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Thursday, April 30, 2009 at 12 Noon
Roy Thomson Hall / Toronto
FREE Admission
Call 416-872-4255 for further information
The concert is suitable for ages 6 and up
www.roythomson.com
The Hamilton Children’s Choir and High Park Choirs of
Toronto join forces for a one-hour concert of enchanting
choral music on Thursday, April 30 at 12 Noon as part of
Roy Thomson Hall’s Free Noon Hour Choir & Organ Concerts.
The combined two choirs featuring 80 young choristers, are led
by conductor Zimfira Poloz and accompanied by
organist-pianist Shawn Grenke, who will also perform
several pieces for solo organ. The program will take listeners
on a musical journey to Spain, Denmark, England, Israel,
Czech Republic, USA and Canada with works by Pablo Casals,
Benjamin Britten, Stephen Hatfield, Karl Jenkins, Javier Busto,
Josef Hadar and others.
This popular noontime series, currently enjoying its 12th
season, showcases Canada’s finest choral ensembles
and organists in concert, and spotlights Roy Thomson Hall’s
magnificent Gabriel Kney Pipe Organ. The four-manual,
dual-console organ has 5,207 pipes and 71 stops and is one of
the largest mechanical action instruments in Canada. This
performance marks the fourth and final free noon-hour concert of
the 2008-2009 season.
The Hamilton Children’s Choir, celebrating nearly 35 years
of choral singing, has been invited to participate in the "Let
the Future Sing" 70th Choral Festival in Stockholm,
Sweden in May 2009, an exclusive festival featuring 10 of the
world’s best children’s choirs. And as a result of winning both
the Grand Prize at the CBC Radio National Choral Competition
(April 2008) and the Le Mondial CBC Radio Cantabile Award (May
2008), the choir will compete in the World International Choral
Competition to be held in Laval, Quebec in July 2009. As well,
the choir is a finalist in the prestigious "Let the Peoples
Sing" International Choral Competition and will compete in Oslo,
Norway via satellite in October 2009.
Established 22 years ago, The High Park Choirs of Toronto
has been under the direction of conductor Zimfira Poloz since
2004 and has been the Children’s Choir in Residence for the
University of Toronto’s Faculty of Music since 2005. The choir
has toured Europe, performed throughout Ontario, Quebec and
Newfoundland and can be heard on several Classical Kids
recordings, including the Juno Award-winning A Classical Kids
Christmas. The choir, which includes five divisions of girls
and boys ranging in age from 5 to 20, presents two major annual
concerts, and participates in many community performances and
workshops. In July 2009, the choir tours to Germany and France.
Zimfira Poloz is a highly respected conductor, educator and
adjudicator with an international reputation. She is the
artistic director and conductor of both the Hamilton Children’s
Choir and the High Park Choirs of Toronto. Her many accolades
include the Honoured Representative of Education of the Republic
of Kazakhstan Award, the City of Hamilton's V.I.P. Award, and
the Leslie Bell Prize Award for Choral Conducting from the
Ontario Arts Council. She first established her musical
credentials in her native Kazakhstan, where she founded the
country's first Choir School; and under her direction the
school’s concert choir "Koktem," attained international status
and won top prizes in choral competitions and festivals around
the world.
Shawn Grenke holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Mount
Allison University and a Master of Music degree from the
University of Toronto. He has served as organist and music
director for eight churches in Ontario, New Brunswick and Nova
Scotia, and is presently the Director of Music at All Saints’
Kingsway Anglican Church in Toronto. He is currently the
accompanist for the Amadeus Choir of Toronto and assistant
conductor and accompanist for the Hamilton Children’s Choir.
Roy Thomson Hall’s Choir & Organ Concerts are generously
supported by Edwards Charitable Foundation.
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