UPDATE FROM THE TORONTO CONCERT ORCHESTRA

Join the Toronto Concert Orchestra for the launch of our 2020 virtual summer season. Although we cannot be together in a beautiful garden, we look forward to bringing music to your garden or home. Feel free to get dressed up, make yourself a nice drink/ meal and join us just as you would at Casa Loma in previous seasons!

We are so excited to kick off our 2020 Summer Virtual Season with this program. As we were reading through Maestro Kerry’s notes that he left for future program ideas, this one jumped out at us. The program, centred around bird-inspired pieces for luscious full orchestra, was a symphonic love letter for his wife, Elizabeth, an avid bird photographer.

Although we will have to save Kerry’s exact program for when we can assemble a full orchestra, we were inspired by the love Kerry showed for Elizabeth and called on couples from within our orchestra. Together with our lovebirds, we explore how love and birds are depicted through music.

Some repertoire highlights include:

• Piazzolla’s Nightclub by Laura Chambers and Dan Morphy
• A lively Rondo from Mozart’s G Major duo for violin and viola by Adam and Rebecca Diderrich
• Sharon Lee and Marcus Scholtes chase each other through Telemann’s canon for two flutes, re-imagined for two violins

Join us every other Tuesday, starting on June 16.

June 16, 2020, 7:30 PM

Lovebirds in Song, Songbirds in Love

Love-themed duets, bird-inspired titles (This one borrows from Kerry’s programming for Elizabeth)

We explore love stories within the orchestra, and ways love is depicted in music by reliving some moments from last season as well as new content created by our musician couples.

June 30, 2020, 7:30 PM

Thank you, Canada!

TCO has had the incredible honour of performing our national anthem in many locations. Two of the most recent include atop the Skybridge, and for the Blue Jays’ Season Opener.

Join us in a celebration of beautiful Canadian music, including contributions from Odawa First Nations Composer Barbara Croall, and video footage of some of our most daring performances.

July 14, 2020, 7:30 PM

Stories of Piaf

On Bastille Day, Pandora Topp reprises her role of Edith Piaf through song and storytelling, and we relive some of TCO’s “Big Band” moments. Rob DiVito and Danny McErlain complement the program with instrumental interludes.

July 28, 2020, 7:30 PM

Around the World in 40 Minutes

During this time when travel has all but disappeared, we take you around the world through music. From Gershwin’s America to the heartstrings of South America, folk dances of Korea to lieders of Austria, we invite you to come along for the journey

Aug 11 , 2020, 7:30 PM

Songs Under the Stars

TCO guitarist Nathan Hiltz is joined by his wife, singer Melissa Lauren, for a delectable program of jazz standards. Their performance is augmented with archival performances of the Toronto Concert Orchestra.

Aug 25, 2020, 7:30 PM

Grand Finale: Tribute to Kerry

The highlight of our season! Our virtual tribute to our founder, Maestro Kerry Stratton, will feature pieces he commissioned from TCO’s new Composer in Residence Samuel Bisson, guest contributions from musicians around the world, and a special composition for the occasion with our orchestral musicians joining you from their homes.

ANNOUNCING TCO’S NEW INTERIM CO-ARTISTIC DIRECTORS SHARON LEE AND MARCUS SCHOLTES

Aptly pegged “a compact fireball” (La Scena Musicale), SHARON LEE gave her concerto debut at the age of ten.

Sharon has served as Concertmaster and Contractor of the TCO since 2014, and is Music Director of the Korean Canadian Symphony Orchestra. As an orchestral musician, Sharon won her first job as Principal Second Violin of the Thunder Bay Symphony at 26. Sharon is the recipient of the Fenyves String Scholarship, and the Ontario Arts Council’s Orford String Quartet Award.

“The Orchestra has tremendous meaning to us, both artistically and personally, and we are eager to serve it to the best of our abilities” — Sharon and Marcus

Multi-talented artist MARCUS SCHOLTES excels on both the violin and piano, frequently performing as a soloist on both instruments on the same concert program. He also serves as the Associate Concertmaster of Sinfonia Toronto. He is an alumnus of the prestigious Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University where he graduated with a Doctor of Music degree, with Minors in Conducting and Music Education.

Marcus is a former Concertmaster of the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival Orchester in Germany and has toured much of Europe with this ensemble, and is an original member of Aldeburgh Strings based in the UK.

ANNOUNCING TCO’S NEW MANAGING DIRECTOR KAIJA CORLAZZOLI

An experienced, creative and strategic senior arts leader. Kaija thrives working with organizations to improve capacity, develop partnerships and create organizational depth. She brings over 20 years of experience in diverse administrative roles and across various artistic disciplines. Kaija is also the Executive Director of Amici Chamber Ensemble and previously worked with Business for the Arts (National Awards Gala Producer), Theatrefront (Producer/ General  Manager), Opera Atelier (Manager of Finance and Education), Kaha:wi Dance Theatre (Director of Marketing), Continuum Contemporary Music (Director of Marketing), Theatre Ontario (Strategic Planning and Fundraising Consultant), The Royal Ontario Museum Foundation, Young People’s Theatre and The Stratford Festival. She holds a degree in Arts Management from The University of Toronto.

#LUDWIGVAN

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