Sheku Kanneh-Mason Brings His Elgar to the Toronto Symphony
The celebrated cellist delivers some KANNEH-MAGIC
WORDS BY EMMA SCHMIEDECKE | Roy Thomson Hall
JAN 21, 2023 | COMMUNITY
Danforth Music Hall - Photo by Miles Forrester
Gary Kulesha and the TSO
Sheku Kanneh-Mason and the TSO
In a 100th anniversary celebration season full of guest stars and eclectic programming, audiences were treated to an evening in Great Britain (with a splash of Canada) at the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO) this past weekend in Roy Thomson Hall. The program consisted of Ralph Vaughan-Williams’ Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis for String Orchestra, the world premiere of Canadian composer Gary Kulesha’s Symphony No. 4, and Edward Elgar’s Cello Concerto in E minor, performed by string star Sheku Kanneh-Mason. Nearly the entire program was British-centric: a British opener and a British concerto presented by a British conductor (conductor emeritus Peter Oundjian) and a British soloist. The evening began with Vaughan-Williams’ beautiful Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis, a tragically underplayed work outside of its native England. The piece got the audience into the British sound world of sweeping melodies, open harmonies, and string writing of the most satisfying kind, and the orchestra delivered on all three.