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Volume 18 Issue 9 - June/July/August 2013

  • Text
  • Festival
  • August
  • Jazz
  • Toronto
  • Concerts
  • September
  • Festivals
  • Flute
  • Arts
  • Quartet

laura

laura ferrariAugust 8, with irresistible concerts happening in many venues. Amongthem are three devoted to early music: July 28, Les Voix Baroquespresent “Beyond the Labyrinth: In Search of John Dowland” in honourof the composer’s 450th birthday — an exploration of how Dowland’ssongs may change when they are performed as lute songs, as partsongs or in a grey zone between the two. Also July 28, “Dowland inDublin” features tenor Michael Slattery and the early music ensembleLa Nef, who focus on the lighter-hearted side of Dowland withnew arrangements of some of his well-known airs. July 31, there’sa performance of Monteverdi’s iconic Vespers of 1610 with Les VoixBaroques and La Rose des Vents, directed by Alexander Weimann.On Lamèque Island in northeastern New Brunswick, the three-dayLamèque International Baroque Music Festival takes place from July25 to 27. There you can hear works for harpsichord, baroque flute andcello, instrumental and vocal music by Vivaldi, Handel, Corelli andScarlatti, and choral music by Bach, Pachelbel and Leonarda.Meanwhile at Toronto’s Music Garden, the Summer Music in theGarden series is in full swing. Approximately one hour in length,concerts take place in the outdoor amphitheatre and are a wonderfulway to spend a Thursday evening or a late Sunday afternoon. Two inJuly feature baroque music: July 4, “Mediterranean Baroque” featuresmusic from baroque Italy, Spain and Turkey, played by baroque cellistKate Haynes, baroque violinist Christopher Verrette and theorbistMatthew Wadsworth. July 18, Pallade Musica (Grand Prize winners ofthe 2012 Early Music American Baroque Performance Competition)presents “Terreno e vago,” an exploration of the emotional polaritiesfound in music of the Italian Baroque.In addition to all this, the following July events take place: July 19in Waterloo, the Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music Society presentsPallade Musica, fresh from their appearance in Toronto the previousday. July 20 at the Oratory of St. Philip Neri, harpsichordist PhilipFournier brings together accomplished singers and viola da gambafor “Méditations pour le Carême,” with music by Charpentier, Maraisand Couperin.Come away, come sweet love, golden August breaks. All the earth,all the air, of love and music speaks. O dear, another paraphrase — thistime apologies to Dowland — but it does serve to note that if you wantto go to early music concerts in August, you’ll probably have to “comeaway,” as all the concerts I know about at this point are in widespreadlocations: Parry Sound, Stratford, Toronto and Kingston.There’s the continuation of the Bach Around Town series at Festivalof the Sound, which this month finds soprano Leslie Fagan, trumpeterGuy Few and others performing Bach, Vivaldi and Handel at St. JamesChurch on August 6, and violinist Julie Baumgartel and the FestivalBaroque returning the series to the festival’s home base, the StockeyCentre, to perform an array of baroque composers on August 9.Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra makes one more appearance,this time at Stratford Summer Music, with two all-Bach programson August 17 and 18. In Toronto at Summer Music in the Garden,members of New York’s period instrument ensemble, Gretchen’sMuse, come to play two 18th-century string quartets, one by Haydnand one by Mozart, on August 22. And in Kingston, the St. George’sCathedral Summer Concert series features the Kingston Viol Consorton August 29.Oh it’s a long, long while from May to December, but the concertsgrow fewer when you reach September ... (Will anyone argue thatFrank Sinatra wasn’t a consummate madrigalist?) There’s one more atthe Music Garden which shouldn’t be missed, though technically it fallsoutside the boundaries of this column: on September 12, the superbbaroque cellist Kate Haynes returns to continue her six-year cycleof the Bach unaccompanied cello suites, with Suite No.3 in C Major.She’ll also premiere a new work by Christopher Hossfeld, inspiredby the Bach.And so good-bye to our summer tour of early music performances.Please consult The WholeNote’s website throughout the summer forupdates and additional concerts as we hear about them.Simone Desilets is a long-time contributor to The WholeNotein several capacities who plays the viola da gamba.She can be contacted at earlymusic@thewholenote.com.2013-2014Beat by Beat | In With the NewCrashingSonic GenresWendalyn BartleyWhat happens to the new when the weather heats up and theconcert seasons have ended? Does the more casual atmosphereof the summer mean that presenters, performers andaudiences are ready for something more out of the ordinary? Frommy discoveries ofwhat lies in store forboth the curious andthe lover of experimentaland innovativesounds, it seems thatthe boundary linesbetween musicalgenres and art formsbecome a bit moreblurred. Musicalconcerts, outdoorinstallations,performance artand electronic andsound art are allhappening withinthe traditional andnot-so-traditionalmusic, theatre andinterdisciplinaryfestival environments.Andoften, the regularindoor concerthall has beentossed aside tomake room forthese sounds inoutside spacesor to create amore participatoryaudienceexperience.The greatthing is that many of theseevents are happening outside the Metro Toronto area, sobe prepared. Your sonic summer listening will require some travellingaround the province, but that’s what vacation time is for.IFURIOSIBaroqueEnsemblewww.ifuriosi.comMarina Abramović.12.10.1311.01.1422.03.1417.05.14Windemere United Church356 Windemere Avenue Toronto12 | June 7 – September 7, 2013 thewholenote.com

