an extended passage of rattling percussionin Lake Michigan might simply be a consequenceof natural movement. Similarly adialogue of bass and drums suggests all thecreaks and activities of a dockside. There isnever any sense here of imitative sound, butanalogues keep arising for Smith’s compellingsubject matter.Like his other recent works, Smith’sGreat Lakes Suites explores correspondingprocesses in music, history and geology.By finding musicians who can also sustainthis extended meditation, Smith succeedsbrilliantly.Stuart BroomerSeveral Toronto musicians haverecently released projectsthat play creatively withgenre expectations. BassistMichael Herring and guitaristDon Scott formed PeripheralVision in 2008 as a vehiclefor their compositions and acontemporary fusion style thatincorporates jazz elementswith sometimes rock-derivedrhythms and a full complementof guitar pedals. They’rejoined on Sheer Tyrannyof Will (peripheralvisionmusic.com)by tenor saxophonistTrevor Hogg anddrummer Nick Fraser. Theinterest in composition is real andthe concentration on the music’stotal effect extends to the judicioususe of studio resources:both Herring’s “Wiretap” and thetitle tune develop complex moodsthrough contrasting segments andScott’s overdubbed guitar parts.Peripheral Vision may be at its best, though,on simpler material: “Charleston Heston”has a tremendous buoyancy, with Scott andHogg floating aloft on the rhythmic verve thatHerring and Fraser can generate.Since emerging in the group Chelsea Bridgetwo decades ago, Nova Scotia-born singerTena Palmer has not just welcomed new challengesand repertoire but sought them out,whether it’s an expedition into free improvisation,an evening of bossa nova or her ownblends of jazz and Celtic music. Holy Heartof Me (TLP 002 tenapalmer.net) is a collectionof original songs recorded in Iceland witha band called T.I.N.T., or There Is No Them. Itwould be difficult to corral it into any singlegenre, whether some subset of folk, rock, popor jazz, but it’s all imbued with an expressiveintensity in which the sensuous and spiritualblur into one another. The frameworks,created largely by guitarist Hilmar Jenssonand percussionist Matthias Hemstock, tendtowards almost hypnotic, minimalist electronica,spare fields that set Palmer andher songs in stark relief. While Palmer andJensson might easily carry it all, there aresome wonderful guest appearances, amongthem New Brunswick cornetist RolandBourgeois on “Golden Rod” and IcelanderOmar Gudjonsson playing burbling sousaphoneon the title track.STUART BROOMERNamed a “trumpeterof the future”by DownBeat magazinea few years ago,Lina Allemano hastouched many ofthe usual bases,from playing withbig bands like NOJOto a host of small bands.Her best vehicle hasundoubtedly beenher own quartet Four,releasing five CDs ofincreasingly distinguishedand distinctivefree-bop over the pastdecade. While that bandcontinues – joyouslyso – Allemano is alsotaking other paths,exploring free improvisationin Europe andstudying extendedtrumpet techniqueslike multiphonics and circularbreathing. The fruits of those explorationsare apparent in the first release by her newgroup Titanium Riot. On Kiss the Brain(Lumo Records LM 2014-6 linaallemano.com), Allemano is a central organizing intelligenceset free in imaginative soundscapescreated by the bleeps and whistles of RyanDriver’s analogue synthesizer, Rob Clutton’schurning bass and Nick Fraser’s randomizingpercussion. She emerges as a trumpeterof the future more clearly than ever before,a probing, thoughtful improviser who cancreate form with a few well-placed blasts. Themusic is as surreal as the names of the pieces,the muddy antique organ tones of “Nose-Coloured Glasses” as oddly compelling as thepiece’s title.Meanwhile in Montreal, bassist NicolasCaloia is responsible for one of the great institutionsof current Canadian jazz, the RatchetOrchestra, a sprawling ensemble of up to 30musicians that for more than two decades hasbeen defining its own identity while payingtribute to the exotic space music of Sun Ra.It’s hard to imagine Caloia’s vehicle reducedto an all-star quartet, but that’s precisely thecase with Tilting in which the bassist is joinedby Jean Derome on baritone and alto saxophonesand bass flute, pianist GuillaumeDostaler and drummer Isaiah Ceccarelli.When guests arrive – bass clarinetist LoriFreedman and alto saxophonist Yves Charuest– they too are members of Ratchet Orchestra.On Holy Seven (Barnyard Records BR0336barnyardrecords.com), Tilting approachesjazz from an oblique angle, from its devotionto low frequency horns, insistent ascendingpatterns, moderate tempos andlumpy rhythms, all highlightedand exaggerated by Dostaler’spiano which seems to presentevery chord as equal part speculationand dare. The musicis filled with rare emotion,whether it’s a haunted blues ora listing joy, testament to theband’s strong sense of communicationand purpose as well asDerome’s singular power onbaritone.The