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Brandi carlile, buika, and barbara cook
debuts
Yo-Yo Ma and Kathryn Stott in a Gala performance
oscar peterson series kicks off
FREE EVENTS AND MUCH MORE
Although the gala concert with superstar cellist Yo-Yo Ma
and pianist Kathryn Stott on Thursday, October 14 at Koerner Hall has been sold
out for some time, there are more than 70 concerts during
The Royal Conservatory’s 2010.11 concert season to
choose from.
The season will begin on Sunday, September 26, with the
Conservatory’s very own, twice Grammy Award-nominated ARC
Ensemble (Artists of The Royal Conservatory) in the
beautifully restored Mazzoleni Concert Hall located in
historic Ihnatowycz Hall. The
concert will be part of Culture Days, the
Canada-wide interactive celebration of arts and culture, and
will therefore be free – first come, first served. Another free
event will be The Royal Conservatory’s participation, for the
second year in a row, in the popular Scotiabank Nuit Blanche
on Saturday, October 2. The festivities will begin at
8:00pm with a concert in Koerner Hall. Uri Mayer,
Director of the Orchestral Program and Resident Conductor at the
Conservatory’s Glenn Gould School, will conduct the Royal
Conservatory Orchestra in a work by the Canadian composer
R. Murray Schafer, after which the visitors will have a
chance to interact with a massive sculptural light installation
by the visionary Toronto architect Philip Beesley. Additionally,
thanks to TELUS support, the Conservatory and the Canadian Film
Centre Media Lab will present an installation called "Musical
Rumble: Jazz vs Classical." In this ‘battle,’ larger-than-life
musicians will be projected through the windows to the outside
of the building as they play jazz and classical interpretations
of the same musical excerpt and compete for votes. Everyone in
the Reta Lila Weston Music Court on Bloor Street will see and
hear the projected performances and, using smart phones, vote to
see their favourite version in its entirety.
The Koerner Hall season will officially open on
Wednesday, October 6, with the American
pop-alt-folk singer Brandi Carlile, whose music has been
featured on the hit TV shows Grey’s Anatomy and
Private Practice. Opening for her will be the
Canadian singer-songwriter
Luke McMaster, who participated in the popular Bluebird
North series last season, and whose songs have become
multiplatinum and gold sales for many of his collaborators such
as Rihanna, Nick Lachey, Kyle Riabko, Bret Ryan, Rex Goudie,
Kalan Porter, and Marc Jordan.
The first two jazz concerts of the Koerner Hall season will be
truly remarkable. The South African trumpet phenomenon Hugh
Masekela, recently featured in the opening concert for the
FIFA World Cup in Johannesburg and broadcast live around the
world, will make his Royal Conservatory debut on Saturday,
October 23. On October 30, guitarist Reg Schwager,
pianist Robi Botos, bassist Dave Young, drummer
Terry Clarke, trumpeter Kevin Turcotte, and vocalist
Carol Welsman will participate in the first concert of
the Aspects of Oscar series, titled Oscar’s Songbooks.
Assembled by Young, all of these musicians had a special
relationship with Oscar Peterson, Carol Welsman being one of his
favourite singers.
Two extraordinary vocalists will be making their Koerner Hall
debuts in October. Buika, the songstress who is already a
legend in her native Spain and in Europe, and includes the likes
of film director Pedro Almodóvar among her greatest fans, will
make her Canadian debut on October 16 as part of her
North American tour. She will be presenting her latest album,
El Último Trago (The Last Drink), a tribute to
Chavela Vargas, the legendary rancheras singer who has
been one of Almodóvar’s muses and one of Buika’s greatest
influences. Next, Broadway legend and multiple Tony Award winner
Barbara Cook, who starred in the original productions of
such hits as Candide and The Music Man, will grace
the stage of Koerner Hall on October 22. Now in her
eighties, she is still one of the foremost interpreters of
Sondheim, cabaret, and the American popular song.