Joe Macerollo.Starting off in June, we are immediately plunged into a series ofperformances that are full of cross-pollinating and genre-crashingpower. The big news is that Toronto’s multi-arts Luminato Festival isheadlining Marina Abramović, a New York-based performance artistoriginally from Serbia who is considered to be the “grandmother” ofthe performance art genre. Her work explores the limits of the bodyand states of consciousness, while often putting herself throughextreme physical pain or tests of endurance. In 2010 during a retrospectiveat the MoMA in New York, Abramović performed The Artistis Present during which she sat immobile and in silence all day foralmost three months while spectators took turns sitting opposite her.People experienced religious-like transformations as they stared backinto her penetrating presence.You may ask — what does thishave to do with music? Theanswer is, of course, that thestory of her life, along withscenes from her performanceworks, has been made into anopera entitled The Life andDeath of Marina Abramović.Premiered in 2011 at theManchester InternationalFestival and toured to soldoutaudiences in severalEuropean cities, the operawill receive its NorthAmerican premiere atLuminato, running June 14 to 17.Conceived and directed by the legendary Robert Wilsonin collaboration with Abramović, she also performs as herself andher mother alongside Willem Dafoe as narrator and male counterpart.The music was co-composed by cult pop star Antony Hegartyand ambient minimalist William Basinski, and performed by Antonyin his mesmerizing and hypnotic voice. It was his cathartic musicalperformances and emotional vulnerability that inspired Abramović toinvite him to collaborate on this opera that she describes as “a series ofbirths and funerals of the soul.”Running in conjunction with the opera from June 14 to 23 willbe her latest performance work/installation, MAI – Prototype. Inseven interconnected pavilions in Trinity Bellwoods Park, four prebookedparticipants will wear white lab coats and receive instructionson headphones as they walk through the installation for a periodof two hours. Every 30 minutes a new group will begin the journeyin which they will undergo the rigours of her performance practice.These encounters will be live-streamed to other locations throughoutToronto, including one at Pearson airport.Also performing at Luminato will be the inimitable LaurieAnderson appearing as part of The Hub series of free outdoor concertsat David Pecaut Square on June 16. Anderson was one of the firstperformance artists to bring experimental and art-rock music to alarge popular audience. Writing songs full of political edginess andperforming with her invented instruments (a tape-bow violin anda computer controlled “talking stick”), she made the UK pop chartsback in the early 80s.The pop/experimental music crossover theme continues over atthe Music Gallery, in the last concert of their season’s signature PopAvant series. Curated by Tad Michalak, known for his programming ofunder-the-radar pop, noise, jazz and harsh electronic music, his “BurnDown the Capital Showcase” June 8 will feature three different artists.Guaranteed to set your soul on fire, the music will mix up instrumental,vocal and a wide range of electronic and ambient soundsusing tape loops and synthesizers to create both an “unacceptable”and sensual evening.Another major summer music festival happening in Toronto isthe NXNE Festival that takes over the downtown streets and clubs.This year, it’s exciting to see their programmers venturing into theworld of sound art and co-producing three events with NAISA (NewAdventures In Sound Art). These include a sound sculpture performanceat the AGO on June 6, an audiovisual machine installation thatruns from June 11 to 22 at the Wychwood Barns with a live performanceon June 10 and a sound walk through Trinity Square on June 13,where sounds of underwater life will be projected into the outdoorurban space.For July, it’s off to Stratford Summer Music. It just so happens thatJuly 18 is R. Murray Schafer’s 80th birthday, and he is being honouredthat night with a tribute concert featuring pieces from his Patria cycleof musical dramas. As part of the celebration, Schafer’s visually-basedscores will be on display at the Stratford Public Library from July 17 toAugust 25.Schafer’s vision has opened up our ears to the soundscape (aterm he coined), and so it’s only natural that he would create piecesandré leducCOMPOSITION COMPETITIONCHURCH OFSAINTMARYMAGDALENEATORONTOA, CANMass setting: prize ,000The Church of St. Mary Magdalene, TorontoMore information at www.smm125.comDthewholenote.com June 7 – September 7, 2013 | 13

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