Sunday
Afternoon Series 2010/11
In
the Sunday Series, each program is set around a theme — literary,
musical or historical — weaving the musical selections around
interesting readings from letters, diaries, newspaper clippings,
poetry.
All concerts take place at 2:30 pm in Walter Hall in the Edward Johnson
Building, Faculty of Music, University of Toronto, 80 Queen's Park
Circle, Toronto. Complimentary tea is served at intermission.
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The Patrons' Salon
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Sunday,
October 24
Monica Whicher soprano
Anita Krause mezzo
James McLean tenor
Alexander Dobson baritone
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opening concert of the season takes up the opportunity
afforded by the presence in Toronto of our three
distinguished Honorary Patrons, singer Catherine
Robbin, stage director Christopher Newton and conductor
Steuart Bedford (in town to preside over the Canadian
Opera Company's production of Brittens Death
in Venice). They will introduce their personal
selection of music which has been particularly important
in their lives or which symbolises their close links
with the Aldeburgh Connection and its artistic directors.
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The
Year of Song
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Sunday, December 5
Erin Wall soprano
Phillip Addis baritone
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| All this year, we have been celebrating the 200th anniversary
of the birth of one of the greatest of Romantic composers,
Robert Schumann. His 30th year, 1840, was probably the
happiest in his life, seeing him able, after long struggles with
her family, to marry his beloved Clara Wieck. Hitherto, he
had been the pre-eminent German composer of piano music.
Now, the prospect of married bliss triggered an astonishing
outpouring of music for voice and piano which include some
of the world' s favourite Lieder.
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A
Shropshire Lad in Ontario
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Sunday, January 30
Michael Colvin tenor
Brett Polegato baritone
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| "Six Songs from A Shropshire Lad", a song-cycle to poems of
A. E. Housman, was composed by George Butterworth a
hundred years ago. The premiere was given by the British
baritone, James Campbell McInnes, who emigrated to Canada
in 1919. As a singer and teacher in Toronto, he became a
crucial figure in the city' s musical life, known for his "Tuesday
Nine-O' Clocks", where he presented unfamiliar vocal and
chamber music. As well, his extraordinary family life makes an
intriguing story, with literary and musical links across the world.
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C'est
mon plaisir
Sunday, March 6
Nathalie Paulin soprano
Krisztina Szabo mezzo
Benjamin Covey baritone
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| "C'est
mon plaisir" is inscribed over the doorway of Boston'
s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. The builder of
the Venetian-style palazzo was a flamboyant figure
in New England society - her friends included John
Singer Sargent, Henry James, Nellie Melba and the
Belgian-American composer, Charles Loeffler. The
Boston Symphony opened her concert room, and her
appearance at a 1912 symphony concert, wearing a
white headband emblazoned with "Oh, you Red Sox",
was reported at the time to have "almost caused
a panic".
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A
Spring Schubertiad
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Sunday, May 1
Gillian Keith soprano
Lawrence Wiliford tenor
Tyler Duncan baritone
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May
Day is one of the most suitable times for the celebration
of our annual Greta Kraus Schubertiad. The spirit
of springtime, often cheerful, sometimes melancholy,
pervades the music of Franz Schubert. Three splendid
singers will present a sequence of Lieder
by the world' s greatest song-writer, some familiar,
others less well-known, such as the uproarious comic
scena Der Hochzeitsbraten - and would the
afternoon be complete without the performance of
some of our favourite piano-duets . . ? |
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