Hayden Bicentenary Celebrations: Classical Music Consort

HANOVER SQUARE ROOMS, LONDON (1791-1795):

HAYDN BICENTENARY CELEBRATIONS

A Series of Nine Concerts Beginning Sunday, January 25

As 2009 marks the 200^th anniversary of Joseph Haydn’Äôs death, Toronto’Äôs Classical Music Consort presents a truly unique and special series of concerts dedicated to the work of one of the greatest composers to have ever lived. To launch this impressive series of nine events, the Classical Music Consort performs Haydn’Äôs London Symphonies Nos. 93, 95 and 96 on Sunday, January 25 at Trinity College Chapel. ’ÄúF. J. Haydn is one of the greatest composers to have ever lived. With this endeavour, the CMC wishes to highlight the diversity of Haydn’Äôs output during one of the most joyous and productive periods of his life’Äù, explains Ashiq Aziz, founder/artistic director of the CMC.

Haydn’Äôs two visits to London between 1791 and 1795 witnessed the composition of some of his finest works for orchestra, chamber ensemble, and solo piano, serving as the culmination of the eighteenth century aesthetic, as well as the foundation upon which the music of later periods rested. This concert series features some of Canada’Äôs finest young and established artists (on period as well as on modern instruments), and brings to light the whole range of Haydn’Äôs output during the exciting and fruitful time of his London period.

Highlights include performances of Haydn’Äôs London Symphonies (all twelve symphonies to be presented in four different concerts); art songs performed by baritone Giles Tomkins; chamber music for strings including the famous Salomon string quartets, delivered by Toronto’Äôs Windermere String Quartet and Cecilia String Quartet; Adam Sherkin playing the London piano sonatas; and the Gypsy Trio played by the Duke Trio. See details & ticket information below.

The Classical Music Consort is an enterprising young company, founded and lead by artistic director Ashiq Aziz (who recently returned to Toronto after studying music in England). Establishing the foundations of an accomplished repertoire while aiming to attract a new generation to the resonance and relevance of classical music, the CMC rose to public attention as it presented Handel’Äôs opera, Acis and Galatea as part of the 2008 Toronto Fringe Festival, also garnering praises from the media: 'Ashiq Aziz gets gorgeous sounds from his original-instrument playing orchestra and fine crop of singers' (NOW Toronto); 'The lively work is beautifully played and sung.' (Eye Weekly); '’Ķthe whole is so sincerely presented that it is pretty much guaranteed to win your heart.' (Toronto Star). Visit www.classicalmusicconsort.org for details.

The Classical Music Consort presents Haydn’Äôs London Symphonies Nos. 93, 95 and 96

Trinity College Chapel

6 Hoskin Ave.: subway to Museum; between Queen's Park Crescent & St. George St.

Sunday, January 25, 2009 at 7:30PM

For tickets (adult/$30; student/$15; senior/$15) please visit: http://www.uofttix.ca/view.php?id=441

HAYDN LONDON SYMPHONIES (4 concerts)

Classical Music Consort; Ashiq Aziz, Conductor

Sunday, January 25, 2009 at 7:30pm - Nos. 93, 95, 96

Trinity College Chapel: 6 Hoskin Avenue

Saturday, February 28, 2009 at 7:30pm - Nos. 94, 98, 97

Knox College Chapel: 59 St. George Street, on East side, just North of College Street

Sunday, September 19, 2009 at 7:30pm - Nos. 99, 100, 101

Trinity College Chapel: 6 Hoskin Avenue

Friday, October 9, 2009 at 7:30pm - Nos. 102, 103, 104

Trinity College Chapel: 6 Hoskin Avenue

Here, the CMC presents a complete cycle of Haydn’Äôs London Symphonies, the twelve symphonies that Haydn wrote specifically for performance in London between 1791 and 1795. These landmark works contain some of the most ravishing of Haydn’Äôs music for orchestra, and were immediately embraced by audiences in London, and continue to enchant listeners today. A clear progression of style and technique is observable through the cycle, and so the CMC will be presenting these works in the order as they were first performed. However, each symphony in the set is a masterpiece in itself, representing the height of Haydn’Äôs compositional skill and classical refinement.

HAYDN LONDON SONATAS

Adam Sherkin, piano

Thursday 22 April 2009 at 7:30pm

Heliconian Hall: 35 Hazelton Ave. (at Yorkville)

A testament to Haydn's cultivation of music for the keyboard, the near sixty sonatas he composed over his lifetime illustrate the evolution of some of the most significant compositional techniques of eighteenth century Western music. Among the finest of these are the last three piano sonatas, Hob. XVI/Nos. 50, 51 and 52, truly the apex of Haydn's solo keyboard output. Adam Sherkin presents a programme highlighting these riveting masterpieces, each a dazzling soundworld unto themselves. Complementing the sonatas are shorter works by four other composers: Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, George Benjamin and Adam Sherkin himself. These 20^th and 21^st century 'homages' explore the nature of Haydn's musical legacy, in a sense suggesting an interpretive context for his art in a contemporary listening climate

Programme:

Benjamin: Meditation on Haydn’Äôs Name (1982)

Haydn: Sonata in C, Hob. Xvi/50

Debussy: Hommage ˆÝ Haydn (1909)

Ravel : Menuet sur le nom de Haydn (1909)

Haydn: Sonata in D, Hob. Xvi/51

Sherkin: World Premiere Tba (2008)

