Over the years, a tried-and-true pattern has emerged (except in special anniversary years, which this one is not) for the Toronto Bach Festival under the aegis of founding artistic director oboist John Abberger. The festival takes place as close as possible to the last weekend in May without running head-to-head with the Victoria Day long weekend. This year, it runs from May 22 to May 24.
Friday, May 22: The festival kicks off with an 8pm Friday night orchestral concert at Eastminster United Church on the Danforth in Toronto’s east end. The concert focuses on Bach’s concertos – the Brandenburgs of course (or occasionally clones thereof), and an endlessly inventive stream of concertos for solo and duo instruments in various combinations. This year’s combinations: oboe and harpsichord; two harpsichords; violin and oboe; and, a novelty, two concertos for two violins, one by Telemann, and one by Bach.
It’s always a rousing start and a chance for festivalgoers to encounter, solo and ensemble, the musicians who collectively make up the TBF Orchestra for the weekend. And afterwards, a chance to drift out, weather permitting onto a stretch of the Danforth to suit every post-concert taste from quiet to merriment, with or without additional music.
Saturday, May 22: TBF heads downtown, starting with a noon organ recital at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian – this year’s soloist is Jonathan Oldengarm – across the road from Roy Thomson Hall on Simcoe St. and only steps from the delights and sustenance of adjacent King Street W.
From there, the show then heads north-east to the Church of the Holy Trinity, at 10 Trinity Place on the western flank of the Toronto Eaton Centre, for two performances of the Festival’s “Kaffeehaus”, at 4pm and 8pm. Holy Trinity is a unique spot: a downtown urban church that has evolved to become home to a plethora of users and causes, spiritual and secular, making it the perfect spot for capturing the relaxed spirit of Zimmermann’s Kafe in Leipzig, where, quite conceivably, Bach and Telemann could have shown up, at the same time, with their newly penned concertos for two violins. Inventive stagings are likely to be a highlight of the event.
The repertoire at the Kaffeehaus revels in a less well-known side of Bach’s work – including his secular cantatas. This year’s central offering is a case in point: Hercules at the Crossroads, a cantata written for the birthday of the 11-year-old Friedrich Christian, son of the Elector of Saxony. “Never one to waste his best efforts,” TBF’s notes on the concert tell us, “Bach re-purposed much of the music in this cantata when he wrote the more well-known Christmas Oratorio of 1734.”
The Kaffeehaus also introduces the vocal contingent assembled for this year’s festival – a dress rehearsal for Sunday’s 3pm grand finale back at Eastminster on the Danforth.
Sunday, May 24: The concert at Eastminster starts at 3pm and is devoted entirely to four choral cantatas from the annual cycle of cantatas Bach began composing in the spring of 1724, at the beginning of his second year in Leipzig, regarded by many scholars, we are told, as one of his greatest achievements. One such scholar, Michael Marissen, will be at Eastminster at 1pm, two hours ahead of the concert to deliver a presentation titled “The Most Ambitious Project of Bach’s Life, his Cycle of Chorale Cantatas” a perfect introduction to the Festival’s culminating concert, especially if the weekend weather smiles on us, allowing a short excursion between lecture and concert back out to the Danforth.
This short introduction has focused on the venues the TBF will use, to the exclusion of what will be performed. For details of repertoire and performers, I highly recommend the TBF website both for the depth of information it offers and the impeccable way the information is organized.
EARLY MUSIC BRIEFS
Celeste Music: Early Keyboard Festival June 2026
Here’s a new one for us! In partnership with the Town of Newmarket, Céleste Music presents their inaugural Early Keyboard Festival at the Serpa Galleries in Old Town Hall, “transforming the gallery into a living exhibition of sound, where history comes alive through professional concerts, engaging lectures, and inspiring student performances.”
At the heart of the festival are five exceptional public concerts, each thoughtfully curated to showcase Céleste Music’s extraordinary collection of historical keyboard instruments: Beethoven @ 1800 on Friday, June 5; Elegy and Fantasy on Sunday, June 14; In Illustrious Company at the Graf Piano on Sunday, June 21; Céleste Music Academy Festival Showcase Concert on Saturday, June 27; and Voyage to Versailles on Sunday, June 28.
Other events over the same time period include masterclasses with Andrea Botticelli; Céleste Music Academy Festival Competition classes; a “Piano Technician’s Workshop”; a masterclass with Charlotte Nediger; and an Adult Performance Class.
Guests are invited to explore the instruments up close, connect with the artists, and immerse themselves in a vibrant celebration of art, music, and discovery!
Trinity Bach Project: Bach & Wings
Now approaching 60 performances since 2022, Trinity Bach Project is a new vocal and instrumental ensemble “dedicated to serving ordinary audiences the musical and spiritual wealth of J. S. Bach’s repertoire.” They have achieved these extraordinary performance numbers by devising unique themed programs and putting these into the company repertoire, so rather than multiple performances of a program at one venue, they take a program out to multiple venues interested in hosting a performance.
For “Bach & Wings,” the season’s final program, 16 instrumentalists join music director Nicholas Nicolaidis and 25 vocalists in a 65-minute program including Cantata BWV 137 Lobe den Herren, den mächtigen König der Ehren, and Cantata BWV 43 Gott fähret auf mit Jauchzen, with rich choral works by Byrd, Sweelinck, Stanford, Shaw, and Friesen rounding out the 65-minute program.
Three performances remain: May 7, 1pm at Knox Church (630 Spadina Ave); May 10, 4pm at All Saints Kingsway (2850 Bloor St W, Toronto); and May 13, 7:30pm at St. John’s York Mills (19 Don Ridge Dr, Toronto).
David Perlman can be reached at publisher@thewholenote.com.
