ERIC PARKERBeat by Beat | Early MusicHave Harpsichord...Will TravelDAVID PODGORSKIIshould probably just come out and say, before I describethe concerts I’m looking forward to hearing this month,that I’m starting to have high hopes for the future of culturein Toronto; and the classical musicians I meet are givingme good reason to be an optimist. There are a few artistsperforming in Toronto this month who are giving this citya flavour that’s a little more cosmopolitan and a little lessconventional. We’re now an important enough destination thatat least a few lesser-known artists are performing in the cityhoping to make it big-time, while the musicians that currentlycall Toronto home are continually coming up with new ideasthat are every bit as innovative — if not more so — than concertsI’ve heard on the best European and American stages.One artist that Toronto audiences will be happy towelcome back is Hank Knox, one of the leading lights ofMontreal’s music scene and one of the founding members ofMontreal’s Arion Baroque Orchestra. Knox has only occasionallyperformed in Toronto, in joint concerts with Arion andTafelmusik. Never content to be heard behind the orchestra,Knox has struck out on a cross-Canada tour that includes dates inThunder Bay, Ontario, and Flin Flon, The Pas and Balmoral, Manitoba,as well as a stop in Toronto. The whole trip will amount to some 3,600kilometres by car, which is impressive enough as a road trip withouteven factoring in the concerts after each drive. This sounds like a trulypunishing concert schedule, as Knox is making the trip halfway acrossCanada alone.Apparently he doesn’t mind. “It’s good, every so often, to blast yourmind out of the usual rut it’s been in,” Knox answers when I ask himhow he copes with the hours of driving. “I actually enjoy the solitudeof long drives, and it’s very peaceful to just sit back and focus on theroad for hours without any distractions.”Knox will be at the Canadian Opera Company for a free noonhourconcert on October 3, and will be playing a mixed programfor, as he puts it, “people who don’t know anything about the harpsichord,”which one can safely claim is well above 90 percent of theCanadian population. Knox’s program includes the trance-like TheBells by William Byrd, Frescobaldi’s gloriously perverse Fantasy onthe Cuckoo, transcriptions of Handel arias from Rinaldo, La Pouleby Jean-Philippe Rameau, and Bach’s Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue.What makes this appealing to a curious-but-ignorant-of-harpsichordsconcert-goer who doesn’t know what to expect? “Let’s put it this way,”Knox says, “if you don’t like what you hear, wait five minutes andsomething completely different will come along for you to listen to.”Sounds like a concert with something for everyone, and maybe even apossible ride to Montreal in it for you if you offer to pay for gas.One Toronto-based artist who’s ventured off the beaten path topursue her musical passions is Katherine Hill, who moved to theNetherlands and eventually Sweden to study medieval music. Hillis mainly known as a singer and viola da gambist, and is the proudholder of a master’s degree in medieval studies from the Universityof Toronto. Together with Ben Grossman and Alison Melville, Hill isalso a member of Ensemble Polaris, a group which specializes in thefolk music of circumpolar countries —Arctic fusion they call it. Hill’s deepand abiding love for the traditionalKatherineHill with thenyckelharpa.folk music of Sweden led her to spenda year studying Swedish folk music atthe Eric Sahlstrom Academy in Tobo,Sweden, and she came backwith a unique knowledge ofa relic from the the medievalera — a keyed fiddle knownas the nyckelharpa.“The nyckelharpa wasactually fairly commonHank Knox.throughout Europe in theMiddle Ages,” Hill says, “butit’s only been preserved in Sweden. It’s becoming more popular inGermany and France and there are makers producing instrumentsnow, but because no instruments have survived from the 14th centuryand the instrument kept changing, there’s no real way to tell what theoriginal instrument looked and sounded like.”Hill will be playing the nyckelharpa together with the TorontoConsort in a program of music from Sweden from the 16th tothe 19th centuries, but that doesn’t mean it will be all Swedishcomposers — 17th-century Sweden was still a very multiculturalcountry. “There was a huge international influence in Sweden in the16th and 17th centuries,” Hill explains. “The Swedish court heard andloved music from England, France, Italy and Poland, too, and wantedto import the best musicians from all over Europe.” So a cosmopolitanA Frosty Christmas EveIn Terra Pax – Gerald FinziThe Mystery of Bethlehem – Healey WillanLegend of the Bird – Stephanie MartinShannon Mercer, soprano & Trevor Bowes, baritoneNovember 30, 7:30pmDecember 1, 3:00pmGrace Church on-the-Hill, TorontoPaxChristiChorale.org416-491-854224 | October 1 – November 7, 2013 thewholenote.com
