Piano lessons to meet your needs, since 2009
Piano lessons to meet your needs, since 2009
One of the best ways to gain the motivation and inspiration to drive your piano practise forward, maximize your progress, and get the most out of your piano lessons is to see professional pianists performing live. In Toronto we are fortunate to have a plethora of world-class classical pianists and jazz pianists performing regularly in the Toronto area. Attending every piano concert at Massey or Roy Thomson Hall might be cost-prohibitive - luckily piano students and piano enthusiasts in Toronto can benefit from a great number of free piano concerts in Toronto, happening every week in various Toronto venues.
Many of Toronto's churches have regular free piano concerts and free organ concerts, often around noon on a week day.
The Cathedral Church of St. James (65 Church St, Toronto, ON M5C 2E9) features its organ (originally built in 1888) in free organ concerts twice per week.
The Church of the Holy Trinity (19 Trinity Square, Toronto, ON M5G 1B1) holds free concerts during the noon hour on Mondays, featuring a variety of different types of ensembles including choirs, solo pianists, and chamber ensembles.
The Church of Saint Stephen-in-the-Fields (103 Bellevue Ave, Toronto, ON M5T 2N8) offers Wednesday lunchtime concerts throughout the summer months with some of Toronto's best pianists, organists, and other instrumentalists booked to perform. http://saintstephens.ca/noon-hour-concerts-at-st-stephens
Saint Basil’s Catholic Parish (50 St Joseph St, Toronto, ON M5S 1J4) includes a variety of music in its concert programming, including the odd free organ recital.
The Beach United Church (140 Wineva Ave, Toronto, ON M4E 2T4) presents a Jazz & Reflection series on Saturdays, where you can find some of Toronto's best jazz piano players performing live in concert.
St. Andrew's Church (73 Simcoe St, Toronto, ON M5J 1W9) is one of the best spots in Toronto to see Toronto's fiery up-and-coming classical pianists perform some of the classical piano repertoire's most demanding works. St. Andrew's holds free piano concerts during lunchtime on Fridays from March through May.
The Metropolitan United Church (56 Queen St E, Toronto, ON M5C 2Z3) holds its free piano concerts series entitled Noon at Met on Thursdays during the lunch hour, often featuring some of Toronto's most talented classical pianists.
Christ Church Deer Park (1570 Yonge St, Toronto, ON M4T 1Z8) is home to Toronto's best jazz vespers - a mix of reflective readings and great local jazz. You will often find the top Toronto jazz pianists performing in these free Sunday afternoon concerts.
If free piano concerts in churches isn't quite your thing, a few of Toronto's ticketed concert venues also offer free piano concerts and free organ concerts as part of their music programming.
Roy Thomson Hall (60 Simcoe St, Toronto, ON M5J 2H5) features its magnificent Gabriel Kney pipe organ in free concerts of choir music and solo organ performances.
Gallery 345 (345 Sorauren Avenue, Toronto ON M6R 2G5) hosts the odd free concert, advertised as "pay what you can".
The Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts (145 Queen St W, Toronto, ON M5H 4G1) is home to the Free Concert Series in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre. One part of the Free Concert Series is the Piano Virtuoso Series, which includes free classical piano concerts with Canadian and international classical piano superstars, and a mix of repertoire ranging from Baroque to 21st Century compositions.
Toronto has some excellent piano shops and piano dealerships, which in some cases open their doors to host free piano concerts for the Toronto public.
Steinway galleries have several locations around the GTA, and offer free piano concerts, as well as free concerts featuring ensembles, in a variety of styles of music from classical to jazz.
Paul Hahn & Co. (1058 Yonge St, Toronto, ON M4W 2L4) has been selling and restoring pianos for over a century and three generations of family owners. Once in a while they treat the community to intimate free piano concerts in the shop.
Toronto's universities and music conservatories are home to world-class undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate-level programs in piano performance. The piano students in these programs represent the next generation of piano virtuosos. As part of their piano studies, students present annual free piano concerts which are open to the public and a great opportunity to see fiery new interpretations of some of the most challenging classical and jazz piano repertoire.
The highly-competitive University of Toronto piano performance program has Toronto's best piano teachers on faculty, and piano students performing to exceptional standards. Recital season typically falls near the end of the university term times, and is the best time to check out the free piano concerts and the University of Toronto's Faculty of Music.
The Royal Conservatory of Music is located almost beside the U of T Faculty of Music, and has equal prestige and high-caliber piano teachers and piano students. Be sure to catch Glenn Gould School Students in their year-end free piano concerts for the next generation of virtuosic pianists.
Finally, the Toronto Public Library is an amazing resource for all things cultural and free, and Libraries around the city also host occasional music events, including free piano concerts. Search the TPL website under "Programs & Classes" - "Culture Arts & Entertainment" for upcoming free piano concerts in Toronto.
If you had any doubt that Toronto was a world-class city for piano performers and music enthusiasts, a look at the number of piano concerts and other musical events happening every day and night throughout the city may change your perspective. In addition to the free piano concerts, be sure to save up and check out the ticketed piano concerts in Toronto as well - the pianists performing in these concerts are worth the money and you will likely walk out of a concert experience you will never forget.
