On tap this weekend (March 5-7), and down the road ...
This new calendar listing is really meant to focus on community-based Toronto music organizations such as concert bands, choirs, either amateur or professional, youth or adult, festivals and charitable fundraisers.
What it doesn’t cover is the big name acts coming to town or, at the other end of the spectrum, the daily club listings.
Steve Page has joined up with Andrew Burashko’s Art of Time Ensemble for both a CD, which has just been released, and a supporting tour which stops by Koerner Hall on Thursday, March 4. We’ll have more on the CD later. For more on this tour, click here.
The Durham-based Ontario Philharmonic Orchestra has a concert this Friday, March 5, 7:30 p.m., and there are two reasons we’re including it in these Toronto listings. One, is they’re playing, as usual, in Toronto, at P.C. Ho. Theatre (Chinese Cultural Centre of the GTA), 5183 Shepard Avenue East, in Scarborough. And, two, in addition to the Durham Youth Orchestra they’re also featuring the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir for a program of the world’s greatest opera choruses. Log onto http://www.ontariophil.ca/ or http://www.tmchoir.org/
The Toronto Children’s Chorus presents Classical Creations Friday, March 5, 8 p.m. at Calvin Presbyterian Church, 26 Delisle Avenue (Yonge & St. Clair). Tickets: $30 adults, $25 students/seniors. Call 416-932-8666 x 231. Log onto http://www.torontochildrenschorus.com The TCC plays tribute to great contributions to music through the creation of song, including Schumann’s song cycle Mädchenlieder, along with pieces by Mendelssohn, Purcell, Handel, Canadian composer Imant Raminsh and New Zealand composer David Childs.
Back by popular demand, the Amadeus Choir presents a benefit concert, Celtic Celebration, on Saturday, March 6 at 2 and 7:30 p.m. at Jubilee United Church, 40 Underhill Drive (one block east of the DVP, one block north of Lawrence).
Funds raised go towards supporting the artistic initiatives of the Amadeus Choir. The concerts will feature: The Amadeus Choir (Lydia Adams, conductor), Celtic Band, Highland Dancers and live and silent auctions. Tickets are $35 ($30 for seniors and students). For more information or to purchase tickets, please call 416-446-0188 or log on to http://www.amadeuschoir.com/
The Bell’Arte Singers presents Et Lux Perpetua Saturday, March 6, 8 p.m. at Christ Church Deer Park. Tickets: adults $20; students and seniors $15; group discounts available. Visit http://www.bellartesingers.ca/
ORIANA Women’s Choir presents The Great Spirit of Love: Music to Honour Love Life & Lord, Saturday, March 6, 8 p.m. at Grace Church on-the-Hill, 300 Lonsdale Rd.
This concert will feature glorious music from some of the choir’s favorite Canadian composers; Imant Raminsh’s Missa Brevis, Paul Halley’s Voices of Light (featuring flutist Leslie Newman) and works by Eleanor Daley, Jon Washburn and Ruth Watson Henderson. Compositions by G.F. Handel, F. Schubert and Randall Thompson will complete the program. For ticket info, log onto http://www.orianachoir.com/
The Mooredale Concert series continues on Sunday, March 7, 3:15 p.m. at U of T’s Walter Hall with Canada’s most renowned baroque and classical chamber orchestra, Les Violons du Roy, conducted by Richard Par. The program includes perennial Vivaldi favourite, The Four Seasons, with four of the Orchestra’s violinists as soloists (MacMillan Theatre) As usual, it’s preceded at 1:15 p.m. by a mini concert geared for kids but also enjoyed by adults. Les Violons du Roy borrows its name from the renowned string orchestra of the court of the French kings. The group, which has a core membership of fifteen players, was brought together in 1984 by music director Bernard Labadie and specializes in the vast repertoire of music for chamber orchestra, performed in the stylistic manner most appropriate to each era.For ticket prices and info, check out http://www.mooredaleconcerts.com/
The Toronto Beaches Children’s Chorus is slated to sing the anthems for the Toronto Raptors game on Sunday, March 7. They’re preparing for their next production, The Wizard of Oz, which they’ll present in June. Log onto http://www.torontobeacheschildrenschorus.com/
Sing for Haiti is what several downtown Toronto choirs will be doing during a fundraiser at Metropolitan United Church, 56 Queen Street East, on Sunday, March 7, 7 p.m. CBC Radio 2 host Tom Allen will be the host with Juno award winning singer/songwriter Melanie Doane making a special appearance. Participating choirs include:
* Amadeus Choir (Lydia Adams, Artistic Director);
* Bach Children’s Chorus and Youth Choir (Linda Beaupré, Artistic Director);
* Elmer Iseler Singers (Lydia Adams, Artistic Director);
* Fairlawn Avenue United Church Choir (Eleanor Daley, Director of Music);
* and Metropolitan United Church Choir (Patricia Wright, Director of Music).
