|
The Music Garden Concerts
:: Harbourfront Centre's Summer Music in the Garden returns to the Toronto Music Garden with a 12
th season of free performnces and popular garden tours with programming that once again shows the vast range of riches found within the categories of classical and traditional music.
The classical offerings range from Carl Loewe's Quatuor spirituel, inspired by the Biblical Psalms, to a program of South Asian music inspired by the Sanskrit word "maya" (illusion), to Belonging
, in which Toronto composer Chan Ka Nin finds a way of making the humble accordion "belong" with a discriminating string quartet.
Traditional concerts traverse several musical continents, from the
high-octane Quebecois group Genticorum, to ancient songs to the Madonna from southern Italy, to Japanese taiko drums.
June 2 - Sept. 18 Concerts take place Thursdays at 7:00 PM, and Sundays at
4:00 PM (weather permitting). Toronto Music Garden, 475 Queens Quay W. | Admission: FREE For directions to The Music Garden, please click here Free tours of the Toronto Music Garden, led by volunteers from the Toronto Botanical Garden, commence June 2 and take place Wednesdays at 11:00 AM through September
29, and on Thursdays before every concert at 5:30 PM from June 30 through September 18. Visitors to the garden can also enjoy an audio tour, with commentary from the Toronto Music Garden's designers Yo-Yo Ma and
Julie Moir Messervy. Hand-held audio players are available for $6 at Harbourfront Centre's Marina Quay West office, 539 Queens Quay West.
Nagez, rameurs!
Genticorum
June 30, 7 p.m.
Quebec's award-winning Genticorum gets toes tapping with passionate interpretations of traditional French-Canadian music.
O solo il mio violoncello! Elinor Frey, cello
July 3, 4 p.m.
The brilliant, Montreal-based cellist
Elinor Frey performs music by Italian cellist-composers from the Baroque, as well as powerful solos by Giovanni Sollima (b. 1962) and Canada's Chris Paul Harman.
Maya Subhajyoti Guha and friends
July 7, 7 p.m.
In partnership
with Small World Music. A South Asian percussion and violin ensemble perform a concert that takes its inspiration from the Sanskrit word "maya", meaning "illusion."
Labours of Love Cecilia String Quartet
July 14, 7 p.m.
Canada's award-winning Cecilia String Quartet returns to the Music Garden with music by Mozart, Beethoven and Piazzolla.
With joy and light encircled' Kevin Skelton and friends
July 17, 4 p.m.
Radiant and fiery chamber music from the German Baroque, featuring intimate sacred cantatas and instrumental works by Telemann and Schütz.
Drumming on the Brightside TorQ Percussion Quartet
July 24, 4 p.m.
Take a riveting rhythmic journey from American minimalism to the Middle East.
Soft-voiced hero Sharon Lee and friends
July 28, 7 p.m.
Music for string trio and oboe by Mozart, Beethoven and Britten performed by Sharon Lee, Marcin Swoboda, Judith Manger and Caitlin Broms-Jacobs.
Reed Blowout! Kornel Wolak and Joseph Macerollo
Aug. 7, 4 p.m.
Clarinetist Kornel Wolak and accordionist Joseph Macerollo team up for an entertaining, musical reunion of these two distant relatives of the reed family. Their program includes the world premiere of a new work for
accordion and clarinet by Toronto composer Norbert Palej, commissioned for the Summer Music in the Garden by Harbourfront Centre.
Music from the Back Row Quartico brass
Aug 14, 4 p.m.
Four outstanding brass players step forward to perform great music written for low brass quartet.
Mountain High, River Flow... (without end) Orchid Ensemble
Aug. 18, 7 p.m.
Vancouver's Juno-nominated Orchid Ensemble performs repertoire inspired by mountains and rivers.
The Root is One Shiraz Ensemble
Aug. 21, 4 p.m.
The Shiraz Ensemble takes Persian Classical music in new directions, exploring the roots of
ancient melodic modes and rhythms found in different regions of Iran and in ancient Persian poetry.
Hibiki Nagata Shachu
Aug. 25, 7 pm
Toronto's exhilarating taiko ensemble Nagata Shachu makes its much-anticipated annual appearance.
Quatuor spirituel Windermere String Quartet
Aug 28
, 4 p.m.
The Windermere String Quartet returns with sublime music by Haydn, Schubert and Carl Loewe, on period instruments.
Lorca at Dusk Maria Soulis and Bruce Domoney
Sept. 1, 7 p.m.
Canadian contralto Maria Soulis and guitarist Bruce Domoney present Spanish songs by Federico García Lorca and Manuel de Falla.
Bach at Dusk Kate Bennett Haynes, cello
Sept. 8, 7 p.m.
Baroque cellist Kate Bennett Haynes inaugurates a cycle of Bach's Six Suites for Solo Cello with the Suite No. 1 in G Major – the piece that inspired the Music Garden.
Belonging Ton Beau Quartet and Ina Henning
Sept. 11
, 4 p.m.
Toronto's Ton Beau string quartet and accordionist Ina Henning perform music by Mozart, Rameau and Chan Ka Nin.
I canti a Maria Vesuvius Ensemble
Sept. 18, 4 p.m.
The Vesuvius Ensemble makes its Music Garden debut, and closes the 2011 season, with passionate traditional songs to the Madonna from the regions surrounding Naples.
TORONTO MUSIC GARDEN BACKGROUND
The Toronto Music Garden is one of Toronto's most enchanting locations. The Garden was conceived by internationally renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma and designed by Boston-based landscape artist Julie Moir Messervy
. Its design interprets Bach's Suite No. 1 in G Major for Unaccompanied Cello, with each dance movement within the suite corresponding to a different section of the Garden: Prelude, Allemande, Courante,
Sarabande, Menuett and Gigue. The Toronto Music Garden is the only garden/park in the world known to be directly inspired by a specific piece of music.
The Toronto Music Garden, located on Queens Quay West at
the foot of Spadina Avenue, is easy to reach by public transit. From Spadina Station take the 510 (Union Station) streetcar south. From Union Station take the Harbourfront LRT (509 or 510 streetcar) going west from
inside Union Station. Call the Toronto Transit Commission at 416-393-4636 for transit information. ________________________________
|
