My name is Larry Beckwith and I wear a few musical hats. I am the artistic producer of Confluence Concerts; I conduct the Mooredale Senior Youth Orchestra and I teach strings and voice in the Arts Unionville program at Unionville High School.
Well, like everyone, I’ve had to let go of rehearsing and performing in person. I had a number of events planned with Confluence that have been either cancelled or postponed and we have had to modify or cancel several school concerts and recitals.
Two of our important Confluence events will be postponed to next season: our Salon on “Creativity and Aging” featuring Drs Michael and Linda Hutcheon and performers Patricia O’Callaghan, Lawrence Wiliford, Sanya Eng and Robert Kortgaard; and our mainstage concert “The Mandala” curated by Suba Sankaran and featuring a whole host of wonderful musicians and storytellers.
With Mooredale Youth Orchestra Concerts, we will have to see if we can proceed with our June concert, though it seems unlikely. Similarly, with Unionville, we are currently looking at going back to school sometime in early May, but that could have changed by the time you read this.
Meanwhile, we carry on as and how we can.
With Confluence, we are plugging ahead with our plans to launch a digital podcast series on the eclectic music scene here in Toronto. And we are taking the time to do some deep strategic thinking and planning in the hopes that we can contribute positively to the music scene once we are able to gather again.
With Mooredale, we are continuing with our regular Saturday afternoon rehearsals online, meeting in sections and rehearsing Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony and the Overture to Die Zauberflöte. We hope we can perform these pieces in public at some point.
With Unionville, we are continuing our regular classes and recitals online, preserving our special community and giving the students a chance to be together “virtually” and to continue their special bond through music.
To stay in touch, please check the Confluence Concerts website at www.confluenceconcerts.ca and sign up for our newsletter, which we send out every few weeks or so.
Confluence home base: St. Thomas’s Church at M5G 2S5; Unionville High School: L3R 8G5; and Mooredale House: M4W 1V2
