MONDAY
These two choices couldn’t me more different if they tried, but both should make for an engrossing evening of music:
- JunctQín Keyboard Collective at Gallery 345, 8 p.m.
Young pianists Elaine Lau, Joseph Ferretti and Stephanie Chua tackle contemporary art music that includes John Cage’s Music for Amplified Toy Pianos alongside works by local up-and-comers Alex Eddington, Monica Pearce and Hiroki Tsurumoto. Details here.
- Members of the Toronto Continuo Collective at Church of the Redeemer, 8 p.m.
Psyche, the youngest and most amorously problematic of three royal offspring from Ancient Greek lore, has inspired poets as well as composers for centuries. Six singers as well as a handful of instrumentalists from the Toronto Continuo Collective have put together a quilt of a narrative from 17th century musical settings of Matthew Locke (1621-1677) and Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687). Details here.
TUESDAY
- Toronto Summer Music artists at the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre, noon. Free admission.
Toronto Summer Music Festival artistic director Douglas McNabney introduces the Sonoro Quartet, which will perform the Quartettsatz D703 (a movement from an unfinished string quartet) alongside the G minor String Quartet by Claude Debussy.
- Tria Fidelis at Gallery 345, 8 p.m.
There’s a new chamber ensemble in town: Tria Fidelis. Cellist Nadia Klein, violinist Tori Lindsay and U of T graduate student Lisa Tahara are offering an irresistible programme of piano trios by Beethoven, Anton Arernsky and Astor Piazzolla. Details here.
WEDNESDAY TO SUNDAY
- Figaro’s Wedding at the Burroughes Building (639 Queen St W.), 7:30 p.m.
My guess is this is going to be another smashingly great take on opera by Toronto’s Against the Grain Theatre, as Mozart’s ever-loved work gets a contemporary makeover at the hands of these supremely talented artists. You can read my preview story here. Show details here.
THURSDAY
- Pianist Linda Ippolito at the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre, noon. Free admission.
Puppet music for piano is Ipppolito’s excuse for exploring some underappreciated gems, such as Florent Schmitt’s Pupazzi, from 1907. Details here.
THURSDAY TO SUNDAY
- Pianist Janina Fialkowska with Tafelmusik at Koerner Hall, 8 p.m. (3:30 p.m. on Sun.)
This great Canadian pianist returns to perform her favourite composer, Frédéric Chopin, with Tafelmusik, using a piano that could have been in the composer’s living room. They will perform Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2, while Tafelmusik fills out the programme with Beethoven’s Coriolan and Egmont Overtures and Symphony No. 4. Bruno Weil conducts. Details here.
This is a great excuse to re-post a video I made in 2010 of Fialkowska showing off a Pleyel grand piano built in 1848 that she used in her first concert with Tafelmusik:
FRIDAY
- Organist Ryan Jackson at Metropolitan United Church, 7:30 p.m.
This wonderfully talented young Bracebridge native has been leaping his way up the church-organist ladder in Manhattan, to become director of music and fine arts ministries at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church. He’s presenting a beautifully varied programme that includes the Six Studies in Canon Form by Robert Schumann and Healey Willan’s Introduction, Passacaglia and Fugue in E-flat minor. You’ll find all the details here. You can listen to samples of Jackson’s fine playing here (click on the Multimedia key).
- Pianist William Wolfram at the Aurora Cultural Centre, 8 p.m.
Wolfram has that rare combination of virtuosity and lyricism that is ideally suited to Romantic repertoire. The American brings Schubert, Liszt, Chopin as well as Ligeti to this beautiful concert venue in an historic converted schoolhouse. Details here.
Here’s a clip of Wolfram recording Liszt at the Glenn Gould Studio in 2009:
FRIDAY & SATURDAY
- Madeleine Peyroux with the Art of Time Ensemble at the Enwave Theatre, Harbourfront, 8 p.m.
Founding artistic director and pianist Andrew Burashko has asked jazz vocalist Madeleine Peyroux to choose some favourite songs for the Art of Times “Songbook 7.” All have been arranged by Canadians for a genre-crossing sextet that will accompany Peyroux. Details here.
WEEKEND
There are at least 35 fine concerts happening in the GTA this weekend, many of them by the region’s community choirs and orchestras, who are closing their seasons. It feels unfair to just single out a couple, but I’ll do it anyway:
- Saturday: Composer-pianist John Greer and pianist Rachel Andrist are launching a new song recital series at Rosedale Presbyterian Church (129 Mt Pleasant Rd) with a virtual galaxy of young local vocal stars and the help of violinist Erika Raum. 7:30 p.m. Do check out the details here.
- Saturday: If you have a yearning for something Celtic, Halifax-based guitarist Scott Macmillan and storyteller Jennyfer Brickenden are joining the Voca Chorus of Toronto and folk instrumentalists at Eastminster United Church (310 Danforth Ave, one block from the Chester subway station) for a performance of Macmillan’s Celtic Mass for the Sea. 7:30 p.m. Details here.
- Sunday: The excellent male chorus, the Victoria Scholars, conducted by Jerzy Cichocki of St Michael’s Choir School, presents a season-closing concert featuring composers whose names begin with the letter B. It includes Brahms’ Alto Rhapsody, so rarely heard these days. Details here.
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
