microphone in on itself. The acoustics of thespace itself play a significant role in what onehears, and by using the recorded sounds ofthe gallery’s history, the early spaces of theMusic Gallery (St. Patrick Street and Queen/Dovercourt) are brought into the present.Everyone will be listening to the final results.Adjemian’s interest with sonic materialsfocuses on text, language and perception incombination with live electronics. Comingfrom a theatre and philosophy background,he will use actors and dancers as speakingvoices in his new piece created for thisconcert. The result will be a constant washof text that will collide and rebound withthe creation of sound waves and differencetones coming from the electronic instrumentsas well as being generated through software.His interest in difference tones, whichare like phantom or ghost sounds that occurwhen two tones are sounded simultaneously,was inspired by U.S. composer MaryanneAmacher who loved to create novel acousticevents that could even make you lose yourbalance. We’ll have to wait until March 18 toexperience the outcome of Adjemian’s soundexperiments.To wrap up this discussion of what constitutesan emerging artist, I’d like to give thelast words to futurist author and visionaryBarbara Marx Hubbard who spins the ideasomewhat differently. Not only does the termrefer to new turns on the life cycle or thetaking up of a different direction, she statesGlionna Mansell CorporationPresentswww.organixconcerts.caFebruary 13 – October 23, 201515A Music Series unlike any otherORGANIX 15 is Toronto's tenth annual organ festival presenting a series of concertsperformed by some of the world's finest organists.Don’t Miss Our March and April Events!Saturday March 14, 7:15 Pre-concert talk,8:00 ConcertDuo Zsigmond Szathmáry andOlaf Tzschoppe (Percussion)Holy Trinity Anglican,Pre-concert talk: Robert AitkenSunday March 15, 3:15 Pre-concert talk,4:00 ConcertDuo Zsigmond Szathmáry and Olaf Tzschoppe (Percussion)St. Cuthbert’s Anglican, 1541 Oakhill Drive, OakvillePre-concert talk: Robert Aitkenthat “we are all emerging into what weare becoming.”New Music Concerts: An inspiringco-presentation on March 14 betweenNew Music Concerts and Organix, alocal presenter of organ music, willbring together German percussionistOlaf Tzschoppe, who plays with thelegendary Les Percussions de Strasbourg,and Hungarian organist ZsigmondSzathmáry. The concert comprises anevening of music composed by sixdifferent European composers includinga piece by each of the two performers.It’s rare to hear the organ within a newmusic context, and in this concert, theorgan from the Church of the Holy Trinitywill be on display. The concert will repeaton March 15 at St. Cuthbert’s Anglican inOakville.Next up after that in the NMC seasonwill be an April 4 concert exploring theUkrainian-Canadian connection with worksby three Ukrainian composers and twoCanadians – Esprit’s Alex Pauk and GaryKulesha. The Ukrainian composers includeKarmella Tsepkolenko, a prolific composerand festival organizer in her native country,and a newly commissioned work from AnnaPidgorna, a Ukrainian-born, Canadianraisedcomposer and media artist. Featuredsoloist on the program is soprano IlanaZarankin who will premiere a new oratorio byTsepkolenko.Wednesday April 15, 7:30 JensKorndoerferTimothy Eaton Memorial Church,230 St. Clair Ave. W.Friday April 17, 8:00 Jens KorndoerferSt. George Anglican Cathedral,270 King St. E. Kingston, OntarioOrder tickets and passes today www.organixconcerts.ca or (416) 769-3893Andrew StanilandEsprit: The March 29th concert by EspritOrchestra’s, with guest soloist StephenSitarski on violin, will be the last of theirseason. The prgram creates an intriguingdialogue between music and science-inspiredideas. For example, the world premiere ofAndrew Staniland’s Vast Machine creates asonic version of the Large Hadron Colliderparticle accelerator, the largest single machinein the world, located in a tunnel beneaththe Franco-Swiss border. Scott Good’s worldpremiere of Resonance Unfolding 2 digsinto the realm of spectral composition, anaesthetic that focuses more on timbre thanmelody, and how sound evolves over time.This idea of continuous transformation is alsothe focus of Color by French composer Marc-André Dalbavie. The program is rounded outby a piece by Chinese composer Xiaogang Ye.Quick Picks:Canadian Music Centre Presentations:Mar 13: Portrait of a Pioneer: The Vocal Musicof Jean Coulthard.Mar 14: JUNO Awards Classical Nominees’Showcase. (in Hamilton)Mar 27: “Baroque Meets Modern in The TrueNorth!” Works by Gougeon, Dawson, Arcuri,Manzon and others.Others:Mar 1 & 10: AudiopollinationMar 4 & 7: New Creations Festival, TorontoSymphony Orchestra.Mar 6: TorQ: Music by Steve Reich, LouisAndriessen and Jamie Drake.Mar 7-8: DaCapo Chamber Choir: Concertincludes the 2014 NewWorks winningcomposition.Mar 21: “Hands, Fists, Arms” – a programfeaturing solo piano works by Cowell,Lachenmann, Ristic, Saunders, andUstvolskaya – performed by Stephanie Chuaat 8pm at the Music Gallery [Not in theListings]. For more information visit musicgallery.org..Mar 27: Philip Thomas premieres piano worksby Skempton, Wolff and Finnissy.Mar 27: Maureen Batt. Crossing Borders: ACelebration of New Music from New Mexicoto Nova Scotia.Mar 29: Toronto Improvisers’ OrchestraWendalyn Bartley is a Toronto basedcomposer and electro-vocal soundartist. sounddreaming@gmail.comBO HUANG18 | March 1 - April 7, 2015 thewholenote.com
