Volume 29 Issue 4 | February & March 2024

PERIOD MUSIC ROUNDUP
Rezonance: Always
inventive and energizing
in its performances,
Rezonance Baroque
wants to represent
17th- and 18th-century
Baroque repertoire with
more inclusivity that
was formerly found
in textbooks. Their
upcoming concert,
Disappearing Act, will
include violin concertos
Rezonance Baroque Ensemble
by Joseph Bologne
(1745–1799), a black
violinist and composer
from Guadeloupe who was also known as Chevalier de Saint-
Georges; and Maddalena Sirmen (1745–1818), a professional
violinist and composer. Also on this program are works by Isabella
Leonarda (1620–1704), and Elizabeth-Claude Jacquet de la Guerre
(1665–1729).
LEAF MUSIC
HANDEL & HAYDN SOCIETY
February 4, Kailey Richards and Erin James, violins; Rezonance
Baroque Ensemble. St. David’s Anglican Church, 49 Donlands Ave.
www.rezonanceensemble.com/concerts.
Aisslinn Nosky
Tafelmusik: Thanks
to violinist Aisslinn
Nosky’s intelligent
and spirited performances,
the announcement
of her stint as guest
director of Tafelmusik
is welcome news. She’ll
lead the orchestra for
Passions Revealed at
Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre
then on the road for a sixcity
U.S. tour. As the title
suggests, it’s a program of
music designed to “move
the affections,” as was
the aim of Baroque composers, and features Nosky as a soloist with
Johanna Novom in Bach’s D minor double Violin Concerto.
February 23 to 25, Trinity-St. Paul Centre, 427 Bloor St. W. https://
tafelmusik.org/concerts-events/concerts/passions-revealed/
Pergolesi via Stravinsky via the TSO: We can’t help but have a
subject position and a point of view, even when trying to play or
hear early music in its original form. Stravinsky was more open
about this when he reimagined music by Giovanni Pergolesi and
others for Diaghalev’s ballet, Pulcinella. He asked, “Should my line
of action be dominated by my love or by my respect for his music?
Respect alone remains barren, and can never serve as a productive
or creative factor.” The result is his fanciful, twentieth-century
reworking of 17th- and 18th-century material. Gustavo Gimeno
conducts a Toronto Symphony performance that will be recorded
for Harmonia Mundi, so come out and cough distinctively for
posterity (wink wink).
February 23 to 24, Roy Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe St. 416-598-
3375. https://www.tso.ca/concerts-and-events/events/
stravinskys-pulcinella/
Toronto Consort: Love
songs, coded messages of
concealment, frothy ditties
or high art … renaissance
madrigals struck “a precarious
balance between intensity
and superficiality”
(as scholar Rika Maniates
wrote). They are great fun
to sing but perhaps more
wonderful to hear from the
mouths of accomplished
singers. Paul Jenkins leads
The Toronto Consort in
Paul Jenkins in The Christmas
this promising and wideranging
program of intimate
Story (earlymusic.tv).
vocal music featuring works by Monteverdi, Gesualdo, Tomkins
and Gibbons.
April 5 and 6, Trinity-St. Paul Centre, 427 Bloor St. W. www.
torontoconsort.org or 416-964-6337.
Stephanie Conn
TORONTO CONSORT
Early Music
AT ST. BART’S,
REGENT PARK
ASH WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 6:15 P.M.
Music by Lotti, Scarlatti and Croce
LAETARE SUNDAY, MARCH 10, 11:00 A.M.
Music for women’s voices by Gabriel Fauré
EASTER SUNDAY, MARCH 31, 11:00 A.M.
Gregorian Chant: Vicitmae Paschali Laudes, Visitatio Sepulchri
(12th c.); polyphony by Andrea Gabrieli and Gregor Aichinger
FULL DETAILS: STBARTSTORONTO.CA/MUSIC-LENT-2024
ST. BARTHOLOMEW’S
ANGLICAN CHURCH
Katherine Hill
DIRECTOR OF MUSIC
David Smith
ORGANIST
509 Dundas Street East, Toronto
12 | February & March 2024 thewholenote.com