East meets West Neighbourhood Concert

Posted on: October 27, 2019

September 24, 2019

Every now and then a group of musicians comes along and changes the way we think about music and Tafelmusik has done just that. It is a name that, for almost four decades, has been synonymous worldwide with dynamic, engaging, and soulful performances. 

On Thursday September 24th Tafelmusik partnered with Arts Etobicoke and QuadReal (Owner and Operator’s of Cloverdale Mall) to bring this special sold out performance to the Etobicoke community. This was their first performance outside of the downtown core in a more relaxed intimate community concert setting. Tafelmusik’s baroque music style is Handel and Telemann meets traditional Arabic song and Klezmer fiddle music. The performance at the Common was based on Tafelmusik’s award-winning multimedia concert Tales of Two Cities: The Leipzig-Damascus Coffee House. This shortened version celebrates the rich musical traditions of East and West in a theatrical way, as a small group of musicians perform alongside an actor/narrator, and projected images, to tell the story of how the coffee houses of history were an important space for cultures to share and learn from each other.

This concert was conceived, scripted and programmed by Alison Mackay and features the Members of Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, Alon Nashman as narrator, Maryem Tollar as voice & qanun, Demetri Petsalakis, oud and Naghmeh Farahmand on percussion.