Springtime Handel Festival 2010 (Classical Music Consort)

Playing to the next generation
Composer Ashiq Aziz aims to connect Tafelmusik’s younger musicians with younger audiences with the help of George Frideric Handel
Toronto Star article (2010 Apr30)

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Classical Music Consort

presents

Springtime Handel Festival 2010

May 5-8
WEDNESDAY-SATURDAY
Wed-Fri - 7:30pm
Sat - 7pm

St. James Cathedral
65 Church Street
on the Northeast corner of King & Church Streets
a 2 minute walk East of Yonge Street & King subway station (Northeast exit)
St. James Cathedral website
Map to St. James Cathedral

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Tickets

Wed, Thurs, & Fri
Freewill Offering

Sat
$30 / $15 student & senior

general admission

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Concert 1
The Italian Handel
May 5 WED 7:30pm

Corelli Violin Sonata, op. 5 no. 1
Lotti Trio Sonata in F major
Handel Trio sonata in B flat major, op. 2 no. 4
Organ Piece TBA
Handel Trio sonata in b minor, op. 2 no. 1
A. Scarlatti Toccata for harpsichord

Andrew Ager, organ
Elyssa Lefurgey-Smith, violin
Justin Haynes, viola da gamba
Sara-Anne Churchill, harpsichord

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Concert 2
The German & French Handel
May 6 THURS 7:30pm

Bach Sonata for Violin and Continuo in G major, BWV 1021
Schmeltzer Violin Sonata
LeClair Violin Sonata, op. 1 no. 3 in Bb major
Organ piece TBA
Handel Violin Sonata, op. 1 no. 13, HWV 371
Bach Sonata for Violin and Continuo in e minor, BWV 1023

Andrew Ager, organ
Brandi Berry, violin
Ashiq Aziz, harpsichord

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Concert 3
The Secular Handel
May 7 FRI 7:30pm

Handel “Sweet Bird” from L’Allegro
Handel Il Delirio Amoroso, HWV 99
Widor Selections from Organ Symphonies (various)

Andrew Ager, organ
Dawn Bailey, soprano
Classical Music Consort
Ashiq Aziz, conductor

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Concert 4
The Sacred Handel
May 8 SAT 7pm

Handel La Resurrezione

Emily Atkinson, Angelo
Hannah Dixon, Maddalena
Daniel Cabena, Cleofe
Cory Knight, San Giovanni
Matthew Cassils, Lucifero

Classical Music Consort
Ashiq Aziz, conductor

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Though consisting of some of the 18th century’s most beloved music, performances of Handel’s works in Toronto are now mostly confined to yearly Messiah productions and a few isolated but well-known opera and oratorio projects. Continuing on from its recent critically-acclaimed Underground/Opera production of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas this past summer, the Classical Music Consort seeks to change this “hit-list” approach to Handel with its 2010 Springtime Handel Festival at St. James Cathedral. The focus will be on some of his lesser known, but equally ravishing, solo, chamber, and vocal music, over four concerts between 5 and 8 May.

These will feature some of this continent’s most exciting young period musicians: guest harpsichordist Sara-Anne Churchill and her cohorts Elyssa Lefurgey-Smith, violin, and Justin Haynes, viola da gamba, will present a concert of trio sonatas by Handel and his contemporaries, followed by a recital by award-winning Chicago-based baroque violinist Brandi Berry, in her Toronto debut. Ashiq Aziz, “young firecracker” (Toronto Star), having “enthralled audiences” (Toronto Star) with Handel’s Acis and Galatea at the 2008 Toronto Fringe Festival, will unleash his fiery personality on the CMC as they perform Handel’s Il Delirio Amoroso with Toronto Consort regular, soprano Dawn Bailey, as well as Handel’s exquisite Roman oratorio, La Resurrezione, on period instruments. Joining him will be an excellent young and up-and-coming cast: American sopranos Emily Atkinson and Hannah Dixon, and Canadian singers Daniel Cabena, countertenor, Cory Knight, tenor, and Matthew Cassils, bass-baritone. Peppered throughout will be renowned organist/composer and St. James Cathedral Music Director Andrew Ager’s performances of complementary organ music, on the impressive Cathedral organ.

With an emphasis on fostering new talent, the Classical Music Consort is committed to enlightening audiences and attracting a new generation of Canadians to the resonance and relevance of Baroque and Classical music, through a combination of historically informed interpretation and innovative presentation. Founded in 2006 under the direction of harpsichordist/conductor Ashiq Aziz, the ensemble pursues a variety of projects designed to promote and attract new audiences to its work. These include concert performance, commissioning of new music, and its series of Underground/Opera projects in collaboration with the experimental art/theatre company, Opera Erratica, and its director Patrick Eakin Young. Forthcoming in August is an original Underground/Opera project entitled Orlando/Lunaire, a multimedia video cabaret weaving together movements from Handel’s Orlando with Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire, in an industrial shed in Toronto’s Dufferin Grove neighbourhood. The CMC will follow this with a performance of Rameau’s Pygmalion in December at the COC’s Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre.

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What they are saying:

“Ashiq Aziz, young firecracker...decided to return home from London, England with big ideas and plans to make Baroque and Classical-era music hip to his fellow 20-somethings.”
- John Terauds,
Sound Mind: A Classical Music Blog,
Toronto Star (December 2009)

“[a] wonderful performance…Opera Underground’s ambitious and passionate interpretation is well worth seeing and hearing…Ashiq Aziz draws stylish playing from the small baroque orchestra.”
- Alexander Neef, General Director,
Canadian Opera Company, on COC Blog In his own words (for Dido and Aeneas, 2009)

“There is plenty to praise…the expert and loving account of Henry Purcell’s score, delivered by a small band of period instrumentalists and startlingly good singers….Ashiq Aziz conducted from the harpsichord with innate musicality…It was impossible not to be drawn into this production, which marks a new level of sophistication for Baroque opera in Toronto.”
- Tamara Bernstein,
Globe and Mail (for Dido and Aeneas, August 2009)

“The playing of the CMC under Aziz is wonderfully crisp and taut.”
- Christopher Hoile,
EYE Weekly (for Dido and Aeneas, August 2009)

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Springtime Handel Festival 2010 website

Classical Music Consort website

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Springtime Handel Festival 2010 (Classical Music Consort)

St. James Cathedral
Wed May 05 2010, 7:30pm
Thu May 06 2010, 7:30pm
Fri May 07 2010, 7:30pm
Sat May 08 2010, 7:00pm


Ticket Sales Begin:
Fri Mar 12 2010, 11:00am

Ticket Prices:
adult SAT - $30.00
student SAT - $15.00
senior SAT - $15.00

For More Information:
Visit Event Website
E-mail: N/A
Phone: (416) 978-8849
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Venue information, including seating plans & maps.