OUNDJIAN CONDUCTS VAUGHAN WILLIAMS
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872–1858)
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CONCERT PROGRAM
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Adapt. by Ralph GreavesFantasia on “Greensleeves”
Concerto in A Minor for Oboe and String OrchestraI. Rondo Pastorale: Allegro moderatoII. Minuet and Musette: Allegro moderatoIII. Finale (Scherzo): Presto
Serenade to Music
Intermission
Flos Campi (Flower of the Field) for Viola, Chamber Choir, and Chamber OrchestraI. Lento: As the lily among thorns... –II. Andante con moto: For lo, the winter is past –III. Lento: I sought him whom my soul loveth... –IV. Moderato alla marcia: Behold Solomon’s bed... –V. Andante quasi lento: Return, return O Shulamite! –VI. Moderato tranquillo: Set me as a seal upon thine heart
Piano Concerto in CI. Toccata: Allegro moderato –II. Romanza: Lento – III. Fuga chromatica con Finale alla Tedesca
Overture to The Wasps
These performances will be recorded live for Chandos Records.
Wednesday, November 15, 2017
8:00pm
Thursday, November 16, 2017
2:00pm
Peter Oundjianconductor
Louis Lortiepiano
Sarah Jeffreyoboe
Teng Liviola
Carla Huhtanensoprano
Emily D’Angelomezzo-soprano
Lawrence Wilifordtenor
Tyler Duncanbaritone
Elmer Iseler SingersLydia Adams Conductor & Artistic Director
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Peter OundjianMusic Director
Ralph Vaughan Williams was possibly England’s most significant composer, and he is a personal favourite of mine. This concert presents some of his finest works, featuring soloists from the Orchestra as well as some of Canada's most notable solo artists, and the Elmer Iseler Singers. The Fantasia on “Greensleeves” is so well known, it needs no introduction. The lyrical and engaging Oboe Concerto is rarely heard, but it is one of his most inspired works. Serenade to Music showcases his exquisite vocal writing, which also figures prominently in the ravishingly beautiful Flos Campi, so surprisingly scored for solo viola, choir, and chamber orchestra. The Piano Concerto is more dramatic, with a juggernaut opening and a brilliant fugal finale, while the Overture to The Wasps is scintillating and exciting.
NOV 15 PERFORMANCE SPONSOR
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THE DETAILS
Ralph Vaughan WilliamsBorn: Down Ampney, United Kingdom, Oct 12, 1872Died: London, United Kingdom, Aug 26, 1958
Ralph Vaughan Williams is best known
internationally for his compositions that
reflect the musical traditions of his native
country. Yet, there is far more to him than
that. “The extensive list of works (orchestral,
choral, ballet, opera, incidental music for
theatre and film) shows different levels of
composition, from the simplest occasional
pieces to the most visionary personal
expressions,” says the authoritative New
Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.
For every sweet, gentle piece such as
The Lark Ascending and the Fantasia on
“Greensleeves”, he created, with equal skill,
such rigorous, almost brutal works as the
fourth and sixth of his nine symphonies.
His finest creations are worthy to stand
alongside those of such contemporaries as
Sergei Prokofiev and Paul Hindemith.
Offspring of a wealthy family that included
the Darwins and the Wedgwoods, his
career path as a composer proved a bumpy
one until his discovery of England’s folk and
Tudor-era music ignited his creativity. For
all his fame, he kept both feet firmly on the
ground. “He never forgot that music was for
people; he was interested in every situation,
however humble, for which music was
needed,” says The New Grove. He engaged
in a wide variety of musical activities:
composing for school orchestras, collecting
and arranging folk songs, conducting,
editing, writing. By all accounts, he was a
kind, warm-hearted person—“Uncle Ralph”
to everyone who knew him.
In 1912, Vaughan Williams gained his first
theatrical experience through serving as
musical director for producer and actor Sir
Francis Benson’s season of Shakespeare plays
at Stratford-upon-Avon. The playbill included
The Merry Wives of Windsor. Shakespeare
twice mentions the haunting English folk-
tune “Greensleeves” in the text so taking these
references as his cue, Vaughan Williams used the
tune as the basis for an instrumental interlude in
his score for The Merry Wives.
