Composer Ashiq Aziz: Playing to the next generation – thestar.com

Ashiq Aziz will be conducting opera concerts this month from August 22 to 28 in Toronto. Details of these performances can be found at www.classicalmusicconsort.org

Over the past three decades, the Tafelmusik Baroque orchestra has built up a mainstream audience in Toronto for the music of the 17th and 18th centuries. Now a new generation of period-sensitive musicians is ready to build its own designs on this foundation.

Ashiq Aziz is a case in point. He is eager to connect younger musicians with younger audiences — and he’s turning to a 20-something composer for help.

Actually, the composer was a 20-something 300 years ago.

Two years ago, the Toronto native returned from the Royal College of Music in England with a burning love for George Frideric Handel, the German-born English composer who brought us the oratorio Messiah.

Click here to read more: Playing to the next generation – thestar.com.