half of the program whichfeatured Cable as composer,arranger and conductor.The program closed withhis Wychwood Suite whichwas written to showcase thesolo artistry of the choir’sconductor Michele Jacot.A new group: While it isn’ta band, Strings Attached is anew community ensemble.As the name might suggest,the group is a Toronto-based,The Encore Symphonic Concert Bandmember-run string orchestramade up of adult, amateurstring musicians. The orchestra was formed in the summer of 2014,when three violinists and a cellist got together with a plan to form agroup that would suit their needs. Specifically, they wished to playa diverse repertoire of music arranged or written for strings, with agroup of like-minded, dedicated amateur musicians. While, like otheramateur groups, a primary objective is the personal enjoyment ofmaking music, their goal is also to serve the community at large withperformances at nursing homes, hospitals and similar venues. Interestin the project grew quickly and Strings Attached now has over 25members and is growing.Conductor Ric Giorgi is a Toronto jazz bassist, pianist and singer,with a broad history of composing music for film and television, aswell as having conducted various local orchestras and ensemblesincluding the Scarborough and Toronto District School Board MusicCamps. Under his baton, Strings Attached meets every Monday fromSeptember to June in the Bathurst and Sheppard area.It is unusual to hear a new group state that some sections are full,but that is the case here. They say that their cello section is full andthe viola and bass sections are close to capacity. However, they arecurrently looking for more violins. Anyone with a background inplaying a string instrument, and an interest in playing with a friendly,encouraging group, is welcome to visit their website(stringsattachedorchestra.com) or pay a visit to a rehearsal.Concerts coming: Last month I mentioned that the new TorontoConcert Band had begun rehearsals in west end Toronto in September.Now, only two months after their first rehearsal, they have justconfirmed the venue for their inaugural public performance. Ratherthan perform in a local location, they wanted to reinforce theirmandate of serving the entire City of Toronto, and have selected theCBC Glenn Gould Studio for their first appearance on the local musicscene. Under the direction of conductors Les Dobbin and Ken Hazlettthey will kick off their season on Saturday, January 31, at 8pm.See the listings section for concerts by The Encore SymphonicConcert Band (Dec 4, Jan 8, Feb 5), The Festival Wind Orchestra(Dec 14), The Pickering Community Concert Band (Dec 14) and theFlute Street Flute Choir (Jan 31).Concert missed: By the time this issue is off the press, the annual“Seasonal Celebration” of the Markham Concert Band on SundayNovember 30 will be history. Unfortunately the information on thatconcert wasn’t received in time. One work scheduled for that programwas a composition by Louie Madrid Calleja, who came to Canada fromthe Philippines and holds a master’s degree from York University. Theinformation received does not mention the title of the work. Perhapsit was his Soliloquy for Band Op. 40a which was well received at theCBA Community Band Weekend in October. Keep your ears open. Weshould be hearing more from this young composer in the future.Definition Department: This month’s lesser known musical termis maestro: A person who, standing in front of the orchestra and/orchorus, is able to follow them precisely.We invite submissions from readers. Let’s hear your daffynitions.Jack MacQuarrie plays several brass instruments andhas performed in many community ensembles. He canbe contacted at bandstand@thewholenote.com.Beat by Beat | Jazz NotesThe More ItChanges ...JIM GALLOWAYThis being the 15th or 16th December/January edition of these JazzNotes for The WholeNote, I thought that rather than essaying somethingcompletely new, I’d dip back through my little stack of backissues for things that, still being appropriate, I might appropriate.Take this, for one example:This month’s column is a departure from the familiar concert listingsof previous issues, reason being that the above mentioned departurewas mine - for a month-long trip to Europe! As a result thisarticle is coming to you from the waltz