MONDAY
- Pianist William Aide at Walter Hall, 7 p.m.
Instead of receiving, former University of Toronto Faculty of Music piano professor William Aide is giving in honour of his 75th birthday. One of the country’s great collaborative pianists offers a recital of favourite pieces, including Frédéric Chopin’s B minor Piano Sonata. The concert also includes baritone Douglas MacNaughton singing a cycle by Walter Buczinsky that sets six Aide poems. For more details, click here.
TUESDAY
- Pianist Jon Kimura Parker at the Flato Markahm Theatre, 8 p.m.
Jackie Parker has been challenging himself with his own transcriptions of the ballet suites of Igor Stravinsky in recent years. In honour of its impending 100th anniversary, The Rite of Spring is the featured work on this programme of Russian favourites that also includes Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition and Sergei Prokofiev’s Piano Sonata No. 3. Details here.
WEDNESDAY
- Pianist Vestard Shimkus and soprano Elina Shimkus at the Glenn Gould Studio, 7:30 p.m.
This very talented young husband-and-wife team from Riga, Latvia makes its Toronto début with a half-and-half programme of solo piano and vocal music that mixes pieces by Latvian composers with operatic fare. On the piano side, Vestard offers his own transcription of “Isoldes Liebestod” and Franz List’s transcription of the “Spinnerlied” from The Flying Dutchman. Elina is including some Mozart and Rossini arias in her half of the programme. Details here.
THURSDAY
- Tokyo String Quartet for Music Toronto at the Jane Mallett Theatre, 8 p.m.
This storied quartet has been a fixture of Toronto chamber music seasons since 1975. This, the 46th, is their last regular concert in the city before they disband this summer. (There is one last hurrah on Friday night as a fundraiser for Music Toronto.) The quartet, whose membership has changed over the years, makes no concessions to sentiment as it goes out on a very serious note. The programme concludes a Béla Bartok quartet cycle with Nos 3 and 6, with Joseph Haydn’s Op. 77 ,No. 1 sandwiched in between. You’ll find all the details here.
FRIDAY & SATURDAY
Two very different experiences:
- Art of Time Ensemble at the Enwave Theatre, Harbourfront, 8 p.m.
Pianist Andrew Burashko’s ever-inventive, ever-changing group of collaborators revisit an excellent programme that mixes one of Franz Schubert’s last works, the popular Trio No. 2 in E-flat Major, and its inspiration on five contemporary Canadian artists: Carole Pope, Gregory Hoskins, Andy Maize, Danny Michel and John Southworth. Burashko is joined by National Ballet concertmaster Benjamin Bowman and cellist Rachel Mercer for the Trio. Details and audio samples here.
- Soprano Emma Kirkby for the Toronto Consort at Trinity-St Paul’s Centre, 8 p.m.
This is about as intimate as music gets, as Dame Emma Kirkby, the great Early Music soprano of the 1980s and ’90s, is joined by lute player Jakob Lindberg in a programme of pieces by John Dowland and Henry Purcell. Details here.
SATURDAY
- Opening night of Opera Atelier’s Magic Flute at the Elgin Theatre, 7:30 p.m.
This is a revival of the fantastic 2006 production, complete with tenor Colin Ainsworth as Tamino. It’s a great cast, joined by Tafelmusik in the pit, led by conductor David Fallis. There are further performances on Sunday, as well as April 9, 10, 12 and 13. You’ll find all the details here.
SUNDAY
- Mercer-Park Duo at the Great Hall of Hart House, 3 p.m. Free.
Cellist Rachel Mercer and pianist Angela Park offer the last in this season’s series of free Sunday-afternoon concerts in this fantastic concert space. I have no idea what they’re going to be playing, but these two very committed and engaging players are recommendation enough. You can hear them in the slow movement of the Rachmaninov Sonata here.
- Organist Cameron Carpenter with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony at Koerner Hall, 3 p.m.
This bad-boy American organist is a born showman who also happens to be a serious artist. He shows off his own concerto for organ and orchestra, appropriately titled The Scandal, as well as a variety of solo pieces and improvisations on a sophisticated digital organ tailored to his exacting specs. I’ll have more on this concert later in the week. In the meantime, you can find details here.
John Terauds