Mooredale Concerts has carved a place for itself within Toronto’s classical music ecosystem with a combination of seasoned professional musicians and talented younger artists, traditional concerts and family-friendly fare.
Concerts often include talking about the music and composers to enrich the audience experience. Their Concert Series and Music & Truffles series for 2023-24 launch together on November 5.
The New Orford String Quartet
If you take two concert masters, add a principal cello and violist, you can imagine the musical talent represented in the New Orford String Quartet.
The smaller ensemble opens up the chamber music repertoire to virtuosic orchestral musicians. Together, they won the 2017 JUNO Award for the Best Solo or Chamber Recording for their recording of two Brahms string quartets.
Taking on the mantle from the highly successful original Orford String Quartet (1965 – 1991), the New Orfords were formed in 2009. Along with their individual careers as performers and educators, the quartet performs frequently, and has been on many national and international tours.
Jonathan Crow is well known to Toronto audiences as the concertmaster of the TSO. A native of Prince George, British Columbia, he earned a B.Mus in honours performance from McGill University before joining the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (OSM) as Associate Principal Second Violin.
He became the youngest concertmaster of any major North American orchestra at OSM from 2002 till 2006. He’s been concertmaster of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra since 2011, and has maintained a busy schedule of performing as a guest concertmaster and soloist.
After studies at the Juilliard School, Andrew Wan launched a career as a soloist. His career has taken him all over the world, and he’s performed with some of the globe’s leading conductors, including Stern, Oundjian, Vengerov, DePriest, and others. He’s also a busy chamber musician, along with his work as concertmaster of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal.
As a soloist, he won the Grand Prize and Best Performance of a Canadian Work at the OSM Competition; Opus, Juno and Félix Awards for his recordings, First Prizes at the Canadian Music Competition, and in the US, the Juilliard and Aspen concerto competitions. He performs on a Bergonzi violin, 1744, and Dominique Peccatte bow, 1860, both on loan from benefactors.
Brian Manker is the Principal Cello of the OSM, and has been playing with the Orchestre since 2000. He studied at the New England Conservatory, and has won several awards, including the Grand Prize at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, a Special Commendation from Sir Yehudi Menuhin, Portsmouth International String Quartet Competition, and Hudson Valley Philarmonic String Competition.
Brian went on to leave his mark performing as part of several ensembles, including the Atlanta Chamber Players, and toured extensively with the Harrington Quartet. Brian performs on a Pietro Guarneri cello, c. 1728-1730, and Joseph René Lafleur bow, c. 1850, both on loan.
Violist Sharon Wei is an Associate Professor at the University of Western Ontario, and a busy solo and chamber musician. As a guest violist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, she performed on their 2021 Grammy-winning recording of Ives Symphonies.
Sharon holds a Masters of Music, Viola from Yale University. She has also performed as guest principal violist of the Cincinnati Symphony, Canadian Opera Company and Ensemble Matheus, and currently performs as part of the Ensemble Made In Canada.
The Concerts
The concerts take place at Walter Hall at the University of Toronto.
Music & Truffles KIDS | 1:15 – 2:15 p.m.
This family-friendly series is celebrating its 22nd birthday this season. Concerts are interactive, using a one-hour format. The same artists perform at the children’s series as do the regular concert series — but in a relaxed and fun setting. Along with kids, it’s ideal for people just learning to discover classical music.
- Tickets and details [HERE].
Concert | 3:15 – 5:15 p.m.
The programme includes 21st century works by Shaw (Blueprint) and Ana Sokolovic (Commedia dell’arte III), along with Beethoven (String Quartet No. 10 in E-flat Major, Op. 74) and Ravel (String Quartet in F Major, M. 35).
- Tickets and details [HERE].
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