The University of Toronto Choral Studies will be presenting a showcase concert on December 1.
Four choirs — MacMillan Singers (Dr. Jamie Hillman, conductor), Soprano-Alto Chorus (Maria Conkey, conductor), Tenor-Bass Chorus (Thomas Burton, conductor), and Chamber Choir (Kathleen Allan, conductor) — will perform a variety of works.
The Choirs
Collaborative pianists Eunseong Cho and Dr. Joy Lee will be accompanying the choirs, along with Lori Gemmel on harp.
University of Toronto MacMillan Singers
Dr. Jamie Hillman, conductor
Jayden Browne, assistant conductor
Founded by Doreen Rao in 1994, the University of Toronto MacMillan Singers were named to celebrate the legacy of Sir Ernest MacMillan, who had a landmark career both as a performer and teacher.
Canadian and American musician, conductor, educator, singer, pianist and composer-arranger Dr. Jamie Hillman holds the endowed Elmer Iseler Chair in Conducting at the University of Toronto. He is also Director of Choral Studies and an Associate Professor, leading the master’s and doctoral degree programs in Choral Conducting. Hillman received the Faculty of Music’s Teaching Award in 2024.
He has worked on the faculties of Boston University Metropolitan College/Prison Education Program, Boston University Tanglewood Institute, Kodály Music Institute, Longy School of Music of Bard College, and Toronto Summer Music. He serves as an examiner and adjudicator across North America and internationally. Hillman will make a return to Carnegie Hall in 2025 to conduct.
Dr. Hillman earned an associate diploma (ARCT) from the Royal Conservatory of Music, followed by a Bachelor of Music from Western University, where he was inducted to Western’s Don Wright Faculty of Music’s Alumni Wall of Fame in 2025. Jamie earned a Master of Music at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the Doctor of Musical Arts at Boston University.
University of Toronto Soprano-Alto Chorus
Maria Conkey, conductor
Melanie Yirenkyi, assistant conductor
Conductor, clinician and educator Maria Conkey was born in Newfoundland and Labrador, and has begun her Doctor of Musical Arts (D.M.A.) at the University of Toronto. She is the Artistic Director of the Oakville Choir for Children & Youth and the Outreach Coordinator at St. Michael’s Choir School. She has previously held positions at the Artistic Director of Young Voices Toronto, the Conductor of the award-winning senior choirs at St. Bonaventure’s College (NL), and the Choral Director at the Basilica of St. John the Baptist (NL).
Awards and recognition include the Elmer Iseler National Graduate Fellowship in Choral Conducting (2024-25 recipient), and previously, the Beryl Barnes Memorial Graduate Award and the Andreas Barban Memorial Scholarship. Maria was a nominee for the 2023 Leslie Bell Prize for Choral Conducting.
University of Toronto Tenor-Bass Chorus
Thomas Burton, conductor
Tyrese Walters, assistant conductor
Thomas Burton is a native of Wolfville, Nova Scotia. He is Artistic Director of the Orpheus Choir of Toronto, Conductor of the University of Toronto Tenor-Bass Chorus, and Artistic Director of Durham Region’s RESOUND Choir. Other engagements include co-conductor of the award-winning Halifax based chamber choir, Eastern Horizon. He works as a clinician and educator as well as a guest conductor with choirs across the country.
Thomas is also a choral singer, and has performed with the Toronto Mendelssohn Singers, Voces Boreales, and the Nathaniel Dett Chorale. As a conductor, he has worked with organizations such as The Amadeus Choir of Greater Toronto and the Vancouver Chamber Choir, among others.
Thomas earned a bachelor’s degree in from McGill University in Trombone Performance, followed by a master’s degree in Choral Conducting from the University of Michigan. He is a multi-award winner, including the Ken Fleet Choral Conducting Scholarship and the Sir Ernest MacMillan Memorial Foundation Award, and in 2024, became the very first recipient of the Iwan Edwards Scholarship for Young Conductors, as selected by Jeunesses Musicales.
University of Toronto Chamber Choir
Kathleen Allan, conductor
Yuan (Alba) Chen, assistant conductor
Conductor, composer, and clinician Kathleen Allan has been the Artistic and Executive Director of the Amadeus Choir of Greater Toronto since 2019. She is a member of the music faculty at the University of Toronto, with a busy calendar of engagements as a guest conductor and commissioned composer. Her facility extends to early, contemporary, and symphonic repertoire.
Under her tenure, the Amadeus Choir has commissioned more than a dozen new pieces of music, and supported emerging composers and poets with the formation of the Choral Creation Lab. She is past Artistic Director of Canzona, a Winnipeg-based professional Baroque choir (2016-2023), and frequently guest conducts with organizations such as the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Victoria Symphony, Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra, and Manitoba Chamber Orchestra. In 2016, she was awarded the Sir Ernest MacMillan Prize in Choral Conducting.
As a composer, her work has been commissioned, performed and recorded in North America and Europe, and is published by Boosey and Hawkes, Oxford University Press, and Cypress Choral Music.
Kathleen is also a gifted soprano, and has performed as a soloist with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, National Broadcast Orchestra, and other ensembles in North America and the UK>
Repertoire for UofT Choral Concert
University of Toronto MacMillan Singers
- Canticum Novum, Ivo Antognini
- The Music of Stillness, Elaine Hagenberg
- When a Thought of War Comes, Marie-Claire Saindon
- We Shall Overcome, arr. Shelton Ridge Love
University of Toronto MacMillan Singers and Tenor-Bass Chorus
- Ave Maria, Franz Biebl
University of Toronto Tenor-Bass Chorus
- Ding-a Ding-a Ding, Greg Gilpin
- “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” from Frostiana, Randall Thompson
- What Sweeter Music, Eleanor Daley
- Convidando Esta la Noche, arr. Eugene Rogers
University of Toronto Soprano-Alto Chorus
- Qilak, Andrew Balfour
- This Little Babe, Benjamin Britten
- White Winter Hymnal, Robin Pecknold, arr. Alan Billingsley
- A La Nanita Nana, arr. Victor C. Johnson
- Call of the Angels, Darius Lim
University of Toronto Chamber Choir
- Dona nobis pacem, Ko Matsushita
- Choral Hymns from the Rig-Veda, Op.26 , Gustav Holst
- Hodie Christ Natus Est, Kelly-Marie Murphy
Find out more about the concert on December 1 at Grace Church on-the-Hill [HERE].
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