fV?J' Lydia Adams, Conductor 26th Season 2004-2005 Concert Series Concert Series presented by 1\% tQ Q HANDEL'S MESSIAH Friday, December 3, 8:00 pm Metropolitan United Church, 56 Queen St. E., Toronto Soloists: Meredith Hall, soprano; Anita Krause, alto; Michael Colvin, tenor Alexander Dobson, bass . t>aritone. Matthew Larkin, organ. With orchestra. SHARING THE VOICES Friday, March 18, 2005, 7:30 pm St. Basil's Church, 50 St. Joseph St. (at Bay) Toronto Guest Artists: The Bach Choir from the University ofToronto Faculty of Music, Doreen Rao, conductor. Bach, Jsuchzet dem Herran, alls Welt, Mendelssohn, Ssnctus ('He/Ilg /st Gott") Brahms, Three Motets op 29 and 110, Mozart, Mlsss Brevfs In F Major THE CELTIC SPIRIT Friday, M ay 6, 2005. 7:30 pm Glenn Gould Studio, King and John Streets, Toronto Guest artists: Mark Haines and Tom Leighton An evening of Down East music and superb entertainment that will make you tap your feet and leave with a song ln your heart. Al programs and locaUons 8Ub/fK:t IX> change db c-.c..- Con ... _..,.. torontdartacouncll fOf UM Aris dU Ca"9dl ..., • .., t...,.... .. .,.°"" '--"'- --·- ----'·-· FOR SUBSCRIPTIONS, TICKETS OR BROCHURE CALL 416·217 ·0537 Monday to Friday 9 - 5 p.m. 12.,1 The High Park Choirs of Toronto • • • "Jn the )f olidav Spirif' Sunday December 5, 2004 3:00 PM Humbercrest United Church 16 Baby Point Road CHORAL Scene by Larry Beckwith SMOKE'S BEGl ... NING TO CURL out of the 1op of my computer with the number of announcements. press releases. ''friendly reminder e mails", etc. concerning choral concerts in Toronto, 1his month. As usual, all of our major professional, semi-professional and communi1y choirs are active with Christmas concerts of one kind or anoth· er (including many performances of Handel's Messiah. as discussed in Allan Pulker's column elsewhere in 1hese pages). It's astounding and gra1ifying to imagine how many thousands of singers will be raising their voices this month in observance of a time-honoured sacred/secular 1radition. Since this is a double-issue of WholeNote, I find my eyes being drawn past all the .carol sings and major seasonal works being performed, in venues great and small by choirs and choral groups of all shapes and sizes, to an announcement of a benefit concert taking place at the beginning of February. The performers include the Just Singers Chamber Choir and a church choir from Hamilton and 1he beneficiary is the University Settlement Music and Arts School in downtown Toronto. There's one work on 1he program, 1itled The Armed Man, by a Welsh composer called Karl Jenkins. II seems that Jenkins is an aging hippie who once played in a progressive rock band in England and has since made a comfortable living wriling jingles and other commercial musical wallpaper. Lately, he has ventured inco 1he so-called "serious" world of composition and The Armed Man, wriuen in 1999, is his sincere response to the victims of I.he horri f ie contlict in Kosovo which took place through the latter part of the l 990s. Jenkins has used 1he late Medieval folk tune L'homme arme - as many Renaissance .. parody Mass" composers did - as a basis for this full-scale oratorio exploring the mindless futility of armed conflict. If one visits Mr. Jenkins' personal website, there is information about the dozens of performances of this piece. lt has apparently struck a sympathetic chord with audiences and perfonners in North America and Western Europe. The upcoming local performances (it's also being performed in Hamilton) will be only the second North American performance of the work, also scheduled to be performed at Carnegie Hall in June. It strikes me that there is a stark contrast between Karl Jenkins' musical response to the horrors of war and our own perennial musical celebration of the Christmas story. Consider the elements of this story: the mysterious conception of a Zimfira Poloz, Artistic Director I Conductor John E. Govedas, Accompanist Guest Artist: Julie Ranti, flute Tickets: at the door or by calling ( 416) 762-0657 WIN 11:.H AUUI I IUN::S .: Training Choir 1 stuc!ents in grades 1 - 3 J are being held in early January .':1 Senior Divisions (students 111 grades 7 · 12! :: Children's Choir ;. Boys Choir 'students m grades 4 · 6) (boys 111 grades 7·12) To schedule an audition. please call our Choir Manager at ( 416) 762·0657. For more information about The High Park Choirs. please visit our website at: www.highparkchoirs.org This year Queen Charlotte looks to the East & Beyond ..... Sat., Jan. 15, 2005 • Noon to 10:30 pm HISTORIC FORT YORK •Afternoon Workshops •Tea Tasting •Georgian Supper •Elegant Evening Ball Pre-register Now! before Dec 31 afterward Costumes Welcome! Live Music! TORONIO Culture Historic Fort York • 100 Garrison Road www.toronto.ca/culture 416-392-6907 ext. 100. Free Parl
helpless baby who is also a king. the birth in a ''rude and lowly'' stable in Bethlehem (the '·city of David). the surrounding shepherds, animals, angels and a particularly bright star, and finally the appearam:e of rich and powerful kings who bow down and shower the infant with lavish gifts. All the attendant themes of the story resonate with heart-breaking clarity: the possibilities for change. the "hopes and dreams of all the years", the raising up of the meek and the triumph of peace and love. There are all rhe other elements, of course. which quickly colour rhe story with biuer irony: Herod's slaughter of all new born babies in the area in a desperate a11empt to retain his power. the eventuai murder, 33 years later, of this "Prince of Peace" and the-subsequent reading and gross mis-reading of the meaning of the whole thing by religious leaders over 1he pas1 two millennia. (I'm reminded of Max von Sydow·s line in Woody Allen's Hannah and Her Sisters: "if Chris! came back 1oday and saw all 1he 1hings being done in his name he wouldn't stop throwing up".) This is all to say tat I have intense admiration for 1he efforts and plans and elaborale events that will iake place over the next few weeks. Dozens of concerts and all those familiar carols and Christmas works. As we sing and lis1en 10 1hem, what goes through our hearts CONTINUES NEXT PACE E'T081CQK£ CENT£NNjALoCtttU fl*r 1111 d);fll(kllt •t/J(\'tlU.( .,,,,{ llltl/t"SI ,,. tnlJ(l{. Single Tickets: /; / Seniors/Students Box Office: 905-306-6000 Coming up next: Baroque Treasures Sunday, February 21, 2005, 3:00 PM Tickets: , $ 18 Student I Senior Tel. 519-763-3000, 877-520-2408 www.riverrun.guelph.on.ca DECEMBER 1 2004 - FEBRUARY 7 2005 WWW. lHEWHOlENOTE . COM
