Music at the MAC
Meridian Arts Centre
George Weston Recital Hall
What Makes It Great?
with Rob Kapilow and the Cheng² Duo
November 10, 2024
Cécile McLorin Salvant
November 30, 2024 The Kingdom Choir
December 1, 2024
About TO Live
TO Live is one of Canada’s largest multi-arts organizations, operating three iconic venues: Meridian Hall, St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts, and Meridian Arts Centre. In addition, TO Live presents a full range of performing arts, theatrical, and concert events at these venues in both downtown and uptown Toronto. With these two hubs of creativity and content creation, TO Live has a unique place and perspective to activate creative spaces by inspiring local and international artists, connecting audiences, stimulating new ideas, and elevating artistic potential, becoming a catalyst for creative expression that is reflective of Toronto’s diversity.
TO Live would like to acknowledge Tkaronto (TKahr-on-dOnH), which is a Mohawk word meaning “the place in the water where the trees are standing.”
We live and work on the traditional territory of Haudenosaunee (HODE-en-ohshow-nee)-speaking nations, including the Wendat, Seneca, and Mohawk. Haudenosaunee-speaking nations have been here since time immemorial, and were more recently joined by the Mississaugas of the Credit.
This place has many Indigenous ports, including where the Humber and Rouge rivers meet other waterways such as Lake Ontario. Ancient longhouses, typical Haudenosaunee housing structures, have been found along both rivers and in the north of Toronto as well (near modern-day York University). This territory is covered by the Dish with One Spoon Wampum Belt Covenant, an agreement between the Haudenosaunee (Six Nations) Confederacy and the Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) and allied nations to peaceably share and care for the lands and the relationships around the Great Lakes.
What this means is that by living and working here, we all have a responsibility to the environment and to each other, to treat each other and the environment with peace and respect. This means we have responsibilities to honour, renew, and consistently uphold the values and relationships outlined in the ancient agreements.
Today, Toronto is home to Indigenous peoples and settlers from around the world. Let us all come together in an atmosphere of respect and peace to do Good Work together with Good Minds. Let’s start building stronger and healthier relationships with each other, and the spaces which we inhabit in Tkaronto, Ontari:io (on-dahr-EE-yo), Kanata (Gan-AH-dah).
Let’s hold our minds together in kindness.
Nia:wen. Thank you.
©Dawn T Maracle
Welcome letter from TO Live
TO Live is proud to present, along with Music Toronto, What Makes It Great? with pianist and composer Rob Kapilow, uncovering the brilliance of Beethoven with the Cheng² Duo (November 10, 2024); three-time winner of the best jazz vocal album Grammy Award and one of the most highly regarded jazz vocalists of her generation, Cécile McLorin Salvant (November 30, 2024); and the triumphant return of The Kingdom Choir (December 1, 2024), the renowned ensemble celebrated for its soulstirring performance of “Stand By Me” at the royal wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, which shot the group to global fame.
Over the past three decades, the George Weston Recital Hall has been a beacon of musical excellence, hosting countless unforgettable performances.
Since its grand opening on November 22, 1993, this architectural gem stands as an “aural marvel” among classical music venues worldwide. Its rectangular shape and meticulously insulated walls ensure an acoustically ideal environment, virtually eliminating any background noise. To further enhance the sound experience, the hall features retractable curtains and panels, allowing for optimal listening conditions in various configurations.
TO Live is immensely proud to celebrate this milestone and the enduring legacy of this remarkable space. As the George Weston Recital Hall enters its fourth decade, it continues to be a cherished destination for music lovers, attracting renowned artists from around the globe.
Clyde Wagner President & CEO TO Live
What Makes It Great?
with Rob Kapilow and Cheng² Duo
November 10, 2024
Program notes
During my freshman year at college, I was fortunate enough to take an inspiring art history course with a wonderful professor named Robert Herbert. Before taking the class, I had enjoyed going to museums, liked certain paintings, didn’t like others, but overall hadn’t given much thought or attention to why. I knew what I liked, and that was enough.
