Vivaldi Visits Vienna

Thank you so much to everybody who attended our first concert of the season – Vivaldi Visits Vienna!  We truly appreciate your support.  We send particular love out to those who donated money.  The reality is that even though our concerts are well-attended, ticket sales alone do not cover the cost and we need that kind of support.  Thank you so much!

We were honoured in this particular concert to have with us Nathalie Paulin, Soprano. Nathalie is a very accomplished singer with a busy schedule and we are grateful she found time to accommodate Academy Concert Series.  Her voice is so beautiful.  As the cellist for this concert it was a real treat to play with her.  The role of the cello in a concert like this is to support the singer and make her shine – an easy thing to do when working with such talent!

It was also a thrill and an honour to play with such accomplished musicians as Emily Eng, Violin, and Sara-Anne Churchill, Harpsichord.  Both of these lovely ladies have extensive training playing baroque music and the beauty of their playing was evident for all to enjoy.  We will have the joy of hearing Emily Eng again in our second concert on January 28, 2012 – Mozart: A Year in Vienna.

We tried something new with this concert in that we had an actor – Vanessa AvRuskin – write an original script (together with yours truly and with contributions from playwright Linda Griffiths), and perform short vignettes between the pieces.  The purpose of the vignettes was to illustrate and parallel in a modern way the love story between Fileno and Elvira as recounted in the cantatas we performed.  While the script was excellent and the acting superb, we gather from your feedback that in the future any actors will have to wear microphones because it was difficult to hear.  Thank you for the feedback.  We will correct this for future concerts (although there will be no actor at our next concert; the program is too long to allow for it).

As always we welcome any other feedback you may have.  Please email me or simply tell us at our next concert.  We look forward to seeing you there!

Baroque in leather

This past weekend i furiosi started their season with the concert "Julie's Big Adventure." Violinist Julia Wedman took a sabbatical year last year and this concert highlighted her travels and experiences during her "Grand Tour." She got the inspiration from a program she played with Tafelmusik (she also plays full time with Tafelmusik) based on the concept that during the "17th and 18th centuries, as part of their education, English noblemen would travel to Europe (especially France, Italy and Germany) on a Grand Tour, learning about art, architecture, history, food, music, language and meeting the "right" people and becoming well-rounded people." In the concert we followed Julie on her own Grand Tour; there were great program notes about her personal experiences, the concert program was well rounded and beautifully executed and we got to travel around through Europe with her musically. It was also a bit of a homecoming and the rest of the group seemed genuinely happy to have her back.

i furiosi is a group that often presents concerts with a twist and this was no exception. There were gifts given out between pieces that highlighted some of the places she visited that correlated well with the music they performed. It was cute and enjoyable and it gave a sense that these are old friends happy to be reunited! Cellist Felix Deak, violinist Aisslinn Nosky, soprano Gabrielle McLaughlin and guest harpsichordist Lysiane Boulva all had fun and were game to wear Venetian masks, French berets and  drink wine while they all performed with spirit and passion. They also did a Baroque(ish) rendition of "I love Paris in the Springtime" by Cole Porter, complete with the Prelude from the first Bach cello suite weaved in as a cello accompaniment - and it worked perfectly for many bars! All this on period instruments while wearing leather - Baroque in the 21th century!

The other highlight of the weekend was Totem by Cirque du Soleil. Not exactly Baroque music, but there were live musicians (who were amazing!) and the entire show was mesmerizing! It is truly incredible what the performers can do with their bodies - and minds! Inspiring!

On other fronts, we are gearing up for the first Academy Concert Series concert of the season. The cards we have printed highlighting our entire season are beautiful and we are getting the word out in as many ways as we can.

Hope you are all having a great week and enjoying this beautiful weather!

Keep in touch through e-mail and now Facebook!

This week has been a busy one for the Academy Concert Series. We have launched our new website, designed so beautifully by our Webmaster and board member Ryan Thomson!

www.academyconcertseries.com

We have sent out the link to a few friends to get feedback and have had some wonderful responses. We will soon be sending out an e-mail to let everybody know about our new look and our new season! 

We are also now on Facebook! Visit our page and hit the “like” button at the top of the page to get status updates in your newsfeed about upcoming events.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Academy-Concert-Series/255203551185681

We also have printed some beautiful poster size cards with information about this years concert season. We are trying to get the word out! If anybody has any ideas, let us know!

