Critic’s Picks (Sept. 25 – Oct. 1)
Ludwig van Toronto’s weekly Critic’s Picks are a fully curated list of some of the best concerts happening now through the end of the week. This is not to say we are the provocateurs of taste, but simply seek to provide a good weekly summary. For a look at the full breadth of what’s available in and around Toronto, check out our curated concert listings here.
Tuesday 26
Canadian Opera Company | Vocal Series: Meet the Young Artists. 12 p.m. Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre, Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. Free
The 2017-18 COC Ensemble Studio artists (sopranos Danika Lorèn, Samantha Pickett, and Lauren Eberwein; mezzo Megan Quick and Simone McIntosh; baritones Bruno Roy and Samuel Chan; pianists Stéphane Mayer and Rachael Kerr) give a concert of arias by Mozart, Puccini, Verdi, Saint-Saëns, Debussy and Rossini. This is the only time I can recall an Ensemble without a tenor! Program details here. *Be sure to show up an hour ahead to secure a spot. | Listing
Tafelmusik | A Joyous Welcome. 8 p.m. George Weston Recital Hall, Toronto Centre for the Arts. $38-$81.
Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, with its new music director Elisa Citterio, in a program of Handel, Corelli, Vivaldi, and Rameau. | Listing
Gallery 345 | Trio d’Argento with Todd Yaniw, piano. 8 p.m. Gallery 345, 345 Sorauren Avenue. $25/$10(st.) Cash Only.
Trio d’Argento (Sibylle Marquardt, flute; Peter Stoll, clarinet; Todd Yaniw, piano) in a program of works by Florent Schmidt, Alice Ping Ho, Saint-Saens, Kevin Lau, Jacques Ibert, and Guillaume Connesson. | Listing
Wednesday 27
Canadian Opera Company | Vocal Series: Celebrating the Invictus Games. 12 p.m. Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre, Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. Free.
The COC Ensemble Studio performs a program “on the themes of war, sacrifice, and overcoming adversity,” featuring works by Butterworth, Weill, Ives, Argento, and Finzi, among others. Program details here. *Be sure to show up an hour ahead to secure a spot. | Listing
Toronto Symphony Orchestra | German Requiem. 8 p.m. Roy Thomson Hall. Repeats Sept 28 and 30 (7:30 p.m.) 40.75-$154.
The concert opens with Hyacinth Caelum, a 2-minute Sesquie for Canada 150 piece by Rolf Boon. The deeply spiritual Brahms German Requiem is the centrepiece of the evening, with soprano Erin Wall, baritone Russell Braun and the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir. Also featured is the world premiere of Canadian composer Alexina Louie’s Triple Concerto for three violins, with soloists Jonathan Crow, Yosuke Kawasaki and Andrew Wan. Peter Oundjian conducts. | Listing
Thursday 28
A & M Production | Rastrelli Cello Quartet. 7:30 p.m. Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts, 10268 Yonge Street, Richmond Hill, ON. $56-$70
A cello quartet—how’s that for being unique! This Ensemble (Kira Kraftzoff, Mischa Degtjareff, Kirill Timofeev, and Sergio Drabkin) performs From Brahms to the Beatles, at the Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts. No program details available on their website at press time. For a taste of their playing, see here. For more details of the group, see here. | Listing
Friday 29
Trio Arkel | Ludwig and Béla. 7:30 p.m. Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre, 427 Bloor St W. $30/$15 (st)
Now in its fifth season, Trio Arkel (violinist Marie Berard, violist Teng Li, and cellist Winona Zelenka) presents a program of Beethoven and Bartok, with guest Erika Raum, violinist. No program details available.
Bravo Niagara | Measha Brueggergosman. 7:30 p.m. Partridge Hall, FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre, 250 St. Paul Street, St. Catharines. $35-$55
An hour’s drive, traffic permitting (!) along the QEW from the GTA, Canadian soprano Measha Brueggergosman is giving a concert singing songs from her latest album, Songs of Freedom, which documents her journey of discovering her family’s lineage from West Africa to New Brunswick. She is joined by the Laura Secord Secondary School Concert Choir and jazz artist Wycliffe Gordon. | Listing
Saturday 30
Embassy of Austria | Anna Magdalena Kokits, piano. St. Andrew’s Church, Simcoe and King. 7 p.m. $20; $10(st/sr).
The Austrian pianist is currently on a tour that takes her to Canada, US and Japan. Under the auspices of the Austrian Embassy, Kokits is giving a recital at St. Andrew’s Church across from Roy Thomson Hall, in a program of Beethoven, Manuela Kerer, Zemlinsky, Vivian Fung, Ernst Toch, and Gershwin. | Listing
Sunday 1
Royal Conservatory of Music | Ensemble Made in Canada with Scott St. John. 2 p.m. Mazzoleni Concert Hall in Ihnatowycz Hall. Free (ticket required)
Angela Park (piano), Elissa Lee (violin), Sharon Wei (viola), and Rachel Mercer (cello) join forces with violinist Scott St. John to perform piano quartets by Mahler and Suk, as well as Dvorak’s Piano Quintet. | Listing
Windermere String Quartet | With Friends Like These. 3 p.m. St. Olave’s Anglican Church, 360 Windermere Ave. $25/$20 (sr)/$10 (st).
This period-instrument ensemble (Elizabeth Loewen Andrews, violin; Michelle Odorico, violin; Anthony Rapoport, viola; Laura Jones, cello) gives a concert of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. Details here.
Off Centre Music Salon | 23rd Annual Schubertiad: Schubert Manifold. 3 p.m. Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre, 427 Bloor St. W. $50/$40 (sr)/$15 (st).
Participants this year are soprano Monica Whicher, bass-baritone Giles Tomkins, actor William Webster, violinist Emily Kruspe, and pianists Inna Perkis and Boris Zarankin. | Listing
Toronto Mendelssohn Choir | Elora Singers in Concert. 3:30 p.m. Church of the Holy Trinity, 10 Trinity Square. $50/$45 (sr).
The Elora Singers, a professional chamber choir under conductor Noel Edison, gives a concert before they go on tour to the Maritimes. They sing a program of works by Bach, Timothy Corlis, and Canadian folksongs | Listing
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