The antics of Falstaff and the merry wives
captivated him, and more than a decade later,
he gave their story the full operatic treatment in
Sir John in Love (1928), with the text prepared
by himself and drawn almost entirely from The
Merry Wives. This time, Vaughan Williams chose
to have “Greensleeves” both sung and played
instrumentally. In the first scene of Act III, Mrs.
Ford lies on a couch, takes up her lute and sings
the song. The tune reappears as an instrumental
interlude between the scenes of Act IV. “Lovely
Joan”, another folk-tune that Vaughan Williams
had collected himself in Norfolk in 1908, appears
in Act II, sung by Mrs. Quickly as she enters from
offstage. Ralph Greaves used these instrumental
materials, placing “Lovely Joan” at the centre, as
the basis for the Fantasia you will hear at these
concerts.
Program note by Don Anderson
Fantasia on “Greensleeves”Composed: 1928; adapt. Ralph Greaves, 1934
4min
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This concerto was commissioned and premièred
by the internationally celebrated British oboist,
Léon Goossens (1897–1988). Several other
distinguished British composers wrote music
expressly for him, including Elgar, Bax, Howells,
Arnold, Bliss, and Britten.
Vaughan Williams composed the Oboe
Concerto directly after the Fifth Symphony.
The première was scheduled for a Henry
Wood Promenade Concert in London on July
5, 1944, but the continuing threat of missile
attacks, launched from Nazi Germany, resulted
in it being postponed and relocated. The
first performance took place in Liverpool on
September 30. Goossens was the soloist and Sir
Malcolm Sargent conducted the Royal Liverpool
Philharmonic Orchestra.
The gentleness that is the concerto’s most
prominent characteristic gives no hint of the
turbulent background to its creation. “There is
rarely any hint of forcefulness,” author James
Day has written, “for most of the work is a
kind of mezzo-voce murmur. The orchestra
is kept firmly on the leash; for the most part it
tends to nod sagely in agreement every time
the soloist says anything particularly wise. This
happy give-and-take sets the tone for a genial
little work, full of felicitous touches of scoring
and poetry.” It includes material for a scherzo
that the composer had discarded from the
Fifth Symphony. The soloist has only limited
“breathing room”, Vaughan Williams calling upon
her/him to play almost continually from first bar
to last.
The opening movement, “Rondo Pastorale”,
communicates equal parts warmth, whimsy, and
wistfulness, with the soloist floating and soaring
eloquently over a warm field of strings. The
movement ends in quiet satisfaction. Minuet and
Musette, the brief, sprightly second movement,
evokes the music of the 18th century, but its
personality lies closer to a rural landscape than
the ballroom.
The finale, the longest movement, demands
considerable virtuosity from the soloist for
the first time in the concerto. It is a scherzo
with two trios—the first waltz-like and the
second more reflective. “The two-part coda
is more impassioned,” author Malcolm Walker
has written, “and recalls themes from earlier
movements, before the oboe scampers away
with interjections from the strings, finally coming
to rest on a pianissimo high D.”
Program note by Don Anderson
Concerto in A Minor for Oboe and String OrchestraComposed: 1944
19min
MAKE THE PART “OBOISTIC”Vaughan Williams
dedicated his
concerto to Léon Goosens, who
was responsible
for some editorial
changes to the oboe
part. In a letter from
composer to oboist:
“I hear from the BBC
that they have asked you to play my new
concerto at the Proms. I need hardly say I
am pleased at the prospect, if you are also
pleased—but you had better see it before
you make up your mind! [...] I shall welcome
suggestions from you as to making the part
more “oboistic".
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THE DETAILS
Vaughan Williams composed this exquisite
work at the request of the esteemed British
conductor, Sir Henry Wood (1869–1944), to be
premièred at a concert marking Wood’s 50th
anniversary on the podium. He replied with
the Serenade to Music, and dedicated it to Sir
Henry, “in grateful recognition of his services
to music.” He tailored the serenade to specific
vocalists, all of whom had worked with Wood
and were delighted and honoured to salute
him. Wood conducted the première at the
Royal Albert Hall, London, on October 5, 1938.
