{"id":71217,"date":"2021-05-31T22:04:16","date_gmt":"2021-06-01T02:04:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=71217"},"modified":"2021-06-01T10:24:00","modified_gmt":"2021-06-01T14:24:00","slug":"the-scoop-toronto-mendelssohn-choir-finds-its-new-artistic-director-finally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2021\/05\/31\/the-scoop-toronto-mendelssohn-choir-finds-its-new-artistic-director-finally\/","title":{"rendered":"THE SCOOP | Toronto Mendelssohn Choir Finds Its New Artistic Director, Finally"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_71218\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-71218\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-71218\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/05\/Photo-of-Jean-Se\u0301bastien-Valle\u0301e-by-Tam-Lan-Truong-Photography.jpeg\" alt=\"Jean-Se\u0301bastien Valle\u0301e, Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, Artistic Director\" width=\"1200\" height=\"628\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-71218\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jean-Se\u0301bastien Valle\u0301e (Photo: Tam Lan Truong)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>The Toronto Mendelssohn Choir<\/strong> (TMC) has named <strong>Jean-S\u00e9bastien Vall\u00e9e<\/strong> as its new conductor. The announcement, made Monday night, ends TMC&#8217;s three-year search for an artistic director.<\/p>\n<p>Based in Montreal, Vall\u00e9e will join <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2020\/07\/21\/scoop-toronto-mendelssohn-choir-names-new-associate-baton\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">TMC Associate Conductor Simon Rivard<\/a> starting June 1, 2021.<\/p>\n<p>Plans for the 2021-22 season are also underway, with hints if Brahms&#8217;\u00a0<em>Requiem<\/em>, Festival of Carols with the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra (TSYO), Sacred Music for a Sacred Space concert with the Nathaniel Dett Chorale, and a new commission by Odawa First Nation composer Barbara Croall.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It is a great privilege to follow in the footsteps of Sir Ernest MacMillan, Elmer Iseler and all the esteemed Canadian musicians who led TMC over the past two centuries,&#8221; writes Vall\u00e9e in a press release statement. &#8220;Further, I look forward to working with the TMC&#8217;s choral artists to write a new chapter in the choir&#8217;s history \u2013 a chapter where musical excellence is rooted in accessible, inclusive and diverse artistic initiatives.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>As the house-choir for the Toronto Symphony, the TSO&#8217;s Gustavo Gimeno wished him well. &#8220;I am pleased to offer a heartfelt welcome to Jean-S\u00e9bastien Vall\u00e9e, who I know will continue to evolve the choral art form, enrich the TSO audience experience and serve Toronto music lovers.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Who is Jean-S\u00e9bastien Vall\u00e9e?<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Director of Choral Studies at the Schulich School of Music, McGill University<\/li>\n<li>Conductor of the acclaimed Choir of the Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul in Montreal<\/li>\n<li>Music Director of the Ottawa Choral Society (concluding with the 2021\/22 season)<\/li>\n<li>Former Director of Choral Studies at California State University in Los Angeles and was on the choral faculty of the University of Redland<\/li>\n<li>Advocate for contemporary music<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Why this matters<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The naming of Vall\u00e9e marks the end of a particularly turbulent period for the choir. \u00a0In 2018, TMC&#8217;s Noel Edison resigned in disgrace after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2018\/02\/28\/the-scoop-mendelssohn-choir-conductor-noel-edison-accused-of-multiple-accounts-of-sexual-misconduct\/\">Ludwig Van went public<\/a> with sexual misconduct allegations against Edison. He was also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2018\/04\/20\/the-scoop-elora-singers-fire-noel-edison-over-sexual-misconduct-allegations\/\">dismissed<\/a> from his role at The Elora Festival Singers. \u00a0The TMC was quick to act, pressing forward with the help of well-known early music scholar and conductor David Fallis who graciously step in to cover for the abrupt departure. Edison has since started his own choir, called <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2019\/03\/16\/the-scoop-conductor-noel-edison-is-launching-a-comeback-choir-and-looking-for-singers\/\">the Edison Singers<\/a>. The chamber choir has been active online since 2020, but judging from the view counts on their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCxaD82L9lkv7zbx44AVszDQ\/videos\">YouTube<\/a> channel, they have yet to make an impact.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, the TMC&#8217;s was hard at work on an extensive international search for a new Artistic Director. The search was originally planned to last two years but was delayed by the pandemic. Board Chair Denny Young stated, <em>&#8220;<\/em>we were fiercely determined that TMC would emerge from the pandemic with a renewed energy and passion for choral music, and we knew that to achieve that goal we had to conclude the appointment without further delay.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The TMC will release complete details for the 2021-22 season, including the date for Vall\u00e9e&#8217;s conducting debut as Artistic Director, this summer.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"western\"><em><b>#LUDWIGVAN<\/b><\/em><\/h3>\n<p class=\"western\"><em>Get the daily arts news straight to your inbox.<\/em><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"western\"><em>Sign up for the Ludwig van Daily \u2014 classical music and opera in five minutes or less\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/ludwig-van.us9.list-manage.com\/subscribe?u=4f785cb3f9058f2393ccad035&amp;id=57cdb68eac\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>HERE<\/em><\/a>.<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Toronto Mendelssohn Choir (TMC) has named Jean-S\u00e9bastien Vall\u00e9e as its new conductor, ending its three-year search for an artistic director.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":71218,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[38476,39,17333,63],"tags":[30643,3349],"yst_prominent_words":[9008,11623,10136,6731,6807,6985,17318,17315,10135,30639,9875,6616,17178,18826,6741,6827,30641],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/05\/Photo-of-Jean-Se\u0301bastien-Valle\u0301e-by-Tam-Lan-Truong-Photography.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-iwF","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71217"}],"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=71217"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71217\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71233,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71217\/revisions\/71233"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71217"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=71217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}