Hilary Donaldson
I’m an experienced and passionate advocate for building community by nurturing and celebrating congregational song and the drama of worship. As a congregational-song enlivener, I help communities explore diverse worship styles, fostering community by encouraging congregations to find their voices.
I’m a graduate of the Master of Sacred Music program at Perkins School of Theology in Dallas, TX, and a PhD student in Musicology at the University of Toronto. My dissertation research is focused on English modernism, musical communities, and the sacred works of Benjamin Britten.
I have chaired the program committee of the 2017 conference of the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada in Waterloo, ON. I currently serve as pastoral musician at Eastminster United Church in Toronto.
My original web video series Break into Song is a how-to for learning and teaching new songs.
- Congregational singing.
- Global music and intercultural worship.
- Hymnology.
- Joseph-Armand Bombardier CGS Doctoral Scholarship, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (2014 - 2017).
- University of Toronto Faculty of Music TA Award for Excellence in Teaching (2014).
- Master of Sacred Music Award, Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University (2010).
- Donaldson, Hilary Seraph. “Let Justice Flow Down like a River: Singing the Sovereignty of Creation.” Reformed Worship 119 (forthcoming March 2016).
- Donaldson, Hilary Seraph. “Paperless Teaching: A Practical Guide.” Preface to Music that Makes Community song resource (forthcoming 2016).
- Donaldson, Hilary Seraph. “Toward a Musical Praxis of Justice: A Survey of Global and Indigenous Canadian Song in the Hymnals of the Anglican, Presbyterian, and United Churches of Canada through their History.” The Hymn 63, no. 2: 20-28, (Spring/Summer 2012).
- “An Analysis of Benjamin Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb.” Choral Journal 51, no. 10: 6-24, (May 2011).
To see more of my publications, visit utoronto.academia.edu/HilarySeraphDonaldson.