capital of the world, Vienna.First of all, for the record, the Danube is not blue, but an industrialbrown which would not inspire Johann were he to see it today.Also the Viennese waltz does not make up 3/4 of the music heard inVienna, even though it is in 3/4, and since being here I have not hearda single zither play the theme from The Third Man.Is there jazz in this stronghold of Strauss? – this fatherland ofFreud? – this Mecca of Mozart? – this city where you can have yourVienna Phil? Yes there is and quite a lot of it at that, although, asanywhere else it is music for a small minority – and a minority that isbroken into at least two camps. There are the obvious ones traditionaland modern, and it would seem that never – or very seldom – thetwain shall meet. (No, not you, Mark!)The stronghold for the traditional/swing/bebop audience – andI include bebop because in the overall picture of what is called jazztoday, bebop is pretty traditional sounding – is a club called Jazzland,located in the heart of the old city, underneath what was the wall ofthe old city. It is, of course, a cellar club, full of atmosphere, with theoriginal walls and vaulted ceiling still in place.The walls are lined with photos of jazz artists who have played theclub and it is quite a Who’s Who ranging from pioneers like TeddyWilson and Wild Bill Davison to the recently deceased Art Farmer.Artists appearing in November, for example, included Red Holloway,Trevor Richards, Conte Candoli, Melissa Walker and Hal Singer alongwith some of the leading local players. It is the oldest club in Viennacurrently in its 27th year as a jazz haunt and something like its 500thas a cellar. It was an escape route in times of siege but serves now asan escape for jazz fans who like to know where the bar is and prefertheir music to swing.Jazzland is run by a remarkable couple, Axel and Tillie Melhardt,assisted by a really friendly staff including Martin and Thomas, a pairof great bartenders. Alex and Tillie’s love of the music is genuine andthe long succession of visiting artists thinks the world of them. If youcan find better anywhere I’ll buy an oversized Tam O’Shanter and eatit. (It’s a hat Mabel). Incidentally Axel Melhardt comes by his love ofmusic honestly. His mother was an opera singer and his great-grandunclewas Antonín Dvořák!There are several other clubs where mostly local musicians arefeatured. They don’t have jazz six nights a week so you have to check,but you can make some nice discoveries in venues such as Papa’sTapas, Blues Man, Miles Smiles, tunel, and Vienna Unplugged. Worthnoting is Reigen Live, a club which featured one-nighters last weekby Archie Shepp, Les McCann, Jimmy Scott and Cubanismo. There isalso a club called Porgy And Bess operating once a week just now. Itpresents the more avant-garde end of the spectrum so don’t expectmuch Gershwin, despite the name.There are plans to build a new Porgy and Bess club heavily fundedby the city, as the planned new Birdland club, being built by JoeZawinul, will be. I heard a good singer called Barbara Pfluger whoappeared last month in a spot called Celeste. The local talent pool isgood. Some of the groups I am familiar with cover a wide range of34 | December 1 2014 - February 7, 2015 thewholenote.com
marvellously new, some precisely because it isn’t.Incidentally, I rang in that millennial new year at The MontrealBistro, Sherbourne and Adelaide… performing from the 28th to Jan 1,starting at 9pm each night. “The music will swing,” I wrote, “and sowill my kilt on New Year’s Eve.”So some things do change: the Montreal Bistro and the five-day gigboth seem a long time ago.Jazzland Revisited, April 2012: Axel and Tillie Melhardt with Jim Gallowaystyles. If you like it New Orleans style, there are The Red Hot Pods whohave played the Toronto festival a couple of times A little more towardsthe Chicago style, in spite of their name, you have The OriginalStoryville Jazz Band and advancing chronologically in terms of stylethere are groups like the Stanton Big Band, Together, Koolinger, andThe Vienna Art Orchestra. I can’t list everybody and I apologise ifI leave out names that deserve to be included, but two of the mostimpressive musicians I heard were drummer Walter Grossrubatscherand pianist/clarinettist Herbert Swoboda who can