You are welcome to attend these free concerts in person or online at 56 Queen Streeet East! Donations go towards our Music program. Noon at Met concerts are livestreamed in HD here at metunited.ca/live and on our YouTube channel.
In partnership with the Royal Conservatory of Music’s Glenn Gould School and the University of Toronto Faculty of Music, a wide range of singers and instrumentalists present free 45-minute noon hour concerts every Thursday from September 21 to November 30, 2023, and February 1 to May 30, 2024. Canada’s largest pipe organ is also featured prominently, appearing as a solo or accompanying instrument in over half of the concerts. Freewill donations support the ongoing musical ministry of Metropolitan United Church, and allow us to maintain our landmark heritage musical instruments and building.
Fall Series: September 21 - November 30
September 21 - Jamal Al Titi, baritone
September 28 - Jonathan Oldengarm, organist
October 5 - Christian Masucci Facchini, countertenor
October 12 - Philip Joseph Filion, organist
October 19 - Irina Bazik, pianist
October 26 - Joshua Zentner-Barrett, organist
November 2 - Julia Mirzoev, violin
November 9 - Jonathan Oldengarm, harpsichord
November 16 - Lindsay McIntyre, soprano
November 23 - Jonathan Kravtchenko, pianist
November 30 - Mark Himmelman, organist
September 21 - Jamal Al Titi, baritone with carillon recital at 11:30am (Katherine Chen)
Repertoire includes works by Borodin, Franz, Rachmaninov, Santoliquido, Strauss and more
Jamal Al Titi is a Belarusian-born baritone whose passion for music expands from early works to opera. He now makes his home in Canada, and he is a recent bachelor’s voice performance graduate from the University of Toronto, having studied with Wendy Nielsen. During his final year as an undergraduate, Jamal won the Jim and Charlotte Norcop Prize in Song, the Faculty of Music’s most prestigious vocal prize, and was honoured to receive the 2023 faculty’s top honour award. In addition, Jamal was a winner of the Toronto Mozart Vocal Competition in 2023 and was a National Audition Finalist for L’Atelier Lyrique de L’Opéra de Montréal in 2022. Jamal has been featured numerous times with Brott Opera Festival. His roles have included Masetto in Don Giovanni, Schaunard in La Bohème and Casacada in The Merry Widow. Additionally, he performed the role of Don Giovanni at the Banff Centre’s 2023 Opera in the 21st Century program, and performed as Belcore in L’Elisir D’Amore at Highlands Opera. Jamal began his studies at the Hamilton Conservatory for the Arts with Roland Fix, and counts bass Alain Coulombe among his mentors. This 2023/24 season, Jamal is honoured to be involved at The Rebanks Family Fellowship and International Performance Residency Program at The Royal Conservatory’s Glenn Gould School.
Celebration (Ruth Watson Henderson, b. 1932)
Variations on Kingsfold (Sarah MacDonald, b. 1968)
I. Chorale-Moderato
II. Andante
III. Allegretto
IV. Vivace
Berceuse-Marial, from Sonata no. 1, op. 91 (Rachel Laurin, b. 1960)
Allegro giocoso, from Suite Romantique (Denis Bédard, b. 1950)
Sursum Corda (Tate Pumfrey, b. 1998)
Sicilienne (Mark Himmelmann, b. 1978)
Toccata Andromeda, from Triptych (Paul Halley, b. 1952)
Alleluia (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, arr. David Marlatt)
Contrapunctus 1 (Johann Sebastian Bach, arr. Robert King)
Overture to HMS Pinafore (Sir Arthur Sullivan, arr. Walter H. Barnes)
The Water is Wide (Traditional, arr. Michael C. Green)
