How are local artists of diverse art forms inspired by music of the past today?
Toronto, February 25, 2021 … Tafelmusik is thrilled to launch Musik in Motion, a free series of collaborative videos featuring local artists of diverse art forms, produced by Puncture Design. In keeping with Tafelmusik’s commitment to exploring “baroque and beyond,” Puncture and Tafelmusik invited five creative partners including visual artist Alex McLeod, Tafelmusik cellist Keiran Campbell, and the School of Toronto Dance Theatre with choreographer Hanna Kiel, to interpret music that is an essential part of Tafelmusik’s signature repertoire. Launching today with a video featuring painter Darby Milbrath, the series will roll out over the coming months on Tafelmusik’s YouTube channel, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok.
In Studio with Darby Milbrath follows the completion of a painting to baroque music, featuring visceral close ups of the artist’s movements, dabs, and gestures. “My painting was directly inspired by Vivaldi’s Violin Concerto in C Minor, RV 761 “Amato bene” performed by Tafelmusik,” says Darby Milbrath, whose expressionist paintings and process are informed by her past life as a dancer. “Painted entirely in one session without preparatory sketches, the painting is a spontaneous, visual interpretation of the concerto. There is a sense of playfulness and mischief in the painting, which was inspired by the lively energy in the concerto.”
“Although we are immersed in the world of performing and recording concerts, we love that the music Tafelmusik plays is part of a larger aesthetic that includes visual art, dance, and many other creative disciplines,” said Carol Kehoe, Executive Director. “We see this period of restriction as an opportunity to reach beyond our own practice to highlight how Canadian artists from other disciplines are inspired by this music in their work today. Musik in Motion also allows us to support and lift up our larger creative community, which is more imperative now than ever.”
Musik in Motion videos will premiere once a month on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. Sign up for our email newsletter or subscribe to Tafelmusik on YouTube to receive notifications of video premieres and learn more about the featured artists.
ABOUT DARBY MILBRATH
Darby Milbrathlives and works in Toronto and is represented by Projet Pangée. Milbrath’s oil paintings are informed by her background as a professional contemporary dancer which lend her work a sense of movement and theatricality. The dreamlike subjects in her paintings inhabit an imaginary world and evoke a feeling of nostalgia and magic. Milbrath’s memories of her imaginative childhood with her sisters, the landscape of the West Coast Gulf Islands whereon she was raised, as well as her mysticism, are recurring motifs in her paintings. Milbrath’s paintings, like a diary, are intimate reflections of her life. The figures in her paintings often express sensuality, longingness, melancholy and reclusiveness. Through the strong use of light, the floating, dreamlike elements, imagined landscapes, and spiritual offerings of fruit and flowers, the artist explores the realm of magic and fantasy. This is Darby’s second collaboration with Tafelmusik, after her work was featured on the Spring/Summer 2020 cover of Tafel magazine.
ABOUT TAFELMUSIK
Led by Music Director Elisa Citterio and Executive Director Carol Kehoe, Tafelmusik is an orchestra, choir, and experience that celebrates beauty through music of the past.
Founded over 40 years ago on the pillars of passion, learning, and artistic excellence, Tafelmusik continues to bring new energy to baroque music and beyond. Historically informed performances of 17th- to 19th-century instrumental and choral music (led by Chamber Choir Director Ivars Taurins) share the stage with vibrant, insightful multimedia programs, and bold new music written just for the group. Each piece is played on period instruments, underscored and illuminated by scholarship.
Through dynamic performances, international touring, award-winning recordings, and comprehensive education programs, Tafelmusik invites audiences to engage with beauty and experience the breadth of emotion music can inspire.
Media contact: Luisa Trisi, Big Picture Communications, (416) 456-0499
luisa@luisatrisi.com | 427 Bloor Street West, Toronto, ON M5S 1X7