{"id":102891,"date":"2024-04-01T10:29:04","date_gmt":"2024-04-01T14:29:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=102891"},"modified":"2024-04-01T10:29:04","modified_gmt":"2024-04-01T14:29:04","slug":"critics-picks-classical-music-events-you-absolutely-need-to-see-this-week-april-1-april-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2024\/04\/01\/critics-picks-classical-music-events-you-absolutely-need-to-see-this-week-april-1-april-7\/","title":{"rendered":"CRITIC\u2019S PICKS | Classical Music Events You Absolutely Need To See This Week: April 1 \u2013 April 7"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"L-R
L-R (clockwise): Laurie Anderson (Photo courtesy of the RCM); cellist Elinor Frey (Photo courtesy of the artist); Tafelmusik (Photo courtesy of Tafelmusik)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This is a list of concerts we are attending, wishing we could attend, or thinking about attending between April 1 and April 7, 2024. For more of what\u2019s happening around Toronto, visit our calendar here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

University of Toronto Contemporary Music Ensemble: Liquid Symmetries<\/h3>\n

Tuesday, April 2, 7:30 p.m.
\nWalter Hall, Faculty of Music, University of Toronto. $10+<\/p>\n

University of Toronto Contemporary Music Ensemble takes full advantage of its academic setting by presenting three challenging contemporary compositions \u2014 a risky move in the wider commercial world. Tomi R\u00e4is\u00e4nen\u2019s Abeyance (2005),an Ensemble Modern commission, Francisco Coll\u2019s Liquid Symmetries (2013), an exploration of permanent uncertainty, and Mauricio Kagel\u2019s Divertimento? (2006): \u2018… a farce for ensemble\u2019 (Kagel), all consisting of amazing music that possesses all the qualities of the familiar canon that we learned to love: beauty, ugliness, pathos and humour, and all things in between. A great way to wade carefully, or with gay abandon, into western classical contemporary soundscapes. Info here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Soundstreams: TD Encounters: Recovered Voices \u2014 Piano Works of Unsung Masters<\/h3>\n

Wednesday, April 03, 7:30 p.m.
\nTemerty Theatre, Royal Conservatory of Music. Free, registration required.<\/p>\n

How do we create canon and legacy, and what gets left out in the course of history? Three young pianists: Elijah Stevens, Irene Huang, and Jesse Plessis, perform solo piano works of underserved North American composers: Margaret Bonds, Ian Cusson, Robert Nathaniel Dett, and Florence Price; the performances will include a short discussion of their historic and musical context, and there will be an audience Q&A. A chance to discover new sound languages, and ponder on the eternal question: what makes something great? Info here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Toronto Symphony Orchestra: R. Strauss\u2019s Don Quixote<\/h3>\n

Wednesday, April 2, 8 p.m., Saturday April 06, 8 p.m.
\nRoy Thomson Hall, $35+<\/p>\n

Come for Strauss and Ligeti, and stay for Wagner and Samy Moussa! Ligeti\u2019s Lontano is a deceptively familiar work for many, as its evocative nature has been used to set psychological ground for Stanley Kubrick\u2019s The Shining and Martin Scorsese\u2019s Shutter Island. Strauss\u2019s Don Quixote, easily his best tone poem, depicts the complex humanity of Don Quixote, Sancho Panza, and Don\u2019s obsession, Dulcinea, in loose variation form. Expect humour, eloquence and total musical mastery from viola and cello soloists R\u00e9mi Pelletier and Joseph Johnson. Principal trombonist of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, J\u00f6rgen van Rijen, who has been busy commissioning new works to stretch the stereotype and boundaries of trombone repertoire, will give the North American premi\u00e8re of Samy Moussa\u2019s trombone concerto, Yericho. Info here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Tafelmusik: Making Herself Heard<\/h3>\n

Friday, April 5, 7 p.m.
\nWalker Court, Art Gallery of Ontario, Included with General Admission.<\/p>\n

Free for Members and Annual Pass Holders.\u2028\u2028In celebration of women and their contribution to European visual arts, AGO teamed up with Tafelmusik in two performance series: \u2018Making Herself Heard\u2019. A keyboard quartet (2 violins, cello, and harpsichord) from Tafelmusik will perform music of \u00c9lisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre, Isabella Leonarda, Marianne Martinez, and Mrs. Philharmonic, giving lively snippets of women\u2019s music, which got simply left behind with no just reason. Info here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