PIERRE CHARBONNEAUSwede could possibly have heard, besides music from his own country,the music of the English composer Tobias Hume (a soldier in theSwedish army), tunes from John Playford’s The Dancing Master (ahit in 17th-century Sweden), compositions by Heinrich Isaac, andtraditional Lutheran chorales — and that’s exactly what the TorontoConsort will be playing at Trinity-St. Paul’s on October 18 and 19.Incidentally, Hill will also be playing along in Toronto MasqueTheatre’s production “Brief Lives: Songs and Stories of Old London,”based on the collected biographies by John Aubrey. Aubrey’s BriefLives is a who’s who of famous Londoners from the 17th century, andincludes William Shakespeare, Thomas Hobbes, John Dee, Ben Jonsonand Sir Walter Raleigh as its subjects. Even more interesting than thehistory lesson is the gossip:Aubrey dished the kind of dirton his subjects that would geta modern biographer sued forlibel if he published that kindof information today. TorontoMasque Theatre’s productionfeatures William Webster ofSoulpepper and includesballads and popular musicfrom Aubrey’s London ofIl Giardino d’Amore.the 17th century. The showwill be at the Young Centrefor the Performing Arts from October 25 to 27.If you’re looking for more conventional concert-going fare (oryou’re just an opera fan or Italophile) be sure to welcome a groupof young players who are making their Toronto debut for MooredaleConcerts on Sunday October 20. Il Giardino d’Amore will beperforming a concert of Italian baroque music in Walter Hall at 3:15pm. The founders, Polish violinist Stefan Plewniak and Italian harpsichordistMarco Vitale, met when they joined Le Concert des Nations,the orchestra led by gambist and early-music superstar Jordi Savall,and decided to form their own band — since only the best playersin Europe get to play with Savall it’s a safe bet these are some topnotchplayers. Their concert features Italian cantatas sung by thePolish soprano Natalia Kawalek, and compositions by Scarlatti, Corelli,Locatelli, Geminiani and Vivaldi. Il Giardino d’Amore will also beperforming an interactive concert aimed at children ages 6 to 15 at 1:15at Walter Hall. It’s a pared-down version of the same concert meant tolast only an hour; tickets for the early performance are only .I’m glad to see that Toronto is becoming a destination for foreignartists like Il Giardino d’Amore, and I’m always grateful for a chanceto hear something new from familiar artists on the Toronto musicscene. Be sure to check The WholeNote blog to see what I have to sayabout the early music concerts I actually manage to get out to in theweeks ahead.David Podgorski is a Toronto-based harpsichordist, musicteacher and a founding member of Rezonance.He can be contacted at earlymusic@thewholenote.com.Beat by Beat | In With the NewUrbanAbstractionsWENDALYN BARTLEYBack in my June column, I was suggesting that with theupcoming warm weather of summer and the ending of theconcert season, this more casual atmosphere was the perfectscenario for concerts that offered a blurring of boundary linesbetween musical genres and art forms. Now just two months into thefall season, I’m already seeing that something else of an overall directionis unfolding in the world of “the new,” and it’s not because ofwarm weather. In September, the Guelph Jazz Festival went beyondthe jazz borders to include improvisation from a variety of musicaltraditions, including composed/notated music. Now, in October, thereis an entire festival produced by Toronto’s Music Gallery that is allabout this blurring of genres. The theme of this year’s X Avant NewMusic Festival — This Is Our Music — is a reference to Ornette Coleman’s1960 album of the same name. Running from October 11 to 20, thefestival celebrates all streams of experimentation, and the innovationsthat Coleman introduced certainly would fit right in. Organizers haveidentified their mix of experimental genres and traditions as “urbanabstract music.” And adding to this boiling hothouse of innovation,they are presenting two works that in the past had been the cause ofboth a riot and a mini-scandal.Let’s begin with Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, a ballet scorethat premiered on May 29, 1913, in Paris. These days it’s becomea well-loved work, but 100 years ago, its asymmetric rhythms andclashing dissonances caused such an uproar that the police werecalled in to calm the audience. But the rioting continued and got sointense that Stravinsky himself left before the performance was over.Wow ... passionate audiences who know what they do and don’t like! Acentury later in the city of Toronto, this work has already received oneperformance I can remember (by