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Volume 20 Issue 1 - September 2014

  • Text
  • September
  • October
  • Toronto
  • Jazz
  • Musical
  • Theatre
  • Festival
  • Concerts
  • Symphony
  • Arts

space has enabled. One

space has enabled. One of the major results of there-visioning process has been an expansion of theirparticipation with other organizations in a series ofco-productions. As well, they are equipping theirspace as a DIY (do it yourself) studio environment,where community members can rent the space andrecord audio or video on their own without havingto hire a technical assistant. This keeps the costs lowand accessible, helping to support young and underemployedartists. And building on their currentonline YouTube channel, the space will be equippedwith a high definition video system to offer livestreaming of concerts and events to a worldwideaudience as well as creating a musical archive.This conveniently located and great-soundingspace has also expanded to incorporate other artsorganizations, including plans for a future rooftopdeck. It’s becoming a hub that can foster a growingcommunity, which will in turn generate artisticsynergies that arise from a common meeting space.Although Array has always been a grassroots community organization,that trend has now snowballed, and the space come alive, withmany community events. These include regular improvisation jamswith local and visiting guests, lectures and composer talks (AllisonCameron, October 18 and Tamara Bernstein, November 20), a collaborationwith the Evergreen Club Gamelan that includes eveningsfor people to gather and play the EGC instruments now housed inthe Array Space, co-presentations with other music organizations,free outreach community workshops and participation in the NewMusic 101 library series. On Toronto’s improvising scene, Array isteaming up with both Somewhere There (September 20) and AudioPollination (September 9 and 13). The first of Array’s own improvisationjams happens on September 10. The days of September also offertwo opportunities to participate in community events: September 21launches the first Gamelan Meetup event and September 27 providesan opportunity for a free percussion workshop.Array is of course more than a space, for at its roots, it is aperforming ensemble. Now able to enjoy their own performingspace, this season’s concert series includes works by Gerald Barry,Udo Kasemets, John Sherlock, Michael Oesterle and Linda CatlinSmith. Beyond the Walnut Street address, the Array ensemble will beperforming a series of miniatures composed by Nic Gotham at thebook launch of Martha Baillie’s novel The Search for Heinrich Schlögelon September 16 at the Gladstone. Gotham’s miniatures were originallywritten for an online installation of postcards written by Baillieand read by members of the literary community.junctQín keyboard collectiveINTERsections: Earlier in the month, Arrayalong with other new music ensembles willparticipate in Contact Contemporary Music’sannual new music event “INTERsection: MusicFrom Every Direction” from September 5 to 7,which will include a day of free performancesand interactive installations at Yonge-DundasSquare on September 6. Also included inINTERsection are concert performances at boththe Tranzac Club (September 5) and the MusicGallery (September 7).Other “intersections” also occurring inSeptember feature two of the new music groupswho are also participating in Contact’s weekendevent. On September 28 the Thin Edge MusicCollective performs at the Array Space withguest artist Nilan Perera, and the Toy PianoComposers present a night of “inventions,oddities and hidden treasures” on September 20at the Music Gallery. In a bit of a space switch-up, the Music Gallery ispresenting an event at the Array Space on September 5 curated by TadMichalak as part of their Departures series featuring Battle Trance +King Weather + Not the Wind Not the Flag.Canadian Music Centre: Alongside Array and the Music Gallery,Toronto is fortunate to have the Canadian Music Centre as a space thatsupports new musical sounds. September events include a concertof North American music for flute and piano on September 13; anevening of words and music (texts by Gwendolyn MacEwen and LindaHogan) on September 27; and a special event for Culture Days entitled“Create Your Own Graphic Score” with junctQín keyboard collectiveon September 28. The CMC has also announced their Nuit Blancheevent on October 4, which will showcase the integration of globaltraditions into Canadian new music.Guelph Jazz Festival: Jumping over now to the annual Guelph Jazzfestival that runs September 3 to 7, there are a few performances thatwill no doubt be strong draws for musical experimenters. To celebratethe 100th anniversary of pioneering jazz artist Sun Ra’s arrivalon planet Earth, the Sun Ra Arkestra offers a free performance at 2pmon September 6, followed by an evening performance of “Hymn tothe Universe” along with the Coleman Lemieux & Company danceensemble. The Ugly Beauties, featuring Marilyn Lerner, Matt Brubeckand Nick Fraser perform on the same day at 4pm, followed by a showon September 7 at 10:30am by renowned composer and keyboardgenius Lui Pui Ming performing with Korean composer and vocalistDon-Won Kim. See also Ken Waxman’s Something in the Air columnon page 73 in this issue. And for detailed listings, please visitguelphjazzfestival.com/2014.On a final note for this month, the good news is that the possibilitiesand opportunities for the nurturing and growth of new andexperimental music through thriving musical spaces is well underway.Now it’s up to the listeners to go out and experience the feast.Violins, violas, cellos & bowsComplete line of strings & accessoriesExpert repairs & rehairsCanada’s largest stock of string musicFast mail order servicethesoundpost.cominfo@the soundpost.com93 Grenville St, Toronto M5S 1B4416.971.6990 • fax 416.597.9923A treasure trove for string players& lovers of string musicAdditional Concerts:Scott Thomson and Susanna Hood: “The Muted Note.” Premieres ofnew music, dance and poetry based on P.K. Page poems. September 5to 7 and 27. (See next page.)Composer Barbara Croall performs original works for traditionalFirst Nations flutes, piano and other instruments. September 12 atMusideum.Soundstreams: Violinist Daniel Hope is the soloist in Max Richter’sreinvention of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, September 30. See this month’sClassical and Beyond column, beginning on page 20.Groundswell Festival with Nightwood Theatre: workshop productionof Obeah Opera by composer Nicole Brooks. September 10 to 14.See GTA Listings for details.Wendalyn Bartley is a Toronto-based composer and electrovocalsound artist. sounddreaming@gmail.com28 | September 1, 2014 – October 7, 2014 thewholenote.com

