Ensembles

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radia Ensemble is a not-for-profit music group that specializes in the performance of Baroque music and also performs classical chamber, orchestral and vocal repertoire on period instruments.  Aradia endeavours to advance an appreciation and greater public understanding of these repertoires through an annual concert series, tours and recordings.  Aradia is committed to developing and presenting fresh approaches to baroque music by engaging young musicians and embracing creative partnerships that highlight the baroque style through juxtapositions with a range of art forms.The Aradia Ensemble was formed in 1996 as a musicians’ collective, becoming fully professional in 1999. Aradia has worked tirelessly to develop new talent and interest in Baroque music. Under the dynamic leadership of conductor Kevin Mallon, Aradia presents a regular concert series in Toronto, and has toured extensively across Ontario, Canada and internationally (New Zealand, the USA, Ireland and Italy). ​Aradia has a major recording contract with Naxos records, with over 50 CDs, some of which have won or been nominated for international prizes, including a JUNO nomination in 2009 and 2016. Aradia’s most recent recording, of Purcell’s Theatre Music is set to be released in the summer of 2016.  The ensemble has garnered interest in the international press (BBC Music Magazine feature, Gramophone magazine review etc). Over the past ten years Aradia has joined forces with Tornto’s Voicebox/Opera in Concert to produce an annual performance of a major work from the baroque operatic repertoire: Handel’s Semele (2002) and Rameau’s Castor and Pollux (2003), Handel’s Rinaldo (2004),  Handel’s Tamerlano (2005) Vivaldi’s La Griselda (2006), Mozart’s Zaide (2008), Il mondo della luna, by Haydn, (2009), Handel’s Giulio Cesare (2010), Die Freunde von Salamanka by Schubert (2012) Handel’s Orlando (2103). Hippolite et Arice of Rameau (2014).  Aradia has also performed with a wide range of arts organization over the years, including the Isadora Duncan dancers, baroque dancers, Irish musicians, Balinese gamelan, opera companies and opera schools.  Aradia has performed on film soundtracks such as Jim Carey’s Yes Man and the Camelot TV series.  The ensemble has a long history of involvement with education and outreach activities.  The ensemble is the mentor group for The Kingsway Conservatory Strings founded by Aradia violinist Elyssa Lefurgey Smith, which often performs alongside Aradia. The ensemble is well known in Toronto and is often featured the city’s music magazine, Wholenote.

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stablished in 1954 as The Bennington Heights Community Orchestra, with 55 members, Orchestra Toronto has seen an amazing growth in size and musical excellence. Under the direction of Assen Kresteff, its first season — in 1955 — consisted of just one concert. Two years later, Albert Aylward, a 25-year veteran of The Toronto Symphony string section, took up the baton. In 1964, Milton Barnes, a former conductor of the St. Catharines Symphony, became the conductor. The orchestra was incorporated in November 1967 as the East York Symphony and a board of directors was named. Centennial Year also saw the orchestra grow to 63 musicians, and the beginning of a six-season tenure as conductor for Orval Reis.  Reis was followed as music director by Harvey Sachs in 1973-74, Philip Budd, Peter McCoppin and Eugene Kash, a renowned violinist, in 1974-75, David Gray in 1975-77 and Stephen Riches in 1977-78. Clifford Pool, an accomplished teacher, pianist and composer as well as conductor, headed the orchestra from 1977 to ’83. Dvid Ford, head of music at North Toronto Collegiate, took the reins from 1983 to 1990. Guest appearances by mezzo-soprano Janet Stubbs, cellist Dorothy Lawson and pianist William Aide helped bring the orchestra into the national music scene.  Ford was followed by Douglas Sanford, who served from 1991 to 2002 and raised the calibre of performance to new heights. In 1993, the orchestra played for the Canada CIS Foundation in the presence of Mikhail Gorbachev, the former president of the Soviet Union. And during the 1995-96 season, the orchestra took part in a joint project with The Royal Conservatory of Music, allowing young musicians studying performance to obtain orchestral experience. In 1998, with a complement of 90 musicians, the orchestra was renamed Orchestra Toronto. Dr. Errol Gay took over the podium in the 2002- 03 season after being a guest conductor for a several concerts the season before. The music director of orchestras in New York, Texas and North Carolina, he was from 1970 to ’76 a conductor and chorus master with the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto. A popular guest conductor with orchestras throughout Canada, he was for several seasons assistant musical director of the Charlottetown Festival and music adviser and conductor of the Hart House Orchestra at the University of Toronto. In 2010, he retired at the end of six illustrious years with Orchestra Toronto.  Danielle Lisboa joined the orchestra as apprentice conductor in the fall of 2009, soon was appointed assistant conductor and in the spring of 2010 was chosen to succeed Errol Gay as music director.  Kevin Mallon was appointed Music Director in 2013 after Lisboa left Toronto to pursue a teaching position in Edmonton.  He was appointed after an exhaustive search involving over 60 candidates.  Orchestra Toronto, which plays a full range of repertoire, has grown to more than 80 players and has become Canada’s largest and most admired community orchestra.  Orchestra Toronto is recognized as one of the best volunteer-based orchestras in Canada — an important resource for dedicated, motivated amateur musicians to rehearse and perform orchestral repertoire for our community. It is committed to providing affordable family entertainment and music education while celebrating its past and looking forward to future accomplishments.

