2024
MARKHAM CONTEMPORARY MUSIC FESTIVAL
Markham Contemporary Music Festival has been promoting, since 2011, the performance by local artists of music written worldwide in the 20th and the 21st centuries. An annual event, the Festival also includes lectures and seminars in both English and French, workshops, master-classes, pre-concert chats, intermission discussions, post-concert receptions, documentary films about the life of contemporary composers, and networking events. The Festival encourages local community engagement through activities that celebrate and preserve performing arts.
The 2024 Markham Contemporary Music Festival included the following events:
Concerts
THE MAGIC OF CINEMA
Sunday, March 2, 2025 at 3:00 p.m.
Koerner Hall - TELUS Centre
273 Bloor St W, Toronto, ON M5S 1V6
From the vast reaches of space in a galaxy far far away, to the beauty of Middle Earth, join us for a concert with all of your favourite film scores. Whether transporting you to distinct planets in Star Wars, conjuring magic and mystery in Harry Potter, or rousing the spirit of adventure in Indiana Jones, John Williams, the most famous film composer in history, captures in music the spirit of fantasy, adventure, and imagination. Selections of music from The Lord of the Rings - written by Canadian composer Howard Shore - likewise summons hobbits, magic, and the grandeur of Tolkien’s epic tale. Rounding off the program is music from classics both new (How to Train your Dragon) and old (The Godfather) that are sure to delight listeners of all ages! Movie characters costumes enthusiasts are also welcomed!
Star Wars, Superman
Jurassic Park
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
How to Train your Dragon
Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
Schindler's List
Cinema Paradiso
The Godfather
Kristian Alexander | conductor
Mark Wigmore | host (Classical 96.3 FM)
Maria Jojatu | violinist
Mira Kardan | cellist
THE REVELATION OF JOSEPH
Saturday, November 30, 2024 at 4:00 p.m.
Scarborough Chinese Baptist Church
3223 Kennedy Rd, Toronto ON M1V 4Y1
Anlun Huang, The Revelation of Joseph
(Canadian première)
FREE ADMISSION
BEGINNINGS AND ENDINGS
Saturday, June 29, 2024 at 8:00 p.m.
CBC Glenn Gould Studio
250 John St. West, Toronto ON M5T 1X5
Markham Contemporary Music Festival presents the Canadian début of the General Director of the Bucharest National Opera Daniel Jinga. Daniel Wnukowski performs César Franck’s Symphonic Variations, a late-Romantic cyclic work in three parts in which the main theme grows and transforms into the thematic material of subsequent movements. Vincent D’Indy’s Symphonie sur un Chant Montagnard Français (Symphony on a French Mountain Air) begins with a pentatonic folk tune—which d’Indy heard in a French village overlooking the Cévennes—that then becomes the thematic basis for the subsequent movements. Closing the program is Georges Bizet’s Symphony in C; one of the composers earliest symphonic works, Symphony in C was composed at the Paris Conservatory when Bizet was only seventeen. The symphony shares similarities to the work of Bizet’s teacher, Charles Gounod, but has been hailed as a masterpiece of the Romantic repertoire.
Daniel Jinga | conductor, Daniel Vnukowski | pianist, Jürgen Petrenko | host
7:10 p.m. Prélude: pre-concert recital.
7:20 p.m. Pre-concert talk.
Intermission discussion and Q&A with Daniel Jinga and Daniel Vnukowski.
Co-presented with the Kindred Spirits Orchestra.
A ROMANTIC EVENING
Saturday, June 22, 2024 at 8:00 p.m.
Meridian Arts Centre - George Weston Recital Hall
5040 Yonge St, Toronto ON M2N 6R8
Daniel Vnukowski performs César Franck’s Symphonic Variations, a late-Romantic cyclic work in three parts in which the main theme grows and transforms into the thematic material of subsequent movements. Vincent D’Indy’s Symphonie sur un Chant Montagnard Français (Symphony on a French Mountain Air) begins with a pentatonic folk tune—which d’Indy heard in a French village overlooking the Cévennes—that then becomes the thematic basis for the subsequent movements. Closing the program is Georges Bizet’s Symphony in C: a youthful work composed at the Paris Conservatory when Bizet was only seventeen, Symphony in C shares similarities to the work of Bizet’s teacher, Charles Gounod, but has been hailed as a masterpiece of the Romantic repertoire.
