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One of my colleagues casually said last week that she must have done at least 200 Messiah<\/em> performances to date.\u00a0 Another calmly nodded and wondered whether he should even attempt to count the number of times that he has belted out the Hallelujah chorus for Christmas, Easter, random choir concerts… the list of events went on for a good half minute.\u00a0 Yes, Toronto, December is just around the corner, and it means Messiah time: cut, uncut, traditional, children\u2019s, a new adaptation \u2014 you can take your pick!\u00a0 We have put together a 2017 Messiah list to lift your holiday spirit:<\/p>\n London Symphonia and London Pro Musica Choir If you are in for an early Messiah, head out to London, Ontario.\u00a0 London Symphonia presents their annual Messiah with soloists Leslie Fagan, Marion Newman, Owen McCausland, Giles Tomkins and special guests London Pro Musica Choir with Kevin Mallon. 29 November at 7:30 pm (First Saint Andrews Church, 222-270-0910 or online<\/span><\/a>)<\/p>\n St. Michael\u2019s Choir School: Messiah Part I<\/strong><\/p>\n The celebrated St. Michael\u2019s Choir School provides daily choral instruction and weekly sung mass at St. Michael\u2019s Cathedral, a proper old world tradition.\u00a0 This year, conductors Vincent Cheng, Maria Conkey, Teri Dunn and Peter Mahon will lead the boys for their 52nd<\/sup> consecutive yearly performance at the Massey Hall.\u00a0 William O\u2019Meara accompanies. At 3 pm (Massey Hall, 416-872-4255 or online<\/span><\/a>)<\/p>\n Pax Christie: Children\u2019s Messiah<\/strong><\/p>\n Pax Christie will don up their Christmas sweaters and channel their inner Reindeer with fuzzy antlers for their little, wiggly audience for an hour-long Messiah for children. David Bowser leads this lovely pay-what-you-can event for the benefit of a local charity supporting children in need.\u00a0 4-5pm (Church of the Redeemer, additional inquiries online<\/span><\/a>)<\/p>\n Stratford Concert Choir: Messiah<\/strong><\/p>\n This 90+ strong community choir brings the Messiah to beautiful Stratford under the direction of Ian Sandler with guests Rachel Huitsing, Anna Tamm Relyea, Stephen Harland and Gary Relyea.\u00a0 This lovely weekend trip concert will be joined by the Stratford Chamber Orchestra. 7:30 pm (St. Joseph\u2019s Catholic Church, 519-273-9292 or online<\/span><\/a>)<\/p>\n Georgetown Choral Society: Messiah<\/strong> Milton Choristers: Messiah<\/strong> Soundstreams: Ear Candy 2017\/18: Electric Messiah 3<\/strong><\/p>\n Returning for the third year, Ashelie Corcoran (Stage Direction) and Adam Scime (Music Director) will lead Soundstream\u2019s immensely popular Electric Messiah<\/em> with Adanya Dunn, Elizabeth Shepard, Jonathan MacArthur and Justin Welsh.\u00a0 The accompanying ensemble of guitar, electronics, electric harpsichord+organ and turntables, will explore selected popular Messiah tunes with fresh sound and context, 4-6 December at 8 pm (The Drake Underground, 416-504-1282 or online<\/span><\/a>)<\/p>\n Kingston Chamber Choir<\/strong><\/p>\n Kingston Chamber Choir is excited to present their Messiah to the community with soloists Bethany H\u00f6rst, Erin Lawson, Christopher Mayell and David Pike.\u00a0 There will be a chamber orchestra with the choir.\u00a0 Gordon Sinclair directs. 10th December at 22:30 pm (Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts, Kingston, 613-533-2424 or online<\/span><\/a>)<\/p>\n Continuing to aspire and engage in Toronto\u2019s Beaches community, Toronto Beach Chorale presents Messiah under the direction of Mervin William Fick, with special guests Virginia Hatfield, Laura McAlpine, Sean Clark and Matthew Cassils. An orchestra of 20 musicians will perform along with the voices. 10th December at 7:30 pm (Kingston Road United Church, 416-698-8338 or online<\/span><\/a>).<\/p>\n Tafelmusik<\/strong><\/p>\n The historically informed annual performance of Messiah returns to Koerner hall under the direction of Ivars Taurins, featuring Tafelmusik Choir and Orchestra.\u00a0 Outstanding soloists for this year include Joanne Lunn, James Laing, Rufus M\u00fcller and Brett Polegato. (Koerner Hall, 416-964-6337 or online<\/a>)<\/p>\n On the 17th, Tafelmusik will relocate to Massey Hall for perhaps the most celebrated Messiah annual tradition in Toronto: Sing-along with \u201cHerr Handel.\u201d\u00a0 All are welcome for this sing-along with the soloists and the Tafelmusik Choir and Orchestra.\u00a0 Seating is assigned by voice parts, and families+friends may sit together in the mixed-voice session.\u00a0 Come on down to sing with Herr Handel<\/em> for this beautiful tradition.\u00a0 (Massey Hall, 416-872-4255 or online<\/a><\/span>)<\/p>\n Mississauga Symphony Orchestra + Mississauga Festival Chamber Choir<\/strong><\/p>\n Mississauga Symphony Orchestra will present Highlights from Messiah<\/em> with soloists Sara Schabas, Beste Kalender, Zachary RIoux and Christopher Dunham, with support from their guest choir, the Mississauga Festival Chamber Choir.\u00a0 16th December at 8 pm (Hammerson Hall, Mississauga Living Arts Centre, 905-306-6000 or online<\/a><\/span>)<\/p>\n Voices: Messiah<\/strong><\/p>\n Following up from last year\u2019s abridged Messiah, Ron Chung directs \u00a0Voices choir in an uncut performance of Messiah:\u00a0 Yes, every tune and every instrumental number will be played, which is quite rare. The choir will be joined by guest soloists Antonina Ermolenko, Monica Zerbe, Michael P. Taylor, Steven Henrikson and boy soprano Kai Huang, and a chamber orchestra.