Welcome to the website of the Ontario Presbyterian Chorus. We look forward to serving you for another year through our ministry of music. Please see the link for Contact if you wish to make a booking for us to come to your church to sing.
Under the initiative of the late Ian Woods of Toronto and the late Catherine Walker of Stayner, 1989 brought about the formation of the Ontario Presbyterian Chorus, a combined venture of the Presbyterian Men’s Chorus (1972), the Covenanter Singers (1984) and the Georgian Bay Chorus (1989).
Since that time the chorus has performed a regular concert schedule, in churches and senior’s homes, September-May each year, throughout Southern Ontario and further afield to Ireland & Eire (1991 & 2012), Scotland (1994), Maritime Provinces (1997 and 2015), Northern Ontario (2001), Western Canada (2004), Newfoundland (2006), Switzerland (2009).
Alastair McCallum, Director of the Chorus for the past 27 years (since 1992), has conducted many choral groups, for over 65 years, in the United Kingdom and in Canada.
Mina Park, who has accompanied the chorus since 1993, has earned her ARCT(perf.) at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto and teaches privately in the Toronto area.
Helen Peacock is the former Organist and Choir Director of St. Mark’s Presbyterian Church in Malton, Ontario and has earned her ARCT at the Royal Conservatory of Music.
Our membership comprises of singers drawn from the Toronto area and from several other communities throughout Southern Ontario and is interdenominational in composition. While Prebyterian in its origins, the chorus now has some six other denominations represented in its membership and we minister as “All one in Christ Jesus!”
The repertoire of the chorus is drawn from the rich mosaic of sacred music from the 1600s to the present day, using vocal and instrumental music from the classical era, the Psalms, anthems, spirituals, hymn arrangements and gospel songs of the contemporary Christian tradition, to reflect our objective of being a chorus:
(1) with a message
(2) with a mission
(3) with a vision for a lost and needy world
As you listen to the uplifting and inspirational message of the Chorus, it is our prayer that you will realise, if never before, that the love of Christ can put a song in your heart. Our music is presented as an offering of praise and thanksgiving to God and we trust you will find the message a blessing, an inspiration and a challenge to all who seek to understand life and it’s complexities.
Meaning of the crest:
CELTIC CROSS ~ central focus of our Christian faith
BURNING BUSH ~ symbol of the Presbyterian Church
TRILLIUM ~ Provincial flower of Ontario