{"id":67309,"date":"2020-03-03T17:07:40","date_gmt":"2020-03-03T22:07:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=67309"},"modified":"2020-03-03T17:07:40","modified_gmt":"2020-03-03T22:07:40","slug":"scoop-toronto-summer-music-15th-anniversary-festival-celebrates-beethoven-unleashed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2020\/03\/03\/scoop-toronto-summer-music-15th-anniversary-festival-celebrates-beethoven-unleashed\/","title":{"rendered":"THE SCOOP | Toronto Summer Music 15th Anniversary Festival Celebrates Beethoven Unleashed"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"l-r,
l-r, top to bottom: Nicholas Namoradze, Jonathan Crow, Yura Lee, Sarah Jeffrey, Tapestry Opera’s Iron Road (Jonathan Crow photo by Christopher Wahl, others courtesy of Toronto Summer Music)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

From July 9 to August 1, 2020, the 15th anniversary of the Toronto Summer Music festival and Beethoven\u2019s 250th birthday celebrations come together in a look not only at the iconic composer\u2019s music, but his influence on Western culture overall, with some special programming gems thrown into the mix.<\/p>\n

Every summer, Toronto Summer Music brings a wealth of classical music offerings to make up the gap between the end of one season and the beginning of the next. Jonathan Crow, Artistic Director of Toronto Summer Music<\/strong> commented on the 2020 line-up in a media release.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeethoven<\/strong> and his music conjure ideas of universal expressions of the human spirit that transcend the \u2018Classical\u2019 or \u2018Romantic\u2019 labels that history has given them. Celebrating the human spirit is also about celebrating experimentation and revelling in music that is both ahead of its time and symbolic of its own time. In this year\u2019s festival we shine a light on Beethoven\u2019s oeuvre and show how his music echoes through generations, influencing composers and performers to this day.\u201d<\/p>\n

CBC\u2019s Tom Allen hosts the opening night concert of art songs at Koerner Hall, featuring Mozart\u2019s arias and duets, along with selections by Beethoven and Liszt. Mezzo-soprano Simone McIntosh and baritone Clarence Frazer sing, with a star-studded list of musicians that includes pianist and Honens 2018 Prize Laureate Nicholas Namoradze, and violinist Martin Beaver, among others.<\/p>\n

Acclaimed German-born baritone Benjamin Appl<\/strong> will make his Toronto debut<\/strong> on July 13 at Walter Hall in a recital with noted pianist Wolfram Rieger. The program includes German Art Songs by Beethoven and Schubert.<\/p>\n

\"Benjamin
Benjamin Appl (Photo courtesy of Toronto Summer Music)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Other vocal highlights include Tapestry Opera\u2019s Iron Road<\/em><\/strong> on July 16. The opera about the Chinese workers who helped to build the Canadian Pacific Railway by composer Chan Ka Nin and librettist Mark Brownell was acclaimed by critics when it premiered in 2001. The concert version stars soprano Midori Marsh<\/strong> as Lai Gwan in Canada\u2019s first bilingual Cantonese-English opera.<\/p>\n

Beethoven\u2019s soulful Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13 \u201cPath\u00e9tique\u201d<\/em> opens the evening on July 10 at Walter Hall. The program then shifts to focus on strings, with the demanding Strauss Sonata for Violin and Piano in E-flat Major, Op. 18<\/em>., and Brahms Sextet No. 2 in G Major, Op. 36<\/em>, featuring violinists Martin Beaver, Jonathan Crow, Yura Lee on both violin and viola, violist Eric Nowlin, and cellists Nick Canellakis and Cameron Crozman, with pianists Nicolas Namoradze and Philip Chiu.<\/p>\n

Beethoven moves into the modern era in Beethoven and All That Jazz<\/em> on July 14. The Mark Fewer Trio<\/strong> interpret Beethoven\u2019s life and story through jazz classics by Dave Brubeck<\/strong> and others, and new music by Bramwell Tovey and Cameron Wilson.<\/p>\n

Other Beethoven-centric offerings include Ghosts of Beethoven<\/em><\/strong> on July 17, presenting the works of Shostakovich and Canadian composers Brian Cherney and Stephen Chatman \u2013 all influenced by the German Master. Jonathan Crow and pianist Philip Chiu team up to perform the complete set of Beethoven\u2019s Sonatas for Piano and Violin<\/strong> over three evenings during the festival.<\/p>\n

The innovative VC2 Cello Duo<\/strong> host a fun evening of music and unusual repertoire at Lula Lounge<\/strong> on July 21. The innovative duo researched cellist-composers who were close to Beethoven, who was one of the first to take the instrument seriously as a composer. The program presents works by his colleagues Anton Kraft, Berhard Romberg and Jean-Louis Duport, as well as works commissioned by Canadian cellist-composers based on Beethoven cello sonatas.<\/p>\n

