The Royal Conservatory Shares September and October Concert Lineup

Since opening on September 25, 2009 - the birthday of Royal Conservatory alumnus Glenn Gould - Koerner Hall has established a reputation as one of the world's great concert halls and has emerged as one of Canada's musical hubs. It has hosted more than 2,000 events, including nearly 1,000 concerts, reaching over 1,000,000 individuals in the GTA and around the world through recordings, touring and Livestreams. Koerner Hall holds a special place in the hearts of performers and audience members alike for its architectural beauty and acoustic excellence, and it has also become the preferred home to dozens of cultural organizations in the Greater Toronto Area.

More than half of all concerts at Koerner Hall that The Royal Conservatory has presented have featured Canadian artists. The hall has also become an invaluable training ground for students of The Royal Conservatory's Glenn Gould School and Phil and Eli Taylor Performance Academy for Young Artists.

The diverse range of concerts and events presented over the last 10 years has enabled Koerner Hall to become a meeting place for Toronto's cultural communities. It is home to the Grammy Award-nominated ARC Ensemble (Artists of The Royal Conservatory)as well as KUNÉ - Canada's Global Orchestra, the latter comprised of 10 new Canadian musicians from around the world and one Métis Canadian, united by a desire to transcend cultural differences through the universal language of music.

Mervon Mehta, Executive Director of Performing Arts, said: "this 11th concert season consists of 97 concerts and events, including 23 featuring Canadian artists. 37 artists will make their Koerner Hall debuts, including groundbreaking artists Susan Aglukark and Laurie Anderson; Peter Sellars's brilliant staging of Lagrime di San Pietro; and we will present world premieres by Oscar Peterson, Danilo Pérez, Allison Au, and Barbara Croall. In 2019-20, we embark on a two-season exploration of Ludwig van Beethoven celebrating his 250th birthday. Of course, we will also welcome back some of closest our friends, including Daniil Trifonov, Mavis Staples, Lisa Fischer, and Sir András Schiff. Toronto audiences are among the most adventurous music consumers on the planet, which allows us to present artists from 40 countries who bring their worlds to us."

Concerts in September and October:

Quiet Please, There's A Lady On Stage

The series featuring great female voices, inspired by Australian songwriter Peter Allen's song, "Quiet Please, There's a Lady on Stage," (which he wrote for his mother-in-law, Judy Garland), starts its fifth season with Lizz Wright and Catherine Russell onOctober 30. Jazz and blues singer Catherine Russell's stalwart, soulful, powerful voice can be heard on more than 200 recordings with artists from David Bowie to Paul Simon to Joan Osborne. Lizz Wright has a voice that The New York Times touts as "a smooth, dark alto possessed of qualities you might associate with barrel-aged bourbon or butter-soft leather."

Music Mix

Mary Chapin Carpenter & Shawn Colvin will return to Koerner Hall with a concert titled Together On Stage. Grammy Award winners and close friends, they have been described as "two of the best songwriters ever to pick up a pen" (Cleveland Plain Dealer). They share the stage to play their hits, including Carpenter's "Passionate Kisses" and Colvin's "Sunny Came Home," on October 16.

One of Canada's finest artists, Bruce Cockburn has enjoyed an illustrious career shaped by politics, spirituality, and musical diversity. His remarkable journey has seen him embrace folk, jazz, rock, and world beat styles while travelling to such far-flung places as Guatemala, Mali, Mozambique, and Nepal, and writing memorable songs about his ever-expanding world of wonders OnOctober 19 he returns to Koerner Hall to perform a solo concert in support of his 34th album, Crowing Ignites.

Banjo superstar, sublime vocalist, and critics' darling, Rhiannon Giddens makes her Koerner Hall debut on October 24 with intricate songs from Appalachia and the Deep South of America. She teams up with Italian jazz pianist and percussionist Francesco Turrisi, and together they reimagine the journey of musical instruments from Africa and the Middle East, through southern Europe and England, and over to the Americas.

Presented in association with Istituto Italiano di Cultura

TD Jazz Concerts

Three virtuosos appear together on October 18 in a concert that is already sold out. American jazz pianist Chick Corea's newest trio features the Grammy Award-winning pianist in the company of a stellar rhythm tandem: one of the most outstanding talents and celebrated musicians of his generation, bassist Christian McBride (Sting, Pat Metheny, McCoy Tyner), and drummer extraordinaireBrian Blade (Herbie Hancock, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, and the Wayne Shorter Quartet).

