About the Ensemble

Schola Magdalena is dedicated to the performance of medieval music – from Gregorian chant to Hildegard of Bingen to the polyphonic masterpieces of Dufay – as well as modern music for women’s voices by Canadian composers.

The ensemble is directed by Stephanie Martin, Assistant Professor of Music at Toronto's York University and Music Director of the Church of St. Mary Magdalene.

The group’s debut concert at the Church of St. Theresa, Ottawa, in July 2007 received a standing ovation. Many in the capacity audience were moved to tears by the group’s purity of tone and unanimity of ensemble.

The music of Hildegard is of particular interest today. Hildegard, a powerful abbess, mystic, biologist, writer, composer and healer, impressed European monarchs and popes with her visions and mystic writings. Her music, though related to Gregorian chant, takes the genre to a virtuosic height.

Schola Magdalena’s recent engagements have included Toronto’s Nuit Blanche festival, as well as a recital at the Wilfrid Laurier University Chapel in Waterloo, Ontario. The singers presented a concert at the Church of St. Mary Magdalene on January 17, 2009 and on March 8 they offered a recital before Evensong at the Convent of the Sisters of St. John the Divine  in Toronto. On May 9, 2009, Schola Magdalena appeared in concert at St-Viateur church in Montreal.

In May 2009, the group released its first CD, entitled O gracious light.