Tues. October 4, 2011 12 – 1 p.m. Artists of the UofT Opera Division
Thurs. October 6, 2011 12 – 1 p.m. Artists of the COC Ensemble Studio
Tues. October 11, 2011 12 – 1 p.m. Ekaterina Sadovnikova, soprano Christopher Mokrzewski, piano
Wed. October 12, 2011 12 - 1 p.m. Queen of Puddings Music Theatre Featuring Laura Albino, Carla Huhtanen, Andrea Ludwig, Shannon Mercer, Krisztina Szabó and Jacqueline Woodley Svadba - Wedding Under the direction of Dáirine Ní Mheadhra and John Hess, Queen of Puddings Music Theatre presents Ana Sokolovic’s riveting tour de force for six female opera singers. The night before a wedding, girlfriends prepare the bride-to-be in a ravishing and cathartic Balkan rite of passage. Inspired by Stravinsky’s Les Noces, Sokolovic draws on her rich Balkan heritage of folk music and literature and transforms it into her own unique onomatopoeic language, transporting listeners to a world of magic realism.
Thursday, October 13, 2011 12 - 1 p.m. Zata Omm William Yong, artistic director
Eight Ways from Mara With choreography by William Yong and music by Andrea Rocca, Eight Ways from Mara is a multi-disciplinary, imaginative and visually compelling work that takes a fresh look at the ways we avoid life’s misery by relating to three elemental forces: confusion, temptation and distraction. View the Program
Tues. October 18, 2011 12 – 1 p.m. Toronto International Flamenco Festival
Flamenco Expressions Founded by Lionel Félix in 2007, the Toronto International Flamenco Festival is the first of its kind in Canada, bringing internationally acclaimed artists from around the world to celebrate this powerful yet graceful dance on the mainstages of Toronto. This special presentation will showcase Canadian and international artists from the festival in exciting selections of flamenco guitar and dance.
Thurs. October 20, 2011 12 – 1 p.m. Robert Pomakov, bass The Gryphon Trio
Love, Loss and Longing COC bass Robert Pomakov (currently performing in Iphigenia in Tauris and Rigoletto) is joined by the Gryphon Trio in a new arrangement of Mussorgsky’s Songs and Dances of Death by Canadian composer Gary Kulesha. The program opens with Beethoven’s only song cycle, An die ferne Geliebte.
Tues. October 25 12 – 1 p.m. Hiroko Kudo, piano
Rhapsody at Noon Japanese pianist Hiroko Kudo performs a rich and dazzling program of virtuoso masterpieces by Haydn (Andante and Variations in F Minor, Hob. 17/6), Liszt (Hungarian Rhapsody No. 13 and his famous transcription of Schumann’s Widmung) and de Falla (Fantasia Bética).
Wed. October 26, 2011 12 – 1 p.m. Zodiac Trio
Music of a Silenced Nation: Soviet Composers For over 75 years during Soviet Regime, Russia’s brightest writers, musicians and scientists were sent into exile, banned from stages and simply eliminated. Still the nation managed to produce some of this century’s strongest and most prophetic voices. With “Music of a Silenced Nation”, the Zodiac Trio presents renowned Russian composers from the Soviet era, side by side with lesser-known yet equally important figures whose names never made it across the Iron Curtain. The program includes Stravinsky’s L'Histoire du soldat, excerpts from Edison Denisov’s Sonata for Solo Clarinet, Shostakovich’s Sonata for Violin and Piano, and Galina Ustvolskaya’s Trio.
Tues. November 1, 2011 12 – 1 p.m. Kornel Wolak, clarinet Chris Donnelly, piano
Reeds and Keys Clarinetist Kornel Wolak and pianist Chris Donnelly present a unique and beguiling hour of jazz and classical (written and improvised) music celebrating the similarities between the styles. The program includes revered classical pieces such as Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto in A Major, Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and Oscar Peterson’s jazz classic Hymn to Freedom, as well as intriguing solo transcriptions of works by Paganini and Bach, classics from The Great American Songbook, and original compositions. The musical selections are supplemented with light-hearted historical and personal perspectives on the music.
Wed. November 2, 2011 5:30 – 6:30 p.m. Adi Braun Quartet Adi Braun, vocals Jordan Klapman, piano George Koller, bass Daniel Barnes, drums
Noir Adi Braun invites you to an hour of delicious and dangerous music from the era of the film noir. Let Marlene Dietrich wrap you in the arms of “The Blue Angel” (1931), Doris Day sing of Ruth Etting’s woes in “Love Me or Leave Me” (1955), be seduced by the haunting beauty of David Raksin’s melody “Laura” (1944), and taste the bittersweet reality of life in “Blues in the Night” (1941). Noir is filled with songs and repartee from this truly unique period in film-making where, as Fay Helm said in “Phantom Lady,” there are “no names, no addresses – just companions for the evening.”
Thurs. November 3, 2011 12 – 1 p.m. Nova Bhattacharya, dancer/choreographer Ed Hanley, tabla
Bharatanatyam Beat Ipsita Nova Dance Projects’ artistic director Nova Bhattacharya and her long-time collaborator, composer and virtuoso tabla player Ed Hanley, introduce you to their hybrid world of contemporary dance and music based in the traditions of Indian classical dance (bharatanatyam) and music (Hindustani from the north and Carnatic from the south). Bhattacharya and Hanley give these traditional styles a highly personal and contemporary expression.