The Gardiner presents Afiara Quartet, one of the most talked about musical acts of the summer, along with The Odin Quartet and The Ton Beau Quartet, and the Metro Youth Opera (MYOpera), in an unforgettable evening of art and music, FREE with half-price gallery admission.

At 6:30 pm, soprano Lindsay McIntyre and pianist Natasha Fansblow of MYOpera will perform an operatic vignette. McIntyre, who majored in Opera Performance at the University of British Columbia, has performed with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and Opera Atelier. Fansblow, who holds a masters degree in collaborative piano from the University of Manitoba, is currently MYOpera's Music Director.

At 7:00 pm, The Odin Quartet and The Ton Beau Quartet will perform, followed at 8:00 pm by the Afiara Quartet who will play a 75-minute set as part of their Playlist concert series, which explores the versatility, essence, and rich traditions of the string quartet. From Brazilian choros to rap, mariachi to rock, Schumann to Steve Reich, Afiara probes the farthest reaches of music to create a one-of-a-kind playlist that is unique to each show.

Included in the program for the first time are elements from the quartet’s acclaimed Spin Cycle project, recently performed at Koerner Hall, which is itself a dynamic conversation between musical worlds. The Afiara commissioned four of Canada’s leading young composers (Kevin Lau, Laura Silberberg, Rob Teehan, and Dinuk Wijeratne) to write new works for string quartet inspired by popular themes. Each of these works was then remixed by renowned DJ Skratch Bastid. This unique collaboration between the quartet, composers, and DJ thus chronicles a complete musical conversation, traversing different media to create something wholly new.

ABOUT DOORS AT 6PM:

This summer, the Gardiner Museum launches DOORS at 6pm, a series of Friday night cultural experiences free with half-price gallery admission that will animate the Museum inside and out with performances by Toronto’s best homegrown talent working in art, music, film, food, theatre, and literature. In partnership with some of the city’s most innovative and influential cultural players—including TIFF, Wavelength, SummerWorks Performance Festival, TO Jazz Fest, and The Writer’s Trust of Canada—DOORS at 6pm, running from June 26 to July 24, celebrates the vibrancy and diversity of Toronto’s cultural scene. www.gardinermuseum.com/doors