In addition to classroom lectures, every Friday we would go to the Yale Art Gallery and spend an entire session on a single painting. These sessions were a revelation to me. I realized that I had never really looked closely at a painting. I was astonished week after week to realize how much I had completely missed in paintings that I thought I knew. Each week, prodded by the professor’s careful attention, a painting would materialize before my eyes as if for the very first time. The course began to teach me the difference between looking and seeing.
What Makes It Great? began for me with that course. In some ways music poses even more difficulties than art because it refuses to sit still for us. It happens in real time. And in great music, so much goes by—so quickly—that it requires enormous attention to hear it all.
That is what What Makes It Great? is really about: listening. Paying attention. Noticing all the fantastic things that might otherwise go by. When you begin to hear the things that make a piece great, it can spring to life as if you have never heard it before.
During each What Makes It Great? program we take a piece of great music, tear it apart, and put it back together again. We rewrite it, sing it, tap it, clap it: in short, we do everything in our power to get inside to see what makes it tick and what makes it great. Then on the second half of the program we hear the piece performed in its entirety—hopefully with a new pair of ears. If my art history class was about the difference between looking and seeing, What Makes It Great? is about the difference between hearing and listening.
Rob Kapilow
Co-presented with
Photo credit: Peter Schaaf
Photo credit: Kaufman Music
For over 30 years, Rob Kapilow has brought the joy and wonder of classical music to audiences of all ages and backgrounds. Renowned for his ability to create “aha” moments, Kapilow’ s What Makes It Great? presentations, family compositions, Citypieces, corporate programs, and residencies with diverse institutions have made him a beloved figure in the music world. His work reaches a wide range of audiences, from Indigenous tribal communities and inner-city high school students to international listeners in Kyoto, Istanbul, and Kuala Lumpur.
An award-winning author, Kapilow has written three acclaimed books, including All You Have To Do Is Listen and Listening for America, which delve into the intricacies of music and its impact on listeners. His What Makes It Great radio series was broadcast on NPR’s Performance Today for over a decade, and he has appeared on NBC’s Today Show and PBS’s Live From Lincoln Center. His compositions, such as the large-scale choral/ orchestral piece “We Came to America,” have premiered at prestigious venues like the New Jersey Performing Arts Center.
Kapilow has conducted many of North America’s major orchestras and premiered works for musical theatre, including Broadway’s Tony Award-winning Nine. A graduate of Yale University and the Eastman School of Music, he studied under the legendary Nadia Boulanger. Currently residing in River Vale, New Jersey, Kapilow dedicates his summer months to writing and composing new music.
Rooted in a sibling bond that transcends the familial, the Cheng² Duo (pronounced Cheng Squared Duo) captivates audiences with its impassioned expressivity and innovative programming.
Cellist Bryan Cheng and pianist Silvie Cheng, who have been making music together nearly their entire lives, officially formed their duo in 2011. Their performances have received acclaim worldwide, and they have released four critically acclaimed albums. The duo is committed to presenting traditional masterworks, rediscovering neglected repertoire, and championing contemporary music. Proud Canadians, Bryan and Silvie are currently based in Berlin and New York City.
Beethoven - Sonata for Piano and Cello in A Major, Op. 69
Beethoven in 1819, one of the most famous of the handful of authentic surviving portraits of the composer. Artist Joseph Karl Stieler (1781-1858) portrays Beethoven composing the Missa Solemnis, one of many works he dedicated to Rudolph, Archduke of Austria.
Ludwig Van Beethoven born in Bonn, Germany, baptised December 17, 1770; died in Vienna, Austria, March 26, 1827.
Beethoven - Sonata for Piano and Cello in A Major, Op. 69
Allegro ma non tanto Scherzo: Allegro molto Adagio cantabile - Allegro vivace
Beethoven’s five cello sonatas are cornerstones of the repertory, with the A major Sonata sitting in the middle of the collection and coming from the middle period of the composer’s creative life. From the opening, the cello sings a radiant melody, setting the tone for a piece full of intricate interplay between the two instruments. Throughout, each instrument takes the spotlight in turn, their themes dovetailing intricately, with the piano supporting the cello as it soars to a high, eloquent phrase, or with the cello underlining a piano melody. Written around the same time as the Fifth and Sixth symphonies, the vibrant Scherzo shares some of the rhythmic obsessiveness of the Fifth and brings contrast to the sonata’s overall sunny, pastoral mood. The beautiful, tantalisingly brief introduction to the finale, designed to display the cello’s singing tenor voice, is soon overtaken by an exuberant, joyful finale.