\u00a0 16th December at 7:30 pm (Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, 416-519-0528, online<\/span><\/a> or email<\/span><\/a> for advance tickets)<\/p>\n 18 December:\u00a0 Peterborough Singers<\/strong><\/p>\n Under the direction of Sydney Birell, Peterborough Singers celebrate their 25th<\/sup> anniversary season this year.\u00a0 Well-known in the community for their continual invitation of famous soloists, their roster for the Messiah concert is quite exciting this year: vocalists Suzie Leblanc, Erin Fisher, Colin Ainsworth, and Andrew Tees will be joining the choir, with additional musical accents from Ian Sadler (organ), Paul Otway (trumpet) and Stan Ewing (timpani).\u00a0 18 December at 7:30 pm (Emmanuel United Church East, Peterborough, ON,\u00a0 705-745-1820 or online<\/a><\/span>)<\/p>\n Toronto Symphony Orchestra<\/strong><\/p>\n The annual Toronto Symphony Messiah will be led by Matthew Halls in five performances at the Roy Thomson Hall.\u00a0 Stellar soloists will be featured: Karina Gauvin, Krisztina Szab\u00f3,\u00a0 Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Antoun and\u00a0 Joshua Hopkins, supported by the beloved Toronto Mendelssohn Choir.<\/p>\n (Roy Thomson Hall, all shows start at 8 pm, with exception of 23rd December: 3 pm Start, 416-598-3375 or online<\/span><\/a>)<\/p>\n Cellar Singers You can still catch the melodies of Messiah out in cottage country.\u00a0 Continuing 50 years of commitment to community music experience, Cellar Singers of Orillia, Simcoe County and Muskoka bring Handel to the North, a sing-along Messiah with Mitchell Pady at the podium and Blair Bailey at the piano. Sing-along will be at Bracebridge United Church, 7 pm.\u00a0 Bring your own scores or rent one at the door.\u00a0 Tickets at the door (705-718-4124 or online<\/span><\/a>)<\/p>\n Guelph Chamber Choir: Messiah<\/strong><\/p>\n The Guelph Chamber Choir is presenting two versions of the Messiah:<\/p>\n Much beloved Daniel Taylor, Meredith Hall, Neal Banerjee and Alex Dobson will present a historically inspired performance with Guelph Chamber Singers and the Musica Viva Orchestra on period instruments.\u00a0 23rd December at 7:30 pm (River Run Centre, 519-763-3000 or online<\/span><\/a>).<\/p>\n For a lighter affair, GCC will present their Messiah Sing-Along in benefit of the Family & Children\u2019s Services of Guelph and Wellington County<\/em> by donation, 22nd December at 7:30 pm (St. George\u2019s Anglican Church, Guelph, Ontario).\u00a0| Details<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Want more updates on Toronto-centric classical music news and reviews before anyone else finds out? Follow us on\u00a0<\/i>Facebook<\/i><\/u><\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0<\/i>Twitter<\/i><\/u><\/a>\u00a0for all the latest.<\/i><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Yes, Toronto, December is just around the corner and it means Messiah time: cut, uncut, traditional, children\u2019s, a new adaptation \u2014 you can take your pick!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":49357,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[6439,74,19,4967,5722,36,12991,70],"tags":[5166],"yst_prominent_words":[13931,24391,6605,10136,6744,14115,14114,14116,14092,14101,14089,14094,14087,6615,14093,14099,14090,8503,14100,14091],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2017\/11\/Frideric-Handel.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-cPS","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49344"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49344"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49344\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49362,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49344\/revisions\/49362"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49344"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=49344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}29 November<\/h3>\n
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n2 December<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\nFormed back in 1971, Georgetown Choral Society has close to 100 members in the historic Halton region and Christopher Dawes will direct this stronghold for its winter celebration of Messiah.\u00a0 Guest soloists Kelsey Taylor, Nicole Percifield, Elias Theocharidis and Bradley Christensen will be joining the choir, and the Valen Ensemble Orchestra with Ron Greidanus at the harpsichord will provide their beautiful instrumental playing.\u00a0 7:30 pm (Georgetown Christian Reformed Church, 905-877-7795 or online<\/span><\/a>)<\/p>\n
\nMilton Choristers will present a local, intimate chamber arrangement of the Messiah with soloists Kirsten Pelchat, Cassandra Warner, Paul Williamson and Todd Wieczorek.\u00a0 Rachel Cleland directs, and Susan Edmonds accompanies with guest members of the Milton Philharmonic. 7:30 pm (First Ontario Arts Centre, 905-878-6000 or online<\/span><\/a>)<\/p>\n
\n4\u20136 December<\/strong><\/h3>\n10 December<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\nToronto Beach Chorale<\/strong><\/p>\n13\u201317 December<\/strong><\/h3>\n
16 December<\/h3>\n
18\u201323 December<\/h3>\n
22 December<\/h3>\n
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n22\u201323 December<\/strong><\/h3>\n
#LUDWIGVAN<\/i>
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