Vivaldi’s World is title of the next concert in the season for Toronto’s Tafelmusik. Along with a focus on the Italian Baroque composer, it marks the return of Spanish violinist Lina Tur Bonet to lead the orchestra through the program.
Lina Tur Bonet made her debut with Tafelmusik iin 2024 and quickly became an audience favourite.
“Lina’s charismatic brilliance was a great match for Tafelmusik’s virtuosity during her first visit in 2024,” says Cristina Zacharias, Artistic Co-Director in a statement. “Vivaldi’s World promises more fireworks and more passion, all delivered with the joyful inventiveness that each performer brings to the stage.”
The Concert
The concert series takes places from October 23 to 26 in Tafelmusik’s home venue at Jeanne Lamon Hall, with the addition of a new Thursday evening performance to the regular weekend schedule.
The program focuses on Vivaldi as a storyteller. Along with Vivaldi’s music, the program showcases the theatrical side of Baroque music. In the concert finale piece, Geminiani’s Concerto “La Follia” incorporates what is arguably the most famous ground bass line from the 18th century, one that can be heard in music by Brittney Spears and the Succession soundtrack.
Oboist Daniel Ramírez Escudero is a newcomer to Tafelmusik this season, and he takes the spotlight for the first time, paired with fellow oboist Marco Cera, in Vivaldi’s Concerto for 2 oboes.
Several Tafelmusik musicians will shine as soloists in Jan Dismas Zelenka’s rarely performed Sinfonia in A Minor.
The program in full includes:
- Vivaldi Concerto “Il Grosso Mogul” (Lina Tur Bonet, violin soloist)
- Vivaldi Concerto for 2 oboes in D Minor
- Zelenka Sinfonia à 8 in A Minor
- Albicastro Concerto à 4 in C Minor, op. 7, no. 4
- Geminiani Concerto 12 after Corelli, “La Folia”
After its Toronto run, Tafelmusik and Tur Bonet take the program east to the National Arts Centre for a performance on October 27.
Violinist Lina Tur Bonet
Lina Tur Bonet has a unique career as a soloist and Baroque specialist. She has appeared as a guest director with a range of ensembles from Spain to Norway, and now Toronto. She founded the ensemble MUSIca ALcheMIca, which has toured in Europe, North and South America, and in Japan, and collaborated with a range of artists.
Lina has premiered newly rediscovered music by Vivaldi, Boccherini, and Mendelssohn, as well as compositions written for her. Along with the music of the Baroque period, she performs work by Bartok, Piazzolla, and other composers.
Tur Bonet is also a dedicated educator, and teaches at Madrid’s Reina Sofía School of Music, as well as at the MHS Franz Liszt University in Weimer as Professor of Baroque Violin and Viola.
LV spoke to the Spanish violinist about the upcoming performances.
Lina Tur Bonet: The Interview
When Tur Bonet first performed with Tafelmusik back in 2024, the positive vibes were definitely flowing from both sides.
“Well I have to say I had a feeling of two friends who know each other at the beginning of a nice friendship,” Tur Bonet says. She enjoyed performing for Tafelmusik’s appreciative audience. “It was such a beautiful atmosphere, and a beautiful feeling of sharing music. As they say in Casa Blanca, it’s the beginning of a beautiful relationship.”
Like many, she’s found the music of the Baroque period a virtually endless source of inspiration — even new (to us) music. Varying programs with the well known and the little known is important.
“I think this is very important,” she says. “I think it’s so beautiful to find a new thing.” She likens it to a kid with a new toy. “Look how beautiful it is!”
She also believes that recovering the true history of the period, which includes many more composers than the scant few that immediately come to mind for most, is a vital part of music practice.
“I think it is also part of the responsibility of us as musicians.”
The Baroque Period
“You can give the audience what they know already […] but I think it’s also beautiful to put into it something new.” Audiences will hear the contrasting approaches of each composer. “The thing is, with music, the Baroque time, it was a very long period,” she points out. “Many things happened in that time.”
Since composers and musicians depended on a large part on the upper classes, the prosperity of the period provided fertile ground for the development of culture. “Every king wanted to have the best musicians. It’s a very, very inspiring moment in the history of arts,” she explains. “That’s why we have so many composers that are known — Bach, Vivaldi, Haydn — but also many that are not so well known.”
The length and broad reach of Baroque culture through Europe allowed for regional variations.
“Through Europe, every country had a very specific way of making art. But, at that time, there were some musicians who were touring a lot, and bringing influences form one place to the next.”
It created a fascinating environment for music. “Italy was influencing everything in Europe, but everyone had their own character.”
The Music
Vivaldi remains a favourite composer of the period. “It’s really great music and I play it often. He was like a pop star, a rock star of the time.”
She opens the concert as soloist in Vivaldi’s Concerto “Il Grosso Mogul”, a virtuosic piece that illustrates her point.
“What we are going to play is the original version,” she says. She notes the long third movement. “Everyone, when they listen to it, it seems to be Paganini,” Lina says. “It was really beautiful to see how Vivaldi made the original version of this piece.”
The program includes lesser known composers like Albicastro and his Concerto à 4 in C Minor.
“It’s really amazing music, it has an amazing energy,” she says. “It’s an amazing piece, not very well known at all,” she adds. “I’m sure that people are going to love this piece.”
Gemiania was a student of Corelli, and his Concerto 12 was inspired by the older composer. “I think it’s a great piece to end such a concert,” she says, noting that, in the history European music, Arcangelo Corelli played a crucial role in developing Baroque forms like the sonata and concerto. “He made a frame for everything that happened after him,” she says.
Bohemian/Czech composer Zelenka’s Sinfonia à 8 in A Minor is also on the program. “It’s very dark music. It’s very interesting,” she says. “Everyone had their own sound.”
She contrasts it with the sparkling energy of Vivaldi. “Vivaldi — he was a priest, he couldn’t keep the mass because he was ill, but you listen to the music, and you think — this was an ill man?” she wonders.
“It’s not true what Stravinsky said about him, that he wrote the same concerto 400 times,” she adds. “He’s a very, very, important composer.”
On Tour With Tafelmusik
This year’s Canadian visit includes a trip east to Ottawa and the National Arts Centre. She’s looking forward to it, as well as to working with the musicians of Tafelmusik again.
“There’s a really nice combination of amazing musicians with a strong [practice] of doing things together.”
Working with different musician/conductors has created an ensemble with a flexible approach. Tur Bonet calls them the best of the Baroque specialists in North America.
“We are on the same vibe.”
- Find tickets and show details for Vivaldi’s World [HERE].
Are you looking to promote an event? Have a news tip? Need to know the best events happening this weekend? Send us a note.
#LUDWIGVAN
Get the daily arts news straight to your inbox.
Sign up for the Ludwig Van Toronto e-Blast! — local classical music and opera news straight to your inbox HERE.
- INTERVIEW | Tim Gentle Talks About Ian White’s Children’s Book Snowball: A Christmas Dilemma - December 12, 2025
- INTERVIEW | Composer Njo Kong Kie & Librettist Douglas Rodger Talk About Their Digital Opera The Futures Market - December 12, 2025
- PREVIEW | Something Different For The Holidays: Sex Dalmatian’s Hot Holiday Spectacular - December 11, 2025
