World premiere of orchestral arrangement by Music Director Elisa Citterio of
Bach’s The Goldberg Variations
Program includes new commission by Canadian composer Grégoire Jeay
Toronto, March 11, 2020 … A major highlight of Tafelmusik’s 2019/20 season is the world premiere of Bach’s Goldberg Variations in a new orchestral arrangement by Music Director Elisa Citterio. Inspired by Bach’s own practice of reworking his music, Citterio offers her own musical translation of the composer’s timeless keyboard masterpiece in this new arrangement for strings, winds, and continuo. The program opens with another world premiere, The Phantom of Goldbergfor solo harpsichord by Canadian composer Grégoire Jeay, performed by Tafelmusik’s Charlotte Nediger. These performances take place April 22 to 26, 2020, at Jeanne Lamon Hall, Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre, and April 28, 2020, at George Weston Recital Hall, Meridian Arts Centre.
Bach’s Goldberg Variations were written as an exercise in keyboard virtuosity and remain among the most technically demanding works ever written for harpsichord. Citterio first imagined the idea of a new arrangement in 2017, when Tafelmusik performed orchestral transcriptions of two excerpts from The Goldberg Variations during a tour of its multimedia program J.S. Bach: The Circle of Creation.
Citterio’s personal connection to the music was another powerful stimulus for this program. “Bach’s Goldberg Variations is music that has been present at all the crucial moments of my life since I was a teenager — and also a piece I’ve always longed to perform. It is a work of such perfection that Bach’s profound message remains intact even in different arrangements,” says Citterio. “Bach himself transcribed many pieces for the musicians with whom he was working, or for those he esteemed highly. This is exactly what inspired me to write my own arrangement: transcendental music for the outstanding musicians of Tafelmusik.”
The tradition of rearranging Bach’s music stretches back centuries and continues to this day. Mozart, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Liszt, and Mahler experimented with reworkings and remixes of Bach, as have musicians from other genres, including the Modern Jazz Quartet, the Swingle Singers, and Wendy Carlos, whose Switched-on Bach album reimagined the composer’s music on Moog synthesizers.
The concert opens with Charlotte Nediger performing The Phantom of Goldbergfor solo harpsichord, which composer Grégoire Jeay conceived as a kind of overture to The Goldberg Variations. Like Citterio, Jeay discovered The Goldbergs as a teenager, first as played by harpsichordist Gustav Leonhardt, and then by pianist Glenn Gould. “At the time, I did not grasp the architectural genius of this monument, but I was deeply touched by the beauty that emerged as the movements unfolded,” says Jeay. “Above all, it is the feeling that Bach was totally dedicated to his art without seeking the success of esteem that makes him, to my eyes, such a great composer.”
The Goldberg Variationsperformance sponsor is KPMG. Tafelmusik’s George Weston Recital Hall series is generously sponsored by Jim Fleck.
LISTING INFORMATION
Bach Goldberg Variations arranged for orchestra by Elisa Citterio
World premiere Program includes a new commission by Canadian composer Grégoire Jeay
Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra directed by Elisa Citterio
Dates & Times:
Wed Apr 22 at 7pm; Thurs Apr 23, Fri Apr 24, Sat Apr 25 at 8pm; Sun Apr 26 at 3:30pm at Jeanne Lamon Hall, Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre
Tues Apr 28 at 8pm at George Weston Recital Hall, Meridian Arts Centre
Ticket prices:
Regular: starting from $42 at Jeanne Lamon Hall and $39 at George Weston Recital Hall
Discounts available for seniors (65+), 35 and under, and youth (18 and under)
Venues:
Jeanne Lamon Hall, Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre, 427 Bloor Street West, Toronto
George Weston Recital Hall, Meridian Arts Centre (formerly Toronto Centre for the Arts), 5040 Yonge St, North York
Box offices:
Tafelmusik Box Office: (416) 964-6337
George Weston Recital Hall Box Office: 1 (855) 985-2787
ABOUT GRÉGOIRE JEAY
Grégoire Jeay has composed several soundtracks and has provided music for live visual art performances, and for circuses in both Europe and China. He has also written a theatre piece for youth (Le Visiteur, with Les Jeunesses Musicales du Canada) about the discovery of baroque music. Among his soundtracks are those written for the television series Mystical Women of the Middle Ages, from which two CDs have been produced: Musica Mystica 1 & 2. For concert stages Grégoire has composed works for solo instrumentalists, as well as for various ensembles, notably La Mandragore. Tafelmusik was honoured to premiere his concerto for flute, violin, harpsichord, and orchestra, Aiga-Faros, in 2014. He also often works with synthesizers and computers: his CD Oniris features his electronic music. Grégoire is also a baroque flutist, and performs regularly with Tafelmusik, as well as numerous other ensembles.
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.
2019/20 SEASON PARTNERS
Tafelmusik wishes to thank the following for their generous support: BMO Financial Group, RBC Foundation, KPMG, Catherine and Maxwell Meighen Foundation, Whitmer Trudel Charitable Foundation, The Pluralism Fund, Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, Toronto Arts Council, Classical 96.3 FM, and NOW Magazine. Tafelmusik is a proud partner of the Bloor St. Culture Corridor.
Media contact: Luisa Trisi, Big Picture Communications, 416 456-0499
luisa@luisatrisi.com | 427 Bloor Street West, Toronto, ON M5S 1X7