It has always been fascinating to observe the processes that Tafelmusik engages in to keep up with the times, while remaining consistent to the principles that have marked the organization since its inception: highly successful concert series with innovative programming; decades of international touring; award-winning recordings; annual education programs, a deep commitment to historically-informed performance practice and scholarship; and inspired and inspiring leadership.
The opening weekend of their 46th season of concerts in Toronto, September 27-29, marks the start of yet another chapter in the life of an organization whose legacy is already legendary. It features an all-Mozart program, led by their new Principal Guest Director, violinist Rachel Podger, who accepted the position in early 2023 at the invitation of Tafelmusik’s Artistic Co-Directors violist Brandon Chui, bassoonist Dominic Teresi and violinist Cristina Zacharias.
Passing the torch: From 1981-2014, Tafelmusik’s Music Director was the remarkable violinist Jeanne Lamon, who oversaw programming and project development and effectively and collaboratively led the orchestra on stage. After Lamon’s retirement (and untimely death in 2021) and a period of transition, Italian violinist Elisa Citterio became Tafelmusik’s Music Director for an all-too-short time, complicated by the COVID-19 pandemic and other insurmountable challenges. The current Co-Directorship of Chui, Teresi and Zacharias began in 2022, as the organization emerged from the pandemic years – a positive new approach, which is already yielding great results, both in terms of a focus on exciting music-making and in terms of organizational health.
In response to a series of written questions from me, the Artistic Co-Directors pooled ideas and wrote back collectively. My very first question had to do with how a collaborative model of programming was working out, given the organization’s decades of strong individual leadership.
“As a conductorless orchestra, led by a playing leader, we've always operated collaboratively,” they pointed out. “Our current artistic leadership model is a natural outgrowth of that. Since 2022, our model has allowed us to work creatively with the leading artists of our day, without imposing more responsibility on them, [because] the Artistic Co-Directors are responsible for overall season planning, developing seasons that are well-balanced, exciting and nourishing. And that includes work with a wide variety of extraordinary artists. We consult with Choir Director Ivars Taurins on choral programs, work closely with each guest director, and now have Rachel [Podger] in the mix as well. We invited her to join us in a Principal Guest Director role to be able to work with her multiple times in a season. The sheer vitality and energy she brings to the stage is palpable.”
Enter Rachel Podger: I can attest to Podger’s vitality and energy: a few minutes after meeting her for the first time, last May, I felt I’d known her for years. We got together for a cup of tea on a beautiful spring afternoon in midtown Toronto. She had blown into town to meet the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Chamber Choir staff and donors, prior to taking up the Principal Guest Director position at the start of the 2024/25 season. She is clearly as excited about the collaboration as Chui, Teresi and Zacharias are.
The relationship with the Tafelmusik musicians seems to have fallen into place almost immediately. “I was here last year,” Podger recalls. “February of 2023; they'd asked me to put a program together. We did a couple of Haydn symphonies and a Mozart concerto. And I remember, we started off rehearsing the Haydn Symphony, and it was a little bit like playing in a string quartet, but just extended. And I was trying to work out what was going on. Why is this so easy? It was really amazing.”
Her respect for the entire ensemble is tangible. “I don’t know how else to describe it. It's an understanding with all of them. They've been in the leader's position. They know what it takes. They know what you're having to do. They know the vision that you need and they play with you. It’s quite extraordinary and supportive and I fell in love with it right away.”
Challenges of collective leadership: Chui, Teresi and Zacharias talked about the ensemble’s supportiveness in much the same way when I inquired about the challenges of leading the organization while also playing in the ensemble. Doesn’t it split your focus? I asked.
“It's more of a benefit than a challenge,” was the response. “We're very connected to our colleagues in the ensemble and that helps us to always keep the music first and foremost in our artistic decisions.” With the core orchestra composed of highly skilled and specialized players, the ensemble can bring extraordinary music to life in uniquely compelling ways, “and this is why we all fell in love with period performance in the first place – to be able to create at this level.”
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Podger’s path: Podger’s love for the violin and her path to historical performance at the highest level seems also to have come quite naturally. “I had a musical family and an early love of singing,” she says.
“My father was a choral scholar at King’s College (Cambridge) as a boy and my mother was a wonderful singer and my brother sings as well. He’s a tenor, based in Vienna. And there were lots of instruments, too. We all played recorder, string instruments, flute, piano. So there was lots of chamber music and singing and I think that’s a really wonderful way to start.” Her interest in early music came naturally, as well. She was part of a choir in Germany, “singing quite a bit of Bach” and the director was interested in performance practice and passed that interest on to his choristers. “He would teach us to sing in a certain way that highlighted the harmonies, in which he allowed us to lean into the dissonances, encouraging us to think vertically rather than just sing our line, you know?”
Podger’s most recent performing encounter with Tafel in February 2023 showcased her abilities as violinist and director in equal part, with Mozart’s Violin Concerto in B-flat K.208 and Rondo in C for violin & orchestra sharing the spotlight with two Haydn symphonies – No.43 in E-flat (“Mercury”), and No.49 in f (“La Passione”). By contrast, this September’s concert, as mentioned earlier, is an all-Mozart affair, with his Violin Concerto No.2 in D K211 sandwiched between Entr’actes from Thamos, King of Egypt (the only time he ever wrote incidental music for a stage play) and his Symphony No.41 in C "Jupiter".