The Royal Conservatory
will welcome the return of three
different groups who appeared during the 2009.10 season. The
Conservatory faculty member, pianist Andrew Burashko,
will bring his Art of Time Ensemble on October 21
with a unique interpretation of Abbey Road, one of the
most popular albums by the Beatles. He will be joined by singers
Kevin Hearn, Andy Maize, Steven Page,
Alejandra Ribera, Sarah Slean, John Southworth,
and Martin Tielli; Page and Slean appeared with the Art
of Time in Koerner Hall last season. Another returning ensemble
is the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, conducted by Edwin
Outwater. On October 27, Outwater and
Daniel Levitin,
author of the best-selling books This Is Your Brain on Music
and The World in Six Songs, will produce a concert titled
Beethoven and Your Brain. In this unique and
unusual interactive performance, the
audience will use the latest technology to participate in
surveys as they explore what happens to the brain when listening
to Beethoven’s music. The last group is the Royal
Conservatory Orchestra, which will perform more concerts
than ever before at the Conservatory during a single season.
Conducted by the Canadian Opera Company’s Music Director,
Johannes Debus, who made his Conservatory debut last year
with the Orchestra, the October 29 concert will feature
the 2010 Glenn Gould School Concerto Competition winner, soprano
Jennifer Taverner, in Samuel Barber’s Knoxville:
Summer of 1915, among other works.
Staying close to home, two concerts will be performed by the
friends of The Glenn Gould School in Mazzoleni Concert
Hall. As part of the Mazzoleni Masters Series, the
award-winning Russian harpist Natalia Shamayeva,
formerly from the Bolshoi Ballet Orchestra in Moscow,
will perform a unique all-Russian
recital on October 17, and will also conduct a master
class for The Royal Conservatory students prior to her recital.
The first concert of the Discovery Series, on October
24, will feature the Hungarian violinist Ádám
Banda. Banda, from the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest, will
make his North American debut and thus mark the beginning of a
performance partnership between The Glenn Gould School and the
outstanding young performers of Hungary.
September and October events at The Royal
Conservatory:
ARC Ensemble
(Mazzoleni Masters):
Sunday, September 26, 2010
at 7:30pm (MH); FREE
Scotiabank Nuit Blanche
at the TELUS Centre:
Sat., October 2, 2010
from 7:00pm until 7:00am; FREE
Brandi Carlile with Luke McMaster (Pop):
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
at 8:00pm (KH); $30-$50
Yo-Yo Ma with Kathryn Stott (Strings):
Thursday, October 14, 2010
at 7:00pm (KH); $50-$200
LaFontaine-Baldwin Lecture:
His Highness the Aga Khan:
Friday, October 15, 2010
at 7:30pm (KH) TBA
Buika (World):
Saturday, October 16, 2010
at 8:00pm (KH); $30-$60
Natalia Shamayeva (Mazzoleni Masters):
Sunday, October 17, 2010
at 2:00pm (MH); $25
Art of Time Ensemble:
Abbey Road (Pop):
Thursday, October 21, 2010
at 8:00pm (KH); $30-$60
Barbara Cook (Vocal):
Friday, October 22, 2010
at 8:00pm (KH); $50-$100
Hugh Masekela (Jazz & World):
Saturday, October 23, 2010
at 8:00pm (KH); $25-$65
Ádám Banda (Discovery):
Sunday, October 24, 2010
at 2:00pm (MH); $10
Beethoven and Your Brain (Words & Music):
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
at 8:00pm (KH); $20-$65
Royal Conservatory Orchestra conducted by Johannes Debus
(Orchestra):
Fri., Oct. 29, 2010
at 8:00pm (KH); $20-$40
Aspects of Oscar:
Oscar’s Songbooks (Jazz):
Saturday, October 30, 2010
at 8:00pm (KH); $20-$65
(KH) – Koerner Hall; (MH) – Mazzoleni Concert Hall
Tickets are
available online at
www.rcmusic.ca, by calling 416.408.0208,
or in person at the Weston Family Box Office at the TELUS Centre
for Performance and Learning
Select any 4-6 concerts and save 10%; Select any 7+ concerts and
save 15%; premium tickets available upon request
A limited number of $10 rush tickets are available starting 90
minutes before all performances presented by The RCM
All concerts take place at The Royal Conservatory,
TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning, 273 Bloor Street
West, Toronto
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