This chorus was founded by the choral conductor Jean Ashworth Bartle in 1978 as the choir to accompany the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. There are over 300 children involved who are aged between 6 and 17 and from the Toronto area. They are placed in the chorus and are positioned by the level of the training they have received. There are 5 levels of the choir and each year up to 65 children are accepted in the new intake.
They are renowned internationally and are recognized as one of the world’s leading children’s ensembles, having performed in Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center and the Royal Albert Hall. They won the Eisteddfod in Wales in 1982 and achieved first place in the Let the Peoples Sing competition in 1993.
Sir Simon Rattle invited them to go to Birmingham, England, in 2004, to perform in a recorded performance of Mahler’s 8th Symphony.
Adolphe Charles Adams recordings
Cantique de Noel
Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Children’s Chorus
Conductor – Jean Ashworth Bartle
Soloists – Louis and Gino Quilico
Source: