TORONTO - One of Michael Burgess's final requests was to have St. Michael's Choir School participate at his funeral Mass. With hundreds of mourners packing Blessed Sacrament Roman Catholic Church on Oct. 5, that request was granted.

TORONTO - Each year, across the Toronto Catholic District School Board, Grade 2 boys take part in a yearly ritual, as adjudicators from St. Michael's Choir School visit their classrooms and listen carefully to the small, unformed voices that may one day make up the ranks of one of the finest music schools in the world.