Cristina Zacharias

October 1, 2024

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Baroque Performance Recreates the Authentic Sounds of 18th-Century Music

The small midwestern Canadian town of Morden in southern Manitoba seems like an unlikely place for nurturing a love of playing baroque music for a living. But, as violinist Cristina Zacharias of Local 149 (Toronto, ON) explains, it all came about quite naturally.

“My sister and I started learning violin when I was 5 and she was 3,” Zacharias recalls. “This was when we lived in Winnipeg. My father had played the violin as a kid. Both our parents had an interest in music, so they signed us up for lessons in a Suzuki violin program.”

Then, the family moved to Morden. “We quickly discovered that there weren’t really any string teachers, so my parents spent the next 10 years driving us 200 kilometers back to Winnipeg for music lessons. Also, this was in the prairies of Canada—very cold and very dark. They were much more dedicated than we were,” laughs Zacharias.

While her younger sister later switched to cello and now teaches at a small university, Zacharias stuck with the violin. “I always loved it,” she says, “and I think audiences love the same things that violinists love: the huge variety of sounds. The violin can sing like the human voice, or it can thrill with speed and virtuosity.”

Baroque Love

A graduate degree at McGill University in Montreal, Québec, offered Zacharias her first real exposure to baroque music. “Choral music was a big part of my cultural background, so sacred works had a big impact on my development,” she says. “The sound of the baroque violin in those recordings really caught my ear. McGill was my first real chance to play on one.”

Her degree was in chamber music, and McGill offered a terrific environment for that, while also affording her opportunities to play larger works. “Baroque performance is like chamber music in that every player has an independent voice. It’s a unique combination of collaboration and freedom. In a chamber orchestra, you get the best of both worlds,” says Zacharias.

Over the years, Zacharias has performed across North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. She says she is equally passionate about baroque, classical, and modern repertoire, and appears as a frequent collaborator, guest soloist, and director with a diverse range of ensembles. She can be heard on over two dozen recordings and is active as an educator at the University of Toronto.

Zacharias joined the 16-member Toronto-based chamber orchestra Tafelmusik in 2014. The German word tafelmusik translates to “table music” and is a 16th century term for music played at feasts and banquets. Tafelmusik, founded in 1979, specializes in historically-informed performances of baroque music composed between 1600 and 1750, and classical and early romantic music composed between 1750 and 1820. 

Tafelmusic has performed in 350 cities in 32 countries, touring and recording on top of a full season of regular subscription concerts in Toronto. The group uses original instruments (or accurate reproductions) that would have been familiar to audiences and composers from those time periods. Zacharias says the instruments are key to the orchestra’s unique sound.

“One of the wonderful and exciting things about specializing in early music performance is that we try to recreate, as close as possible, the sound world a composer might have had in mind,” she says. “We don’t know for sure, but we can study a variety of aspects to put together a good idea.” According to Zacharias, we still have many of the original instruments that were in use back then: wooden flutes, or brass instruments without keys.

Changing Music and Techniques

The string family is well represented, with countless surviving examples of stringed instruments by famous makers like Stradivarius and Guarneri still in regular use. “Those differences are also fascinating. Strings back then were made of gut, not metal, and bows were heavier, because compositions by composers like Mozart and Haydn were strongly informed by dance music of the era, and a heavier bow helped keep time.”

While the basic form of the violin has been unchanged for 300 years, you can see changes in the development of the bow in 20-year increments, in tandem with how the music evolved in complexity. “Some parts of the bow have become heavier, while the tip became much lighter, for example. We can use that to our musical benefit to decide which part of the beat gets emphasized. In any case, our goal is to use the equipment to make the sound the composers intended.”

Aside from the evolution of equipment, Zacharias points out that the style of music making has changed. “A lot depends on where the music was intended to be played,” she says. “Early chamber music was mostly intended to be performed in a fancy room in a palace, perhaps a nobleman’s living room. Later music added more instruments and was intended to be played in a much bigger space, for bigger audiences. Changes in the instruments allowed us to have more resonance to fill those bigger spaces.”

And then there was Beethoven. “This was a composer who pushed the sound world and the idea of what was possible. And you can really hear that when using historic instruments appropriate to Beethoven’s time,” says Zacharias, her voice rising enthusiastically with an infectious love for sharing her knowledge. “Beethoven really pushed his musicians to rise to the challenges he set for them and adapt to these changes.”

