Concerts and Special Events | College of Arts

Concerts and Special Events

WINTER 2019Thursday at Noon Concert Series

TAN will be canceled for winter 2019 as the north end of MacKinnon undergoes a much needed refresh and renovation

Stay tuned for information in May 2019.

Thursday Noon Hour Concert Series
1967-2018 (Celebrating over 50 years of Music from Around the World)

When the Department of Music was established in 1965 as part of Wellington College of Arts and Science, Ralph Kidd was appointed Chair of this small but important academic unit. For many years Ralph and Edith Kidd were in effect the "musicians in residence" for the Federated Colleges of the Department of Agriculture which included the Ontario Agricultural College, the Ontario Veterinary College, and MacDonald Institute.

In their capacity as musicians in residence, Ralph and Edith provided music for every occasion, playing for convocations, University church services, alumni reunions, 4H group visits, and for banquets and retirement parties.

In addition, they organized the Sunday Nine O'Clock Concert Series, held in Creelman and War Memorial Hall, and helped to bring distinguished performers to the campus. The Glee Club, made up of students from the colleges, was conducted by Ralph and Edith accompanied.

The Kidds' influence reached well beyond Guelph as founders of the Inter-Varsity Choral Festival which included Toronto, McMaster, Western and Guelph.

In the Guelph community, Ralph and Edith took an active role in every musical enterprise including the Presto Music Club. Ralph was also organist and choirmaster at St. Georges's Anglican Church for many years and established a fine musical tradition with both the adult and boys' choirs.

When the Arts Building was completed on the University of Guelph campus in August 1967, Edith became Concert Manager with responsibility for planning concerts that would feature professional performers brought to Guelph to provide cultural opportunities for the University community. She was given plenty of freedom, but a very small budget. The plan was to use Music Room 107 in what is now the MacKinnon Building for Noon-Hour Concerts offered to faculty, staff, students and the general public, all free of charge.

The first concert of the 1967-68 academic year began with a recital by the Dutch baritone Peter van Ginkel, who at the time was in residence at Wilfrid Laurier University. About twenty concerts were arranged every year. Until retirement in 1975, Edith and Ralph worked tirelessly on this concert series which was soon recognized as a model of quality, economy and good organization. Ralph provided a brief introduction before each performance, and welcomed the artists.

Other Ontario universities have replicated the style and structure of these splendid Thursday Noon Hour Concerts, but Guelph led the way.

Over the years the series has seen an impressive array of well-known nationally and internationally recognized artists including:

  • The Canadian Opera Company (1975)
  • renowned pianist Angela Hewitt (1979)
  • baritone Kevin McMillan (1987)
  • the Amsterdam Guitar Trio (1987)
  • the Vancouver Wind Trio (1987)
  • Soviet pianist Evgenij Koroljav (1987)
  • Elsa Hilger and Catherine Baird, cello and piano from the USA (1987)
  • The Cleveland Violin Duo (1988)
  • American lutist Hopkinson Smith (1988)
  • Mondriaan String Quartet (1994)
  • Jaap Schroder (Netherlands), baroque violin with Mary Cyr, viola da gamba and Sandra Mangsen, harpsichord (1997)
  • Lukshmi Ranganathan, veena Vasan Rajalingam, mrudangam (1997)
  • Trichy Sankaran & Friends (1997)
  • Arbor Oak Trio (1999) and Boubacar Diabate, kora and Elhadji Diouf, percussion (2000)
  • Silvia Mandolini (Italy), violin and Brigitte Poulin, piano (Quebec) (2004)
  • Alexander Tselyakov, piano (Russia) (2004)
  • Andrew Klaehn, reeds, Michel Bergauer, bass, Paul Stouffer, piano (2004)
  • Ken Moore, solo guitar (2006)
  • Jesse Stewart, solo percussion (2006)
  • Cary Savage, classical guitar (2007)
  • The Donn Robert' Band (2008)
  • The Middlesex Singers, Richard Cunningham and Zachary Windus (2008)
  • Pierrot Lunaire Ensemble, Silvia Gelos, flute, and Gustavo Balanesco, piano (2008)
  • The Trillium Brass Quintet, (2009)
  • Light of East Ensemble, (2009)
  • Red Chamber Ensemble, (2010)
  • Kevin Breit, (2010)
  • Jane Bunnett, (2011)
  • guy & nadina (2012)
  • Johannes Linstead (2012, 2016, 2017)
  • Sadie Fields (2013)
  • Ben Covey (2013)
  • Jeremy Bell and Shoshana Telner (2014)
  • Daniel Cabena and Stephen Runge (2014)
  • Project Aria with Leslie Fagan, Guy Few and Stephanie Mara (2015)
  • Duo Concertante (2015 & 2011)
  • Jason Wilson and The Perennials (2016)
  • The Penderecki String Quartet (2017)
  • Tony McManus (2018)