Meet RCC’s New Artistic Director! Introducing S.C. Toe

After a competitive selection process, Renaissance City Choir is excited to introduce our new Artistic Director for the 2019–20 performance season. Join us in welcoming S.C. Toe to the RCC “community that sings”!

S.C. Toe comes to RCC with a wealth of conducting experience. He made his international conducting debut in the summer of 2012 when he was invited to conduct on a series of concerts throughout Italy and Switzerland under the direction of Maestro Joseph del Principe. He was Principal/Founding Conductor of the Canton Community Orchestra and Chorus in his hometown of Canton, Ohio. Maestro Toe was named student conductor of the Malone University Chorale and Chorus Master of the Malone Opera Theater Company. After relocating to Memphis, Tennessee to take a post as Director of Music Ministries at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church, Toe was appointed Conductor of the Memphis Youth Symphony Orchestra. During his time in Tennessee he also served as a faculty member of the University of Memphis’ Summer Music Festival, and led the Memphis Symphony in over a dozen performances. Toe joins RCC in addition to his concurrent role as Music Director at Christ United Methodist Church in Bethel Park.

"I believe the role of RCC and other choirs like it is...to show the wide span of the human experience while simultaneously sharing a commonality through the joy of music."

Toe will be the fourteenth artistic director in the choir’s nearly 35-year history (he succeeds Dr. Jeffry Blake Johnson, who retired in June after seven seasons with RCC). This also marks the hiring of RCC’s first African-American artistic director. Toe will be responsible for guiding the creative direction of the group in relation to its mission, as well as expanding its reach into the LGBTQIA+ community in Pittsburgh. “When it comes to taking the artistic helm of this organization, I am most excited to continue the tradition of quality music making and also building new connections with other organizations in the area,” he remarks. He is eager to lead the choir’s charge to affirm and celebrate LGBTQIA+ identity through the unifying power of music. “I believe the role of RCC and other choirs like it is multifaceted, but some of the more essential roles would be to create a truly safe space for music making, and to show the wide span of the human experience while simultaneously sharing a commonality through the joy of music.” 

We’re so excited to hear what S.C. has planned for our “community that sings”! You can join us in welcoming S.C. to the RCC family at our Season Kick-Off Picnic on August 24, 2019.