Royal Conservatory of Music Announces March Concerts

Quiet Please, There's a Lady on Stage series continues with the return of Angélique Kidjo. Diego El Cigala returns to Koerner Hall for the third time and Takács Quartet for the fourth time. Cellists Nicolas Altstaedt and Clemens Hagen make their Koerner Hall debuts. The Glenn Gould School, celebrating its 20th anniversary this season, presents Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss (ii) in Koerner Hall.

Quiet Please, There's a Lady on Stage

Few tickets remain for "Africa's premier diva" (TIME) Angélique Kidjo as she returns to Koerner Hall on March 3. This Grammy Award-winning singer, dancer, and songwriter roves across boundaries, genres, and ethnicities, and her songs embrace rhythm & blues, soul music, jazz, and Beninese melodies, as well as her own original works with "irresistible energy and joie de vivre." (Los Angeles Times)

World Music

Diego El Cigala returns to Koerner Hall for the third time on March 24 after his sold out concert in November 2014. The late Paco de Lucía once said, "Diego has one of the most beautiful flamenco voices of our time, a voice of sweetness that flows over everything." This multiple Grammy Award-winning flamenco guitarist has captivated audiences all over the world with his gravelly voice and passionate interpretations. In this concert, he will introduce songs from his latest Sony release, Indestructible, which evokes the classic salsa of the 1970s, sensual and gritty.

Classical Music

String Concerts

String concerts this month focus on the cello as Nicolas Altstaedt and Clemens Hagen make their Koerner Hall, ahead of French cellist Gautier Capuçon's in April.

German-French cellist Nicolas Altstaedt is renowned worldwide for his creativity and versatility, and has been called "compelling" by The New York Times. Born and raised in Turkey, pianist Faz?l Say "is a formidable and curious composer and performer, wholly capable of bringing freshness and a new light to music that we have heard many times before." (Bachtrack) On March 2, these two brilliant soloists present a program of Claude Debussy's Cello Sonata, Leoš Janá?ek's Pohádka (Fairy-tale), Dmitri Shostakovich's Sonata for Cello and Piano, and Faz?l Say's Dört ?ehir (Four Cities): Sonata for cello and piano.

Austrian cellist Clemens Hagen is a versatile recording artist, collaborator, member of the Hagen Quartet, and soloist with major orchestras worldwide. Russian-born pianist Kirill Gerstein has been described as "brilliant, perceptive and stunningly fresh" by The New York Times. On March 18, they will perform an all Ludwig van Beethoven program, including 7 Variations in E flat Major on "Bei Männern, welche Liebe fühlen" from Mozart's The Magic Flute.

Chamber Music

The Takács Quartet, renowned for the vitality of its interpretations, returns to Koerner Hall on March 25 with a program of Haydn's String Quartet No. 64 in D Major, op. 76, no. 5, Shostakovich's String Quartet No. 11,

and Beethoven's String Quartet No. 14. The New York Times lauded the ensemble for "revealing the familiar as unfamiliar, making the most traditional of works feel radical once more," and the Financial Times has written "even in the most fiendish repertoire these players show no fear, injecting the music with a heady sense of freedom. At the same time, though, there is an uncompromising attention to detail: neither a note nor a bow-hair is out of place." The Quartet is known for innovative programming, such as their performance of Philip Roth's Everyman with Meryl Streep at Koerner Hall in 2015.

The Clemens Hagen with Kirill Gerstein and the Takács Quartet concerts will be preceded by pre-concert talks with Rick Phillips.

Opera

The extraordinary artists of The Glenn Gould School vocal program and the Glenn Gould School's Royal Conservatory Orchestra perform their annual staged opera in Koerner Hall on March 14 and March 16.

This season's offering, Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss (ii), is a thoroughly high-spirited operetta of disguises and partly mistaken identities. The production team includes conductor Nathan Brock, director Joel Ivany, lighting designer Jason Hand, set & properties designer Snezana Pesic, costume designer Ming Wong, assistant conductor Samuel Tam, , répétiteur Brahm Goldhamer, stage manager Lesley Abarquez Bradley, and production manager Wendy Churton. Both performances will be preceded by a pre-concert talk with Gillian Story.

Mazzoleni Masters

David Louie, who ranks among Canada's foremost classical keyboardists performing on harpsichord or piano, presents Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I on March 11. This accomplished chamber musician is a member of the Grammy Award nominated ARC Ensemble (Artists of The Royal Conservatory) and has recorded for RCA Red Seal. This special program will be performed on harpsichord.

Songmasters

Soprano Lucia Cesaroni and mezzo-soprano Allyson McHardy, "who combined drama and characterization with fine musicality," (The Globe and Mail) present a witty and fun program, titled You're Welcome, Rossini, of works by six historic women vocalists who are often associated with Gioachino Rossini and his operas. The musical selections are intertwined with anecdotes and letters in an already sold-out concert on March 18.

