Downtown Toronto’s Metropolitan United Church, in partnership with the Royal Conservatory of Music’s Glenn Gould School and the University of Toronto Faculty of Music, offers a series of free concerts through the fall and spring.
The 45-minute concerts spotlight singers and instrumentalists, and began for the fall season on Thursdays at noon on September 21, extending to November 30. The series picks up again in February 2024.
Noon at Met Concerts
Soprano Lindsay McIntyre performed at the November 16 iteration of the Noon at Met Concert:
Lindsay maintains a busy performing schedule that includes, among others, regular appearances with Soundstreams, with recent highlights including recent highlights including Reich’s Drumming with NEXUS and Torq percussion quartets, and three seasons of Electric Messiah, along with the work of Claude Vivier, a concert series that toured internationally in 2022.
The next free noon-hour concert on November 23 features pianist and composer Jonathan Kravtchenko. He’ll be performing his own neoclassical compositions for piano.
Jonathan has been playing and studying piano performance since the age of five, including at the Royal Conservatory, and studies composition with Canadian composer Robert Jennings. He’s developed a following in Toronto’s indie classical music scene.
Jonathan performs regularly in the city, and recently premiered an original opera production that included dance choreography in October.
- More information [HERE].
The series wraps up for the season on November 30 with organist Mark Himmelman.
A native of Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, Mark Himmelman began playing the organ at age seven, and his first church service by the time he was eight. He began formal studies in piano and organ at 11. He’s held several positions as an organist in Nova Scotia and Ontario, and is Organist and Director of Music at St. Matthew on-the-Plains Anglican Church in Burlington, Ontario.
Mark will be playing his own compositions. He has written over 50 pieces for organ, choir, handbells and brass, and as a recitalist, has performed across Canada.
- More information [HERE].
How to Attend or View Online
One of the exciting aspects of the concert series is the acoustics of the lovely church, and the occasional use of the Met’s pipe organ, a massive Casavant that is Canada’s largest. (It is featured in about half their offerings.)
If you are in the downtown Toronto area, anyone is welcome to attend in person at the church at 56 Queen Street East.
- PWYC donations go towards supporting the Met’s Music Programme and other initiatives;
- The concerts can also be livestreamed, and subsequently viewed, online.
After an end of the year hiatus, the free concert series kicks off again on February 1, 2024, and runs on Thursdays at noon until May 30, 2024.
Get updates on the schedule [HERE], and the concerts can also be livestreamed in HD [HERE] or [HERE].
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