The Big Concert of the week is on Sunday, when the Aldeburgh Connection celebrates its 30th anniversary in a song extravaganza at Koerner Hall with a who’s-who of Canadian alumni, including baritone Gerald Finley. But there’s much more:
MONDAY
- St. Lawrence String Quartet at Walter Hall, 7:30 p.m.
- Classical Music 101: What Does A Conductor Do? - June 17, 2019
- Classical Music 101 | What Does Period Instrument Mean? - May 6, 2019
- CLASSICAL MUSIC 101 | What Does It Mean To Be In Tune? - April 23, 2019
Canada’s best-known chamber music exports — violinists Geoff Nutall and Scott St. John, violinist Lesley Robertson and cellist Christopher Costanza — make their annual pilgrimage to University of Toronto’s Walter Hall for a traditional concert featuring great quartets by Joseph Haydn (“The Fifths,” Op. 76 No. 2), Boghuslav Martinu (No. 5) and Antonin Dvorák (No. 14, in A-flat Major, Op. 105).
For anyone free in the afternoon, the Lawrences present a masterclass from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. at Walter Hall. Admission is free.
For info and tickets, click here.
Here’s a bit of the foursome playing Dvorák’s Op. 106:
TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY
- Canadian Opera Company free concerts at the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre
Programmer Nina Draganic has a phenomenal ear for talent as well as programming. This season, she has more in-house talents on her concert roster than before, presenting hour-long concerts that would be well worth paying for, if they were not free. It’s always best to line up on Queen St. early, because they reach capacity well before performance time. (More details here.)
Tuesday, at noon: In honour of Valentine’s Day, it’s the music of love, performed by wonderful soprano Julie Makerov, the other Tosca in the COC’s current production (which runs to Feb. 25), accompanied by pianist Anne Larlee.
Wednesday, at 5:30 p.m.: Hot, hot Toronto-based jazz pianists Robi Botos and Hilario Durán team up for an hour of guaranteed keyboard fireworks, on two pianos.
Thursday, at noon: Music director Johannes Debus emerges from the L’Amour de loin orchestra pit to join Carolyn Maule at the piano to accompany his singing cast (Russell Braun, Krisztina Szabó and Erin Wall) as well as Ensemble Studio tenor Christopher Enns, in Brahms’ Liebeslieder Waltzes, selections from Schumann’s Spanisches Liederspiel and John Greer’s All Around the Circle.
THURSDAY & SATURDAY
- Violinist Sarah Chang and conductor John Storgaards join the Toronto Symphony Orchestra at Roy Thomson Hall, 8 p.m.
Not many of us have a pressing need to hear Beethoven’s Fifth anytime soon, but Finnish violinist-turned-conductor John Storgaards is well worth checking out. He has just assumed the music directorship of the BBC Philharmonic, and is likely to emerge from being a local, Scandinavian, favourite, into a global force.
And Sarah Chang is an ideal match for Shostakovich’s powerful Violin Concerto No. 1.
More info and tickets here.
Here is Chang playing the first movement of the Sibelius Violin Concerto at the Koncertgebouw in Amsterdam, with conductor Jaap van Zveden:
FRIDAY
- I Furiosi Baroque Ensemble at Calvin Presbyterian Church, 8 p.m.
Mezzo Laura Pudwell, last seen at Tafelmusik’s impressive semi-staged performances of Handel’s Hercules at Koerner Hall last month, is the featured guest in a programme entitled Anger Management. Here is how I Furiosi describe it:
Before Lithium and Valium™ were prescribed, people dealt with stress and anger in more subtle ways, like calling up the spirits of the dead to exact revenge on their enemies. It was a simpler time. Mezzo-soprano Laura Pudwell joins the group in a concert of anxiety and discord.
More info and tickets here.
In case you need an introduction, here is video from several seasons ago:
- Pianist André Laplante at the Aurora Cultural Centre, 8 p.m.
It’s worth a detour to hear Montreal-based pianist André Laplante, especially when there is the music of Franz Liszt on the programme (Sposalizio, from the Years of Pilgrimage). Also on the bill are a Haydn sonata and pieces by Ravel. It’s an inttimate venue, adding to the appeal.
More info and tickets here.
For proof of this elegantly rich musical pudding, here is Laplante playing Une barque sur l’océan, by Ravel:
SATURDAY
- Scaramella at Victoria College Chapel, 8 p.m.
Scaramella founder and Toronto freelance viol player Joëlle Morton teams up bass violist Liam Byrne and harpsichordist Sara-Anne Churchill in a programme entitled The Angel and the Devil, featuring music by French Baroque greats Marin Marais and Antonine Forqueray. The venue itself, tucked away on the second floor at Victoria College, itself in a quiet quad off Charles St., is a treat.
More info and tickets here.
Here are Morton, Byrne and others playing a Chaconne by Forqueray on the famed Hart House Viols six years ago:
SUNDAY
- The Aldeburgh Connection 30th Anniversary Gala at Koerner Hall, 2:30 p.m.
I’ll have more about this concert later in the week. But don’t wait for me; check out the incredible list of 16 singers and the programme here. There are only about three-dozen $50 tickets left on the balcony levels.
John Terauds
- Classical Music 101: What Does A Conductor Do? - June 17, 2019
- Classical Music 101 | What Does Period Instrument Mean? - May 6, 2019
- CLASSICAL MUSIC 101 | What Does It Mean To Be In Tune? - April 23, 2019
