TD Jazz Series: Devoted to Dizzy, Violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg and More Set for Royal Conservatory, April 2013

Related: The Royal Conservatory, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg

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The Royal Conservatory has announced its upcoming concerts, featuring the TD Jazz Series: Devoted to Dizzy, the conservatory debuts of organist Cameron Carpenter, pianist Daniil Trifonov and violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, as well as the return of Allen Toussaint and Mark O'Connor to Koerner Hall. Details below!

The TD Jazz Series: Devoted to Dizzy concert series continues with the Dave Young-Terry Promane Octet and The Heavyweights Brass Band with special guests Claudio Roditi and Giovanni Hidalgo on April 13. Recently nominated for a Juno Award for their latest CD, the Dave Young-Terry Promane Octet is joined by sublime trumpeter Claudio Roditi, former member of Dizzy's United Nation Orchestra. The evening opens with monster percussionist Giovanni Hidalgo and a young Toronto collective, The Heavyweights Brass Band, which is emerging as one of the most exciting new acts on the Canadian jazz scene. Inspired by the New Orleans brass band tradition, The Heavyweights' original stance keeps one foot firmly rooted in the rich legacy of jazz, while the other foot is dancing.

April also includes two orchestral concerts, care of the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony and the Royal Conservatory Orchestra. The KWS joins Cameron Carpenter, the maverick of the 21st century organ, on April 7. Carpenter's performance has been described by The New York Times as "flamboyant presentation [that] goes hand in hand with unquestioned virtuosity." He performs his Scandal for organ and orchestra, as well as solo pieces and spontaneous improvisations with audience participation. The Royal Conservatory Orchestra is conducted by rising star Tito Muñoz on April 12. The program, which will also feature piano soloist Rudin Lengo, winner of the annual Glenn Gould School Concerto Competition, consists of Stewart Goodyear's Count Up; Franz Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 1 in E-flat Major, S. 124; and Hector Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique, Op. 14. A Prelude Recital, featuring students and faculty of The Glenn Gould School, precedes the RCO concert, starting at 6:45pm in Koerner Hall.

Pianist Daniil Trifonov and violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg make their Koerner Hall debuts on April 14 and 19 respectively. As part of the Invesco Piano Series, the charismatic young Russian Trifonov, who has been described as "freakishly brilliant" by The Washington Post, presents a program of Alexander Scriabin's Piano Sonata No. 2 in G-sharp Minor, Op.19 "Sonata-Fantasie"; Franz Liszt's Piano Sonata in B Minor, S.178; and Sergei Rachmaninov's Variations on a Theme of Chopin, Op.22. Electrifying and fearless, Salerno-Sonnenberg is accompanied by pianist Anne-Marie McDermott in a program titled "Dark & Light." The journey starts with Arvo Pärt's short and hauntingly beautiful Spiegel im Spiegel (Mirror in the Mirror), and connects, without a break, to the ominous F minor opening of Sergei Prokofiev's powerful Sonata No. 1. The second half of the performance features César Franck's popular Violin Sonata in A Major.

Other concerts in Koerner Hall include New Orleans living legend pianist Allen Toussaint and guitarist, songwriter, and Grammy nominated recording artist David Bromberg on April 5 . Toussaint, who is making a return visit to The Conservatory, is famous for writing songs like Working in the Coalmine, Ride Your Pony, Riverboat, Get Out of My Life, Woman, and dozens of other classics; Bromberg artfully interprets blues, folk, rock, jazz, pop, bluegrass, and gospel. On April 6, jazz vocalist Jane Monheit is joined by another returning artist, fiddler Mark O'Connor. Monheit burst onto the jazz scene in the late 1990s and is now touring her 10th CD, Home. O'Connor's fiddle work has "a wildness that only a supernatural talent could contain, much less harness into eloquent playing." (The Arizona Daily Star) Together, they turn Koerner Hall into an intimate living room swinging with beloved songs from the Great American Songbook.

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