{"id":61895,"date":"2019-08-15T16:19:38","date_gmt":"2019-08-15T20:19:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=61895"},"modified":"2019-08-15T20:14:55","modified_gmt":"2019-08-16T00:14:55","slug":"the-scoop-toronto-mendelssohn-choir-narrows-down-search-for-a-new-artistic-director","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2019\/08\/15\/the-scoop-toronto-mendelssohn-choir-narrows-down-search-for-a-new-artistic-director\/","title":{"rendered":"THE SCOOP | Toronto Mendelssohn Choir Narrows Down The Search For A New Artistic Director"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Toronto
After a just over a year of searching for a post-Noel Edison era Artistic Director, the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir has narrowed down the pool of 60 applicants to three: John Trotter, Gregory Batsleer, and Jean-S\u00e9bastien Vall\u00e9e.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Since the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir <\/strong>(TMC) appointed<\/a> David Fallis<\/strong>\u00a0as Interim Conductor and Artistic Advisor this past June, the 120-member professional choir has undergone an extensive international search for a permanent conductor to take the helm.<\/p>\n

David Fallis was hired in the fall of 2018 to replace Noel Edison<\/strong>, who resigned<\/a> after a series of sexual harassment allegations surfaced involving choir members. Fallis’ appointment continues through 2020, giving the TMC two years runway to find a suitable replacement.<\/p>\n

In a letter by TMC Executive Director Cynthia Hawkins<\/strong>\u00a0sent to choir members on Monday, she announced conductors\u00a0John Trotter<\/strong>, Gregory Batsleer<\/strong>, and Jean-S\u00e9bastien Vall\u00e9e<\/strong> as\u00a0finalists.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou will be interested to know that the TMC\u2019s artistic director search committee reviewed applications or expressions of interest from 35 conductors and researched 25 others who had been recommended to us,” Hawkins wrote.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Of the total pool of 60, 17 (28%) were Canadians, and 12 (20%) were women. Thirteen conductors went through the interview process.\u201d<\/p>\n

The TMC will spend the 2019\/20 season working with the three candidates to determine the best fit to move the choir forward beyond their current 125th anniversary year.<\/p>\n

John Trotter<\/h3>\n

A Canadian, John Trotter is a diverse conductor with experience in choral\/orchestral masterworks, jazz, new music, and film scoring. He is currently serving as Artistic Director Designate of Chicago a cappella and Associate Professor at the Wheaton College Conservatory of Music. Trotter is scheduled to conduct the TMC\u2019s free concert, \u201cRomantics and New Romantics\u201d on February 22, 2020.<\/p>\n

Gregory Batsleer<\/h3>\n

Hailing from Manchester, England, Gregory Batsleer is Chorus Director of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra,\u00a0 Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and Director of the Huddersfield Choral Society. Batsleer first performed with the TMC in a joint concert with Huddersfield Choral Society in June 2017. Audiences can see him lead the choir in \u201cSacred Music for a Sacred Space\u201d on April 8 & 10, 2020.<\/p>\n

Jean-S\u00e9bastien Vall\u00e9e<\/h3>\n

Jean-S\u00e9bastien Vall\u00e9e is Associate Professor of Music, Director of Choral Studies, and Coordinator of the Ensembles & Conducting Area at the Schulich School of Music of McGill University in Montr\u00e9al. Beyond his duties at McGill, he also serves as Director of the Choir of the Church of St. Andrew & St. Paul in Montreal and Musical Director of the Ottawa Choral Society. Vall\u00e9e is a specialist in Renaissance French music, the oratorical works of Michael Tippett, and conducting pedagogy. Vall\u00e9e will conduct the TMC in a program titled \u201cGreat Poets in Music\u201d on May 30, 2020.<\/p>\n

The TMC season begins October 20, with a Gala performance at Koerner Hall. The concert features works by Andrew Balfour, Igor Stravinsky, and Gabriel Faur\u00e9 performed alongside the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Full details can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

LUDWIG VAN TORONTO<\/i>
\n<\/b><\/h3>\n

Want more updates on classical music and opera news and reviews? Follow us on\u00a0<\/i>Facebook<\/span>,<\/i><\/a>\u00a0Instagram<\/a><\/span>\u00a0or\u00a0<\/i>Twitter<\/i><\/a><\/span>\u00a0for all the latest.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After a year of searching for a post-Noel Edison era Artistic Director, the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir has narrowed down the pool of applicants to three hopefuls.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":61901,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[25164,11,39,63],"tags":[30646,966,30644,30643,30645,2418,30642],"yst_prominent_words":[11623,30655,30652,14440,6985,30638,30651,30649,30636,30639,30637,30653,30650,6929,30647,6930,6914,30657,30654,30648],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/08\/TMC-artistic-director-short-list-2019.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-g6j","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61895"}],"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\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61895"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61895\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61915,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61895\/revisions\/61915"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61895"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=61895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}