December 6 marked the return of a welcome Toronto Christmas tradition: the annual Festival of Carols from the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, including the well-loved carol singalong.
Although the Choir did present a virtual Christmas program in 2020, and last year went with a shortened live or virtual concert which (to meet Covid rules) ended with a "hum-along", it was the full-throttle audience participation in classic Christmas music which so many had missed.
Indeed, the demand for tickets was so great that the Choir added a second performance on December 7 and a webcast of the concert on December 9!
With this event, the Choir launched the Christmas season with the kind of festive energy that, even at Christmas, isn't easily or often found. The Choir's performance in this concert was memorable, exciting, and bursting with joie de vivre.
Under Music Director Jean-Sébastien Vallée, the Choir and the Toronto Mendelssohn Singers performed a kaleidoscopic array of Christmas music, including arrangements of traditional carols and profound music of the Christmas season, representing a time span from the 1600s to the present day and a world view encompassing multiple cultures and regions.
Two of the most beautiful and touching works were premieres, with the composers present: O Nata Lux by Christopher Ducasse and Heartbeat by Shireen Abu-Khader, the latter a TMC commission. Ducasse's music gave more than a nod to the serene polyphony of the European Renaissance, while Abu-Khader's work incorporated Byzantine chant, fusing it with her own distinctive and heartfelt melodic language.
There were many highlights in this diverse anthology of seasonal music. Right at the outset, the Toronto Mendelssohn Singers brought beautiful and coolly serene tone to John Sheppard's motet Verbum Caro Factum Est ("The Word Was Made Flesh"), their voices soaring over the audience from the side gallery of the church.
The dialogue of Gabriel and Mary in Gabriel's Message was given by soloists Jacob Abrahamse and Emily Parker, and both they and the full choir relished the light-hearted dotted rhythms of this traditional English carol in Olivia Sparkhall's arrangement.
Two other bouncy arrangements by Mack Wilberg, Noe! Noe! and Ding! Dong! Merrily on High, were given by the choir with ample energy and the signature precision we've come to expect.
Speaking of energy, organist Isabelle Demers at one point launched an improvisatory interlude with a few high-powered bars of Messiaen, and it's a pity that space couldn't have been made for her to perform the entire number, Dieu parmi nous ("God Among Us") -- that being an obvious choice for the occasion.
Soprano Rebecca McKay brought ethereal tone to her part in Donald Fraser's This Christmastide.
Another delight was Donald Patriquin's arrangement of a lively traditional French noël, Tous les Bourgeois de Chartres.
Among the most heart-touching moments of the entire evening was Paul Mealor's In the Bleak Midwinter, with Dan Bevan-Baker's luminous baritone solo over the quiet choral backdrop a true delight.
Coreen Duffy's setting of Adon Olam, a traditional Jewish hymn of praise to God, created a harmonic atmosphere which was unique in this concert.
Fortunately, the currently-fashionable styles of minimalist repetition of words or syllables (which only muddy the text), and wrong-note modernism in arrangements of traditional carols, were confined to only a couple of numbers.
The entire concert was arranged in six sets, lasting ninety minutes without an intermission. The eagerly-awaited singalongs were placed at the end of sections 2, 5, and 6 with the audience invited to rise and join in singing O Come All Ye Faithful first. Sir David Willcocks' splendid arrangement, a staple of church music since my childhood, brought tears to my eyes. Silent Night concluded the fifth set, and the high energy of Joy to the World brought the entire concert to a rousing conclusion.
Well, almost. Of course there had to be an encore, and of course that encore had to be that other grand old Christmas tradition, Handel's Hallelujah chorus. While the choir and organist tore into Handel's immortal inspiration with their customary flair, there may have been a few extra voices involved. I hope the choir, the conductor, and the audience located near me will forgive me for treating this as another singalong number but I simply couldn't resist -- I haven't had a chance to sing it for nearly a decade! And I don't think I was the only audience member singing along at this point either.
The concert repeats tonight (December 7) at 7:30 pm at Yorkminster Park Baptist Church, and the webcast is available starting on December 9. Tickets for either the live or the webcast version of this splendid concert can be purchased at this link:
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