Albert Greer

Greer, Albert

Albert Greer. Tenor, choir conductor, teacher, b Toronto 23 Feb 1937; BA (Toronto) 1960, ARCT Gold Medal 1964. He studied with Aksel Schiøtz at the University of Toronto and was a member 1956-60 and 1964-7 of the Festival Singers. He has appeared throughout Ontario, in Quebec, and in Nova Scotia, as the Evangelist in the Bach Passions, in the title role of Britten's Saint Nicholas, and in several first performances, including Heirs Through Hope by Robert Fleming (1968), Lustro by R. Murray Schafer (1973), and La Tourangelle by Istvan Anhalt (1975). His performance in La Tourangelle was recorded (5-ACM 22). Greer's recording with George Brough, Songs and Arias (1985, WRC1-4342) includes works by Morawetz, Somers, and Willan. He can also be heard as the soloist on the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir's recording of Willan's An Apostrophe to the Heavenly Hosts (1968, Melbourne SMLP-4030)

Greer was conductor in 1974 of the Ontario Youth Choir and of the Ontario Youth Choir Octet, which, during the 1974-5 season, visited Ontario towns under the auspices of the Ontario Choral Federation giving concerts and workshops. With 16 alumni of the 1974 youth choir he founded and conducted 1975-7 the Toronto Youth Singers. After serving 1965-76 as the head of music in two successive North York (Toronto) secondary schools, he settled in Orillia, Ont in 1976, where, in 1977, he became conductor of The Cellar Singers. This mixed-voice group, established in 1968, was presenting, by 1990, an annual series of four concerts in the Muskoka and Huronia districts and had appeared at the 1989 International Choral Festival. Greer established the Couchiching Youth Singers in 1990. He has adjudicated and taught at York University, beginning in 1980, and at the University of Toronto 1984-6.