Tafelmusik patrons won’t have to wait long for their Haydn fix though, Chiu, Teresi and Zacharias advise: “Keep an eye out for our first CD release since pre-pandemic! In October, we are proud to release Haydn Symphony 43 "Mercury" and Symphony 49 "La Passione" with Rachel Podger.” They are the same two symphonies Toronto audiences were treated to in February 2023, but don’t expect identical performances. Flexibility and spontaneity have always been an important ingredient and aspiration of Tafelmusik’s music-making, and Podger’s philosophy is the same. “Every night it's going to be slightly different”, she says. “You're going to have a different timing or a different sound or you have different ideas. It's a constantly changing thing and it also really depends on the audience. You know, it's a unique thing: you're performing with that collection of people. Maybe a few times, but only ever once with that constellation. Of those people in the audience.”
2024/25 and beyond: Audiences in Toronto can look forward to Podger leading Tafelmusik three times in this first season of her, so far, two-year principal directorship. Beyond that, the artistic triumvirate of Chui, Teresi and Zacharias are brimming with enthusiasm for what else Tafel has in store this season: “A Korean tour with Rachel; collaborating with the exquisite French violinist Amandine Beyer; superstar soprano Samuel Mariño; and the incredible Italian oboist Alfredo Bernardini, all orchestra and audience favourites.” The list goes on.
And how far does the planning go beyond the current season, I ask. Any teasers? “Well into the future,” is the reply. “We already have several wonderful guests in place for 2025-26 – we can tease for you that the fabulous violinist Lina Tur Bonet will return then! We also look forward to the choir's 45th anniversary in 2026-27 and the orchestra's 50th anniversary in 2028-29. Exciting dreams.”
Podger is looking forward to being part of those dreams. She first came to Toronto as a guest director for a program with Tafelmusik about 13 years ago and says: “What struck me was that it was just very, very alive. They were so incredibly responsive, up for anything…very easy. It felt like I’d already played with them.”
This last point brings me back to my own initial feeling about Podger in meeting her; like I’d known her all my life. She seems so genuinely delighted and surprised at how naturally relationships develop, seemingly unaware of how her own special personality contributes to this reality. She continues to enjoy the life of the traveling musician, performing and teaching in equal measure. She lives in Wales and teaches at the Royal Welsh College there, as well as the Royal College of Music in London and Juilliard in New York. She has recorded close to three dozen discs with Channel Classics and is a regular soloist and guest director with many organizations “though I’ll be doing a little less of that, with this new situation with Tafelmusik”.
So, what are you most looking forward to in this new situation, I ask, as we conclude. She has no hesitation and laughs delightedly. “I think just really, deep, beautiful musical experiences, collaborations on the stage, risk-taking, moving the audience and changing people's lives!”
As we say good-bye, warmly, I have the strong feeling of having met a new friend, and a happy intuition that this is going to be a great new chapter in the evolving life of Tafelmusik.
EARLY MUSIC QUICK PICKS
Sep 17, 7pm: Campbell House Museum. Daniel Adam Maltz, Fortepiano. “Have piano will travel” sounds implausible if one thinks of hauling around a 1,000 pound, 88-key typical concert grand. Not so if the instrument is a 200-pound 61-key 1792 Viennese fortepiano, like the one Vienna-based Daniel Adam Malz will play at Campbell House Museum Sept 17, part-way through a 70-concert North American tour. It’s a chance to hear the instrument Haydn, Mozart andBeethoven composed for, played by a master of the instrument in an intimate venue. “The fortepiano’s touch is ten times lighter than the modern piano,” Malz explains, “which opens up more expressive capabilities. 2,000-person concert halls didn’t exist back in the 18th century.” 160 Queen St. W.. $30.
Sep 20, 5:15pm: Kingston Baroque Consort. French Brocade. Music by Lully, Charpentier, Rameau, and Marais. Now in their fourth year, the Consort promises “an exquisite blend of timeless Baroque masterpieces and innovative interpretations that celebrate the rich heritage of this unique genre.” This first of four concerts this season takes place at St. James Anglican Church (Kingston), 10 Union St. W., as will their January 17 and March 28 concerts, featuring Vivaldi, and Bach and Handel respectively. The second concert in the series, October 21, moves from St. James to the beautiful acoustic of Kingston’s Isabel Bader Theatre, and promises to be more rambunctious, featuring a retelling of the 1685 comic broadside ballad The Dragon of Wantley, which recounts the slaying of said dragon by a kick to its “arse-gut” delivered by the intrepid knight, Moore of Moore Hall. Single concert tickets (Adults $25, Students $10, Under 17 free) are available by emailing/calling legerek@queensu.ca, 613-217-5099, or in person at Novel Idea, 156 Princess St.
Sep 21, 7:30pm: North Wind Concerts. Acquiescent: The French Baroque in China. Works by Rameau and Blavet. Louise Hung, harpsichord & direction; Jin Cho, traverso; Margaret Jordan-Gay, cello, Matt Antal, viola. Founded in 2018, and anchored by veterans of of the Toronto early and baroque music scene, North Wind Concerts “celebrates and encourages the enjoyment of chamber music of many kinds, with a soft focus on music for wind instruments,” presenting performances and educational events including concerts of early, Classical and contemporary chamber music and a series, Encircling the World, which “brings together musicians of different backgrounds who play similar instruments for an afternoon or evening of musical discovery, performance, Q&A with the audience, and improvisation.” Heliconian Hall, 35 Hazelton Ave. 416-588-4301. Pay-What-You-Can.
Larry Beckwith is a familiar figure on the Toronto musical scene, contributing where he can as a conductor, singer, violinist, educator, writer and impresario. He is in his seventh season as the Artistic Producer of Confluence Concerts. Previously he was the Artistic Director of Toronto Masque Theatre (2003-2018) and Co-Artistic Director of Arbor Oak Trio (1988-2002). He sang in the Tafelmusik Chamber Choir’s tenor section from 1989-1996 and 2002-2010.
