Soprano Carrie Loring is the longest-serving active member of the Tafelmusik Chamber Choir, having joined in 1992! Best known as long-time host of TV Ontario’s beloved show Polka Dot Door, she has toured coast to coast with numerous children’s shows. Carrie has sung with many of Canada’s top ensembles and presenters, including Opera Atelier, The Elmer Iseler Singers, Soundstreams, The National Ballet of Canada, and Toronto Summer Music Festival. She is the Director of the Kinder and Preparatory Choirs with the Bach Children’s Chorus.
We chatted with Carrie about growing up in a family of broadcasting professionals, working with choir director Ivars Taurins, and her love of Toronto’s home teams, including the Blue Jays.
You can catch Carrie in Tafelmusik’s inaugural choral concert of the season, Double Dixit: Lotti & Handel, November 28, 29, and 30 at Jeanne Lamon Hall.
How did music first enter your life and what initially attracted you to choral singing?
I come from a musical family, so music was always a big part of my life.
My grandfather and mother both played piano, my cousin played guitar, and everybody sang. When my sister and I were just wee kids, our Mum taught us to sing “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” in three-part harmony. I think that’s my first memory of “choral singing!”
I took up guitar as a pre-teen and sang a lot of Joni Mitchell songs!
I joined two choirs: my high school choir, performing in many musicals and plays. And a church choir, conducted by William Wright, where I learned a lot of choral repertoire, sang in concerts, and learned how to sight-sing.
I studied singing, taking the RCM voice and theory exams, and took piano lessons.
Growing up in a family that worked in broadcasting (father Rex was the anchor of CBC’s World Report, mother Jill was a copywriter at CFRB, and sister Elaine was a reporter at Global TV), did you feel any pressure to pursue a career in broadcast media?
There was never any pressure to pursue a career in the media arts, but it was certainly the norm in our family, so television interested me. But I had a love of singing and an interest in children’s entertainment, so I found a way to combine it all!
I toured Ontario and then Canada coast to coast with a variety of children’s musicals, learning puppetry, juggling, improvisational storytelling, and mime.
In one children’s show with Tapestry Music Theatre, the accompanist was composer Eleanor Daley. She invited me to sing as one of her soprano leads at the church where she was Musical Director. I stayed for 17 years! How incredible to sing her compositions hot off the press each week.
Throughout the 80s and 90s, you co-hosted the beloved TV Ontario children’s program The Polka Dot Door. What do you treasure most about your time with the show?
I spent almost one decade hosting The Polka Dot Door. It was one of my favourite performing experiences. The show was creative and fun, combining education and entertainment to teach children, a style I still embrace in my teaching career.
That team of people was extraordinary. My co-hosts were such talents. Working with Producer Jed MacKay was amazing. I had the opportunity to work with the late, great John Arpin, who was the Musical Director and accompanist. He was one of the most brilliant musicians I’ve ever known. He could play anything, in any style, with or without sheet music, in any key, transposing on the fly.
On that show, I was storytelling, singing wonderful songs in different styles, playing games and make-believe, creating silly voices, and doing voiceovers.
From my time in television, I discovered my love of recording, both video performances and audio voiceover. I found magic standing in a darkened, quiet studio, in casual clothing, with no live audience, telling a story or singing a melody into microphone. Recorded performance became a passion. Perhaps growing up with my media family did have an effect!
As the longest-standing member of the Tafelmusik Chamber Choir (33 years and counting!), can you describe the choir’s unique qualities, both on stage and behind the scenes?
It’s hard for me to believe that I’ve been with Tafelmusik that long! It always feels fresh and new. No matter the era, the singers have been a delightful group. Director Ivars Taurins’ humour and unique style of teaching through wild metaphors make rehearsals such a pleasure. He insists on a pure and blended tone that I think has become our trademark sound. Ivars is known as being most meticulous, and each phrase must be practised till perfect. Years ago, I nicknamed him “three bars Ivars!”
The concerts reflect that hard work, high musical standard, our combined efforts, and camaraderie.
What music have you been listening to most recently, baroque or otherwise?
I mostly listen to music that I’m learning or teaching, and will listen to radio while driving. I love choral music of any kind but also enjoy beautiful pop voices and musical theatre. I’m a big fan of the Grammy Award-winning musical artist Jacob Collier but love anything with crunchy harmonies!
As Director of the Kinder and Preparatory Choirs with the Bach Children’s Chorus, you seem to have a special affinity for working with young people. Can you tell us more about that?
I think my years of touring children’s shows set me up for a love of working with children. In 2014, I became a vocal coach and sight-singing instructor for the older choirs of the Bach Children’s Chorus. From there, I was asked if I might direct the two young choirs, and I’ve had the fun of creating a curriculum of warmups, exercises, musical games, activities, and age-appropriate repertoire. When I need a themed song or poem, I write it myself! I use all sorts of props, including puppets, scarves, balls, beanbags, bells, and stickers. I also read musical stories and play guitar each week.
If singing, conducting, and performing had not been possible as a career, what would you most likely be doing now?
I had intended to become a primary schoolteacher. But halfway through university, I had a strong desire to become a performer. I wasn’t sure about classical singing yet, as I found it a bit rigid. I wanted to be funny on stage. I then pursued children’s theatre. I love making kids laugh. I’m glad I have the best of both worlds now, performing as a singer and working with kids.
What’s something you’d like to share about yourself that isn’t in your biography?
I guess I would have to say my career as a Mum! I have one son, Lee, and I couldn’t be prouder of him. He’s musical, very funny, and a wonderful athlete and coach. We’re great friends and he has turned his artsy Mum into a sports fanatic! Together we enjoy following the Toronto Blue Jays and the Maple Leafs. I’m happy to say that Lee was just recently married, so that’s been a great thrill in my life.
Speaking of the Blue Jays, I became a fan around the year 2000, when Lee started playing baseball. So I’ve been cheering them on for a quarter century! Watching them get to the World Series has been a huge joy. It is such an exciting time for Blue Jays fans across Canada.
What are you most looking forward to in Tafelmusik’s 2025/26 season?
This season, I’m excited to sing the Handel Dixit Dominus again in November. It’s been a long time, and I recall it is both challenging and fulfilling.
Double Dixit: Lotti & Handel
Pairing settings of the Latin text for Psalm 110 by Lotti and Handel, two composers for which choir director Ivars Taurins has a special affinity.
Nov 28-30, 2025
Jeanne Lamon Hall, Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre
