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Music
In the Key of Tafelmusik
What’s new
By Karen Burshtein and Staff
For over four and half decades Toronto’s Tafelmusik has grown a reputation as one of the world’s finest baroque orchestras.
The orchestra plays on original instruments or copies of original instruments from the baroque era (1600–1750), recreating the sound world and aesthetic that Bach or Handel experienced. The term Tafelmusik is table music in German, referencing the intimate nature of concerts.
This year, the ensemble looks to garner even wider acclaim with a playlist of new developments. The biggest announcement: British violinist Rachel Podger, who has been described as “the unsurpassed British glory of the baroque violin” by The London Times, has joined Tafelmusik as the new Principal Guest Director for the highly anticipated 2024–2025 season.
Podger leans in from her new office and describes Tafelmusik’s performances as an “almost familial experience” where she herself enjoys “a shared musical language” with the orchestra that lends itself to an organic quality. Every performance differs from the last, quite like live theatre.
Mixing it up with Mozart
In September Tafelmusik officially opened its season with Mozart’s last symphony, considered his longest and among his best: Symphony No. 41 in C Major, “Jupiter.”
“What better way to start this journey than with a program of scintillating Mozart!” she says, describing how Mozart’s storytelling is woven through his inventive orchestrations. “It’s astounding. The drama at times dark, but his overall sense of joie de vivre is so very life enhancing,” notes Podger.
An Album and an International Tour
The home concerts are only part of a particularly busy year for Tafelmusik.
Soon after the opening season concerts, Tafelmusik released Haydn Symphonies 43 & 49: Mercury & La Passione earlier in October with Podger leading the orchestra from the violin. Presenting Haydn’s symphonies in a new light, Symphony 43 is one of Haydn’s longest symphonies while its nickname “Mercury” is a reference to the quicksilver violin writing of the finale. It’s a symphony boldly lyrical with an uncommon harmonic progression. The darker Symphony 49 or “La Passione” was written during Haydn’s Sturm und Drang period. Podger calls the recording a “dream in the making,” another example of Tafelmusik’s discerning way of mixing things up.
Over two weeks in late fall, South Koreans will be dazzled by “Bach and Baroque Brilliance,” an uncanny interpretation of baroque legends: Bach, Handel, Purcell and others. Tafelmusik’s first tour to Asia since 2016 has seven concerts in five cities. Closer to home, Toronto audiences will be able to enjoy this concert when “Brilliant Baroque” returns with Podger and Tafelmusik onstage together at Jeanne Lamon Hall. (Concert dates: Jan. 31–Feb.2, 2025)
If Tafelmusik takes you on adventures with every piece of music, this concert season feels like it will be something close to a celestial voyage.
Travel Planner
For Tafelmusik concert details and ticket reservations, visit tafelmusik.org
