Volume 28 Issue 1 | September 20 - November 8, 2022

EARLY MUSIC
And Now, Back
to Live Action
MJ BUELL
Aisslinn Nosky
HANDEL AND HAYDN SOCIETY
First, full disclosure of a personal bias: I prefer my early music
live – up close and in person, the way it was intended at the
time of its composition. Recordings of period music, even on
period instruments, always leave me feeling a bit weird. So the past
way-too-many months have been a real struggle for me. Now, there’s
so much live performance to choose from that I hardly know where to
begin. (Details of all these events mentioned here can be found in the
listings, starting on page 34.)
Up first
Sep 23 & 24: Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra invites us to “picture
a vibrant city humming with creative spirit, attracting artists who
exchange diverse ideas and perspectives.” Present day New York or
Toronto? No, 18th-century London. “Handel’s London” offers up
Handel, Purcell and Geminiani, also lesser-known works by Kusser
and Hellendaa, and a Purcell-inspired piece by one of Tafelmusik’s
own, the late Allan Whear. Guest director, leading from the harpsichord,
is Avi Stein, associate organist and chorus master at Trinity
Wall Street,a teacher at The Juilliard School and Yale University, and
artistic director of the Helicon Foundation (New York).
Oct 12 Confluence Concerts offer us “Boccheriniana”. Not only
works by Luigi Boccherini but his contemporaries, including
Maddlena, Lombardi, and Sirmen. Cellist Elinor Frey will bring
together a stellar group of musicians from Montreal and Europe.
Oct 20, 22 and 23, Opera Atelier, open their 2022/23 season with
Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, with Meghan Lindsay and Colin Ainsworth
portraying the ill-fated lovers, Mireille Asselin as Belinda, and Measha
Brueggergosman-Lee as the nasty and incredibly funny Sorceress. The
Nathaniel Dett Chorale, the Bach Children’s Choir and the Tafelmusik
Orchestra will be conducted by OA music director David Fallis on
Oct 20 and 22, and assistant music director Christopher Bagan, in his
OA conducting debut, on October 23.
Dido and Aeneas was Opera Atelier’s debut production in 1986,
and Canada’s first ever staged production of the work. Many people
consider it to be the greatest opera written in the English language
(and not just because of the superb music, dancing, baroque stage
effects, and those outrageously funny witches.)
Oct 27 and 29: Tafelmusik’s second concert of the season,
“Trailblazers” is one I’m particularly looking forward to, for the return
of violinist Aisslinn Nosky, a former member of Tafelmusik and a trailblazer
in her own right – with Toronto’s I Furiosi Baroque Ensemble,
as a founding member of the Eybler Quartet, and now, as concertmaster
of the Handel and Haydn Society of Boston (since 2011). Nosky
will direct a program of “large-scale chamber music by trailblazers
of the romantic period” – Mendelssohn’s Octet in E-flat, and a Nonet
for winds and strings by French composer Louise Farrenc (1804-1875)
whose music is enjoying a long overdue renaissance.
Nov 6 Rezonance Baroque Ensemble presents soprano Vania
Chan in “Vivaldi: But Not ‘The Seasons’” – a program of arias. The
concert will also include some
of Vivaldi’s concerti for strings -
terrific music in the way that it
showcase the entire ensemble.
Chan’s early music dance-card
is filling up fast! She’ll sing the
role of Eurydice in Offenbach’s
Orpheus in the Underworld
with Toronto Operetta Theatre,
Celia in Mozart’s Lucio Silla with
Voicebox: Opera in Concert), and
join in with the Toronto Consort
for their Praetorius Christmas
Vespers concert.
Vania Chan
And next
Nov 13 Toronto Chamber Choir presents “The Kappellmeister
of Dresden” (Kaffeemusik) in collaboration with SchützFest 350,
featuring Peter Tiefenbach as the Kappellmeister himself. The
elderly Schütz will regale us with tales from his long and storied
life while the TCC sings works from across his vast oeuvre, from the
Italian madrigals of his student days in Venice to profound unpublished
works from his final years. And on Dec 9 and 10 the TCC will
play a role in Toronto Consort’s “Praetorius Christmas Vespers”.
This beloved holiday concert is conducted by former TCC director
David Fallis.
Dec 10 Etobicoke Centennial Choir will present “‘Sing We Joyfully”
- in a program that includes’ features J.S. Bach’s stunning Magnificat,
with vocal soloists and baroque orchestra.
I also look forward to finding out what SINE NOMINE Ensemble for
Medieval Music, silent too long, has in store for us. All we know is that
they are currently working on a project that will “present the diverse
repertoire of a remarkable 14th-century northern Italian manuscript
through both music and dance.” Intriguing!
And finally, echoing my own desire for a return to early music
live and in person, the Toronto Early Music Players Organization
(TEMPO) are back with monthly Sunday workshops, starting with
“And now, back to Live Action!” on Oct 2, led by Colin Savage,
a favourite TEMPO presenter, who will guide those attending
through some Renaissance, Baroque and other familiar repertoire,
to help everyone remember the joy of making music together.
Upcoming workshops include Anne Massicotte, recorders, (Nov 6)
; Vincent Lauzer, recorders, (Dec 4); and Joseph Lanza, baroque
violin,(Jan 8).
MJ Buell is a core member of the WholeNote production
team and occasional writer, who particularly
enjoys historically informed performance.
28 | September 20 - November 8, 2022 thewholenote.com