Toronto, Glenn Gould Studio, Kindred Spirits Orchestra
I love the Glenn Gould Studio. I like the look of it the openness of the studio and the acoustics. It’s also at 250 Front St. which is a very handy location for me to get to.
The attraction here was Mozart’s Coronation Mass with Kristian Alexander Conductor or rather I should say the Coronation Mass at Glenn Gould Studio as I hadn’t heard of Kristian before.
What a treat we had in store for us. It was a full evening of Mozart, starting with his Overture to Don Giovanni followed up with Symphony no. 41”Jupiter” and the final 30 minutes of the performance was after intermission the Coronation Mass played in C Major.
They were all magnificent and left me grinning ear to ear. The orchestra was of course conducted by the extremely able Kristian Alexander, the choir directed by Ron Cheung and Alexa Petrenko acted as the host. There was none of that shshsh kind of behaviour you so often encounter at musical performances. The introductions and explanations were lively, forthright and buoyant.
So thank you to Glenn Gould for introducing me to the Kindred Spirits Orchestra who appear to be out of Markham Ontario a quick 30 minute jaunt up the Don Valley if you live on the east side of downtown Toronto. Riverdale to the Beach or parts of Scarboro or Don Mills. If you are car less then you could take a group and even rent a zip car www.zipcar.ca for the evening.
I grabbed a copy of their 2011/2012 season. If you are tired of the elevated pricing of the TSO or are a family with a bunch of kids you would like to teach about good music this may be a great option for you.
Tickets to all performance are $15.00/$25.00 and 30 minutes before performances there is a pre-concert chat in the foyer. You could give a family of four a great evening out and an excellent education starting at $60.00. Very doable for most.
They are playing Mendelssohn’s Italian Symphony in November and Handel’s Messiah on December the 15th. Tickets can be bought singly or in blocks of 3/4/5 with discounts of up to 20% on the price depending on how many you purchase. You can grab at ticket to one of their concerts at 905-489-4620 and the theatre website is www.markhamtheatre.ca which is located at Highway 7 and Warden Ave.
I have been sitting in my garden feeding the squirrels with my dog at my feet as I write this for you. One nervy little begger just tried to drag my roughly 1.5 pound bag of peanuts off up a tree. It is amazing what they will try to do.
By the way the woman sitting beside me at this concert informed me that Rush Seats are available at the Glenn Gould and she had acquired hers 30 minutes before the concert for $10.00.This might not be ideal for a family as there may not always be enough available but if you are a single or a couple it can work quite well.