For the week of April 3 – 9
Musical Toronto’s weekly Critic’s Picks are a fully curated list of some of the best concerts happening now through the end of the week. This is not to say we are the provocateurs of taste, but simply seek to provide a good weekly summary. For a look at the full breadth of what’s available in and around Toronto, check out our curated concert listings here: Musical Toronto Datebook.
Tuesday 4
Canadian Opera Company | Chamber Music Series: Partita Perfection. Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre. Noon. Free (first come, first served)
The repertoire of Canadian violinist Mark Fewer cuts across many genres, from baroque to avant-garde to jazz. He gives a program of solo violin pieces – Partita No. 2 in D minor by J.S.Bach, Sonata No. 3 in D minor by Eugene Ysaÿe, and Partita for Solo Violin by Chris Paul Harman. Be sure to show up an hour early for a seat. Program details found here (PDF).
Wednesday 5
Tafelmusik | Bach: Keeping It in the Family. Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre, 427 Bloor St. W. 7 p.m. $39-$93. Repeats Apr 6,7,8 (8 p.m.) and Apr 9 (3:30 p.m.)
The father-daughter team of oboist Alfredo Bernardini and violinist Cecilia Bernardini return to Tafelmusik for this concert exploring the music of J.S. Bach and his sons. Works by Telemann rounds out the program. Pre-concert chat one hour before each performance. Listing details here.
Thursday 6
Adam Sherkin/Steinway Piano Gallery | Chopin: Poetic Jest II. Bluma Appel Lobby, St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts. Noon. Free.
Canadian pianist/composer Adam Sherkin continues his series of free concerts, Write Off The Keyboard. On the program are Chopin’s Scherzo No. 3 and 4, plus two of Sherkin’s own compositions. Info here.
Women’s Musical Club of Toronto | Aizuri Quartet. Walter Hall, Edward Johnson Building, University of Toronto. 1:30 p.m. $45
This concert marks the Toronto debut of the Aizuri Quartet (Miho Saegusa, violin; Ariana Kim, violin; Ayane Kazasa, viola; Karen Ouzounian, cello), playing Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Webern, and Caroline Shaw. What caught my eye is Webern’s Langsamer Satz. I’m not a fan of atonality, but this early Webern was composed in 1905, before his style changed drastically. He had just started studying with Schönberg, and you can hear in it the expanded tonalities that so characterizes his teacher’s Verklarte Nacht. Two of the most exquisite works of the period, to my ears. Full details here.
Toronto Symphony Orchestra | Mahler Symphony No. 10 Roy Thomson Hall. 8 p.m. Repeats Apr 7 7:30 p.m. $33.75-$148.
Danish conductor Thomas Dausgaard returns to the TSO to conduct Mahler Symphony No. 10. Also on the program is Schumann’s divine Cello Concerto, with TSO’s Principal Cello Joseph Johnson. William Rowson’s Fanfare: Sesquie for Canada 150 opens the concert. Listing found right here.
Friday 7
Canadian Music Centre | Centrediscs CD Launch. 20 St. Joseph St. 5 p.m. Free with RSVP (sold out!)
Canadian pianist and Professor of Piano (York University) Christina Petrowska Quilico launches her new 2-disc CD Worlds Apart. RSVP and details here.
Sinfonia Toronto | Distant Light. Glenn Gould Studio. 8 p.m. $42
Nurhan Arman conducts Peteris Vasks Violin Concerto ‘Distant Light’ with violinist Andrea Tyniec. Also on the program are Jose Evangelista Spanish Airs and Richard Strauss Metamorphosen. Info here.
Royal Conservatory of Music | Bramwell Tovey Conducts the Royal Conservatory Orchestra. Koerner Hall. 8 p.m. Prelude Recital at 6:45 p.m. $25-$55.
Bramwell Tovey conducts the RCM Orchestra in a program of Kelly-Marie Murphy, Richard Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben, and Korngold’s Violin Concerto with soloist Jennifer Murphy. This is a great chance te see one of Canada’s finest conductors up close and personal. Highly recommended. Detail here.
Sunday 9
Shaftesbury Salon Series | And So It Goes. Brett Polegato, baritone; Robert Kortgaard, piano. Atrium, 21 Shaftesbury Ave. 3 p.m. $35
Billed as “Intimate concerts in the heart of Rosedale-Summerhill,” these concerts are well worth investigating if you haven’t. I’ve attended one two ago with Andrew Haji and Claire de Sevigne, which was delightful. This week, baritone Brett Polegato lets his hair down singing the music of Cole Porter, Noel Coward, and Stephen Sondheim, with Robert Kortgaard on the piano. Details here.
Royal Conservatory of Music | Louis Lortie. Koerner Hall. 3 p.m. Starting $40. Pre-concert chat with Rick Phillips.
The great Canadian pianist Louis Lortie makes a welcome return for an All-Chopin program of Twelve Etudes Op. 10 and Op. 25, plus Twenty-four Preludes Op. 28. Not to be missed for piano fans! See here for all the info.
Adi Braun | Berlin, Berlin Jazz Bistro, 251 Victoria St. 7 p.m. $20 (cover). Reservations recommended.
Vocalist Adi Braun comes from a distinguished bloodline of opera singers. Her father is the late baritone Victor Braun, and her brother is baritone Russell Braun. Adi herself began as an operatic soprano before becoming a jazz vocalist. She sings songs by Kurt Weill, Friedrich Hollaender, Mischa Spoliansky, and her own Weimar-inspired originals. Tom King (piano), Pat Collins (bass), Daniel Barnes (drums). Guitarist Tony Quarrington and clarinetist Juan Gabriel Olivariez are the guests. See their website for more details.
Amadeus Choir | High Flight: Songs of the Stars. Eglinton St. Georges United Church, 35 Lytton Blvd. 7:30 p.m. $45
Celebrating the 25th anniversary of Dr. Roberta Bondar’s flight into space, the Amadeus Choir is presenting this concert in collaboration with the Roberta Bondar Foundation. Dr. Bondar will be in attendance. The program features her photography as well as “choral works inspired by the magic of the heavens and the earth.” Lydia Adams, conductor; Shawn Grenke, pianist. Info here.
For more events, visit our DATEBOOK CALENDAR.
#LUDWIGVAN
