Details
Address: 146 Crescent Rd, Toronto ON M4W 1V2
Website: www.mooredaleconcerts.com
Contact: marketing@mooredaleconcerts.com
Phone: 416-922-3714 x103 daytime or 647-988-2102 eve/wkds
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Photo Gallery
Latest posts by Ludwig Van (see all)
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The Folks Behind It All
Kristine Bogyo (1946-2007) | Founder, Artistic Director 1989-2007
Anton Kuerti | Artistic Director 2007-14, Emeritus 2015-
Christina A. Cavanagh | Managing Director
Wonny Song | Artistic Director
Larry Beckwith | Senior Youth Orchestra
Deborah Pady | Intermediate Youth Orchestra
Bijan Sapenji | Junior Youth Orchestra
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About
Mooredale Concerts strives to make great classical music accessible to everyone. We want to inspire music appreciation in people of all ages and to foster involvement in further music pursuits. Our particular emphasis is on music education for the young, through our Youth Orchestras program and Music & Truffles series.
The jewel of Mooredale Concerts is our Concert Series – six superb concerts presented intimately and informally on smaller stages. Our performers are acclaimed local, national, and international professionals plus sparkling young artists with great careers ahead of them.
Mooredale Concerts continues to earn its reputation for highest quality music presentation at rock bottom prices, and as a result we have a solid following of concert-goers from Southern Ontario, including more than 600 subscribers. Mooredale Concerts is a not for profit and after 29 years in operation, remains a volunteer based organization.
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Events
Mooredale Concerts offer three different performance-oriented programs.
Concert Series:
Six Sunday afternoon performances by world-class musicians offering traditional and very distinctive, exotic programming designed to showcase a wide view of classical music. In addition to standard chamber music groupings, we often offer unique performance combinations like classical guitar with voice, and trombone with organ, and often feature less frequently heard instruments like harp, oboe, horn, and viola. In keeping with our commitment to new talent, we’ve also presented winners of the Young Canadian Musicians Award and Banff International String Quartet Competition. In past seasons, we have featured a new string quartet composition by Canadian Tim Brady, 20th/21st Century classical guitar works, and a European vocal quintet singing ancient/modern carols from around the world.
Music and Truffles:
Music and Truffles enters its 15th year. They are hour-long versions of the above Concert Series (usually five concerts), presented for young people ages 6-11 and take place 2 hours before at [1:15-2:15 pm]. Through this unique series, Mooredale Concerts educates children about classical music and not only builds future audiences but also future musicians; some of which become players in our youth orchestras. We also welcome unaccompanied adults who want to learn about classical music without making a large time/price commitment and have attracted new patrons, who enjoy the youthful, abandoning atmosphere. And everyone receives a Lindt chocolate truffle at the end. Sweet!
Youth Orchestras:
The Mooredale Youth Orchestras train young musicians ages six – twenty (130 this season) in the classical orchestral repertoire and prepares them for three performances a year. There are three orchestras [junior – ages 12 and under, intermediate — ages 10–15, senior — ages 12-20 with Royal Conservatory Grade 8 and higher]. As a unique feature, we encourage the Concert Series artists to perform/sit-in with the Senior Orchestra, and we provide discounted tickets to parents/players for the performances. See here for more details.
2017-18
CONCERT SERIES – Walter Hall, UofT at 3:15 pm
MUSIC & TRUFFLES — Walter Hall, UofT from 1:15-2:15 pm
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TSO Chamber Soloists
September 24 @ 3:15 pm – 5:15 pm
Founded in 2014, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra Chamber Soloists came together with a mission to create programming featuring a diverse and varied range of instruments. Acclaimed as an ensemble of distinguished virtuosi, the Chamber Soloists’ unique combination of winds, strings, keyboard, and percussion gives it the flexibility to present a wide range of unusual and infrequently performed repertoire, along with some of the best-loved works in the chamber music literature.
