~E TO|oNTOCºNSO|tPRESENTSPA|iSCºNFIDENTIALRenaissance Paris that is! Join us on aninsider’s tour of bustling markets, booksellers andthe royal chapel organized by Alison Mackay,featuring music, words and stunning images.Friday, Nov. 7 & Saturday, Nov. 8, 8pmCall 416-964-6337 or TorontoConsort.orgTrinity-St. Paul’s Centre, Jeanne Lamon Hall,427 Bloor St. West • Tickets - J.S. BACH’SCHRISTMASOR ATORIOcONDUcTOR Johannes DebusMusic Director, Canadian Opera CompanyMonica Whicher sopranoVicki St. Pierre Mezzo-sopranoColin Ainsworth TenorLawrence Wiliford evangelistRussell Braun BaritoneDavid Ambrose chorus MasterFriday, November 28, 2014, 7pmMusicians of theToronto Symphony Orchestra,the Canadian Opera CompanyOrchestra and theMississauga FestivalChamber ChoirRUNNYMEDE UNITED CHURCH432 Runnymede Road, Toronto (400 m North of Runnymede Subway Station)TickeTs: in advance, at the doorStudents: with official identificationTo reserve tickets, go to torontobachconsort.comor call 416-593-7769 x358PROceeDs sHAReD BeTWeeN Toronto Symphony Volunteer Committee EducationProgram and Open Table Community Meal at Runnymede United Church30 | November 1 - December 7, 2014 thewholenote.com
JOANNE GREENsome lesser-known Italians like Benedetto Marcello and EvaristoDall’Abaco. Artscape Youngplace is an intimate and acoustically flawlessperformance space, and for a small-scale chamber concert, I knowfor a fact Rezonance is hard to beat for sheer flamboyance (meaningeveryone in the group really, really likes to show off).Harpsichord-Beside-the Grange: I confess that I don’t know thatmuch about Spanish baroque music; the only two 18th-centurySpanish composers I can name off the top of my head are DomenicoScarlatti and Fernando Sor. Fortunately, Spanish harpsichordist LuisaMorales can dispel my ignorance, and will do so mid-month in aprogram co-presented by Baroque Music Beside the Grange devoted toSpanish baroque composers on November 15 at 8pm. This is an evensmaller-scale concert than Rezonance’s, consisting of just Morales,flutist Alison Melville and dancer Cristobal Salvador. It promises to bean entertaining introduction to Spanish music and culture and willinclude the aforementioned Scarlatti and Sor as well as Juan Ledesma,Rodriguez de Ledesma and Blas de Laserna.Beznosiuk: Andfinally, the Torontogroup that can’t avoidbeing mentioned in anygiven month is of courseTafelmusik, performingNovember 19 to 23 atTrinity-St. Paul’s Centre.Tafel will be presentinga program mainlydevoted to music ofthe English Baroque –namely Purcell, Lockeand Handel. It’s familiarground for the band andit’s safe to say they will doa good job of it, but thereal draw for this showis guest violinist PavloBeznosiuk. Beznosiuk is aveteran violin soloist anda bit of a whiz at EnglishPavlo Beznosiukmusic – you can find hisNaxos recording of thecomplete Avison violinconcertos on YouTube – and it’s always a treat when a great internationalsoloist comes to town to thrill us. Plus, it will be interestingto hear what Tafelmusik sounds like under his direction as this year of“find the leader” continues. Well worth checking out.David Podgorski is a Toronto-based harpsichordist, musicteacher and a founding member of Rezonance. He canbe contacted at earlymusic@thewholenote.com.Beat by Beat | In With the NewRaising the NextGenerationWENDALYN BARTLEYThe famous quote “It takes a village to raise a child” speaks to therole of shared responsibility in nurturing the next generation. Wecan equally apply that same axiom to the task of creating opportunitiesfor musical imaginations to flourish and evolve. Beyond theusual educational institutions that provide the initial stages of thefertile ground, different presenters of new concert music have beenstepping up to the plate for years now to take on this responsibility. Sodedicated are they, that this mandate has become one of their definingattributes. Such is the case with ECM+ (Ensemble Contemporainde Montréal), and the dedicated and passionate commitment of itsdirector Véronique Lacroix.The ensemble was founded in 1987 by Lacroix specifically to offeryoung composers a playing field in which to develop their musicalimaginations. Her vision was to create the kind of environmentcomposers need so they can pursue their musical research and explorationwith live musicians. “Nothing can compare to live experimentation,”she said in our conversation. “It is the only way to actuallytest what the composers hear in their heads and adjust their finalscores according to the results of this experimentation with the musicians.”Lacroix is passionate in her commitment to composers, whoare always ahead of their time and often revolutionary, she says.“Observing the complex ways they integrate the global context intotheir scores is a constant source of inspiration.” Lacroix’s vision ledto the development of the ensemble’s distinct and unique Générationprogram, which is currently celebrating its 20th anniversary.So what is so special about the Génération program NEW that DIRECTIONS takes IN MUSICyounger composers through a training process spanning an 18-monthperiod of time? It begins every two years, with a rigorous selectionprocess to choose four Canadian composers that meet artistic, demographicand gender criteria. I was impressed to see that one of thesecriteria was that one of the four composers was to be a woman. I hadto wonder how many other presenting organizations of new musictake a similar approach to their programming, given the numerousoccasions we’ve all experienced where the program is all male?Lacroix has “always been fascinated by the rich secrets of the scoresI receive regularly and always wondered what is happening in acomposer’s head. How can anyone imagine musical avenues as unexpectedand complex as what they have written?” It is for this reasonthat the Génération experience began and offers so much more thana few rehearsals with the composer present. Rather, NEW it’s DIRECTIONS an entire IN MUSICmentoring structure.David Fallis,conductorVESPERSNovember 25 at 8:00 pmTrinity-St. Paul’s CentreGilles Tremblay: Les Vêpres de la Vierge (1986)Claudio Monteverdi: Vespro della Beata Vergine (1610)Shannon Mercer Choir 21Tickets start at just $20! Call 416-408-0208 or visit soundstreams.caBlackthewholenote.com November 1 - December 7, 2014 | 31
