UPCOMING EVENTS
COMFORT & JOY, Sat., Dec. 7, 2019
Mark your calendars for 7:30 pm on Saturday, December 7, 2019 at Eastminster United Church (310 Danforth Ave. at Jackman/Chester Station) for VOCA’s eclectic and engaging choral celebration of the season, “COMFORT & JOY”.
We will present Antonio Vivaldi’s magnificent “Gloria”, with soloists Dallas Chorley, soprano and Lindsay Connolly, mezzo soprano, as well as Ralph Vaughan Williams‘ lush setting of folk carols, “Fantasia on Christmas Carols”, featuring baritone Parker Clements, accompanied by guest artists, the VOCA Chamber Orchestra.
A wide variety of seasonal selections in our 2nd half will include works by Ola Gjeilo (“The Rose“), Elise Letourneau (“Ave Maria for Mary Tevlin“), Mark Sirett (“Christmas in Carrick“), Pentatonix (“Carol of the Bells“), Karen Rymal (“Maoz Tzur”), a quirky version of “Jingle Bells”, and our finale by Karl Jenkins (“In Dulci Jubilo”), which will feature all of our performers.
Our annual carol sing, fabulous raffle and our ever-popular bake sale will round out this evening of music… a perfect way to welcome the holiday season!
Hope to see you there!
___________________________________________________________________________________________
RECENT EVENTS
POPCORN & PLAYBILLS, Fri., Oct. 11, 2019
On Friday, October 11, 7:30 pm, VOCA Chorus of Toronto soprano Emily Vick Agnew & artistic director Jenny Crober and several guest artists presented a fabulous tribute to movie musicals at the “POPCORN & PLAYBILLS” Cabaret/VOCA fundraiser.
We were very grateful to our special guests, who added so much to the evening: three of VOCA’s wonderful professional leads, Lindsay Connolly (mezzo), Parker Clements (baritone) & Kevin Mulligan (tenor), along with several multi-talented grads of Sheridan’s renowned Bachelor of Music Theatre Performance program, Liam Crober-Best (tenor), Tevra Plamondon (soprano), Aidan Burke (baritone) & Gunho Kwak (baritone).
Our sold-out fundraiser featured a wide variety of solos, duets & larger ensembles, complete with vintage costumes, video projections (& FREE POPCORN!) in an intimate setting at The Social Capital, 154 Danforth Avenue near Broadview Ave., in Riverdale.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
EARTH, SEA & SKY II, Sat., Apr. 27, 2019
On Sat., April 27, 2019, 7:30 pm at our EARTH, SEA & SKY II concert at Eastminster United, the VOCA Chorus of Toronto presented a spirited choral celebration of Earth Week. Our featured work, jazz musician Paul Winter‘s remarkable – and more timely than ever – tribute to the Earth, the “Missa Gaia / Earth Mass”, combined divergent musical styles and instrumentation with haunting recordings of a lone tundra wolf, singing Humpback whales and harp seal calls.
We also performed Cree composer Andrew Balfour‘s riveting “Ambe”, a wide range of inspiring selections by contemporary Canadian composers Paul Halley, Sarah Quartel and Matthew Emery, and compelling works by Ola Gjeilo and others.
Some of Canada’s most outstanding jazz and classical musicians joined us as our guest artists: Alana Bridgewater, vocalist, Colleen Allen, sax, Shawn Grenke, organ, Roberto Occhipinti, bass, Mark Kelso, drums & percussion and Juan Carlos Medrano, percussion.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
VOCA 9th ANNUAL CABARET, Sat., Mar. 2, 2019
Our 9th Annual VOCA CABARET / SILENT AUCTION on Saturday, March 2, 2019 at the Estonian House, 958 Broadview Ave. featured several of our multi-talented choristers (including some of our professional leads) as soloists, in duos and in larger ensembles, performing an eclectic array of serious (and silly) musical theatre, jazz, classical, folk and other selections.
Our ever popular Silent Auction was highlighted at this fully licensed event, VOCA’s major annual fundraiser.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
WINTERSONGS, Sat., Dec. 8, 2018
The VOCA Chorus of Toronto presented “WINTERSONGS” at 7:30 pm on Saturday, December 8, 2018.
VOCA performed an engaging and eclectic array of seasonal songs, featuring Celtic and other choral and instrumental selections, with music by Sarah Quartel (“A Winter Day”), Ēriks Ešenvalds (“Only In Sleep”), Mark Sirett (“Taladh Chriosda”), Matthew Emery (“Still Colors {Velvet Shoes}”), La Bolduc (“Voilà le père Noël”), David Mooney (“Wexford Carol”) and others.
We were joined by our guest instrumentalists in the premiere of Jenny Crober’s choral arrangement of the traditional Newfoundland carol, “Come And I will Sing You”.
Our special guests were Sybil Shanahan (cello), and Celtic multi-instrumentalists Saskia Tomkins (violin, nyckelharpa, Celtic harp) and Steáfán Hannigan (Irish flute, bodhrán, Uilleann pipes).
Our annual carol sing, along with our fabulous raffle and holiday bake sale rounded out this evening of music … a perfect way to welcome the holiday season!
Photo, Design Work: Jenny Crober, with Naomi Shewchuk
_________________________________________________________________________________________
IT’S A GRAND NIGHT FOR SINGING, Sat., Oct. 6, 2018
On Saturday, October 6, 7:30 pm at the Social Capital Theatre, 154 Danforth Ave., VOCA Chorus of Toronto soprano Emily Vick Agnew and artistic director Jenny Crober (at the piano) performed “It’s a Grand Night For Singing!”, a tribute to the brilliant team of Rodgers & Hammerstein. Our show, a fundraiser for VOCA, included 3 of our talented leads as guests: Sonya Harper Nyby, Janaka Welihinda and Nicholas Borg.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
DREAMSONGS, Sat., May 5, 2018
On Saturday, May 5, 7:30 pm, at our “DREAMSONGS” concert, the VOCA Chorus of Toronto was thrilled to present the Canadian Premiere of DREAMWEAVER by the world-renowned composer, Ola Gjeilo, featuring our accompanist Elizabeth Acker, with soprano soloist Ellen McAteer and the VOCA Chamber Strings Orchestra.
Dreamweaver is a lush and evocative setting of a Norwegian medieval poem, ‘Draumkvedet’, an epic text with an expressive English adaptation by poet and composer Charles Anthony Silvestri.
Also featured that evening was a Toronto (and possibly Canadian) premiere of Ola Gjeilo’s SATB setting of his stunning Song Of The Universal, scored for choir, string orchestra and piano, with an exquisite text by Walt Whitman.
Other works included Mr. Gjeilo’s gorgeous The Lake Isle, for steel-string guitar, piano and string quartet, with text by William Butler Yeats; The Lake Isle of Innisfree, Toronto composer Eleanor Daley’s sublime setting of the same text; Gordon Lightfoot’s classic, Pussywillows, Cat-tails, beautifully arranged by another Toronto composer, Bonnie Penfound; Ottawa’s Laura Hawley’s joyful, jazz-inspired setting of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 43 (All Days Are Nights); Kingston composer Mark Sirett’s exquisite Carrickfergus.
We were joined by several superb guest artists: Ellen McAteer, soprano; Jason Fowler, guitar; Jeremy Potts & Jennifer Burford, violin; Alex McLeod, viola; Mary-Katherine Finch, cello; and the VOCA Chamber Strings orchestra.