Esprit Orchestra in January) and willbe featured in the Mariinsky Orchestra’s Roy Thomson Hall all-Stravinskyprogram on October 6.But things will definitely take a different turn on October 11 at the XAvant Festival when the Montreal-based group Quartetski reinterpretsthis classic using unusual orchestration and free improvisation tobring out what they feel is implicit in the original. And that’s just whatthis exceptional group is dedicated to: a revisionist approach to classicworks of the “great” composers achieved by mixing various traditionsand techniques to discover new possibilities, ultimately creatinga new type of chamber music. I suspect there won’t be a riot this timearound, but rather enthusiastic ears welcoming the daring move into“Hank Knox reveals virtuosity, imaginationand a keen sense of rhythm.” — Musica Sett, Italy(Frescobaldi – EMCCD7767)Hank Knox, harpsichordistearly-music.com presents aNEW RELEASE of Hank Knoxperforming the music of J. S. Bachfeatured works includeThe Chromatic Fantasy & Fugueand Overture in the French StyleThurs. October 3, 201312 — 1 pmHank Knox, harpsichordCanadian Opera CompanyFree lunchtime series145 Queen. St. W.TorontoTel: +1 514 276 2694◆ www.latitude45arts.comthewholenote.com October 1 – November 7, 2013 | 25
July/August issue is now available in flipthrough HERE, bringing to a close 25 seasons of doing what we do (and plan to continue doing), and on stands early in the week of July 5. Not the usual bucolic parade of music in the summer sun, but lots, we hope, to pass the time: links to online and virtual music; a full slate of record reviews; plenty new in the Listening Room; and a full slate of stories – the future of opera, the plight of small venues, the challenge facing orchestras, the barriers to resumption of choral life, the challenges of isolation for real-time music; the steps some festivals are taking to keep the spirit and substance of what they do alive. And intersecting with all of it, responses to the urgent call for anti-racist action and systemic change.
"COVID's Metamorphoses"? "There's Always Time (Until Suddenly There Isn't)"? "The Writing on the Wall"? It's hard to know WHAT to call this latest chapter in the extraordinary story we are all of a sudden characters in. By whatever name we call it, the MAY/JUNE combined issue of The WholeNote is now available, HERE in flip through format, in print commencing Wednesday May 6, and, in fully interactive form, online at thewholenote.com. Our 18th Annual Choral Canary Pages, scheduled for publication in print and flip through in September is already well underway with the first 50 choirs home to roost and more being added every week online. Community Voices, our cover story, brings to you the thoughts of 30 musical community members, all going through what we are going through (and with many more to come as the feature gets amplified online over the course of the coming months). And our regular writers bring their personal thoughts to the mix. Finally, a full-fledged DISCoveries review section offers cues and clues to recorded music for your solitary solace!
After some doubt that we would be allowed to go to press, in respect to wide-ranging Ontario business closures relating to COVID-19, The WholeNote magazine for April 2020 is now on press, and print distribution – modified to respect community-wide closures and the need for appropriate distancing – starts Monday March 30. Meanwhile the full magazine is right here, digitally, so if you value us PLEASE SHARE THIS LINK AS WIDELY AS YOU CAN. It's the safest way for us to reach the widest possible audience at this time!
FEATURED: Music & Health writer Vivien Fellegi explores music, blindness & the plasticity of perception; David Jaeger digs into Gustavo Gimeno's plans for new music in his upcoming first season as music director at TSO; pianist James Rhodes, here for an early March recital, speaks his mind in a Q&A with Paul Ennis; and Lydia Perovic talks music and more with rising Turkish-Canadian mezzo Beste Kalender. Also, among our columns, Peggy Baker Dance Projects headlines Wende Bartley's In with the New; Steve Wallace's Jazz Notes rushes in definitionally where many fear to tread; ... and more.
Visions of 2020! Sampling from back to front for a change: in Rearview Mirror, Robert Harris on the Beethoven he loves (and loves to hate!); Errol Gay, a most musical life remembered; Luna Pearl Woolf in focus in recordings editor David Olds' "Editor's Corner" and in Jenny Parr's preview of "Jacqueline"; Speranza Scappucci explains how not to reinvent Rossini; The Indigo Project, where "each piece of cloth tells a story"; and, leading it all off, Jully Black makes a giant leap in "Caroline, or Change." And as always, much more. Now online in flip-through format here and on stands starting Thurs Jan 30.
