Inspired by the past. Informed by the present...
Baroque chamber music in Toronto and beyond!
Concerts - 2022-23 Season
CROSSING BORDERS
Sun, 26 March 2023, 3:30 PM – 4:30 PM EDT
St. David's Anglican Church - 49 Donlands Avenue Toronto
Travel seemed to be in the blood for a handful of the most celebrated composers of the Baroque era. With Crossing Borders, Rezonance takes you on a musical journey with composers who spent time living abroad—that is, away from their true homelands—who found ways to integrate the regional styles and techniques of the music wherever they went. Though originally German, Handel became so entrenched in England he is often now thought of as having dual citizenship! And did you know Lully was Italian? This concert will include a wide range of such composers including German Georg Muffat, Italians E.F. Dall’Abaco and Francesco Geminiani, Frenchman J-M LeClair, as well as George Frederic Handel. Given so much variety, this will be a fun concert!
Musicians:
Rezan Onen-Lapointe and Kailey Richards, violins
Erika Nielsen, cello
David Podgorski, harpsichord
Benjamin Stein, lute and theorbo
Coming up:
Airs for the Seasons - CD Release Concert!
Sunday, May 7th, 3:30pm
St. David's Anglican Church - 49 Donlands Ave, Toronto
James Oswald wrote 96 "Airs for the Seasons," each named after a flower or plant.
The sonatas of Airs for the Seasons show a composer who delighted in compositional mastery at the miniature level, and each movement is both a technical and aesthetic marvel. Many feature plaintive Scottish melodies or jigs, but one also hears strains of French or Italian music in them. As a precursor to the capital-C Classical period, they represent a clever combination of style-galant chamber music and Scottish air.
Oswald was enough of a London celebrity to be appointed chamber composer to King George III in 1761, by which time he had become a wealthy man on the back of his publishing and composing ventures. His legacy is one of a talented and determined musician who could sate the appetite of a voracious musical public. His music continues to delight centuries later, and a modern listener can appreciate it much the same way Oswald’s contemporaries could. He had a gift for melody and was a classical composer with a distinctly Scottish flair.
Musicians:
Special Guest: Joanna Marsden, traverso
Rezan Onen-Lapointe and Kailey Richards, violins
Erika Nielsen, cello
David Podgorski, harpsichord
Benjamin Stein, lute and theorbo
Support Rezonance
With our 10th anniversary approaching, Rezonance is raising funds to record a full-length album, “Airs for the Seasons.” Funds will be used for all aspects of the recording process, including venue rental, harpsichord moving, audio engineering and mixing, marketing, packaging, and more. Our fundraising goal is $5000, although this only represents a fraction of the cost of making an album. Remaining funds will go to our regular operating costs.
Rezonance has provided beautiful renditions of early music to the community for years. Even throughout the pandemic, we have continued to make music. This could not have been done without YOUR help. As we recover from the pandemic, donations are more important than ever. Please consider offering some of your Black Friday savings in support of early music.
You can donate through CanadaHelps to our general operating costs/current season OR to our exciting upcoming full-length CD.
https://www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/rezonance-baroque-ensemble
Rezonance is now available on EarlyMusic.TV!
You can now rent Un Viaggio Fantastico and The Art of Harmony on The Toronto Consort's new streaming platform EarlyMusic.TV!
We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts
