Harbourfront Centre - Parks - Toronto Music Garden

About the Garden

This delightful garden—a reflection in landscape of Bach's First Suite for Unaccompanied Cello—was designed by internationally renowned cellist Yo Yo Ma and landscape designer Julie Moir Messervy, in collaboration with landscape architects from the City of Toronto's Parks and Recreation department.

Each dance movement within the suite corresponds to a different section of the garden:

PRELUDE – An undulating river scape with curves and bends
The first moment of the suite imparts the feeling of a flowing river through which the visitor can stroll. Granite boulders from the southern edge of the Canadian Shield are placed to represent a stream bed with low-growing plants softening its banks. The whole is overtopped by an alley of native Hackberry trees (Celtis occidentalis), whose straight trunks and regular spacing suggest measures of music.
ALLEMANDE – A forest grove of wandering trails
The Allemande is an ancient German dance. Interpreted here as a Birch forest, the movement invites the visitor to swirl inward to various contemplative sitting areas, that move higher and higher up the hillside, culminating in a rocky vantage point that looks over the harbour through a circle of Dawn Redwood trees.
COURANTE – A swirling path through a wildflower meadow
Originally an Italian and French dance form, the Courante is an exuberant movement that is interpreted here as a huge, upward-spiralling swirl through a lush field of grasses and brightly-coloured perennials that attract birds and butterflies. At the top, a Maypole spins in the wind.
SARABANDE – A conifer grove in the shape of an arc
This movement is based on an ancient Spanish dance form. Its contemplative quality is interpreted here as an inward-arcing circle that is enclosed by tall needle-leaf evergreen trees. Envisioned as a poet's corner, the garden's centerpiece is a huge stone that acts as a stage for readings, and holds a small pool with water that reflects the sky.
MINUETS – A formal flower parterre
This French dance was contemporary to Bach's time. Its formality and grace are reflected in the symmetry and geometry of this movement's design. Hand-crafted with ornamental steel, a circular pavilion is designed to shelter small musical ensembles or dance groups.
GIGUE – Giant grass steps that dance you down to the outside world
The Gigue, or "jog" is an English dance, whose jaunty, rollicking music is interpreted here as a series of giant grass steps that offer views onto the harbour. The steps form a curved amphitheatre that focus on a stone stage set under a weeping willow tree; a place for informal performances. Shrubs and perennials act as large, enclosing arms, framing views out onto the harbour.

Two Canadian artists created special features for the Music Garden: Tom Tollefson, architectural blacksmith, fabricated the Music Pavilion; and Anne Roberts, Feir Mill Design Inc., designed the Maypole.

Summer Music in the Garden

Let’s make beautiful music and dance this summer!

Presented in the gorgeous setting of the Toronto Music Garden, the annual Summer Music in the Garden series and tours are produced by Harbourfront Centre in partnership with City of Toronto Parks Forestry and Recreation, with the generous support of Toronto Culture, and Margaret and Jim Fleck.

The Music Garden presents classical/art music (any culture/tradition), and certain kinds of traditional music, as well as dance that can be performed on grass. Please note that jazz and popular music are not programmed at the Music Garden; nor is there the possibility of performing on a piano.

Concerts are Thursdays at 7pm and Sundays at 4pm (weather-permitting) and are approximately one hour in length. Bench seating is available, but limited, so please feel free to bring a lawn chair. We also advise bringing a hat or umbrella and sunscreen as shade is limited. Please call our info desk at 416.973.4000 for the most up-to-date concert rain dates.

Summer Music in the Garden is curated for Harbourfront Centre by artistic director Tamara Bernstein and for more information, she can be reached at tbernstein [at] harbourfrontcentre.com

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Artistic Statement

Nestled between city and lake, the Toronto Music Garden dissolves the borders between music and landscape, transforming Bach's Suite No. 1 in G Major for unaccompanied cello into a magical space. The performing areas – the Gigue and Menuet sections of the garden – create an intimacy that belies their urban surroundings; during concerts they embrace young and old; rich and poor; athletic and arthritic.

