Toronto Music Garden
Last week our guests arrived from Boston via Porter Airlines in time to relax with a cheese tray and a glass of wine before heading out to the Toronto Music Garden for a Thursday evening performance by Tom Bombadil’s Kitchen.
With blanket in hand they headed out on a short 2 minute walk down the dock from our Boat Bed and Breakfast. Under the huge willow trees the Montreal based Tom Bombadil’s Kitchen offered up a combination of traditional and Celtic Bluegrass music and their own original composition of classical flavours with jazz-inspired improvisation. Twice per week the Music Garden is host to the finest national and international classical musicians.
Most Thursdays evenings at 7 pm and Sunday afternoons at 4 pm (weather permitting of course) throughout the summer, the Music Garden serves up free hour-long classical music performances. Seating is limited even though there are a few benches, so I usually offer our guests a picnic blanket to take along.
It’s more than just a garden with free outdoor concerts. This enchanting garden was designed by international renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma and landscape designer Julie Moir Masservy, and inspired by Bach’s Suite No. 1 in G Major for Unaccompanied Cello. The garden has six “rooms” – each an interpretation of the traditional dance forms featured in the cello suite’s six movements. The garden is open year around but I think it is best appreciated in full bloom during the spring, summer and fall. We recommend that you take a tour of the Music Garden.
Photo courtesy of www.harbourfrontcentre.com
The garden’s unique design and history is explained during the 45 minute Toronto Music Garden Tours which are offered on Wednesdays at 11:00 am and Thursdays at 5:30 pm and are lead by a volunteer of the Toronto Botanical Garden. Tours are free and reservations are not required, just meet at the west end of the garden’s Prelude section. Otherwise you can also do your own Audio Tour by renting an audio player for $6 each (along with a security deposit) at Marina Quay West, located just south of the garden. The 70 minute audio tour details each section of the garden complete with excerpts from Bach’s Suite for Unaccompanied Cello. For a full description of this season’s musical offerings please visit the website for up-to-date schedule information.
Travel Tip: Porter Airlines offers flights to downtown Toronto Billy Bishop Airport with 7 flights from Boston daily; also Chicago (7 x daily); New York (13 x daily) and Washington (Dulles 3 x daily) as well as 12 other Canadian Cities.
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