Music on Main's joyous Summer Pop-Up Concerts take over Mount Pleasant Park, August 19 to 21
Free performances by the Qing Ensemble, Microcosmos Quartet, and M’Girl are in store, along with nosh from food trucks Planted and Dos Amigos
From left: Cellist Min Jee Yoon, flutist Paolo Bortolussi, and harpist Lani Krantz playing at a past Music on Main Summer Pop-Up Concert. Photo by Jan Gates
Music on Main hosts Summer Pop-Up Concerts at Mount Pleasant Park from August 19 to 21 at 6:30 pm
WHAT BETTER WAY to soak in the summer weather than lounging on a picnic blanket at a free pop-up concert in the park?
Music on Main’s annual Summer Pop-Up Concerts are back at Mount Pleasant Park this month to deliver on that breezy dream. Three shows will take place from August 19 to 21, beginning at 6:30 pm each night.
Kicking things off August 19 is the Qing Ensemble, composed of zheng player Dailin Hsieh, Mongolian throat singer Bruce Bai, dizi (Chinese flute) player Charlie Lui, and erhu player–vocalist Lan Tung.
On August 20, the Microcosmos Quartet will bring the park to life once more with its rich repertoire that’s grounded in Hungarian composer Béla Bartók’s six string quartets. Consisting of violinists Marc Destrubé and Andrea Siradze with violist Tawnya Popoff and cellist Rebecca Wenham, the group founded in 2010 is committed to playing works written within the last century, with a focus on Canadian composers.
The Microcosmos Quartet has led the annual Kessler Academy since 2015, a conductorless orchestra mentorship program for young players. This year’s academy wrapped up on August 10 with a final concert presented by Music on Main at the Annex.
Music on Main Summer Pop-Up Concert. Photo by Jan Gates
The final concert on August 21 will feature hand-drum songs by Cheri Maracle, Renae Morriseau, and Sherryl Sewepagaham of local Indigenous collective M’Girl, which blends percussion and harmonies in a contemporary-gospel style grounded in culture, personal journeys, and a sense of home.
At the helm of M’Girl is Morriseau, a Cree and Saulteaux interdisciplinary artist from Treaty One Territory in Manitoba, whose work spans music, theatre, film, and television. She recently played a lead role in Jules Koostachin’s forthcoming feature film Angela’s Shadow, and her song “AaSheNii” is also featured; an in-progress version of the work premiered at last year’s Whistler Film Festival.
Sewepagaham is a Cree–Dene musician from Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta. Her work was recently spotlighted in the Vancouver Chamber Choir show Stories of the Land, a program consisting entirely of pieces by Indigenous composers.
Maracle is a Haudenosaunee–Irish actor, singer, and playwright from Six Nations of the Grand River Territory in Ontario. Her acclaimed one-woman musical Paddle Song about trailblazing Mohawk poet Pauline E. Johnson was remounted at the Firehall Arts Centre earlier this year.
Food trucks will be onsite at the park during all three concerts. Planted will be serving up vegan Middle Eastern bites on August 19, and Dos Amigos will dole out street-style tacos, nachos, and loaded Baja fries with bold Tex-Mex flavours on August 20 and 21. 
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