Welcome to our December/January issue as we turn the annual calendar page, halfway through our season for the 25th time, juggling as always, secular stuff, the spirit of the season, new year resolve and winter journeys! Why is Mozart's Handel's Messiah's trumpet a trombone? Why when Laurie Anderson offers to fly you to the moon you should take her up on the invitation. Why messing with Winterreisse can (sometimes) be a very good thing! And a bumper crop of record reviews for your reading (and sometimes listening) pleasure. Available in flipthrough here right now, and on stands commencing Thursday Nov 28. See you on the other side!
On the slim chance you might not have already heard the news, Estonian Canadian composing giant Udo Kasemets was born the same year that Leo Thermin invented the theremin --1919. Which means this is the centenary year for both of them, and both are being celebrated in style, as Andrew Timar and MJ Buell respectively explain. And that's just a taste of a bustling November, with enough coverage of music of both the delectably substantial and delightfully silly on hand to satisfy one and all.
Long promised, Vivian Fellegi takes a look at Relaxed Performance practice and how it is bringing concert-going barriers down across the spectrum; Andrew Timar looks at curatorial changes afoot at the Music Gallery; David Jaeger investigates the trumpets of October; the 30th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution (and the 20th Anniversary of our October Blue Pages Presenter profiles) in our Editor's Opener; the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir at 125; Tapestry at 40 and Against the Grain at 10; ringing in the changing season across our features and columns; all this and more, now available in Flip Through format here, and on the stands commencing this coming Friday September 27, 2019. Enjoy.
Vol 1 of our 25th season is now here! And speaking of 25, that's how many films in the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival editor Paul Ennis, in our Eighth Annual TIFF TIPS, has chosen to highlight for their particular musical interest.
Also inside: Rob Harris looks through the Rear View Mirror at past and present prognostications about the imminent death of classical music; Mysterious Barricades and Systemic Barriers are Lydia Perović's preoccupations in Art of Song; Andrew Timar reflects on the evolving priorities of the Polaris Prize; and elsewhere, it's chocks away as yet another season creaks or roars (depending on the beat) into motion. Welcome back.
What a range of stuff! A profile of Liz Upchurch, the COC ensemble studio's vocal mentor extraordinaire; a backgrounder on win-win faith/arts centre partnerships and ways of exploring the possibilities; an interview with St. Petersburg-based Eifman Ballet's Boris Eifman; Ana Sokolovic's violin concert Evta finally coming to town; a Love Letter to YouTube, and much more. Plus our 17th annual Canary Pages Choral directory if all you want to do is sing! sing! sing!
Arraymusic, the Music Gallery and Native Women in the Arts join for a mini-festival celebrating the work of composer, performer and installation artist Raven Chacon; Music and Health looks at the role of Healing Arts Ontario in supporting concerts in care facilities; Kingston-based composer Marjan Mozetich's life and work are celebrated in film; "Forest Bathing" recontextualizes Schumann, Shostakovich and Hindemith; in Judy Loman's hands, the harp can sing; Mahler's Resurrection bursts the bounds of symphonic form; Ed Bickert, guitar master remembered. All this and more in our April issue, now online in flip-through here, and on stands commencing Friday March 29.
Something Old, Something New! The Ide(a)s of March are Upon Us! Rob Harris's Rear View Mirror looks forward to a tonal revival; Tafelmusik expands their chronological envelope in two directions, Esprit makes wave after wave; Pax Christi's new oratorio by Barbara Croall catches the attention of our choral and new music columnists; and summer music education is our special focus, right when warm days are once again possible to imagine. All this and more in our March 2019 edition, available in flipthrough here, and on the stands starting Thursday Feb 28.
In this issue: A prize that brings lustre to its laureates (and a laureate who brings lustre to the prize); Edwin Huizinga on the journey of Opera Atelier's "The Angel Speaks" from Versailles to the ROM; Danny Driver on playing piano in the moment; Remembering Neil Crory (a different kind of genius)' Year of the Boar, Indigeneity and Opera; all this and more in Volume 24 #5. Online in flip through, HERE and on the stands commencing Thursday Jan 31.
