Adults $30.00
Youth $15.00
Gabriel Fauré: Requiem
Morten Lauridsen: Lux Aeterna
Saturday, April 22, 2023, 7:30pm
Knox Presbyterian Church
630 Spadina Ave., Toronto
The subtlety of Fauré’s music, and his concentration on the small-scale, led many to criticize him for lacking depth, a judgement based on the mistaken premise that the bigger and bolder a composer’s music the more worthwhile it must be.
Fauré included two new sections, the lyrical Pie Jesu and the transcendent In Paradisum, with its soaring vocal line and murmuring harp accompaniment. He also omitted the Dies Irae and Tuba Mirum – for most composers, including Mozart’s well known ‘Requiem’, an opportunity to exploit to the full the dramatic possibilities of all the available choral and orchestral forces. Consequently the prevailing mood is one of peacefulness and serenity. The bass/baritone soloist for this performance is Ryan Hofman.
Lauridsen composed the requiem Lux Aeterna in 1997, the year his mother died. She was the “muse” who introduced him to music, playing swing jazz and singing to him as a toddler. She also taught him to play the piano. The consolation for grief offered by Lauridsen’s Lux Aeterna is often compared to that of Fauré’s Requiem. These works also have in common a deceptive simplicity, yet their capacity to touch the listener reveals mastery at expressing through music the depth of human emotion.
Soprano
Baritone
Organist
Adults $30.00
Youth $15.00
Vivaldi & The Italian Baroque
Sunday, February 26, 2023, 2:00pm
Beaches Presbyterian Church,
65 Glen Manor Dr., Toronto
GF Handel – Sinfonia ‘The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba’
G Pergolesi – Magnificat Bflat Major
G F Handel – Quel fior HWV 192
A Vivaldi – Dixit Dominius RV 595
A Vivaldi – Gloria D Major RV 589
This afternoon’s performance includes the music of some of the greatest composers of Baroque music.
Respected music historian and author, H.C. Robbins Landon, titled his book on this composer ‘Vivaldi: Voice of the Baroque’. His music was so influential and widely known that even J.S. Bach rearranged Vivaldi’s music for various instruments, including organ.
G. Pergolesi is considered one of the greatest Italian musicians of the first half of the 18th century. Despite his short life and few years of activity he managed to create works of high artistic value and historical importance.
The Magnificat in B-flat Major combines a joyful sense of buoyancy with sumptuous melodic lines in a similar manner to Vivaldi’s Gloria.
The Dixit Dominus and Magnificat have recently come under the scrutiny of musical historians with regards to whether who was the actual composer. However, they endure because of the music itself.
Adults $30.00
Youth $15.00
GF Handel: Messiah
Sunday, December 11, 2022, 7:30pm
Kingston Road United Church, Toronto
The Messiah has awed and inspired listeners since its first performance in Dublin, 1742. The music itself is a soundscape of breathtaking majesty, contrasted with touching intimacy and pathos. Even history claims that at its London premiere, King George II was compelled to rise to his feet during the Hallelujah Chorus.
Toronto Beach Chorale welcomes professional soloists and chamber orchestra for the performance of this iconic and familiar oratorio.
