Tafelmusik To Tour South Korea With Rachel Podger

For the first time since 2016, Tafelmusik returns to Asia from Oct 22 to Nov 3, 2024 with its Bach and Baroque Brilliance South Korea Tour. Marking her first tour with Tafelmusik, Principal Guest Director Rachel Podger will lead the orchestra for six performances in five Korean cities. The tour follows her inaugural Toronto concerts in her new role and the October 11 release of her first album with the orchestra, Haydn Symphonies 43 & 49: Mercury & La Passione.

Tafelmusik's Bach and Baroque Brilliance South Korea Tour has been made possible through the generous support of Brookfield and through grants provided by the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council.
 
Tafelmusik's engagements take place under the auspices of the prestigious Eagon Concert held annually in South Korea, with concerts at the Arts Center Incheon (Oct 25); Daegu Concert House (Oct 26); Busan Cultural Center (Oct 27); Gwangju Culture & Arts Center (Oct. 29); Lotte Concert Hall in Seoul (Nov 1) and Seoul Arts Center (Nov 2). Thanks to the generosity of Seoul-based Eagon Holdings Co. Ltd., all concert tickets are underwritten so that members of disadvantaged and underserved communities have the opportunity to experience a high-quality artistic performance.

As part of Seoul's annual Arirang Festival, Tafelmusik musicians will adjudicate a competition for the best orchestral arrangement of Korea's unofficial anthem, the well-known and beloved folksong, Arirang. In keeping with the longstanding tradition of the Eagon Concert, Tafelmusik will perform the winning arrangement as an encore at each concert during the tour
 
“It's an immense privilege for the orchestra to return to South Korea,” says Cristina Zacharias on behalf of Tafelmusik's Artistic Co-Directors. “The adventure of bringing the music we love to audiences we don't yet know is always thrilling. Tafelmusik's long history of touring has shown us again and again how rewarding it is to connect and engage with people through music in a way that transcends boundaries of country and culture.”

The Bach and Baroque Brilliance South Korea Tour program includes treasures from Podger's native England: a suite from Purcell's Fairy Queen, and Avison's Concerto no. 6 in D Major after Scarlatti. New to Tafelmusik is an orchestral suite by the Bohemian composer Antonín Reichenauer.

No baroque music tour would be complete without the music of J.S. Bach, and who better to bring out the “infectiously spritely bounce and exhilarating dramatic tension” (BBC) of his Violin Concerto in A Minor than Rachel Podger? Other works by Bach include the Overture from Orchestral Suite no. 1 in C Major, the Sinfonia from Cantata 42, and the Concerto for Violin & Oboe in C minor, featuring Podger and the Korean oboist Yongcheon Shin as soloists.  
 
Toronto audiences will have the opportunity to enjoy a taste of the South Korea tour program when Tafelmusik brings home some of the repertoire for their Brilliant Baroque concerts at Jeanne Lamon Hall on January 31, February 1 & 2, 2025.

Bach and Baroque Brilliance South Korea Tour program
 
Bach Overture, from Orchestral Suite no 1. in C Major
Bach Concerto for violin in A Minor, BWV 1041
Purcell Suite from Fairy Queen
Bach Sinfonia from Cantata 42
Reichenauer Suite in B-flat Major
Avison Concerto no. 6 in D Major, after Scarlatti
Bach Concerto for violin & oboe in C minor BWV 1060