When is a trumpet like a motorcycle in a dressage event? How many Brunhilde's does it take to change an Elektra? Just two of the many questions you've been dying to ask, to which you will find answers in a 24th annual combined December/January issue – in which our 11 beat columnists sift through what's on offer in the upcoming holiday month, and what they're already circling in their calendars for 2019. Oh, and features too: a klezmer violinist breathing new life into a very old film; two New Music festivals in January, 200 metres apart; a Music & Health story on the restorative powers of a grassroots exercise in collective music-making; even a good reason to go to Winnipeg in the dead of winter. All this and more in Vol 24 No 4, now available in flipthrough format here.
Reluctant arranger! National Ballet Orchestra percussionist Kris Maddigan on creating the JUNO and BAFTA award-winning smash hit Cuphead video game soundtrack; Evergreen by name and by nature, quintessentially Canadian gamelan (Andrew Timar explains); violinist Angèle Dubeau on 20 years and 60 million streams; two children’s choirs where this month remembrance and living history must intersect. And much more, online in our kiosk now, and on the street commencing Thursday November 1.
Presenters, start your engines! With TIFF and "back-to-work" out of the way, the regular concert season rumbles to life, and, if our Editor's Opener can be trusted, "Seeking Synergies" seems to be the name of the game. Denise Williams' constantly evolving "Walk Together Children" touching down at the Toronto Centre for the Arts; the second annual Festival of Arabic Music and Arts expanding its range; a lesson in Jazz Survival with Steve Wallace; the 150 presenter and performer profiles in our 19th annual Blue Pages directory... this is an issue that is definitely more than the sum of its parts.
In this issue: The WholeNote's 7th Annual TIFF TIPS guide to festival films with musical clout; soprano Erin Wall in conversation with Art of Song columnist Lydia Perovic, about more than the art of song; a summer's worth of recordings reviewed; Toronto Chamber Choir at 50 (is a few close friends all it takes?); and much more, as the 2018/19 season gets under way.
PLANTING NOT PAVING! In this JUNE / JULY /AUGUST combined issue: Farewell interviews with TSO's Peter Oundjian and Stratford Summer Music's John Miller, along with "going places" chats with Luminato's Josephine Ridge, TD Jazz's Josh Grossman and Charm of Finches' Terry Lim. ) Plus a summer's worth of fruitful festival inquiry, in the city and on the road, in a feast of stories and our annual GREEN PAGES summer Directory.
In this issue: our sixteenth annual Choral Canary Pages; coverage of 21C, Estonian Music Week and the 3rd Toronto Bach Festival (three festivals that aren’t waiting for summer!); and features galore: “Final Finales” for Larry Beckwith’s Toronto Masque Theatre and for David Fallis as artistic director of Toronto Consort; four conductors on the challenges of choral conducting; operatic Hockey Noir; violinist Stephen Sitarski’s perspective on addressing depression; remembering bandleader, composer and saxophonist Paul Cram. These and other stories, in our May 2018 edition of the magazine.
In this issue: we talk with jazz pianist Thompson Egbo-Egbo about growing up in Toronto, building a musical career, and being adaptive to change; pianist Eve Egoyan prepares for her upcoming Luminato project and for the next stage in her long-term collaborative relationship with Spanish-German composer Maria de Alvear; jazz violinist Aline Homzy, halfway through preparing for a concert featuring standout women bandleaders, talks about social equity in the world of improvised music; and the local choral community celebrates the life and work of choral conductor Elmer Iseler, 20 years after his passing.
In this issue: Canadian Stage, Tapestry Opera and Vancouver Opera collaborate to take Gogol’s short story The Overcoat to the operatic stage; Montreal-based Sam Shalabi brings his ensemble Land of Kush, and his newest composition, to Toronto; Five Canadian composers, each with a different CBC connection, are nominated for JUNOs; and The WholeNote team presents its annual Summer Music Education Directory, a directory of summer music camps, programs and courses across the province and beyond.
In this issue: composer Nicole Lizée talks about her love for analogue equipment, and the music that “glitching” evokes; Richard Rose, artistic director at the Tarragon Theatre, gives us insights into their a rock-and-roll Hamlet, now entering production; Toronto prepares for a mini-revival of Schoenberg’s music, with three upcoming shows at New Music Concerts; and the local music theatre community remembers and celebrates the life and work of Mi’kmaq playwright and performer Cathy Elliott . These and other stories, in our double-issue December/January edition of the magazine.
