Spring in the Chapel 2024

Spring in the Chapel 2024

Tyndale invites you to join us as we celebrate the Easter season with Dr. Melissa Davis directing the Tyndale Community Choir (TCC), the TCC Band, and the Tyndale Singers, with special guest soloist Saj McKenley and a dynamic string ensemble at the Spring in the Chapel concert! The Tyndale Band, led by Dr. Ken Michell, will also lead us in joyful worship.

This is a benefit concert and proceeds from this concert support Tyndale students through bursaries and the Tyndale Music Fund.

Please join the Tyndale community immediately following the concert for light refreshments.

Tickets

Date: Saturday, April 6, 2024
Time: 3 PM - 5 PM EST

Tickets: $30

Purchase Tickets

Members of the Tyndale Community Choir dressed in colourful shirts smiling on stage with a purple-lit background

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.

Profile face photo of Dr. Joy Lee, Wayne Thompson and Abigail Ali

Tyndale Community Choir 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.

Melissa Davis

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

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 US President Barack Obama's inauguration celebration), to the Banff Centre for the Arts, to performance spaces in Inuvik and Yellowknife in Canada’s Northwest Territories.

Dr. Lee received BMus and MMus in solo piano from the University of Toronto and her love of the voice and its literature led her to pursue the second MMus in collaborative piano studies at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor), as well as her Doctorate at the University of Toronto.

She is a Lecturer of Music and Worship Arts at Tyndale University and is dedicated to educating the next 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 made her Carnegie Hall (NYC) debut as part of the Canada at Carnegie Concert. Dr. Lee and Stéphanie McKay-Turgeon, soprano, were invited to research and perform the music of the French composer, Henri Dutilleux, at the Maison Dutilleux-Joy in Candes-Saint-Martin, France, in November 2023.

Dr. Lee currently collaborates with the Amadeus Choir of Greater Toronto, MacMillan Singers (University of Toronto) and Tyndale Community Choir (Tyndale University) and serves on the Board of Directors of the North Toronto Songbirds.

Dr. Ken Michell

Dr. Ken Michell

Canadian musician Dr. Ken spent 12 years writing, recording, and touring internationally with the Canadian Christian band, the dustkickers. As a Tyndale grad (MTS 1995), Ken went on to complete his Doctorate in Worship Studies (DWS) at Robert E. Webber Institute for Worship Studies in Jacksonville, FL.

Ken is on faculty at Tyndale University as Assistant Professor and Chair of the Music and Worship Arts Department. Alongside applied courses in music theory, guitar instruction, song writing and music ensemble, Ken teaches courses in the Christian Ministry department on Christian Worship (Theology, History, and Contemporary Worship).

Ken also serves as the Worship Director in his home church in Scarborough and is the co-founder and Vice-President of Christian Conservatory of Music, Canada (a graded music examination system that incorporates worship repertoire).

Over the last four years, Ken has written responsorial settings for 48 psalms for personal and corporate worship participation.

Saj McKenley

Saj McKenley

Guest Artist

Saj McKenley is a recording artist and vocalist based in Toronto. He’s been nominated for numerous music awards and was winner of the Canadian Covenant Award for Contemporary Gospel Song of the Year.  Saj has worked with several prominent musicians and producers on independent projects, the latest being his second album, Seasons of Love.

Today, Saj continues to perform locally with his band at private and corporate events. His music is available on all major streaming platforms.

Music at Tyndale

Music is an essential part of Tyndale culture.

The innovative BA in Music Performance and BA in Music Worship Arts programs offer outstanding music education where students are equipped with the skills and tools needed for success in performance, music leadership and music ministry. In addition to participating in Tyndale’s various music ensembles (the Tyndale Community Choir, Tyndale Singers, and Tyndale Band), undergraduate students can not only major in music, they also have the opportunity to add a Music and Worship Arts Minor to their studies.

With a diverse faculty of professional musicians, through these programs, students explore their gifting and refine their craft in music performance and leadership, through innovative courses, both individual and group training, mentorship, and performance and ministry opportunities.

Programs