The Elmer Iseler Singers, conducted by Artistic Director Lydia Adams, is a 20-voice professional chamber choir based in Toronto, Canada. Founded by the late Dr. Elmer Iseler in 1979, it is one of Canada’s most illustrious professional choral ensembles. The choir has built an enviable international reputation through its concerts, broadcasts and more than 50 recordings. Known for its unique beauty of sound, the Elmer Iseler Singers bring to life an exciting repertoire that spans 500 years of great choral music. The choir regularly commissions and performs new works.  It is featured at national and international festivals. The Singers are highly valued for their contributions to master classes and educational leadership workshops for schools and community choirs. From 1997 to 2007 the EIS was the professional Choir-In-Residence through the Elmer Iseler Chair at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Music. For three decades, the organization has been a leader in excellence of choral singing, in creation and performance of new works and in touring, broadcasting, recording and performing throughout the small and large centres of Ontario, Canada and U.S. The Elmer Iseler Singers often collaborate with Soundstreams Canada, the Canadian Brass, the Toronto Symphony, Nexus, Tapestry New Opera Works in the Toronto Luminato Festival, Ontario Music Festivals and in September 2010 with Peter Togni and Jeff Reilly at the Guelph Jazz Festival. The choir continues its dedication to collaborating with various local, national and international organizations. Lydia Adams and the Elmer Iseler Singers toured Northern Ontario from Oct. 30th through Nov. 7th, 2011 with concerts and community and educational workshops in North Bay, Parry Sound, Sudbury, Kirkland Lake and Sault Ste. Marie.  2013 will see the Singers in Thunder Bay, Kenora, Winnipeg, Regina, Saskatoon, Prince Albert and Edmonton’s Sherwood Park. The newest CD on the prestigious international record label – ECM, Mannfred Eicher, producer of “Lamentatio Jeremiae Prophetae” (Lamentations of Jeremiah) by Canadian composer Peter-Anthony Togni, with virtuoso bass clarinetist/improviser – Jeff Reilly, soprano Rebecca Whelan and Canada’s Elmer Iseler Singers with Lydia Adams, conductor – is a CANADIAN FIRST – first work by Canadian composer, first Canadian soloist and/or ensemble and first Canadian conductor to appear on the ECM Record Label.     The Lamentations of Jeremiah received nominations for two prestigious awards: The EAST COAST MUSIC AWARDS 2011: Best Classical Recording Nominee and the JUNO AWARDS 2011: Best Classical Composition Nominee, Peter-Anthony Togni. We welcome you to our 34th anniversary season with the “Gift of Music”.  

Choir History

Gift of Music