Sunday
Afternoon Series 2009/10
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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Alfred, Lord Tennyson
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Sunday,
October 18
Virginia Hatfield soprano
Lynne McMurtry mezzo
Michael Barrett tenor
Alexander Dobson baritone
Christopher Newton and
Fiona Reid readers
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| Tennyson, Queen Victoria's Poet Laureate, was born two hundred years ago and lived into the last decade of the nineteenth century. He was, in many ways, the epitome of an era sublime in its confidence; yet a biographer described him as a “difficult and often rebellious character, upon whom the mantle of respectability never sat very securely.” Settings of his magical poetry range from warhorses of the drawing-room to rarer French, American and Canadian songs. |
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Blessed
Cecilia
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Sunday, November 22
Shannon Mercer soprano
James McLean tenor
Giles Tomkins bass-baritone
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| On
her feast-day, the patron saint of music receives our
grateful homage. One of her most devoted sons was Henry
Purcell. His exact birthdate is unknown, but by common
consent the 350th anniversary is being marked this year.
One of Purcell’s greatest devotees, Benjamin Britten,
was born on St. Cecilia’s Day – we can seize
the opportunity of celebrating the songs of two English
masters, while we acknowledge the healing and sustaining
power of music.
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The
Lady of the Lake,
and other tales
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Sunday, January 24
Anita Krause mezzo
Christopher Enns tenor
James Levesque baritone
with vocal ensemble
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| Our annual Greta Kraus Schubertiad, honouring
the memory of our beloved mentor, centres around the settings
which Schubert made of poems from The Lady of the
Lake. Sir Walter Scott’s narrative poem was
published two hundred years ago and immediately inspired
music from many different composers. Schubert gives us
his famous Ave Maria, together with other fine
songs and partsongs which will come to vivid life in the
context of Scott’s epic story. |
Hugo
Wolf, the Mighty
Miniaturist
Sunday, March 14
Monica Whicher soprano
Michael Colvin tenor
Brett Polegato baritone
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With
three of our finest recitalists, the day after his 150th
birthday, we celebrate the extraordinary career of one
who revered the massive music-dramas of Wagner, but who
achieved his success at the opposite end of the scale,
in songs of a jewel-like perfection. His burning intensity
of expression demands, in the words of his biographer,
Frank Walker, “the grateful love of inarticulate
humanity, for whom he sang of truth and beauty.”
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City
of Villages
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Sunday, May 2
Lucia Cesaroni soprano
Allyson McHardy mezzo
Lawrence Wiliford tenor
Benjamin Covey baritone
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Over the two hundred or so years of its existence, Toronto has absorbed cultural influences from the four corners of the world. Diversity is reflected in the various communities which make up our city; our musical and literary tapestry evokes some of this richness. Our singers will present varied repertoire, including recreations of some of our own commissioned works. Come and enjoy a village walkabout in song!
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