Salle Bourgie, Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal

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"Daniel Taylor and the pure voices of the TEM breathe new life into the world of early music” Founded by Artistic Director and Conductor Daniel Taylor, the Theatre of Early Music (TEM) are sought-after interpreters of magnificent yet neglected choral repertoire from four centuries. Their appearances include stunning a cappella programs, with practices and aesthetics of former ages informing thought-provoking, passionate and committed reconstructions of music for historical events and major works from the oratorio tradition. Through their concert performances and recordings, the 10 - 20 solo singers offer a purity and clarity in their sound which has resulted in invitations from an ever-widening circle of the world’s leading stages. With Daniel Taylor, the Choir and Orchestra of the TEM are new visitors to the most renowned concert halls and festivals and are building an exciting discography in partnership with Sony Classical Masterworks. The Theatre of Early Music is an ensemble of some of the world’s finest musicians, sharing a particular passion for early music. Its formation is the result of a search by instrumentalists and singers for opportunities that would allow devotion and dedication to enter into the creative process. The core of the TEM consists of an ensemble based in Canada, primarily made up of young Canadian soloists. Their distinctive style, coupled with its artistic director Daniel Taylor’s expertise and enthusiasm, leads to captivating readings of magnificent but often neglected works. We perform and record great choral, vocal and instrumental repertoire from the renaissance to the present day for the widest possible audience while cultivating a growing international reputation for excellence and innovation. Our mission is to educate the public, in every sense – to be standard bearers for the highest quality of performance, to explain, illustrate and illuminate the guiding principles behind our performance ideals and to offer first-class performance opportunities to young people through our bold and ambitious programming. We seek to engage with and to explore the links between music from all periods. Through lively music-making, committed research and the production of ground-breaking recordings, the TEM’s mission is to challenge common and accepted perceptions of classical music and to re-invigorate in order to sustain the relevance of these works of art in the twenty-first century. The heart of every TEM project beats with a strong sense of our core artistic values: To strive constantly for the highest artistic integrity; challenge the accepted boundaries of musical performance; instil value in music in our communities and across the world with a particular focus on young people as our future. In various combinations, leading international musicians in the field perform on the platform provided by the TEM in concerts conducted by Daniel Taylor in its regular series in Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto, on tours around the world and on recordings. The TEM appears in some thirty concerts every year, and recently led a successful North American tour, culminating with their debut at New York’s famous Carnegie Hall. The TEM Choir has toured with the esteemed Gabrieli Consort in the Summers of 2015 and 2016 with members of the Choir touring the United Kingdom and recording two discs on SONY. The TEM collaborates regularly with prestigious guest artists, including Nancy Argenta, Robin Blaze, James Bowman, Benjamin Butterfield, Michael Chance, Charles Daniels, Karina Gauvin, James Gilchrist, Michael George, Peter Harvey, Dame Emma Kirkby, Suzie LeBlanc, Carolyn Sampson, Stephen Varcoe and Deborah York. The TEM also works in collaboration with three of the greatest choral ensembles in the world: the Kammerchor Stuttgart, the Gabrieli Consort and the Tallis Scholars. The TEM’s first recording with BIS Records, Leçons de Ténèbres by Couperin, featured Taylor and Blaze and was released in 2005. The disc was received with critic acclaim: “Beauty of this recording bows to no other.” This disc was followed in February 2006 by another BIS Records album featuring an original program of works from the Renaissance entitled Love Bade Me Welcome. The program presented the actor Ralph Fiennes reciting poetry as well as duets with countertenors James Bowman and Daniel Taylor. Critics unanimously praised, “the legendary countertenor James Bowman in the magical duets with remarkable young star Daniel Taylor.” The TEM has, in fact, recorded 16 CDs under various labels - primarily with SONY and their Canadian partner Analekta, all of which have been received positively. The TEM became a registered non-profit organization in 2002 and charitable organization in 2004. It was recently named Visiting-Ensemble-in-Residence at the University of Toronto Faculty of Music, where Daniel Taylor chairs the Historical Performance Department.