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SCRUTINY | New World, New Venue, New Community

By Robin Roger on July 19, 2015

violinist Aysel Taghi-Zada
2015 Chamber Music Institute Academy Fellow Aysel Taghi-Zada

Toronto Summer Music Academy featuring 2015 Chamber Music Institute Academy Fellows at the Art Gallery of Ontario, July 17, Walker Court.

Yesterday, as I sat on the steps of the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) Walker Court, listening to the Toronto Summer Music Academy musicians perform a Dvorak “American” String Quartet and Quintet, I was treated to a new variation on the chamber music theme. I had the sense of becoming a part of an instantaneous new community.

Before the concert began, the AGO was a massive building filled with browsing visitors, but shortly before 2 p.m., a diverse group of people converged on the courtyard, perched on the folding camp chairs, leaning against the wall, and arranged on the steps on both sides of the courtyard. Others were standing around the perimeter of the space a level above, looking down on the concert.

Only the first full day of the Toronto Summer Music Festival, I already recognized several people who had been at the opening night concert, as well as a few of the Toronto Summer Music Festival Academy Artists who were in the audience but had been on the stage the evening before.

I was sitting with a cousin visiting from California and his wife, a native of Mexico. As we all listened to the music of a Czech composer who spent summers in Spillsville Iowa and drew upon indigenous music as well as folk music from his native country, performed by musicians from Toronto, Victoria, Canberra, Los Angeles and other parts of the world, it seemed to me that we were quickly and remarkably unified into a contented group.

While it’s always that case the concert audiences behave in a unified manner, this was more striking because there was a great deal of latitude to come or go, move around, stand or sit, whisper or be quiet, but for the most part, the group remained in formation, charmed by the performance of these musicians. Even the children were remarkably well behaved, including an infant suspended by a carrier to his/her mother’s chest, who may have been lulled by the Quartets, and a little girl who twirled in a spontaneous dance.

The courtyard of the AGO seems a perfect setting for a small concert and sitting under the high glass ceiling, looking at the sky and the rain clouds, there was a great sense of public space, but in truth, the acoustics did not make the job of the musicians easy, and I was particularly impressed at how well they remained in synch. Another quirky charm of the event is that it lacked the formalities of a concert hall performance. Listeners spontaneously and enthusiastically applauded between movements, uninhibited by the artificial protocols of the classical musical world.

As I detected some of the “American” sounds of the music, I was reminded of hoedowns and square dances, and even barn raisings. Whether Dvorak attended such events or was inspired by them I don’t know, but the feeling that this group was in happy accord reminded me that in the past, when communities pulled together, music was often a central aspect of the experience.

Though it would be wrong to over-romanticize it, it’s worth recalling that to a large extent, this is how much of the New World was built, with exertion, team effort, and musical celebration. Taking the Toronto Summer Music Festival out of the concert halls and into the Art Gallery gave me the unexpected feeling that this could happen now.

#LUDWIGVAN

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Robin Roger

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