MUSIC
Choirs of Fairlawn
We are very proud of our choirs under the direction of Eleanor Daley.
Senior Choir
The Senior Choir of Fairlawn Avenue United Church is an auditioned group of approximately 35 members, including an 8-member professional core.
The Seniors sing every Sunday from September through June at the 10:30 am worship service, and are responsible for an introit, two anthems and all other service music. In order to cover that amount and level of music, often with a minimum of rehearsal time, choristers must have singing experience and excellent music/sight-reading skills.
In addition to the regular worship services, the Senior Choir sings at Fairlawn’s annual Lessons and Carols service, the late Christmas Eve service, and also presents a “Special Music Sunday” with orchestra twice a year. Some past works include Gloria (Bob Chilcott, Mark Hayes, John Rutter, K.Lee Scott, Antonia Vivaldi), Magnificat (Mark Hayes, John Rutter, Jonathan Willcocks), Requiem (E. Daley, Maurice Duruflé, Gabriel Fauré, Mark Hayes, K. Lee Scott), Requiem for the Living (Dan Forrest), On Christmas Night (Bob Chilcott), Sunrise Mass (Olga Gjeilo), Son of God Mass (James Whitbourn) and Lux Aeterna (Marten Lauridsen). A number of these perfomances were Canadian premieres.
The Senior Choir was one of the participating choirs in the “Sing for Haiti” concert, to raise funds for that country’s 2010 earthquake, as well as a concert held at Roy Thompson Hall in 2005 to raise funds for the December 26, 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. They also sang “back-up” for Andrea Bocelli at the (then called) Air Canada Centre!
Under the direction of renowned composer/director Eleanor Daley, the choir has recorded several CDs often heard on CBC Radio: Canticle to the Spirit, What Sweeter Music, Magnificat Live! and Gloria.J
Junior Choir
Please note that at this time, Junior Choir has not resumed since March 2020. Watch this space for updates.
The Junior Choir is open to girls and boys of primary/junior age (approximately age 6 – 12).
This is a training choir, and no previous music experience is necessary, although it is easier for your child if they can read at least a bit. They quickly pick up the basics of rhythm and pitch through the skillful teaching of our Director of Music, Eleanor Daley, and every rehearsal includes a snack, provided by our a choir parent.
The choir sings at several services each year, including Palm Sunday, Easter Sunday, Mother’s Day, and the early service on Christmas Eve, when the music is provided exclusively by the Juniors and Intermediates.
Intermediate Choir
Please note that at this time, Intermediate Choir has not resumed since March 2020. Watch this space for updates.
The Intermediate Choir continues the music education begun with the Junior Choir, and many of the Intermediates have graduated from the Juniors – some have even gone to sing in the Senior Choir. This is a high level choir, typically of middle and high school age, and music reading skills are needed.
The Intermediates cover a wider range of music than the Junior Choir, and occasionally join the Senior Choir for Special Music presentation such as Requiem (Gabriel Fauré), and Mass for Children (John Rutter). They always sing with the Senior Choir on Easter Sunday, and are featured prominently in Fairlawn’s annual Lessons and Carols service. The choir also sings at several other services each year, including Palm Sunday Mother’s Day and the early service on Christmas Eve, when the music is provided exclusively by the Juniors and Intermediates.
If you are interested in participating or have questions about the choirs of Fairlawn, led by one of Canada’s foremost composers, please contact Eleanor Daley, Director of Music, via email at: ac.de1772866263tinue1772866263uneva1772866263nwalr1772866263iaf@r1772866263onael1772866263e1772866263
FAIRLAWN SENIOR CHOIR SECTION LEADS
SOPRANO
Amy Dodington
With a voice “like crystal clear, tumbling water," Amy Dodington is a Toronto-based freelance soloist, recitalist and private music teacher. Her moving oratorio performances and her eclectic solo recitals have earned her a loyal, enthusiastic following throughout Ontario and beyond. Amy has received numerous awards and scholarships and sung on a Juno award-winning recording. She has performed under Maestro Helmuth Rilling in the home church of J.S. Bach in Leipzig, Germany. Soloist highlights over the last several years include Fauré’s Requiem with the Elmer Iseler Singers, Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem with the Amadeus Choir in Toronto, and Mozart’s Requiem, Vespers, Grand Mass in C Minor, Haydn’s Creation and Bach’s St. John Passion with the Cellar Singers in Orillia. She also appears frequently with Whispering River Music in Parry Sound. Recitals with Fairlawn pianist Doreen Uren Simmons have been held in Toronto, Shanty Bay, Orillia, Alliston, Gravenhurst and elsewhere. An exceptional ensemble singer, Amy is a member of the Elmer Iseler Singers (Canada’s flagship 20-voice professional choir) and occasionally of Soundstreams Choir 21. No stranger to singing under the direction of esteemed Canadian women composers, Amy joined the Fairlawn choir family in 2018 after sixteen years singing at Kingsway-Lambton United Church, twelve of which were with Ruth Watson Henderson.
