NOTE: All times are Eastern Time unless otherwise noted.
THIS WEEK (AUG 21-27)
NEW!! Canadian Children's Opera Company’s (CCOC). The Monkiest King. Aug 29 at 3:00pm. This English-Mandarin opera will have its first public broadcast in the final hour (3-4pm approx.) of CBC’s Saturday Afternoon at The Opera.
NEW!! Music Mondays. Virtual Lunchtime Concert. Aug 24 at 12:15pm. Canadian pianist Sheng Cai will perform a full program of major piano solo works by Brahms, Prokofiev, Debussy and Beethoven. He remarks that he chose Prokofiev's Piano Sonata No. 7 "Stalingrad" to reflect the struggle with human destiny (and the current battle with COVID) and Beethoven's "Appassionata" to mark Beethoven's 250th birthday! The stream and full program notes are available here.
NEW!! Music on Main. Festivals for Compassion: Mark Takeshi McGregor. Aug 25. Music festivals throughout Europe have been expressing their solidarity by presenting a new, solo composition “Thin Air” by the Greek-Dutch composer Calliope Tsoupaki. Calliope wrote the piece earlier this year and has gifted it to ensembles, artists, and presenters to make their own in these uniquely challenging times for the world. Each presenter selects their own artist and instrument to represent the piece. We’re thrilled to announce Music on Main has had the opportunity to bring this festival to our Vancouver ‘home’ and commission Vancouver-based flautist, Mark Takeshi McGregor. The piece will be unveiled on Main’s social media platforms. For information, visit here.
Daniel Vnukowski, Piano. On The World's Longest Piano Fazioli F308. Aug 22 at 3pm. Inspired by Yo-Yo-Ma’s Songs of Comfort project, this special house concert series brings together comforting piano music each Saturday at 12pm Pacific/3pm Eastern. Each concert uses high-end, professional, audio-visual gear in order to capture the nuances and dynamics of the music. Featuring classical masterworks, lectures, special guests and the occasional improvisation. Visit here.
NEW!! Skinnamarink with Sharon and Randi. A Live, Interactive, Virtual Concert. Aug 27 at 7:00 p.m. Fans of all ages are invited to join Sharon and Randi for a very special LIVE virtual show, SKINNAMARINK with Sharon and Randi, with special guest ... Bram! Legendary musicians Sharon & Bram brought happiness to four generations of children and their grown-ups. Sharon Hampson and her daughter Randi Hampson have coaxed Bram Morrison out of retirement for this up-close-and-personal sing-along gathering. At this first-ever event, viewers will be able to see, interact with, and sing along with each other and the performers. Join the stream here.
NEW!! A Temple Sinai Program. Musical Mondays Hosted by David Eisner. Mondays at 2.00 pm.
Monday, August 24, for Ellen Dubin — Part 1
Monday, August 31, for Ellen Dubin — Part 2
Musical and artistic creativity have been integral parts of the Temple Sinai experience since the beginning. This series gives our members an opportunity to meet some of the talented artists from our Temple family who have contributed in the past and will join us for a new Musical Mondays tradition! Gemini Award-nominated actress and Temple member Ellen Dubin will be acting as our host this year for Temple Sinai’s online High Holidays, surely the most unusual in our people’s long history. Musical Mondays Plus is proud to present a special two-part opportunity to meet and get to know Ellen Dubin in an interview with David Eisner. This is one you will not want to miss! For more information, visit us online here, by email at programs@templesinai.net or call the Temple Office at 416-487-4161.
COMING SOON
NEW!! The Pierrot Lunaire. Lunaire Live: Corn Moon. Sep 9 at 8pm. The Full Corn Moon is a unique occurrence in the calendar and one we're particularly thrilled about celebrating. Pianist Adam Sherkin performs music by Franz Liszt, Lowell Liebermann, Frederic Chopin and himself. Donations are welcomed. Please visit here for more information.
NEW!! Tafelmusik. Mozart Together. Oct 1 at 8pm online. Following many months of isolation and remote music making, the musicians of Tafelmusik gather for an emotional return to the concert stage. Filmed at Koerner Hall, TELUS Centre, this opening program of the reimagined 2020/21 season is devoted to chamber music originally intended to be played in private homes and salon gatherings among friends and family. Scored for two to eight instruments, these intimate works — almost all of them new to our musicians — capture the immediacy and connection we’ve all been craving. On display will be a more playful side of titans like Mozart, Beethoven, and Boccherini, including a movement from Mozart’s famous Sinfonia concertante in E-flat Major in an unusual arrangement for six string instruments, along with music by Michael Haydn, Družeckŷ, Sperger, and Spohr — classical composers eclipsed by these giants. An unforgettable homecoming. For more information, visit here.
