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At Sacred Music for a Sacred Space, the
Toronto Mendelssohn Choir's grand symphonic sound will envelop
body and soul in the rich acoustics of St. Paul's Basilica. For
the first time ever, the TMC is combining its Good Friday
concert tradition with the annual Sacred Music for a Sacred
Space performance. Noel Edison will conduct the Mendelssohn
Singers, Toronto Mendelssohn Choir and Festival Winds & Brass in
a stirring concert of Anton Bruckner's Motets and
Mass No. 2 in E minor.
Voices float from above as the Mendelssohn Singers perform
motets a capella from the Basilica's balcony. Bruckner's
succinct motets reflect his strong personal faith and the
harmonic sensibilities of romantic choral music. The Mendelssohn
signers will perform Vexilla regis predeunt, Ave Maria,
Locus iste, Os justi, Christus factus est, and Virga
Jesse in the first half of the program.
Bruckner's Mass in E minor, performed by the full
Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, features the dramatic and intensity
of a full-scale choral masterpiece. Hearing it performed live in
St. Paul's Basilica is sure to be an intensely moving experience
befitting Easter weekend.
According to Viennese critic Graf, Bruckner "pondered over
chords and chord associations as a medieval architect
contemplated the original forms of a Gothic cathedral."
Established in 1822, St. Paul's is the mother church of the
Archdiocese of Toronto. The first St. Paul's was completed in
1824 on the same site as today's Basilica. In 1889, the need for
the expanding congregation prompted the expansion into the
present Italian Renaissance-Style church. It was designed by
architect Joseph Connelly, under the inspiration of Pastor
Bishop Timothy O'Mahony. Its plan is patterned on that of the
Major Basilica in Rome, St. Paul's Outside the Walls. In 1998,
Fr. Tom Day began the process of restoring the church and
Monsignor Brad Massman, the current pastor, oversaw the process
through to the 2006 completion of the interior and exterior
restoration of the building to its original splendor.
Sacred Music for a Sacred Space will take place at St. Paul's
Basilica on Good Friday, April 10, 2009. A Pre-Concert Chat is
at 6:45 p.m. and the concert is at 7:30 p.m.
Sacred Music for a Sacred Space has sold out every year! Tickets
are $45, with special prices of $40 for seniors and the VoxTix
price of $15 for young adults 15-25 years old. Tickets are
available by telephone at 416-598-0422 or online at
www.tmchoir.org.
The Toronto Mendelssohn Choir is generously supported by the
Canada Council for the Arts, The Ontario Arts Council, the
Toronto Arts Council, and the Ontario Trillium Foundation.
Toronto Mendelssohn Choir
Sacred Music for a Sacred Space
Good Friday, April 10, 2009 7:30 p.m.
Pre-Concert Chat at 6:45p.m.
St. Paul's Basilica,
83 Power Street
Tickets: $40/$45 (general admission)
416-598-0422 or
www.tmchoir.org
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