Sinfonia Toronto & La Maquette Partner for 'Music at La Maquette' on April 10

Sinfonia Toronto and the well-known King Street East restaurant La Maquette will partner together on Saturday, April 10, to present 'Music at La Maquette.' 

The elegant spaces of the restaurant voted Toronto's Most Romantic in 2007 will provide the gracious setting for an evening of superb Continental-fusion cuisine, beautiful music and fine art. A champagne reception will open the evening, followed by a 45-minute recital by Italian virtuoso harpist Floraleda Sacchi, dinner, a display of oil paintings from 'Sinfonia Series 1' by Toronto artist Pavla Quinn, and silent auction tables offering a rich array of objets d'art, gift certificates, entertainment, and deluxe articles for home and personal use.

Situated in a historic landmark building overlooking the Toronto Sculpture Garden and ST. James Cathedral, La Maquette has been nominated year after year by the readers of Where magazine not only as Toronto's Most Romantic Restaurant, but also for Best Venue, Best Food, Best Service, Best Ambience and Best Desserts.

Floraleda Sacchi's 45-minute recital for 'Music at La Maquette' will open with Two Indian Dances for Harp and Ankle Bells by Lou Harrison and then follow a Spanish theme with Valses Poeticos by Enrique Granados and a Dance Suite: Gavotta, Menuet, Polka, Siciliana, Bolero, Seguidilla, Tango y Rumba by Carlos Salzedo..

Acclaimed as an 'artist of exceptional talent,' Floraleda Sacchi was recently spotlighted as the cover artist and feature interview in the international magazine Harp Column. Six years ago she was a Finalist in the Sinfonia Toronto International Concerto Competition, and her career has exploded since then. She has performed as soloist all over the world in major halls and festivals, and will come to Toronto on April 10 directly from a recital in Weill RecitAl Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York.

SinfoniaToronto presents Italian harp virtuoso Floraleda Sacchi - www.floraledasacchi.com
Saturday, April 10, 6:30 to 10pm at La Maquette, 111 King Street East
Champagne reception / 45-minute recital / dinner (vegetarian entrée on request) / art show, silent auction

Tickets: $80 per person with $35 tax-deductible receipt
Purchase online: www.sinfoniatoronto.com or call 416-499-0403
Further information: Margaret Chasins, 416-499-0403, sinfoniatoronto@sympatico.ca

BIOGRAPHIES
Floraleda Sacchi
Described as an 'artist of exceptional talent', Floraleda Sacchi has always dedicated herself to the harp solo and chamber music repertoire trying to develop original projects and a personal way of making music.

She performed as soloist all over the world in major halls and festivals such as: Carnegie Hall-Weill RecitAl Hall (New York), United Nations Palace (New York), Klang-Bogen (Vienna), Amici del Teatro alla Scala (Milan), Sala Verdi (Milan), Teatro Valle (Rome), Matsuo Hall (Tokyo), PrefecturAl Hall Alti (Kyoto), Teatro Municipal de Lima (Peru), Salle Vare'se (Lyon), Gasteig (Munich), Hypo-Kunsthalle (Munich), Concerts de la Croix Rouge (Geneva), Theatre Bellevue (Amsterdam), Gessler Hall (Vancouver), CBC - Glenn Gould Studio (Toronto), Emilia Romagna Festival, Festival Pontino, Lamspringer September, Rosegart Stiftung (Lucerne), etc.
In the 2009-10 season, she will perform in some of the most famous concert halls in the world (Gewandhaus â€" Leipzig, Konzerthaus - Berlin, Carnegie Hall, etc.). In 2010-11 she will appear again on US West Coast, Spain, Germany, Japan and will extensively tour China in 2011 revealing herself as one of the most interesting and original harpists on the international concert panorama.

She is the only harpist recording for DECCA (Universal Music), which in 2008 published "Minimal Harp", a project for solo harp including 8 world premiere recordings, defined as "fascinating" by several journals.
Other recent recordings are the world première recording of Sophia Corri works for solo harp (Tactus), "Suite en duo" with flutist Claudio Ferrarini (Philips) and "Chiaroscuro" (Amadeus Arte) where Flora presents her compositions for the first time.

She has been described as able to "make seem easy what is extremely complex" by Corriere della Sera. Floraleda Sacchi has recorded more than ten CDs (Decca, Philips, Tactus, Aulia, Stradivarius, RaiTrade...) which show her eclectic style and versatility: from her rediscovery of classical composers (such as Krumpholtz or Sophia Corri) to contemporary music with excursions into pop music and cross-over as well.