Anne Bornath
Anne has been a soprano section lead at Fairlawn since 2016, and was a member of the acclaimed Elmer Iseler Singers from 2009 to 2021. A graduate of the University of Toronto, and an aerospace engineer by day, she grew up in a musical family, playing multiple instruments, and singing with her siblings. Past Fairlawn online services have featured Anne’s choral composition Be Still as the virtual musical offering.
ALTO
Andrea Ludwig
Born and raised in Regina, Saskatchewan, Juno and Dora award winning mezzo soprano Andrea Ludwig is an artist of tremendous depth and versatility. Andrea has appeared with theCanadian Opera Company in numerous roles including Nireno in Handel’s Julius Caesar, the Second Niece in Britten’s Peter Grimes, Flora in The Turn of the Screw, Moira in Paul Ruder’s The Handmaid’s Tale, and Liesgen in Bach’s Coffee Cantata. Very much in demand for contemporary opera, she has been involved in many of Tapestry New Opera’s projects including their Liblab and Opera Briefs, as well as world- premiered operas Shelter, Oksana G, The Overcoat and Gould's Wall. Andrea has also sung with Edmonton Opera, Philadelphia Opera, San Francisco Opera, and Festival D’Aix en Provence, and her commitment to concert performance remains a strong focus. She has appeared with Symphony Nova Scotia, Symphony New Brunswick, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Against the Grain Theatre, Toronto Masque Theatre, Soundstreams, Off Centre Music Salon, Orchestre symphonique de Drummondville and the TSO Chamber Soloists. Recordings include the East Coast Music Association-nominated Schubert orchestrations with Symphony Nova Scotia, Responsio by Peter Togni, Galicians II with the Ukrainian Art Song Project, Ana Sokolovic's Sirens, Massanet’s Thaïs, recorded live in 2019 with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Sir Andrew Davis, and Brian Current's Missing, an opera about missing and murdered Indigenous women, under the label Bright Shiny Things. Andrea has been a section lead at Fairlawn since 2007.
Meredith Hall
In 1986 Eleanor Daley gave Meredith her first singing job! Since then, she has always maintained her ties to the Fairlawn choir, the choral home of her heart. An internationally acclaimed soloist, Meredith has sung major roles in venues like the Paris Opera Comique, the Palace of Versailles, the Royal Albert Hall (London), the Houston Grand Opera, Symphony Hall (Boston), and Bunkamora Hall (Tokyo). In Toronto she has been a leading soprano with the Toronto Consort, Opera Atelier and VOICEBOX:Opera in Concert. She has given more than 100 performances of Handel's Messiah throughout North America, and is especially grateful for her many collaborations with Toronto's beloved Elmer Iseler Singers under Lydia Adams. Meredith has appeared on many recordings for labels such as Deutsche Grammophon, Philips-Sony, Dorian, Naxos, Atma, Avie, and CBC Records. Her performances have reached hundreds of thousands of viewers on YouTube. A proud Newfoundlander, Meredith’s first love is folk music. With Ensemble La Nef of Montréal she created 3 critically-acclaimed Celtic CD'S and a folk-masque entitled “The Maid of Newfoundland”. SACRUM MYSTERIUM, her Celtic Christmas concert with Apollo's Fire (Cleveland) toured to sold-out audiences across the US. Meredith and her husband Bernard Farley perform song recitals that combine classical, folk and popular genres in Bernard's beautiful guitar arrangements. They were married in 1992, at Fairlawn! They have two wonderful children, Robert and Arianna.