Kristian Alexander | conductor, Daniel Vnukowski | pianist, Jürgen Petrenko | host
7:10 p.m. Prélude (pre-concert recital)
7:20 p.m. Pre-concert talk in the foyer of the Meridian Arts Centre
Intermission discussion with Jürgen Petrenko and Daniel Vnukowski
Post-concert Champagne reception and meet-and-greet the musicians
Co-presented with the Kindred Spirits Orchestra.
CELEBRATION OF CULTURE AND HERITAGE
Saturday, June 15 and Sunday, June 16, 2024
10 am, 11 am, 12 pm, 1 pm, 2 pm, 3 pm, 4 pm, 5 pm and 6 pm
Cornell Recital Hall, 3201 Bur Oak Ave., Markham ON L6B 0T2
Over 200 local young artists perform musical pieces written by various composers worldwide.
STRAVINSKY AND HINDEMITH
Saturday, June 8, 2024 at 8:00 p.m.
Cornell Recital Hall
3201 Bur Oak Ave, Markham ON L6B 0T2
Markham Contemporary Music Festival presents the music of Stravinsky and Hindemith. Stravinsky’s Symphonies of Wind Instruments uses rhythmic, harmonic, and melodic devices reminiscent of The Rite of Spring, but is orchestrated for only wind instruments, and uses the plural form—Symphonies—not to denote the piece’s formal construction, but rather to invoke the broader term meaning ‘to sound together.’ Henry From then brings to life the same composer’s Concerto for Piano and Winds—a neo-Romantic work with unusual performing forces, since concerti were typically for a solo instrument and orchestra. In Paul Hindemith’s Konzertmusik the piano, harps, and winds appear to be odds with one another, with the former playing in a highly chromatic, atonal idiom, and the latter in a more melodic vein.
Kristian Alexander | conductor, Henry From | pianist
7:10 p.m. Prélude (pre-concert recital)
7:20 p.m. Pre-concert talk
Intermission discussion with Henry From
Post-concert Champagne reception and meet-and-greet the musicians
PER ASPERA AD ASTRA
Friday, April 12, 2024 at 8:00 p.m.
Flato Markham Theatre
171 Town Centre Blvd, Markham ON L3R 8G6
Manuel de Falla’s The Three-cornered Hat suite draws its music from de Falla’s ballet of the same name, which uses harmonic and melodic idioms derived from traditional Andalusian folk music, flamenco style, and the cante jondo, and had sets designed Pablo Picasso. One of the greatest contemporary interpreters of Chopin, internationally renowned pianist Ludmil Angelov then performs Frédéric Chopin’s virtuosic Piano Concerto No. 2. Tchaikovsky’s Symphony no. 5 can be heard as a per aspera ad astra narrative: through hardship to the stars. It’s cyclical structure, in which the same motif recurs in all three movements, begins in E minor, and gradually makes its way through a large-scale cycle of subdominants, to E major in the final movement.
Kristian Alexander | conductor, Ludmil Angelov | pianist
7:10 p.m. Prélude (pre-concert recital)
7:20 p.m. Pre-concert talk
Intermission discussion with Ludmil Angelov
Post-concert Champagne reception and meet-and-greet the musicians
WIND SYMPHONIES
Saturday, April 6, 2024 at 8:00 p.m.
Cornell Recital Hall
3201 Bur Oak Ave, Markham ON L6B 0T2
Stravinsky’s Symphonies of Wind Instruments uses rhythmic, harmonic, and melodic devices reminiscent of The Rite of Spring, but is orchestrated for only wind instruments, and uses the plural form—Symphonies—not to denote the piece’s formal construction, but rather to invoke the broader term meaning ‘to sound together.’ Henry From then brings to life the same composer’s Concerto for Piano and Winds—a neo-Romantic work with unusual performing forces, since concerti were typically for a solo instrument and orchestra. In Paul Hindemith’s Konzertmusik the piano, harps, and winds appear to be odds with one another, with the former playing in a highly chromatic, atonal idiom, and the latter in a more melodic vein.
Kristian Alexander | conductor, Henry From | pianist
7:10 p.m. Prélude (pre-concert recital)
7:20 p.m. Pre-concert talk
Intermission discussion with Henry From
Post-concert Champagne reception and meet-and-greet the musicians
ADRIEL SLOSS
Tuesday, April 2, 2024 at 8:00 p.m.
