Here’s what I’m looking forward to this month (previously mentioned gigs omitted):
The Glenn Gould School’s fall opera is on the 4th and 5th at 7.30pm in Mazzoleni Hall. This time it’s John Blow’s Venus and Adonis; “A masque for the entertainment of the King.” from 1683.
Less a Toronto listings summary than a quick review of things going on in various real and virtual spaces.
As part of music director Riccardo Muti’s final tour with the orchestra, the Chicago Symphony is coming to Toronto in February for the first time since 1914. It’s at Koerner too, so it’s a chance to see one of the world’s great orchestras in a really good acoustic. The dates are February 1st and 2nd 2023 and the programmes are:
Photo credit: Todd Rosenberg Photography
More shows to enjoy…
October 11th to November 6th at Crow’s Theatre it’s Rajiv Joseph’s Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo. “During the chaos of the 2003 American occupation of Iraq the lives of two American marines intersect with an Iraqi gardener as they search through the rubble of war for friendship, redemption, and a toilet seat made of gold.”
October 26th at 8pm at Koerner Hall Philippe Jaroussky is appearing with Ensemble Artaserse. It’s a rare chance to hear somewhat controversial countertemor Jaroussky sing with orchestra in an ideal venue. The concert includes works by a range of baroque composers. Some of the material is relatively familiar; “Cara sposa” from Rinaldo for example, but much is by less well known composers such as Hasse and Ferrandini. Artaserse Ensemble is a leading period instrument band that, besides Jaroussky, has appeared with such singers as Cecilia Bartoli and Andreas Scholl.If you are buying tickets look out for deals. There’s a fair bit of discounting going on. Some shows have clearly sold very well but others not so much. The post pandemic bounce back looks a bit anaemic right now.
These two slipped through the cracks:
September 21st at 8pm Soundstreams have a choral concert at Koerner Hall. It’s called Choral Splendour and features Soundstreams’ Choir 21 with Meghan Lindsey, Rebecca Cuddy, Owen McCausland and Alain Coulombe in a programme of music by Frehner, Pärt and Vivier. Vivier’s Zipangu will be accompanied by a live dancer and a film created by Michael Greyeyes.
September 30th also at Koerner Hall at 8pm there’s a free concert to commemorate National Truth and Reconciliation Day. Sarain Fox MCs a mixture of the solemn (testimony from a residential school survivor) and the less solemn (Tomson Highway with excerpts from Songs in the Key of Cree), drumming, dancing and the piano quintet version of Ian Cusson’s Marilyn Dumont songs sung by Rebecca Cuddy with the New Orford Quartet and philip Chiu. If you haven’t heard these songs you should and if you have, but haven’t heard this arrangement, see them anyway because this is the best version! This show is free but ticketed and tickets are going superfast.
Even more listings for early/mid October…
Looking ahead to the next few weeks:
There are a few season announcements piling up in the in box….
First up is the always interesting Confluence Concerts series. It’s an eight show line-up:
I
t’s still pretty quiet but there are some things still going on:
August 16th to 20th, the National Ballet has free performances at Harbourfront incorporating a number of partners and an eclectic mix of dance styles. Details.
August 28th at pm in the Music Garden at Harbourfront Lawrence Wiliford and PhoeNX Ensemble are performing Alec Roth’s Songs in Time of War. This one is free and outdoors so “weather permitting”. Continue reading
As usual it’s pretty quiet. Here’s a few th
ings I am aware of.
July 31st – Opera Revue @ Castro’s Lounge, 3:00pm-6:00pm. PWYC
Summer Opera Lyric Theatre has a short season at the Alumnae Theatre on Berkeley Street. There are three shows: (at 8pm unless otherwise specified)
August 4th to 12th in the atrium at the Royal Conservatory it’s Tapestry’s production of Brian Current’s Gould’s Wall. As of time of writing all performances are sold out.
And a bit further out Iain Scott is organising a tour to Dresden in March to see the Decker/Thielemann Ring. Details are on his website. Giving advance notice because apparently numbers for this need to be confirmed by August 22nd.
operaramblings 