Copyright © 2024 Keith Horner. Comments welcomed: khnotes@sympatico.ca.
Photo
What Makes It Great?
with Rob Kapilow and Cheng² Duo
Repertoire
Beethoven - Sonata for Piano and Cello in A Major, Op. 69
Commentator
Rob Kapilow
Performers
Cello Bryan Cheng
Piano Silvie Cheng
Music Toronto Staff
Roman Borys Artistic & Executive Director
Patty Jarvis Director, Community Engagement and Education
Margaret Gay Administrative Associate
Maíri Demings Social Media Associate
Jennifer Taylor Artistic Producer Emerita
Phil Stephens Marketing Consultant
Cécile McLorin Salvant
November 30, 2024
Photo credit: Silvie Cheng
Artist biography
Cécile McLorin Salvant is a composer, singer, and visual artist. The late Jessye Norman described Salvant as “a unique voice supported by an intelligence and fullfledged musicality, which light up every note she sings.”
Salvant is an eclectic curator, unearthing rarely recorded, forgotten songs with strong narratives, interesting power dynamics, unexpected twists, and humour. Salvant won the Thelonious Monk competition in 2010. She has received three consecutive Grammy Awards for best jazz vocal album for The Window, Dreams and Daggers, and For One To Love, and was nominated for the award in 2014 for her album WomanChild.
In 2020, Salvant received the MacArthur fellowship and the Doris Duke Artist Award. Nonesuch Records released Ghost Song in March 2022, which has since gone onto receive two Grammy nominations and appear on a number of year-end best lists for 2022. In March 2023, Nonesuch Records released the highly anticipated followup Mélusine, an album mostly sung in French, along with Occitan, English, and Haitian Kreyòl.
Salvant’s latest work, Ogresse, is a musical fable in the form of a cantata that blends genres (folk, baroque, jazz, and country). Salvant wrote the story, lyrics, and music. It is arranged by Darcy James Argue for a 13-piece orchestra of multi-instrumentalists. Ogresse, both a biomythography and an homage to the Erzulie (as painted by Gerard Fortune) and Sara Baartman, explores fetishism, hunger, diaspora, cycles of appropriation, lies, othering, and ecology. It is in development to become an animated feature-length film, which Salvant will direct.
Vocals
Cécile McLorin Salvant
Piano
Sullivan Fortner
Acoustic bass
Yasushi Nakamura
Drums
Savannah Harris
Please join us in the lobby after the concert for a performance by The Joel Bracken Trio.
The Kingdom Choir
December 1, 2024
Program notes
Having toured a sellout show across 18 cities in the U.K., The Kingdom Choir has performed at British Summer Time with Barbara Streisand; opened a Major League Baseball game, performed headline tours across the U.S. and Australia; headlined at Latitude, Hay Festival, Cornbury Festival, The Piano Guys, and Fez Festival; and this year enjoyed a once-in-a-lifetime performance at The Coronation Prom at the Royal Albert Hall. They will celebrate their 30th anniversary this year with a sold-out Queen Elizabeth Hall show on November 30 and a performance at Trevor Nelson’s Soul Christmas at the Royal Albert Hall on December 18.
The Kingdom’s Choir’s latest release “Be Alright” is a particularly shining example of how The Kingdom Choir takes the stirring heart of the gospel tradition and, with a rich array of modern soul touches, gives us music that’s both timeless and relevant. It follows previous singles, “Let It Rain,” “Not Giving Up,” “Together Again,” and “Real Love” (released in 2020), which was a U.K. summer radio hit, playlisted on Radio 2’s A List.
This year, the choir celebrates 30 years as The Kingdom Choir. The choir was founded in 1994 by award-winning choir conductor Karen Gibson, who has been described as “Britain’s godmother of gospel” by both The Guardian and the BBC, and is recognized throughout the world as one of the best gospel music directors. She was awarded a Member of the British Empire in 2020 for her service to music.
