ESPRIT ORCHESTRA PRESENTS RUNNER PRELUDE CONCERT AT KOERNER HALL

TORONTO, ON – On Sunday, February 23rd, 2025, Esprit Orchestra’s 2024/25 concert season continues with Runner, the second of two Prelude Concerts leading to the Edge of Your Seat International Festival in the Spring. Music Director Alex Pauk will lead the orchestra through three concerti featuring local soloists and a Canadian Premiere of a new work by American composer Steve Reich. This concert will be preceded by Musical Insights (formerly Pre-Concert Talks) with composer Alexina Louie and special guests at 7:15PM. 

Composed in 2016 for a large ensemble of winds, percussion, pianos and strings, Steve Reich’s luminous Runner will receive its Canadian Premiere performance at the top of this concert. Comprising five continuous movements, the piece is built around different rhythmic durations beginning with sixteenths, then eighths, quarters, before following the same pattern in reverse to form an ABCBA structure. In classic Reich fashion, pairs of pianos and vibraphones serve as the rhythmic anchor for the music while the winds and strings shimmer and echo the melodies almost in the style of a round. 

The concert will feature acclaimed Canadian harpist Erica Goodman performing the Concerto for Harp and Orchestra composed for her in 2005 by Esprit Music Director Alex Pauk. A virtuosic tour-de-force for one of the great harpists of our time, the piece draws on materials from the composer's richly varied musical background to form a kind of musical self-portrait. 

Following acclaimed performances with Esprit last season, violinist Mark Fewer and pianist Kevin Ahfat return to perform Hans Abrahamsen’s introspective Double Concerto. Conceived in 2011, this work engages the soloists in delicate interplay through a series of distilled, poetic moments. On this piece, music critic Kate Molleson remarked, “Like a fairytale or a winter landscape, he takes what is familiar and transforms it, allowing us to experience it, and perhaps ourselves, afresh.”

This concert will conclude with a feat of invigorating virtuosity by way of Henryk Gorecki’s relentless Harpsichord Concerto. On this occasion, Esprit will be joined by the exceptional local harpsichordist Wesley Shen, among today’s champions of contemporary harpsichord performance. Set in two rapid movements, the work comprises driving rhythmic intensity and chordal dissonance to produce a striking musical explosion full of power and vigor. 

ESPRIT ORCHESTRA PRESENTS F(X)=SEASON OPENING PRELUDE CONCERT AT KOERNER HALL

TORONTO, ON – On Wednesday, November 27th, 2024, Esprit Orchestra will kick-off the 2024/25 concert season with f(x)=, the first of two Prelude Concerts leading to the Edge of Your Seat International Festival in the spring. Music Director Alex Pauk will lead the orchestra, now in their 42nd season, through works by composers spanning three continents. This concert will be preceded by Musical Insights (formerly Pre-Concert Talks) with composer Alexina Louie and special guests at 7:15PM. 

f(x)=sin2x-1/x, by the rising-star American composer Gabriella Smith, invites the listener to consider, “What would f(x)=sin2x-1/x sound like? The answer: It sounds like this piece! The equation produces a curved line that dictates and illustrates the form of the work, in the same way that traditional rondo and sonata forms are used. f(x)=sin2x-1/x musically follows the shape of the line below, beginning softly before building to a vigorous finale perfectly befitting the grand opening of Esprit’s season. Later this season, Esprit will revisit the music of Smith with performances of Imaginary Pancake and Carrot Revolution. This performance marks the Canadian Premiere of f(x)=sin2x-1/x.

Accordionist Michael Bridge, among the most compelling and exceptional musicians of his generation, joins Esprit to present the North American Premiere of the searingly beautiful It is pain flowing down slowly on a white wall by Danish composer Bent Sørensen. In the composer’s own words, “ It is music full of slow motion – full of sorrow – full of tangos with no dancers. Maybe I imagined the tears of an accordion player flowing down slowly on the bellow of the instrument.” The accordion is accompanied by the orchestra’s string section, who also double as a choir, employing their voices and, perhaps surprisingly, a chorus of melodicas! Following this performance, Michael Bridge will be presented with the Canada Council for the Arts Virginia Parker Prize. 

Fū-Shi (“Shape of the Wind”) by Japan’s Maki Ishii comprises an East-West fusion of sweeping, epic proportions and rounds out the convergence of diverse cultures on this program. While Smith looked to mathematics for the form of her work, Ishii in this instance has found inspiration in the Far East, employing the three section form “jo-ha-kyū” (preparation-breaking/development-rushing/fast finale), inspired by Japanese “Noh” theatre. Employing large orchestral forces, Fū-Shi begins with a rumble, leading into a section of dynamic development before the frenetic, thrilling finale!