Elmer Iseler Singers

Elmer Iseler Singers. Professional mixed chamber choir founded in 1979 by Elmer Iseler. The choir of 20 to 25 voices gave its debut performance 13 Mar 1979 at St James' Cathedral, Toronto. It formed the professional core of the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir (until 1997), and performed under the direction of Iseler until his death in 1998. Subsequently, Lydia Adams (b 1953), who was the choir's accompanist from 1981, was appointed music director.

The Elmer Iseler Singers began touring in Canada in 1980 and made their US debut tour in 1981, returning in 1983 to perform at the Library of Congress. They have performed an average of 100 engagements a year, many of them broadcast on CBC radio.

The Elmer Iseler Singers, the Vancouver Chamber Choir and the Tudor Singers of Montreal presented their first combined performance at Roy Thomson Hall in 1983, and at the 1985 TriBach Festival in Edmonton these three groups and Pro Coro Canada participated in a performance of Bach's St. Matthew Passion conducted by Iseler.

In 1984 a cultural exchange was arranged between the Netherlands Chamber Choir and the Elmer Iseler Singers involving combined and individual concerts at the 1984 Toronto International Festival and a two-week joint tour of nine Dutch cities in January 1985. The two choirs recorded Serenade in Harmony in Toronto. The Elmer Iseler Singers collaborated also with the Canadian Brass in 1990 on the recording The Christmas Album, and the choir made its Carnegie Hall debut that year as the quintet's special guest.

The choir was awarded the Canadian Music Council's Grand prix du disque in 1984 for Serenade in Harmony; in 1989 for Welcome Yule; and (with the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir) in 1988 for Laudate Dominum. The Elmer Iseler Singers have provided music for various television and film productions including the CBC's special tribute to Healey Willan (1980), and the 1985 Norman Jewison film Agnes of God.

In 1987 the choir gave concerts and seminars at the First World Symposium for Choral Music in Vienna. It received ovations for its performances and overflow audiences for its workshops, which concentrated on contemporary and Canadian works including pieces by Leonard Enns, Sid Robinovitch, R. Murray Schafer, and Claude Vivier. Iseler, long a champion of contemporary music, through his programming helped Canadian choral works to enter the repertoire of many choirs in and outside Canada. The choir's repertoire covers several centuries of choral music, but it has particularly encouraged contemporary composition by commissioning or premiering such choral works as Robert Aitken's Monodie (1984), John Beckwith's Three Motets on Swan's 'China' (1981), Mating Time (1982), Earlier Voices: a Choral Miscellany from 19th Century New Brunswick (1984), and Irish Melodies (1986), Tomas Dusatko's O Sancta Simplicitas (1982), Srul Irving Glick's Sing unto the Lord a New Song (1987), Raymond Luedeke's Four Songs, The Dream, and Old Song (1990), Jean Piché's Songs of Late Summer (1986), André Prévost's Ahimsâ (1984), and John Reeves' Salvator Mundi (1983) and Threnody to the People of Poland (1984). The Elmer Iseler Singers also participated in the premiere of István Anhalt's opera Winthrop in 1986.

Reviewer Robert Markow attested to the choir's 'clarity of line, textual expression, rhythmic accuracy, balance, and a deeply felt sense of musicianship' (High Fidelity, vol 33, Apr 1983). The singers are frequently asked to give workshops at choral festivals and to hold singing and conducting seminars. The Elmer Iseler Singers have performed at the Mainly Mozart Festival, the Guelph Spring Festival, Music at Sharon, the Algoma Fall Festival, the Festival of the Sound, Expo 86 in Vancouver, and at the arts festivals associated with the Olympics in Calgary and in Seoul, South Korea. Since 1991, the choir has offered a concert series in Toronto. They were artists-in-residence at University of Toronto 1994-5; and, since 1997, have been that university's choir-in-residence. They were presented with the Lieutenant-Governor's Award for the Arts in 1997, and were chosen to appear at the 1999 installation of Governor General Adrienne Clarkson. In 2001 they hosted the annual conference of Chorus America. They have undertaken many tours in Canada and the USA, including (with the Amadeus Ensemble) a major Canadian tour for the Mozart bicentenary, 1991-92. In January 2000 the choir undertook a ten-day tour of western Canada, where they performed world premieres of works by István Anhalt and Harry Somers, and gave CBC radio broadcasts.