Some composers who dedicated original pieces to her are: Nicola Campogrande, Peter Machajdik, Paolo Castaldi, David Clarck Little, Dimitri Nicolau, Gianluca Cangemi, Jean Chatillon, Luis Berenguer, Gianluca Podio. Among her first world recordings one can find works by Philip Glass, Giacomo Manzoni, Michael Nyman.

Floraleda long list of national and international honors includes, from 1997 to 2003, top prizes at 16 international competitions, among them: Concours UFAM (Paris), Gioventu' Musicale Italiana, Rovere d'oro, T.I.M. (Rome), Concorso F. Schubert, Toronto Concerto Competition (Canada), Premio Galbiati (Milan).

Floraleda Sacchi was guested and her CD are regularly braodcasted by major radio and television (RAI, Mediaset, RSI, ORF, Dutch Radio, BBC, Radio France, ABC, Avro). She often collaborates with actors in theatre shows. Recently she appeared with Ottavia Piccolo in "Donna non rieducabile". This show became also a movie for RAI (Radio Televisione Italiana) entitled "The blood, the snow" directed by Felice Cappa. Flora acted in the movie and composed the soundtrack.

Parallel to music she studiEd English, French and German and dedicated herself to photography and writing. In musicological field, when she was 21 years old, she won the Harpa Award (Prague, 1999) for her book on Elias Parish Alvars (1999, Odilia Publishing, 220 pages). She has written several articles appeared on the main specialist journals (American Harp Journal, Harpa, World Harp Congress Review), and she has managed dozens of editions for Amadeus Arte, Ozella Music/Enya and RaiTrade. Some of her poems were published by PulcinoElefante Editions.

Since 2006 she is the promoter and artistic director of LakeComo Festival, a series of chamber music concert located in historical villas of Lake Como, Italy. She gives masterclasses in Europe, the United States and Canada (Westminister College - Salt Lake City, Accademia Europea di Musica, British Columbia University - Vancouver, New York University, Conservatorio di Parma, Masterclass di Cervo, Masterclass di Camerino, etc.). Floraleda Sacchi, born in Como, dedicated herself to dance and started studying the harp with Lisetta Rossi only when she was 14. She later studied with Alice Giles (Frankfurt a/M), Alice Chalifoux (Salzedo School, Camden, ME, USA) and with Judy Loman (Toronto, Canada), she consider her mentor.

Pavla Quinn
Pavla is an intuitive artist delivering her beautiful work of multi dimensional expression in paintings, sculpture and photography. Her creative expression does not stop here; Pavla, has introduced an exquisite line of custom Jewelry using gemstones and crystal formations to not only enhance the colour spectrum that is so unique to her, but to utilize the energies of the crystals in such a way that they bring healing on different levels to the individual that wears them. Her love is to experiment with various methods of painting and sculpture that has developed in a unique style that reflects her innermost feelings, allowing her artistic creations to unfold in a manner that expresses her connection to the Universe, and its relation to energy. Pavla implements shapes and vibrant colors which give movements, light and energy to her work, often uplifting the spirits of those who observe them.

She Loves art in all forms and is currently involved in other projects relating to Interior Design, Murals, and Landscape Design. In addition to these creative achievements, Pavla has extended her artistic style to instructing adults and children to bring the creative artist in them not only in art but crafts as well.

Pavla was born in the Czech Republic. There she studied Fine Arts, Music and Culinary Arts. In Canada, Pavla to this date, chooses to expand her lifelong dream of architecture and fine arts and frequently attends seminars and other workshops at the International Academy of Design and the Toronto School of Arts. In 2007, Pavla founded ARTICO (Artists-In-Connection), an organization which brings together Artists from around the world to explore ideas and create art. She is a member of the Scarborough Arts Council, Cedar Ridge Studio Gallery, The Art Guild of Scarborough, and CARFAC Ontario.

Pavla has had multiple exhibits and shown her work in TODMORDEN MILLS HERITAGE Museum, the AGO, ART SQUARE GALLERY, G. P. FRAME GALLERY, AWOL GALLERY, ART SQUARE GALLERY, JACOB GALLERY and so many more just to name a few. She currently shows her work in her Art Studio at 401 Richmond Street West in Toronto.

"The creation of the Universe and its infinite possibilities inspires me to create through the inner-self, and then to share this inspiration with others in the hope that they may feel this oneness as I do."