Toronto Jewish Folk Choir : The Freiheit Gezang Farein (Yiddish for: Freedom Singing Society) was established in 1925 by members of the Jewish immigrant and working-class community in Toronto. It followed in the footsteps of the Young Socialist Choir, which had been active circa 1914-1917. Under its first directors, Hyman Riegelhaupt and Henry Dobkovsky, the Freiheit Gezang Farein performed folk songs in the Yiddish and Hebrew languages, and also some larger works such as oratorios, operettas, and musical theatre. The composer Jacob Schaefer sometimes served as guest conductor, and in the 1930s some concerts were presented jointly with the Mandolin Symphony Orchestra.
In 1939 Emil Gartner (born in Vienna, and a graduate of the Vienna Conservatory) became musical director of the Freiheit Gezang Farein, and a new name, the Jewish Folk Choir, was adopted around this time. Under Gartner's leadership, the choir expanded in size (to over 100 voices) and in repertoire. While continuing to emphasize Jewish music, the choir under Gartner added other folk music to its repertoire and performed larger works by Jewish and non-Jewish composers such as Benjamin Britten, Abraham Goldfaden, Handel, Max Helfman, Earl Robinson (who also performed with the choir), Jacob Schaefer, Schubert, Yuri Shaporin, and Shostakovich; works were also commissioned from the composers Bernard Rogers and John Weinzweig. During the 1940s and 1950s, the choir's concerts often featured leading Canadian and international guest soloists, such as Igor Gorin, Charles Jordan, Alexander Kipnis, Lois Marshall, Jan Peerce, Regina Resnik, Paul Robeson, Mary Simmons, and Jennie Tourel. In this period, the Jewish Folk Choir performed regularly with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra at Massey Hall, and concerts were often collaborations with other artistic organizations, such as the New Dance Theatre and other dance groups. In 1949 the choir became officially known as the Toronto Jewish Folk Choir (the addition of the city name was possibly to distinguish it from the Montreal Jewish Folk Choir). Fagel Freeman Gartner, who was married to Emil Gartner, served as the choir's accompanist. Samuel Harris became choir manager in 1938, and served in this role into the 1950s.
With close connections to the Labor League (a Jewish mutual benefit society founded in Toronto in 1926) and, after 1945, to the United Jewish People's Order, the choir was firmly rooted in the secular left-wing Jewish-Canadian community. The choir retained its working-class perspective and its aspirations for a more fair and equal society. These aspirations were often reflected in the works chosen for concert programmes, among which was the musical play A Bunt Mit A Statchke (Yiddish for: A Strike by a Union; music composed by Jacob Schaefer), which was performed by the choir in 1938, 1942, and 1946. The noted African-American bass-baritone and Communist Paul Robeson was a regular guest artist in the mid to late 1940s.
Since Emil Gartner's death in 1960, the choir has continued under several other directors, including Douglas Webb and Esther Cronenberg (1960s), Searle Freedman (1971-1975), Melvyn Isen (1975-1978), Bill Phillips (1978-1987), Voltr Ivonoffski (1987-1990), David Varjabed (1990-1993), Esther Ghan Firestone (1993-2002), and Alexander Veprinsky (since 2002). In recent years the choir's performances have included its annual spring concert, participation in Jewish Music Month, and the annual commemoration of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Since 1960, it has commissioned works from Louis Applebaum, Srul Irving Glick, and other composers.