The Chamber Soloists have performed around the world, from Roy Thomson Hall to the iconic Harpa Hall in Iceland, with such distinguished guest artists as Emanuel Ax, James Ehnes, and Barbara Hannigan. They recently teamed with the Art Gallery of Ontario in The Decades Project, a collaboration which pairs visual art with a musical composition from the 20th Century
Curated by TSO Concertmaster Jonathan Crow, the Chamber Soloists seek to bring audiences closer to the musicians of the Orchestra—personally and musically. Their lush program features works by Francaix (String Trio), Neilsen, and Strauss, concluding with Beethoven’s Septet in E flat Major, Op. 20.
Soloists joining Jonathan are Teng Li, principal viola, Joseph Johnson, principal cello, Jeffrey Beecher, principal bass, Miles Jaques, clarinet, Michael Sweeney, principal bassoon, and Neil Deland, principal horn.
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Jasper String Quartet
October 29 @ 3:15 pm – 5:15 pm
Winner of the prestigious CMA Cleveland Quartet Award, Philadelphia’s Jasper String Quartet is the Professional Quartet in Residence at Temple University’s Center for Gifted Young Musicians. Formed in 2006 at Oberlin Conservatory, by 2008 the Jasper’s swept through the competition circuit, winning several prestigious chamber music competitions. They have performed at Carnegie Hall and Wigmore Hall, having toured in North America, England, Italy, Japan, Korea, Norway, and Panama.
The Quartet perform pieces emotionally significant to its members. Hailed for their programming savvy, they have commissioned string quartets from some of today’s best composers, including Aaron Jay Kernis, Conrad Tao, and Annie Gosfield. They will perform Mozart’s String Quartet in G Major, K. 387, Prokofiev’s String Quartet No. 12 in F Major, and a Beethoven late string quartet.
In their Melba and Orville Roleffson Residency at the Banff Centre they embarked on “guerrilla chamber music,” performing concerts in unusual settings around Alberta. The Quartet is named after Jasper National Park.
“Sonically delightful and expressively compelling” The Strad
“Outstanding…Exceptional” The New Yorker
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Rebelheart Collective with Mai Tategami, violin
November 26 @ 3:15 pm – 5:15 pm
These highly accomplished Canadian players have formed their own group, based in London ON, with a unique and heartfelt vision – to give back to the community and help train the next generation of classical musicians.
Violinist Erika Raum has appeared as guest artist with orchestras including the Budapest Radio Orchestra, the Szombathely Symphony Orchestra, the Austro-Hungarian Orchestra, and the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra. Former violinist of the St. Lawrence String Quartet, Scott St. John made his Carnegie debut in 1988 after winning first prize in the Alexander Schneider Competition. His solo appearances include the Boston Pops, the Utah Symphony, and Toronto Symphony.
Violist Sharon Wei has won numerous prizes including top honours at the London Music Competition and the Washington International Competition. Sharon has appeared as soloist with orchestras throughout North America. Cellist Thomas Wiebe has performed as guest artist with the Juilliard Orchestra at Lincoln Center as well as the Winnipeg Symphony. He is a member of the Duke Trio.
Rebelheart’s members are Professors of Music at University of Toronto (Erika) and The University of Western Ontario. Scott is founder and artistic director of the new Western 360 Summer Music Festival August 10-13, 2017 designed to encourage amateur musicians to grow their skills through working and experiencing the professionals.
They will perform Haydn’s String Quartet Op. 33, No. 2 (The Joke), Dvorák’s String Quartet in F Major, Op. 96 (American), and Mendelssohn’s String Quintet in B flat Major, Op. 87 with Mai Tategami, 2016 winner of the Orford Music competition.
Mai Tategami gave her solo debut under the conductor Yutaka Sado at the age of 14. In 2006 she was the youngest member of the Ongaku-juku orchestra, founded by Seiji Ozawa. As a chamber musician, she has performed at the Saito Kinen Festival Matsumoto and the Seiji Ozawa Chamber Music Academy. She is a first violinist at the Beethoven Orchester in Bonn and was an academician at the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin.