Montreal mainstream iswell represented by two verydifferent pianist-composers’new releases on the Effendi label.On Essences Des Bois (EffendiRecords FND131 effendirecords.com), Yves Léveillé puts compositionand orchestration solidly inthe foreground, crafting strongmelodies and moods for a septetthat features a quartet of differentwinds, most of them high pitched.With Roberto Murray on sopranoand alto saxophones, François Richard onflute and alto flute, Marjorie Tremblay onoboe and English horn and Simon Aldrich onclarinet and bass clarinet, Léveillé developsensembles that are both light and distinctive.His work often has the character of chambermusic (Les Six come to mind), enhancing itscool jazz dimension with more current modalharmonies. Each of the players is an accomplishedsoloist, evident here in individualfeatures. While it’s often pleasant enough todrift toward the background, sudden inspiredbursts keep a listener engaged.Working in a more conventional quintetformat on Tome 3: Errances (Effendi RecordsFND132), Vincent Gagnon brings greatenergy, drive and spontaneity to his work,whether exploring extended ballads or denseup-tempos, often with a Middle Eastern tinge.He has a powerful rhythm section in bassistGuillaume Bouchard and drummer MichelLambert and a fine saxophonist in the smooth-tonedAlain Boies, but it’s really tenorsaxophonist Michel Côté who draws the mostattention other than the pianist. Côté has adistinctive sound, a rough gauze-like qualitythat’s especially effective on Gagnon balladslike “Ce qu’il reste de la nuit” and “Parfoisl’aube.” Gagnon uses repeated phrases inhis solos, building tension and a cumulativeenergy that presses this music forward. It’sparticularly effective on “Baltique Karma. ”82 | November 1 - December 7, 2014 thewholenote.com
Clarity – Music of Clare FischerRoseanna VitroRandom Acts Records RAR1016CD(randomactrecords.com)With the passing of gifted Los Angelesbasedcomposer/arranger/keyboardist ClareFischer, not only did El Lay lose one of its topcreative innovators,but the internationalmusic communityalso lost an artistwho, since his 1962LP Bossa Nova JazzSamba with the lateBud Shank, hadconsecrated himself to the genres of Afro-Carribbean, Brazilian and a wide variety ofCentro/Sul American Musics – notably representedin his 1981 GRAMMY-winning ClareFischer and Salsa Picante Present 2 + 2.With the release of her latest recording,NYC jazz vocalist/educator/composer/arranger Roseanna Vitro (along with producerPaul Wickliffe) has not only framed agorgeous tribute to the work of Fischer, buthas successfully expanded the jazz canonby deftly mining the exquisite, harmonicallycomplex music that is Clare Fischer’slegacy. The CD includes six of Fischer’s neverpreviously sung compositions (some withnew original lyrics), and is also the first andonly vocal book developed by a solo singer ofhis music.Accompanying Vitro on this remarkablejourney are her longtime collaborators,including pianist/arranger Mark Soskin aswell as Weather Report percussionist MinoCinelu. Standout tracks include a fresh,percussive, scat-filled take on “Morning”and also “Life’s Journey,” which features acomplex, rhythmic arrangement and dynamicwork by violinist Sara Caswell and pianistSoskin. One track stands alone in its perfection– the deeply moving ballad “Sleep MyChild,” a flawless musical diamond aroundwhich Vitro wraps her rich, luxuriouscontralto.Vitro is not only a consumate jazz vocalist,but through the auspices of this importantartistic project, she has also emerged as a trueconservateur and curator of jazz.Lesley Mitchell-ClarkeOverheard ConversationsGlen Hall; Bernie KoenigSlam Productions CD 552(slamproductions.net)A reflective andcomfortable musicalconversation betweenreeds and percussion,the dozen brief duetsby Toronto saxophonist/flutistGlenHall and drummer/vibraphonist BernieKoenig from London, Ontario have all thehallmarks of overheard dialogue. Some interjectionsare predictably of paramount interestto those involved; others, which stretch thecapacities of the instruments and musicians,are as insightful as discussions frommore formally organized sessions. Seeminglyrecorded in real time, luckily the discourseintensifies as it evolves.While Hall gradually defines his parameterswith tenor and soprano saxophone slursand smears via John Coltrane’s influence,Koenig’s drum pulses are a bit more rigid, notreally coming into strong focus until – andperhaps because of – “Time for a Stiff Drink.”Mixing martial-like ruffs with supple rolls,he meets Hall’s mellow elaborations head onand effectively. From then on sound snatchescapture a wide-ranging conversation. Snakybass flute timbres countered by off-centreplops suggest Arabic music on Trust Me,while rugged reed split tones attain screamingheights on “Things Are Looking Up” thoughthe drummer’s carefully paced beats keepthe theme chromatic. Additionally the whapof sticks on Mylar and wood during “Look