The Choral Society's debut concert took place at the opening of St. George the Martyr Church on June 25, 1845, with a diverse program including selections from Beethoven, Handel, Mozart and Rossini.
On his retirement in 1872, conductor James P. Clarke was succeeded by an equally distinguished musician, Dr. Edward Fisher, founder of the Toronto Conservatory of Music.
Francesco D’Auria, who assumed the conductor's post in 1892, directed the choir that year in the premiere of his own work Gulnare, with words by Mrs. Edgar Jarvis.
Mr. Hanbury led the choir in works by Mendelssohn, Bach, Wesley, Bruchner, Pinkham, and Rutter, as well as compositions by Canadian composers such as George Fox and Healey Willan.
Her vocal expertise helped the choir's singers, most of whom have little formal musical training, to learn important technical elements of choral singing.
The program revisited 1845 and two important social movements of the time: Irish immigration to the New World, and the escape of American slaves to Canada via the Underground Railroad.