Canadian concert tour

Dear Friends,

February is going to be a busy month of concerts, with performances mainly in Ontario and Manitoba.

First, I’ll be performing as part of the Windsor Canadian Music Festival. CBC will be recording both concerts. For more information on the festival - http://www.windsorsymphony.com/season/wcmf.html

Friday, Feb. 1 at 7:30pm
Guest soloist with the Windsor Symphony Orchestra (dir. John Morris Russell) in a performance of Trade Winds, a concerto for tabla and string orchestra by Christien Ledroit.
Assumption University Chapel, Windsor, ON

Saturday, Feb. 2 at 7:30pm
Guest artist in the School of Music Faculty Concert in a performance of Elementalities, a chamber work for flute, vibraphone, and tabla by Christien Ledroit.
Jaimie Wagner, flute; Nicholas Papador, vibraphone.
Assumption University Chapel, Windsor, ON

Next, a short concert tour in the Toronto area.

Thursday, February 14 at 12pm
TABLEAUX – New Music for the Tabla of North India
With Parmela Attariwala, violin.
Traditional tabla solo and works by Payton MacDonald and Robert Rosen.
Thursdays at Noon Concert SeriesGoldschmidt Room, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON

Thursday, February 14 at 8pm
Accompanying soprano Zorana Sadiq, in a performance of Shirish Korde’s Songs of Ecstacy; Peter Tiefenbach, piano.
Music Toronto Vocal Recital
St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts, Toronto, ON

Friday, February 15 at 8pm
TABLEAUX – New Music for the Tabla of North India
With Parmela Attariwala, violin.
Works by Christien Ledroit, Payton MacDonald, and Robert Rosen.
Tradewinds, presented by the Canadian Music Centre’s New Music in New Places series.
http://www.musiccentre.ca/nmi.cfm
Hamilton GO Centre, Hamilton, ON

Then, back to Montreal for a concert at McGill.

Thursday, February 21 at 8pm
Guest soloist with the McGill Wind Orchestra, guest conductor Vicky Shin.
Premiere of Samsara, a new tabla concerto by Payton MacDonald.
Pollack Hall, Montreal, QC

Then, last but not least, a short residency in Winnipeg, which will include guest lectures and workshops at the University of Manitoba.

Monday, February 25 at 8pm
TABLEAUX - New Music for the Tabla of North India
With Julie Lebel, harmonium and Laurel Ridd, flute
Groundswell New Music Series
Works by Paul Frehner, Bruno Paquet, Jim Hiscott, Patrick Saint-Denis, Nicole Lizée, and a traditional tabla solo.
Eckhardt-Gramatté Hall, Winnipeg, MB

Wednesday, February 27 at 8:00pm
Guest soloist with the Brandon University Percussion Ensemble, dir. Ben Reimer
Brandon University New Music Series
Payton MacDonald’s 2nd Concerto for Tabla and Percussion Quartet and Jugalbandi, duo for marimba and tabla.
Lorne Watson Hall, Brandon University, Brandon, MB

That's all for now. :)

Best regards,
Shawn

Surtaal, live at ZaZen

Hi everyone,

Happy new year! Unfortunately there hasn't been much to report for some time now. So, here's the first bit of news for this year - Nicholas and I had the pleasure of performing together again at Spa ZaZen. This location is truly ideal for Indian classical music concerts. It's all wood and stone, located in Old Montreal (Montreal's old historic neighbourhood). The building must be two hundred years old and the acoustic is really great.

Nicholas began with alap and jor in Raag Bhimpalasi, followed by a gat in Rupaktaal, which we then followed by a gat in Teentaal. After a short chai and samosa break, the concert resumed with Raag Darbari Kanada; alap and gat in Ektaal. What seems to have become tradition now, we ended with a short song in dadra.

Many thanks to Simon for his initiative in organising this concert, and Jen at ZaZen for hosting us again. I'm very much looking forward to the next time! My apologies for the blurry photos, but that's all we were able to get!

Coming soon:

Next week, I'm performing Christien Ledroit's Trade Winds, a concerto for tabla and string orchestra with the Windsor Symphony Orchestra as part of the Windsor Canadian Music Festival. Also, in March, the McGill Tabla Ensemble spring concert extravaganza. Stay tuned. :)