Music Mix

Top Canadian songwriters come together with host Blair Packham in SongBird North on March 17 to perform their music and tell us about the inspiration, the songwriting process, and the stories behind the songs. The March edition will feature Andrea Ramolo, one half of acclaimed Canadian folk-pop duo, Scarlett Jane, who has a new solo album out, titled Nuda; singer/guitarist and Toronto blues legend Danny Marks; and Miss Emily, whose shows are foot-stomping, heart-wrenching adventures in rhythm, blues, jazz, and rock and roll. SongBird North concert series presented in partnership with the Songwriters Association of Canada (S.A.C.)

Free Concerts

Sunday Interludes series presents OKAN on March 4 in Mazzoleni Concert Hall, located in historic Ihnatowycz Hall. Latin rhythms are spiced up by sultry violin and vocals by this new all-female Cuban jazz ensemble created by Elizabeth Rodríguez and Magdelys Savigne, both of whom perform with the Juno Award-winning band, Jane Bunnett & Maqueque, and many other groups. Rodriguez was born in Havana and is a classically trained violinist who was a concertmaster at the Youth Orchestra in Havana before moving to Canada in 2013. Savigne was born in Santiago de Cuba and is classically trained in orchestral percussion.

Taylor Academy Showcase Concert on March 10, presented by The Phil and Eli Taylor Performance Academy for Young Artists, offers a unique opportunity to hear the leading young classical musicians in Canada currently studying at The Royal Conservatory.

The Royal Conservatory's 2017-18 concert season is made possible through the generous support of:

Major & Series Sponsors and Supporters: BMO Financial Group, Invesco, RBC Foundation, TD Bank Group, The W. Garfield Weston Foundation, David G. Broadhurst, J. Hans Kluge, Michael & Sonja Koerner, a gift in honour of R.S. Williams & Sons Company Ltd., Rebanks Family, Dorothy Cohen Shoichet, and and two anonymous donors

Performance Sponsors and Supporters: Aecon Group Inc., Alexanian Flooring, Audi Uptown, b espresso bar, Consulate General of Spain - Tourism Section, Deloitte, Downtown Porsche, Georgian Capital Partners, Next Pathway Inc., Power Corporation of Canada, Worldwide Quest, Efnan Abacioglu - Forest Hill Real Estate Inc. Brokerage, Armenian Community Centre and Hamazkayin Cultural Association, The Cheng Family Fund, a gift in memory of Gary Miles, Sue Mortimer, Brayton Polka, Deborah Leibow & Ken Snider, Diana & Philip Weinstein, and three anonymous donors

Wine & Beverage Sponsors: Coca-Cola, Inniskillin, Mill St. Brewery, Woodbridge by Robert Mondavi

Media Sponsors: Classical 96.3 FM, JAZZ.FM91, NOW, WholeNote, Musicworks

Government Supporters: Government of Canada, Canada Arts Presentation Fund - Canadian Heritage, Canada Council - New Chapter, Ontario Arts Council, Toronto Arts Council

March Concerts at The Royal Conservatory of Music

Nicolas Altstaedt with Fazil Say (String Concerts): Friday, March 2, 2018 at 8pm | KH; $30-$75

Angélique Kidjo (Quiet Please, There's a Lady on Stage): Saturday, March 3, 2018 at 8pm | KH; $45-$95

OKAN (Sunday Interludes): Sunday, March 4, 2018 at 2pm | MCH; FREE

Taylor Academy Showcase Concert (Taylor Academy): Saturday, March 10, 2018 at 4:30pm | MCH; FREE

David Louie: Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I

(Mazzoleni Masters): Sunday, March 11, 2018 at 2pm | MCH; $25

Glenn Gould School Opera 2018: Johann Strauss's Die Fledermaus

(Royal Conservatory Orchestra): Wednesday, March 14 & Friday, March 16, 2018 at 7:30pm | KH; $25-$55

SongBird North (Music Mix): Saturday, March 17, 2018 at 8pm | TT; $35

You're Welcome, Rossini (Songmasters): Sunday, March 18, 2018 at 2pm | MCH; SOLD OUT

Clemens Hagen with Kirill Gerstein (String Concerts): Sunday, March 18, 2018 at 3pm | KH; $35-$85

Diego El Cigala (World Music): Saturday, March 24, 2018 at 8pm | KH; $50-$115

Takács Quartet (Chamber Music): Sunday, March 25, 2018 at 3pm | KH; $55-$100

Venue Legend: KH Koerner Hall; MCH Mazzoleni Concert Hall in historic Ihnatowycz 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 BMO Rush Tickets are available starting 90 minutes before all performances presented by The Royal Conservatory.

Tickets to free concerts become available seven days prior to the date of the performance through the Weston Family Box Office.

All concerts take place at The Royal Conservatory of Music

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

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