Haydn: Sonata in E-Flat, Hob. Xvi/52

HAYDN GYPSY TRIO

Duke Trio (Mark Fewer, violin; Thomas Wiebe, cello; Peter Longworth, piano)

Thursday 14 May 2009 at 7:30pm

Heliconian Hall: 35 Hazelton Ave. (at Yorkville)

Of the forty piano trios that Haydn composed in his lifetime, perhaps the most famous of these is his Trio in G major, ’ÄòGypsy’Äô, presented here by the Duke Trio. Known for the frequent use of Eastern European folk melodies in his music (as a result of his role as court composer to Prince

Esterhazy in present-day Hungary), the final movement of Haydn’Äôs Gypsy Trio recalls the recruiting dances of gypsy bands employed by Austrian officials to compel peasants in the fields to join the army. Haydn’Äôs trios as a whole spawned a rich literature of such music, inspiring all of the great composers after him to write some of their most intimate and expressive work for this genre. Included in this performance are also three lesser known works for piano trio, by composers Carl Frˆºhling, Paul Schoenfield, and Arno Babadjanian.

Programme:

Haydn: Trio No. 39 in G, ’ÄòGypsy’Äô

Frˆºhling: Trio, Op. 32

Babadjanian: Trio (1952)

Schoenfield: Cafe Music (1986)

HAYDN SALOMON QUARTETS (2 concerts)

Windermere Quartet (Rona Goldensher, violin; Elizabeth Andrews, violin; Anthony Rapaport, viola; Laura Jones, cello)

Thursday, September 10, 2009 at 7:30pm

Trinity College Chapel: 6 Hoskin Avenue

Programme:

Haydn: String Quartets, Op. 71 Nos. 1-3

Rowsom: new work tba (2009)

Cecilia String Quartet (Min-Jeong Koh, violin; Sarah Nematallah, violin; Caitlin Boyle, viola; Rebecca Wenham, cello)

Friday, October 7, 2009 at 7:30pm

Trinity College Chapel: 6 Hoskin Avenue

Programme:

Haydn: String Quartets, Op. 74 Nos. 1-3

Written in Austria in 1793, Haydn’Äôs op. 71 and 74 ’ÄòSalomon’Äô quartets occupy a seminal place in the history of the repertoire, as the first works of this genre to be composed specifically for the concert hall. They first appeared in performance at a series of concerts at the Hanover Square Rooms in London between 1794 and 1795, for the benefit of the great violinist and impresario J. P. Salomon, responsible for bringing Haydn to London in 1791.

These works reflect the virtuosity and high level of technique for which Salomon’Äôs playing was known, significant in providing inspiration for Haydn in his compositional process. Presented in their entirety by the Windermere and Cecilia String Quartets, along with these important pieces is a new work for string quartet written by Canadian composer Bill Rowsom, in commemoration of the two hundredth anniversary of Haydn’Äôs death.

HAYDN SONGS

Giles Tomkins, bass-baritone

Kate Tremills, piano

Friday, September 25, 2009 at 7:30pm

Heliconian Hall: 35 Hazelton Ave. (at Yorkville)

Programme:

Haydn: Scottish Songs (selections)

Beethoven: An Die Ferne Geliebte, Op. 94

Schubert: Schwanengesang, Op. posth. d 957

The rich classicism imbued in the works of Haydn's London period is not only found in his symphonies, piano works, and chamber music. It is also a feature of his more than four hundred Scottish songs, the texts of which were chosen by the Edinburgh publisher, George Thomson, who also commissioned the pieces. The end of the eighteenth century in Europe was a period of great interest in the preservation of the folksong tradition, and to this effect, Thomson was interested in examining the Scottish contribution, and raising the level of its artistry by commissioning composers such as Haydn, Hummel, and Beethoven, to write arrangements of the songs that formed a part of this tradition. Giles Tomkins and Kate Tremills will be performing a selection of Haydn’Äôs arrangements of these songs, as well as two masterpieces of the Lied repertoire, illustrating the directional change in the art song with the advent of the nineteenth century.

TICKET INFORMATION

Single tickets: $35/$25 (adult/senior-student)

At the door, or by telephone: 416-978-8849

Online: www.uofttix.ca

In person: at UofTtix box office, Hart House, 7 Hart House Circle,

University of Toronto, Toronto ON

Children go free! Children under 14 are eligible for a free ticket when accompanied by an adult (One free under 14 ticket per adult, subject to availability.)

Group bookings: The CMC offers a generous 20% discount for groups of 10 or more. For further information or to make a group booking, please call UofTtix at 416-978-8849. Group bookings are subject to availability.

Multi-save offers/Contact the box office for further package information:

Book all nine series concerts: save 20%

Book all four symphony concerts: save 10%

Book all five chamber concerts: save 10%

Winter-Spring concert package: save 10%

Autumn concert package: save 10%

Access: Patrons should note there is no step-free access to Knox College Chapel, Heliconian Hall, or Trinity College Chapel

VENUE INFORMATION AND DIRECTIONS:

¬… Heliconian Hall: 35 Hazelton Ave., Toronto (subway to Bay station; north of Bloor St., east of University Ave.)

¬… Knox College Chapel: 59 St. George St., Toronto (subway to Queen's Park; just north of College St., east side of St. George St.)

¬… Trinity College Chapel: 6 Hoskin Ave., Toronto (subway to Museum; between Queen's Park Crescent and St. George St.)