The Toronto Consort | Ensemble Polaris | Baroque Music Beside the Grange
Baroque Music Beside the Grange
Though Baroque Music beside the Grange has ceased the operation of a full concert series, we continue to collaborate with musicians to offer occasional co-productions. For a short history of BMBG, please see below the concert listings.
Two concerts of note in 2007-08:
October 20, 2007:
TUNES from LOUIS XIV's iPOD
A program of intimate chamber music from the court of Louis XIV – tunes he might have heard during dinner – for two flutes, viol and harpsichord.
Alison Melville and Emma Zoë Green, traversi; Borys Medicky, harpsichord; Justin Haynes, viola da gamba.
February 23, 2008:
The BIRD PROJECT
A full program of music old and new, including works by Bach, Messiaen, Boismortier, Telemann Peter Hannan, Linda Catlin Smith, Ben Grossman, Stephen Dirkes, Debashis Sinha, Alison Melville, Hans Poser, and more; spoken word; and visuals.
Alison Melville, flutes; Andrei Streliaev, piano; and others tba.
(A FREE short program can be heard on February 14 at 12:30 pm at the Four Seasons Centre Atrium.)
Both at St. George the Martyr Church, 197 John St., Toronto.
Founded by musicians and Artistic Directors Alison Melville and Colin Savage, Baroque Music beside the Grange presented an eclectic series of concerts in the historic Church of St. George the Martyr from 1984 to the spring of 2006. Innovative programming of music from the 14th to 21st centuries, with repertoire both familiar and esoteric, garnered BMBG an enthusiastic and loyal audience and a popularity amongst musicians, for whom BMBG was an organization willing to present concerts of varied and unusual repertoire on period instruments. Described as ‘always immensely enjoyable’ (Montage) and ‘a wonderful forum for people to explore repertoire’ (The WholeNote), BMBG’s enduring signature was the quality of their performances and programming, and the informality, friendliness and intimacy of their concert atmosphere.
However, after 22 seasons and 178 concerts, the Artistic Direction and Board of BMBG regretfully decided in the spring of 2006 that it could no longer continue to operate a series. Like many smaller arts organisations, BMBG was administered largely on a volunteer basis. For many reasons which will be all too familiar to anyone in the non-profit sector, the operation of a concert series was no longer manageable.
Banner photos: Paul Orenstein |
