It’s amazing what busy musicians can get up to in their free time.

In the case of Toronto’s Ensemble Polaris, it has led to four CDs and quite a bit of touring for their adventurous blend of old and new music from countries where the Winter Solstice means several extra hours of darkness.

In the spirit of ensembles old and new, the gang prepares many of its own arrangements, and does a lot of improvising.

They present their own twist on a programme of seasonal music Friday evening at cozy and acoustically friendly Heliconian Hall, in Yorkville. Tickets max out at $20, at the door.

“Get away from mall Muzak and join us for some Grog,” they say in invitation for a freewheeling program of Russian folk music, including their own arrangements of a well-known ballet score that rhymes with bushwhacker.

Check out who they are and what they do here.

Here’s a sample of what they do: an improvisation on an Italian tarantella at the Gladstone Hotel in June, 2010, with Marco Cera, guitar, Debashis Sinha, percussion and Ben Grossman on the hurdy gurdy (cellist Margaret Gay looks on):

John Terauds

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John Terauds

John Terauds, Editor-Emeritus of Ludwig van Toronto, is currently a Divinity student at the University of Toronto and a church music director. He joined the Toronto Star in 1988, was the classical music critic from 2005 to 2012, and continues as a freelance critic for the paper. He is the co-author of Roy Thomson Hall: A Portrait, a book written with Toronto Star Colleague, William Littler.

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