Classical Music Concerts

Chamber Music Concerts

The Amici Chamber Ensemble (clarinetist Joaquin Valdepeñas, cellist David Hetherington, and pianist Serouj Kradjian) has a 30-year legacy of innovative, evocative programming and a passion for presenting the best chamber music and musicians. OnOctober 25, for their multi-faceted celebration of the 150th birthday of the "soul of Armenian music," Father Komitas Vartabed, they have invited Canadian baritone Russell Braun and Armenian-Canadian soprano Lynn Isnar as well as the Elmer Iseler Singers, the Canadian Children's Opera Company, Young Voices Toronto, and the Hamazkayin Toronto "Erepuni" Dance Ensemble.

Co-presented with Amici Chamber Ensemble

Invesco Piano Concerts

Awarded Knighthood by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in 2014, Hungarian-born Sir András Schiff is world-renowned and critically acclaimed as a pianist, conductor, pedagogue, and lecturer. His piano performances continually awe and inspire: "He found song where others find formula; he conveyed song where others play scales," raves the Los Angeles Times. He made his Royal Conservatory debut during Koerner Hall's inaugural concert season and October 26 will mark his sixth appearance in the Hall, with a program of Beethoven and Schumann.

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

RCO Concerts

On the podium, Tania Miller projects authority, dynamism, and sheer love of the experience of making music, and, as the Hartford Courant put it, she delivers "a calm intensity ... expressive, colourful and full of life ... her experience and charisma are audible." The recipient of the 2017 Friends of Canadian Music award from the Canadian League of Composers and Canadian Music Centre, she will lead the Royal Conservatory Orchestra on September 27 in Ravel's Le carnaval romain, Prokofiev's Symphony No. 5, and Ravel's Piano Concerto in G Major with pianist Godwin Friesen.

Mazzoleni Masters

Violinist Erika Raum, known for her "individuality and warm, communicative tone" (Muzsika, Budapest), is joined by violist Barry Shiffman and cellist Tom Wiebe to perform monumental works by three of Hungary's most beloved composers in a concert titled A Hungarian Trilogy on October 20. The program will include works by Bartók, Kodály, and Dohnányi.

Free Concerts

The Royal Conservatory is pleased to present the fourth season of Sunday Interludes - Sunday afternoon concerts that bring a mix of jazz, cabaret, world, and classical music, all for free. David Ramsden's "There's a Lady on Stage" will open the series onOctober 6, with a starry lineup of Lori Yates, Tabby Johnson, and Theresa Tova.

The Phil and Eli Taylor Performance Academy for Young Artists presents the first Taylor Academy Showcase Concert onOctober 19, featuring leading young classical musicians in Canada aged 8-18.

Music on Film

For the seventh consecutive season, the Music on Film series takes place at the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema as Hot Docs andThe Royal Conservatory together showcase inspiring music documentaries that explore different musical genres. The first film in the series, Tibet in Song (D: Ngawang Choephel, 86 min, 2009, USA), will be screened on September 24. When exiled musician and director Ngawang Choephel returned to his native Tibet in 1995 to record folk songs indigenous to his country, he was arrested by Chinese authorities and sent to prison for 18 years. From the early days of the Chinese invasion to the Dalai Lama's flight into exile in 1959, the Sundance-prized Tibet in Song is a compelling look at a country willing to fight for the existence of its unique cultural heritage.

Mavis! (D: Jessica Edwards, 81 min, 2015, USA) will screen on October 29. From gospel to folk, pop to R&B, blues to rock, Mavis Staples has covered it all. In this spirited portrait of the living legend, hailed as one of America's defining voices of freedom and peace, the 80-year-old vocal legend reveals intimate tales of her life, both onstage and off. The film weaves together renditions of her music, including "I'll Take You There," "Let's Do It Again," and "Why Am I Treated So Bad," and interviews with the likes of Bob Dylan, Bonnie Raitt, and Chuck D.

Both films will be followed by a short musical performance and Q&A hosted by Mervon Mehta.

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