Baroque Brilliance 2024 – the Spirit of Christmas

Following the success of Mozart in the Sun, the Lavinia Ensemble returns to St. Olave's for a Christmas concert of baroque music. Director and violinist, Mark Whale, is joined by violinist, Erick Oliver Wawrzkiewicz in Bach's Double Violin Concerto and by oboist, Tyler Romesburg in Marcello's Concerto for Oboe and Strings. Other works include Vivaldi's Concerto for two violins in A minor, Corelli's Christmas Concerto and the Overture from Handel's Messiah. Audience participation in the Twelve Days of Christmas is optional! Proceeds go to the Be enchanted by music of the baroque and celebrate the spirit of Christmas with this concert in support of the Bloor West Food Bank.

Program

Overture to the Messiah by G. F. Handel

Concerto for Oboe and Strings by Alessandro Marcello

Concerto in D minor for Two Violins and Orchestra by J. S. Bach

Concerto in A minor for Two Violins and orchestra by Antonio Vivaldi

Concerto Grosso in G minor, Fatto per la Notte di Natali, by Arcangelo Corelli

The Lavinia Ensemble was founded by musical director, Mark Whale, in December 2023, performing its first concert, Baroque Brilliance – in the Spirit of Christmas, in Bloor West Village/Swansea at Morningside Presbyterian Church. Taking its name from Lavinia Avenue, the heart of Swansea (and Mark's home street), the ensemble's "mission" is to bring quality musical performance to the neighborhood. The Lavinia Ensemble comprises professional and semi-professional musicians. Many are members of the Etobicoke Philharmonic Orchestra where Mark is concertmaster.

Tyler Romesberg, oboe, Tyler Romesberg holds a Bachelor’s degree in Music Education from the University of North Texas and an Artist Diploma from the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. During his time at UNT, Romesberg won the UNT Chamber Music Competition as a member of a woodwind quintet, and he was a finalist in the UNT Concerto Competition. Outside of school, he has also attended NYO Canada, Rocky Ridge Music, the Curtis Mentorship Program, the 2020 Eastern Music Festival Virtual Session, and the International Lyric Academy in Vicenza, Italy. In the Greater Toronto Area, Romesberg was the Principal Oboe of Oakville Symphony from 2022-2024. 

As a soloist, he was the winner of the 2024 Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Orchestra Concerto Competition, and he performed Ruth Gipps’s Oboe Concerto with the ensemble at the Winners’ Gala. This will be his second time appearing with the Lavinia Ensemble as a soloist; the first time he performed J.S. Bach’s Concerto for Oboe and Violin with Mark Whale. 

As a teacher, Tyler Romesberg served as an oboe instructor for Carroll School District from 2019-2022 and the double reed instructor for Aubrey School District in 2022. In addition to lessons for young oboists and bassoonists, he also taught masterclasses, reed making classes, and a combined beginner double reed class. Now based in Rochester, NY, he is an assistant choir teacher at McQuaid Jesuit School and an active freelancer. 

Tyler Romesberg’s primary teachers are Sarah Jeffrey, James Ryon, and Anita Juilianna, and he has also studied with Katharine Needleman, Eric Ohlssohn, and Peter Cooper. As a masterclass participant, Romesberg has performed for Richard Woodhams, Eugene Izotov, Nancy King, and William Welter. 

When he is not making reeds or practicing, Romesberg loves to be outside, and he enjoys hiking, skiing, and running. 

Erick Oliver Wawrzkiewicz is a Polish Brazilian violinist, violist and baroque violinist based in Toronto. He performs regularly with orchestras and ensembles around the city. Born in London, England to Polish and Brazilian parents he started studying the violin in Poland at age 4. He studied with Israeli violinist, Eyal Kless, at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, and with TSO Associate Concertmaster, Mark Skazinetsky, at the Royal Conservatory of Music and the University of Toronto Faculty of Music where he also took viola lessons with Eric Nowlin and learned Historically Informed Performance Practice with Jeanne Lamon and Ivars Taurins from Tafelmusik. Wawrzkiewicz frequently collaborates with composers, most recently recording new works by Canadian composers Kevin Zi-Xiao He and Felix Arifin.

Mark Whale, PhD, is a violinist and fulltime Professor of Liberal Studies at Humber College, Toronto. He teaches courses in music, philosophy and general education and is currently involved in developing Humber's climate educational program. Mark studied the violin in London, England, at the Royal Academy of Music, and in Freiburg, Germany at the Musikhochschule. After a career in Europe as a violinist, teacher, conductor and concert organizer, Mark completed his PhD in music education at the University of Toronto in 2009. A published researcher, he has presented at conferences around the world on the question of musical meaning. In 2014 he gave a TED Talk at Guelph University entitled "Music: Is it just a matter of personal taste?" In 2018 he conducted a research project, funded by Humber College, which included a series of podcasts called "The Music Listening Project." In the series, which is regularly updated, Mark explores what is going on in music from a practical (rather than theoretical) listening perspective. Mark continues to play the violin professionally. He is currently concertmaster of Toronto’s Etobicoke Philharmonic Orchestra. Other musical engagements are varied, ranging from solo Bach in Humber's Arboretum, Quartets in Cafes, Piazzola on YouTube, to improvisation and the folk music of Bosnia.