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Piano Dialogue – David Jalbert & Wonny Song
January 14, 2018 @ 3:15 pm – 5:15 pm
Two acclaimed Canadian pianists – two different voices – two penetrating styles. Returning by popular demand, David and Wonny present shimmering 20thCentury grand works for two pianos. They will perform Rachmaninoff’s Suite No. 1 (Fantasie-tableaux) in G minor, Op. 5 and the Sleeping Beauty Waltz, as well as Darius Milhaud’s Scaramouche, Op. 165b, and Stravinsky’s Petrushka, Suite for 2 Pianos.
Wonny Song is one of Canada’s most outstanding young concert pianists, widely praised for his wonderfully poetic touch, and depth of musical insight. Winner of the 2010 Canadian Musician Award, 2003 Prix d’Europe as well as the 2002 Galaxie Rising Star Award, he has appeared with over 40 different orchestras. As winner of the 2005 Young Concert Artists International Auditions, he made recital debuts at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
“…a versatile, intelligent and deeply musical young pianist, and his recital…was one of the best programs of the season.” The Washington Post
A virtuoso with a warm and elegant style and a wide-ranging repertoire, Canadian pianist David Jalbert has established himself among the elite of a new generation of classical musicians. Jalbert performs regularly as a soloist and recitalist across North America and Europe, and his recordings have earned critical praise worldwide. A national and international prizewinner, he was the 2007 laureate of the prestigious Virginia Parker Prize of the Canada Council for the Arts and has been nominated for three Juno Awards.
“Jalbert dazzles with skill, style and taste… with all the finesse and exuberance a listener could want” The Star.
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Paul Huang, violin and Helen Huang, piano
February 18, 2018 @ 3:15 pm – 5:15 pm
Recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant and Lincoln Center Award for Emerging Artists, violinist Paul Huang is already recognized for his intensely expressive music making and effortless virtuosity. Following his Kennedy Center debut, The Washington Post proclaimed: “Huang is definitely an artist with the goods for a significant career.”
His upcoming engagements include debuts with the Houston, Pacific, and Seoul Philharmonia, and returns with the Detroit, Alabama, Bilbao, and National Symphonies of Mexico and Taiwan. He plays on the 1742 ex-Wieniawski Guarneri del Gesù on loan through the generous efforts of the Stradivari Society of Chicago.
Helen Huang made her debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra at age eight, and two years later with the New York Philharmonic (Kurt Masur). Born in Japan of Taiwanese parents, she attended the Manhattan School of Music, and then the Juilliard School, where she studied with the Israeli pianist Yoheved Kaplinsky till 2004.
She has performed and toured with several major orchestras; Cleveland, U.S. National, Saint Louis, the Leipzig Gewandhaus, Vienna Chamber, and the London Philharmonic. Helen has been a member of the Juilliard School faculty since 2008.
Together, they will perform a powerhouse program that includes Saint-Saens Violin Sonata No. 1 in D minor, Op. 75, Sarasate’s Spanish Dances, Op. 22 Romanza Andaluza, and Cyril Scott’s Lotus Land arranged by Fritz Kreisler. And there is more! Canadian debut.
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Forestare Ensemble
April 15, 2018 @ 3:15 pm – 5:15 pm
Québec-based guitar ensemble Forestare comprises 12 guitars and two double bass. Since its 2002 inception, the ensemble has participated in the creation of 50 original works and has adapted nearly another 100 for its unique orchestral configuration. As a result, they have created the largest repertoire of music for guitar orchestra in the world.
Their 2007 self-titled CD garnered a Félix in the category “Instrumental Album of the Year” and they toured their environmental concert “De l’arbre à la guitare” throughout Canada, France, and Chile, performing where possible outdoors and in forests. Their second critically acclaimed CD, Arauco, received nominations for both a Félix and a Prix Opus. September 2016, they released their third CD, Baroque, featuring arrangements of this repertoire for guitar orchestra, thereby melding the exuberant music of the old masters into a new and fresh, yet familiar sound.
They will perform works by Lully (from Le Bourgeois gentilhomme), Vivaldi (Concerto No. 2, RV578), and J.S. Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G Major, BWV 1048. Arrangers are David Pilon, David Ratelle, and Jürg Kindle.
“Forestare has managed to create a sound that is distinct…The effect created by this mass of guitars…is quite simply striking.” La Presse
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See here, for ticket info and full season subscriptions.
