Italian pianist Beatrice Rana’s performance at Royal Conservatory of Music on April 18 will include pieces by Bach, Debussy and Beethoven.SIMON FOWLER
The diversity of performances set to hit the stage this season is sure to strike a chord with audiences, with almost every musical genre taking a turn in the spotlight. It may be a challenge to choose which tickets you should snag, so consider these notable highlights.
Music lovers can always count on unique offerings from the Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM). The tradition continues with Brel! The Show (Apr. 29), a tribute to the celebrated Belgian singer and songwriter Jacques Brel who dazzled audiences and contemporary stars like David Bowie with his soul-rousing songs. Olivier Laurent will be performing the beloved works of Brel, including favourites like Ne me quitte pas, Amsterdam and Marieke.
Saxophonist Joshua Redman plays Thelonious Monk, Duke Ellington and Wayne Shorter at Koerner Hall on April 22.ELIZABETH ATTENBOROUGH
RCM’s Koerner Hall will also host Italian pianist Beatrice Rana (Apr. 18), who earned multiple prestigious awards before she even turned 21 and has been lauded by the New York Times for her performance of Chopin’s Op. 25 Études. Her RCM performance will include pieces by Bach, Debussy and Beethoven. Then the venue will welcome American saxophonist Joshua Redman (Apr. 22), as part of the TD Jazz series, The Great Composers, who will present his own take on the works of legends like Thelonious Monk and Duke Ellington.
The Mississauga Living Arts Centre is also focusing on legendary talents in its roster. It has hosted cultural events for the local community and beyond for more than 35 years. On the roster this season is The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (Apr. 27), the final collaborative project from Peter Gabriel and Genesis, which first wowed audiences in 1974-75. Re-creating the rock opera is The Musical Box, regarded as the best interpretation group in the world for its historical re-enactment of the early days of Genesis. They have performed before more than a million fans worldwide in venues like London’s Royal Albert Hall and the Olympia in Paris. Gabriel and Genesis granted The Musical Box the rights to perform the one-of-a-kind rock opera exclusively.
If you’re looking for a good excuse to don your Easter bonnet, the Living Arts Centre’s Hammerson Hall will fill with the sounds of the Mississauga Symphony Orchestra (MSO) at the Music of Easter concert (Apr. 1), featuring spiritually moving works by composers Bach, Stravinsky and Wagner.
An all-Black orchestral ensemble performs Scott Joplin’s Treemonisha at the Bluma Appel Theatre.PHOTO OF NEEMA BICKERSTETH AS TREEMONISHA BY DAHLIA KATZ; COLLAGE BY LOST IN THE ISLAND
As it continues its centennial season, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra has an eclectic lineup in store. Visions of Spain (Mar. 31-Apr. 2) showcases one of classical music’s most blockbuster hits, Ravel’s Boléro, famous for a slow, early burn rising to a full-on orchestra crescendo. The evening will also showcase Juan Manuel Cañizares, considered one of the greatest flamenco guitarists in the world, in Joaquín Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez. Spanish composer Francisco Coll and the talented musicians of the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra will also join the TSO to present the music of Manuel de Falla.
Speaking of the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra, its 49th season finale (Apr. 29) will see its conductor, Simon Rivard, lead musicians in a performance of Lera Auerbach’s scintillating Icarus and two winning concertos of the TSYO’s 2021/2022 Concerto Competition. Then the event will highlight two young talents – Ian Ye performing Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 1 and Eugene Jung featured in Rossini’s Introduction Theme and Variations for Clarinet and Orchestra. As the TSYO wraps up this season and prepares to celebrate its 50th one, TSYO goes big with the drama and energy of Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances.
Equally inspiring but completely different for Roy Thomson Hall, Dancing in the Street: The Music of Motown (May 16-17) features many of the hits that earned Motown’s first headquarters the nickname “Hitsville U.S.A.” Expect favourites, such as My Girl, Sign Sealed Delivered and You Really Got a Hold on Me, conducted by Jeff Tyzik.
And looking ahead to summer, headlining music events continue with the Luminato Festival (June 7-18) and a unique performance that deserves save-the-date status. Scott Joplin’s opera, Treemonisha, is one of the rare pieces of music set soon after the abolition of slavery. It knits together European classical music, ragtime, folk and gospel for an opera almost lost in time. Written in 1911, it was virtually unknown until it was performed for the first time in its entirety in 1972. The Toronto production will be history making. It features the first all-Black orchestral ensemble in Canadian opera history and a predominantly Black female creative team from across North America. This story centres around a young Black woman who, in discovering the truth of her past, also discovers her power to lead a divided community towards a new future. Previews begin June 6.
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