In this issue: conversations (of one kind or another) galore! Daniela Nardi on taking the reins at "best-kept secret" venue, 918 Bathurst; composer Jeff Ryan on his "Afghanistan" Requiem for a Generation" partnership with war poet, Susan Steele; lutenist Ben Stein on seventeenth century jazz; collaborative pianist Philip Chiu on going solo; Barbara Hannigan on her upcoming Viennese "Second School" recital at Koerner; Tina Pearson on Pauline Oliveros; and as always a whole lot more!
In this issue: several local artists reflect on the memory of composer Claude Vivier, as they prepare to perform his music; Vancouver gets ready to host international festival ISCM World New Music Days, which is coming to Canada for the second time since its inception in 1923; one of the founders of Artword Artbar, one of Hamilton’s staple music venues, on the eve of the 5th annual Steel City Jazz Festival, muses on keeping urban music venues alive; and a conversation with pianist Benjamin Grosvenor, as he prepares for an ambitious recital in Toronto. These and other stories, in our October 2017 issue of the magazine.
In this issue: a look at why musicians experience stage fright, and how to combat it; an inside look at the second Kensington Market Jazz Festival, which zeros in on one of Toronto’s true ‘music villages’; an in-depth interview with Elisa Citterio, new music director of Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra; and The WholeNote’s guide to TIFF, with suggestions for the 20 most musical films at this year’s festival. These and other stories, in our September 2017 issue of the magazine!
CBC Radio's Lost Horizon; Pinocchio as Po-Mo Operatic Poster Boy; Meet the Curators (Crow, Bernstein, Ridge); a Global Music Orchestra is born; and festivals, festivals, festivals in our 13th annual summer music Green Pages. All this and more in our three-month June-through August summer special issue, now available in flipthrough HERE and on the stands commencing Thursday June 1.
From science fact in "Integral Man: Music and the Movies," to science fiction in the editor's opener; from World Fiddle Day at the Aga Khan Museum to three Canadians at the Cliburn; from wanting to sashay across the 401 to Chamberfest in Montreal to exploring the Continuum of Jumblies Theatre's 20-year commitment to the Community Play (there's a pun in there somewhere!).
In this issue: Our podcast ramps up with interviews in March with fight director Jenny Parr, countertenor Daniel Taylor, and baritone Russell Braun; two views of composer John Beckwith at 90; how music’s connection to memory can assist with the care of patients with Alzheimer’s; musical celebrations in film and jazz, at National Canadian Film Day and Jazz Day; and a preview of Louis Riel, which opens this month at the COC. These and other stories, in our April 2017 issue of the magazine!
On our cover: Owen Pallett's musical palette on display at New Creations. Spring brings thoughts of summer music education! (It's never too late.). For Marc-Andre Hamelin the score is king. Ella at 100 has the tributes happening. All; this and more.
In this issue: an interview with composer/vocalist Jeremy Dutcher, on his upcoming debut album and unique compositional voice; a conversation with Boston Symphony hornist James Sommerville, as as the BSO gets ready to come to his hometown; Stuart Hamilton, fondly remembered; and an inside look at Hugh’s Room, as it enters a complicated chapter in the story of its life in the complex fabric of our musical city. These and other stories, as we celebrate the past and look forward to the rest of 2016/17, the first glimpses of 2017/18, and beyond!
In this issue: a conversation with pianist Stewart Goodyear, in advance of his upcoming show at Koerner Hall; a preview of the annual New Year’s phenomenon that is Bravissimo!/Salute to Vienna; an inside look at music performance in Toronto’s health-care centres; and a reflection on the incredible life and lasting influence of the late Pauline Oliveros. These and more, in a special December/January combined issue!
In this issue: David Jaeger and Alex Pauk’s most memorable R. Murray Schafer collabs, in this month’s installment of Jaeger’s CBC Radio Two: The Living Legacy; an interview with flutist Claire Chase, who brings new music and mindset to Toronto this month; an investigation into the strange coincidence of three simultaneous Mendelssohn Elijahs this Nov 5; and of course, our annual Blue Pages, a who’s who of southern Ontario’s live music scene- a community as prolific and multifaceted as ever. These and more, as we move full-force into the 2016/17 concert season- all aboard!
