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to Paul Ennis, whose TIFF-focussed article is on page 70.)The Attacca Quartet was formed at the Juilliard School in 2003,(as was the Brentano in 1992 and the Tokyo in 1969), and they’re thesecond quartet presented by Music Toronto this month. Making theirToronto debut, the Attacca will perform quartets by Haydn (Op.77No.2), Prokofiev (No.1) and Mendelssohn (No.2 Op.13). This group alsohas an interesting project on the go, a multi-year performance seriestitled “The 68,” referring to the number of string quartets Haydnwrote over the course of his life. And while the series itself takes placein New York City, we will have the pleasure of hearing the Attacca performone of the “68” here in Toronto on September 27.I mention the Tokyo Quartet this early in the season for a coupleof reasons. First, they will perform their 45th and 46th concertsfor Music Toronto on January 10 and April 4, 2013, respectively,to conclude their three-concert series of all six Bartók quartets.Second — and this may or may not come as a shock to someof you — the Tokyo will be retiring from the concert stage in June,2013, after 43 years, and will be giving an extra special “FarewellPerformance” in Toronto, in support of Music Toronto, on April 5,2013. I wanted to give you plenty of time to arrange your schedules,accordingly — it’s going to be one heck of a farewell. For the rest ofMusic Toronto’s stellar season, please go to www.music-toronto.comAs for the rest of the the issue’s “septet” of quartets, they, alongwith several other noteworthy concerts, are included in the QuickPicks at the end of this column.Monday Monday: Music Mondaysbegan its 21st season on June 4, andhas been treating us to an astonishingarray of music and musicians, everyMonday throughout the summer, at12:15pm, at the “exquisitely tuned”Church of the Holy Trinity. And forthe second year in a row, they’veextended their season into the fourthweek of September. Talk about gutsy!I asked Eitan Cornfield, MusicMondays’ new artistic director, to saya few things about his first year atthe helm of the series, what he callsa “sanctuary in the heart of the city’scommercial, financial and administrativecore, a musical respite fromthe workaday world.” (As a long-timeCBC music producer, Cornfield is wellMusic Monday’s “sanctuary”Church of the Holy Trinity.aware of Holy Trinity’s “rich, acoustic environment,” as he puts it,having produced CBC Radio Two’s Music Around Us there.)The challenge, now, according to Cornfield, is to “develop a sharpenedfocus for Music Mondays ...[to] remain relevant and distinctivewhile maintaining the core values of Holy Trinity’s inner-city mission,... to build on Music Mondays’ historic strengths ... by featuringan eclectic fusion of western classical music and traditional artmusic of various cultures, all the while providing a contemplative,inclusive and accessible sanctuary ...” The goal, as he looks forwardto new alliances and “new programming initiatives” with his keencore team is “to be able to say you first heard it here!”Next “first” could be as early as September 3, when MusicMondays presents Triceratonin, a young “made in Toronto” piano,oboe and bassoon trio fresh from their NYC debut at the JuilliardSchool, as participants in the Imani Winds Chamber Music Festival.I came upon this expression of sheer glee in someone’s daily blogon the IWCMF: “Wait til you see the Triceratonin Trio perform synchronizedswimming with their oboe and bassoon!” Curious? Checkthem out on YouTube. And don’t forget to get to the church on time,September 3, for some jazz-inflected works by Poulenc, Previn andothers, performed by the good-humoured, talented and very synchronizedJialiang Zhu on piano, bassoonist Sheba Thibideau, andAleh Remezau on the oboe ... and snorkel?The remaining Music Mondays concerts take place September 10,17 and 24, with music ranging from Porter to Purcell to pop!continued on next page18 thewholenote.com September 1 – October 7, 2012