Tickets are $20 and are available at the door or from participating choirs. Phone orders or general information, call 416-431-0790. All box office proceeds from Sing for Haiti to benefit Doctors Without Borders and Free the Children.
Toronto’s Victoria Scholars Choir presents Beautiful Brahms Rhapsody & Rinaldo Sunday, March 7, 7:30 p.m. at Our Lady of Sorrows, 3055 Bloor Street West. For ticket and other info, log onto http://www.victoriascholars.ca/
Toronto Consort, Canada’s leading chamber ensemble specializing in the music of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, presents ... From Praetorius to Bach: Visions of Darkness and Light 8 p.m., March 5 and 6, at their usual venue, at Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre, 427 Bloor Street West (just west of Spadina). Log onto http://www.torontoconsort.org/
Canadian Music Week is Canada’s leading annual entertainment event dedicated to the expression and growth of the country’s music, media and entertainment industries. Combining five information-intensive conferences; a trade exposition; a film festival; four awards shows and the nation’s largest New Music Festival – Canadian Music Fest – CMW spans a five-day period from March 10 to March 14 at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel and various downtown Toronto venues, attracting participants from across the globe. The New Music Festival itself will attract 700 bands, in 45 venues over the five days. For more information, visit http://www.cmw.net
The non-profit Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Chamber Choir presents ‘Bach in Leipzig’ Wednesday, March 10 to Sunday, March 14 at Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre. Times are March 10, 7 p.m., March 11, 12 and 13 at 8 p.m. and March 14 at 3:30 p.m. An imaginative concert from Alison Mackay, creator of Metamorphosis, Chariots of Fire and The Galileo Project, it’s directed by Jeanne Lamon and Ivars Taurins and featuring Tafelmusik Orchestra and Chamber Choir. Log onto http://www.tafelmusik.org/
In support of World Kidney Day and National Kidney Month, the PKD Foundation of Canada is holding the Ultrasound Dance Party (ages 19 and over) on Thursday, March 11 at The Boat (in Kensington Market), 158 Augusta Avenue. Doors open at 10 p.m. Admission is $5, which all goes toward polycystic kidney research in Canada. Link here.
Music Toronto, dedicated to facilitating chamber music downtown, presents the Toronto debut of the Hugo Wolf Quartett Thursday, March 11, 8 p.m. at the St. Lawrence Centre. Log onto http://www.music-toronto.com/
DON’T FORGET ABOUT ...
Canadian Opera Company at Four Seasons Centre currently on stage ... next performance Richard Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman, April 24-May. 20. See http://www.coc.ca/ for ticket info and specific dates.
Toronto Symphony Orchestra: Best of British (light classics) Saturday, March 6, 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, March 7, 3 p.m.; Grieg Piano Concerto & Elgar Enigma Variations (Masterworks) Thursday, March 11, Saturday, March 13, 8 p.m. See http://www.tso.com/ for more info.
Also the downtown Royal Conservatory has a busy schedule, especially in their new Koerner Hall. Log onto http://www.rcmusic.ca/ContentPage.aspx?name=home, click your way to full schedule.
Also click on http://www.roythomson.com/calendar for schedule at Roy Thomson Hall, Massey Hall and Glenn Gould Theatre.