Overview
As a guitar duo focusing on developing new repertoire, this concert will feature four works written over the past two years specifically for Tracy Anne Smith and Rob MacDonald. Canadian composer Dale Kavanagh’s The Ghost of Peggy Cove is a programmatic telling of the East coast folk legend. Amy Brandon’s plesiosynchronous explores the strange space in between solo instrumental and duo music. The Circle Game, written by Cuban Leo Brouwer refers directly to Canadian author Margaret Atwood’s 1974 poem. Concluding the program is Sergio Assad’s Dyens en trois temps, a heartfelt homage to the brilliant French composer, guitarist, improviser and arranger, Roland Dyens.
Leo Brouwer (b. 1939) – The Circle Game (after Margaret Atwood)
Dale Kavanagh (b. 1958) Ghost of Peggy’s Cove
Amy Brandon – Plesiosynchronous
Brandon – New Commission (Harbourfront Centre, 2023)
Sergio Assad (b. 1952) – Dyens en trois temps
About ChromaDuo
One of North America’s leading guitar ensembles, ChromaDuo shares uncommonly beautiful music with audiences throughout the world. For the past fifteen years, Tracy Anne Smith and Rob MacDonald have concertized across Canada and throughout the United States, as well as in Mexico, England and Germany.
Passionate advocates for their art form, their deep creative connection allows audiences to immerse themselves fully into the music. They are the dedicatees of works by top composers, including Roland Dyens, Stephen Goss, Dale Kavanagh and Dušan Bogdanović. In the 2022-23 season they commissioned and premiered works by legendary Leo Brouwer, Canadian Amy Brandon and iconic Brazilian Sergio Assad. As Naxos recording artists, their music can be heard on all major streaming platforms.
About Amy Brandon, Composer
Composer and guitarist Amy Brandon’s performances, installations and acoustic works have been presented at the Gaudeamus Festival (Screen Dive), National Sawdust (NYC), Trinity College (Dublin) and the Winnipeg New Music Festival. She has received Canadian and international composition awards and honourable mentions including the Leo Brouwer Guitar Composition Competition (Grand Prize 2019) and an East Coast Music Award 2022 for Composer of the Year. In addition to performance and composition, she is completing an interdisciplinary PhD examining augmented reality, motor control and guitar performance at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia and is the founder and director of the 21st Century Guitar Conference.
Access Info
The Toronto Music Garden is a wheelchair accessible park. Summer Music In The Garden concerts include 8 reserved spots for accessible seating on a first come, first served basis. As these performances take place in a park, they are inherently relaxed performances by nature.
Dates & Times
August 10
7pm
60 mins
Venue
Wheelchair accessible
Outdoors
Between Lower Spadina and Dan Leckie Way