The original text, which Vaughan Williams
adapted, comes from Act V, Scene 1, of
Shakespeare’s play The Merchant of Venice.
The scene is a starlit garden, where the lovers
Jessica and Lorenzo discuss music’s power
to soothe the soul. During the scene, they
are themselves serenaded by musicians.
Musicologist Frank Howes has written of
this score, “When Shakespeare spoke of
music in this passage he did what is virtually
impossible—he fixed in words all the heart-
easing qualities of the most volatile of the
arts. Vaughan Williams has made a further
distillation and presents us with the essence of
music in music.”
Program note by Don Anderson
Serenade to MusicComposed: 1938
14min
Text
How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank!Here will we sit and let the sounds of musicCreep in our ears: soft stillness and the nightBecome the touches of sweet harmony.Look how the floor of heavenIs thick inlaid with patines of bright gold:There’s not the smallest orb that thou behold’stBut in his motion like an angel sings,Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubins;Such harmony is in immortal souls;But whilst this muddy vesture of decayDoth grossly close it in, we cannot hear it.Come, ho! and wake Diana with a hymn!With sweetest touches pierce your mistress’ ear,And draw her home with music.I am never merry when I hear sweet music.The reason is, your spirits are attentive—The man that hath no music in himself,Nor is not mov’d with concord of sweet sounds,Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils;The motions of his spirit are dull as nightAnd his affections dark as Erebus:Let no such man be trusted. Music! hark!It is your music of the house.Methinks it sounds much sweeter than by day.Silence bestows that virtue on itHow many things by season season’d areTo their right praise and true perfection!Peace, ho! the moon sleeps with EndymionAnd would not be awak’d. Soft stillness and the nightBecome the touches of sweet harmony.
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Vaughan Williams called this enigmatic, unusual
work a “suite for solo viola, mixed chorus, and small
orchestra,” though as author Simon Mundy has
written, “it is more like an essay or a symphonic
poem.” The fact that its six sections are performed as a
continuous whole further reinforces this point of view.
“[I]n Flos campi, words were the starting point,
episodes from the (Old Testament) Song of Solomon,”
his second wife, Ursula, wrote. “The viola with its
capability of warmth and its glowing quality was the
instrument he knew best, and he used it fully in the six
sections that explore the sorrows, glories, splendours,
and joys of the Shulamite (the female protagonist in
the Song), the King, and the shepherd lover.”
The printed score includes six verses, one per
movement, drawn from the Song of Songs and set
in Latin (the English translation is provided in the
column to the right). They may be taken as hints
toward what Vaughan Williams wished to portray in
the music. Yet he did not call upon the chorus to sing
these or any other texts, but to use their wordless
voices as one the piece’s numerous components.
The première took place in London on October 10,
1925. Sir Henry Wood conducted, leading the Queen’s
Hall Orchestra, viola soloist Lionel Tertis (to whom
the piece is dedicated), and singers from the Royal
College of Music. So individual a piece bewildered the
public and critics alike. Perhaps their non-acceptance
lay partly with the use of a wordless chorus, a practice
that had gained acceptance in continental Europe
(Ravel’s ballet Daphnis et Chloé, for example) but
not in England. In a more recent assessment, author
Michael Kennedy regarded this piece as “the most
sensuous [the composer] ever wrote.”
Program note by Don Anderson
Flos Campi (Flower of the Field) for Viola, Chamber Choir, and Chamber OrchestraComposed: 1925
17min
I. Lento: As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters...Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples; for I am sick with love.
II. Andante con moto: For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone, the flowers appear on the earth, the time of pruning has come, and the voice of the turtle dove is heard in our land.
III. Lento: I sought him whom my soul loveth, but I found him not...'I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him I am sick with love'...Whither is thy beloved gone, O thou fairest among women? Whither is thy beloved turned aside? that we may seek him with thee.
IV: Moderato alla marcia: Behold his bed [palanquin], which is Solomon’s, three score valiant men are about it...They all hold swords, being expert in war.
V. Andante quasi lento: Return, return, O Shulamite! Return, return, that we may look upon thee...How beautiful are thy feet with shoes, O Prince's daughter.
VI. Moderato tranquillo: Set me as a seal upon thine heart.
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THE DETAILS
Vaughan Williams composed the first two
movements of a piano concerto in 1926, but five
years passed before he produced a finale that
satisfied him. The first performance took place
on February 1, 1933, with Harriet Cohen as the
soloist and Adrian Boult conducting the BBC
Symphony Orchestra.
The concerto met a largely hostile reception.
Seeking to address what some listeners
considered the enormous difficulty of the piano
writing, and problems with balancing the piano
and the quite substantial orchestra he called for,
in 1946 Vaughan Williams, with the collaboration
of pianist Joseph Cooper, produced a version
with two solo pianos. He also took the
opportunity to revise the concerto in several
other respects. At this concert, you will hear the
original version for one solo piano.
In the toughness that pervades the outer
movements, the concerto resembles the brutally
dramatic Fourth Symphony, which Vaughan
Williams composed shortly afterwards. The
percussive piano writing in those same sections
calls to mind the music that Béla Bartók (who
expressed his admiration for the concerto),
Sergei Prokofiev, Paul Hindemith, and Igor
Stravinsky were producing at that time. Another
influence was the music of Johann Sebastian
Bach, a composer whom Vaughan Williams
esteemed highly. Its “modernity” has made it
more popular internationally than in England.
The three movements of the concerto are
performed as a continuous whole. The first
is a brisk, powerful toccata, laced with bold,
bracing humour. A solo cadenza provides a link
with the second movement, a lovely Romanza.
The piano writing is more conventional here,
and shows the influence of French composers
such as Claude Debussy. Flute, oboe, and horn
take centre stage in the orchestra, delicately
supporting the soloist.
The last movement begins abruptly and
reignites the drive of the first movement. It has
two sections: Chromatic Fugue, and Finale in
German Style. The pianist introduces the subject
of the fugue. The music plunges forward with
great energy and builds to a massive orchestral
climax. The concluding German waltz emerges
from a bold cadenza for the piano. Based on the
same theme as the fugue, it swirls and dances in
hearty fashion.
Program note by Don Anderson
Piano Concerto in CComposed: 1926–1931
17min
AN ENTHUSIASM FOR BACHEnglish pianist
Harriet Cohen (1895–1967) garnered a
reputation as an
advocate of early
keyboard music,
especially of Johann
Sebastian Bach, as
well as of modern
English composers. It may not be surprising
then, that Vaughan Williams dedicated his
Piano Concerto to her, for the original work
emerged during a period in which he was
preoccupied with Bach’s music. According
to one biographer, “while he wrote this
concerto, he had the Busoni transcriptions
of Bach very much in mind for that was the
way he wanted to write for the piano.”
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In 1909, the Greek Play Committee of
Cambridge University’s Trinity College chose
for its annual undergraduate production The
Wasps, a satirical stage work by one of the most
highly esteemed playwrights of classical Greece,
Aristophanes. Premièred in Athens in 422 BC,
the play is a pointed satire of the city’s legal
system, especially the citizens’ great love of filing
law suits against each other, and the officials
who rendered judgments in those proceedings.
These judges were the “wasps” of the title. They
frequently took far longer to render their verdicts
than necessary, due to the fact that the longer
they deliberated, the more they were paid!
Vaughan Williams was invited to compose
incidental music to accompany the Cambridge
production. It proved to be his first significant
theatre score, predated only by Pan’s
Anniversary, which he scrapped, and succeeded
by several others, including a handful of plays
by Shakespeare.
His extensive score for The Wasps lasted about
an hour and 45 minutes and required tenor
and baritone soloists, a male chorus, and
orchestra. Orchestral selections included an
overture, entr’actes, and ballet music. In 1912,
he prepared a five-movement concert suite for
orchestra alone.
The Overture is regularly performed on its
own. It is a potpourri of attractive melodies,
humorous and lyrical by turns, set in a polished
orchestral style that shows the influence of his
recent studies with Maurice Ravel. Aside from
a bit of buzzing at the start, it is not directly
descriptive, and Vaughan Williams made no
attempt to recreate the atmosphere of ancient
Greece. What he did succeed in doing was to
give his audience appropriately light-hearted
music to launch or conclude an orchestral
concert.
