Tom Allen: Brahms in New York

Which childhood moments determine the adults we become? At age 9, composer Johannes Brahms was not yet the living successor to Mozart and Beethoven. He was just a very creative child whose parents very nearly sent him to America for a touring life of carnivals and minstrel shows. Who would this American Brahms have become, and what would the world, and the other Brahms have thought of him? With glorious music from a tremendous cast of players, Tom Allen brings us to 1880s Vienna for a chance meeting between the life that was, and the life that could have been.

Born in Montreal, Tom Allen is a passionate music lover, storyteller, accomplished trombonist, writer and CBC broadcaster. He written three books, been a Resident Artist with Soulpepper Theatre, delivered storytelling workshops at various University music programs and at the Banff Centre, been named an honourary Doctor of Letters by Thompson Rivers University, and hosted countless concerts across the country. He has also written a series of cabaret storytelling shows, entitled Chamber Musicals, including From Weimar to Vaudeville, The Missing Pages, A Poe Cabaret, Being Lost and JS Bach’s Long Walk in the Snow. Brahms in New York is the latest in this series.

Featuring narrator Tom Allen with Deantha Edmunds, soprano, Heather Kao, violin, Lori Gemmell, harp, Bill Brennan, piano, and Jim Vivian, bass.

This show is included in the Festival Pass.