The elegance of waltz, the fire of tango, and a world premiere from Composer-In-Residence Aaron Manswell — that’s the recipe behind the first concert on the calendar in Toronto Mendelssohn Choir’s 2024/25 season. Artistic Director Jean-Sébastien Vallée conducts the November 3 performance at Koerner Hall.
Johannes Brahms’ Liebeslieder Walzer and Drei Quartette, along with Martín Palmeri’s Misa a Buenos Aires (Misatango), are on the bill, together with the world premiere of Manswell’s Poverty.
Brahms’ work consists of a collection of love songs for voice and piano, with lyrics drawn from Polydora, a collection of songs and love poems by Georg Friedrich Daumer. Palmeri’s Misatango takes the traditional Catholic mass and adds the rhythms of Argentinian tango. It first gained famed after a performance at the Vatican in 2013, and has since been performed all over the world.
Soprano Charlotte Siegel sings on both Poverty and Misatango, with the addition of award-winning musician Jonathan Goldman on the bandoneón during the latter.
Composer-In-Residence Aaron Manswell
A Toronto native, Aaron earned degrees in music composition from Oakwood University and the University of Memphis. He is currently completing a Doctor of Musical Arts in Composition, and serves as the composer-in-residence for the MacMillan Singers, at the University of Toronto.
His work has been performed by the Grand Philharmonic Choir and the Amadeus Choir of Greater Toronto, among other ensembles, and he has written works for film.
His song “Stick With Love” was recorded by the Nathaniel Dett Chorale and Choral Arts Initiative, a Southern California-based choir, and appears on their 2024 album Tapestry of Becoming. The release debuted at No.1 on the Billboard Traditional Classical Albums chart. The same song netted him the 2022 Grand Philharmonic Choir Canada-wide Composition Contest, and made him the runner-up for the 2023 American Choral Directors Association Brock Prize for Student Composers.
His music often contains elements drawn from varied genres, including Western art music, R&B, hip-hop, and gospel music. Aaron’s compositional output is equally varied, and includes producing, and playing keyboards, for award-winning Canadian pop artists, as well as work in the classical field. He was a featured artist for the Canadian Opera Company’s Showcase Series in February 2023.
Guest Artists
Two guest artists will join as Artistic Director Jean-Sébastien Vallée conducts the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir for the concert.
Soprano Charlotte Siegel
Charlotte will be familiar to Toronto opera fans as a member of the Canadian Opera Company’s Ensemble Studio. She made her debut with the COC as Second Lady in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, and as Manon in Ian Cusson’s Fantasma.
Along with her operatic work, Charlotte is a singer-songwriter. The Toronto-based vocalist obtained her Bachelor of Classical Voice Performance from the University of Toronto, followed by a Graduate Diploma and Masters in Opera and Voice from McGill University. She was a Buffalo/Toronto District winner for the 2021 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, and placed 3rd in the Canadian Opera Company’s Ensemble Studio Competition 2019.
Charlotte is dedicated to music education, and co-founded the Marigold Music Program, which offers music education opportunities to singers, pianists, and songwriters aged 14-18, with a priority of Black and Indigenous youth, and those with financial barriers.
Jonathan Goldman, bandoneón
Also called a bandonion, the bandoneón is a type of concertina (in the accordion family). Jonathan is one of its most ardent advocates. He was a member of Canada’s first tango band, Quartango, from 2007 to 2017. The band won both a JUNO for best instrumental album and an Opus Prize (Album of the year – World music) for their 2014 recording, Encuentro, and another Opus Prize in 2018 for the album J’aime les nuits de Montréal.
Jonathan has performed as a soloist with orchestras and ensembles across North America, including the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Regina and Saskatoon Symphony Orchestras, Symphony Nova Scotia, I Musici de Montréal, the Alcan (Saguenay) String Quartet, and the Emily Carr String Quartet, among others, and artists such as Lara St. John, Matt Haimowitz, Mark Fewer and Juan Sebastian Delgado.
He composes for the instrument as well, including Notas de viaje for bandoneon, cello and electronics, which premiered in 2021. Jonathan is Professor of Musicology in the Faculty of Music of the Université de Montréal, and is a widely published author in the field of 20th century music.
- Find more details about Toronto Mendelssohn Choir’s The Love Affair: Waltz & Tango [HERE].
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