Guest director and violin soloist in
Feast for the Senses: Lalande & Rameau
Oct. 18, 19 & Oct 20
“[Beyer’s performances] take you away from the marked paths, tickle your imagination, cling to your dreams, and create a joyful feeling of happiness.” —Musikzen 2015
Almost a decade after Amandine Beyer’s memorable Tafelmusik debut, the French violinist returns as guest director and soloist in Feast for the Senses: Lalande & Rameau on Oct. 18 & 19 at 8 PM, and Oct 20 at 3 PM at Jeanne Lamon Hall, Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre. Tickets are available at tafelmusik.org.
“We are so happy to welcome Amandine back to our stage,” says Cristina Zacharias on behalf of Tafelmusik’s Artistic Co-Directors. “Her gorgeous sound and inspiring energy made a strong impression on both the orchestra and the audience during her last visit in 2014. This program of rich French sonorities will invite us into soundscapes where elegance and beauty are everything.”
Renowned for her “majestic, gossamer, hypnotic” playing (Le Monde), Beyer has crafted a musical menu with a predominantly French flavour, evoking the elegance and grandeur of Versailles and Paris.
Lalande’s Symphonie pour le souper du roi, a suite that was often heard tableside at the request of King Louis XIV, is paired with Muffat’s musical bouquets “Graditudo” (Gratitude) and “Laeta Poesis” (Joyful Poetry), inspired by the culinary and horticultural arts.
Tafelmusik’s Feast for the Senses includes a soupçon of chamber music by Élisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre, a renowned harpsichordist and composer whose talent caught the attention of the Sun King. A suite of dances by Rameau fires up a colourful palette of orchestral sonorities and textures.
For Beyer, the unique baroque soundworld owes much to guts strings, “an amazing surface to play on,” she says. “It is like a friend, a territory, a spirit, an inspiration, a challenge, and a space for illusion and joy. Gut playing is like a journey and since I started that journey, my life has been forever changed.”
LISTING INFORMATION:
Tafelmusik presents Feast for the Senses: Lalande & Rameau
with Amandine Beyer, guest director and violin soloist
Oct. 18 & 19 at 8 PM, and Oct 20 at 3 PM
Jeanne Lamon Hall, Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre
Tickets start at $47.00 at Tafelmusik.org. Youth and Seniors discounts are available.
Tafelmusik gratefully acknowledges the support of BMO, Presenting Sponsor of the 2024/25 concert season, as well as support from Brookfield and Power Corporation of Canada. We are also grateful to our government partners Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, Toronto Arts Council, and the Ontario Trillium Foundation.
ABOUT AMANDINE BEYER
Amandine Beyer studied violin at the Conservatoire de Paris and Schola Cantorum Basel in the class of Chiara Banchini. She also benefited from the teaching of Christophe Coin, Hopkinson Smith, and Pedro Memelsdorff. In 2001, she won First Prize at the Antonio Vivaldi competition in Turin. Since then, Beyer has performed all over the world, as a soloist and concertmaster, and also with her own ensemble Gli Incogniti, which she founded in 2006. Beyer also plays chamber music ranging from baroque to romantic with such partners as Pierre Hantaï, Kristian Bezuidenhout, Andreas Staier, and Giuliano Carmignola. In 2015, she created the Kitgut Quartet, a string quartet that exclusively plays on period instruments. Beyer’s discography, as a soloist or with Gli Incogniti, has been unanimously acclaimed by critics and has received the highest distinctions (Diapason d’Or, Choc de l’année, Gramophone Editor’s Choice, ffff by Télérama). A passionate mentor, Beyer has been teaching violin at the Scola Cantorum in Basel since 2010.
ABOUT TAFELMUSIK
Every now and then a group of musicians comes along and changes the way we think about music. For over four decades, Tafelmusik has been synonymous worldwide with dynamic, engaging, and soulful performances informed by scholarship, passion, and artistic excellence. Performed on instruments and in styles appropriate to the era, 17th- to 19th-century instrumental and choral music share the stage with exciting multimedia programs, bold new commissions, and intriguing cross-cultural collaborations. From a vibrant home season in Toronto, to international tours, award-winning recordings, and inspiring education programs, Tafelmusik is a musical powerhouse with a reputation for thrilling and delighting audiences.
Website: tafelmusik.org
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Media contact:
Luisa Trisi, Big Picture Communications
luisa@luisatrisi.com | 427 Bloor Street West, Toronto, ON M5S 1X7