Rachel Podger Appointed Principal Guest Director of Toronto's Tafelmusik

Podger will play a directorial role with the Toronto-based period ensemble between 2024 and 2026

Period ensemble Tafelmusik recently created the Principal Guest Director role, which Rachel Podger will fill for two seasons between 2024 and 2026.

As part of the tenure, Podger will direct three of the ensemble's programs per season, as well as recordings and some tours. In particular, she will play a crucial role in the group's 2024 tour of Asia.

Podger is the founder and Artistic Director of Brecon Baroque Festival and her ensemble Brecon Baroque, as well as Artist in Focus at Kings Place for the 2023/24 season and Patron to the Continuo Foundation.

In addition to her vast discography, she has held a residency at the Wigmore Hall and the Micaela Comberti Chair for Baroque Violin at the Royal Academy of Music.

"La Passione: Haydn & Mozart, my recent project with Tafelmusik, felt like a homecoming — exciting yet easy, a shared musical language and a collective fount of creativity and passionate aspiration amongst a team of friends," Podger said.

"To then learn that I had been gifted the opportunity of a closer relationship with an ensemble I have admired for so many years is a dream come true. I can’t wait to return and share new musical adventures with the ensemble and its dedicated family of followers."

"We are thrilled to welcome renowned violinist Rachel Podger as Tafelmusik’s Principal Guest Director for our 24/25 and 25/26 seasons," said Cristina Zacharias on behalf of Tafelmusik’s Artistic Co-Directors.

"Our recent concerts with her were electrifying, sensitive, and virtuosic, and created magical experiences for musicians and audiences alike. Rachel is a generous and inspiring artist and we cannot wait to collaborate more regularly with her!"

You can hear Podger leading Tafelmusik in the first movement of Haydn's Symphony No. 49, "La Passione", below.