28 Monday
- The Associates of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra: Amanda Goodburn and Sydney Chun, violin; Teng Li and Theresa Rudolph, viola; Emmanuelle Beaulieu Bergeron, cello at Trinity-St. Paul’s. 7:30 p.m. $17-20
To kick-off the week, musicians from the TSO will present an evening of quintets, including Mozart’s String quintet No.3 in C, and Brahms: String quintet No.2 in G. These “Quintessential Quintets” mark the 4th event of the ATSO’s season, which comes to an end on May 26th. Details here.
30 Wednesday
conductor
- Toronto Symphony Orchestra with Sir Andrew Davis, conductor at Roy Thomson Hall. 8 p.m. $33-145
Tonight is all about symphonic depth, and who better to lead than TSO Conductor Laureate Sir Andrew Davis in a concert of Mahler’s final Symphony 9 in D major. Leonard Bernstein once described the 9th as “terrifying, and paralyzing, as the strands of sound disintegrate … in ceasing, we lose it all. But in letting go, we have gained everything.” This is music from another world, and should not be missed.
If you can beat the traffic, there will be a pre-concert talk at 7:15 in the lobby. Info here.
Show repeats Thursday, May 1st.
1 Thursday
- Pianist, Leonard Gilbert at Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre, Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. Noon. Free
The quality of performers for these free noon-hour concerts always amazes me. This afternoon is no different with piano virtuoso, Leonard Gilbert. The Canadian Opera Company noon-hour program will present Bach’s Prelude in A minor from the English Suite No. 2 BWV 807, Beethoven’s Sonata No. 23 Op. 57 ‘Appassionata, Ravel’s Ondine from Gaspard de la nuit, Liszt’s Transcendental Etude No. 10 in F minor, and Chopin’s Andante spianato and Grand Polonaise Op. 22 in E flat major. Seats fill-up fast, so arrive early. Details here.
- Clarinettist and composer Camilo Davila with pianist Jean Desmarais and soprano Mireille Asselin at Gallery 345. 8 p.m. $10-25
Gallery 345 will house a concert of chamber works by Schumann, Chopin, Brahms, Schubert, and Camilo Davila, who will also be performing. Judging by the calibre of the performers alone, this promises to be a fantastic concert of old and new. Program and bios here.
- Toronto Operetta Theatre, Guillermo Silva-Marin, stage director, Lucia Cesaroni and Elizabeth Beeler (sopranos) and Christopher Mayell and Stefan Fehr (tenors) at Jane Mallett Theatre. 8 p.m. $72-95
I can’t say I’ve ever heard of German composer Eduard Kunneke, or his operetta Der Vetter aus Dingsda (The Cousin from Nowhere). I’m intrigued! Their website describes, “A mysterious young man makes romantic sparks fly under a silvery moon […] thrilling melodies, jazz-age sizzle and dreams of a Batavian paradise will intrigue and entertain.” Sounds like fun. Details here.
Show repeats May, 2-4.
3 Saturday
- FAWN Opera and New Music at Brockton Studio. 8 p.m. $15-20
Toronto’s underground trendy FAWN collective returns with an innovative program of 8 short films by up-and-coming Canadian filmmakers set to scores by emerging Toronto composers. Synesthesia III includes budding filmmakers Sofia Bohdanowicz, Stephen Broomer, Dan Browne, Liam Crockard, Christine Lucy Latimer, Eva Kolcze and Blake Williams. Whew! Details here. http://www.fawnopera.com/event/syn3/
(NB: This will most likely be conductor-composer Patrick Murray’s final foray with FAWN, as he recently announced he will be relocating to New Haven as a newly minted graduate student at Yale University – congrats Patrick!)
4 Sunday
- Violinist Jacques Israelievitch and Christina Petrowska Quilico, piano at Gallery 345. 11 a.m., and 1, 3 and 5 p.m. $10-20 per concert, or $25-50 for entire day.
Two of Canada’s finest performers will team up to perform The Complete Mozart Violin Sonatas over the span of an entire day. This event will allow listeners to hear the evolution of Mozart from his early Mannheim period and two later periods in Vienna. The marathon will be divided into four concerts starting at 11 am, and continuing at 1 pm, 3 pm and 5 pm, with only a short break in between. If you are in it for the long-haul, you will witness history in the making, as they have never been performed in their entirety in Toronto until now. Details here and here.
- The Orpheus Choir of Toronto, with the Talisker Players Orchestra, Sidgwick Scholar Alumni Quartet, and Chorus Niagara; Robert Cooper, conductor. Koerner Hall 3 p.m. $35-50.
Come sit in for an afternoon gala with Dvořák’s iconic Requiem. This concert marks the close of The Orpheus Choir, and will feature soloists Johane Ansell (soprano), Lauren Segal (mezzo), Adam Luther (tenor), and Giles Tomkins (baritone), supported by the voices of the Orpheus Choir and Chorus Niagara. Details here.
- Off Centre Music Salon with Elina Kelebeev, Inna Perkis, Boris Zarankin, pianos; Peter McGillivray, baritone; Erica Iris Huang, mezzo; and others at Glenn Gould Studio. 2 p.m. $15-60.
The program title is “Composers born in the wrong century”. It poses an interesting portrait of Russian composers who clung to romantic styles despite the sweeping ideological groundswell of modernism. The program includes Rachmaninoff, Medtner, Grechaninov, and Rebikov, performed by a great line-up of performers, including Peter McGillivray, who is recovering from his ordeal in Winnipeg earlier in the month. Concert details here.
Michael Vincent