MQ: Madoc Quartet! Madoc, a small community, known mostly mid point between Toronto and Ottawa on highway 7. And Madoc has its own string quartet: MQ. The Madoc Quartet is a professional string ensemble based out of Toronto, with deep roots in the Madoc community.
Back in COVID days when no one was doing anything, QSCM stepped up to the plate, literally, bringing a live string quartet performance to Home Plate at Eldorado Ball Park. September 2021, residents and visitors to the Madoc Community listened as four professional musicians performed the music of Elgar, Haydn, Grieg and Canadian Jacques Marchand under the stars.
Madoc Township Mayor Lloyd Blackburn spent the afternoon that day drawing social fistancing circles around the baseball diamond, so we come together and stay apart. QSCM brought the musicians. We built it and, and they came!
QSCM's ALL TERRAIN TOUR 2020 also brought chamber music out of doors at Madoc's Skate Park and O'Hara Mill. The reception from the Madoc community was so generous, so enthusiastic, so heartwarming that the ensemble decided then and there they would henceforth be known as THE MADOC QUARTET. Sebastian Sallans, the leader and founding member of MQ, is also QSCM's artistic director. Sebastian who completed his professional training at the University of Toronto with a degree in Violin Performance, grew up in Madoc Township. Despite time away, studying and performing across Ontario, Quebec, the USA and in Europe, Sebastian retained fond memories of playing for friends and family at home. It became his dream to share the calssical music experience as he had come to know it with the people who'd enjoyed his music when he wa growing up. QSCM was founded to make it psosible for rural audiences to enjoy chamber music as it was meant to be heard, performed by highly accomplished professional musicians in small venues for intimate audiences. Sebastian shared his idea of making classical music accssible in the rural context with his fellow musicians. They responded with enthusiasm, committed to an intense rehearsal scheduale and planned the All Terrain Tour. Then COVID happened. Early in 2020 lock down restrictions brought the professional performance industry to a halt. I remember myself being with musicians on the day so many of them received notice, their services for the upcoming season would not be required. Period. Sebastian and his collegues were not dettered. Creating a rehearsal "bubble", a group of people testing negative for COVID, vaccinated, and careful to remain isolated from others, the quartet honed their ability to play together. Early in September they piled into a truck big enough to transport 4 musicians, 2 violins a viola and a cello, and headed for Madoc. The rest - well - it isn't history. It's news! Making the QSCM's All Terrain Tour an annual commitment, this Labour Day Weekend, 2024, MQ returns. On the program, music by Mozart, Dvorak and contemporaries American Jessie Montrgomery, and Canadian Pat Morehead. In the plan, a joyuous renunion as Sebastian, Leslie, Sara and JunKyu anticipate seeing friends, new and old, in the Madoc - Centre Hastings community. We encourage you to invite friends and family to join you for an MQ, All Terrain Tour experience. Enjoy the music and meet the musicians over refreshments. Discuss local cultural opportunities with QSCM volunteers. The All Terrain Tour is designed to make everyone comfortable with classical music. Events are informal, conversation from the stage is encouraged and each performance features discussion of how the music is make, what musicians do to make it happen. Free admission makes it easy for all to attend. Even the parking is free! Details of all QSCM performances and the All Terrain Tour 2024, are found here" https://www.qscmusic.com/whats-on Join us for Mozart at Hazzards Corners on Thursday Aug 29! There will be cookies, compliments of Gold Mine Bakery, Madoc. Friday - enjoy the work of Jessie Montgomery and Pat ricia Morehead over mocktails at Fina Vista Far, 4 p.m. That's Happy Hour! BONUS: Canadian Composer Patricia Morehead will be joining us to discuss her own work You can find out more about this incomparable opportunity to exolore the creative process of the classical music composer at https://www.qscmusic.com/post/guess-who-s-coming-to-town
Then we invite you to drive 10 minutes more, follow us as we move over to Moira Hall. At 7 pm MQ presents Dvorak's "American Quartet." We will also have desert! It's the Crumble Rumble, presented by Vintage Kitchen, Tweed.
Sunday afternoon, 4 pm. meet again at Arts Centre Hastings, in Madoc's Skate Park to hear the entire program start to finish. Attending all four performances makes the music familiar by the time you get to the Sunday afternoon grand finale. But if you can;t do that, be sure to attend at least one. You don't wnat to miss it even if if you're not from Madoc. The Madoc Quartet is warm, friendly and fun, like our community vibe, but it is also world class in quality again, like so much that comes from this picturesque community nestled between the rocks at the edge of the Canadian Shield.
Want to learn more about MQ? Vist the Madoc Quartet at
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