Anna Lapwood, British superstar organist and choir director, will be bringing The Chapel Choir of Pembroke College, Cambridge, to Toronto and other Canadian cities on tour. The tour will begin in Montréal (July 21 to 24), then hit Québec City (July 25), Ottawa (July 26 and 27), Kingston (July 29 and 30), and finish up in Toronto (August 1 to 3).
The choir will be performing concerts, with Lapwood directing, and also singing during services at many of the churches during the tour.
Anna Lapwood
Anna Lapwood MBE is an organist, conductor and popular broadcaster on the BBC. She has been Director of Music at Pembroke College, Cambridge for a decade. She is also the Organist of the Royal Albert Hall and is Artist in Association with the BBC Singers.
Anna’s formal music education began with studies in piano, violin, viola and composition at the Junior Royal Academy of Music. She can play a total of 15 instruments, and was the principal harpist for the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and the Junior Academy Symphony Orchestra.
On her appointment, she became the youngest person ever to hold the title of Music Director at Pembroke College. Among other initiatives, she founded the Pembroke College Girls’ Choir for girls from local schools aged 11 to 18 in 2018, and that choir performs weekly during the school year.
As a recitalist, Anna has performed at the Royal Albert Hall, the Royal Festival Hall and St Thomas Church in New York, among other prominent venues, and at cathedrals across Europe. She played with UK DJ and producer Bonobo before a crowd of 5,000 in 2022.
Anna was the associate artist at Royal Albert Hall, and was named the Hall’s inaugural official organist in 2025. Since her appointment there, she has leveraged a popular social media presence into a forum for popularizing and educating modern audiences about the ancient instrument.
Her recent album Firedove has been climbing up the global classical music charts.
The Chapel Choir of Pembroke College
The members of the Chapel Choir of Pembroke College come from a variety of disciplines, brought together in their love of choral music. The Choir is known for its high standard of performance, and a wide ranging repertoire that includes both traditional sacred music and contemporary classical as well as arrangements of pop music.
They’ve toured worldwide throughout the UK, Europe, the United States, Thailand, Zambia and beyond.
They have recorded and released music on the Signum Records label, and recorded at Abbey Road studio with Grammy-award winning composer Christopher Tin and singer-songwriter Tom Chaplin.
After a decade leading the choir, it will be the last tour for Lapwood, who made what she calls a “really difficult decision” to give up the position in order to focus on organ performance.
They perform together on her current album, Firedove.
At the close of her tenure as Director of Music at Pembroke College, Cambridge, she’ll lead the choir in an all-night BBC Prom at London’s Royal Albert Hall later in August 2025.
The Program
The concert program for the tour is varied, and includes:
- All things are quite silent, Kerry Andrew;
- Arise, Shine Anna Lapwood;
- My heart, O God Lucy Walker;
- Seek Him that Maketh the Seven Stars, Jonathan Dove;
- Grandmother Moon, Eleanor Daley;
- Sleep, Eric Whitacre;
- Come to Me, Ivo Antognini;
- Vigilate, William Byrd;
- Everyone Sang, David Bednall;
- Leonardo Dreams of his Flying Machine, Eric Whitacre;
- Make You Feel My Love, Bob Dylan/arr. Lapwood.
Along with the Choir and Lapwood, organ scholars Molly Hord and Sophia Membery will be playing the organ accompaniment.
The Tour Dates
Some of the concerts call for pay-what-you-can admission, with suggested donations from $20 to $40. With the tour just announced, some of the locations don’t have online listings for the events; check with the locations to be sure. Note also that the concerts are paid events; of course the services are not.
Montréal
- July 21: Christ Church Cathedral, 7 p.m.
- July 22: Chapelle Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours, 7 p.m.
- July 23: Basilique Notre-Dame de Montréal, 3 p.m.
- July 24: St. Andrew & St. Paul, 12:15 p.m.
Québec City (July 25)
- July 25: Basilique to Notre-Dame de Québec, noon (service)
Ottawa (July 26 and 27)
- July 26: St. Barnabas, 7:30 p.m.
- July 27: St. Barnabas, 7:15 p.m. (Evensong)
Kingston (July 29 and 30)
- July 29: St. George’s Cathedral, 7 p.m. (Evensong)
- July 30: St. George’s Cathedral, 7:30 p.m. (Concert)
Toronto (August 1 to 3)
- New: Ticket link for Toronto [HERE]
- August 1: St. Mary Magdalene, 7:30 p.m.
- August 2: Holy Family Church, 7:30 p.m.
- August 3: St. Mary Magdalene, 10:30 a.m. (service)
Are you looking to promote an event? Have a news tip? Need to know the best events happening this weekend? Send us a note.
#LUDWIGVAN
Get the daily arts news straight to your inbox.
Sign up for the Ludwig Van Toronto e-Blast! — local classical music and opera news straight to your inbox HERE.
- PREVIEW | Sinfonia Toronto Baroque & Beyond Celebrates the Season With Guest Artists The Ezra Duo - December 4, 2025
- INTERVIEW | Director Peter Phillips Talks About The Tallis Scholars And Their Toronto Concert - December 4, 2025
- PREVIEW | The Royal Conservatory Of Music Launches Orchestrated With Cory Wong - December 3, 2025
