Ivars taurins

Equally at home conducting symphonic and choral repertoire, Ivars Taurins is the founding director of the Tafelmusik Chamber Choir, now celebrating its 44th season. He was also founding member and violist of the Tafelmusik Orchestra for its first 23 years. Under his direction, the choir has been praised for its clarity, nuance, and brilliance.

Principal Baroque Conductor of the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra from 2001-2011, Ivars Taurins appears as guest director with orchestras and choirs across Canada, including the Edmonton, Victoria, Winnipeg, Regina, and Kitchener-Waterloo, and Okanagan Symphonies, Calgary and Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestras, Orchestra London, Symphony Nova Scotia, Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, Pacific Baroque Orchestra, Thirteen Strings (Ottawa), Canadian Chamber Ensemble, Vancouver Chamber Choir, Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, Pro Coro Canada, Winnipeg Singers, Halifax Camerata Singers, Vancouver Cantata Singers, Early Music Vancouver, the Elora Festival Orchestra & Singers, and at the Festival International de Musique Baroque de Lamèque. In September 2011, Ivars Taurins was guest choir director for the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, preparing a combined chorus of Tafelmusik Chamber Choir and members of the OSM Chorus for performances and a recording (Analekta) of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, directed by Kent Nagano at the gala opening of the new Maison symphonique in Montreal. In 2017, he directed the Cuban choir Schola Cantorum Coralina in Havana in a special concert celebrating the 85th anniversary of Glenn Gould’s birth and Canada’s 150th birthday. 

Besides Ivars Taurins’ appearances with Tafelmusik, some recent highlights include directing Symphony Nova Scotia’s 2019 Mozart Festival, and Handel’s Messiah for Early Music Vancouver in December 2019, featuring the Pacific Baroque Orchestra and the Vancouver Cantata Singers. Other engagements include a return to Symphony Nova Scotia, and an invitation from the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Australia, to direct their Messiah performances in December 2024.

A dynamic conductor, Ivars Taurins has impressed audiences with his exuberant and compelling performances. His regular appearances conducting the Tafelmusik Chamber Choir and Orchestra have received widespread critical acclaim and are frequently heard on CBC Radio. His recordings with Tafelmusik (CBC Records, Tafelmusik Media), have all received critical acclaim and Juno nominations, including a live-performance recording of Handel’s Messiah, released on the Tafelmusik Media label.

Mr. Taurins was nominated for a 2011 Gemini Award for his performance as George Frideric Handel in Sing-Along Messiah, filmed by 90th Parallel Productions for Bravo! Television and released on DVD by Tafelmusik Media.

Ivars Taurins and the Tafelmusik Chamber Choir have premiered works by R. Murray Schafer, Omar Daniels, Chan Ka Nin, Brian Cherney and Paul Frehner with Soundstreams Canada. The Tafelmusik Chamber Choir has also commissioned and premiered works by Tawnie Olson, Jeffrey Ryan, Imant Raminsh, James Rolfe, Christos Hatzis, and Ruth Watson Henderson.

Mr. Taurins was director of the 2012 National Youth Choir of Canada, touring Ontario and Quebec. He was also the director of the 2000 and 2009 Ontario Youth Choirs, the 2003 Nova Scotia Youth Choir, as well as regular guest director of the Taylor Academy Chamber Orchestra (RCM), and the London, Calgary, and Nova Scotia Youth Orchestras. In 2022 he directed a fully staged production of Handel’s Rinaldo for the Glenn Gould School vocal programme and the Royal Conservatory Orchestra, collaborating with veteran stage director Tom Diamond. 

A passionate lecturer and teacher, Ivars Taurins teaches orchestral conducting at the University of Toronto. He is also on the faculty of the Glenn Gould School, RCM in Toronto. He is in demand as a guest lecturer, adjudicator and clinician, and has been a guest teacher/conductor at the Université de Sherbrooke (Quebec), Queen’s University (Kingston), Western University (Ontario), and at the Universities of Alberta, Calgary, and Windsor. Ivars Taurins is director of the vocal/choral programme at the annual Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute.

September 2024

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