easily hold theirown in any company.Jazz in Vienna is not confined to clubs, although it is interesting, inview of some earlier comments in this column, to note that performancesin clubs are frequently referred to as “concerts.” The “real”concert hall scene is also quite active. Over the current four weekperiod the line-up is Dave Brubeck Quartet, Manhattan Transfer, TheRon Carter Quintet, and Joe Zwainul in a “Homage to Johann Strauss”if you can believe that one!So is there a jazz scene here? You can bet your ViennaWoods there is.It seems to me that more has stayed the same in Vienna jazz lifethan has changed since mid-November 1999, which is when I wrotethis little sketch – Axel Melhardt is still at the helm of a Jazzland,now in its 44th year. The Porgy and Bess and Birdland venturesI mentioned amounted to nothing; places announced in a blazeof glory only to fizzle are a part of the scene’s overall wonderfulconsistency. Audiences remain a consistent mix of grey and notyet grey, coming to actually listen to music, some of it because it isHere are another couple of excerpts to ponder (both from thefollowing year, the first December of the brave new millennium):Looking back over the past year I realize just how much good jazzis available in this city. On any given week in Toronto you can hear awide range of music. the performers are sometimes visiting “names”but the majority are our own artists – and the standards are high. theconcentration of good musicians in our own community is astonishing.The number of playing opportunities regrettably small, for itis an unfortunate fact that there is a lot less work for musicians thanthere used to be.… And this:The somewhat unusual contradiction in all of this is the problemthat we live in an age where there is not enough work for muscians,while at the same time there is too much music around us!It’s a personal opinion, but I hold it very firmly, and I know I’mnot alone. Music has been devalued or at least the contribution of thepeople who make the music. Because of its omnipresence – in elevators,in shops, in restaurants, in waiting rooms, in washrooms – incessantly– it is rammed down our throats, well our ears, to be moreaccurate, day and night, to the extent that it is simply noise in thebackground and of absolutely no aesthetic value. And silence becomesincreasingly golden.And so I come to the end of another column and another year,with a final quote from that December2000 column.“Have an excellent holiday season, and if you need a resolution forthe new year, how about making a point of getting out to see more livemusic. Those of us who toil on stages and in clubs will be grateful.”Or in the words of what has become my standard Jazz Notes signoffover the years: Happy listening, and why not make some ofit live!Jim Galloway is a saxophonist, band leader and formerartistic director of Toronto Downtown Jazz. He canbe contacted at jazznotes@thewholenote.com.Mainly clubs, Mostly Jazz!WITH Ori Dagan. See page 63.St. Philip’s Anglican ChurchFeaturing some of Toronto’s best jazz musicianswith a brief reflection by Jazz Vespers Clergy●Sunday, December 14, 4:00 PM |Christmas Jazz VespersMark Eisenman QuartetSt. Philip’s Anglican ChurchSt. Philip’s Sunday, January Anglican 11, 4:00 Church PM | Jazz | Etobicoke Vespers25 St. Barbra Phillips Lica Road Trio●(near Royal York + Dixon)416-247-5181 • stphilips.net • free will offeringSunday, January 25, 4:00 PM | Jazz VespersHilario Duran TrioSunday, February 8, 4:00 PM | Jazz VespersJoy Lewis QuartetSt. Philip’s Anglican Church | Etobicoke25 St. Phillips Road (near Royal York + Dixon)416-247-5181 • stphilips.net • free will offeringDec. 7 at 4:30 pmChristmas Jazz“The Nutcracker Suite” by Ellington and StrayhornBRIAN BARLOW BIG BAND2015Jan. 11 at 4:30 pmBOB BROUGH QUARTET – Bob (saxophone)Artie Roth (bass), Adrean Farrugia (piano)Terry Clarke (drums)Jan. 25 at 4:30 pmRob Piltch and Lorne Lofsky (guitar duo)Feb. 8 at 4:30 pm - TRIBUTE TO EUBIE BLAKEGord Sheard (solo piano) Tribute talk by Brian BarlowChrist Church Deer Park, 1570 Yonge St. 416-920-5211(north of St. Clair at Heath St.)www.thereslifehere.org Admission is free; donations are welcome.thewholenote.com December 1 2014 - February 7, 2015 | 35
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!).
