Another busy week with many shows to see. Highlights include Christina Petrowska Quilico, Rick Sacks, COC’s opening of Donizetti’s Roberto Devereux, and Opera Atelier’s revived Lully’s Persée.
22 Tuesday
- Pianist Christina Petrowska Quilico at the Canadian Music Centre. 5:30 p.m. Free (reservation required)
For the last 30 years of the late composer Ann Southam’s life, she developed a very close friendship with her champion and pianist Christina Petrowska Quilico. Tonight, Quilico pays homage to Southam with a new recording that concludes the cycle of numbered études that began in 2010, with the release of Glass Houses Revisited. The disc has been in my CD player all week, and it sounds incredible. You can learn more here.
Here is a recent video of Christina Petrowska Quilico performing Ann Southam’s Glass Houses #12:
23 Wednesday
- Violinist Lynn Kuo; pianist, Shoshana Telner; guitarist Jason Nett, and Austin Hitchcock, horn at Heliconian Hall. 8 p.m. $20-25
Les AMIS Concerts presents ‘Violin in a Time Machine’ and the official CD release of Kuo-Humetska Duo CD LOVE: Innocence, Passion, Obsession. The program will include a varied passage through Germany, France, Argentina, Croatia, and America. Oddly, there is no mention of the second member of the duo, pianist Marianna Humetska on the program. The artists will be available at the post-concert reception to sign CDs. Details here.
You can hear clips from the CD here:
24 Thursday
- Rick Sacks, malletKAT/keyboard at the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre, Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. Noon. Free
Continuing with the free noon-hour concert series, ArrayMusic’s artistic director, (and one of Toronto’s best percussionists), Rick Sacks will present a program of percussion music on varied instruments including a special electronic keyboard called a MalletKAT. The program includes the world premiere of Sacks’ Andronicus, as well as works by David Lidov and Giles Gobeil. Details here.
25 Friday
Photo Credit: Karen Almond © 2009
- Canadian Opera Company: Donizetti’s Roberto Devereux: Donizetti, with Sondra Radvanovsky, soprano, Giuseppe Filianoti, tenor, Russell Braun, baritone; Allyson McHardy, mezzo; and others; Stephen Lawless, stage director; Corrado Rovaris, conductor. Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. 7:30 p.m. $12-332.
Tonight is opening night for COC’s production of Roberto Devereux, the final instalment in Gaetano Donizetti’s “Tudor Trilogy”. The Tudor drama focuses on the tumultuous final days of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. The opera’s central character, Elisabetta, demands the most of a soprano, and the COC has brought in one of the worlds leading performers of 19th-century Italian prima donna roles, Sondra Radvanovsky to take on the role. This opera looks to be a feast for both the eyes and ears. Toi Toi Toi. Previews, videos, photos, and tickets here.
Show repeats: May 3, 10, 15, 18, 21 (start times vary)
April 29
- Royal Conservatory Orchestra, conducted by Uri Mayer with clarinettist Jaewon Kim and mezzo-soprano Beste Kalender at Koerner Hall. 8 p.m. $25+
For some orchestral fare, the RCO will be serving up four extraordinary works – Hector Berlioz: Overture to Benvenuto Cellini, Op. 23, R Murray Schafer: Adieu to Robert Schumann, Debussy: Première rhapsodie for clarinet and piano L119, and Brahms: Symphony No.1 in c Op.68. They will be conducted by the steady hand of Uri Mayer, who has worked with the Kansai Philharmonic Orchestra, the Israel Sinfonietta, the Edmonton Symphony and Orchestra London, and appeared as guest conductor in more than 20 countries. Joining the orchestra will be the Glenn Gould School concerto competition winner, clarinetist Jaewon Kim, who will be performing Debussy’s Première rhapsodie and mezzo-soprano Beste Kalender will be featured in R. Murray Schafer’s Adieu Robert Schumann. Info here.
- Sine Nomine Ensemble for Medieval Music at St. Thomas’s Anglican Church. 8 p.m. $14-20
For the period music fans out there, Sine Nomine, the ensemble-in-residence at the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, will be performing their final season concert of works by Guillaume de Machaut. Details here.
26 Saturday
- Opera Atelier, Lully’s Persée with Chris Enns, Mireille Asselin, Peggy Kriha Dye, Olivier Laquerre, Carla Huhtanen, Vasil Garvanliev; Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, David Fallis, conductor. Elgin Theatre. 7:30 p.m. $38-166
Opera Atelier returns with a production of Lully’s Persée. It was Atelier who first revived the opera after it had fallen into obscurity after its launch at the Royal Opera House at Versailles in 1770. In 2004 they remount Persée again, and it has now become what they describe as their “international calling card for Opera.” According to their press release, Opera Atelier has enhanced Persée’s visual elements, “making it the company’s most lavish production to date.” Let’s hope they’re right. Details here.
Show repeats: April 27 (matinée), 29, 30 May 2, 3
- Toronto Symphony Orchestra guest conducted by Joana Carneiro with Yulia Van Doren, soprano; Wallis Giunta, mezzo; Roy Thomson Hall. 7:30 p.m. $33-96
For a lighter evening, I recommend some classic orchestral works inspired by love. One of the most exciting up-and-coming conductors, Joana Carneiro, will lead a program featuring Mozart’s “Letter Duet” from The Marriage of Figaro, Offenbach’s lush Intermezzo and Barcarolle from The Tales of Hoffmann, Delibes’ handsome “Flower Duet” from Lakmé, Beethoven’s Symphony No.6 “Pastoral” (mvt.1), and Glinka’s Overture to Ruslan and Lyudmila. Music to swoon by. More details here.
Show repeats Sunday, at 3:00pm
Michael Vincent
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