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Toronto Consort Launches 08/09 Season Highlights include Marco Polo Project, Flanders Recorder Quartet, Monteverdi Vespers “This dear band — so expert, so rhythmically alive, so humourous, at times so touching — has such an infectious good time doing what it does so well, I just sit and smile. Toronto, August 19, 2008 —Artistic Director David Fallis has announced plans for The Toronto Consort’s 2008/2009 season, its 36th. One of Canada’s premiere period music ensembles, The Toronto Consort is known for inventive programming that breathes life into the music of the Middle Ages, Renaissance and early Baroque. This season’s concerts offer a wide range of contrasts through music that Fallis has selected from around the globe: The Marco Polo Project, a one-of-a-kind musical travelogue tracing the explorer’s route through the Republic of Georgia and China; Michael Praetorius’ Christmas Vespers; Earth, Air, Fire, Water — a musical exploration of the four elements and alchemy in Renaissance Europe; a concert by Belgian guest ensemble, the Flanders Recorder Quartet; and Monteverdi’s incomparable Vespers of 1610 with guest soloist, tenor Charles Daniels. 2008-09 subscriptions and single tickets are available through the box office at (416) 964-6337. For more information, visit www.torontoconsort.org The Toronto Consort is currently touring the Maritime provinces with its popular Da Vinci Codex program, which was also recorded for Marquis Classics. The August 18 to 24 tour is part of Musique Royale, a festival of music in historic Nova Scotia, and includes concerts in Halifax, Wolfville, Shelburne, Yarmouth, Annapolis Royale and Lunenburg. The ensemble also performs at the Indian River Festival in P.E.I. on August 24. The Toronto Consort’s latest recording, The Queen, features music from the reign of Queen Elizabeth I and will be released by Marquis in early 2009. 2008/2009 SEASON AT A GLANCE The Marco Polo Project What tunes would Marco Polo have had on his iPod? The Toronto Consort opens its 2008-2009 season with the ultimate east-meets-west jam session, The Marco Polo Project. The Consort is joined by a trio of musicians playing traditional Chinese instruments — Wen Zhao, pipa, YuCheng Zhang, xun and xiao (traditional Chinese flutes), Yongli Xue, zheng (Chinese zither), and Kavkasia, a vocal trio led by Toronto singer Alan Gasser that performs traditional music from the Republic of Georgia. Together, they create an imaginary musical diary of the sounds Marco Polo might have encountered on his travels across Asia and Cathay and back to his native Venice. The Praetorius Christmas Vespers “Pure sonic sensuality … the perfect antidote to tinny seasonal Muzak fraying our nerves these days.” Back by popular demand! The Praetorius Christmas Vespers is a jewel of the early Baroque based on the Lutheran church’s Vespers service. The Consort has recorded the work for Marquis Classics and revisits this Christmas service the way it might have been performed in a large church in 17th-century Germany: singers, cornetti, sackbuts, violins, theorbos and keyboards will be positioned around the church and in the balconies. This early-baroque “surround-sound” experience is interwoven with Christmas carols sung by the audience and performers. Audiences have made the Praetorius Vespers a family Christmas tradition, and past performances have sold out on a regular basis. Earth, Air, Fire, Water The theory of the four elements and related principles of alchemy were powerful influences in Renaissance Europe. Both in the physical sphere and the spiritual, alchemy was a serious discipline much misunderstood today, yet the pertinent ideas and images can be seen in many musical works of the period. This program devised by Consort member Alison Melville paints a musical portrait of the four elements and related alchemical processes, featuring works by John Dowland, Thomas Campion, Jacob van Eyck and Henry Lawes. With sounds sweet or smoky, pensive or raunchy, from the refined melancholy of Dowland's Flow my tears to the chaotic wit of street vending songs, Earth, Air, Fire, Water strikes a perfect balance of the elements as expressed in music. The Flanders Recorder Quartet presents “ … beguiling lightness of touch and clarity of texture …” — Fanfare Magazine The Toronto Consort is thrilled to welcome the world’s foremost recorder quartet in the only Canadian stop on their North American tour. The Flanders Recorder Quartet travels around the world with a magnificent collection of more than 150 recorders in tow. For their Toronto engagement, the quartet offers a veritable musical banquet of virtuoso recorder works ranging over many centuries. The program includes music by Dornel, Merula, Bach, Vaughan Williams, and works by contemporary Belgian composers, Jan Van der Roost and Frans Geysen. Claudio Monteverdi
All concerts begin at 8:00 pm and take place at
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