This is a list of concerts we are attending, wishing we could attend, or thinking about attending between September 30 and October 6, 2024. For more of what’s happening around Toronto, visit our calendar here.
Tuesday Voice Series: Jim & Charlotte Norcop Prize in Song Finals
Tuesday, October 1, 12:10 p.m.
Walter Hall, Faculty of Music, University of Toronto, Free
The Jim and Charlotte Norcop Prize in Song was established in 2009, and is awarded annually to the most promising singer in performance of the song literature. Many of the past winners are busy working across the world, including Emily D’Angelo, who just opened the Metropolitan Opera’s 24/25 season as Jess in Jeanine Tesori and George Brant’s Grounded, with Yannick Nézet-Séguin at the podium. Come and see the future brights in midst of their growth spurt, as this early stage of artistic development often has a very special quality — young, fresh, and incredibly beautiful. Info here.
Tanya Tagaq and Lido Pimienta: Commemorate the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation
Tuesday, October 1, 8 p.m.
Koerner Hall, $45+
Tanya Tagaq is a rare true groundbreaker. Her music and writing have awakened many people across the world to take a serious look at the words that we all thought were already familiar: Indigenous identity, colonialism and its legacy — just a few small elephants. Her music, born away from the usual classical canon, is fresh, beautiful, and intriguing — it’s plenty fascinating even without the political challenges it poses. A few lucky people may remember the last time she performed at the Koerner hall with Kronos Quartet, in winter 2022. That performance has left me with a great deal of curiosities and many questions that begot many more questions up to today. For this event, Tagaq is joined by Christine Duncan and Jennifer Tung, who will direct the Royal Conservatory Orchestra, for “Qiksaaktuq” (‘Grief’ in Inuktitut), and performances by Manitou Mkwa Singers, Lido Pimienta, Emmal Pennell and David Eliakis will fill out the evening. Join the host Falen Johnson, and sink into a strange and dark, perhaps an unfamiliar territory, to hear how our dark past may manifest now — what do we mean by arts, and what do we gather, to create arts, for whom, by whom? What spellbinding soundscape may you find this evening? Check out our Preview here. Info here.
Canadian Opera Company: Nabucco
Friday, October 4, 7:30 p.m., Sunday, October 6, 2 p.m., Saturday, October 12, 7:30 p.m., Thursday, October 17, 7:30 p.m., Saturday, October 19, 4:30 p.m., Wednesday, October 23, 7:30 p.m., Friday, October 25, 7:30 p.m.,
Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, $45+
Old stories often repeat themselves in the present, and the future. This power struggle set in Babylonia deals with familiar heartache for many: cross-star lovers, clashing religious convictions and the consequent martyrdom, nationalism and dark political maneuvers, the skeletons in the closet eyeing the daylight, the road to Damascus moment — it’s all there, in this one singular work. It was so good that for its second season, 60 performances were scheduled, and it never left the circuit. It’s a little strange/almost-too-perfect, to have this particular work in the midst of our wars — some that have never ended — perhaps it is time to sit and think it through, as this massive opera with its huge cast of 120+ performers fills out the stage. Expect big singing — Verdi, the master of Opera Coro, became an instant legend with Nabucco. Info here.
New Music Concerts: Gay Guerrilla: Architek Percussion and the Legacy of Julius Eastman
Saturday, October 5, 8 p.m.
George’s Grange Park Church, 30 Stephanie St., $20+
Julius Eastman is a buried treasure that many of us simply never heard of. Singing professionally since boyhood, once Eastman started to study the piano, there was no stopping him. After a year at Ithaca College, he transferred to Curtis at age 19 — in his fifth year of studying the piano — simply remarkable. He worked with the contemporary giants, such as Pierre Boulez and Zubin Mehta, recorded (as a bass) Peter Maxwell Davis’ Eight Songs for a Mad King with Nonesuch in 1973 — a brilliant album — and the list goes on and on. Unfortunately, the issues he faced — homosexuality, addiction, and homelessness — dragged him into the obscurity of history as he died alone at the age of 49 at a hospital. However, his music, one of the very first that incorporated contemporary music from all genres — classical, jazz, pop, anything and everything — has been attracting the hungry young generation’s attention, and on this Saturday, Architek Percussion and two pianists, Daniel Añez and Pamela Reimer, will present Eastman’s Gay Guerrilla (1979). The program also includes Julia Wolf and Philippe Leroux’s work, where the wide possibilities of percussion will be explored in depth, and with excellence. There is a pre-concert talk at 7:15 p.m., and multi-keyboardist genius Rashaan Allwood will present Eastman’s Joy Boy (1974), version for Piano, Synthesizer and Vocal Processing. The kinesthetic energy of the percussion ensemble is infectious — do come and experience the rhythm go through your body in real time; once you’re hooked, there’s no going back. Info here.
Amici Chamber Ensemble: Maestro Bernstein
Sunday, October 6, 3 p.m.
Trinity St. Paul’s United Church, $30+
Amici opens the 24/25 season celebrating Bernstein. Exploring the favourites v from the unforgettable songs, West Side Story Medley, and somewhat more serious arts music such as the Clarinet Sonata, the program explores different facets of Bernstein as a creator. Let Beste Kalender caress your heart with Berstein’s gentle melodies — sometimes charming and hilarious, sometimes utterly devastating. Other guests include Erika Raum (violin), and students of the Glenn Gould School. Read our Preview here; info here.
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