Music lover's TIFF (our fifth annual guide to the Toronto International Film Festival); Aix Marks the Spot (how Brexit could impact on operatic co-production); The Unstoppable Howard Cable (an affectionate memoir of a late chapter in the life of of a great Canadian arranger; Kensington Jazz Story (the newest kid on the festival block flexes its muscles). These stories and much more as we say a lingering goodbye to summer and turn to the task, for the 22nd season, of covering the live and recorded music that make Southern Ontario tick.
It's combined June/July/August summer issue time with, we hope, enough between the covers to keep you dipping into it all through the coming lazy, hazy days. From Jazz Vans racing round "The Island" delivering pop-up brass breakouts at the roadside, to Bach flute ambushes strolling "The Grove, " to dozens of reasons to stay in the city. May yours be a summer where you find undiscovered musical treasures, and, better still, when, unexpectedly, the music finds you.
INSIDE: The Canaries Are Here! 116 choirs to choose from, so take the plunge! The Nylons hit the road after one last SING! Fling. Jazz writer Steve Wallace wonders "Watts Goode" rather than "what's new?" Paul Ennis has the musical picks of the HotDocs crop. David Jaeger's CBC Radio continues golden for a little while yet. Douglas McNabney is Music's Child. Leipzig meets Damascus in Alison Mackay's fertile imagination. And "C" is for KRONOS in Wende Bartley's koverage of the third annual 21C Festival. All this and as usual much much more. Enjoy.
From 30 camp profiles to spark thoughts of being your summer musical best, to testing LUDWIG as you while away the rest of so-called winter; from Scottish Opera and the Danish Midtvest, to a first Toronto recital appearance by violin superstar Maxim Vengerov; from musings on New Creations and new creation, to the boy who made a habit of crying Beowulf; it's a month of merry meetings and rousing recordings reviewed, all here to discover in The WholeNote.
2016 is off to a flying start! We chronicle the Artful Times of Andrew Burashko, the violistic versatility of Teng Li, the ageless ebullience of jazz pianist Gene DiNovi and the ninetieth birthday of trumpeter Johnny Cowell. Jaeger remembers Boulez; Waxman recalls Bley's influence, and Olds finds Bowie haunting Editor's Corner. Oh, and did we mention there's all that music? Hello (and goodbye) to the February blues, and here's to swinging through the musical vines of the Year of the Monkey.
What's a vinyl renaissance? What happens when Handel's Messiah runs afoul of the rumba rhythm setting on a (gasp!) Hammond organ? What work does Marc-Andre Hamelin say he would be content to have on every recital program he plays? What are Steve Wallace's favourite fifty Christmas recordings? Why is violinist Daniel Hope celebrating Yehudi Menuhin's 100th birthday at Koerner Hall January 28? Answers to all these questions (and a whole lot more) in the Dec/Jan issue of The WholeNote.
"Come" seems to be the verb that knits this month's issue together. Sondra Radvanovsky comes to Koerner, William Norris comes to Tafel as their new GM, opera comes to Canadian Stage; and (a long time coming!) Jane Bunnett's musicianship and mentorship are honoured with the Premier's award for excellence; plus David Jaeger's ongoing series on the golden years of CBC Radio Two, Andrew Timar on hybridity, a bumper crop of record reviews and much much more. Come on in!
Vol 21 No 2 is now available for your viewing pleasure, and it's a bumper crop, right at the harvest moon. First ever Canadian opera on the Four Seasons Centre main stage gets double coverage with Wende Bartley interviewing Pyramus and Thisbe composer Barbara Monk Feldman and Chris Hoile connecting with director Christopher Alden; Paul Ennis digs into the musical mind of pianist Benjamin Grosvenor, and pianist Eve Egoyan is "On the Record" in conversation with publisher David Perlman ahead of the Oct release concert for her tenth recording. And at the heart of it all the 16th edition of our annual BLUE PAGES directory of presenters profile the season now well and truly under way.
Paul Ennis's annual TIFF TIPS (27 festival films of potential particular musical interest); Wu Man, Yo-Yo Ma and Jeffrey Beecher on the Silk Road; David Jaeger on CBC Radio Music in the days it was committed to commissioning; the LISTENING ROOM continues to grow on line; DISCoveries is back, bigger than ever; and Mary Lou Fallis says Trinity-St. Paul's is Just the Spot (especially this coming Sept 25!).