21C Music Festival: Laurie Anderson<\/h3>\n

Friday, April 5, 8 p.m.
\nKoerner Hall. Currently sold out \u2014 waitlist<\/p>\n

One of the most innovative and original performers of our time, Laurie Anderson, returns to Koerner Hall. Anderson explains that for this concert, she looked back at her older works, and deconstructed her music into solo versions, then added her visual works ranging from performances, films and virtual reality projects. It\u2019s impossible to get a realistic sense of Anderson\u2019s work without experiencing it firsthand; her first Koerner debut back in 2020 is vividly remembered by many as pure magic. Call and add yourself to the waiting list, and keep your fingers crossed. Info here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Friends of Music at St. Thomas\u2019s: Elinor Frey: Cello Suites of Bach<\/h3>\n

Saturday, April 6, 4 p.m., Sunday, April 7, 1:30 p.m.
\nSt Thomas\u2019s Anglican Church, 383 Huron St. Pay-what-you-wish ($40 suggested)<\/p>\n

Bach\u2019s six cello suites have been drawing people inward for centuries \u2014 both performers and listeners. Ranging from the deepest darkness to the most ethereal light, despite their fiendishly difficult technical requirements, the suites are probably the most famous and beloved of Western classical solo string works. Elinor Frey, cellist extraordinaire, presents all six works over two days in the intimate space of St. Thomas\u2019s Anglican Church. It is one thing to listen to the cello suites through a speaker\/earphones, making selections, skipping a movement or two, or staying in repetition with a favourite; it is a completely different experience when one stays in real-time with the performer, in their creative process, in the real physical state of listening; going beyond the pale mechanical substitute of \u2018listening,\u2019 but immersing into the space where the sound resonates through the instrument, human body and mind. Info here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

F for Flamenco Festival: F for Flamenca<\/h3>\n

Saturday, April 6, 8 p.m.,
\nParadise Theatre\u2028 1006c Bloor Street West Toronto $40.50+<\/p>\n

The inaugural F for Flamenco Festival (April 4-7) is bringing Canadian and international flamenco artists together in three performances. Their second performance, F for Flamenca, will be a rare all-women flamenco gala, featuring the Spanish contingent: dancer Irene La Sent\u00edo (Seville), guitarist Antonia Jim\u00e9nez (Madrid), percussionist Nasrine Rahmani (Madrid), and singer Laura Marchal (Barcelona), along with Toronto-based artists: dancer Lia Grainger, singer Tamar Ilana, and dancer Virginia Castro (Cordoba). The music of Flamenco simply cannot exist without the virtuosic dance that rides fast between the explosion and implosion, and this would be a great chance to experience it live. Info here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Continuum Contemporary Music: PIVOT 2024 Showcase<\/h3>\n

Sunday, April 7, 8 p.m.
\nHugh\u2019s Room, 296 Broadview Ave. $15+<\/p>\n

Continuum, the Canadian League of Composers, and the Canadian Music Centre, will premier five early-career Canadian composers\u2019 works on this Sunday evening. Performance opportunities are integral in artistic development, and by creating a 6-month individual mentorship and premiere by Continuum core members, for the selected five \u2014 Alexander Bridger, Ricardo Ferro, Libert\u00e9-Anne Lymberiou, Anju Singh, and Janet Sit \u2014 the PIVOT project can be a true accelerator in so many ways. If you can, come a little early for 7:45 p.m., and see who\u2019s won this year\u2019s annual Teen Composer Award.\u2028Info here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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\nHERE<\/a>.<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Classical music and opera events in Toronto for the week of April 1 to 7, 2024. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":102893,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[40967,74,76,19,3895,38,63],"tags":[41127,894,5813],"yst_prominent_words":[8345,8853,25584,33723,6616,12857,7549],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/04\/Copy-of-CRITICS-PICKS-17.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-qLx","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102891"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102891"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102891\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":102896,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102891\/revisions\/102896"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102891"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=102891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}