Art of Time Ensemble with Brent Carver: The Songbook Friday, February 24, 2017 at 8:00 pm This is the 697th concert in Koerner Hall

Brent Carver, vocals Andrew Burashko, piano Peter Lutek, saxophone Joseph Phillips, double bass Rob Piltch, guitar Stephen Sitarski, violin Rachel Pomedli, cello

Tony Award-award winning actor and singer Brent Carver joins the Art of Time Ensemble for an evening of song. Art of Time’s Artistic Director Andrew Burashko invited Brent to join him in hand picking a lineup of songs. A roster of Canada’s top composers from a variety of different musical perspectives were then commissioned to create new arrangements of the classic material. The results are rich embroideries upon the original songs, performed by Carver and an ensemble of world-class classical and jazz instrumentalists. Brent Carver's extraordinary range is highlighted in a program of songs from a wide variety of styles and genres, from Broadway to the cafes of Paris, and from the Great American Songbook to pop music of the sixties – music by Jacques Brel, Leonard Cohen, Kander & Ebb, Lennon & McCartney, Janis Ian, and many more.

Andrew Burashko Piano Andrew Burashko is the founder and creative force behind Art of Time Ensemble. Born in Moscow, he trained as a concert pianist across North America, making his solo debut with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra at the age of 17. As a soloist, he performed with some of the world’s most renowned conductors, including Sir Andrew Davis, Pinchas Zukerman, and Yannick Nézet-Séguin. His eclectic musical interests have led him to share the stage with such diverse artists as Branford Marsalis, Peggy Baker, and Madeleine Peyroux. In 1997, Burashko formed the Art of Time Ensemble to produce unique concerts that ignore the barriers between genres and disciplines, with the aim of exposing audiences to a broad range of artistic possibilities. Under his direction, Art of Time Ensemble has become a Canadian destination for today’s most accomplished artists working in music, dance, theatre, film, and literature. In addition to its annual concert series in Toronto, Art of Time Ensemble has toured extensively throughout Canada and the Unites States, as well as in Russia and Finland.

Brent Carver Vocals Brent Carver is best known for his performances on Broadway in Kiss of the Spider Woman as Molina, for which he won the Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical in 1993, , and as Leo Frank. His film and TV appearances include Lilies, The Tale of Teeka, Ararat, The Event, Deeply, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Elizabeth Rex, Young at Heart, Twice in a Lifetime, and The Wars. Brent Carver’s awards and honours include a Toronto Arts Award, Tony Award, two New York Drama Desk Awards, Theatre World Award (New York), four Dora Mavor Moore Awards, two Genie and four Gemini Awards, ACTRA Toronto Award, Sterling Award (Edmonton), and City of Cranbrook Award. Andrew Burashko is a graduate of The Royal Conservatory’s Glenn Gould School and a faculty member of The Glenn Gould School and The Phil and Eli Taylor Performance Academy. He and the Art of Time Ensemble made their Royal Conservatory debuts on October 22, 2009, during Koerner Hall’s inaugural concert season. Brent Carver made his Conservatory debut on December 12, 2015.