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T A F E L M U S I K
Mostly Mozart ::
Long-time collaborator Bruno Weil directs the orchestra in Mozart's Eine kleine Nachtmusik, Haydn's Symphony no. 97, and Mozart's Piano Concerto no. 20, featuring Ronald Brautigam in his
Toronto debut on fortepiano.
Weil describes his unique relationship with Tafelmusik as a "real friendship that grows, that comes naturally and that I don't have with any other orchestra in the
world. That's what makes it so special. That's why I love working with them."
Feb. 18- Feb. 20 @ 8:00 PM Feb. 17 @ 7:00 PM Feb. 21
@ 3:30 PM Trinity-St. Paul Centre, 427 Bloor St. W. | Tickets: $15 - $76 Phone: 416 964-6337 or order online by clicking here
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Beethoven Symphony 5 ::
Boldness meets delicacy on this arresting programme. Beethoven's forceful Fifth Symphony leads us on an emotional journey from angry despair to uninhibited celebration. In an imaginative and often unusually
subdued new percussion concerto, British composer Simon Holt uses a limited number of featured instruments to produce an amazing array of sonic possibilities.
Programme: Beethoven
Overture to Fidelio, Op. 72 Simon Holt a table of noises (North American premiere) Beethoven Symphony No. 5 in C Minor,
Op. 67
Wed. Feb. 10 @ 8:00 PM & Thurs.Feb. 11
@ 8:00 PM Roy Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe St. | Tickets: $29 - $128 Phone 416 597-7840 or to order online
please click David Clayton-Thomas :: David Clayton-Thomas, former singer of Blood
Sweat & Tears, performs live for two incredible nights at Massey Hall. Hear this Canadian Music Hall of Famer and his band with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, singing classics including Spinning Wheel,
You've Made Me So Very Happy and God Bless the Child.
Fri. Feb. 12 @ 8:00 PM Sat. Feb. 13
@ 8:00 PM Roy Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe St. | Tickets: $35 - $59 Phone 416 597-7840 or to order online please click Verdi Requiem :: Verdi's stirring sacred masterpiece, the Requiem Mass, has been called his
greatest opera. With its imposing choruses and intense emotions - from passionate to angelic - it provides both prayers for the dead and comfort for the living.
The renowned Italian maestro
Gianandrea Noseda presides over a distinguished array of soloists, chorus and orchestra in what are sure to be truly memorable performances.
On Feb. 20 at 7:15pm, join Rick Phillips for a relaxed and enlightening discussion about the performance, with a Pre-Concert Chat in the lobby.
Thurs. Feb. 18
@ 8:00 PM Sat. Feb. 20
@ 8:00 PM Roy Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe St. | Tickets: $29 - $128 Phone 416 597-7840 or to order online
please click Rotterdam Philharmonic :: Rising rocket Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the first Canadian
conductor to become music director of a major international orchestra, brings his fabulous Dutch musicians to Roy Thomson Hall. Their superlative programme ranges from the sweeping romance and thundering
fireworks of Strauss's colossal tone poem, A Hero's Life, to the jazz-flavoured palette of Ravel's ingenious five-finger piano concerto.
On Feb. 24 at 7:15pm, join Rick Phillips for a relaxed and enlightening discussion about the performance, with a Pre-Concert Chat in the lobby.
Programme: Messiaen
Les offrandes oubliées Ravel Piano Concerto for the Left Hand in D Major Strauss Ein Heldenleben, Op. 40
Wed. Feb. 24 @ 8:00 PM Roy Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe St. | Tickets: $50 - $169 Phone 416 597-7840 or to order online please click Azul
:: Osvaldo Golijov's music defies all
labels and crosses all boundaries, intermingling classical, liturgical, musical theatre, klezmer and tango into a heady, supremely appealing mixture. This all-Golijov concert displays many facets of his
style.
The internationally acclaimed soprano Dawn Upshaw makes her TSO début with the three songs that Golijov composed especially for her, and cellist Alisa Weilerstein takes centre stage in
Azul, an homage to the sublime slow movements of the Baroque era.
A recent work by Kelly-Marie Murphy completes the bill.
Enjoy pre-concert entertainment at 7:20pm in the lobby of Roy Thomson Hall by Tapestry New Opera Singers.