The Muted NoteTakes WingBY STUART BROOMERArare wedding of the arts – poetry, musicand dance coming together in the spontaneouscombustion of improvisation – istaking wing across Canada this fall, with nearly50 performances in nine provinces (all but PrinceEdward Island) and over 30 cities, stretching fromearly September to the middle of November. It’scalled The Muted Note, and it’s a remarkable tourfor a work so subtle in its refractions and spontaneousin its creativity.The poetry of P.K. Page is one of the greataccomplishments of Canadian poetry, lucid workthat possesses a sense of language and the worldin moments of exchange and transformation. (Page had a rare giftfor expression, developing a parallel practice as a painter under thename P.K. Irwin.) Lately two young artists, composer/trombonistScott Thomson and singer/choreographer Susanna Hood, have usedother arts to extend Page’s work, interpreting it in new dimensions.As Thomson says, “Page’s poems are what the show is about. Thesongs and dances extend directly from the verse, and are composedand improvised in order to animate and activate it. We’re lookingand listening for the connective tissue that makes poetry, song anddance one thing.”Rooted in free jazz, Thomson and Hood began an intense explorationof the work of saxophonist Steve Lacy a few years ago. Lacy hada unique gift among jazz composers and improvisers for setting text,working with poetry from the ancient Lao Tzu to Beat Generationoutliers like Bryon Gysin and Robert Creeley. Thomson – the founderand curator of Toronto’s longtime creative music performance spaceSomewhere There – formed a quintet with Hood and saxophonistKyle Brenders called – both pragmatically and allusively – The Rent,specifically to explore Lacy’s work.When P.K. Page died in 2010, Thomson began The Muted Noteas a commemorative suite, setting a selection of poems for Hood’svoice and musical accompaniment. Thetwo have released a CD of the material, anintimate sequence of duets for voice and tromboneon Quebec’s &records, but the workhas expanded further for its present incarnation,with Hood, an experienced choreographerand dancer as well as a singer, settingthe work for herself and three other dancers,Ellen Furey, Alanna Kraaijeveld and BernardMartin. Thomson has assembled a newband for the performances as well, a quintetcalled The Disguises that fills out the Hood/Thomson duo with some of Montreal’s finestimprovisers: bassist Nicolas Caloia, saxophonist Yves Charuest anddrummer Pierre Tanguay. Both the music and dance are structuresfor improvised elaboration, each performance an opportunity forHood, Thomson and their creative partners to find new inflectionsand possibilities in Page’s work.Alanna Kraaijeveld (front); Ellen Furey (rear)The Muted Note debuts at Toronto’s Citadel Theatre, 304Parliament Street, 416-848-6293, with three performances –Friday, September 5 and Saturday, September 6 at 8pm andSunday, September 7 at 2pm, $20. Crisscrossing the countryas a duo, Hood and Thomson touch down again in Toronto onSaturday September 27 at Gerrard Art Space, 1390 GerrardStreet East, 416-778-0923, 8pm, PWYC suggested .ALEJANDRO DE LEONTHE 13th ANNUALSMALLWORLDMUSIC FESTIVAL2014ZAKIR HUSSAIN / BOBAN & MARKO MARKOVIC /FAREED AYAZ QAWWAL / NY GYPSY ALL-STARS/ CALYPSO ROSE & KOBO TOWN + many moreAND MANY MORE... SEPT 25 - OCT 5Tickets & Infowww.smallworldmusic.comKiran Ahluwalia andRizwan-MuazzamQawwaliFRI., OCT. 3, 2014 8PM KOERNER HALLMultiple Juno Award winner Kiran Ahluwaliapresents a heady hybrid of Indian groovesand Saharan blues at this special CDlaunch concert.This double-bill also features Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’snephews, Rizwan and Muazzam, bringing the propulsiveenergy of qawwali to Koerner Hall.Presented by the Aga Khan Museumand The Royal Conservatory in partnership.Part of the Small World Music Festival.TICKETS START AT ONLY !416.408.0208 www.performance.rcmusic.ca273 BLOOR STREET WEST(BLOOR ST. & AVENUE RD.)TORONTOthewholenote.com September 1, 2014 – October 7, 2014 | 29

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