Esprit's 2005/06 Season

Explore the New Century with Esprit

          Esprit's 23rd season opens Thursday, October 27, 2005, with a revival of traditional forms through a fresh approach. A must-see performance of R. Murray Schafer's love songs features mezzo-soprano Eleanor James, and is followed by Harry Freedman's symphonic synthesis of music from the opera Mario and the Magician by Harry Somers. Marc-André Dalbavie, currently one of the most prominent French composers, will receive his Toronto orchestral premiere. Finally, Esprit's featured composer for the season, José Evangelista, launches the first of three of his works performed by Esprit this season

          On Thursday, December 1, 2005, Esprit moves to the Metropolitan United Church for a program that uses its exceptional space to its fullest resonating potential. The masterpiece Ice Field by Henry Brant will be performed using one of the largest organs in Canada. Charles Ives' piece is a celebrated work of mystery and awe, while John Rea pays homage to the fantastic textures and optical illusions found in the paintings of Vasarely. A profoundly spiritual work by the brilliant Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov (who is rarely heard in North America) will bring the concert to an uplifting close.

          Youth and experience blend together on Thursday, March 9, 2006 (Rescheduled to June 1st, 2006 *) , when Esprit is joined onstage by performers from the Glenn Gould School and students from Toronto area high schools in works by Schafer and Louie originally composed to include such young musicians. Schafer's North/White is a statement on the ecological devastation of the north (featuring a real snowmobile for dramatic effect) as well as a portrait of its beauty; while Louie's work transforms itself from a depiction of electronic images from space into a stream of contemporary string sonorities with fragments of Glenn Gould's favourite classical pieces surfacing and resurfacing. The concert is completed by Jose Evangelista's "song collection" based on 17 traditional melodies from different regions in Spain.

          On Thursday, March 23, 2006, Esprit will give the world premieres of two exciting pieces (commissioned by Esprit) from accomplished Canadian composers, Alice Ping Yee Ho and Glenn Buhr (Buhr is also featured as piano soloist in his work). Brian Current's dynamic piece, commissioned by the Indianapolis Symphony and New York's American Composers' Orchestra as well as Phillipe Leroux's spectacular and virtuosic (d')Aller will both be receiving their Toronto premiere.

          Esprit's last concert of the season on Thursday, May 18, 2006, serves as a finale for Esprit's 2006 New Wave Composers Festival and features Esprit-commissioned works by two young Canadian composers, Good and Ross. The concert will also feature a repeat performance of the exhilarating Sublimations by André Ristic, a work commissioned and premiered by Esprit in 2004. The program will also include the series' third dazzling work by José Evangelista, Esprit's featured composer of the season. This year's New Wave Festival takes place between May 15 and May 18.

   * Please note that Esprit's March 9th concert has been rescheduled to June
1st, 2006 with repertoire slightly changed to allow the programme to
serve as the Opening Concert of the soundaXis Festival. Concert program
is currently being finalized.

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