Summer Music In The Garden Bids Farewell To Founding Artistic Director Tamara Bernstein

Harbourfront Centre's beloved music series Summer Music in the Garden will bid farewell to its founding Artistic Director Tamara Bernstein, whose successful tenure saw the growth of the series from infancy to packed audiences at the iconic Music Garden, and most recently online. Appointed in 2001, Tamara Bernstein is renowned for curating repertoires that brought local, national and International Artists, both emerging and established, to audiences through eclectic, richly diverse programming that ranged from the Middle Ages to today; from Beethoven to Brazilian choro; from Mumbai to Japan; from Ukraine and Bulgaria to Indigenous works.

"For 20 years as Artistic Director, Tamara has created opportunities for hundreds of artists and brought world-class programming to the Toronto Music Garden. Summer Music in the Garden is beloved by so many, and we thank Tamara for her stewardship over the years. On behalf of the Board, staff and volunteers at Harbourfront Centre, I would like to congratulate her for the outstanding curation of the Summer Music in the Garden concert series." - Marah Braye, CEO, Harbourfront Centre.

One of Harbourfront Centre's landmark summer events, Summer Music in the Garden welcomes hundreds of patrons to the Toronto Music Garden. Many artists presented during Ms. Bernstein's tenure have gone on to have celebrated careers, for example, soprano Jane Archibald, the Cecilia String Quartet and cellist Elinor Frey. Annual commissions have included works by composers Barbara Croall, Michael Oesterle, Maxime McKinley, Kati Agocs, Lisa Streich, Chris Paul Harman, Aki Takahashi and David Mott, as well as new dance pieces from choreographers including Julia Sasso, Carol Anderson, Peter Chin and Keiko Kitano.

Harbourfront Centre has started to commission works for an in-person Summer Music in the Garden in 2022 and a return to the Toronto Music Garden.

"It was an enormous privilege to bring music and dance to Toronto's central waterfront, free of charge, for 20 years. Thank you to everyone who made these fleeting moments of urban utopia possible - the performers, of course, but also the attentive audiences who brought open ears and open hearts, our loyal donors, the City of Toronto, and so many past and present employees at Harbourfront, starting with Don Shipley, former head of Performing Arts, who brought me on board with a cold call in April 2001." - Tamara Bernstein, Artistic Director, Summer Music in the Garden (2001-2020).

Harbourfront Centre is a leading international centre for contemporary arts, culture and ideas, and a registered, charitable not-for-profit cultural organization operating a 10-acre campus on Toronto's central waterfront. Harbourfront Centre provides year-round programming 52 weeks a year, seven days a week, supporting a wide range of artists and communities. We inspire audiences and visitors with a breadth of bold, ambitious and engaging experiences, and champion contemporary Canadian artists throughout their careers, presenting them alongside International Artists, and fostering national and international artistic exchange between disciplines and cultures.

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