TD Toronto Jazz Festival. Summer Concert Series: A Live-to-Air Weekly Series on JAZZ.FM91. Running from July 3 to August 28, each weekly performance will air live on JAZZ.FM91, every Friday from 5 pm to 6 pm. From now until the spring of next year, the Festival will be offering a variety of ways to support musicians, and for the public to experience live music, through efforts such as the Summer Concert Series, because we know there is nothing better than live music.
The lineup for the TD Toronto Jazz Festival Summer Concert Series: Aug 21: Kirk MacDonald Generations Quartet featuring Virginia MacDonald. Aug 28: Donnybrook
Toronto Concert Orchestra. Symphony in Your Garden. All concerts at 7:30pm. Visit here for more information. Aug 25: Grand Finale: Tribute to Kerry.
NEW!! The Upper Canada Choristers. Inti Ukana: A Latin American Tapestry. A live-streamed performance on Oct 2 at 7:30pm. With conductor Laurie Evan Fraser, pianist Hye Won Cecilia Lee, Cantemos Latin ensemble, M.C. Laura Fernandez; guest artists including Bernardo Padron. Visit here or call 416-256-0510 or email info@uppercanadachoristers.org.
ONGOING
Arts@Home. A vibrant hub connecting Torontonians to arts and culture. Designed to strengthen personal and societal resilience through the arts. Visit here to learn more about this exciting collaborative initiative.
Kevin Barrett. Live from Lockdown. Every Friday Kevin Barrett does a live-streamed set of solo guitar tunes, coming directly from lockdown in his studio in Kensington Market, Toronto. The show is timed so that West Coast residents can sit in for a late lunch (1pm PDT), people in Toronto/Ottawa/NYC can join in the late afternoon (4pm EDT) and friends in Edinburgh and throughout the UK can kick off their Friday night (9pm BST/UTC+1; later in Europe ...). Watch for special requests and dedications, birthday shout-outs, and a few opinions. But, mostly, lots of music! Tune in to Kevin's Facebook page on Friday here If you can't join live, the video will be available afterwards on Kevin's page. And each week's episode is archived on his YouTube channel here.
Canadian Brass: welcomes friends around their virtual fireplace for learning and laughs. All events take place here.
Classical Jukebox Founded as a response to the days of COVID-19 social separation, this site is designed to provide you the ability to sing and perform your favorite classical pieces from the comfort of your own home, with accompaniments by organ and piano accompanist, Matthew Larkin. In addition, Classical Jukebox offers another service - assisting with the creation of Virtual Choirs and virtual choir videos for those missing that collaborative and artistic outlet in their lives. Further information can be found here.
Collingwood Summer Music Festival. Virtual Concerts. Artistic Director Daniel Vnukowski is running a series of FREE virtual concerts throughout the summer months. Visit here for information about the virtual concerts.
Harbourfront Centre. Summer Music in the Garden at Home. Every Sunday at 4pm and Thursday at 7pm. Just as our gardens come to life again, so too does the music of Toronto. Harbourfront Centre’s Summer Music in the Garden series is virtual this year, bringing the sounds of the Toronto Music Garden right to your home. Featuring artists from Ontario, Quebec and around the world. Music by Bach, Ravel, Borodin and Telemann are accompanied by meditative raags and ancient lute techniques. Sign up for reminders at harbourfront.live to remain up to date on concerts and even a few surprises. For information 905-973-4000 or visit here.
Kingston Symphony. Finale of Beethoven’s Third Symphony (Eroica). Forty members of the orchestra perform the finale of the Eroica, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 while in isolation in their homes. To view the virtual performance, please click here. For more information on the Kingston Symphony, please visit here.
Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony. Friday Night with the KWS. Online broadcasts of archival concerts every Friday at 8pm. Select broadcasts will feature video and others will be audio-only. Content for each concert will be announced each week via KWS social media platforms. Visit here and here.