atHer!” insinuate two percussionists at work asHall’s altissimo snarls create a fanciful verbalizationof overbearing Buddy Rich strokesbacking “Caravan” played by Albert Ayler.Like old friends winding down theirconversation before they part, the reedistand percussionist save their excursionsinto chamber jazz for the last few duets.With Koenig’s sparkling vibraphone strokesattaining sonorous swing, the unique multicoloursHall sources from his flute on tunessuch as “I Understand Why You Are SoMelancholy” reflect the skills of these sophisticatedcommunicators who can comfortablyexpress emotions instrumentally.Ken WaxmanConcert Note: Glen Hall’s Rub out the Word:A William S. Burroughs Centennial Event is atThe Music Gallery November 7.POT POURRISanata: StillnessKiran AhluwaliaIndependent MTM-CD-930 (kiranmusic.com)The release ofIndian-Canadiansinger and songwriterKiran Ahluwalia’ssixth album Sanata:Stillness, providescopious confirmationthat her songsare “one of global music’s most interestingadventures.” Ever since Ahluwalia‘s first CDin 2001, it seems each new album marks newregions of personal musical growth, accompaniedby evolving instrumentation andstylistic components. Recorded in Toronto,Sanata, as does her touring group, featuressome of the city’s top world musicians.Among them number percussionist maestroMark Duggan and bassists extraordinaire RichBrown and Andrew Downing.In my September 2014 WholeNote coverfeature on Ahluwalia, I observed that hergeo-musical expansiveness is a result “ofher careful listening to yet another [geocultural]zone of our world. She has [further]shown a continued eagerness to contest theborders of her musical comfort zones in liveperformance.”Sanata provides ample proof of thatprocess of exploration and synthesis at work.We hear Ahluwalia’s signature masala ofher unique interpretation of Indo-Pakistanighazal and Punjabi folk song, rendered in herexpressive yet unstrained vibrato-less voice.It’s hung on a solid backbone of years of classicalHindustani musical training. Her giftfor crafting catchy melodies is evidenced inher songs; I’m guessing a key feature in theiraudience appeal.Another significant strand is the additionof pungent echoes of Saharan blues guitar, asin her award-winning 2011 CD Aam Zameen:Common Ground. It grounds the title trackand also propels “Hayat” with a swaggeringgroove at just the right tempo. The superblysupple electric guitar accompaniments areprovided by her American husband RezAbbasi, who is also the album’s arranger andproducer. Abbasi gets a chance to show hisample jazz guitarist cred in his “Tamana” soloand elsewhere.While the album is carefully woventogether with jazz-forward and sometimesrock-infused arrangements, “Jhoom” and“Lament,” the two songs in the qawwali tradition,return the album’s musical topographyand transport the listener – via many transcontinentalbyways – to the Subcontinent.Andrew TimarAnimismTanya TagaqSix Shooter Records (tanyatagaq.com)This album is aprofound explorationof transculturalconfrontation andtransformation asexpresed throughthe magical qualitiesand healing power ofsound. Featuring thebrilliant vocalism of Inuk avant-garde throatsinger Tanya Tagaq, Animism synergisticallymerges her indigenous rights activism withthe expressive force of her art. Not simply atypical “wordless protest album” however, itsrelease promptly caused significant criticalacclaim. To cap it off, Tagaq won the 2014Polaris Music Prize, presented annuallyfor the “best Canadian album regardless ofgenre or sales,” becoming its first indigenousrecipient.To be sure, the involvement of the polishedimprov-based musicality of her regularaccompanists, Toronto drummer Jean Martinand the B.C.-based violinist, producerand arranger Jesse Zubot, is essential toevery track.Tagaq’s vocal art lives in zones of layered,thewholenote.com November 1 - December 7, 2014 | 83
Choral Scene: Uncharted territory: three choirs finding paths forward; Music Theatre: Loose Tea on the boil with Alaina Viau’s Dead Reckoning; In with the New: what happens to soundart when climate change meets COVID-19; Call to action: diversity, accountability, and reform in post-secondary jazz studies; 9th Annual TIFF Tips: a filmfest like no other; Remembering: Leon Fleisher; DISCoveries: a NY state of mind; 25th anniversary stroll-through; and more.
Online in flip through here, and on stands commencing Tues SEP 1.
Following the Goldberg trail from Gould to Lang Lang; Measha Brueggergosman and Edwin Huizinga on face to face collaboration in strange times; diggings into dance as FFDN keeps live alive; "Classical unicorn?" - Luke Welch reflects on life as a Black classical pianist; Debashis Sinha's adventures in sound art; choral lessons from Skagit Valley; and the 21st annual WholeNote Blue Pages (part 1 of 3) in print and online. Here now. And, yes, still in print, with distribution starting Thursday October 1.
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!).
