our specific activities spin into a great wheel of culture that reveals meaning in this confusing maze of urban life. This month, my big oratorio choir Pax Christi Chorale has been granted support from artsVest. ArtsVest will match any business sponsorships we receive before March 3rd, 2014. That’s only two weeks away, so we are quite enthusiastically looking for a business that loves choral music and might help us on our way. With… Read More »Support the Arts: Invest in the city

500,000 hits

When your blog ticker says you’ve reached 500,000 hits, is it appropriate to open a bottle of bubbly? Pax Christi Chorale and Laura Adlers set me up on my blog back in September 2010 when I left the choir for a Sabbatical break. Back then I wrote “I blog, therefore I am.” The blog really was a lifeline whilst travelling alone in Europe; a place to sort out my own experiences and record events and impressions of things I saw and people I met. It was a great comfort in my dark time of grief and provided a venue for… Read More »500,000 hits

The Beggar’s Opera at York University

About two years ago Gwen Dobie, Catherine Robbin and I had lunch on a patio under a tree, sipping white wine and evaluating our production of Dido and Aeneas at York University. We were exhausted but happy after our initial collaboration, and keen to sink our teeth into something even bigger. That’s when the idea was hatched to produce The Beggar’s Opera at York. We open next week after a year of planning, designing and rehearsing. The production is high energy, imaginative, and a little off the wall. Gwen presents the opera as a “play within a play” set in a… Read More »The Beggar’s Opera at York University

blessing the door 2013

Adieu 2013

2013 was a step up from annus horribilis 2012. My annual New Year’s Eve party usually involves Haggis and pagan rituals: a dark stranger, coins, whisky and coal. This year Fr Tay Moss blessed my house with the works, holy water and all. During the infamous Toronto ice storm I lost power for two days. Thank goodness for Bruce Hill’s stubbornness! He insisted on installing a gas stove when we moved here in 1998, not for heating mind you, but for efficient cooking. Boiling up cinnamon spiced water filled the house with Christmas fragrance throughout the dark and chilly episode,… Read More »Adieu 2013

Lunch with Mayor Ford

Taking aim at Rob Ford tonight seems like shooting fish in a barrel. As I write, he is being abandoned in Shakespearean proportions, not only by those who never liked him, but also by his closest supporters. My own tragic liaison with our ill-fated Mayor was early in his leadership when I was invited to the Mayor’s “Arts Awards” lunch. I was really excited to attend this event. We shaggy, ill-kempt artsy types were seated at round tables with spiffy business people, with whom we could hobnob and cook up meaningful partnerships. I thought it was truly a stroke of… Read More »Lunch with Mayor Ford