Volume 29 Issue 3 | December 2023 & January 2024

SIMON REMARK
Rehearsing Brahms’
Geistliches Lied, Op. 30,
May 13, 2023, St.
Matthew’s Riverdale.
Orchestra L-R: Michelle
Odorico, Valerie Gordon,
violin; Felix Deák, cello;
Shannon Knights, viola
Choir L-R: Matthew
Muggeridge, James
Dyck, countertenor;
Jane Fingler, Louise
Zacharias Friesen,
soprano; Kieran Kane,
Graham Robinson, bass;
Mitchell Pady, Nicholas
Nicolaidis, tenor.
You also seem to have found a way of balancing
vocal and instrumental forces on an
ongoing basis, suited precisely to the needs of
individual programs. You must have a loyal
and flexible core to work from.
We work with a pool of around 16 premier
singers to build a choir of eight to twelve for
each program and performance. Within that
pool a consistent core has been present from
the very start, but top-level singers in the GTA
are busy with many commitments, so we’ve
developed what you might call an “openconcept”
ensemble.
On the orchestral side, we have a handful of
excellent organists to choose from program by
program, and our orchestral director, violinist
Michelle Odorico, does an amazing job of
gathering the instrumentalists each cantata
requires. A number of these players have
become regulars through the 17 concerts TBP has presented since last
October. Cellist Felix Deák, for example, has played in all but one! We’re
featuring Felix performing movements of Bach’s unaccompanied cello
suites throughout our ongoing program series called “Bach and Schütz”
(Nov 23, Jan 9, Jan 27, and Apr 20 in various locations).
So, how does all this work in terms of things like regular rehearsal
days – pretty tough to arrange I imagine, when so many musicians go
gig to gig?
In the 2023/24 season, TBP’s second, we’re continuing last season’s
strategy of polling the choir to arrange an intensive burst of rehearsals
before each new program. A set weekly rehearsal day will definitely
be an option for 2024/25, but as a new initiative in the region
we’ve relied on project-based
rehearsing to be able to access
the singers we need. Rather
than forcing them to choose
between TBP and other ensembles,
we’ve built our schedule to
avoid conflicts with Tafelmusik,
Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, the
Elora Singers, and so on.
Tell me about your project
name; the “Trinity” for
your Dec 8 and 9 Bach and
Christmas is Little Trinity
Anglican Church on King St E.,
so I assumed that Little Trinity is
Nicholas Nicolaidis
home base for the project?
No, although a number of us do have connections to that congregation.
“Home base” is Trinity College Chapel at the U of T, not Little
Trinity Anglican. For the record, though, the name of our ensemble,
“Trinity Bach Project,” is not formally linked with either of these institutions
– more of a happy coincidence you could say.
And then, of course, there’s “big Trinity” I suppose you could call
it – Trinity-St. Paul’s on Bloor St. W. with its decades of connection to
early music. I noticed you are taking Heart, Mouth, Deed, Life there
on January 20 and 21, with Elisa Citterio as guest artist in Bach’s A
Minor violin concerto. It’s TBP’s first performance there, right?
Yes, it will be our first set of performances there, and also Elisa’s
first return to Trinity-St. Paul’s since moving on from Tafel.
For details, see our listings or visit trinitybachproject.org:
David Perlman can be reached at publisher@thewholenote.com.
SIMON REMARK
A New Beginning
2023–2024 Season
Medieval Christmas
Dec. 8 & 9 at 8 pm | Dec. 9 at 2 pm
Artistic Direction by the Artistic Associates
A Yuletide feast for the eyes and ears!
Songs of the Palace
February 9 & 10 at 8 pm
Artistic Direction by Esteban La Rotta
The profound impact of European Exploration.
Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre, 427 Bloor St. W. | Tickets: 416-964-6337 or TorontoConsort.org
thewholenote.com December 2023 & January 2024 | 21