Programme: Kelly-Marie Murphy Through the unknown, unremembered gate
Osvaldo Golijov Three Songs - Canadian premiere Osvaldo Golijov Azul for Cello and Orchestra - Canadian premiere
Thurs. Feb. 25 @ 8:00 PM Roy Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe St. | Tickets: $29 - $128 Phone 416 597-7840 or to order online please click
La Pasion :: The second concert of the
New Creations Festival adopts a theatrical slant. Highlights include a suite from Peter Lieberson's opera about the visionary, third-century B.C. leader who unified all India, and selections from the work
that swept Osvaldo Golijov to global fame: the dynamic, multi-flavoured St. Mark Passion.
These compositions are paired with the world premičre of a piece for narrator and orchestra by Andrew Paul MacDonald.
Enjoy a pre-concert Spoken Word Concert in the lobby of Roy Thomson Hall
by the Toronto Poetry Project featuring David Silverberg, Amanda Hiebert, Krystle Mullin and White Noise Machine.
Casual Concerts are followed by a party for the whole audience in the North Lobby.
On February 27, mingle with TSO musicians and listen to the Nathaniel Dett Chorale conducted by Brainerd Blyden-Taylor.
Programme: Andrew P. MacDonald
Ode to the West Wind (TSO Commission/World premiere) - World premiere Peter Lieberson Suite from Ashoka's Dream (TSO Commission/World premiere)
- Canadian premiere Osvaldo Golijov Suite from La Pasión según San Marcos - Canadian premiere
Sat. Feb. 27
@ 7:30 PM Roy Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe St. | Tickets: $28 - $87 Phone 416 597-7840 or to order online
please click __________________________________________
C A N A D I A N O P E R A C O M P A N Y Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre: 2009 - 2010 Free Concert Series ::
The insanely popular Free Concert Series returns for it's second season at the 3rd floor Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre, which
allows for breath-taking views through floor to ceiling glass windows of University Avenue as a backdrop, includes concerts, performances and presentations by young artists, Canadian and international opera
stars and COC staff.
This is an exciting opportunity for Torontonians to experience the artistic excellence and cultural diversity of the city in the beautiful new Four Seasons Centre For The
Performing Arts.
All concerts are free to the public. "Brown bag" lunches are welcome for the noon performances.
For a complete listing of concert dates and performances please click here _______________________ M U S I C T O R O N T O The Schumann Letters :: German composer Robert Schumann fell in love with Clara Wieck while studying piano with her father. Her father didn't approve. Robert and Clara exchanged some 20,000
letters during their long courtship. Eventually, after a long legal battle with her father, Robert was successful and married his beloved Clara. This special programme uses some of those letters, and some of
the Schumanns' music - Clara was a composer, too - to portray their life and love.
Susan Gilmour Bailey soprano, Michael Kim, pianist and Colin Fox, narrator.
Thurs. Feb. 4
@ 8:00 PM St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts, Jane Mallett Theatre, 27 Front Street E. | Tickets: $15 Phone: 416 366-7723 or order online by clicking here
Rachael Kiyo Iwassa pianist :: Rachael
Kiyo Iwassa plays with flutist Mark Takeshi McGregor in the duo Tiresias; their CD Delicate Fires was nominated for a 2008 Western Canadian Music Award. Ms. Iwaasa's teachers included Jane Coop, Menahem
Pressler and Robin Wood. After studies at the University of Victoria, she received 2 scholarships to study at the Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler" in Berlin, added a master's from Indiana, and obtained a
doctorate from UBC. Iwaasa is now Piano Chamber Music Coordinator and Instructor at UBC, and performs chamber music and recitals in Canada, the US and Europe.
Thurs. Mar. 18
@ 8:00 PM St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts, Jane Mallett Theatre, 27 Front Street E. | Tickets: $15 Phone: 416 366-7723 or order online by clicking here
St. Lawrence Quartet :: The foremost
North American quartet of its generation, the St. Lawrence began its long association with MTO in 1992, and was quartet-in-residence for 1995-98. The quartet now regularly performs over 100 concerts a year,
throughout the US and Canada and around the world. The 08-09 season includes another European tour.