I'd love to hear from you! If you want to be added to the ACS e-mail list, or you have any comments, send me a message at kerri.mcgonigle@academyconcertseries.com

Have a great weekend!

Concerts this week!

It’s been a busy week of attending concerts! There are so many wonderful concerts happening all over Toronto!

The first performance I attended was the COC dress rehearsal of Iphigenia in Tarus by Gluck. The staging is absolutely stunning and incredibly effective, the music is beautifully sung, performed and played, and the Four Season's Centre for Performing Arts is a true gem of a hall. Run, don't walk, to get your tickets.

http://www.coc.ca/

Next up was the Classical Revolution at Dave’s bar on St. Clair West. The Classical Revolution is an amazing phenomenon that started in San Francisco and has spread like wildfire throughout the world. The basic concept is a chamber music reading party in a bar that invites any musician interested in playing to participate and anybody interested in listening to enjoy live on the spot chamber music making. Musicians bring their instruments and chamber music scores and read through music with whoever wants to play, often throwing together musicians that have never even met, in a relaxed setting that creates a completely different bar experience than you would normally expect! I ended up playing a movement from the Dvorak piano quintet and a couple of movements from one of the Mozart string quintets with some musicians I had never met. It was a blast! The bar was packed with musicians and music lovers - what could be better on a Tuesday night! Here is a link to the Classical Revolution's Facebook group page. Join the group to be find out when more about upcoming events!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/123649201008137/

Last night I went to hear the first Tafelmusik concert of the season, “Music Fit for a King” And music fit for a King it was! It was a wonderful way to herald in a new season of music with a wonderful selection of music written for courts all over Europe, including Sweden and Russia (not exactly the countries you associate with Baroque music!). It was a wonderful and diverse concert. It may come as no surprise to some of you, but I am a HUGE fan of Tafelmusik! They are the reason I moved to Toronto - after attending the Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute many moons ago, I fell in love with Baroque cello and shortly after moved to Toronto to study with Tafelmusik principal cellist, Christina Mahler, who is an amazing cellist, teacher and mentor! Needless to say my life and music career has changed course completely because of this and I couldn’t be happier – it has led me, among many other exciting opportunities, to this new position as Artistic Director of the Academy Concert Series!

http://www.tafelmusik.org/

Meeting an ACS Alumnus

Fall is in the crisp, cool air and that means Toronto's incredibly rich music scene is swinging into full gear with regular season series starting to shine! Last night I went to hear the Aradia Ensemble play a great concert titled "Music of the English Chapels Royal" at Glenn Gould studio. Aradia is one of a (large) handful of Baroque groups in Toronto and definitely worth checking out. Their programming is original and interesting and last night's English themed concert unearthed hidden gems not often heard. The concert featured a small string contingent lead beautifully by Cristina Zacharias and featured a lush, delicious continuo with cello, organ and theorbo. The choir was rich and colourful and the soloist were strong and clear. It was a great concert!

www.aradia.ca

After the concert, I met an Academy Concert Series alumnus! Christopher Haritatos is a Rochester based cellist that played Baroque cello on an ACS concert about 10 years ago. He remembers the concert fondly, which included a little known chamber piece by Rodolphe Kreutzer. They were to repeat the concert in Rochester shortly after playing at ACS's home, Eastminster United Church, but when they got to the venue there was no piano - so at the last minute there was a repertoire change. Talk about added stress for the musicians! Christopher now has a permanent position in the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, though continues to play Baroque cello. He made a special trip up to Toronto yesterday just to see Aradia! Great to meet you yesterday Christopher!

We had our first rehearsal for the November 12 concert yesterday. I know it seems a bit early, but with everybody's schedules being so busy, we decided we would get an early head start. The music is beautiful and exciting and the musicians are amazing - it's going to be a great concert on November 12!

Welcome to the Academy Concert Series Blog! Follow us to keep in touch and be informed about new posts. We will be adding interesting posts about our preparations for upcoming concerts, tidbits we find interesting in the Toronto arts community and in the wider world of music. Here is a great little snippet featuring the incredible Bobby McFerrin. Music is amazing!

Bobby McFerrin