“It has been too long since we last appeared in Orangeville,” Lydia Adams, Artistic Director and Conductor of the Elmer Iseler Singers commented in a telephone interview last week. She and Jessie Iseler, both live nearby, in Caledon. Mrs. Iseler is the choir’s General Manager and the widow of the late Elmer Iseler.

Ms. Adams’ association with the choir goes back almost to its beginnings. She met Elmer Iseler in 1981 when he had been invited to conduct in Nova Scotia by the Nova Scotia Choral Association and she had been asked to play for them. Ms. Adams had returned to her native Nova Scotia from the U.K., where she had been studying music at the Royal College of Music and the National Opera Studio in London.

In a nutshell, her career with the Elmer Iseler Singers has spanned most of their 30 year life, starting in many ways with that first appearance, to playing for them for 17 years.

When Mr. Iseler became ill, she was asked to take up the baton as Interim Conductor. When he died, Ms. Adams accepted the position as Artistic Director and Conductor, which posts she has held for more than 10 years. She is very happy that Mrs. Iseler has continued to work with the choir.

Ms. Adams said, “It is wonderful to have Jessie involved – it’s very special and it keeps that tie.”

Even though Ms. Adams has been involved with the EIS for almost 30 years, she has guest conducted other choral groups throughout North America.

Her praise and enthusiasm for the choir has clearly not diminished over the years.

“They are a fantastic group,” she said, “so dedicated – I love working at the high level with them. They are equally comfortable with folk songs and contemporary music . . . They are so flexible and they sing with such joy.”

The concert they are bringing to the Orangeville Town Hall Opera House next Friday, March 26, is certainly indicative of that flexibility, for the range of music they are offering is quite broad: spirituals, Scottish folk songs, gospel, Bach, Mozart and Copeland, a program that is really open to many tastes.

The Singers recently performed at Roy Thomson Hall with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO) in a concert conducted by Peter Oundjian. Ms. Adams assured me: “That was a thrill for us all, to sing with the TSO under the direction of Peter Oundjian.

Albeit the choir is a professional group, their performance schedule does not necessarily provide livelihoods for the members. There are, among their numbers, a doctor, a lawyer and several teachers, just to name some of the professionals who make their musical homes as “Singers.” Having said that, the choir remains at top performing level and is in considerable demand across Canada.

It has been the mandate, in part, for the whole of the choir’s life to include and encourage new Canadian composers. It is the choir’s reputation to create and perform new works. Under Ms. Adams’ leadership they have presented over 40 new commissions in the last 10 years. Her own compositions are performed worldwide by them .

In 2009, Ms. Adams was awarded the Ontario Premier’s Finalist Award for Excellence in the Arts, which recognised her achievements and contribution to arts and culture. She has been honoured by the City of Scarborough, the Women’s International Network and the Ontario Choral Federation. She was also the recipient of an Honorary Doctorate, in 2003, from Mount Allison University for her “service to music in Canada.”

Late in 2009, the EIS recorded the Lamentations of Jeremiah by Canadian composer, Peter Togni’s, which was produced by EMC. Besides the stupendous work itself, with the solo instrument - a bass clarinet, played by Jeff Reilly - and soprano, Rebecca Whelan, together with the EIS, conducted by Ms. Adams, this recording is a Canadian first: “first work by a Canadian composer, first Canadian soloist and/or ensemble and first Canadian conductor to appear on the ECM Record Label.” (Biog., www.elmeriselersingers.c om)

In addition, the choir is blazing a new trail for itself by singing a composition in Arabic. This work, composed by Hussein Janmohamed, a Canadian, is called Light, Light and is written in Arabic and English. He was commissioned by the EIS to write this piece of choral music.

“We have always been ground breaking,” Ms. Adams told me proudly. “We are singing that piece and two other world premiers in Toronto on the 28th of March.”

Our own Mark DuBois is a regular solo performer with the EIS. I mentioned him to Ms. Adams and she was very enthusiastic about what a great talent he is.

When I asked him about his relationship with the choir, Mr. DuBois told me that Ms. Adams has always been very good and very supportive of him throughout his career. In fact, he sang with the EIS near the beginning of his career, nearly 30 years ago.

He related his first performance with them, which was at his Toronto debut with the TSO, the Mendelssohn Choir and the EIS.

The first time he sang the Messiah was also with the EIS at Massey Hall.

“We were ‘kids’ [as far as their musical careers were concerned,” he joked. “Lydia was so young and so nice to me.”

The Elmer Iseler Singers are performing at the Orangeville Town Hall Opera House on Friday, March 26. Tickets, at the Opera House Box Office: 519-942-3423.