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Pax Christi Chorale

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

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

What is a hymn?

I suppose you cannot really understand what a hymn is all about unless you’ve had a personal encounter with a hymn, maybe singing with hundreds of people in a vast cathedral to the visceral accompaniment of a mighty organ, or maybe picking out the notes on your ancient piano on a quiet Sunday evening with your sister singing alto to your soprano. If you’ve ever been singing a hymn and had a moment where the music just gets to you, and a few of the notes choke your voice just a bit, and you have to pretend nothing happened but… Read More »What is a hymn?

Free Christmas download

Yes, it is a bit absurd that I’m posting a free Christmas piece on August 17, but leaders of choral organizations all over the musical world need to plan their repertoire far ahead of time. They have to choose music far in advance to plan thematic programmes, to provide material for press releases, to order music in time to rehearse and perform concerts and church services. I’m giving you “Portinari Nativity” four months ahead of time since I figure it will not be published, and you can really only sing it once a year, and I want you to have… Read More »Free Christmas download

No place like home

This summer in Britain offered up many profound delights: walking the ancient pilgrim road to Canterbury with my sister; hearing Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius performed magnificently in Gloucester cathedral; listening to Arvo Part in the dark at the tomb of Edward II; standing in the yard for Shakespeare at The Globe Theatre; standing in the gallery in the Royal Albert Hall for Wagner’s Die Walkure; meeting up with choir friends from Ottawa and Toronto; travelling to  Tewkesbury for the Jongen Mass; seeing Vermeer at the National Gallery; hiking the Malverns with Shawn and Dave; experiencing Billy Budd at Glyndebourne with… Read More »No place like home

Edwardian Opulence

After Pax Christi Chorale’s mammoth performances of Handel’s SOLOMON, final juries and exams at York University, I thought I needed a little break. I stepped back from the routine of rehearsal, teaching, writing and performing to recharge my musical batteries. I spent four days with the Elgar Society, North American branch, at our annual conference in New Haven, Connecticut. That might seem like a potentially somber gathering, but it was an absolutely fabulous event. One of the best things about attending a musical conference is that you get to meet a whole lot of great people from far flung places… Read More »Edwardian Opulence

April update

Now that Easter is past I want to update you on some musical adventures in April. It’s a busy month, so if you’re interested in keeping in touch, here are some highlights for you. I’m always pleased to know when people are performing my music. I was particularly pleased to learn that St. Michael’s Choir school will be singing my little devotional anthem “Tantum Ergo” in Rome, and maybe even for the Pope if he isn’t too busy to hear the boys sing a concert for him in the Sistine chapel. My friend Teri Dunn conducts the choir and she’ll… Read More »April update

Remembering Bruce Hill

Pax Christi Chorale oversees the Bruce Kirkpatrick Hill Memorial Fund. This season the fund is being used to bring 50 high school students into our production of Handel’s SOLOMON. By facilitating this opportunity for young musicians to sing alongside trained adults, a professional orchestra and soloists, we hope we can pass on our love of great choral music to the next generation. I know Bruce would have been pleased as punch about this. It is simply incomprehensible that a year has passed since Bruce died. I figure pretty much everyone reading this blog was a friend of Bruce, so I… Read More »Remembering Bruce Hill

The Rheinberger affair

Why on earth have we not sung Josef Rheinberger’s Christmas cantata before? Read Wholenote Magazine and you will stand in thankful awe of the zillion performances of Handel’s Messiah in Toronto; yet I mourn the 50 odd Christmases that have passed without any knowledge of Rheinberger’s wonderful work, “The Star of Bethlehem.” Pax Christi Chorale is polishing up our performances of this piece for next weekend at Grace Church on-the-Hill, and the more we sing it, the more we appreciate this masterwork of high romantic art: a work that paints the intimacy of the nativity, romanticized pastoral scenes, and the grandeur… Read More »The Rheinberger affair