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Volume 12 - Issue 10 - July/August 2007

  • Text
  • Festival
  • Chart
  • Jazz
  • August
  • Toronto
  • Musical
  • Theatre
  • September
  • Concerts
  • Choir

This month's coverOn our

This month's coverOn our coverVery top:Esmerelda Enrique Spanish Dance;Top left to bottom right:Making good use of time in the lineupfor the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival;Bass clarinettist Lori Freedman(PHOTO: TAMARA BERNSTEIN);Kiyoshi Nagata Ensemble(PHOTO: TAMARA BERNSTErN);lush Quartet - Wendy Solomon, Orly Bitov,Amy laing and Jill Vitals, cellos, at the June2 4 opening of Harbour/rants SummerMusic in the Garden concert series(PHOTO: STEVE CLfNE );Deer s bow tie rumoured to be fromthe Boris Brott classic collection;Dumbek player Raquy Danziger(PHOTO: LfNA JANG).All photos except the Ottawa line-upand Raquy Danziger were taken atconcerts in Toronto's Music Garden, atthe foot of Spadina Avenue andmodified for this cover by BrianCartwright/Rocket Design.QuonLmET: My Very Personal Outdoor Picksby Allan PulkerWhether your summer holiday is a month at acottage or weekend or, better still, midweekforays for a couple of days into the countryside,do try to spend at least a little time atsome of the great outdoor (or at least out-oftown)festivals that abound in July and August,and even into September. With ten pages ofsummer listings there is plenty to choose from.My vacations will be of the "midweek forays"variety, leaving Toronto very early in the morning,and breakfasting either en route or uponarrival, as we did for last summer's trip to theFestival of the Sound. In general these day-ortwoexcursions were so full that I felt as if Ihad been away for a week! What follows is mywish list for these short holidays.Stratford Summer Music is the brainchild of"artistic producer" and former teacher and politicalmover and shaker, John Miller. This beingGlenn Gould's 75th birthday year, Gouldfigures as prominently as imaginable for someonewho died a quarter of a century ago. Addingnew layers of significance to "WondrousStrange" (the title of Kevin Bazzana's biographyof Gould), Gould himself will come asclose as possible to performing. Sunday August12 features a re-creation, on a YamahaDisklavier concert grand piano, of Gould's1955 Columbia recording of Bach's GoldbergVariations, with the pianist's own fingering,pedalling and original interpretation. The onlyabsence, apart from Gould himself, will be thehumming-along that was so much a part of theway we remember Gould. Another outrageouslyoriginal performance will be the Sky Orchestra,a flotilla of hot air balloons drifting overheadat dawn broadcasting ambient sounddreammusic and readings from A MidsummerNight's Dream by actors Patrick Stewart andJanet Suzman. These are just a couple of highlightsof this remarkable four-week long festival.You can complete the picture by looking atour listings and the festival's website as well.Another little-festival-that-could is the WestbenFestival near Campbellford. With 29 eventson 23 of July's 31 days, (as well as two inMay, five in June and five in August), its trajectoryover the past eight years has been ambitiousto say the least. Variety seems to be aguiding principle in this year's programming:fully staged performances of Gilbert and Sullivan'sThe Gondoliers; the True North Brass;superstar Canadian pianist Angela Hewitt withcellist Daniel Millier-Schott; and pianist AndreLaplante with Montreal Symphony principalcellist Brian Manker. A strong educationalcomponent is also part of the artistic directionof the festival, with master classes by Laplanteand by Bruce Kelly, followed by performancesby the master class participants. It has beenseveral years since I was last at Westben, and Icertainly plan to return this summer.A festival I know intimately (I played intheir orchestra a few seasons back) is the Symphonyin the Barn. Gone since its 2004 seasonwas cancelled, it has been resurrected on a verymodest scale for three days from July 27 to 29.Under the artistic direction of violinist, conductorand bio-dynamic farmer, Michael Schmidt,this festival like no other involves a mix of localprofessional and very fine student musiciansfrom Canada, the United States, and Europe. Ittakes place on Schmidt's Glencolton Farmsnear Durham, south of Owen Sound, about athree-hour drive from Toronto. To listen tomusic in this environment, and to move afterwardsinto the silent darkness of a summernight is a magical experience of another worldwhose existence we city folk have forgotten.The other festival famous for its barn (theGambrel barn) is Elora. In addition to performancesby artists with established reputations(Anton Kuerti, Russell Braun, CarolynMaule, Measha Brueggergosman, Che AnneLoewen ... ), there will be opportunities foryoung talent. For example, young jazz singerSophia Perlman and her band, the Vipers, areCONTINUES ON PAGE 1210WWW. THEWHOLENOTE. COMJ U LY 1 - SEPTEMBER 7 2007

GUELPHTHE~Celebrating the art of songFEAT}OlN US FOR FIVE Sul'

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