Although Toronto Summer Music Festival artistic director Douglas McNabney is a native Torontonian, home has been Montreal for quite some time. While French music is a slam-dunk in the city at the other end of the 401, that’s not the case here.
- 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
Toronto may be the most multicultural burg in the world, but that hasn’t guaranteed interest in things French. The Montrealers who left more than a generation ago did not come to Toronto because they were francophiles. And there isn’t a single classical music presenter who has figured out how to attract consistent audiences from this city’s immigrant communities.
And despite the devotion of those who have fallen for its intimate charms, chamber music of any sort is never an easy sell.
So where does that leave this year’s Toronto Summer Music focus on La Belle époque?
My prediction is that it’s going to be a very tough three weeks for ticket sales, despite the fact that Torontonians are getting a rare opportunity to hear some very, very fine French artists perform.
Tuesday’s opening concert at Koerner Hall features a trio of French titans: violinist Régis Pasquiet, cellist Roland Pidoux and pianist Jean-Claude Pennetier in a golden programme featuring trios by Maurice Ravel and Gabriel Fauré as well as Sergei Rachmaninov.
Serious fans of vocal music should check out a master class Tuesday afternoon by Elly Ameling with Toronto Summer Music Academy fellows. Ameling, who is 80 now, was here a half-dozen years ago to coach University of Toronto students and showed herself to be an extremely effective teacher who managed to be both honest and encouraging — which is a lot less easy to do than it sounds.
Most festival days feature some sort of afternoon class, lecture or event, followed by a 5 p.m. “Shuffle” concert that pairs unlikely concert-mates in the intimate (and air conditioned) Heliconian Hall, a short walk from the main venues at University of Toronto’s Edward Johnson Building and the Telus Centre.
McNabney has programmed with great care. You can check out all of the Toronto Summer Music festival events on one page here.
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Here is a perfect example of Ameling’s impeccable artistry, in a 1965 recording with Jörg Demus on fortepiano of Franz Schubert’s Im Frühling:
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
