Toronto’s Royal Conservatory of Music will devote its annual 21C Music Festival to minimalist composer Terry Riley and feature six world premieres, including two performed by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, which is appearing in the Jan. 16-20 festival for the first time. The TSO will perform Stewart Goodyear’s new piano concerto (“Ur-”) and They do not shimmer like the dry grasses on the hills, or the leaves on the trees by the TSO’s affiliate composer, Emilie LeBel, led by Resident Conductor Simon Rivard; Tania Miller will lead the Canadian premiere of a string orchestra version of Terry Riley’s Half-Wolf Dances Mad in Moonlight and three works by Canadian composers: Dorothy Chang’s “North Star,” Dinuk Wijeratne’s “First Winter,” and Jocelyn Morlock’s Nostalgia. Riley’s music will be performed at three concerts, including one titled “Terry Riley: Live at 85!” During the festival students from the conservatory will perform alongside TSO musicians and the Sō Percussion ensemble; they will also perform two separate programs featuring new music by Anna Höstman and Zosha Di Castri. The Toronto-based Esprit Orchestra will debut Christopher Goddard’s Les tringles des sistres tintaient on January 20, led by Music Director Alex Pauk. Selected concerts will be streamed live at www.rcmusic.com/livestream.
Posted January 16, 2019
