DIRECTOR OF MUSIC & PRINCIPAL ORGANIST

John Paul Farahat fosters a diverse career as organist, improviser, and conductor. He oversees the Casavant Frères organ (opus 800/2578), directs the Parish Choir and Schola Cantorum, as well as coordinates the parish’s various music initiatives. John Paul additionally serves on the team of organists for St. Michael’s Cathedral Basilica, teaches organ and piano at St. Michael's Choir School, and serves on the Board of Directors of the Royal Canadian College of Organists. John Paul’s past solo concerts include the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris and Eglise St-Eustache (France), the Berliner Dom (Germany), Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's Cathedral, Trinity College Cambridge, and Coventry Cathedral (England), the University of St. Andrews (Scotland), St. Thomas Church and St. Patrick's Cathedral (New York), Grace Cathedral (San Francisco), and the Basilica of the National Shrine (Washington DC), among others. Festival performances include Toulouse Les Orgues, the Organ Festival of Chamonix, and Organ Festival Canada. John Paul holds the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Toronto where he researched the life and improvisations of Victor Togni (1935 – 1965). He studied with Kevin Komisaruk, and received additional instruction from Olivier Latry, Peter Williams, Noam Sivan, Martin Haselböck and Thomas Murray.

ASSISTANT ORGANIST

Adrian first discovered the treasure of Catholic faith, liturgy, and music when stopping by St. Basil's Church as an undergraduate student at St. Michael's College in 2015. These experiences helped inspire two life-changing decisions: to join RCIA and receive baptism, and to pursue the craft of sacred music as an organist and choral conductor. After some years in Montréal, he is deeply grateful to now serve at St. Basil's as Assistant Organist. Prior, he served as organiste titulaire of l'Église du Très-Saint-Nom-de-Jésus (Montréal) and Director of Music at the Newman Centre of McGill University. Adrian is a doctoral student in organ at the University of Toronto, studying with Kevin Komisaruk. He recently completed organ studies at the Université de Montréal with Luc Beauséjour. He has played solo recitals in both Montréal and Toronto. In 2020, with other local young musicians, Adrian founded Ensemble ex nihilo, a choral group devoted to plainchant and a cappella sacred music. He maintains interest and activity in the related arts of improvisation, composition, and organ building.

MUSICIAN-IN-RESIDENCE

Alberta-born soprano Lindsay McIntyre has been hailed as “stunning” (The Whole Note) for her work in concert and on the stage. Recent performances include Claude Vivier’s “Love Songs” and “Musik für das Ende” at the Southbank Centre in London, UK, “Garden of Vanished Pleasures,” “Love Songs,” and two seasons of “Electric Messiah” with Soundstreams, Buxtehude’s “Membra Jesu Nostri” and Craig Hella Johnson’s “Considering Matthew Sheppard” with the Grand Philharmonic Chamber Choir, Handel’s “Dixit Dominus” and BWV 4 & BWV 165 with the Theatre of Early Music, and Steve Reich’s contemporary masterwork “Music for 18 Musicians” at the University of Toronto New Music Festival. Lindsay recently completed the Doctor of Musical Arts degree at U of T, and was named winner of the 2022 DMA Recital Competition and Shalom Ben-Uri Graduate Recital Prize.

CANTOR

Autom has been singing in choral groups from a young age. He joined St. Basil’s Parish Choir in 2000, drawn by the choir’s cohesive sound and inspired by the quality and range of its repertoire. He has been a cantor at St. Basil’s since 2001.

Autom has sung with a wide variety of choral ensembles, including the Choir of St. Paul’s Bloor Street under the direction of Thomas Bell, Kammermusik chamber choir under the direction of Keith Muller, the Youth Choir at St. Rose of Lima, as well as with the Liturgy Committee choir at Cardinal Newman High School (now St. John Henry Newman High School) and as a junior seminarian in the Philippines.

CANTOR

James has been singing in church from the age of four. He joined St. Basil’s Parish Choir in 2017 after learning about the long musical tradition supporting our worship. He joined the cantor rotation a year later.

James' journey with music has been transformational to his faith. As a university student in 1993 in Liverpool, England, and on the suggestion of his fellow singers in the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Choir, he successfully auditioned to join the Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral Choir. Four years later, still a member of the Cathedral Choir, James joined the RCIA program and was baptized and confirmed catholic.

During his 21 years with the choir, James worshipped with monks in an enclosed order in Hungary, sang at Cologne Cathedral, St. Paul’s Cathedral and Westminster Cathedral in London, Santiago de Compostella in Spain, St. James Cathedral and St. Michael’s Cathedral in Toronto, as well as at St. Patrick’s in Montreal. His last service was singing Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome for the conferral of the pallium of Archbishop Patrick McMahon of Liverpool by Pope Francis

CANTOR

Joe attended the University of Toronto, where he completed a Master's degree in Architecture. His interest in the shaping of space is complemented with a passion for music, which he developed alongside his architectural studies throughout his time at U of T. He is currently an Architect practicing in Toronto.

CANTOR

Laura is a graduate of Capilano University's Bachelor of Music Therapy program in British Columbia. She has been a member of Saint Basil’s Parish Choir since 2014

CANTOR

Jacqueline studied early Christianity and education at York University. She teaches intermediate students at the Toronto Catholic District School Board, integrating music into the curriculum wherever possible. Jacqueline leads the school choir, encouraging her students to use music to reflect on their faith and bring joy to their school community. Jacqueline has sung in various choirs from a very young age and is passionate about choral music. She has been a member of the Parish Choir since 2018.