Cornell Recital Hall
3201 Bur Oak Ave, Markham ON L6B 0T2
Violinist Adriel Sloss plays Mozart's Concerto for Violin and orchestra No. 5.
7:10 p.m. Prélude (pre-concert recital)
7:20 p.m. Pre-concert talk
Intermission discussion
Open Rehearsals
Tuesday, June 4, 2024 at 7 pm
Cornell Recital Hall, 3201 Bur Oak Ave., Markham ON L6B 0T2
Maestro Kristian Alexander leads the Kindred Spirits Orchestra in an open rehearsal of works by Bizet, d'indy and Franck.
Tuesday, June 11, 2024 at 7 pm
Cornell Recital Hall, 3201 Bur Oak Ave., Markham ON L6B 0T2
Polish Canadian pianist Daniel Vnukowsky presents works by d'indy and Franck.
Friday, June 14, 2024 at 7 pm
Cornell Recital Hall, 3201 Bur Oak Ave., Markham ON L6B 0T2
Maestro Matheus Coelho leads the Kindred Spirits Orchestra in an open rehearsal featuring pieces by contemporary composers.
Tuesday, June 18, 2024 at 7 pm
Cornell Recital Hall, 3201 Bur Oak Ave., Markham ON L6B 0T2
Maestro Kristian Alexander leads the Kindred Spirits Orchestra in an open rehearsal featuring pieces by contemporary composers.
Friday, June 21, 2024 at 7 pm
Cornell Recital Hall, 3201 Bur Oak Ave., Markham ON L6B 0T2
Maestro Kristian Alexander leads the Kindred Spirits Orchestra in an open rehearsal featuring pieces by contemporary composers.
Tuesday, June 25, 2024 at 7 pm
Cornell Recital Hall, 3201 Bur Oak Ave., Markham ON L6B 0T2
Maestro Daniel Jinga leads the Kindred Spirits Orchestra in an open rehearsal featuring pieces by contemporary composers.
Wednesday, June 26, 2024 at 7 pm
Cornell Recital Hall, 3201 Bur Oak Ave., Markham ON L6B 0T2
Maestro Matheus Coelho leads the Kindred Spirits Orchestra in an open rehearsal featuring pieces by contemporary composers.
Friday, June 28, 2024 at 7 pm
Cornell Recital Hall, 3201 Bur Oak Ave., Markham ON L6B 0T2
Maestro Daniel Jinga leads the Kindred Spirits Orchestra in an open rehearsal featuring pieces by contemporary composers.
Tuesday, April 5, 2024 at 7 pm
Cornell Recital Hall, 3201 Bur Oak Ave., Markham ON L6B 0T2
Open dress rehearsal with American pianist Henry From and Maestro Kristian Alexander.
Exhibits
WORLD MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
Monday through Friday from June 3 to June 28, 2024from 3 pm to 6 pm
MCMF Rehearsal Hall
3a-50 Innovator Ave (2nd fl.), Stouffville ON L4A 0Y2
Open visit of the World Musical Instruments Collection. Includes authentic instruments by Indigenous artists. Tickets are required for a specific day and time.
April 3 to April 12, 2024 from 1 pm to 6 pm
MCMF Rehearsal Hall
3a-50 Innovator Ave (2nd fl.), Stouffville ON L4A 0Y2
Open visit of the World Musical Instruments Collection. Includes authentic instruments by Indigenous artists. Tickets are required for a specific day and time.
Lectures and Films
SHOSTAKOVICH AGAINST STALIN
Sunday, June 23, 2024 at 6 pmMCMF Rehearsal Hall
3a-50 Innovator Ave (2nd fl.), Stouffville ON L4A 0Y2
Larry Weinstein’s film examines the harrowing subject of Stalin’s bloody purges and Shostakovich’s musical response. Described by the composer as his “tombstones”, Symphonies 4 to 9 represent the composer’s weapons against Stalin’s tyranny, and remain powerful testimony to a great artist’s struggle against oppression.
