CLAVIERS BAROQUES -- what we're up to these days -- updated October 15, 2007

• concerts, performances and broadcasts
• a partial listing of our past gigs
• shows and exhibitions
• projects and what we are building in the shop

• Upcoming concerts, broadcasts and other events using our instruments (partial list)

  November 2, 2007 - John Kameel Farah and Muguette and several other keyboards will be at the Music Gallery for

   

  April 6 and May 11, 2007 -- The very peculiar Friendly Rich will be doing his show, called, not surprisingly, The Friendly Rich Show, at the Tranzac Club. Puppets doing strip-tease and getting sawed in half, fish who jump through hoops, crank calls, and tying it all together, dark lyrics and music by a cabaret chamber orchestra. More in common with Frank Zappa than Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields. I can't explain. More info on the e-poster below and also see Friendly Rich's MySpace for pictures, sound samples, etc. Regular harpsichordist Greg Oh will probably be playing, but Tania Gill fills in ably when Greg can't be found. Althea is Greg's harpsichord of choice. Oh, and she's on Friendly Rich's most recent CD's The Lollipop People in The Friendly Rich Show, We Need a New F-Word and the very rare The Lollipop People Live at the Cameron.

  April 10, 2007, noon hour -- Althea or Muguette will be appearing in a free lunchtime concert in the Richard Bradshaw Ampitheatre, Fours Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. The programm in their Chamber Music Series is called Schnittke Looks Back, with Steven Philcox, harpsichord and Marie Bérard, violin. Tuesday, April 10, 2007, 12 noon to 1:00pm.

  April 14, 2007 -- Althea will be appearing with the Korean Canadian Symphony Orchestra at the Toronto Centre for the Performing Arts. She's there for their Vivaldi Four Seasons. Yes, our Canadian single vs a symphony orchestra in full cry... hah! we're not worried. If you want to see this one get your tickets early, the KCSO sells out fast.

  April 14, 2007 -- Den will be accompanying soprano Antonella Cavallero for Fort York National Historic Sites's Evening of Arne. Some of the tunes you will know --like Rule Britannia -- others will not be familiar. Thomas Arne's setting of Under The Greenwood Tree is *soooooo* much better than the one we usually hear. But, I hear you say, you're also at the Korean Canadian Symphony's gig? Don't worry, the folks at Claviers Baroques are *everywhere*!

  April 20, 2007 -- The Claviers Baroques Trio make music in Richmond Hill for Holy Trinity School's gala Masquerade Ball. Samantha Fan, violin and Mahsa Madahian, cello, Den on harpsichord.

  April 24, 2007 -- We're hauling Etobicoke Collegiate High School's new-to-them harpsichord to the Toronto Centre for the Arts for the annual Toronto School Board spring concert.

  May 9, 2007 -- Muguette will be premiering a new work for harpsichord, piano and orchestra by Michael Colgrass. Commissioned by and for the Esprit Orchestra as part of their New Wave Composers Festival. Dr. Joanna Kong plays keyboards. You can hear it at Jane Mallet Hall, tickets available here.

  May 16, 2007 -- Muguette goes into the studio to record some John Beckwith works for a new CD from Centrediscs. Muguette has done lots of John's stuff in concert including several world premieres and been recorded for CBC broadcast, but this will be her first time for a publicly available recording of his work, we think.

• A partial listing of our past gigs (updated April 1, 2007 but not hardly complete...)

 

• Shows and Exhibitions

September 15, 2007 -- You can meet us and try our instruments at the The Toronto Early Music Centre 's annual fall fair, the third Saturday of September. We are always there. It will be at historic Montgomery's Inn again this year, we recommend their historic high tea, it is tasty, fun, and good value.

• Projects and stuff in the shop (this section is under construction and overlaps with our "new instruments" pages, too, so if you can't find it here, maybe it's there...)

Canadian single Stella has gone to her lady in Scarborough, Marie Antoinette is nearly ready for her gentleman in Paris (ON), and four more Canadian singles -- Guy, Alcina, who will be a single-strung rental instrument, one as yet unnamed for a gentleman in Toronto, and Morphine -- are in progress as well as a Bermudo named Oliver. And we just keep having ideas for beautiful instruments. Photo-documentaries in process, promise -- it's hard to build and write at the same time! Oh, and did we ever tell you about our ebony jacks?

We just got back from follow-up visits to two of our "Althea" type Canadian singles, 'le reunis des gouts' in Milwaukee WI and Lirit, delived to her lady in Indiana in May of 2002. A full report is coming as soon as Dawn finds her cheese hat.

We are building a harpsichord for the Iraqi National Symphony Orchestra and the School of Music and Ballet in Baghdad (they share a building and instruments) to replace theirs which was destroyed last spring. We'll let you know as that project progresses, so far we are just stockpiling parts, every time we make something for our Guy or Morphine we make an extra for them. We are not getting paid for this, so it may take a while, but we have already received some donations (thank you!) to help out with the materials. The American Society of Friends (Quakers) have kindly offered to arrange safe delivery of the harpsichord to Baghdad when it is done.

The Sonderberg (Copenhagen) square piano (ca 1820) has been restored, we are happy to report that it is a success. Looks great, sounds fabulous, photos to come.

On Hold:

• Aafke, the Flemish double, has been put on hold until we have a bit of spare time. Scheduled for Fall of 2002.
• At least two more Canadian singles to add to our rental stable, ideally single string "cash and carry" instruments. We'd like to have them done for Fall/Winter 2002.
• We are at the talk-and-design stage of a line of fabulously-decorated small instruments, tentatively to be called Peacock Alley. Each instrument will be unique and created in conjunction with a Canadian artist. So far our collaborators include painter Mendelson Joe, mosaic artist Sophie Drouin, woodcarver Ruth Arnold and portrait painter Cyril Leeper.

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