Christmas in the Chapel

Christmas in the Chapel 2023 Spaced out White dots surrounding the text - Christmas in the Chapel 2023

Overview

Rejoice! Tyndale’s 13th annual Christmas in the Chapel returns on Saturday December 2. Tyndale is delighted to present the Tyndale Community Choir and Tyndale Singers, directed by Dr. Melissa Davis. Joining the festivities will be special guest artist Rosemary Siemens featuring SaxAndViolin.

Post Concert Reception

Join the Tyndale Community immediately following the concert for light refreshments

Contact For More Information

Phone: 416.226.6620 ext 6720 | Email: events [at] tyndale [dot] ca

Date

Saturday, December 2, 2023 at 7 PM EST

In-Person Tickets: $50

Purchase Tickets

Tyndale Community choir and Band

The Tyndale Community Choir

The Tyndale Community Choir (TCC) was founded in 2016 by Dr. Melissa Davis with a desire to unite Christian singers of various generations, cultures, and denominations throughout the Greater Toronto Area.

This dynamic 50-member multigenerational, multicultural, multidenominational mass choir has brought together Tyndale students, faculty, staff, and community members to serve Toronto's diverse population in music. Singing in concerts throughout the GTA, city-wide community events, worship services and university functions, the choir continues to spread the message of hope to all people.

The TCC Band

Toronto musicians Dr. Joy Lee, Wayne Thompson and Abigail Ali (BA 2021) form the Tyndale Community Choir band. Each expressing unique gifting and a wealth of experience in music ministry, this gifted trio unites as a vibrant part of the TCC family this season.

Dr. Melissa Davis

Canadian Mezzo Soprano Melissa Davis is an active concert soloist, vocal professor, choral director, vocal clinician and worship leader.

Awarded the distinguished Krannert Debut Artist Award by the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, Illinois, Ms. Davis has guest soloed with Grammy and Juno-award-winning choirs and orchestras throughout North America including the Buffalo Philharmonic and Thunder Bay Symphony orchestras. She has toured internationally singing in concerts and productions in France, the UK, the Caribbean, the United States, and throughout Canada. Earning a Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) degree from the University of Illinois, Dr. Davis has served as Director of the Music Department at Tyndale University, Professor of Voice at the University of Arkansas, and is currently Assistant Professor and Head of Vocal Performance at York University.

In 2015, Ms. Davis released her live solo debut album, City Called Heaven: An Evening of Songs and Spirituals, and in 2016, she became Founder, Artistic Director, and conductor of the 50-member Tyndale Community Choir, uniting Christian singers throughout the GTA. Dr. Davis has been vocal director of several theatre productions throughout North America and continues to receive numerous invitations to give vocal clinics, masterclasses, and lectures at national and international conferences.

Dedicated to the ministry of the Gospel through music, as a worship leader she continues to craft worship services that speak to multiethnic, multigenerational congregations

Dr. Joy Lee

Canadian pianist Joy Lee enjoys a multi-faceted career as a collaborative pianist, teacher, soloist, adjudicator and scholar. She is a passionate advocate of music and has performed at events and venues ranging from the Canadian Embassy in Washington D.C. (as part of the inauguration celebration of US President Barack Obama), to the Banff Centre for the Arts, to performance spaces in Inuvik and Yellowknife in Canada’s Northwest Territories.

Dr. Lee holds an MMus in solo piano from the University of Toronto and her love of the voice and its literature led her to her second MMus degree in collaborative piano studies at the University of Michigan, as well as her Doctoral degree at the University of Toronto.

She is a Lecturer of Music and Worship Arts at Tyndale University and is dedicated to educating a new generation of musicians. She is a winner of the prestigious 2017 Eckhardt-Gramatté National Music Competition (2nd) and 2018 Gwendolyn Williams Koldofsky Prize for her collaborative work. In April 2023, she gave her debut performance at the Carnegie Hall (NYC) as part of the Canada at Carnegie concert.

Dr. Lee is looking forward to an exciting 2023-24 season as she is invited to research and perform the music of the French composer, Henri Dutilleux, at the Maison Dutilleux-Joy in Candes-Saint-Martin, France, with soprano, Stéphanie McKay-Turgeon. This season, she will also be part of the rehearsals and performances of the productions such as: In Time (Toronto Mendelssohn Choir), Nosferatu (Amadeus Choir), Fauré Requiem (Amadeus Choir), Lord of the Rings (Amadeus Choir), Messiah (Amadeus Choir, TMC), Hayden’s Creation (Amadeus Choir), Winterrise and Mahler 3 (TMC).

Rosemary Siemens

Featured Artist

Originally from Plum Coulee, Manitoba, five-time Gospel Music Award-winning violinist and vocalist Rosemary Siemens has performed at the Grand Ole Opry, four times at St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, four times at Carnegie Hall, for two U.S. Presidents and Canadian Prime Ministers, and was the first violinist to ever perform at the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican since its first mass in 1483.

In addition to being awarded “Bluegrass Artist of the Year” from Nashville’s Inspirational Country Music Awards and winning “Country/Gospel Album of the Year” from Canada’s Gospel Music Awards, Rosemary was also recently awarded The Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal for her contributions to the arts in Canada and received a letter of thanks from The Queen for her recorded version of “God Save The Queen”.

Rosemary’s weekly YouTube show Sunday Hymn Serenade features a new hymn every Sunday and Wednesday on YouTube as part of her mission to Bring Back The Hymns. With over 100 million views across YouTube and Facebook, her hymns are touching countless lives around the world.

SaxAndViolin

Featured Artist

Covenant Award winning husband and wife instrumental duo SaxAndViolin (Featuring Eli Bennett on saxophone and Rosemary Siemens on violin) has performed for two Canadian Prime Ministers, The National Prayer Breakfast on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, The BC Prayer Breakfast in Vancouver, and at The Vatican for the Rome Summit. Their videos have received millions of views across social media (Facebook/YouTube) and their debut album Can’t Help Falling In Love (Instrumental Love Songs), Vol. 1, debuted as the #3 Pop Album on the Canadian iTunes Pop Charts on Valentine’s Day 2019. At the 41st Annual Covenant Awards, SaxAndViolin won “Instrumental Song of the Year”, for their instrumental arrangement of Lauren Daigle’s song “You Say” and “Instrumental Artist of the Year” at the 42nd Annual Covenant Awards. In 2021, Bennett and Siemens released their SaxAndViolin version of “God Save The Queen” featuring a 400-piece symphony orchestra and choir created by just the two of them as a tribute and ‘thank you’ to The Queen for awarding them The Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medals for their contributions to the arts in Canada. In early 2022, Bennett and Siemens received a letter of thanks from The Queen, thanking them for their version of “God Save The Queen”, and shortly after were awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medals. They were also recently nominated for a 2023 Covenant Award for ‘Instrumental Artist of the Year” from GMA Canada.