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The DaVinci Codex Launches Toronto Consort Season TORONTO, September 21, 2005 — The Toronto Consort, one of Canada’s leading early music ensembles, launches it 2005/2006 season with The DaVinci Codex at 8:00 pm on October 21 and 22, 2005. This words-and-music program explores the life and times of Leonardo DaVinci, one of history’s great minds. Artistic Director David Fallis and the Consort team up with Tafelmusik’s Alison Mackay, who compiled and wrote the text, to unlock the musical mysteries behind Leonardo DaVinci’s many accomplishments. Tickets are available by calling the box office at (416) 964-6337. For more information, visit www.torontoconsort.org. Few may know that the quintessential Renaissance man, painter, inventor and thinker, Leonardo da Vinci, was also an accomplished musician. A virtuoso player of stringed instruments, he was renowned for his stunning skill in improvisation. He also designed several musical instruments, and conducted scientific studies into acoustics and the human voice. Using musical selections from the period and text taken from historic accounts and Leonardo’s own treatises, The DaVinci Codex (the Latin term for a collection or manuscript) follows the course of his life and extraordinary achievements in the realms of visual art, science, engineering and music. Though none of Leonardo’s own compositions survive today, The DaVinci Codex features music by contemporaries that Leonardo would have heard in his travels through Italy and France. Rarely offered works by 16th century composers including Bartolomeo Tromboncino, Marchetto Cara, Andrea Antico and Joan Ambrosio Dalza are presented by the nine-member Toronto Consort on lute, recorder, harpsichord and voice. The secret behind Mona Lisa’s smile is an example of one of the mysteries unlocked in the concert, thanks to a 16th-century account written by Giorgio Vasari: In order to animate his portrait of Mona Lisa (la Gioconda), Leonardo employed musicians to play and sing early madrigals called frottole, “in order to eliminate that melancholy cast … and keep [the sitter] in a happy mood.” Alison Mackay is a frequent collaborator with the Toronto Consort, both as a musician and as a writer, and has contributed to such programs as From Medieval to Millennial. She and her husband David Fallis were the creative minds behind last season’s extraordinary city-wide Metamorphosis Festival. In addition to her role as Tafelmusik’s Principal Double Bass, Ms. Mackay is also known for the many scripts and programs she has created for the Orchestra, including the upcoming The Quest for Arundo Donax for Analekta. Just ahead of its season launch, the Toronto Consort’s latest recording will be released on the ATMA label: The Consort is featured alongside Montréal Baroque and other artists on Fireworks, a double cd recording celebrating ATMA’s 10th anniversary. The Consort performs excerpts from Orazio Vecchi’s 1604 work, Le Veglie di Siena (loosely translated as “Night Games of Siena”), a lavish musical entertainment consisting of comic madrigals, recorded during this summer’s Festival Baroque in Montréal. The discs will be available at Toronto Consort performances and in retail outlets across Canada beginning October 4. Listing information: Media Contact:
© 2005, Toronto Consort |
The Toronto Consort
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