The Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Chamber Choir has just announced a $3 million revitalization project to improve its home venue at Trinity-St Paul’s in Toronto. ERA Architects is pleased to be working with Tafelmusik to raise the standards of the venue and transform its acoustics.
Trinity-St. Paul’s, designed by Edmund Burke and Henry Langley and completed in 1889, is a remarkable work of Romanesque Revival architecture that has become a much-loved local venue and a centre for progressive community engagement. Tafelmusik has used Trinity-St. Paul’s as its home venue since its founding in 1981, and over the years has achieved international prominence as a period performance ensemble. By embarking on the new revitalization program, Tafelmusik will raise the quality of its already-popular home venue to these international standards.
ERA is working with renowned UK acoustician Bob Essert of Sound Space Design and Montreal-based Anne Minors Performance Consultants to transform the venue’s acoustics; improve its seating, safety, and accessibility; and rejuvenate several details of the heritage architecture. As part of these efforts, the team will be installing a system of acoustic wood battens and other acoustic upgrades; exposing and stabilizing creaky wooden floors; constructing a new, permanent hardwood stage; and providing new, ergonomically designed seating.
Tafelmusik has embarked on a campaign to raise $3 million and has already received a $500,000 matching grant from Cultural Spaces Canada. To learn more, or to contribute to this exciting project, please visit Tafelmusik’s website.
For other media coverage, please see local articles in the Toronto Star, the Globe & Mail, and musicaltoronto.org.
