The Royal Conservatory of Music Releases February Schedule

February Concerts at The Royal Conservatory of Music Include:

Lagrime di San Pietro with Los Angeles Master Chorale staged by acclaimed director Peter Sellars on February 1 and 2; Oscar Peterson's AFRICA will receive its world premiere as part of TD Jazz Concerts; Susan Aglukark and Lacey Hill make their Koerner Hall debuts; Takács Quartet returns with a concert as part of The Royal Conservatory's two-season Beethoven 250 Festival; Raul Midón and Lionel Loueke share an evening on February 29; Pianists Murray Perahia and Daniil Trifonov sold out

TD Jazz Concerts

Early in 1983, Oscar Peterson completed and recorded his Africa Suite. Two songs from that suite, "Nigerian Marketplace" (containing echoes of gospel and salsa) and "Peace" (the blues-inspired conclusion) became part of his concert repertoire, but the entire suite has never been performed live in front of an audience, until now. Oscar Peterson's AFRICA will receive its world premiere on February 12 care of Benny Green (piano), Christian McBride (bass), Lewis Nash (drums), and a big band conducted by John Clayton, complete with Peterson's own piano on the Koerner Hall stage. The all-star big band includes Reg Schwager (guitar); John Johnson and Allison Au (alto saxophone); Mike Murley and Perry White (tenor saxophone); Shirantha Beddage (baritone saxophone); Jason Logue, William Sperandai, Kevin Turcotte, and John MacLeod (trumpet); Al Kay, Rob Somerville, and Terry Promane (trombone); Peter Hysen (bass trombone and tuba); Michele Gagnon and Diane Doig (French horn), and Brian Barlow and Magdelys Savigne (percussion).

Special Performances

Three-time Juno Award winner, Susan Aglukark, blends Inuktitut and English with pop music arrangements to tell the stories of her people, the Inuit of Arctic Canada. The emotional depth and honesty of her lyrics, her pure, clear voice, and themes of hope, spirit, and encouragement captivate and inspire all who hear her songs. She shares the evening on February 7 with Oneida singer and songwriter from Six Nations of the Grand River reserve, Lacey Hill, whose music resonates with touching and inspiring honesty, and who makes her guitar sing too.

In the more than 40 years he has been performing on the concert stage, American pianist Murray Perahia has become one of the most sought-after and cherished pianists of our time. His long-awaited Koerner Hall sold-out debut on February 25 will be an occasion to remember. The words poetic, tender, and scrupulous musicianship and elegance perfectly describe his particular kind of magic.

Music Mix

Maple Blues Awards, Canada's blues music all-star concert and annual awards event features performances by some of the hottest blues musicians from across the country, such as Miss Emily (Kingston), Dawn Tyler Watson (Montreal), Big Dave McLean (Winnipeg), Matchedash Parish (Orillia / Kitchener), and students from the Regent Park School of Music. The February 3 event will be hosted by Iranian-Canadian blues singer, bassist, and actor Raha Javanfar. The after party in the hands of Blackburn Brothers is not to be missed either!

Presented in partnership with the Toronto Blues Society

Top Canadian songwriters come together with host Blair Packham to perform their music and tell us about the inspiration, the songwriting process, and the stories behind the songs during a SongBird North concert on February 8 in Temerty Theatre. This edition features Bailey Jordan-Neil and Donné Roberts. Jordan-Neil, a young singer-songwriter from Newfoundland, moved to Toronto in 2018 to further his career. Since then, he has recorded two singles, "Lucky" and "Again Today," and an EP of original music, titled The Lucky EP. He writes pop songs with strong rhythmic drive, supporting a vocal style that swoops and soars. Guitarist, singer, songwriter, and a producer, Roberts is a two-time Juno Award winner and three-time Juno nominee, originally from Madagascar, who is known for his fusion, African jazz and blues, and happy rhythm.

Presented in partnership with the Songwriters Association of Canada (S.A.C.).

More than three decades have passed since Los Lobos released their debut album, Just Another Band from East L.A. Since then, they have repeatedly disproven that title - Los Lobos is not "just another" anything, but rather a band that has consistently evolved artistically while never losing sight of their roots. The legendary band returns to Koerner Hall on February 22.

World Music

Genre-bending icons Raul Midón and Lionel Loueke join forces on February 29 for an evening of song and guitar wizardry, culminating in an unforgettable jam. Midón is a "one-man band who turns a guitar into an orchestra and his voice into a chorus" (The New York Times) and Paul Simon raves that Loueke, who hails from Benin, is "one of a rare handful of guitarists that move effortlessly between his West African roots and modern American Jazz."

Classical Music Concerts

Power Corporation of Canada Vocal Concerts

From the creative mind of acclaimed director Peter Sellars comes his most personal work to date. Lagrime di San Pietro (The Tears of St. Peter) is a groundbreaking production of Renaissance master Orlando di Lasso's final work, sung a cappella by the Los Angeles Master Chorale. Di Lasso knew that Lagrime was to be the last piece he would ever compose, so he filled every measure with an emotionally charged texture that channeled all of his pain and remorse into a towering work of beauty. Sellars transforms this 75-minute sweeping Renaissance masterpiece - committed to memory and dramatically staged and lit - into an overwhelmingly emotional performance. As the Los Angeles Times wrote, "Lagrime is a major accomplishment for the Master Chorale, which sang and acted brilliantly. It's also a major accomplishment for music history." The Conservatory presents the work on February 1 and February 2.

Both performances will be preceded by a Pre-concert Talk with Peter Sellars.

