Farewell Talisker Players

Some sad news from Toronto - Musical Toronto reports that Talisker Players will be ceasing operations at the end of the concert season. For 17 seasons, Talisker Players has been a leading proponent of vocal chamber music, and has commissioned 30 works since 1999. From the Musical Toronto article:

“With an organization like this, they do have a lifespan… and eventually you feel as though you’ve done what you’ve wanted to do,” said Talisker Players Artistic Director Mary McGeer in a phone interview. “The close of our season in May 2017 seems like the right moment to move on, to explore new horizons, and to embrace new projects.” 

McGeer clarified that the decision was not related to any financial difficulty, and the Talisker Players were proud to end operations with “an unbroken record of balanced budgets.”

A few videos that show the kind of material that Talisker excels at: a magnificently bearded Doug MacNaughton is joined by James McLennan in Flanders & Swann's The Hippopotamus Song:




Tenor James McLennan, clarinetist Peter Stoll, and pianist Peter Longworth perform Leslie Uyeda's Radishes, with words by Lorna Crozier:


Talisker's final show will be A Mixture of Madness on May 16 and 17 at Trinity St. Paul's Centre at 427 Bloor Street West.