Incarnation, the next concert presentation by Toronto Consort, features a program that incorporates music from 12th-century chants to carols and contemporary works with the spirit of the New Year in mind.
The aim is to inspire with music that offers a spiritual component, one that offers a kind of healing experience. We spoke to TC General and Artistic Director Daniel Taylor about the program.
LvT: Why did you choose to perform this particular theme of “Incarnation:?
DT: This will come as no surprise to those who know me that the music in this program has played a role in guiding my faith. Throughout the years, through my work with The Tallis Scholars, the Gabrieli Consort, Voces8 and The Trinity Choir, these pieces have been central to a practice that goes beyond ‘performance’ and draws the listener to a process of prayer through music. It is the unique prerogative of music to bring light, to replenish hope for what was thought to have been stripped away by neglect and division.
Life is surrounded by beauty — mine with my darling 3 children (all under 5), my amazing wife and our little dog — but also touched by the sadness of the burdens that we carry as a community. On our darkest nights, many of us struggle with our belief as we look around at a world that seems to traffic in misinformation and identity politics. For me, personally, the death of a loved one, the loss of another dear lifelong friend, a tragic turn for someone so very close to me: all of this has informed each of my decisions and led me and the Consort to the choice of this sequence of works.
Music reaches to us across the centuries, speaking beyond speech of the sublime authority of love which pushes against the fragility of our existence. Traditional carols are an important part of a healing ritual as we bring time and timelessness together.
LvT: What pieces will be performed?
DT: From the simplicity of early chant (‘Veni Emmanuel’) to carols from the 15th-16th centuries (‘A Coventry Carol’), we find a natural starting point for the Toronto Consort to follow a program that spans no fewer than 600 years, revealing scenes of birth and the inevitable prophecy.
This sequence reflects on the nature of sacred and festive music, particularly in the context of the Solstice and the Halcyon Days. Across history, composers look through different lenses and pencil these images in very different contrasts, but they often reflect the same sense of purity and revelation.
Here we explore the connection between the vocal repertoire of earlier times to recently departed composers such as my friend John Tavener (‘Hymn to the Mother of God’) and Elisabeth Poston (‘The Tree of Life’), and today’s composers such as the young Brit Matthew Martin (‘Adam lay y bounden’), and our own Matthew Larkin (‘Adam lay y bounden’).
The music is inspired by a tradition and has at its core the architecture of the human heart that unites us all.
LvT: What can you tell us about the performers?
DT: The Toronto Consort is composed of select sought-after artists — leading exponents in their field — standing side-by-side and guiding other rising stars. I am flattered that other ensembles have cherry picked from my atelier the finest singers I have instructed to anchor their own professional ensembles including our sister organization, Tafelmusik.
However, there is also something quite unusual and moving that takes place when this group comes together and is given space to have their own voice heard. Whether you admire sopranos such as Jennifer Wilson or Janelle Lucyk or countertenors such as Nicholas Burns or Ryan McDonald, the gravity of the basses Martin Gomez and Gabriel Sanchez-Ortega or perhaps if you are interested in the full power of our entire world of poetry and sound, hearing the Toronto Consort is a unique and meaningful experience.
Our returning Consort artists this 2024-2025 Season include the accomplished lutenist Esteban La Rotta, the very popular gambist Felix Deak joined by new artists including the virtuosic percussionist Ziya Tabassian and the superb Spanish early violinist Cristina Prats-Costa. We are an ensemble that represents the diversity of our community.
LvT: What’s on the horizon for 2025?
DT: At the first concert of the Season blessed by the appearance of Dame Emma Kirkby, we all felt thankful and moved by a surge in audience attendance and support. With recordings and tours in our plans, our path forward is clear, and we know that the Consort has a promising future.
- Find tickets for Incarnation on January 10, 2025 [HERE].
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