The finest classical music will again be heard this summer in the beautiful and historic Sharon Temple, a National Historic Site located just north of Newmarket.  An intimate 230-seat venue, the Sharon Temple is renowned for its matchless acoustical and architectural ambience and the serene beauty of its surroundings.

In 2007, the beloved Music at Sharon concert series was revived to great success in celebration of the 175th anniversary of the Temple of the Children of Peace.   Toronto-based Stephen Cera, who has served as Music at Sharon’s Artistic Director since 2007, has organized another excellent and varied series for 2009, with five concerts on Sunday afternoons: June 7, June 14, June 21, June 28, and July 5.  Concert-goers can arrive early each Sunday to picnic on the beautiful park-like grounds and tour the site’s unique heritage buildings, before moving inside the Sharon Temple for the 3:00 p.m. concerts.

•	June 7, 2009 at 3:00 p.m. Nikolai Demidenko, pianist, in recital
•	June 14, 2009, at 3:00 p.m. Anton Kuerti, pianist, in recital
•	June 21, 2009, at 3:00 p.m. Lamentations of Jeremiah.  Elmer Iseler Singers
•	June 28, 2009, at 3:00 p.m. Folk Songs Transformed.  Krisztina Szabó, mezzo-soprano
•	July 5, 2009, at 3:00 p.m. Songs of Uplift.  The Nathaniel Dett Chorale

 

TICKETS

Subscription to all five concerts	$195
One ticket to any three concerts	$126
General admission	$45 ($50 on July 5)

Please note that the view from some seats is obstructed (in a beautiful way), due to the pillars inside the Temple.  What is not obstructed is the superb quality of sound inside.

For tickets, call (416) 597-7840, Monday to Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
To purchase tickets on-line, Click Here 

The Sharon Temple is located at 18974 Leslie Street in Sharon, Ontario.  Take Highway 404 North to its northerly limit at Green Lane.  Turn left (west) on Green Lane and proceed about 1 km.  Turn right (north) on Leslie Street.  The Sharon Temple is on the west side of Leslie Street at the first stop light, about five minutes north of Green Lane.  Ample free parking.

The Founding Artistic Director of the original Music at Sharon summer festival, which ran from 1981 to 1994, was Lawrence Cherney.

"The ideal summer-festival program allows us to experience top-quality artistry, while also taking us out of the sunlight-blocking concert hall into a more pastoral setting...the Sharon Temple fulfilled the ideal in spades." -- John Terauds, Toronto Star, June 2008

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Sunday, June 7, 2009 at 3:00 p.m.
Nikolai Demidenko, piano, in recital

His appearance at the 2007 Sharon Festival was unforgettable.  Now the powerful and poetic  Russian virtuoso returns for a thrilling all-Romantic program. 

Schumann:	Faschingschwank aus Wien, Opus 26 (Carnival Jest from Vienna) Carnaval, Opus 9
Chopin:	24 Preludes, Opus 28

***


Sunday, June 14, 2009 at 3:00 p.m.
Anton Kuerti, piano, in recital.
One of the most distinguished pianist-musicians of our time pays homage to the 200th anniversary of Haydn’s death in 1809, and the bicentenary of Mendelssohn’s birth that same year.  He closes his program with Beethoven’s towering piano masterpiece.  Anton Kuerti will also offer some spoken commentary, with musical illustrations, on the Beethoven work.

Haydn:	Piano Sonata in E-flat, Hob. XVI: 52
Mendelssohn:	Fantaisie in F-sharp minor
Beethoven:	33 Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli, Opus 120

***

Sunday, June 21, 2009 at 3:00 p.m.
“Lamentations of Jeremiah”
Elmer Iseler Singers,
Visit their website
Lydia Adams, conductor
Jeff Reilly, bass clarinet solo.
“Canada’s flagship concert choir” (William Littler, Toronto Star) and “one of the world’s great chamber choirs” (Halifax Chronicle Herald) returns to Sharon Temple after a long absence, with a contemporary Canadian jewel (“a profound substantial and imaginative new composition.....something of a miracle...”  (Stephen Pedersen, Halifax Chronicle Herald). 

Isaac Watts & John Wesley:	Old 100th (16th Century Calvinist melody)
John Beckwith:	Sharon Fragments
Eric Whitacre:	When David Heard
Peter Togni:	Lamentations of Jeremiah

 

 

***

Sunday, June 28, 2009 at 3:00 p.m.
“Folk Songs Transformed”
Krisztina Szabó, mezzo soprano
Susan Ball, piano

Her career has taken her to major opera houses all over the world, from Chicago to Austria to Toronto’s Four Seasons Centre.  Hear Krisztina Szabó in a rare recital appearance, a fascinating program based on popular folk songs from different traditions.   Chicago Tribune:  “Krisztina Szabó stole her every scene with her powerful, mahogany voice and deeply poignant immersion...”  The New York Times: “...clear, strong, stately and endearingly vulnerable.”

Britten:	three songs from A Birthday Hansel
Mahler:	Wer hat dies Liedlein erdacht? Lob des hohen Verstands
Zoltán Kodály:	Az hol én elmegyek... Kitrákotty mese A rossz feleség Magas kõsziklának
Manuel de Falla:	Seven Popular Spanish Songs
Maurice Ravel:	three songs from Chants populaires
Godfrey Ridout (1918-1984):	three songs from Folk Songs of Eastern Canada

***

Sunday, July 5, 2009 at
3:00 p.m.
“Songs of Uplift”
The Nathaniel Dett Chorale
Brainerd Blyden-Taylor, conductor

Fresh from their performance at the Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C., on the day of President Obama’s inauguration.  The Nathaniel Dett Chorale was a sell-out sensation in its first appearance for Music at Sharon in 2007.  This summer’s appearance promises to be no different!