Iseler, Elmer (Walter)
Iseler, Elmer (Walter)
Iseler, Elmer (Walter), Canadian choral conductor, teacher, and editor; b. Port Colborne, near Niagara Falls, Ontario, Oct. 14, 1927; d. Toronto, April 3, 1998. He began training in piano and organ in his youth. After studying organ and church music with Ulrich Leupold at Waterloo Lutheran Univ., he completed his education at the Univ. of Toronto (B.M., 1950) and the Ontario Coll. of Education. In 1951-52 he was an asst. rehearsal conductor with the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, and then taught orchestral and choral music in Toronto high schools from 1952 to 1964. In 1954 he helped to organize the Toronto Festival Singers, which he conducted until 1978. From 1964 he was conductor of the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir and from 1965 to 1968 he taught choral music at the Univ. of Toronto. In 1978 he founded the Elmer Iseler Singers, which he conducted throughout Canada and abroad. He served as ed. of the Festival Singers of Canada Choral Series, which later became the Elmer Iseler Choral Series. In 1975 he was named an Officer of the Order of Canada. In 1990 the Assn. of Canadian Choral Conductors presented him with the National Choral Award for Distinguished Service. Iseler’s repertoire was vast, but he was especially known for his interpretations of masterworks from the Tudor and 20th century eras. He was a champion of the music of Healey Willan.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire