Tafelmusik's 25th Anniversary
On the Road: 25 Years of Touring
A young Tafelmusik Orchestra, with its new Music Director Jeanne Lamon, undertook its first substantial tour in the fall of 1981, with concerts in British Columbia, Washington State, Pittsburgh, Montreal, and at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. A month later we toured Handel's Messiah in Ontario venues from Kapuskasing to Port Colborne. That same season culminated in a tour of the U.S. with guest director Frans Brueggen, which included concerts in Boston's Jordan Hall, at Princeton University, and at Lincoln Center in New York City - an auspicious beginning of what has been a busy and exhilarating quarter-century of touring for Tafelmusik. North American touring has taken us to every Canadian province and territory except Prince Edward Island (and the newly founded Nunavut), and to 35 U.S. States. In 1984 the orchestra embarked on its first European tour, and has crossed the Atlantic at least once every year since. The 1986/87 season opened with a tour of Mexico and Venezuela. In February 1993 the orchestra left on the first of three Asian tours, with a fourth planned for next season. In June 1997 Tafelmusik was invited to the ancient cities of Jerusalem, Thessaloniki and Athens. Mid-winter tours to Bermuda and Puerto Rico have buoyed the spirits of the musicians!
Whether it's a run-out to Cobourg, a 6-week tour of European capitals or a cultural adventure in the People's Republic of China, touring has its challenges and its rewards. Alison, Christina and Allen can recount the trials and tribulations of travelling with large instruments; Charlotte can tell tales of harpsichords, both glorious and disastrous, that await our arrival in concert halls; and all musicians can speak of the challenge of finding energy and inspiration after a long day of airports, connecting flights and airplane food. In the same breath, however, they will speak of the thrill of playing in Vienna's venerable Musikverein; the wonderment of performing in an ancient Greek amphitheatre at the foot of the Parthenon under a clear night sky; or of the intriguing and sometimes bewildering meeting of cultures when playing in the former East Germany or in the provincial Chinese city of Hangzhou. Touring has played an essential part in forming the character of the Tafelmusik Orchestra over the last 25 years, and we have been honoured to serve as musical ambassadors of Toronto and of Canada.
Below is a list of the cities in which we have performed over the last 25 years. We may have missed some (our collective memory has aged with the orchestra!), but it gives you a sense of the kilometres travelled, countries explored, and the vast number of concerts performed on the road.
CANADA
Alberta
Brooks
Calgary
Edmonton
Lethbridge
Red Deer
British Columbia
Abbotsford
Campbell River
Duncan
Gibson
Hornby Island
Kamloops
Kitimat
Maple Ridge
Nanaimo
Nelson
Prince George
Salmon Arm
Vancouver
Victoria
White Rock
Manitoba
Brandon
Winkler
Winnipeg
New Brunswick
Fredericton
Moncton
Sackville
St. Andrew's
Saint John
Newfoundland
Cornerbrook
St. John's
Northwest
Territories
Inuvuk
Nova Scotia
Dartmouth
Halifax
Liverpool