Author James Day wrote that it is “based for the
most part on ‘folky’ material, with themes which
hop about in which (musicologist Sir Donald)
Tovey aptly described as ‘rowdy counterpoint’,
worked out in simple sonata form and scored
for a modest orchestra.” In a performance of the
full play, the warm theme heard in the central
section of the Overture was associated with the
reconciliation between the character Anticleon
and his father, Procleon.
Program note by Don Anderson
Overture to The WaspsComposed: 1909
9min
The leader of the chorus of wasps, as performed by R.W. Pole, of the 1909 Trinity College Greek Play Committee production of The Wasps for which Vaughan Williams provided the music.
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THE ARTISTSLouis LortiepianoLouis Lortie made his TSO début in January 1978.
The highly-esteemed French-Canadian pianist Louis Lortie
has extended his interpretative voice across a broad range
of repertoire rather than choosing to specialize in one
particular style. The Times of London has identified the artist’s
“combination of total spontaneity and meditated ripeness that
only great pianists have.” Upcoming engagements include The Philadelphia Orchestra,
Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, OSESP Sao Paulo, Berlin Philharmonic, Adelaide
Symphony Orchestra, and WASO Perth. Louis Lortie is Artist in Residence of the Shanghai
Symphony Orchestra for the 2017/18 season, and was recently named the new Master in
Residence at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel of Brussels.
He has made more than 45 recordings for the Chandos label, covering repertoire
from Mozart to Stravinsky and Lutosławski, including a set of the complete Beethoven
sonatas and the complete Liszt Années de pèlerinage, named one of the 10 best
recordings of 2012 by The New Yorker magazine. He is recording all of Chopin’s solo
piano music for Chandos. Recent releases include the complete Chopin Waltzes;
Saint-Saëns’s Africa, Wedding Cake, and Carnival of the Animals with Neemi Järvi and
the Bergen Philharmonic; and Rachmaninoff’s complete works for two pianos with
Hélène Mercier.
Louis Lortie studied in Montreal with Yvonne Hubert, in Vienna with Dieter Weber, and
subsequently with Leon Fleisher. In 1984, he won First Prize in the Busoni Competition
and was also a prizewinner in the Leeds Competition. He has lived in Berlin since 1997
and also has homes in Canada and Italy.
Sarah JeffreyoboeTSO Principal Oboe Sarah Jeffrey joined the TSO in 2005.
Hailed by critics for her “exquisite solo work” (The Globe
and Mail), “luscious tone” (Toronto Star), and her sensitive
musicianship, Sarah Jeffrey is Principal Oboe of the Toronto
Symphony Orchestra. A regular soloist with the TSO, Sarah
has also appeared as soloist with numerous orchestras across
Canada, performing works by Bach, Mozart, Vaughan Williams, Marcello, Haydn, and
Mozetich. She is also an active recitalist and chamber musician, making frequent guest
appearances with the Amici Chamber Ensemble, the ARC Ensemble, and Trio Arkel.
For a biography of Peter Oundjian,
please turn to page 9.
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Teng LiviolaTSO Principal Viola Teng Li joined the TSO in 2004.
Since joining the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in 2004, Teng
Li has established herself as a diverse and dynamic performer
internationally. Along with her TSO solo appearances, she
has performed with the Curtis Symphony Orchestra, Munich
Chamber Orchestra, Shanghai Opera Orchestra, Canadian
Sinfonietta, and the Esprit Orchestra, among many others. Her performances have been
broadcast on CBC Radio 2, Toronto’s Classical 96.3FM, National Public Radio, WQXR
(New York), WHYY (Pennsylvania), WFMT (Chicago), and Bavarian Radio (Munich). Her
début album, entitled 1939, was released in June 2015 to great acclaim.
Ms. Li is also an active recitalist and chamber musician, participating in the festivals of
Marlboro, Santa Fe, Mostly Mozart, Music from Angel Fire, Rome, Moritzburg (Germany),
and the Rising Stars Festival in Caramoor. She is currently a member of Trio Arkel.