Changing Structure

Zacharias believes one of the strong appeals of Tafelmusik to audiences is that it’s an orchestra that functions a lot like a string quartet. “That’s why we are mostly led by an instrumentalist, rather than a conductor,” she says. “Everyone in the group has to contribute and be involved, and audiences really respond to our engagement with each other on stage. When you have a group led by someone playing an instrument, the audience really sees that communication, and it’s exciting for them.”

In that regard, Zacharias says Tafelmusik looks for instrumentalists who can lead and follow equally well and can easily change roles. “In any job, it’s vital to find ways to stay energized. Changing roles keeps the interest level high,” she says.

Zacharias herself has stepped up into the soloist spot. “That was a switch for me. I have always loved performing, but it took me a little longer to love practicing,” she admits with a laugh. “But I’ve always felt that I had something to say in the chamber music environment. After 20 years in Tafelmusik, I’ve gotten to take the lead and also watch other colleagues do that. It makes for a very special atmosphere.”

She has also stepped into a leadership role as one of the organization’s three artistic co-directors, along with principal bassoonist Dominic Teresi, also of Local 149, and violist Brandon Chui of Local 149 and Local 293 (Hamilton, ON).

“In 2022, we were at a crossroads coming out of the pandemic. Rather than continuing with the standard model of a music director, the organization decided to try a different leadership model,” she explains. “Between the three of us, we have over 40 years of experience. We work in a collaborative environment with management. Tafelmusik has always been a collective venture, with musicians being involved in programming and other artistic aspects, so it grew out of that, simply a natural extension of our culture.”

Zacharias says this operational structure provides Tafelmusik with flexibility and the opportunity to work with artists from all over the world. For an orchestra that typically looks back for repertoire, it also points Tafelmusik forward in its vision of how an orchestra can be run.

For Zacharias, the structure also dovetails with her affinity for the inherent dual nature of early music: that simultaneous freedom and collaboration. “A typical day can find me dreaming about tours five years out,” she says. “And then the next minute I’m answering a practical question about where the violas should sit for an upcoming concert.”

Looking Ahead

While Tafelmusik performs in popular Toronto events like an annual Messiah singalong, it also prides itself on pushing boundaries in its exploration of early music. In June, the orchestra took part in an exhibition at Toronto’s Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) entitled Making Her Mark: A History of Women Artists in Europe, 1400-1800. Visitors encountered art made by women artists and makers from premodern Europe. The soundtrack was provided by Tafelmusik, and featured music by women composers of the 1600s and 1700s who tackled gender-related barriers in having their music performed.

“There is a lot of very exciting research happening now to uncover the works of women musicians from the baroque and classical eras,” Zacharias says. “[Tafelmusik’s] world of historically informed performance has always had a strong focus on discovery, so this type of exploration has long been part of our process for uncovering ‘new’ repertoire to bring to life in performance.” 

On the horizon, Tafelmusik has a new principal guest director, and the organization will see their first recording of Haydn symphonies directed from the violin coming out in October. For Zacharias, studio recording presents a different mindset than live performance.

“There’s that old idea of playing for the microphone, versus playing for an audience,” she says. “I personally find more joy in playing for an audience. With a recording, I’m more intent on listening and adjusting. That can take the focus off the big picture. With a live audience, you really need that big picture. We’ve done quite a lot of both, and I always find it so interesting how things change once you start hanging mics on stage.”

Union Contracts

It’s a point of pride for Zacharias that Tafelmusik’s recording projects have always been AFM signatory. “I joined the union when I was an undergrad, the day I was offered my first professional gig,” she says. “I was happy to do it then, and I’m happy to continue to be a union member. It’s a great assurance to have union-backed contracts and know the work you’re doing is also contributing to your pension.”

Tafelmusik is not the only period instrument group to work under an AFM contract. Arion Baroque Orchestra recently entered into a new contract with Local 406 (Montreal, PQ), joining groups like Boston Baroque (Local 9-535) and Philharmonia Baroque, members of Local 6 (San Francisco, CA).

In Toronto, prior to Tafelmusik, Zacharias worked in the AFM’s Symphonic Services Division. “I learned what happens when contracts don’t go well,” she says. “I also learned how many people are there in that office working on behalf of musicians every single day.”

Outside of performing and focusing on artistic matters, Zacharias teaches at Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute, a training program for advanced students and professional musicians in instrumental and vocal baroque performance practice, with faculty drawn from members of the orchestra. It’s another of the many things she loves about living in Toronto.

“When I moved here after university, I didn’t know much about it,” she says. “It was wonderful to discover that Toronto is a city made up of communities. It doesn’t feel like a huge place. And the food is outstanding.”

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