Three Pieces (Ludwig Maurer, arr. Robert Nagel)
American Patrol (F.W. Meecham, arr. Arthur Frackenpohl)
Three Spirituals (Traditional, arr. Walter H. Barnes)
Go Down Moses
My Lord What a Morning
Joshua Fit the Battle
The Magnificent Seven (Elmer Bernstein, arr. Adrian Wagner)
GGS Students accompanied by Jonathan Oldengarm, organist
Chaconne in G minor (Tomaso Antonio Vitali, 1663-1745)
Tiffany Yeung, violin
Trois Mouvements (Jehan Alain, 1911-1940)
Andante
Allegro con grazia
Allegro vivace
Hannah Silverberg, flute
Trio Sonata in A Minor, TWV 42:a4 (Georg Philipp Telemann, 1682-1767)
Affettuoso
Vivace
Grave
Menuet
Hannah Silverberg, flute
Tyler Romsberg, oboe
Kuan-Yu Huang, cello
Contrapuctus IV, from The Art of Fugue, BWV 1080 (Johann Sebastian Bach, 1685-1750 arr. Taran Plamondon)
Bradley Cairns-Digel, trumpet (pictured)
Laura Kuri, trumpet
Aaron Sieve, horn
Kris Leslie, trombone
Benito Vargas, tuba
Shuman Zhou
Miserere (Franz Liszt, 1811-1886)
Trois Morceaux pour Piano (Lili Boulanger, 1893-1918)
Kelsey Zhong
Six Pieces for Piano, Op. 118, nos. 4-6 (Johannes Brahms, 1833-1897)
Allegro appassionato, from Piano Sonata, op. 21 (Cécile Chaminade, 1857-1944)
Mariya Orlenko
Andante Spianato et Grande Polonaise Brillante (Frédéric Chopin, 1810-1849)
Joined together from Israel, Korea-Canada, Saint Lucia, and the USA, the Dior Quartet is the Quartet-in-Residence at the Glenn Gould School, Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto.
String Quartet in E Minor, op. 59 no. 2 (Ludwig von Beethoven, 1770-1827)
Allegro
Molto adagio ("Si tratta questo pezzo con molto di sentimento")
Allegretto - Thème russe
Finale
String Quartet in F Minor, op. 80 (Felix Mendelssohn, 1809-1847)
Allegro vivace assai
Allegro assai
Adagio
Finale: Allegro molto
Apparition de l’Église éternelle (Olivier Messiaen, 1908-1992(
Naïades, op. 55 no. 2 (Louis Vierne, 1870-1937)
O Mensch, bewein dein’ Sünde groß, BWV 622 (J.S. Bach, 1685-1750)
Symphonie V en fa mineur, op. 41 no. 5 (Charles-Marie Widor, 1844-1937)
i. Allegro vivace
iv. Adagio
v. Toccata
Violin Sonata No. 3, BWV 1005 (J.S. Bach, 1685-1750)
Adagio
Fuga
Largo
Allegro Assai
Daniel Turner, guitarist
Aires de Son (G. Tamez, b. 1948)
Aire Istmeño
Quedo
Son Trunco
Sonatango (J.C. Oliva, b. 1947)
Pasión
Te perdono
Vuelvo a creer
Tengo el alma destrozada
Luis Angel Medina, guitarist
Three Songs (Florence Price, 1887-1953)
Beside the Sea
Dawn's Awakening
Moonbridge
Stridono Lassú (Ruggero Leoncavallo, 1857-1919)
Vilja's Lied (Franz Lehar, 1870-1948)
Two Songs (Johannes Brahms, 1883 -1897)
Es träumte mir
Unbewegte laue Luft
3 Songs from Honey and Rue (André Previn, 1929 - 2019)
Whose House Is This
Do You Know Him
Take My Mother Home
Met's Wayne C. Vance Organ Scholar
Processional (Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, 1875-1912)
Reverie (William Grant Still, 1895-1978)
Suite (Florence Price, 1887-1953)
Fantasy - Fughetta - Air - Toccato [sic]
Reflection (Chan Ka Nin, b. 1949)
The Lord is My Shepherd (Kola Owolabi, b. 1977)
O Give Thanks To the Lord (Kola Owolabi)
Met's Minister of Music plays music of Herbert Fricker and others, from the collection of Ivor Baldwin
Arioso and Finale (David Hurd, b. 1950)
Retrospection (Florence Price, 1899-1952)
From Two Preludes on Yoruba Folk Melodies (Fela Sowande, 1905-1987)
1. K’A mura
Joshua fit de Battle ob Jericho (Spiritual, arr. Fela Sowande)
A Whimsical Intermezzo (Judith M. Baity, b. ca. 1960)
Go Down, Moses (Spiritual, arr. W.C. Handy, 1873-1958 ;adapted by Walter C. Simon)
