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<\/p>\nThe month of February provides a handful of new music experiences to beat the cold weather. Three out of four concert recommendations involve out-of-town ensembles, while jazz-contemporary classical group Spectrum Music gives us an opportunity to contemplate the cosmos \u2013\u00a0anything to distract Torontonians from trudging through rivers of grey slush on our way to a TTC stop.<\/p>\n
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Saturday, February 7th<\/sup>\u00a0at Alliance Francaise de Toronto. 8:00 p.m. $12-17<\/p>\n Classical music \u2013 and especially contemporary music \u2013 is increasingly being performed in unlikely spaces in order to bring music to new audiences. This is a relief to many restaurant and pub patrons who would rather sit in silence than be drowned out by another over-amplified cover band. Interestingly, this has created a crossbreeding of musical genres as musicians and composers begin creating suitable music for these new spaces, and jazz composers increasingly dabble in contemporary music idioms. Spectrum Music presents a creative hybrid of jazz and classical music at their upcoming concert, \u201cStarry Night\u201d, and will feature guided improvisations (an intersection of jazz music practice and 20th<\/sup> century aleatoricism?), a \u201cviolin quasi-concerto\u201d by Shannon Graham, and a suitably themed lecture on astronomy in the arts by emeritus professor of U of T\u2019s astrophysics department, John R. Percy.<\/p>\n http:\/\/spectrummusic.ca\/event\/details\/starry-night\/<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Thursday, February 19th at The Music Gallery. 8:00 p.m. $13-18<\/p>\n Toronto\u2019s Thin Edge Music Collective will team up with Montr\u00e9al\u2019s Ensemble Paramirabo to perform minimalist warhorses such as Steve Reich\u2019s Double Sextet and Louis Andriessen\u2019s Worker\u2019s Union, as well as commissions by Toronto\u2019s 2013 Emerging Composer Award winner Anna H\u00f6stman and Montr\u00e9al composers Brian Harman and Patrick Gigu\u00e8re. Worth attending to hear the top-notch Ensemble Paramirabo and the delicate, abstract music of Anna H\u00f6stman.<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.thethinedgenewmusiccollective.com\/events<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Thursday, February 26, March 1st at The Theatre Centre. Times vary. $67.50<\/p>\n The International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) and soprano Tony Arnold perform Pulitzer prizewinner David Lang\u2019s Whisper Opera, a thoroughly intimate experience on the subject of human struggle, inaudibility and hidden desire. The work pushes the boundaries of opera while also affirming the genre\u2019s roots in vibrantly displaying human drama. The opera is so quiet that shows are limited to 52 audience members: luckily there are 6 shows to attend from February 26 to March 1st<\/sup>.<\/p>\n![\"Thin](\"http:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/02\/9f3f1.jpg\")
Thin Edge Music Collective presents: Raging Against the Machine<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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Soundstreams presents: Whisper Opera<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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