Teng Li is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. She has won
top prizes at the Johanson International and the Holland-America Music Society
competitions, the Primrose International Viola Competition, the Irving M. Klein
International String Competition, and the ARD International Music Competition in Munich,
Germany. She currently serves on faculty at the University of Toronto and The Phil and
Eli Taylor Performance Academy for Young Artists at The Royal Conservatory, and is also
the Artistic Director of the Morningside Music Bridge International Festival—a world-
class training program for young professionals. She plays on a 1703 Amati viola donated
generously to the TSO by Dr. William Waters.
A devoted performer of new music, Ms. Jeffrey has commissioned several chamber works,
including Chaconne for Oboe, Horn, and Piano by Erik Ross, and Rhapsody by Ronald Royer.
Ms. Jeffrey is a recipient of the Ontario Arts Council’s Chalmers Award for Creativity
and Excellence in the Arts, and teaches regularly at Canada’s finest music schools. A
passionate and devoted teacher, Sarah is on faculty at The Glenn Gould School at The Royal
Conservatory and the University of Toronto, and spends her summers at the Orford Arts
Centre and the National Youth Orchestra of Canada. She can be heard discussing the finer
points of the oboe on CBC radio, both as a performer and as a guest on several podcasts.
Sarah shares her life with her husband, TSO horn Gabriel Radford, their two young
children, Evelyn and Aidan, and Jack the cat. In her spare time, Sarah enjoys travelling,
cooking, swimming in cold lakes, hiking, and of course, the art of reedmaking.
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THE ARTISTS
Emily D’Angelomezzo-sopranoEmily D’Angelo made her TSO début in February 2011.
Described as having “a voice hued like polished teak” by The
New York Times, Italian-Canadian mezzo-soprano Emily
D’Angelo was born and raised in Toronto. As a member
of the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program at
the Metropolitan Opera, the 2017/18 season will include
performances of Die Zauberflöte in concert with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the
mezzo soloist in Stravinsky’s Pulcinella with the Montclair Orchestra, and her role début
as Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia at The Glimmerglass Festival.
A winner of the 2016 Metropolitan Opera National Council Audition Finals, D’Angelo
was also a First Prize winner of the 2017 Gerda Lissner International Voice Competition,
the 2017 Innsbruck International Cesti Competition for Baroque Opera, the 2017
Canadian Opera Company Quilico Awards Competition, the 2016 American National
Opera Association Competition, the 2015 Canadian Opera Company Centre Stage
Competition, and, in October 2017, was the Second Prize winner of the 2017 Neue
Stimmen International Competition. D’Angelo received her Bachelor of Music in Voice
Performance from the University of Toronto, and is a graduate of the Ensemble Studio at
the Canadian Opera Company.
Carla HuhtanensopranoCarla Huhtanen made her TSO début in April 2016.
Soprano Carla Huhtanen is in demand internationally for
her soaring, translucent voice, winning stage presence, and
her diverse repertoire. Now living in the UK, Ms. Huhtanen
was last heard with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in
Boulez’s Le soleil des eaux in Toronto and in Vienna. Recent
career highlights have included Opera Atelier’s production of Armide in Toronto and at
Versailles, Bach’s Mass in B Minor for the Grand Philharmonic Choir, Tapestry New Opera
Works Dora Award–winning production of Rocking Horse Winner, and Abigail Schulte-
Richardson’s Alligator Pie, also for the TSO. Notable career credits include Cunegonde in
Candide with the BBC Concert Orchestra in London and in Malta for the Valletta Festival;
Lisetta in Garsington Opera’s La Gazzetta; Serpetta in La Finta Giardiniera at the Barbican
Centre’s Mostly Mozart series; and performances at Teatro La Fenice in Venice, Welsh
National Opera, Teatro San Carlo in Lisbon, and with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.
Recording credits include Herbert’s Babes in Toyland with the London Sinfonietta for
EMI; Vivaldi’s Griselda and Sacred Music Vol. 3 for Naxos Records; the JUNO Award–
winning Mozart’s Magnificent Voyage and Music of James Rolfe on Centredisc.
Tyler DuncanbaritoneTyler Duncan made his TSO début in December 2009.