Karen has conducted some of the most prestigious large-scale choirs across the U.K. The high standard of her work has taken her across Europe and further, including to Japan, Rwanda, Nigeria, Guyana, and the U.S. Karen’s choirs are regular finalists or winners of choir competitions, including BBC Songs of Praise’s gospel choir of the year. After 11 years working in IT and a further seven in teaching, the positive impact of gospel music has led to Karen’s current vocation. The Kingdom Choir is one of her many choirs that have spread the joy of the genre.
Following their show-stopping performance of “Stand By Me” at the royal wedding of Harry and Meghan in May 2018, The Kingdom Choir signed a major record deal with Sony Music U.K. The record label beat off stiff competition to sign the highly sought-after collective.
The Kingdom Choir released their debut album Stand By Me in October 2018. The album included the choir’s much-loved rendition of “Stand By Me,” which went straight to number one on the Billboard gospel songs chart and showcased the pure joy and spiritual essence that run through all their performances. Since May 2018, their arrangement of “Stand By Me” has also become a viral internet sensation, receiving over 17 million views on YouTube.
The group of singers from in and around London draws from various Christian traditions and is dedicated to creating a sound that demonstrates their shared community through warm energy and enthusiastic performance. Prior to performing in front of nearly two billion people at the royal wedding, the largest audience The Kingdom Choir had performed for in recent years was just 600 people. Since then, the choir has performed concerts all over the world, including sold-out shows at the Hollywood Bowl, the Royal Albert Hall, the Dubai 2020 Expo (in 2022), and the closing ceremony of the Invictus Games in Sydney.
Performers
Conductor
Karen Gibson
Sopranos
Nicole Di Gioacchino
Lois Graham
Alicia Joyce Saddler
Chekirah Ugoala
Altos
Ruth Ankrah
Abisalaam Balfour
Roberta (Bobbie) Barnor
Daniella Ellington
Tenors/Basses
Gershom Brown
Wayne Hernandez
Joshua Lavaly
Jonathan Owusu-Yianomah
Band
Chris Morris, Drummer/MD
Peter Daley, Keyboards
Program
O Come, O Come Emmanuel
Joy to the World
Brand New Day
Praise Belongs to Our God
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
Together Again
Lovely Day
INTERMISSION
O Come Let Us Adore Him
Go Tell It On The Mountain African Medley
Silent Night/Hark The Herald Angels Sing
Not Giving Up
Stand by Me
This Christmas
We Wish You A Merry Christmas
Please join us in the lobby after the concert for a performance by Quisha Wint.
Upcoming events at Meridian Arts Centre
NOVEMBER
Scott Alan & Friends | Nov 17
Studio Theatre
Cohen & King | Nov 21-23
Harold Green Jewish Theatre
George Weston Recital Hall
High Spirits | Nov 24
Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra
George Weston Recital Hall
Roozbeh Bemani | Nov 29
Lyric Theatre
Cécile McLorin Salvant | Nov 30
TO Live Presents
George Weston Recital Hall
DECEMBER
The Kingdom Choir | Dec 1
TO Live Presents
George Weston Recital Hall
Words & Music: Stephen & Ben Page | Dec 1
Harold Green Jewish Theatre
Greenwin Theatre
An Evening with Kodi Lee | Dec 5
George Weston Recital Hall
DECEMBER
Shahyad Live in Concert | Dec 7
Lyric Theatre
Holiday Serenade | Dec 7
Amadeus Choir & Hannaford Street
Silver Band
George Weston Recital Hall
Timeless Traditions | Dec 8
Orchestra Toronto
George Weston Recital Hall
Songs of Hope | Dec 14
George Weston Recital Hall
Final Fantasy Piano Concert | Dec 19
George Weston Recital Hall
JANUARY
Dvorak’s New World | Jan 12, 2025
Toronto Symphony Orchestra
Lyric Theatre
Duck Pond | Jan 30 - Feb 1, 2025
TO Live Presents
Lyric Theatre
*Information as of November 1, 2024
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TO Live staff and board list as of October 2024. For the updated version, please visit tolive.com.
The TO Live Foundation is committed to creating a future where art engages and inspires all Torontonians. A future where all the creative voices of our diverse communities are heard and celebrated. A future where artists have the support they need to experiment and grow.
Visit tolivefoundation.com to learn more about how our Foundation is committed to building a better city through the arts.