The Toronto Consort Launches Early Music TV Online Streaming Service

The Toronto Consort has announced the launch of Early Music TV, the first-of-its-kind, subscription-based video streaming service dedicated to music of the Middle Ages, Renaissance, and Baroque. 

"Early Music TV represents a paradigm shift within the historically-informed performance community," said Michelle Knight, Managing Director, The Toronto Consort. "For the past five years we've explored how best to connect with our audiences in a digital age, how to attract leading specialists to perform with us, and how best to invest in a long-term digital strategy that benefits both our organization and the legacy of the repertoire itself. What's thrilling about this is that we can achieve these goals through our all-new streaming service, Early Music TV."

EarlyMusic.TV

Founded and curated by The Toronto Consort, Early Music TV subscribers can enjoy high-quality programming featuring all-new digital-concert experiences, behind-the-scenes shorts, learning and lecture series, a recorded album library, and partner content from a network of early-music organizations in Canada and abroad. This on-demand service is available through EarlyMusic.tv, with six additional applications in development for mobile and smart TV devices. 

"This is an exciting time for both the Consort and the broader Early Music community, despite the challenges we all face," said Toronto Consort Artistic Associate Alison Melville. "A platform like Early Music TV reveals the adaptive and creative ways we can continue to safely perform and record together, and shares through video the intimacy and joy of this wonderful repertoire. And additionally, the geographical distance between our audience and ourselves no longer hinders a much broader sharing!"

"We're evolving how Early Music lovers celebrate, experience, and engage with the joys of music from the Middle Ages, Renaissance and Baroque through new, digital technologies," added Knight. "The launch of EarlyMusic.TV provides broader access to the Consort's original concerts and learning materials. The long-term goal is to build a global network for early-music organizations to support musicians and distribute their content to audiences in an accessible and convenient way."

Leveraging a 48-year legacy, The Toronto Consort is uniquely positioned, with the organizational structure in place and capital to invest, to launch a service such as Early Music TV. In a time of substantially reduced social gatherings and heightened health and safety precautions, this platform provides an opportunity for the Consort to continue recording, performing, and employing its top-class musicians. It also expands the reach of the Consort and its peers and serves as a rich and trusted resource for students, teachers, practitioners, and listeners. 

Inaugural Programming

EarlyMusic.TV programming launched on November 19, 2020 with the world premiere of All in a Garden Green, a rich audio-visual stroll through music heard in the verdant gardens of Elizabethan England. Drawing inspiration from the Consort's popular album of the same name, this original concert features ballads, madrigals, and rollicking dance tunes by Dowland, Byrd, Ravenscroft, and their contemporaries.

A Medieval Christmas debuts on December 14, 2020 and includes serene works like laude, English carols, and Notre Dame polyphony by Pérotin and anonymous medieval masters.

Additional original feature programming will include Of Tricksters and Trolls (a musical storytelling of the tales of Valhalla, streaming Winter 2021) and Duly (Un)Noted (a concert of unforgettable melodies by composers un-noted by history, streaming Spring 2021).

Filmed productions, created specifically for EarlyMusic.TV, invite audiences from around the world into an immersive experience with high-quality sound and visuals, shot on location across Toronto and GTA in multi-camera high definition.    

  

Initial offerings will include full-length, original concert programming; audio recordings reformatted as digital playlists with video; and free educational content. Future content in development includes a lecture series; a salon series of concert shorts; and original productions and content created by industry peers worldwide, exclusive to Early Music TV.

   

Subscription packages are on sale now at EarlyMusic.TV

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