Koerner Hall. Concerts from Home.There are more than 25 classical, jazz, and roots music concerts currently available online. Check out the available items here.
Danny Michel. Live From Lockdown Sundays. A weekly live, interactive online concert on Sundays at 3pm, on ZOOM from his studio in the woods. Unlike Facebook live, fans can see each other, interact, chat, play along & be a part of the show. Buy a ticket for $7.00, get a private link in your email and join the party on Zoom (free download available) here.
Opera Revue. Isolation Series. Comic operatic duo Danie Friesen and Claire Harris film and record operatic parodies as well as legit opera and art song for a weekly release. Join us every Saturday. For info visit here.
Orchestre Métropolitain. Live stream of Beethoven Symphonies Nos. 1-8. On the websites of Orchestre Métropolitain and Bourgie Hall over the course of the summer of 2020. Visit here and here.
Ottawa Chamberfest. Chamber Chats: At Home / Chez vous. Tuesdays and Thursdays at 2pm. Hosted by celebrated broadcaster/writer Eric Friesen. Interactive episodes combine chat with pre-recorded and live performances and feature guest artists and lecturers from all over the world. For information: 613-234-8008. Visit the website here.
Recollectiv: Currently holding on-line meetings. A unique musical group made up of people affected by memory challenges caused by illness (such as dementia) or brain injury (stroke, PTSD, etc.) and their care partners. Volunteers of all ages also form part of the band, making this a positive intergenerational experience for all. Participation is free with pre-registration. Contact info@recollectiv.ca for meeting times, information and registration.
Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts. a•P•art {of} performance series, every Thursday at 7:30pm here.
Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Chamber Choir. Tafelmusik at Home is a new online concert featuring solo and duo performances. Be sure to stay until the end for live Q&A sessions with featured musicians. These concerts are $5, $10, $20 Choose-What-You-Pay, allowing you to pay what you feel is the value of the concert. Join them for this new way to experience the beauty of Tafelmusik here.
Toronto Botanical Gardens. Music in the Garden Series. The first concert will launch on Thursday, July 16 at 7 p.m. with a new performance released every Thursday at 7 p.m. until Labour Day. All concerts can be viewed via the Toronto Botanical Garden's website here. More concerts to be released later this summer. Virtual performances and further information can be found here.
Toronto Consort. Explorer: Discovering the World of Early Music. Explorer is a blog for the curious; a place of learning, sharing, and community. This all-new offering will present an assortment of curated content in a range of formats, like original short- or long-form articles, original video and audio recordings, and educational content on relevant topics relating to Early Music, history, and world music, as they relate our beloved repertoire. Visit here for further information.
NEW!! Toronto Operetta Theatre. An archival video of Toronto Operetta Theatre's production of Jacques Offenbach's The Beautiful Helen (La belle Hélène) performed from April 27 to 29, 2018, Jane Mallett Theatre, St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts, Toronto. Enjoy the video here.
NEW!! VOICEBOX|Opera in Concert. Archival Video Project: Fierabras by Franz Schubert. Schubert’s opera had its Canadian premiere in 2019. If you missed our full production, please take a look at our gift to you with this video of excerpts featuring an amazing cast under the masterful conducting of Kevin Mallon and the Aradia Ensemble. It is a rare opera at its highest degree of excellence in performance. In the midst of wars between the Frankish Christians and Spanish Moors of the late 700s, conflicts are brought to an end with the intercession of a younger generation, where love conquers all. See the video here.
WORKSHOPS
NEW!! Toronto Early Music Players Organization (TEMPO). Online Workshop. Sep 13 from 1:30 to 3:00pm. We are very fortunate to have Alison Melville, a long-time friend of TEMPO and Toronto’s leading recorder player, for our first online workshop. She has become a leader in offering online courses on her own and as part of Amherst Early Music Online. Please visit the TEMPO website here for more information on how to participate online.
NEW!! Toronto Early Music Players Organization (TEMPO). Online Workshop. Oct 4 from 1:30 to 3:00pm. Lawrence Lipnik will be leading our October event. Lawrence has performed with many acclaimed early music ensembles from ARTEK and Anonymous 4 to Piffaro and the Waverly Consort, and is a founding member of the viol consort Parthenia and vocal ensemble Lionheart. He teaches recorder and viol on Amherst Early Music Online. Please visit the TEMPO website here for more information on how to participate online.