TENOR
Mark Wood-Salomon
Mark Wood-Salomon (he/him) is a very proud graduate of St. Michael’s Choir School and the Faculty of Music at the University of Toronto. In addition to his day job as an analyst at a wealth investment firm, Mark is the Music Director and Architect of the original Wednesday Church by Candlelight service at St. George’s on the Hill Anglican since 2006. He is also the professional tenor section lead at Holy Blossom Temple, Pax Christi Chorale, and the Mississauga Chamber Singers. He occasionally sings at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church, the Toronto Oratory, the Nathaniel Dett Chorale, Arcady, the Babεl Chorus, the Catholic Cemeteries of the Archdiocese of Toronto, and has performed as a guest soloist with various choirs in the Greater Toronto Area. Mark has performed in many countries, including all across Canada and the United States, England, Italy, Bulgaria, and his ancestral home of Trinidad and Tobago, as a chorister or as a guest soloist. In his spare time, Mark loves to travel and take road trips with his partner Raymond, and talk about music, movies, favourite restaurants, and his love for the Blue Jays.
Phil Smith
Phil Smith is a graduate of Queen’s University, with a Bachelor of Music degree majoring in Vocal Performance. Phil’s first debut in the Fairlawn Senior Choir was in 1997. After a number of years’ hiatus, due to work and family commitments, but during which time, he often sang for Special Music Sundays, Phil once again joined the Senior Choir family in the fall of 2017. The choir has had the privilege of performing two of his wonderful choral compositions, Within My Heart (2018) and Our Lord Is Here (2019). Phil lives in Aurora, Ontario with his wife Kirsten, who is also a member of the Senior Choir, and their two daughters, Kate and Natalie.
BASS
Dion Mazerolle
Acadian baritone Dion Mazerolle has forged a solid reputation in Canada and Europe as an artist of the highest calibre. A former member of the Atelier lyrique de l'Opéra de Montréal, he is acclaimed for his musical finesse and strong stage presence, both in opera and in concert. Following his recent triumph as Alberich in Das Rheingold, in 2026 Dion returns to Edmonton Opera as Alberich in Siegfried and debuts with Calgary Opera as Dr. Bartolo in The Barber of Seville. Winnipeg audiences will see Dion as James in The Little Opera Company’s production of The House without a Christmas Tree (Vavrek/Gordon). Dion's recent and upcoming concert engagements include Bach’s Magnificat with Montreal’s Ensemble Caprice, Carmina Burana with Toronto’s Pax Christi Chorale, Haydn's Creation with Galileo Orchestre as well as Brahms’ Requiem with L’orchestre symphonique de l’Estuaire, Verdi’s Requiem with Toronto’s Kindred Spirits Orchestra, and “A Canadian Valentine” with Confluence Concerts. Dion recently starred as Golaud in Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande at the Teatri di Piacenza in Italy. In France, Dion debuted as le Roi de Trèfle in Prokofiev’s surreal opera L’Amour des trois oranges with Opera National de Lorraine in Nancy. Dion performed the role of Dr. Falke with Stratford Symphony in their concert version of Die Fledermaus and sang Zuniga in Carmen with Montreal’s Festival Classica.
Giles Tomkins
Canadian/British bass‐baritone Giles Tomkins has been a section lead at Fairlawn since 1998. Widely praised for his vocal virtuosity and lyricism in an impressive range of repertoire, his rich, resonant voice brings “authority and power” to the concert and operatic stage. Noted for his convincing portrayal of the philosopher Colline in La Bohème, Giles has performed the role with Scottish Opera, as well as with Saskatoon Opera, Manitoba Opera, and Pacific Opera Victoria. Contemporary works include Gandalf in Dean Burry’s The Hobbit with the Canadian Children’s Opera Company, and The Overcoat with Tapestry Opera and Vancouver Opera. His many Messiah appearances include performances with the Elmer Iseler Singers, the Thunder Bay Symphony, and the Regina Symphony Orchestra, to name but a few. He also sang Dvorak’s Stabat Mater with the Vancouver Symphony, and Beethoven’s Mass in C with the Bach Elgar Choir in 2019. Over the course of his varied career, Giles has also been engaged by the Canadian Opera Company, Edmonton Opera, Against the Grain Theatre, Toronto Operetta Theatre, and Opera 5.
