Upcoming Concerts

There is a Season:

A Musical Mosaic

The Lute Legends Collective in collaboration with the Butter Quartet

Presented by the Friends of Music at St. Thomas’s Anglican Church, Toronto

Tuesday, November 5 @ 7:00-9:00 (one performance only!)

St. Thomas’s Anglican Church, 383 Huron Street, Toronto (map here)

Tickets available at Eventbrite (click here) or at the door

Pay what your wish ($40 recommended, $20 students)

A talk-back with the performers will follow

The Netherlands-based period-instrument Butter Quartet will make a special stop in Toronto during their upcoming North American tour to collaborate once again with Lute Legends! The two ensembles recently shared a concert at the 2024 Amsterdam String Quartet Biennale which received a standing ovation.  Now this unique project will be remounted for a single performance only in Toronto, presented by the Friends of Music at St. Thomas Anglican Church. There is a Season presents music associated with the four seasons from Austria, Italy, China, Turkey, and India.

Borderlands: Music on the Edge

Presented by Early Music Seattle

Information and tickets available at Early Music Seattle (click here)

As part of a week-long residency, the ensemble will also participate in "Coffee with Lute Legends" and "Lute Legends Jam Session at Cornish" on March 20.  See Seattle Early Music's website for details.

This transfixing musical journey is anchored by a triangle of distinct traditions: the evocative depiction of nature in ancient China, the multilayered ornamentation of the European Renaissance, and the improvisatory brilliance of Arabic maquam.  Yet the performance explores the uncharted geographical and stylistic spaces between the points of that triangle. Through diverse repertoire such as haunting Uyghur folk tunes from Xinjiang, polyphonic songs from the Iberian peninsula, and classical forms from the Ottoman court, we experience moments when these three musical traditions reached out to engage with one another.  Guided by three plucked-string specialists joined in collaboration by mutual curiosity and friendship, listeners will hear musical dialogues that can only take place in real or imagined "borderlands" where cultural boundaries blur and creativity knows no bounds.

Recent Concerts

The Lute Legends Collective in collaboration with the Butter Quartet

"Extending the String Quartet: A Story Across Time"

Presented by the String Quartet Biennale Amsterdam

Grote Zaal Muziekgebouw, Amsterdam (Netherlands), January 30, 2024 @ 14:15pm

An exploration of the four seasons in music from China, Turkey, India, Renaissance Italy, and Haydn's Vienna.

Featuring LLC members Lucas Harris (lute), Wen Zhao (pipa), Ronnie Malley (oud), & Arnab Chakrabarty (sarod)

Music Toronto COSE series, May 20, 2023 @ 5:00pm

“The Earth has its Music”: Ancient Melodies for Plucked Strings

“The Earth has its music for those who will listen.” – Reginald Holmes

This program featured programmatic works for the European lute, picturesque pieces about nature for the Chinese pipa, and pieces for the west-African kora and its traditions of “griots” or bard/storytellers.
Featuring LLC members Lucas Harris (lute), Wen Zhao (pipa), & Diely Mori (kora)