This event has already occurred
Save to your Calendar

Met's free noon hour concert series returns bi-weekly this fall, direct to your home! We livestream the concerts to our Facebook and YouTube (subscribe here), as well as the homepage. Sit back and enjoy the splendour of Met's historic pipe organ, the largest in Canada, as well as some of Toronto's finest musicians. Miss a concert? Find the latest recital below, or visit our YouTube channel!

Friday, December 18:  David Simon, organist, St. James' Cathedral

Music for Advent
 
Pieces based on Gregorian Chant: 
I. Le monde dans l'attente du Sauveur (The world awaiting the Saviour) 
from the Symphonie-Passion, op. 23 
by Marcel Dupré (1886-1971)
 
Rorate Coeli (Drop down, dew from heaven) 
by Jeanne Demessieux (1921-1968)
 
Pieces based on Lutheran Chorales: 
 
Chorale Preludes on "Nun komm' der Heiden Heiland" (Savior of the nations, come)
by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) 
BWV 659, Ornamented Chorale
BWV 660, Trio texture with two bass parts
BWV 661, Cantus Firmus in the Pedal
Fugue from Chorale Fantasia "Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme" (Wake, awake a voice is calling)
op. 52 #2 by Max Reger (1873-1916)
David Simon is the Organist of St. James Cathedral in his hometown of Toronto, Canada. As a recitalist and organ accompanist, he has performed across North America, Europe, the UK, and Russia and has played with the Toronto and New Haven Symphony Orchestras. First studying music as a chorister at St. Michael's Cathedral-Basilica in Toronto, Davidcontinues to play organ at weekly masses in the Cathedral-Basilica and he instructs piano and organ for St. Michael's Choir School.

David is the recipient of prestigious national prizes for organ repertoire interpretation and improvisation. In 2018, David won First Prize and Audience Prize in the University of Michigan organ improvisation competition and in 2019 won First Prize in the Royal Canadian College of Organists national competition. He is a doctoral candidate at Yale University in the studios of Thomas Murray and Jeff Brillhart, and is a Fellow of the Royal Canadian College of Organists (FRCCO).  


Previous Noon at Met concerts this season

Friday, November 6: Dr. Patricia Wright, organist and Minister of Music, Metropolitan United Church
Elgar's Nimrod, Bach, Langlais

Dr. Patricia Wright has been Director of Music and Organist at Metropolitan United since 1986. In September of 2010, she was covenanted as a Congregational Designated Minister of Music, a first in the United Church of Canada.  Dr. Wright has been heard in recital in Canada, the United States, and Europe. She is a past national president of the Royal Canadian College of Organists and holds an honorary Fellowship from the RCCO. She is also Adjunct Professor of Organ for the University of Toronto Faculty of Music and is cross-appointed to Emmanuel College for the Master of Sacred Music degree program. 

Friday, November 20:  Nathan Jefferey, organist, University of Toronto Faculty of Music; Minister of Music at Mary, Mother of God Catholic Church in Oakville

J.S. Bach - Toccata in F Major BWV 540
Buxtehude - Passacaglia in D Minor
Mendelssohn - Sonata 3 in A Major
Mulet - Tu Es Petra

Friday, December 4: Chelsea Van Pelt, soprano; Andrea Van Pelt, piano



Purcell: 
Blessed Virgin’s Expostulation

Wolf:
Gebet (Prayer)
Auf eine Christblume II (On a Christmas Rose)
Schlafendes Jesuskind (Sleeping Christ-Child)

Bridge: Come to me in my dreams
Grieg: Ein Traum (A Dream)

Gordon:
Too Few the mornings Be
Will there really be a morning

Chelsea Van Pelt, soprano

Praised as “…appealing and delicate…” (Opera Canada), soprano Chelsea Van Pelt is a graduate from the University of Toronto and Calgary Opera Emerging Artists Program. Last season featured performances of Bach’s Mass in B minor, Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem, Handel’s Messiah, Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem, Haydn’s Kleine Orgelmesse, Bach’s St. John Passion and Mozart’s Exsultate Jubilate. Throughout this past year Chelsea has spent time preparing for the Naumburg Foundation Competition, which she is scheduled to attend in 2021. Chelsea also co-runs a construction company based in southwestern Ontario, and sings as a soprano section lead at Metropolitan United Church in Toronto. Chelsea is thrilled to be singing this recital with cousin, friend and colleague Andrea Van Pelt, and wishes to thank Dr. Patricia Wright for the opportunity and invitation.


Andrea Van Pelt, piano

Andrea Van Pelt is a pianist and vocal coach from Toronto, Ontario. In 2019-2020 she was a member of Yulanda M. Faris Young Artist Program at the Vancouver Opera, and worked as assistant répétiteur on productions of La Traviata, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, and as music director and pianist on The Garden of Alice. In 2020-2021, Van Pelt’s activities include assistant rehearsal pianist on Le Nozze di Figaro (Opéra de Montreal) and rehearsal pianist on Riders to the Sea (I Musici de Montréal). She holds both a Masters degree in Collaborative Piano and a Bachelor’s degree in Piano Performance from the University of Toronto, and also a Masters degree in Piano Performance from McGill University. She is an alumnus of the Franz-Schubert-Institut in Austria, the Banff Centre for the Arts, the Toronto Summer Music Festival, the Hawaii Performing Arts Festival, the Accademia Europea dell'Opera, and Opera NUOVA. Van Pelt has also enjoyed working with Toronto City Opera, and as a vocal coach and accompanist at the University of Toronto.