The Choirs of Grace Church-on-the-Hill

Grace Church supports a quality program of choirs for all age groups. Our Choir of Men and Boys at the 11:00 AM service. The St. Cecilia Choir sings at the 9:15 AM service. Both choirs join together on occasion in a tradition of fine singing, high musical achievement, friendship and camaraderie, respect and fun.

Click to hear some of our recordings

The St. Cecilia Choir

Choir of Gentlemen and Boys

The choirs have professional leadership and challenging projects, but also serve the community through outreach activities.

For a membership interview, please call Stephen Fraser, Director of Music at 416-488-7884 ext. 117 or email by This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Music Education for Young People

Grace Church on-the-Hill supports children in their musical development in the choirs for girls and boys.

The Boys' Choir serves boys ages 8 to 14 with unchanged voices in serious musical experience with adult male singers. Boys sing challenging classical music in the British choral tradition, in which boy trebles sing soprano in mixed-choir serious music. They enjoy the mentoring of the men of the choir, and make friends with boys who share their interests. 

Parents say that this is a boy's most adult experience, providing benefits both in music as well as personal discipline, concentration, vocabulary, reading skills, poise, self-confidence, and overall intelligence. The boys sing Sunday service 7 Sundays in every 8, as well as festival services and concerts. 

The St. Cecilia Girls' Choir has members who are 8 to 17 years of age. The girls sing 7 Sunday services of every 8, as well as festival services and concerts. The girls sing on their own, or with the women in multi-part treble music, and with the men as the soprano line in mixed choir music, providing a variety of musical experiences. As in the boys' choir, singing at this level benefits the child intellectually in many ways.

Both the boys and girls develop long-lasting friendships in the choirs and have opportunities for social gatherings which bring the group more closely together.

The Grace Church choirs completed their seventh tour to England in August, 2007. The Gentlemen and Boys sang in Durham and Oxford early in August. After that tour, the St. Cecilia Choir of women and girls travelled to the UK to sing in Lichfield and Salisbury. Future tours are now in the planning stage.

Choirs for Adult Singers

Adults with musical training are welcome in both the adult choirs. The Men's Choir has 6 professional lead singers and a number of volunteers. Teenage boys whose voices have changed are welcome. The women's choir includes girls 18 and over as well as adults as well as 4 lead singers. Music reading ability is required for both choirs. The men sing every Sunday and the women sing every second Sunday. Both groups have opportunities for concerts and social events.

Rehearsal Schedule

Boys' Choir:
Tuesday 4:30-6 pm, Thursday 6:30-8:30 pm 

St. Cecilia Girls' Choir:
Wednesdays 4:30-6 pm 

St. Cecilia Women's Choir:
Tuesdays 6:30-8 pm 

Men's Choir:
Thursdays 7:30-9:15 pm

Stephen Fraser, Director of Music

 A native of St. Catherines, Stephen is a gifted organist, composer, and choral director. He was educated at the University of Toronto, McGill University, the Eastman School of Music, the Institute of Sacred Music at Yale University, and Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris, and he has been the winner of numerous prizes and scholarships. Between 1998 and 2002, he held various posts in Toronto at The Church of Saint Simon the Apostle, the Hart House Choir, The Church of Saint Mary Magdelene, and Trinity College Chapel.

Stephen Boda, Associate Organist

Stephen Boda holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Toronto where he studied Organ Performance with John Tuttle, harpsichord and improvisation with Kevin Komisaruk, and conducting with Jeffrey Reynolds. He has also received masterclass instruction from distinguished organists Thomas Murray, Andres Sieling and Todd Wilson. For the past two years he has served as the Peaker Organ Scholar at St. Paul's Bloor St. Anglican Church in downtown Toronto. Prior to this appointment he served as Organ Scholar at St. John the Evangelist Anglican Church in Hamilton, ?Ontario while studying organ with William Renwick and piano with Valerie Tryon. This summer he competed in the RCCO's National Organ Playing Competition finals, receiving the Muriel Gidley Stafford Prize.