| Haydn Bicentenary Celebrations |
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| Ashiq Aziz | Cecilia String Quartet | Duke Trio | Adam Sherkin | Windermere String Quartet |
Ashiq Aziz, founder and artistic director of the Classical Music Consort in Toronto, and the Royal College of Music Bach Consort in London, has concentrated his efforts in producing thought-provoking historically-informed performances of music from the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.
Praised for their ‘extraordinary commitment and maturity’ (Montreal Gazette) and ‘talent, passion and mastery’ (Jacques Robert, JR Multimedia), the Cecilia String Quartet is one of Canada’s most exciting emerging ensembles today. 2nd Prizewinners at the 2008 Osaka International Chamber Music Competition and winners of the 2007 Galaxie Rising Stars award in Canada, they are currently recipients of the Joseph Fisch and Joyce Axelrod String Quartet residency at San Diego State University in association with the La Jolla Music Society. Most recently, they received Frist Prize and the Melpomene Prize at the 2008 Rutenberg Competition held at University of South Florida. Also, they are pursuing Artist Diplomas at the Schulich School of Music at McGill University, under the guidance of Andre Roy. They are also pursuing Artist Diplomas at the Schulich School of Music at McGill University, under the guidance of Andre Roy. Since their inception in 2004, the quartet has held residencies at Laurier University, the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, and the University of Toronto where the quartet was formed. Their debut performance at the Arts and Letters Club in Toronto was met with high praise, and their first season culminated in the receipt of the Felix Galimir Award for Chamber Music Excellence after only 6 months as a quartet. Subsequently, they participated in the Juilliard String Quartet Seminar in New York, the Stanford Chamber Music Seminar in California and the Schleswig-Holstein Chamber Music Festival in Germany. One of two quartets invited to attend the 2006 Deer Valley Music Festival’s Emerging Quartets and Composers Program in Utah, the CSQ worked extensively with the Muir Quartet and Joan Tower to premiere Belinda Reynolds’ ‘Static Motion’, a work commissioned for the CSQ by the festival. In summer 2007, the CSQ were fellows at the Aspen Music Festival and School in the prestigious Advanced String Quartet Studies program. The CSQ has performed across North America on series such as the Barrie Colours of Music Festival, the Toronto Music Garden, the Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music Society, Chamber Music Hamilton, the Northern Lights Music Festival in Ajijic, Mexico, and the Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival. They also recently toured Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia with Jeunesses Musicales Canada on their Desjardins Concert Series. This past summer the CSQ was Shouse Artists at the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival in Michigan and the Resident String Quartet at the Austin Chamber Music Festival in Texas. Upcoming highlights include a debut performance for the La Jolla Music Society in California and the third of a three concert appearance on Music Toronto’s Discovery Series. The Cecilia String Quartet takes its name from St. Cecilia, the patron saint of music. They have worked with members of the Juilliard, Emerson, Tokyo, Takacs, St. Lawrence, Ying, American, Penderecki, and Orford Quartets. Members of the CSQ have attended the University of Toronto, the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music, the HARID Conservatory of Music, the New England Conservatory, the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University and the Hochschule fur Musik und Theatre Munchen in Munich, Germany.
The Duke Trio is one of Canada’s most highly sought-after ensembles. Since their debut in Toronto in 1995, the three dynamic artists have performed throughout North America in recitals and radio broadcasts. While each member of the Duke Trio enjoys prominence in his own right, as a group the trio has been hailed for its attention to ensemble-playing detail. The Duke Trio is equally at home performing standard classics, forgotten masterpieces and the premieres of 21st Century groundbreaking works. In addition to the piano trio repertoire, the Dukes regularly collaborate with Canada’s leading artists in the performance of chamber music for larger ensembles.
Pianist and composer Adam Sherkin is a dynamic and versatile musician who commands a multi-dimensional approach to classical performance and composition. Noted for innovative programming and engaging presentation, Adam has worked with chamber ensembles and orchestras both in capacity of player and composer. In Toronto, Adam graduated from the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music. He went on to study at the Royal College of Music in London (UK). Adam’s performing activities in Canada and Britain have taken him to the Glenn Gould Studio, The Toronto Centre for the Performing Arts, the Royal Ontario Museum, the Four Seasons Centre, St Martin-in-the-Fields, Covent Garden (Crush Room), and the Royal Albert Hall. In recent years, Adam’s work as a composer has gained significant attention at concert events and festivals. In March 2006, Suite ‘Midvar’ was commissioned and premiered by saxophonist Amy Dickson at Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall (March 2006). In July of 2007, the King’s Lynn Festival (Norfolk) invited the Contemporary Consort to present a concert spotlighting Adam Sherkin’s music. This performance was given in honour of a summer-long anniversary celebration of Captain George Vancouver’s achievements and his immense contribution to Canada’s settlement. Adam has enjoyed other debuts of his music at St James Piccadilly and the National Portrait Gallery, London. Performances of Adam’s works in Canada have includedthe premiere of Vaettir for string orchestra in August 2007 by the Classical Music Consort under conductor Ashiq Aziz and Quartet No. 1, “Toward a Royal Theme,” premiered in April 2004 by Soundstreams Canada. Terra Incognita (2004), was premiered in April of 2005 by the Royal Conservatory Orchestra in Toronto under the direction of Alain Trudel. Adam is currently artistic director of The Sixth Sphere, a contemporary music series hosted by the Academy of Spherical Arts in Toronto’s Liberty Village.
The Windermere String Quartet was formed in the spring of 2005 to perform the music of Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert and their contemporaries on period instruments. The Quartet is rapidly gathering notice for its dynamic performances and distinctive sound. Violinists Rona Goldensher and Elizabeth Loewen-Andrews, violist Anthony Rapoport, and cellist Laura Jones are well known to audiences as performers with leading period instrument ensembles throughout Canada and the U.S., between them performing with Tafelmusik, Toronto Consort, Aradia, Masques (Montreal) Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra (San Francisco), Aston Magna (New York), and many others. Along with their wealth of experience in Baroque and Classical styles, the members of the Windermere String Quartet have a wide range of musical tastes and have also been acclaimed for their performances with such groups as Sinfonia Toronto and Talisker Players and Klezmer music with the ensemble HuTsaTsa. These eclectic interests bring a freshness and passionate spontaneity to their performances. The Quartet’s own series, the Windermere String Quartet Concert Series, was established to explore the well-known masterworks as well as lesser-known gems of the string quartet repertoire on period instruments. In addition, the series occasionally features newly commissioned works, such as the new works by Canadian composer Alexander Rapoport and William Rowson The series concerts take place in the warm acoustic and intimate atmosphere of St. Olave’s Anglican Church in Toronto’s west end, and have been recorded for broadcast by CBC radio. In addition, the quartet has performed at Toronto’s Academy Concert Series, the Toronto Music Garden, Toronto Early Music Centre’s “Musically Speaking” series, Stratford Chamber Music, and the chamber music festival Music at Port Milford, where they will be returning this summer as resident quartet. The quartet will also be resident quartet this summer at CAMMAC Lake MacDonald where they will be performing with mezzo-soprano Laura Pudwell as guest artist. The Quartet has enjoyed collaborations with clarinetist Nicolai Tarasov, lutenist/ guitarist Lucas Harris and fortepianist Sharon Burlacoff.
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