Ontario Tour 2004

Parry Sound, Little Current

Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons: A Cycle of The Sun
with special guests:

• Wen Zhao, pipa
   

• Lakshmi Ranganathan, veena
   

• Aqsarniit: Inuit Throat Singers

Embark on a global exploration of the the worlds’ climate with a unique rendition of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. Tafelmusik’s baroque roots unite with Chinese, Indian and Inuit music for a global journey through the changing seasons. Vivaldi’s Spring, Summer and Autumn concertos performed by soloists Genevieve Gilardeau, Christopher Verrette and Linda Melsted will be interspersed with traditional music by Indian veena player Lakshmi Ranganathan, Chinese pipa player Wen Zhao an Inuit throat singers Aqsarniit. This celebration culminates in a colletive performance of Winter, after Vivaldi by acclaimed Canadian film composer Mychael Danna featuring violinish Jeanne Lamon with her world musician colleagues.

Tafelmusik and the Festival have a lot to celebrate this year in that both are marking their 25th anniversaries and were both recipients of Lietenant Governor’s Awards for the Arts. The intimacy of the Charles W. Stockey Centre for the Performing Arts makes it a perfect venue for this unique performance, celebrating both the orchestra’s roots in the baroque repertoire and its commitment to innovation.

Under the inspired leadership of Music Director and concertmaster Jeanne Lamon since 1981, Tafelmusik has achieved international recognition for its concerts and recordings. The ensemble has eighteen core members and is expanded as the need arises. All members of the orchestra are specialists in historical performance practice and perform on original instruments or modern replicas faithful in design and construction to the originals.

Music Director of Tafelmusik since 1981, Jeanne Lamon has been praised by critics in Europe and North America for her virtuosity as a violinist and her strong musical leadership. Her solo recordings of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and Bach Violin Concertos with Tafelmusik have been widely praised. Ms. Lamon has received numerous awards: recent honours include the Prix Alliance from the Alliance Française, and the 1997 M. Joan Chalmers Award for Artistic Direction. In 1994 Ms. Lamon received an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from York University, and in 1999 she received the prestigious Molson Prize from the Canada Council for the Arts. In 2000 Jeanne was appointed a member of the Order of Canada in recognition of her exceptional achievements as Music Director of Tafelmusik. Jeanne guest directs symphony orchestras regularly across Canada. Recent engagements include Symphony Nova Scotia, Victoria Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, Orchestra London and Calgary Philharmonic. She teaches at the University of Toronto and the Royal Conservatory of Music.

Aqsarniit (which means "northern lights" in Inuktitut) is a group of young Inuit performing artists from Nunavik (northern Quebec), Nunavut (eastern Arctic) and Greenland. The ensemble works to preserve and promote Inuit culture through performances of traditional and modern forms of dancing, throat singing, theatre and games. Since 1995, Aqsarniit has toured in Canada, Japan, Italy, Germany, Norway and the United States, often performing for heads of state and royalty. Members of Aqsarniit performing in this programme are Sylvia Cloutier and June Shappa.

Lakshmi Ranganathan is an esteemed performer on the veena, the most important stringed instrument of south Indian music. She belongs to the sixth generation of veena players from a well-known musical family connected with the Royal Court of Travancore, and her musical talent was nurtured from an early age by her father, Kalyanakrishna Bhagavathar. At the age of fifteen Lakshmi won the coveted President of India award for her veena playing. She has since been honoured with numerous titles and honours, including "Vainika Ratna" ("Gem of the Veena"), in recognition of her eminent position and in appreciation of her efforts in promoting the classical music of south India. She has performed to great acclaim in India, south-east Asia, Britain, Australia, South Africa and the United States, where she has appeared at Carnegie Hall and at the United Nations. She now lives in Kingston and teaches world music at Queen’s University and the University of Western Ontario.

Born in Beijing, Wen Zhao began to study the pipa at the age of seven. She holds a B.A. from the music department of Beijing Normal University where she was a first-prize winning student of Wang Fan Di, one of the most famous pipa players in China. After post-graduate studies at the University of London, she performed and taught in England and Europe for eight years. She has lived in Toronto since 1997, while continuing to pursue her international career, includng perfomances at the Swiss International Festival, Edinburgh Festival, Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, and major festivals in Canada and the United States. For the past year, Wen has been a performing artist in Tafelmusik’s Four Seasons Project, an ongoing arts programme for students in grade six.

Geneviève Gilardeau, a native of Québec, studied at the University of Montréal, the Conservatoire du Québec, and the Royal Conservatory in Toronto. Her principal violin teachers were Jean-François Rivest, Jeanne Lamon, and Martin Foster. A member of Québec City’s chamber orchestra Les Violons du Roy from 1995-1998, she later joined Tafelmusik full time in 2000. In addition to being a core member of the Aradia Baroque Ensemble, she also performs with the Toronto Consort, the Studio de Musique Ancienne de Montréal, and Ensemble Masques. Ms. Gilardeau is featured as a soloist on Tafelmusik’s A Baroque Feast performing Vivaldi’s Concerto in A Minor for two violins (with Jeanne Lamon) as well as on the more recent Le Mozart Noir playing a Leclair Concerto.

Linda Melsted, originally from Seattle, has made Toronto her home since 1992 when she joined the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra. She has performed as guest leader and soloist with the Portland Baroque Orchestra, Seattle Baroque Orchestra and Pacific Baroque Orchestra, and has played with Concerto Köln, Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, Philharmonia, and the New York Baroque Ensemble. She is active as a soloist and chamber musician, praised for her virtuosity, sweetness of tone, and for the musical commitment and fire that she brings to a performance. Her recent performances and recording of the Violin Concerto in D Major by Chevalier de Saint-Georges with Tafelmusik have received widespread acclaim. Linda shares her home with her beloved cats Cleo and Gus, her collections of Mexican "Day of the Dead" figures and Byzantine icons, and a garden that has engulfed the lawn. Ms. Melsted performs on a Nicolo Amati violin and is a member of Duo Chiaroscuro, with harpsichordist Charlotte Nediger.

Christopher Verrette has been a member of Tafelmusik since 1993. He is a founding member of Ensemble Ouabache in Indianapolis and the Chicago Baroque Ensemble. A frequent collaborator here in Toronto with the Musicians in Ordinary, he has also been a guest artist with the King’s Noyse, Apollo’s Fire, Seattle Baroque Orchestra, Newberry Consort, and has been guest director and soloist with the Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra. In recent seasons he has participated in festivals in Boston, Bloomington, Elora and Monadnock. He is a graduate of Indiana University, where he was awarded the first-ever Performer’s Certificate for accomplishment on the baroque violin and was a student of Stanley Ritchie. In addition to over 20 recordings with Tafelmusik, he can be heard on CDs in chamber music of Vivaldi, Erlebach, Soler, Lully and Bonporti on the Cedille, Centaur and Dorian labels, and most recently with guitarist Terry McKenna in "Throw the house out the window" on Marquis Records.

Tafelmusik’s success has taken it around the world, with regular tours across North America, Europe, and Asia. This season the orchestra is performing in Europe, the US, Ontario and Quebec.

Tafelmusik performs over 50 concerts each season at its home base, the historic Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre in downtown Toronto. It also performs at other Toronto venues, including Massey Hall, George Weston Recital Hall and the Royal Ontario Museum.

Tafelmusik’s education programme continues to thrive, this year with numerous student concerts both in Toronto and on tour. Tafelmusik musicians also work directly with students in their classrooms, and offer workshops to teachers and to visiting ensembles. The season ends with the Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute, an intensive residency for senior students, pre-professional and professional musicians which focuses on instrumental and vocal baroque performance practice.

Tafelmusik has released over 65 CDs on the Analekta, Sony Classical, CBC Records, BMG Classics, Hyperion and Collegium labels, and has been awarded numerous international recording prizes, including five Junos. A recent award-winning film project on the life and music of the classical French Black composer Le Chevalier de Saint Georges, entitled "Le Mozart Noir," has been produced by Media Headquarters for CBC, BBC, TV5 and ARTV. Media Headquarters and Tafelmusik are in the midst of shooting their next international documentary, The Four Seasons Mosaic, including music from this programme.

Join us for an unforgettable evening on the splendour of Georgian Bay with Tafelmusik and their special guests.