Yellowjackets, Sullivan Fortner Trio and Barbra Lica Quintet and More To Perform At The Royal Conservatory Of Music In April

April concerts have been announced at  at The Royal Conservatory Of Music. Get full details here!

TD Jazz Concerts

Having just released their 27th studio album Fasten Up, the Grammy Award-winning, jazz-pioneering Yellowjackets, known for their genre-blending sound and impeccable musicianship, redefine jazz fusion once again. Throughout their storied 43-year history, the Yellowjackets have recorded 25 albums, received 17 Grammy Award nominations – won two – performed countless sold-out tours, and enjoyed worldwide critical acclaim and commercial success, and maintained prominence as one of jazz's most influential and loved groups. On April 26 the quartet, consisting of Russell Ferrante (piano/keyboards), Bob Mintzer (saxophone), Dane Alderson (bass), and Will Kennedy (drums), joins forces with a hand-picked Toronto big band to blow the roof off Koerner Hall.

Korner Hall celebrates International Jazz Day on April 30 with two young artists making their mark: a Grammy Award-winning piano virtuoso Sullivan Fortner with his trio and a swinging, Juno Award nominated vocalist Barbra Lica with her quintet. For the past decade, Fortner has been stretching deep-rooted talents as a pianist, composer, band leader, and uncompromising individualist, who has collaborated with the likes of Cécile McLorin Salvant, Wynton Marsalis, Paul Simon, and others. Singer-songwriter Lica is a seasoned act on the North American club and festival circuits. She has performed everywhere from New York City's legendary Birdland to festivals around the world, including Festival International de Jazz de Montréal and Tokyo International Jazz Festival, and opened for the likes of Christian McBride, Pat Metheny, Bob Dorough, and Terence Blanchard.

Music Mix

In the spring of 2023, the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain sold out two performances in Koerner Hall. George Hinchliffe's beloved group of all-singing, all-strumming ukulele players returns on April 16 to perform their hilarious and astonishing interpretations of film scores and rock 'n' roll. Expect a funny, virtuosic, twanging, awesome, foot-stomping obituary of rock-n-roll and melodious light entertainment featuring only the “bonsai guitar” and a menagerie of voices in a collision of post-punk performance and toe-tapping oldies. Going from Tchaikovsky to Nirvana via Otis Redding and Spaghetti Western soundtracks, the Orchestra will take the audience on “a world tour with only hand luggage.”

The Breithaupt Brothers host Toronto Sings the Breithaupt Brothers' Songbook on April 25 as Heather Bambrick, Kyle Blair, Kellylee Evans, George Krissa, Jeff Madden, W Joseph Matheson, Shelley McPherson, Patricia O'Callaghan, Jackie Richardson, Denzal Sinclaire, and Sarah Slean are joined by an all-star band to bring their songs to life. The Breithaupt Brothers, Emmy Award winner Don Breithaupt (music) and Jeff Breithaupt (lyrics), write jazz and musical theatre “neo-standards” that have been hailed as the next generation of the Great American Songbook. Their songs have been performed and recorded by a who's who of Broadway and jazz singers. As the Toronto Star stated, “America had the Gershwins, but Canada's got the Breithaupts!”

Classical Music

String Concerts

American rising star violinist and protégé of the legendary Itzhak Perlman, Randall Goosby performs works by Chevalier de Saint-Georges, Fauré, Chausson, and Schubert with pianist Zhu Wang at his Koerner Hall debut on April 23. Goosby is acclaimed for the sensitivity and intensity of his musicianship alongside his determination to make music more inclusive and accessible, as well as bringing the music of under-represented composers to light. After making his debut with the Jacksonville Symphony at age nine, he performed with the New York Philharmonic at age 13 on a Young People's Concert at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall and became the youngest recipient ever to win the Sphinx Concerto Competition. Praised as “a superb pianist” by The New York Times, pianist Zhu Wang was awarded First Prize in the 2020 Young Concert Artists Susan Wadsworth International Auditions. His Carnegie Hall debut made The New York Times' Best of Classical Music 2021 list.

Mazzoleni Masters

On April 6 the ARC Ensemble (Artists of The Royal Conservatory) performs music by Miklós Rózsa: the first modern performance of an early String Sextet, a group of songs performed by the soprano Elena Howard-Scott, and his exuberant Piano Quintet, op. 2. The program, titled Hollywood Exiles, includes Franz Waxman's entertaining Variations on Auld Lang Syne. Composed of the senior faculty of The Royal Conservatory's Glenn Gould School, with special guests drawn from the organization's most accomplished students and alumni, the three-time Grammy nominated ARC Ensemble is among Canada's most distinguished cultural ambassadors. Its focus remains the research and recovery of works that were suppressed and marginalized under the 20th century's repressive regimes.

Discovery Series

The extraordinary pianists of The Ihnatowycz Piano Program at The Glenn Gould School take centre stage at the GGS Piano Showcase on April 26. The program includes dynamic and popular works for two pianos and piano four hands.

Free Concerts

Rebanks Family Fellowship Concert Series

Solo and chamber works are performed by young artists on the cusp of major careers, who are enrolled in The Rebanks Family Fellowship and International Performance Residency Program at The Glenn Gould School, in a Rebanks Family Fellowship Concert on April 2.

Discovery Series

Curated and conducted by Brian Current, the GGS New Music Ensemble returns on April 22 with a world premiere by Christina Volpini as well as Augusta Read Thomas's captivating Selene for four percussionists and string quartet. This concert will also include established masterpieces of the late 20th century, offering a rich and diverse program that celebrates contemporary chamber music at its finest.

Taylor Academy Concerts

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