Fortress of Louisbourg
Middleton
Pictou
Sydney
Truro
Wolfville
Ontario
Almonte
Barrie
Belleville
Blind River
Blyth
Cambridge
Chatham
Cobourg
Collingwood
Deep River
Elliot Lake
Espanola
Gravenhurst
Guelph
Hamilton
Hanover
Huntsville
Kapuskasing
Kingston
Kirkland Lake
London
Manitoulin Island
Markham
Mississauga
North Bay
Oakville
Orillia
Oshawa
Ottawa
Pembroke
Peterborough
Picton
Port Colborne
Port Hope
Sarnia
Sault-Ste. Marie
Sharon
St. Catherines
Stratford
Sudbury
Timmins
Waterloo
Windsor
Québec
Drummondville
Gatineau
Lanaudière
Lennoxville
Montréal
Québec City
Sherbrooke
Ste-Foy
Trois Rivières
Saskatchewan
Regina
Saskatoon
Swift Current
Yukon
Whitehorse |
UNITED STATES
Alabama
Tuscaloosa
Arkansas
Little Rock
Arizona
Phoenix
California
Berkeley
Carmel
Irvine
La Jolla
Los Angeles
Modesto
Palo Alto
Pasadena
Riverside
Sacramento
San Diego
Santa Barbara
Stanford
Torrance
District of Columbia
Washington
Florida
Tallahassee
Connecticut
New Haven
Georgia
Morrow
Illinois
Chicago
Highland Park (Ravinia)
Urbana
Indiana
Greencastle
Indianapolis
New Albany
Valparaiso
Iowa
Cedar Falls
Iowa City
Kansas
Lawrence
Kentucky
Danville
Louisville
Wilmore
Louisiana
New Orleans
Maine
Machias
Maryland
Baltimore
College Park
Massachussetts
Amherst
Boston
Lowell
Lenox (Tanglewood)
Wellesley
Worcester
Michigan
Ann Arbor
Detroit
Interlochen
Minnesota
St. Paul
Missouri
Kansas City
St. Louis
Nevada
Las Vegas
New Hampshire
Durham
Hannover
Keene
New Jersey
Montclair
Princeton
Teaneck
New York
Brookville, Long Island
Buffalo
Flushing
Houghton
Ithaca
Locust Valley
New York City
Poughkeepsie
Queens
Rochester
Schenectady
North Carolina
Asheville
Greenville
Ohio
Bowling Green
Cleveland
Columbus
Oberlin
Pennsylvania
Philadelphia
Pittsburgh
Rhode Island
Newport
Tennessee
Knoxville
Memphis
Nashville
Texas
Arlington
Austin
Denton
San Antonio
Sherman
Utah
St. George
Vermont
Middlebury
Virginia
Charlottesville
Martinsville
Richmond
Vienna (Wolftrap)
Washington
Aberdeen
Bellingham
Olympia
Seattle
Wisconsin
Wasau |
PUERTO RICO
San Juan
BERMUDA
Hamilton
MEXICO
Ciudad Victoria
Guadalajara
Guanajuato
Mexico City
Monterrey
Villahermosa
SOUTH AMERICA
Venezuela
Caracas
EUROPE
Austria
Eisenstadt
Graz
Innsbruck
Salzburg
Vienna
Belgium
Antwerp
Brussels
Liège
Czech Republic
Prague
Denmark
Aarhus
Copenhagen
Kolding
England
Birmingham
London
Newcastle
France
Amiens
Blois
Chateau-Thiérry
Clermont-Ferrand
Dijon
L'Abbaye de l'Épau
Paris
Poissy
Germany
Bad Gandersheim
Berlin
Braunschweig
Bremen
Brühl
Cologne
Dresden
Duisburg
Eisenach
Frankfurt
Halle
Hamburg
Hannover
Irsee (Klang und Raum)
Limburg
Lübeck
Ludwigsburg
Maulbronn
Munich
Munster
Neubrandenburg
Potsdam
Regensburg
Rüsselheim
Schwerin
Schwetzingen
Steinfurt
Stuttgart
Vegesack
Greece
Thessaloniki
Athens
Holland
Amsterdam
Purmerend
The Hague
Utrecht
Italy
Naples
Latvia
Riga
Lithuania
Vilnius
Luxembourg
Luxembourg
Madeira
Funchal
Portugal
Lisbon
Slovenia
Ljubljana
Spain
Bilbao
Cadiz
Granada
La Coruna
Madrid
Salamanca
Saragossa
Sevilla
Valencia
Vallodolid
Vigo
Switzerland
Ascona
Lucerne
MIDDLE EAST
Israel
Jerusalem
ASIA
Taiwan
Taipei
Japan
Kyoto
Miyazaki
Nangocho
Niigata
Osaka
Saga
Tokyo
Tsukuba
Urawa
Yaezu
China
Beijing
Hangzhou
Hong Kong
Shanghai |