WE WANT THE LIGHT
Monday, June 17, 2024 at 6:00 pm
MCMF Rehearsal Hall
3a-50 Innovator Ave (2nd fl.), Stouffville ON L4A 0Y2
A film about freedom and captivity, about emancipation, acculturation and assimilation. A film about the roles played by Moses and Felix Mendelssohn in the dream of fruitful, unproblematic integration of the Jews into German society after their liberation from the ghettos. A film about Richard Wagner, his essay “The Jews in Music” and his influence on the thinking of the Third Reich. Most of all, it is a film about how much music can mean to people even in the direst circumstances.
AN AMERICAN IN PARIS
Wednesday, June 5, 2024 at 5 pmMCMF Rehearsal Hall
3a-50 Innovator Ave (2nd fl.), Stouffville ON L4A 0Y2
A 1951 American musical comedy film inspired by the 1928 orchestral composition by George Gershwin. Starring Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron (her film debut), Oscar Levant, Georges Guétary, and Nina Foch, the film is set in Paris, and was directed by Vincente Minnelli from a script by Alan Jay Lerner. The music is by George Gershwin, with lyrics by his brother Ira, with additional music by Johnny Green, and Saul Chaplin, the music directors.
SHOSTAKOVICH AGAINST STALIN
Thursday, April 11, 2024 at 7:30 pm
MCMF Rehearsal Hall
3a-50 Innovator Ave (2nd fl.), Stouffville ON L4A 0Y2
Larry Weinstein’s film examines the harrowing subject of Stalin’s bloody purges and Shostakovich’s musical response. Described by the composer as his “tombstones”, Symphonies 4 to 9 represent the composer’s weapons against Stalin’s tyranny, and remain powerful testimony to a great artist’s struggle against oppression.
WE WANT THE LIGHT
Monday, April 8, 2024 at 7:30 pm
MCMF Rehearsal Hall
3a-50 Innovator Ave (2nd fl.), Stouffville ON L4A 0Y2
A film about freedom and captivity, about emancipation, acculturation and assimilation. A film about the roles played by Moses and Felix Mendelssohn in the dream of fruitful, unproblematic integration of the Jews into German society after their liberation from the ghettos. A film about Richard Wagner, his essay “The Jews in Music” and his influence on the thinking of the Third Reich. Most of all, it is a film about how much music can mean to people even in the direst circumstances.
AN AMERICAN IN PARIS
Thursday, April 4, 2024 at 7:30 pm
MCMF Rehearsal Hall
3a-50 Innovator Ave (2nd fl.), Stouffville ON L4A 0Y2
A 1951 American musical comedy film inspired by the 1928 orchestral composition by George Gershwin. Starring Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron (her film debut), Oscar Levant, Georges Guétary, and Nina Foch, the film is set in Paris, and was directed by Vincente Minnelli from a script by Alan Jay Lerner. The music is by George Gershwin, with lyrics by his brother Ira, with additional music by Johnny Green, and Saul Chaplin, the music directors.
Workshops
Composition Workshop I
Tuesday, June 4, 2024 at 6 pm
Cornell Recital Hall, 3201 Bur Oak Ave., Markham ON L6B 0T2
Composition workshop (part 1 - artistic expression through contemporary writing techniques) for young Canadian composers.
Composition Workshop II
Tuesday, June 11, 2024 at 6 pm
Cornell Recital Hall, 3201 Bur Oak Ave., Markham ON L6B 0T2
Composition workshop (part 2 - exploring new ideas in collective writing of contemporary music) for young Canadian composers.
Composition Workshop III
Friday, June 14, 2024 at 6 pm
Cornell Recital Hall, 3201 Bur Oak Ave., Markham ON L6B 0T2
Composition workshop (part 3 - writing music for film and television) for young Canadian composers.
Composition Workshop IV
Tuesday, June 18, 2024 at 6 pm
Cornell Recital Hall, 3201 Bur Oak Ave., Markham ON L6B 0T2
Composition workshop (part 4 - writing music for musical theatre) for young Canadian composers.
Composition Workshop V
Friday, June 21, 2024 at 6 pm
Cornell Recital Hall, 3201 Bur Oak Ave., Markham ON L6B 0T2
Composition workshop (part 5 - writing choral music) for young Canadian composers.
Community Workshop
Tuesday, April 9, 2024 at 7 pm
Cornell Recital Hall, 3201 Bur Oak Ave., Markham ON L6B 0T2
Indigenous music and heritage.
The 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 festivals have been supported by the Tourism Industry Partners, a program of the Government of Ontario through the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport, administered by the Tourism Marketing Partnership Corporation.