Invesco Piano Concerts

Grammy Award-winning Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov, who has appeared in four sold out Koerner Hall concerts already, has made a spectacular ascent of the classical music world as a solo artist, champion of the concerto repertoire, chamber and vocal collaborator, and composer. Combining consummate technique with rare sensitivity and depth, his performances are a perpetual source of awe. His sold-out recital on February 21 includes works by Scriabin, Prokofiev, and Beethoven.

This concert is part of The Royal Conservatory's two-season Beethoven 250 Festival.

Chamber Music

The Takács Quartet is renowned for the vitality of its interpretations and lauded by The New York Times for "revealing the familiar as unfamiliar, making the most traditional of works feel radical once more." Based in Boulder at the University of Colorado, violinists Edward Dusinberre and Harumi Rhodes, violist Geraldine Walther, and cellist András Fejér, perform 80 concerts a year worldwide. The Takács Quartet has performed three times in Koerner Hall, including Philip Roth's Everyman program with Meryl Streep in 2015. Their return on February 23 will include works by Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel, Béla Bartók, and Beethoven's String Quartet No. 9 in C Major, op. 59, no. 3.

This concert is part of The Royal Conservatory's two-season Beethoven 250 Festival.

Royal Conservatory Orchestra

Johannes Debus has been Music Director of the Canadian Opera Company since 2009. His recent highlights include engagements with the Cleveland, Boston, Houston, Baltimore, Tasmanian, West Australian, and Toronto symphonies, as well as opera engagements with Frankfurt Opera and Komische Oper Berlin. At home in both contemporary music and the core repertoire, he has conducted a wide range of world premieres and works of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. In his return visit to conduct the Royal Conservatory Orchestra on February 14, he will lead the orchestra and percussionist Zuri Wells in a program that includes Strauss's Don Juan, Keiko Abe's Prism Rhapsody, and Beethoven's Symphony No. 7. The concert is preceded by a Prelude Recital at 6:45pm and a Pre-concert Talk at 7:15pm.

This concert is part of The Royal Conservatory's two-season Beethoven 250 Festival.

Mazzoleni Masters

Gábor Tarkövi, Principal Trumpet of the Berlin Philharmonic, performs with the utmost "control and congenial colouring" (Gramophone). For his Toronto debut on February 2, he is joined by pianist Benjamin Smith to presents works by Johann Baptist Georg Neruda, Paul Hindemith, Reinhold Glière, Alan Hovhaness, and Frigyes Hidas.

Discovery Series

The Glenn Gould School Vocal Showcase on February 8 is a wonderful opportunity to see the GGS's talented voice students present an evening of art songs and opera arias.

Free Concerts

The Phil and Eli Taylor Performance Academy for Young Artists presents the third Taylor Academy Showcase Concert on February 1 featuring leading young classical musicians in Canada aged 8-18.

The Royal Conservatory's 2019-20 concert season is made possible through the generous support of:

Season Sponsor: BMO Financial Group

Season Media Sponsor: Toronto Star

Major & Series Sponsors and Supporters: Invesco, Power Corporation of Canada, RBC Foundation, TD Bank Group, TELUS, The W. Garfield Weston Foundation, a gift in memory of Robert Calvin, The Cheng Family Fund, J. Hans Kluge, Michael & Sonja Koerner, a gift in honour of R.S. Williams & Sons Company Ltd., Rebanks Family, Dorothy Cohen Shoichet, and an anonymous donor

(Power Corporation of Canada Vocal Concerts)

Saturday, February 1, 2020 at 8pm & Sunday, February 2, 2020 at 2pm | KH; $50-$105

Gábor Tarkövi (Mazzoleni Masters): Sunday, February 2, 2020 at 2pm | MCH; $30

Maple Blues Awards (Music Mix): Monday, February 3, 2020 at 7pm | KH; $35-$80

Susan Aglukark and Lacey Hill (Special Concerts): Friday, February 7, 2020 at 8pm | KH; $35-$75

SongBird North (Music Mix): Saturday, February 8, 2020 at 8pm | TT; $40

The Glenn Gould School Vocal Showcase

(Discovery Series): Saturday, February 8, 2020 at 7:30pm | MCH; $20

Oscar Peterson's AFRICA featuring Benny Green, Christian McBride, Lewis Nash,

and an All-Star Big Band

(TD Jazz Concerts): Wednesday, February 12, 2020 at 8pm | KH; $65-$135

Johannes Debus conducts the Royal Conservatory Orchestra

(RCO Concerts): Friday, February 14, 2020 at 8pm | KH; $25-$60

Daniil Trifonov (Invesco Piano Concerts): Friday, February 21, 2020 at 8pm | KH; SOLD OUT

Los Lobos (Music Mix): Saturday, February 22, 2020 at 8pm | KH; $50-$105

Takács Quartet (Chamber Music Concerts): Sunday, February 23, 2020 at 3pm | KH; $40-$95

Murray Perahia (Special Concerts): Tuesday, February 25, 2020 at 8pm | KH; SOLD OUT

Raul Midón and Lionel Loueke (World Music Concerts): Saturday, February 29, 2020 at 8pm | KH; $40-$85

Venue Legend: KH Koerner Hall; MCH Mazzoleni Concert Hall; TT Temerty Theatre

Tickets and subscriptions are available online at www.rcmusic.com/performance,

by calling 416.408.0208, or in person at the Weston Family Box Office

Become a Royal Subscriber: select any 4-6 concerts and save 10%;

select any 7+ concerts and save 15%; both levels receive special subscriber benefits

A limited number of $15 Rush Tickets are available starting 90 minutes before all performances presented by

The Royal Conservatory.

All concerts take place at The Royal Conservatory of Music

TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning, 273 Bloor Street West, Toronto