The InterVarsity Choral Festival was founded in 1949 by the NFCUS (National Federation of Canadian University Students) who suggested that there be a regular competitive music festival in Ontario. The solution was an annual festival of university choirs. The original participants were McMaster University, the University of Western Ontario, and the University of Toronto's Victoria College. The Ontario Agricultural College in Guelph joined two years later.
By 1980, the festival had undergone some major changes. University of Toronto's Hart House Chorus and the Queens Choral Ensemble were now permanent participants while Guelph had dropped out. The competition was restructured into an adjudicated, non-competitive two day festival, and Mary Willan Mason, a noted Toronto writer and daughter of Healey Willan, donated a cup to be presented to the host choir to recognize their efforts in organizing the festival.
In 2000, Hart House invited other Ontario university choirs to join that year's IVCF. The University of Ottawa and Trent University sent representatives and became the fourth and fifth permanent participants in the festival.
The host for IVCF now rotates between the University of Western Ontario (UWO Choir), University of Toronto (Hart House Chorus), Queen's University (Queen's Choral Ensemble), Trent University (Trent University Concert Choir), and the University of Ottawa (University of Ottawa Choral Ensemble).
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