British Columbia–born and America-based baritone Tyler
Duncan enjoys international renown for bringing consummate
musicianship, vocal beauty, and interpretive insight to recital,
concert, and operatic literature. His 2017/18 season includes
return engagements with Les Violons du Roy, Toronto's
Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, and the Calgary Philharmonic; débuts with the Minnesota
Orchestra, Hartford Symphony Orchestra, National Philharmonic Orchestra in Strathmore,
MD; and two engagements with Ottawa's National Arts Centre Orchestra.
Mr. Duncan's considerable gifts in the realm of art song have earned him prizes from
the Wigmore Hall (London) and ARD (Munich) Competitions, the Prix International Pro
Musicis, and the Bernard Diamant Prize from the Canada Council for the Arts, among
others. He holds music degrees from the University of British Columbia, Germany’s
Hochschule für Musik (Augsburg), and Hochschule für Musik und Theater (Munich). He is a
founding member on the faculty of the Vancouver International Song Institute. Recordings
include the title role of John Blow’s Venus and Adonis, Bach’s St Matthew Passion with
Portland Baroque, Purcell works and Carissimi’s Jepthe with Les Voix Baroque, and a DVD
of Messiah with Kent Nagano and the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal.
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Lawrence WilifordtenorLawrence Wiliford made his TSO début in January 2009.
Lauded for his luminous projection, lyrical sensitivity, and
brilliant coloratura, American-Canadian tenor Lawrence
Wiliford is in high demand in concert, opera, and recital
repertoire. In addition to these performances with the
Toronto Symphony Orchestra, his performances during the
2017/18 season include Mozart’s Requiem with the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra
and ProMusica Chamber Orchestra of Columbus, Handel’s Messiah with the Phoenix
Symphony, and Bach’s St John Passion with the Grand Philharmonic Choir.
He has performed in concert with the major symphony orchestras and early music
groups in the US and Canada. His recent appearances include Messiah with the Louisiana
Philharmonic, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and
Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra; the Evangelist in St Matthew Passion with the Calgary
Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre Métropolitain, and Toronto Bach Consort; Bach's
Mass in B Minor with Music of the Baroque, National Arts Centre Orchestra, Orquesta
Sinfónica Naciónal de Mexico, Oregon Bach Festival, and Vancouver Chamber Choir;
and Beethoven’s Mass in C Major and Stravinsky’s Pulcinella with the Houston Symphony.
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THE ARTISTS
Elmer Iseler Singers
Lydia AdamsConductor & Artistic Director
Jessie IselerGeneral ManagerThe Elmer Iseler Singers made their TSO début
in May 1982.
The Elmer Iseler Singers (EIS), conducted by Artistic
Director Lydia Adams for the past 20 years, are now in their 39th season. This 20-voice
fully professional choral ensemble, founded by the late Dr. Elmer Iseler in 1979, has
built an enviable reputation throughout Canada, the United States, and internationally
through concerts, broadcasts, and recordings—performing repertoire that spans 500
years, with a focus on Canadian composers.
The Singers present a five-concert series in Toronto each season, and are featured
at concerts, workshops, and festivals throughout Canada. Touring is also a major
component of EIS activities, with two multi-city tours taken in the 2016/17 season—
one to western Canada and one to Atlantic Canada. Annually, EIS sponsors choral
workshops through their GET MUSIC! Educational Outreach Initiative for secondary
school conductors and choirs, concluding with a joint public performance.
The Elmer Iseler Singers are a 2014 National Choral Award recipient. Lydia Adams was
the Artist Recipient of the 2013 Ontario Premier’s Award for Excellence in the Arts. In
2017, the Singers were a JUNO Award Nominee in the “Classical Album of the Year:
Vocal or Choral Performance” category.
SopranoJodie AlcornAnne BornathAmy DodingtonGisele KulakCathy RobinsonAlison Roy
AltoClaudia LemckeVictoria MarshallLaura McAlpineLynn McMurray
TenorBen Jisoo KimEric MacKeracherMitchell PadyWill ReidMichael Sawarna
BassAlexander JozefackiNelson LohnesGraham RobinsonMichael ThomasPaul WinkelmansVictor Cheng (James T. Chestnutt Scholar, 2017/18)