News

Tranzac Club, 292 Brunswick Ave. Toronto MAP

You’re invited to join us for a fabulous night of music 
with Jug Band Fusion/Modern Folk special guests 
Milty Thirsty Jug Benders, Echo and more!

Tickets $30. can be purchased at the door or: Purchase Tickets here

Fabulous Silent Auction, free snacks, cash bar.
All proceeds support Echo, a non-profit community choir and registered charity.

  
Details:
Milty Thirsty Jug Benders

Tony Allen is a keystone in Canada’s Old Time and Folk Music community.  
As a member of the Backstabbers, The Good Right Arm Stringband, Kitgut,
and most recently touring with Meredith Moon and forming his newest project,
The New Dominion Skifflers, he has kept old time fiddle music alive
and relevant since the mid 1990’s.
 The most important facet of making music for Tony is building community, mentoring young musicians, and encouraging interpretation and innovation.

Max Kelly is an accomplished musician with extensive experience performing across North America, both as a solo artist and with various musical groups.  He has toured with Bread and Puppet Theatre and Great Small Works based out of NYC.  Max co-founded the Montreal Sacred Harp Choir, and holds a Master’s degree in Ethnomusicology from the University of Toronto. He is currently completing a Masters in Social Work. 

Sam Bailey’s musical projects include orchestra member of Gifford’s Circus (2016 – 2020), as a pit musician for the Ian McKellen touring pantomime production of Mother Goose (2022-23), member of Milty’s Thirsty Jug Benders (2012 – present) and as song writer of the original music project Sam Bailey and The. 

Máchari (Alan Gasser, Bie Engelen Michelangelo Iaffaldano) sings the ancient folk music and church music of Georgia. They have sung together for many years and have frequently traveled to Georgia to study the various styles and techniques of the national music, which is listed as an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO.
Photo credit: Tim Wainwright

A new season of singing has begun at Echo, but it’s not too late to join us!

Want to sing and make friends? Echo might be the perfect fit for you! If you’re a woman in Toronto, you’re invited to come try us out. 
Join us for an open rehearsal is Jan 28, at  Church of the Holy Trinity (an accessible space) from 7 – 9pm
19 Trinity Square by the Eaton Centre (Dundas Subway)
Enter through south accessible doors.
$5 evening parking under Bell Trinity Square, entrance on the east side of Bay, north of Queen.
   

 Contact administrator Anne if you’d like to join us – info.echo@gmail.com 

(Photo: Echo sings backing vocals at the Toronto Jazz Festival in 2019, for the luminous Amanda Martinez. Pic: Tom Ros.)

Our fall season begins on January 14, 2025
at Holy Trinity Church, by the Eaton Centre, accessible south doors.
19 Trinity Square, Dundas Subway Station Map

Now in our 34th year, Echo is a community choir open to all women who can make the rehearsal commitment. Echo loves singing folk music from around the world, celebrating all the cultural traditions that are alive and vibrant in our city. We are social-justice oriented, audition-free, and anyone can join!

Rehearsals will be on Tuesdays and the occasional Saturday.
We’ll have a workshop, open rehearsal, orientation for new members, sectionals, break-end singing and more!

Season Fees are $200. (Jan. – May Spring Concert) 
We strive to make singing accessible for everyone.
Echo has a sliding scale policy. 

Contact Anne know if you’re interested in joining.
 info.echo@gmail.com

Photo: David Lister

Join us for a season of singing with Echo on Tuesday
January 14, 7-9pm 2025 at Holy Trinity Church MAP & Directions
19 Trinity Square, Toronto at Dundas Subway, beside the Eaton Centre. 
(accessible south/side door) $5 evening parking under Bell Trinity Square, entrance on the east side of Bay, north of Queen.

Rehearsals are on Tuesdays and the occasional Saturday. See season schedule bottom.
Activities include an open rehearsal/welcome tea (Jan. 28), orientation for new
members, sectionals, break-end singing, a workshop, May concert and singing at grassroots
community events throughout the year!

Echo established in 1991 is a group of harmonizing women of all
ages and from all backgrounds directed by Alan Gasser and Katie White.
We are non-auditioned. The ability to read music is helpful but not required.
We are accessible to all through both sliding scale
membership fees and concert tickets.

What we sing: traditional folk songs from around the world, original Canadian
compositions, diverse spiritual music, socially conscious music about women, peace,
environmental justice with musical excellence and passionate expression.

Season Fees are $200. (Jan. – May.)
echotransfer3@gmail.com automated (please note spring dues)
We strive to make singing accessible for everyone.
Echo has a sliding scale policy. We also accepts donations through
CanadaHelps

If you would like to sing with us or have questions
contact Anne: info.echo@gmail.com
www.echochoir.ca 
photo: David Lister, Winter Concert 2024

Echo Spring Schedule 2025

*All at Church of the Holy Trinity

January   

Tues. 14   *all Tuesdays 7-9pmarrive 6:30pm?

Tues. 21   Orientation for new members

Tues. 28   Open Rehearsal & Welcome Tea

February

Tues. 4  

Tues. 11 

Tues. 18
Tues. 25

March none on March 11, for March Break

Tues. 4 

Thurs. 6 Echo Spring Fundraiser at the Tranzac Club 

Tues. 18  

Tues. 25

 April

Tues. 1

Tues. 8 

Tues. 15

Tues. 22

Tues. 29

some Saturday tba 10am – 12pm

May

Sat. 3, Dress Rehearsal, 10-2pm (Attendance is Essential to sing in the concert) 

Sun. 4, Spring Concert 3pm arrive at 1pm 

with Special Guest Emma So Whitla

Join us Sunday, December 8, 7:30pm at Holy Trinity Church MAP 
19 Trinity Square (Dundas Subway, beside the Eaton Centre, main doors & accessible-south door) 

Tickets: $30 Adult, $20 Seniors, Children, PWYC 
Purchase here or cash at the door.

Echo Women’s Choir, invites you and your loved ones to a celebration of community through harmony.
We raise our voices in hope, to bring resilience to a troubled world.  
We’ll have refreshments and raffle baskets. Bring some cash!

Special Guest Emma So Whitla is a translator, performer, caregiver,
language lover, mender, and settler on the land known colonially as Toronto.
She works collaboratively, especially in community striving toward right relations
with the land and each other. Emma speaks and writes with high proficiency in Spanish and English.
She’s worked with Northern Harmony, Danza Espiral, Free Flow Dance Theatre, Máchari, Guetcha Guaritcha,
Confluence Concerts, and has taught and performed internationally. She sings with vocal quartet Harmonious
Accord, and loves to craft and contribute to the Gift Economy.
For more about her see emmaso.ca

Photo: Alkan Emin

Thank you for supporting Echo!

Echo, Peace by Chocolate Fall Fundraiser 2024, Thank you for your support! Orders are now closed. We’ll let you know when they’re ready for pick up in early December and the East and West End locations.

Hello Echo Friends, Echo is proud to be partnering again with Peace by Chocolate, a company founded by a Syrian family, whose chocolate business in their homeland was destroyed by war. When they settled in Antigonish, Nova Scotia as refugees they rebuilt their chocolate company and founded Peace by Chocolate in 2016. The company supports a range of non profit organizations and
3 – 5% of all company returns is now donated to the Peace on Earth Society, an organization registered in 2018 in Nova Scotia that contributes to peace building projects around the world, including wildfire relief in Canada. 
This fundraiser will be supporting Echo as well as Peace by Chocolate peace initiatives.  
Echo makes 15-20% profit!