Prizewinner in the COC's Centre Stage Competition
With Spencer Kryzanowski, pianist
Dich teure Halle, from Tannhäuser (Wagner)
Three Songs (Emery)
For Broken and Tired am I
Sweet Bide with me
Requiescat
Porgi, amor, qualche ristoro, from Le Nozze di Figaro (W.A. Mozart)
Four Songs, op. 13 (Barber)
Sure on this shining night
Hérodiade (Massenet)
Il est doux, il est bon
Rückert-Lieder (Mahler)
Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen
Ich atmet einen Linden Duft
Um Mitternacht
Prélude, Fugue et Variation, op. 11 - César Franck, 1822-1890
(version by the composer for harmonium and piano)
Adoration - Felix Borowski, 1872-1956
arr. for piano and organ by Roy Spaulding Stoughton, 1884-1953
Symphonic Piece, for Organ and Piano - Joseph W. Clokey, 1890-1960
Dialogue
Romance
Scherzo
Intermezzo
Fugue
Aaron James is the Director of Music at the Toronto Oratory of St Philip Neri, and a sessional lecturer in organ at the University of Toronto. An alumnus of the Eastman School of Music, he graduated in 2016 with both a PhD degree in musicology and a DMA degree in organ, along with the Performer’s Certificate in organ. He was the 2011 winner of the National Organ Playing Competition of the Royal Canadian College of Organists, and has won numerous other prizes for his organ playing, including first place in the Florence and Stanley Osborne Organ Competition and the Howard Fairclough Organ Competition; he was also a finalist in the 2012 Franz Schmidt International Organ Competition (Kitzbühel, Austria). He is a Fellow of the Royal Canadian College of Organists, and currently serves the College as national Chair of Examinations. His writing has been published in various scholarly and general-interest publications in print and online, including the Journal of the Alamire Foundation, Early Music, Antiphon, New Liturgical Movement, Organ Canada, Sacred Music, The Lamp, Oxford Bibliographies Online and Grove Music Online.
Transports de joie, from L’Ascension - Olivier Messiaen, 1908-1992
Alles, was von Gott geboren, from BWV 80 - J.S. Bach, 1685-1750
transcribed for organ by Rashaan Allwood
Prelude in G, BWV 884 - J.S. Bach transcribed by Max Reger, 1873-1916
In memory of… - Rashaan Allwood
Fantasia on Von Gott will ich nicht lassen - Bert Matter, b. 1937
Canonic Etude no. 2 in A minor - Robert Schumann, 1810-1856
So There! - Rashaan Allwood
Adagio, from Cello Concerto in E minor, op. 85 - Edward Elgar, 1857-1924
transcribed by Rashaan Allwood
Allegro marziale, from Mazeppa, s. 100 - Franz Liszt, 1811-1886
transcribed by Rashaan Allwood
Rashaan Rori Allwood is a multi-talented musician based out of Toronto, currently pursuing a PhD in Composition. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Piano Performance and a Master's degree in Organ Performance. Rashaan is the recipient of the 2022 Marilyn Mason Award in Organ Composition from the American Guild of Organists, who commissioned him to compose a new piece for solo organ to be premiered in Washington in 2022. Rashaan was also one of the ICOT call for scores winners for short Piano works by Canadian composers in 2020. Rashaan is now the Director of Music at St. Ansgar Lutheran Church, Toronto where he regularly premieres his own new works, and organises performances for choir and instrumentalists. As a soloist, he has toured across Europe, and performed at St. Paul's Cathedral in London, UK, St. Nikolai-Kirche in Leipzig, Germany and St. Pierre’s Cathedral in Geneva, Switzerland.
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