Author Barbara Norman, Betty Nygaard King

Discography

(Iseler conductor)

Bartók Three Village Scenes. Canadian Chamber Ens, Armenian conductor. 1981. CBC SM-5014

Celebration: The Lutheran Year, The Mystery of the Incarnation in the Music of Victoria. Rain narrator. 1983. CBC SM-5025C

The Christmas Album. Canadian Brass. (1990). Philips 426-8354-2 (CD)

Freedman Pastorale. L. Cherney horn. 1982. Centrediscs CMC-0983

Glick Northern Sketches. Kuerti piano, Kaplan violin, Bogyo violoncello. (1989). 4-ACM 34 (CD)

Handel The Electronic Messiah. 'Synthescope' Digital Synthesizer Ens. 1982. MMG D-MMG-113

'Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring' and Other Great Bach Choruses. Wright organ, Mainly Mozart O. 1984. CBC SM-5042C/('Sheep May Safely Graze') CBC BHSCD-300 (CD)

Musical Toronto: A Concert Party. Landry soprano, Dubois tenor, Lohnes bar, Campbell clarinet, L. Cherney oboe, instr ensemble, Beckwith conductor. 1984. Marquis MAR-104

Music At Sharon. Instr ensemble, Beckwith conductor. 1981. RCI 554/Mel SMLP 4041/(Three Motet's on Swan's 'China'') 5-ACM 26

Première: Prévost Ahimsâ (Graham mezzo, Aitken fl, Orford Str Quar) - Schafer Sun. 1984. 2-Centrediscs CMC-14-1584/RCI 585/(Prévost) 6-ACM 28

Serenade in Harmony: Zbinden - Willan - Brahms - Strauss. Netherlands Chamber Choir. (1984). 2-Wat WR-8028-29

Somers Sacred and Profane Somers. Roslak soprano, Kern mezzo, Cooper alto, Missen tenor, Lohnes bass, Cadan bass, Chamber O. 1985. Centrediscs CMC-2385

Spectra: Ford - Morawetz - Somers. 1981. Centrediscs CMC-0281/RCI 564/(Morawetz) 6-ACM 16

Spirituals. Loree soprano, Missen tenor, Lohnes bass, Adams piano. 1985. Marquis ERA-115

Welcome Yule!: Holman - Whitehead - Davies - Clarke - Beckwith - Bellefeuille - Willan - Watson - Anderson - Cable - Robertson - Applebaum - Washburn - Carrière - Iseler - Somers. Toronto Brass Society. 1986. CBC SM-5055

The Maple Leaf Forever: A Canadian Panorama. True North Brass; Elmer Iseler, Lydia Adams, Howard Cable, conds. 1997. ODR 9314

Elmer Iseler Conducts Canadian Music. Freedman - Morawetz - Schafer - Prévost - Ford. Elmer Iseler, cond. (1999). CMCCD-6599

Bibliography

Kraglund, John. 'Elmer Iseler Singers have a lot of things on their new plate,' Toronto Globe and Mail, 10 Mar 1979

'Elmer Iseler Singers headline 1985 National ACDA convention,' Choral J, Sep 1984

Winters, Kenneth, 'Phoenix ascending,' Radio Guide, vol 4, Oct 1984

Harting, Lynn. 'Commissioning: small groups and ensembles,' MSc, 352, Nov/Dec 1986

Mose, Peter. 'Iseler pays tribute to Willan's memory,' Toronto Star, 3 Dec 1991

Eatock, Colin. 'Lydia Adams aims for a high note,' Globe and Mail, 3 Apr 1999

Links to Other Sites
The Elmer Iseler Singers
The website for Toronto's celebrated Elmer Iseler Singers. Offers profiles of artistic director and conductor Lydia Adams as well as the late founder, Dr. Elmer Iseler. Also includes a discography, interesting reviews and performance schedule.

Sing all ye joyful: Music of Ruth Watson Henderson
This recording by the Elmer Iseler Singers is devoted to the choral music of Ruth Watson Henderson.

Jan Simons: A Life of Teaching
Scroll down to Page 11 for an article about the teaching career of Canadian baritone Jan Simons. From scena.org. A PDF file.