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hirteen Strings Chamber Orchestra, Ottawa’s premiere professional chamber orchestra, was founded in 1976 by conductor Brian Law and string players from the National Arts Centre Orchestra. The orchestra is now directed by Kevin Mallon. The orchestra’s repertoire is diverse – covering music from the Baroque era to 21st century music – having commissioned 100 new works from Canadian composers. The orchestra’s core of thirteen string players is regularly supplemented by guest performers. From baritones to sopranos, from marimba players to Klezmer specialists, guest artists have helped develop Thirteen Strings into one of the best-known and most eclectic chamber orchestras in Canada. The Thirteen Strings Chamber Orchestra presents its own subscription concert series and has collaborated with many arts organizations in Ottawa. These have included: Le Festival de musique sacrée, Ottawa’s Seventeen Voyces, the Music and Beyond festival, the Cantata Singers, Ottawa’s Viennese Winter Ball, the West Fest street festival and the McGill Chamber Orchestra. In December 2013, the annual Christmas Concert was filmed for television and broadcast to over 140 countries on EWTN. Many of its concerts have been broadcast across Canada on CBC Radio and Radio-Canada. The orchestra’s education project, the Junior Thirteen Strings, brings together a pool of talented youngsters to work alongside the professional members of the Thirteen Strings Chamber Orchestra. The Thirteen Strings Chamber Orchestra made its first recording on the Naxos label in June 2014, with a recording of Franz Beck’s six symphonies, opus 2.

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oronto Chamber Orchestra is the brainchild of violinist and conductor Kevin Mallon. The orchestra is the “modern instrument” manifestation of the period instrument orchestra the Aradia Ensemble. As such, the players also play baroque instruments and all are well versed in stylistic issues from the 18th century to the modern day. The orchestra’s approach is to extend to all periods of music the transparency and purity of tone one achieves with period instruments. The orchestra has recorded fifteen CDs for the Naxos label (symphonies of W.Pichl, L.Mozart, F.Beck, Vanhall, Ordonnez and overtures by D. Cimarosa as well as three CDs of symphonies of J.Haydn). In addition the orchestra has embarked on a series of new commissions, collaborating with bassoonist by Nadina Mackie Jackson and trumpeter Guy Few. This collaboration has resulted in two CD recordings: Bachanale- with premiers by Mathieu Lucier as well as a more recent recording of classical repertoire (including the Hummel trumpet and bassoon concerti). The orchestra draws players from the best orchestras in Toronto, with principal players from the Toronto Symphony, the Canadian Opera Orchestra, the Canadian Ballet Orchestra, Tafelmusik and Aradia Ensemble.

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est Side Chamber Orchestra, although playing on modern instruments, is influenced by historically informed performance practice and intends to add a significant voice to New York City’s cultural landscape.  Against the backdrop of constant cuts to the arts and a faltering work environment, a group of New York City’s finest classical musicians banded together under the leadership of oboist Kathy Halvorson and founded the West Side Chamber Orchestra.
The orchestra specializes in the classical repertoire of music of the Enlightenment.  The style of performance is unashamedly based around historical performance practice, even though the orchestra plays on modern instruments.  This approach allows for fleet and agile tempi and a transparency of texture.  Our enthusiastic Irish conductor Kevin Mallon, – one time concert-master for the French ensemble Les Arts Florissants and a protégé of John Eliot Gardiner – brings his vast experience to lead the enterprise.