In programming these concerts, I am inspired by the enthusiasm and energy of the audiences and performers, but also by the tremendous life force of Music Garden itself – and of the music of J. S. Bach that inspired it in turn.

Some of the Music Garden artists happen to be famous, but the Music Garden is not about glitz, or "big names." It's about musicians and dancers who connect with audiences; who can hear and feel the active silence of an audience that is listening, their silence effectively "drowning out" the inevitable ambient noise of an outdoor concert. It's about artists who give 110% whether they're performing at Carnegie Hall or in a public park; it's about finding artists who can keep a child transfixed for an hour, as so often happens at these concerts, even though that child has the option of squirming or talking or running around.

The broad mandate of these concerts is classical music, but this extends beyond the narrow band of Western art music often encompassed by the term. South Asia, China, the Persian and Arabic Middle East all have venerable classical traditions that are a joy to present and hear in the Garden. Traditional musics from Japan (e.g. taiko), Korea, Spain (flamenco) and Indonesia, as well as pre-jazz klezmer, add important flavours to the series, as do contemporary, traditional and baroque dance. Toronto is famed for its multiculturalism, yet many performers have told me that they rarely get the chance, outside of the Music Garden, to perform for audiences outside their own ethnic communities. New music and contemporary dance likewise step outside their rarified spheres at the Music Garden, where they are often integrated into imaginative, wide-ranging programs. (See Alison Melville's concert on July 26 this season.)

Indeed, the Music Garden is an ideal setting to reconnect with the familiar or explore the unknown: when admission is free, the physical setting so beautiful and the atmosphere so congenial, what have you got to lose?

— Tamara Bernstein, 2009

Touring the Toronto Music Garden

Guided Tours

Our popular garden tours return for another season. Learn about the garden's unique design and history on a 45-minutes walking tour, led by a volunteer Toronto Botanical Garden guide.

Guided Tours run from June 3 to Sept 30, Wednesdays at 11am and Thursdays at 5:30pm (pre-concert) starting July 2. Meet in the west end of the Garden's Prelude section.

Take Your Own Audio Tour

Hand-held audio players offer commentary by the Garden's designers Yo-Yo Ma and Julie Moir Messervy, detailing each unique section, as well as excerpts from Bach's First Suite for Unaccompanied Cello. You can rent one for $5 at the Marina Quay West office at 539 Queens Quay West (on the pier immediately south of the Garden). A security deposit is required. Audio tours are approximately 70 minutes in length.

Private Group Tours

Pre-booked groups can enjoy a special guided tour of the Toronto Music Garden.
Availability: June to September on weekdays EXCEPT Wednesdays
Duration: Approximately 45 minutes
Cost: $5 per person
Location: Meet at the Prelude section at the west end of the garden
Conditions: Rain or shine. From 5 to 15 people only.
Reservations: Required. Please book at least 1 week in advance.

To book call 416-397-1366
torontobotanicalgarden.ca

General Information

The Toronto Music Garden is a City of Toronto park, located at 475 Queen's Quay West on the waterfront between Bathurst Street and Spadina Avenue (MAP).

The Toronto Music Garden is easy to reach by public transit. Take the Spadina 510 streetcar south from the Spadina subway station or the LRT Harbourfront Line going west from Union Station. Call the Toronto Transit Commision at 416.393.4636 for service information, or visit the TTC website.

For information on the Toronto Music Garden and its programs, or to receive information on upcoming events, call the Harbourfront Centre Info Line at 416.973.4000.

The Toronto Music Garden is open year-round and there is no admission fee. The Toronto Music Garden is wheelchair-accessible.

Photography, video or audio recording is not permitted during Music Garden performances except with prior authorization from the performers and Harbourfront Centre.

Toronto Music Garden

A reflection in landscape of Bach's First Suite for Unaccompanied Cello