Noteworthy

While we’re busy preparing for the explosive opening of our highly anticipated 2023/24 concert season in late September, music lovers in this city certainly don’t have to wait to experience incredible performances by superb artists thanks to Toronto Summer Music (TSM).

Our extraordinary Concertmaster, Jonathan Crow, is also TSM’s Artistic Director—and this is but one of the many ways our two organizations are connected. TSM’s 2023 festival, which is entitled Metamorphosis and is already in full swing, includes programs featuring an abundance of TSO musicians and guest artists.

Here are some of those programs:

• On July 17, at the University of Toronto’s Walter Hall, Jonathan and pianist Philip Chiu will perform Quotations, a program of classic and contemporary works—including one by former TSO RBC Affiliate Composer Kevin Lau—that all contain quotations of Beethoven pieces.
• On July 25, at Koerner Hall, national treasure Angela Hewitt, who has performed regularly with the TSO for more than 40 years, will give a solo piano recital devoted to the music of Bach.
• On July 26, the JUNO Award–winning New Orford String Quartet, of which Jonathan is a founding and current member, will bring the music of Schubert, Bartók, and Kelly-Marie Murphy to Walter Hall in Darkness and Light. The quartet have previous given highly memorable pre-concert performances at our New Creations Festival.
• On July 27, internationally esteemed Canadian soprano Sondra Radvanovsky brings her Carnegie Hall recital program to Koerner Hall, including works by R. Strauss, whose Four Last Songs Ms. Radvanovsky performed with us in 2014.
• On July 28, the festival’s final mainstage concert, also called Metamorphosis, will feature no fewer than 16 brilliant instrumentalists performing pieces by Poulenc, R. Strauss, and Brahms at Walter Hall. Seven of these musicians are TSO members—Principal Oboe Sarah Jeffrey, Principal Clarinet Eric Abramovitz, Associate Principal Viola Rémi Pelletier, Associate Principal Cello Emmanuelle Beaulieu Bergeron, Associate Principal Double Bass Michael Chiarello, Bassoon Samuel Banks, and Horn Gabriel Radford.

And though it has passed, the festival’s Opening Night concert on July 6 featured not only Jonathan Crow and Michael Chiarello, but also beloved Canadian pianist and long-time friend of the TSO Jon Kimura Parker, and astounding Ukrainian pianist Illia Ovcharenko, who will make his TSO début in November, performing Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1.

Learn more about the TSF’s 2023 festival—Metamorphosis.
Explore the TSO’s 2023/24 concert season.