The Toronto Mendelssohn Choir (TMChoir) has announced the details of its 2025/26 season performance season. With monumental and iconic works, collaborations with artists and organizations, and Canadian talent on the program, it promises to be a memorable one.
TMChoir will be continuing their partnership with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony in programming that emphasizes TMChoir’s large scale presentations, and repertoire that includes Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Whitacre, and more.
The season also features a series of cross-disciplinary partnerships with four contemporary Canadian visual artists whose works will be exhibited alongside the mainstage performances. It underscores TMChoir’s focus on celebrating Canadian creators.
“We believe deeply in the talent that exists right here — in Toronto and in Canada,” says Artistic Director Jean-Sébastien Vallée in a statement. “This season is a celebration of our capacity to create, to collaborate, and to stage some of the most challenging and iconic works in the choral repertoire. Whether through our performances or through these exciting visual art partnerships, we’re showcasing Canadian excellence on every level.”
Soprano Sinéad White was the soloist for the Coventry Carol, performed with TMChoir at the Festival of Carols in 2023:
Mainstage Concerts
Brahms: A German Requiem (November 5 & 7)
Jean-Sébastien Vallée conducts the Choir with soloists Russell Braun, baritone, and Charlotte Siegel, soprano, and the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, in Brahms’ deeply emotional work. The final version of the work in seven movements was written between 1865 and 1868. Brahms’ mother had died in early 1865, and his great friend Robert Schumann had passed away in 1856, and many scholars believe the composer infused the work with his own feelings of loss and grief. It’s also his longest composition. The text is taken from the German Luther Bible, a version of the Bible translated by Martin Luther himself. It’s a work characterized by its grand scale and lush orchestration. The program also includes the world premiere of ECHO by composer-in-residence Stephanie Martin, a piece that also delves into love and loss.
Festival of Carols (December 2 & 3)
The holiday tradition returns with conductor Jean-Sébastien Vallée and organist Jonathan Oldengarm as the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir perform seasonal classics, along with a new commission by Composer-in-Residence Stephanie Martin titled Treasures that was inspired by the poetry of Canadian writer Lucy Maud Montgomery. The concert will be recorded for commercial release in 2026.
Bach: St. Matthew Passion (March 24 & 25)
Bach’s St. Matthew Passion is one of the greatest choral works ever written, with its high drama, transcendent spirituality, and musical complexity. Jean-Sébastien Vallée, conductor and TMChoir perform Bach’s masterwork with soloist Nicholas Nicolaidis as the evangelist, soprano Sherezade Panthaki, mezzo-soprano Allyson McHardy, tenor Isaiah Bell, and baritone Jonathon Adams. A Baroque orchestral ensemble will accompany the monumental work.
The Sacred Veil (April 25)
Jean-Sébastien Vallée conducts TMChoir in this concert collaboration with Metropolitan United Church. Jonathan Oldengarm plays the organ and piano in in a program that centres on Eric Whitacre’s intimate work. The text was written poet Charles Anthony Silvestri, who tells the story of his wife Julie, who died at age 36 of cancer. The Sacred Veil explores love and grief, and the connection between the two emotions. The piece is presented in partnership with Metropolitan United Church as a vigil for Cancer Awareness Month.
TMChoir with the TSO
TMChoir continues its tradition of collaborating with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra for three concert events in 2025/26.
- The choir joins the TSO for Orff’s uber-dramatic Carmina Burana, which opens their season from September 18 to 21;
- They’ll be back, with Jean-Sébastien Vallée conducting both choir and orchestra for Handel’s Messiah in a Toronto tradition, this year from December 16 to 21;
- TMChoir joins the TSO and soloist for Beethoven’s beloved Ninth Symphony to close the TSO season June 11 to 14.
Find more details about the concerts, and season subscriptions, [HERE].
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