Toronto's Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Chamber Choir will lose its long-time music director Jeanne Lamon, after she announced her intention to step down in 2014.

Lamon has been music director of the period ensemble since 1981, and has guided Tafelmusik from its modest beginnings to become a baroque orchestra with international standing.

Formed in 1979, Tafelmusik performs more than 50 concerts a year in Toronto, tours extensively around the world and has released more than 80 recordings. It has received nine Juno Awards and earned a Grammy nomination.

A violinist who performs with Tafelmusik as well as directing it, Lamon regularly guest directs symphony orchestras such as The Detroit Symphony, Les Violons du Roy, l’Orchestre Métropolitain de Montréal, Symphony Nova Scotia and the Victoria Symphony.

Lamon began to specialize in baroque violin in the early 1970s while studying in Amsterdam with Sigiswald Kuijken. From 1972 to 1981 she was a concertmaster of many period orchestras, both European and North American, before being invited to Toronto by Tafelmusik founders Kenneth Solway and Susan Graves.

Lamon will continue to work on the creation of the Tafelmusik International Baroque Academy, a new training initiative for young musicians. She is also on the faculty of the Glenn Gould School at The Royal Conservatory and the University of Toronto faculty of music.

Lamon received the Canada Council's prestigious Molson Prize in 1998 for her lifelong commitment to the arts and excellence in her field and was appointed a member of the Order of Canada in 2000.

Tafelmusik plans to begin a search process for a new music director immediately.