The Toronto Consort

he Toronto Consort offers an extensive Student Education Project designed for students of high school age. The programs are presented at Trinity-St. Paul's Centre in Toronto, thanks to support from the J.P. Bickell Foundation, The Lloyd Carr-Harris Foundation, The Julie-Jiggs Foundation, The Catherine and Maxwell Meighen Foundation and The Pluralism Foundation.

Three unique educational opportunities!

The first program, entitled “Shakespeare's Songbook”, brings alive the kinds of music which would have been heard by William Shakespeare in Renaissance England.

Based on researches in the field, this 50-minute concert/lecture uses the songs and dances of Shakespeare's plays as a way of introducing high school students to the wonderful world of Elizabethan music.

With music for fools, fairies and Falstaff, students hear and are introduced to ballads, recorder and hurdy-gurdy improvisations, harpsichord fantasias and a capella vocal works. A great way to increase understanding of William Shakespeare, and to be introduced to an unforgettable musical world!

The second program, entitled “An Introduction to Medieval Music” (click here to download Teachers' Guide PDF), is a wonderful way to introduce students to the unusual world of medieval music.

The 50-minute program is devised as a pilgrimage, just as it might have happened in medieval Europe in the early 13th century.

First stop is Paris, where we hear the cries of street vendors, listen to itinerant students singing the original Carmina Burana, and take part in lively instrumental dances. As we travel through France we encounter a group of knights on their way to the Crusades, and hear their songs and stories. Finally we reach Spain where we are joined by throngs of pilgrims singing cantigas and dancing. Throughout, students are introduced to medieval instruments and their unique sounds.

The Toronto Consort has prepared a special Teachers’ Guide, introducing medieval music history, and the instruments heard in the concert, which is available to participating groups.

The third program, entitled “The Marco Polo Project” is a creative re-imagining of the extraordinary music the 13th-century Venetian explorer might have heard on his travels.

The impetus for this new 50-minute education concert came from the fact that students in Toronto today come from all around the world, and represent a wide range of cultures and musical backgrounds. The Consort wanted a way to connect early music with these other musical traditions. Marco Polo is a perfect vehicle, because he travelled so extensively through the middle East and southern Russia to China. This education concert follows Marco Polo’s travels, with an emphasis on the instruments and the singing style of the different cultures he might have encountered on his journey.

Students hear examples of Chinese musical styles and instruments and traditional Georgian music, which features incredible vocal gymnastics, including nimble counterpoint and strident dissonant chord tunings. Around these pieces from Georgia and China, the Toronto Consort plays examples of the lively dances and haunting laude (Italian spiritual songs) which would have been known by Marco Polo and his family.

The Student Education Project is designed for secondary school students, to introduce them to the rich musical and cultural heritage of the Middle Ages, Renaissance and early Baroque periods. These programs complement studies in many areas including English, Music, Modern Languages, Performing Arts, and History. For more information on the programs and dates of presentation, please call Lisa at 416-966-1045.