UPDATE FROM THE TORONTO CONCERT ORCHESTRA

Toronto Concert Orchestra returns with Symphony in the City June 28- August 23. Enjoy a summer filled with weekly concerts by the lake at Palais Royale. A specially curated selection of classical+ music with special guest artists each week. Symphony in the City is more than a concert series, it is your ticket to a wonderful evening out with VIP Packages and pre-concert buffet options! Get a drink and relax outside on the beautiful, covered patio to savour the summer with lake views or eat a nice meal under the tent lakeside! Bring your family and friends.

After 2 summers of online concerts, TCO is proud to bring back a lively summer of in-person music for our beloved Toronto audiences! After 6 summers building our series at Casa Loma, TCO is no longer the orchestra in residence at the castle. TCO’s new home is the iconic Palais Royale on the lakeshore, with one concert taking place at the historic Eglinton Grand.

Our summer series is known to be genre-inclusive; this year, you’ll hear music such as cinematic classics, Mozart, Puccini, Dvorak, big band swing and yes – even the Rocket Man!

June 28: Maestro’s Movies

Kerry had a great soft spot for music from the stage and screen. Join us in welcoming Bradley Thachuk, a former student of Kerry’s and current Music Director of Niagara Symphony Orchestra to the podium for our concert full of Kerry’s favourite movie scores including Sound of Music, Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Les Miserable.

July 5: Fall in Love Again

We invite you to join us as we welcome esteemed tenor Romulo Delgado back to the TCO stage, and soprano Natalya Gennadi makes her TCO debut. Sit back as your heart is melted with tunes like Puccini’s O Mio Babbino Caro and Neopolitan favourite O Sole Mio, as well as your most beloved duets from La Boheme and La Traviata. Exciting orchestral interludes round out the program.

July 12: Elton Rohn

Canadian Artist Ron Camilleri is Elton Rohn in this high-energy tribute show of fully live music. Elton Rohn and his band make a quick stop in Toronto with the Toronto Concert Orchestra during their busy summer of international touring for an unforgettable night of exploring a lifetime of music by the cultural icon Elton John.

July 19: Quartetto Gelato

TCO’s musicians are set to match the magnificent energy of Canada’s preeminent classical crossover ensemble Quartetto Gelato, who have been delighting audiences since 1994. The seasoned TCO audience may recognize Quartetto Gelato’s oboist Colin Maier from many of our orchestra concerts! We bring you a specially curated collaborative program created for our TCO audience.

July 27: Anonymous Lover

Featuring the overture to the opera “L’Amant Anonyme,” or “The Anonymous Lover,” by Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges. Born in 1745, the mixed-race Bologne was praised as one of the most accomplished men of his day. Mozart, his contemporary, was reportedly jealous of Bologne’s success! We round out the program with Mozart’s Symphony No 29 and Co-Artistic Director Sharon Lee’s rendition of Mozart’s “Turkish” violin concerto No 5, and Bologne’s Symphonie Concertante Op. 13 for two solo violins and strings puts the spotlight on TCO violinist Adam Diderrich and Co-Artistic Director Marcus Scholtes.

August 2: La Vie en Rose

TCO’s longtime collaborator Pandora Topp brings her Edith Piaf magic! After two years of bringing us joy with smaller ensembles, Pandora sings with the full and lush Grand Salon Orchestra, TCO’s dance orchestra incarnation. Pandora has been praised all across the Pandora IS Piaf!

August 9: The Black Fish Project

Inspired by a well-known Persian children’s book, “The Little Black Fish,” the Black Fish Project retells the story of its protagonist, a little black fish who leaves his pond to explore the world beyond, through the lens of the composer, Keyan Emami. The music of The Black Fish Project reflects the diverse influences that have shaped Emami’s compositional language, including Persian folk, pop, ritual and military music, jazz, progressive rock, Arabic maqam, traditional Persian modal music, and contemporary classical music.

August 16: Gatsby

A nod to our venue, Palais Royale, which was the most important music venue to let loose and have fun in the glory days of big band! Come in your flapper best and let vocalist Alyssa Dimarco and TCO’s Grand Salon Orchestra show you we’ve got the world on a string.

August 23: From the New World

We present Dvorak’s celebrated 9th Symphony “From the New World” as tribute to our late founder Maestro Kerry Stratton. This idea of music from the new world lends itself well to our current situation of TCO being in a new world post-pandemic and with new leadership. Come hear the saturations of Americana that Dvorak worked into his final symphony! We couple this epic symphony with Risico, a bond-inspired composition by our Composer-in-Residence Samuel Bisson.

“We have poured our hearts into this season’s programming, pushed the envelope in every direction. We’re so excited to be in new iconic venues in the city! Both Eglinton Grand and Palais Royale have so much music seeped into their walls, we are thrilled to have the opportunity to bring live music back to these historic spaces. Our line-up of soloists and musicians are second to none, and the pairing with the full night out that is available is really an event that’s not to be missed!” — Sharon Lee (Co-Artistic Director)

Symphony in the City is dedicated to our dearly missed founder, Maestro Kerry Stratton. Kerry founded and served as artistic director for the Toronto Concert Orchestra until 2019 when he passed away due to complications from ALS. We hope he would have been proud of this wonderful season and the artists he fostered.

About Toronto Concert Orchestra: An itinerant professional orchestra, Toronto Concert Orchestra can be heard from spring through fall in some of downtown Toronto’s magnificent concert venues and churches, as well as in communities across Ontario, where it delivers diverse musical offerings.

To purchase tickets and get more info, visit www.tcomusic.ca

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