Tafelmusik and Juilliard415 to Showcase RAMEAU AND THE ART OF DANCE This February

Tafelmusik to present Rameau and The Art of Dance, an electrifying program that brings together Tafelmusik, Juilliard415, and two internationally respected Baroque dancers, Caroline Copeland and Julian Donahue. This richly theatrical concert celebrates the bold, kinetic music of French Baroque master Jean-Philippe Rameau, with performances running February 19-22 at Jeanne Lamon Hall, Trinity-St. Paul's Centre.

Drawn from some of Rameau's most imaginative operas, Rameau and The Art of Dance places music and movement in vivid dialogue. Known as the “Isaac Newton of music,” Jean-Philippe Rameau transformed French Baroque composition through his radical theories of harmony and his fearless, colour-driven orchestration. 

“Rameau's music is pure theatre,” says Cristina Zacharias, Artistic Co-Director of Tafelmusik. “By bringing together Tafelmusik, Juilliard415, and Baroque dancers, this program allows audiences to experience his music as a living, breathing art form, where sound, movement, and drama are inseparable.”

This special collaboration unites Tafelmusik, one of the world's leading historical-performance ensembles, with Juilliard415, The Juilliard School's acclaimed Baroque orchestra,  under the direction of Robert Mealy, Artistic Director of Juilliard's Historical Performance program. Founded in 2009, the program has become a vital force in early-music training, and this Toronto engagement reflects a longstanding artistic exchange between Juilliard and Tafelmusik, with performances spanning Toronto, New York, and Boston.

“The French baroque composer Jean-Philippe Rameau wrote some of the most addictively kinetic dance music ever,” says Robert Mealy. “I'm thrilled to celebrate his genius by bringing Tafelmusik together with our talented graduate students from Juilliard's Historical Performance program, along with two brilliant Baroque dancers who will bring his dances to vivid life.”

Enhancing the concert's theatrical impact are dancers Caroline Copeland and Julian Donahue, whose historically informed movement brings Rameau's scores into three-dimensional focus. Their performances illuminate the close relationship between music, gesture, and drama in French Baroque opera, revealing how rhythm, ornament, and physicality intertwine.

By pairing orchestral brilliance with embodied performance, Rameau and The Art of Dance offers audiences a rare opportunity to experience Baroque music as it was originally imagined: sensuous, expressive, and alive with motion.

Rameau: The Art of Dance

Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra with Juilliard415
Directed by Robert Mealy

Music by Jean-Philippe Rameau
Selections from Rameau's operas and ballets

Featuring Baroque dancers
Caroline Copeland
Julian Donahue

Jeanne Lamon Hall, Trinity-St. Paul's Centre

427 Bloor Street West, Toronto

February 19, 2026, 7:30 pm

February 20, 2026 8:00 pm

February 21, 2026, 8:00 pm

February 22, 2026, 3:00 pm

Running Time: 120 minutes

Style of Music: Baroque orchestral, Dance