The SLSQ is also dedicated to inspiring the next generation, as ensemble-in-residence at
Stanford University in California since 1998, visiting artists to the University of Toronto since 1995, and this season through a new visiting chamber music residency at Arizona State University.
Programme: Haydn Quartet in F Major, Op, 77, No. 2, Hob.III:82 John Adams String Quartet (2009)
Mendelssohn String Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 12
Thurs. Feb. 25
@ 8:00 PM St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts, Jane Mallett Theatre, 27 Front Street E. | Tickets: $41 - $45 Phone: 416 366-7723 or order online by clicking here
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T O R O N T O S I N F O N I E T T A Romancing Chopin :: The Young Musicians Gala concert celebrating 200th
birthday of Frederic Chopin featuring Piano Concerto no. 2, in F Minor, Grand Polonaise and Andante Spianato, and arrangements of other works for violin, cello, flute and soprano solo with orchestra.
Sat. Feb. 6 @ 7:00 pm, Isabel Bader Theatre, 93 Charles St West | Tickets: $25 - $ 15 Phone: 416 410-4379 ____________________________
R O Y T H O M S O N H A L L Angela Hewitt :: Celebrate the 25th anniversary of Angela Hewitt's triumphant victory at the
Toronto International Bach Piano Competition held at Roy Thomson Hall, where she firmly established herself as the pre-eminent Bach pianist of our time. In 2006 she earned the Gramophone Artist of the
Year award and received the Order of the British Empire in the Queen's Birthday Honours. One of the most elegant pianists, she is respected for her innate sophistication and delicacy of touch.
Programme: JS Bach: Italian Concerto, Beethoven: Sonata in D major, Op. 10 No. 3, Brahms: Sonata in F minor, Op. 5
Fri. Feb. 12
@ 8:00 PM Roy Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe St. | Tickets: $30 - $70 Phone: 416 872-4255 or to order online please click
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A R T O F T I M E E N S E M B L E Shostakovich: A Portrait
:: Featuring actor R.H. Thomson, dancer
Andrea Nann, filmmaker Peter Mettler along with leading musicians in the classical and jazz scenes the evening features two of Shostakovich's greatest chamber works -8th String Quartet and 2nd Piano Trio-
and his rarely performed Jazz Suite #1.
Award-winning Canadian stage, screen, and television actor R.H. Thomson provides an introductory narration. Andrea Nann performs a dance work to accompany
the monumental 2nd Piano Trio as Peter Mettler provides the filmic counterpoint.
Feb. 12 & Feb. 13
@ 8:00 PM Enwave Theatre, Harbourfront Centre, 213 Queens Quay W. | Tickets: $19 - $49 Phone: 416 973-4000 or order online by clicking here
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N E W M U S I C C O N C E R T S Chinese New Year and Valentines Day
:: New Music Concerts
embarks upon the Year of the Tiger with a Valentine's Day celebration featuring the music of two well-known Canadian couples: Chinese-Canadian husband and wife Chan Ka Nin & Alice Ping Yee Ho, and composer Christos Hatzis & percussionist Beverley Johnston. Johnston shares the stage with the New Music Concerts Ensemble (Robert Aitken, flute & direction).
Highlights of the evening include the Toronto premiere of Alice Ping Yee Ho's Dance Concerto featuring Chinese dancer William Lau and the world premiere of Chan Ka Nin's intriguing work,
The Consequential Web of Life. Two works for solo marimba, Cinnabar Heart by composer Chinary Ung and In the Fire of Conflict by Christos Hatzis, round out the programme.
Alice Ho's Dance Concerto
is based on two famous Peking Opera excerpts: the Drunken Beauty and the Female Warrior. The first is a stylish depiction of an aging concubine drowning her sorrows after being stood up by the Emperor on a date. The second displays the military competency and vibrancy of a young female guarding her village. The composition is a reinvention of the drama and emotional complexity found in Chinese Opera tradition.
Sun. Feb. 14 @ 7:15 PM Betty Oliphant Theatre, 404 Jarvis Street | Tickets: $10 - $30 Phone: 416 961-9594 _______________________________ T H E R O Y A L C O N S E R V A T O R Y
Absolute Ensemble / Tiempo Libre :: A
night of back-to-back music inspired by Johann Sebastian Bach, beginning on Feb. 18 with the Canadian debut of Grammy-nominated genre busters, Absolute Ensemble.