The Missing Pages<\/em>, a play written by and starring Tom Allen<\/strong>, examines what happened during the meeting between Beethoven, and Canadian musician and teacher Theodor Molt<\/strong>\u00a0 that took place on December 16, 1825.<\/p>\n

The festival\u2019s line-up, as usual, includes some of the most celebrated names in classical music. The Mir\u00f3 Quartet<\/strong>, having just completed a project to record all of Beethoven\u2019s 16 String Quartets over a 16-year period, will perform the composer\u2019s last major work, the String Quartet No. 16 in F Major, Op. 135<\/em> on July 24.<\/p>\n

\"Charles
Charles Richard-Hamelin (Photo courtesy of the artist)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The up and coming Danish String Quartet<\/strong> combine Purcell, Shostakovich and Beethoven in the program on July 29. Canadian pianist Charles Richard-Hamelin<\/strong> makes a return to TSM on July 30 to perform Beethoven\u2019s \u201cEmperor\u201d Concerto<\/em>, with the TSM Festival Orchestra under the baton of Nicholas Ellis. Also on the program is the composer\u2019s Symphony No 3 in E flat major, \u201cEroica\u201d<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The focus shifts from Beethoven for some of the festival\u2019s concerts. TSM\u2019s Artistic Director Jonathan Crow<\/strong>, violinist Andrew Wan, oboist Sarah Jeffrey and the TSM Academy Fellows perform an all-Bach program<\/strong> at the Church of the Redeemer on July 15 in a Special Event that includes a post-concert party<\/strong> with the artists \u2014 and food and drink by Sublime Catering. The program features the Chaconne from Partita No.2 in D minor, BWV 1004<\/em>, excerpts from Mass in B minor<\/em> and The Art of Fugue<\/em>, Concerto for Violin in A minor, BWV 10041<\/em> and Concerto for Oboe and Violin, BWV 1060<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Chamber music and dance are on the menu on July 28 in a special presentation by Echo Chamber Toronto. Legendary ballerina Evelyn Hart<\/strong> and four other dancers interpret the work of Haydn, Schubert, and Beethoven as performed by the Rosebud String Quartet<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Schubert\u2019s Octet<\/em> is the highlight of the evening on July 31, in a program that includes Beethoven\u2019s Cello Sonata No. 3<\/em>, and a world premiere<\/strong> by award-winning Canadian composer Kelly-Marie Murphy<\/strong>. The festival wraps up with a Finale concert on August 1<\/strong> with performances by TSM Artists, Academy Fellows, and Community Academy participants.<\/p>\n

The Toronto Summer Music Academy<\/strong> is an opportunity for young chamber musicians and singers to get a full scholarship to study and perform at the festival with guest artists. The reGENERATION Concerts<\/strong> series features the TSM Academy Fellows and their Mentors performing together. Programming details will be announced in June.<\/p>\n

Along with the ticketed concerts and events, there are free TSM events<\/strong>, with the details to be announced in June. There will be specially designed one-hour concerts for children ages 5 to 12 on Thursdays, and casual concerts with festival artists and rising stars at 5 p.m. from Tuesday to Thursday during the festival in Heliconian Hall. Heliconian Hall will also host a lunchtime concert series from Wednesday to Friday during the festival. The RCM\u2019s Temerty Theatre will be the scene of an accessible and inclusive concert on July 27.<\/p>\n

Festival Passes are on sale as of March 3, 2020, and single tickets to the Festival concerts ($20-$90) will be on sale as of March 17, 2020. Details<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

#LUDWIGVAN<\/em><\/h3>\n

Want more updates on classical music and opera news and reviews? Follow us\u00a0on <\/em>Facebook<\/b><\/a><\/em><\/span>, <\/em>Instagram<\/b><\/a><\/em><\/span> <\/b>or <\/em>Twitter<\/b><\/a><\/em><\/span> for all the latest.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From July 9 to August 1, 2020, the 15th anniversary of the Toronto Summer Music festival and Beethoven\u2019s 250th birthday celebrations come together in a look not only at the iconic composer\u2019s music, but his influence on Western culture overall, with some special programming gems thrown into the mix.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":67312,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[33451,74,10,76,19,20,32,39,43,63],"tags":[34705,5519,28458,4439,9831,4167,3356],"yst_prominent_words":[17613,12458,6715,35528,35527,30165,35523,7680,35522,35520,8398,6616,35525,7677,7432,35524,35521,15153,15149,17607],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/03\/TSM-announcement-header.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-hvD","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67309"}],"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\/64"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67309"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67309\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67315,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67309\/revisions\/67315"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67309"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=67309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}