Tuesdays, 12:30pm-2pm, February 11th - June 3rd, 2025 - refreshments afterwards.
$350 registration fee.
Singing is not only a wonderful form of artistic expression, but is proven to enhance mental health and well-being. Singing helps us find confidence in our own voice.
Join our growing community of adult singers, and conductor Dr. John Holland, as we explore the joys of choral music of all genres.
About our conductor:
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John Holland, bass-baritone, conductor, musicologist
Czech-Canadian Bass-Baritone John Holland has embarked on a diverse career of opera, oratorio, and art song. In 2020, John won a JUNO award as a member of the Ottawa Bach Choir. His Operatic credits include Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Leporello and Masetto in Don Giovanni at the Estates Theatre in Prague, Vodník in Rusalka in the Czech Republic, Taddeo in L’Italiana in Algeri at Casa Loma, Purkrabi in Dvořák’s Jakobin, Caspar in Der Freischütz, Achilla in Giulio Cesare, Belcore in L’Elisir d’Amore, Henry VIII in Anna Bolena, Baron Ochs in Der Rosenkavalier, and Alberich in Der Ring Des Nibelungen with Toronto’s Opera by Request.
He has sung at such locales as the Canadian Opera Company, Mozarteum in Salzburg, Bachfest in Leipzig (2014, 2022), Smetana Hall and the Estates Theatre in Prague, and San Marco in Venice, and has shared the stage with the likes of Placido Domingo, Sherrill Milnes, Rene Pape, and Lorin Maazel. Recent 2023 performances include, Bass Soloist for a CD recording of Bach’s Motets on ATMA Classique, Bartolo in Il Barbiere di Siviglia with Mississauga Symphony, Leporello in Don Giovanni with Toronto City Opera, Papageno in Die Zauberflöte with Opera York, and Escamillo in Carmen with No Strings Theatre.
On the podium, Dr. Holland has rounded out a career as a respected choral conductor and clinician. He is the artistic director of Chorus York in Richmond Hill, a regular conductor at York University, and the music director at Blessed Trinity Parish. He is a regular guest conductor with choirs around the GTA, including the Ontario Youth Choir, Together in Worship, and other choral organizations.
He was a winner of the 2002 CBC Radio Opera Quiz Competition, and a finalist in the London Opera Guild Competition in 2001 and 2003. A respected academic, John is a three-time lecturer for the Canadian Opera Company’s London guild, a regular lecturer at the Royal Conservatory of Music, and a nine-time judge for the JUNO Awards. He is also an alumnus of the University of Windsor and Western University music faculties.
Dr. Holland completed his PhD in Musicology at York University in 2018. His scholarly work reaches over many genres, but is focused on the study of Czech Opera, Art Song, and Choral Works. His book, The Lost Tradition of Dvořák's Operas: Myth, Music, and Nationalism, was published in 2023 critically analyzes these operas, and views them through the lenses of social, cultural, and political history. In the fall of 2014, he produced the Canadian premiere of Dvořák’s opera Jakobin. He is also the founding director of the Canadian Institute for Czech Music, and continues to be in demand as a performer, choral conductor, and lecturer, as well as being a member of the contract faculty at York University.