Led by Estonian conductor Kristjan Järvi, this New York-based group integrates classical, jazz, rock, and hip-hop into what the Palm Beach Post
described as "the classical version of a garage band."
Joining them is rising piano star Simone Dinnerstein, also making her Canadian debut. With a string of chart-topping albums to her credit,
she is perhaps best known for her stunning reading of Bach's Goldberg Variations. The New York Times heralded her as "an utterly distinctive voice in the forest of Bach interpretation."
The evening's program is comprised of original works based on Bach's Piano Inventions. These pieces take Bach's framework and add elements like turntable scratching, tango rhythms, or a heavy
metal guitar solo.
The second concert of "Bach" comes courtesy of Grammy Award-nominated Cuban band dance band, Tiempo Libre.
Making their Toronto debut, their Feb. 20 appearance at
Koerner Hall is the only Canadian stop on their North American tour. Founded in 2001, this Miami-based group is renowned for its incredibly high energy performances.
Classically trained at La ENA, Cuba's premiere conservatory, they're presenting music from their genre-bending disc, Bach in Havana. On the album, they blend melodies from pieces like the Mass
in B Minor and the Well-Tempered Clavier
with the infectious Cuban rhythms of timba, the son, the danzón, and the cha-cha-chá. Following the performance, DJ Billy Bryans will present a free Latin dance party in the lobby of Koerner Hall.
Feb. 18 Absolute Ensemble, Feb. 20
Tiempo Libre Koerner Hall, Telus Centre For Performance and Learning, 273 Bloor St. W. | Tickets: $20 - $50 Phone: 416 408-0208 Order online by
clicking here
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M O O R E D A L E C O N C E R T S Jason Vieaux, guitar w/ Wallis Giunta, mezzo-soprano
:: The Philadelphia Inquirer counts Jason
Vieaux "among the elite of today's classical guitarists." His newest superb recording reached No. 13 on the Billboard charts!
Young artist Wallis Giunta's voice is "utterly beautiful… The satin
purity of her voice served the music to perfection" (Ottawa Citizen). She will sing Cherubino in Opera Atelier's production of Figaro. Vieaux will include selections by Bach, and Albeniz and accompany Giunta
in vibrant Spanish repertoire, including De Falla's Canciones Populares Espańolas.
Feb. 21
@ 3:30 PM Walter Hall, University of Toronto Faculty of Music (north), Edward Johnson Building, 80 Queen's Park | Tickets: $20 - $25 Phone: 416 587-9411 or order online by
clicking here _________________________________
O R C H E S T R A T O R O N T O Kenji Fuse :: Violist Kenji Fusé returns to Toronto to perform Hector Berlioz's
Harold in Italy
at the first full Orchestra Toronto concert conducted by its new assistant conductor, Danielle Lisboa. A highlight of the concert is Fusé's sharing a stage with his mother, Orchestra Toronto oboe and English horn player Lois Fusé, who is featured in the Berlioz symphony's third movement.
The afternoon concert begins with a pre-concert talk. Danielle Lisboa then begins the program by conducting Ludwig van Beethoven's sparkling Symphony No. 1 in C Major, which was completed in 1800.
Although he was only 29, the work shows the composer completely the master of his material.
It was composed late in the first period of Beethoven's career, when he was secretly battling the crisis
brought about by his gradual loss of hearing. Full of fun, it is a fitting addition to Orchestra Toronto's 2009-10 series of well-known and well-loved works, A Season of Symphonies.
Berlioz's Harold in Italy
was commissioned by the legendary violinist and composer Nicolň Paganini, though he never performed it. "This is not at all what I want," Paganini told Berlioz when shown the first movement. "I am silent a great deal too long. I must be playing all the time." Berlioz finished the compostion nonetheless and the work was introduced at the end of 1834.
Fusé, who was raised in Toronto and educated at the University of Toronto, is Principal Violist with the Victoria Symphony and the founder of Metapop Orchestra, Victoria's premiere avant-garde
improv ensemble. He is in demand as a soloist, chamber musician, instructor and composer.
