MONDAY
- Bach at Trinity College Chapel, University of Toronto, 12:15 p.m. Free.
The pale, timeless, never-quite-today atmosphere inside Trinity College Chapel might be just the refuge from weather-bedecked January Monday blahs, especially when there’s some Bach to ease the journey. The short concert featuring soprano, flute, cello and harpsichord also includes pieces by Georg Muffat and Francesco Geminiani. It concludes with a perky aria from Bach’s Coffee Cantata. Details here.
- Star Talk with Peter Sellars in the Bram and Bluma Apel Salon at Toronto Reference Library, 7 p.m. Free.
The Toronto Star’s theatre critic Richard Ouzounian interviews opera director Peter Sellars ahead of his Toronto professional premiere in this open, friendly forum. Details here.
TUESDAY
- Tristan und Isolde at the Four Seasons Centre, 6:30 p.m.
Despite the fact that the majority of seats for the seven-performance run are sold, there is still a handful of tickets available to the opening performance of director Peter Sellars’ and video artist Bill Viola’s take on Richard Wagner’s four-hour (plus intermissions) rumination on love blues presented by the Canadian Opera Company. Details here.
- Soprano Angela Meade with the Ontario Philharmonic at Koerner Hall, 8 p.m.
This should be a wonderful occasion to hear a significant new voice sing Strauss’s Four Last Songs as well as hear this excellent orchestra perform Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 4. You can read my appreciation of their first performance in Oshawa on Saturday here. Concert and ticket details are here.
THURSDAY+
This is one of those crazy nights when there are a half-dozen equally worthy choices for Toronto classical music fans. In French, this is known as the embarrassment of choice:
- New Music: Esprit Orchestra presents an intriguing programme at Koerner Hall that includes a reduced orchestration of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, in honour of its centennial. Details here.
- Chamber Music: The beloved St Lawrence String Quartet makes their annual, ah-yes-this-is-why-we-prefer-California-in-January visit for a programme of Haydn and Britten (plus a new work) for Music Toronto at the Jane Mallett Theatre. Details here.
- Solo Recital: The great violinist Leila Josefowicz graces Flato Markham Theatre with a meaty programme that includes Brahms, Schumann and John Adams. Details here (the programme listed on the site is not up to date).
- Baroque: French opera star Sandrine Piau makes her Toronto début with Tafelmusik in a programme of baroque treats that runs until Sunday at Trinity-St Paul’s Centre. Details here.
- Symphony: It’s Tchaikovsky’s Fourth as well as the belated Canadian premiere of Peter Lieberson’s Neruda Songs (sung by Californian mezzo Kelley O’Connor) as the excellent conductor Robert Spano guests with the Toronto Symphony at Roy Thomson Hall. The programme repeats Saturday. On Friday, the Tchaikovsky symphony gets the “Beyond the Score” lecture-concert treatment. Details here.
SUNDAY
More tough choices:
- Opera: The Canadian Opera Company unwraps what promises to be a very fine, if visually gritty, production of Mozart’s dramatic masterwork La clemenza di Tito at the Four Seasons Centre, 3 p.m. Strangely, despite an excellent cast that includes tenor Michael Schade, ticket sales appear to be a bit soft, so perhaps there are deals in the offing. Details here.
- Something unusual: Amici Chamber Ensemble accompanies two silent films — Buster Keaton’s The Playhouse and Canadian Guy Maddin’s The Heart of the World — with music arranged and composer by Amici pianist Serouj Kradjian at the TIFF Lighbox, 3 p.m. Details here.
- Chamber music: The city gets a welcome blast of Venezuelan verve in the Dalí Quartet, who should warm up Mooredale Concerts’ Walter Hall programme nicely with Latin American art music. Details here.
- Piano bonanza: We rarely get two great piano soloists getting together for a duo recital like this meeting of Louis Lortie and Hélène Mercier at Koerner Hall in a fabulously rich programme that includes Rachmaninov’s Symphonic Dances. Details here.
- New Music: New Music Concerts is surveying what they consider some of the best Canadian music from the last 15 years. One newer arrival to watch — and listen to — is Adam Scime, represented by the premiere of In the Earth and Air for soprano and ensemble. It’s at the Betty Oliphant Theatre at 8 p.m. Details here.
John Terauds