Today in Toronto: In the Miller Mood, Rez Abbasi Quintet and The Original Carmina Burana

Today in Toronto: In the Miller Mood, Rez Abbasi Quintet and The Original Carmina Burana

In the Miller Mood The Toronto All-Star Big Band is committed to reviving the style and sound of the 1930s and ’40s, an era when big bands reigned. This show channels Glenn Miller, whose hits— standards such as “In the Mood,” “Moonlight Serenade” and “Chattanooga Choo Choo”—have become shorthand for swing. Find out more »

Rez Abbasi Quintet Pakistan-born composer and jazz guitarist Abbasi is all about dismantling walls—in his case, the ones that separate jazz from traditional South Asian music. It sounds a little earnest, but Abbasi has a light, self-aware touch: his first two recordings in this novel genre were called Snake Charmer and Bazaar. Find out more »

The Original Carmina Burana Carl Orff’s setting for orchestra, chorus and soloists has become the standard, but these songs and poems, most dating back to the 13th and 14th centuries, most likely got their first hearings at taverns and village fairs. The Toronto Consort, backed by instruments of the period, recreates the sometimes bawdy, sometimes spiritual and always lively soundscape that was the medieval world. Find out more »