Danielle Lisboa, appointed Orchestra Toronto assistant conductor in November, is a member of what is
still a small club of female orchestra conductors. After a stellar career in her native Brazil, she was assistant conductor at the Moores Opera House in Houston and co-conductor of the Brockport Symphony
Orchestra, a volunteer orchestra in New York state.
Sun. Feb. 21 @ 2:15 PM George Weston Recital Hall, Toronto Centre for the Arts, 5040 Yonge St. |
Tickets: $30 - $35, $22 each for groups of 10 or more, 18 and under $10 Phone: 416 870-8000
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Violinist Sarah Chang & Pianist Andrew Van Oeyen :: Violin superstar Sarah Chang, with pianist Andrew Von Oeyen, is making theIr only
Canadian recital appearance at Markham Theatre on February 24 at 8 PM. They kick off the International Series, which is part of Markham Theatre's 25th
anniversary season. The other concerts featured in this series are Lizt Alfonso Dance Cuba (Tuesday, March 16 at 8 PM) and Anoushka Shankar (Monday, April 12 at 8 PM).
Sarah Chang is a star
violinist who's "got it all" – she is already a veteran performer at age thirty with a brilliant technique, strong stage personality, and performances marked by sheer gusto.
As a recitalist, Sarah has toured Europe and the US, and she likes to programme something contemporary along with the warhorse favourites.
In this recital at Markham Theatre, Sarah Chang will perform the Sonatensatz and Sonata No. 3 both by Johannes Brahms; Fantasy
by Christopher Theofanidis, and César Franck's popular Sonata in A Major. Theofanidis is a Grammy-nominated American composer who has composed for the American Ballet Theatre, the Orpheus Chamber Ensemble, and several American orchestras.
Wed. Feb. 24
@ 8:00 PM Markham Theatre, 171 Town Centre Boulevard (Warden & Hwy #7) | Tickets: $49 - $69 Phone: 905 305-7469 or order online by clicking here __________________________
M U S I C I A N S I N O R D I N A R Y A Night Of Sweet 16th
Century Italian Madrigals ::
Soprano Hallie Fishel and lutenist John Edwards present O Dolce Nocte (O Sweet Night), with guest tenors Bud Roach and Kevin Skelton, and baritone Neil Aronoff.
John
Edwards says listeners will hear little gems in music that sounds somewhat familiar. "The church music, the motets and masses, of this generation are heard every Sunday in churches with decent choirs, but
these beautiful miniatures are hardly known. They use the same musical vocabulary as the church music, but distilled and concentrated."
The subjects are also more secular. Fishel re-creates some of the entertainments that the 16th century courtesan would have provided with solo song arrangements of some of the madrigals.
To accompany the tenor solos, Edwards will play a large bass lute in D. Fishel also gets to play and sing, using a small lute in A. As Edwards says, "It's like playing the accompaniments on a
violin and a cello depending on what pitch the singer needs.
Sat. Feb. 27
@ 8:00 PM Heliconian Hall, 35 Hazelton Ave. (north of Scollard Street in Yorkville; Bay St. subway) | Tickets: $15 - $20 Phone: 416-535-9956 ____________________________ M A R I I N S K Y O R C H E S T R A :: Under the dynamic leadership of musical director Valery Gergiev, the internationally-acclaimed Mariinsky Orchestra (formerly known as the Kirov Orchestra)
is a favourite with Toronto audiences and always a sellout; the orchestra returns for its 5th appearance at Roy Thomson Hall.
"The Kirov Orchestra is a perfectly balanced, impeccably blended virtuoso instrument, and Gergiev plays it with masterly élan." -- The Los Angeles Times.
There will be seperate programmes for each evening.
Programme for Tues. Mar. 16 - Berlioz: Royal Hunt and Storm from Les Troyens, Berlioz: Introduction,
Ball, Adagio, Scherzo, March to the Grave from Romeo and Juliet, Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5
Programme for Wed. Mar. 17 - Liadov: Enchanted Lake,
Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 3 with pianist Denis Matsuev, Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5
Mar. 16 & Mar. 17
@ 8:00 PM Roy Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe St. | Tickets: $50 - $170 Phone: 416 872-4255 or to order online please click _________________________________ |