Beat by Beat | World ViewTova KardonneLanka SuiteANDREW TIMARDuring the relentless winter choke-holding the eastern halfof our continent we occasionally see signs of weather morebenign. Not that I’m complaining about our crisp white-scapedgreat outdoors, mind, but I’m not complaining either about music’sspecial power to open the world’s window wide to another, less icylandscape.A case in point is The Lanka Suite. In it the multi-talented emergingToronto-born composer, vocalist and violist Tova Kardonne evokes SriLanka’s lush natural and human landscapes, expressing her outsidermusical explorations in her distinctive jazz and chamber musicinflectedmusic. The Ashkenaz Foundation and Koffler Centre forthe Arts co-present the work performed by a choir, an instrumentalensemble, as well as a vocal and an instrumental soloist, in concert atThe Music Gallery on March 14.I called Kardonne on a frosty February afternoon to chat about herambitious Lanka Suite, and how she got there. Even before pursuing acareer in music, she told me, her passion for mathematics – in whichshe has a degree – initially took centre stage. “I developed a taste foraspects of beauty and emotion in mathematics, for its elegance as wellas its ugliness. These are parallel to characteristics I also felt in music.”But she also pursued viola and piano studies at the Royal Conservatoryof Music, as well as singing alto in a series of choirs. “Singing (andplaying) the alto voice is a great place to be for a composer: right inthe middle of the music!” It’s a practice she actively maintains withAndrea Kuzmich’s Broulala, Christine Duncan’s The Element Choirand with the GREX vocal ensemble directed by Alex Samaras. (Thelatter choir has a core role in the performance of The Lanka Suite onMarch 14. )In addition to music, Kardonne explained that dance has beenanother key to her artistic expression. “I originally studied dance withJeannette Zingg of Opera Atelier. Later, in ’99 I was introduced to thefreedom and discipline of contact improvisation, attending downtownToronto’s weekly Contact Dance Jams. Improvised movementreinforced my evolving understanding of creation and intention.Though I didn’t quite realize at the time, it would prove importantin shaping my compositional process down the road.” In 2014 sheremounted an evening titled “60×60 Dance,” continuing her ongoingengagement with the dance world. It featured 60 different combinationsof Canadian choreographers and composers, a complex projectshe co-curated and produced.Having completed a degree at Humber College concentrating onvocal jazz, composition and arranging in 2008, jazz certainly figuresin Kardonne’s musical language. She has involved a number ofToronto’s jazz elite in The Thing Is, her current eight-member band. Ithas included Jim Vivian, Dave Restivo, Ted Quinlan, Peter Lutek, RichBrown, Rob Clutton and several others since its inception. Currentlyshe favours musicians with mixed resumés who are able to excel inwhat she calls “non-idiomatic improvisational contexts.” That’s whyshe notes “my band is called The Thing Is, because it reflects an openendedprocess of becoming,” an ensemble musical work. She createsan evolutionary, boundary-crossing and collegial atmosphere in theensemble: “As my music evolved, it has attracted different kinds ofmusicians. At least two of them have been around [the scene] for longenough that I don’t really know where they ‘come from’.”Kardonne points out one more significant element informing TheLanka Suite: for the lack of a better term, its “world music” features.It goes back to the Klezmer bands she played in, starting in her teens,as well as her grandparents’ Eastern European Jewish roots. “MyExperienceEsprit OrchestraAlex Pauk,Founding Music Director& ConductorSeason SponsorConcert SponsorThe Last ParadiseMarc-André Dalbavie (France)ColorAndrew Staniland (Canada)Vast Machine (World Premiere)*Scott Good (Canada)Resonance Unfolding 2 (World Premiere)**Xiaogang Ye (China)The Last Paradise for violin and orchestra(Canadian Premiere)Alex Pauk conductorStephen Sitarski violin****commissioned with financial support from the Koerner Foundation**composed with a grant from the Chalmers Fund***Stephen Sitarski's appearance as soloist is generously sponsored by David NovakSundayMarch 2920158:00PM Concert7:15PM Pre-Concert ChatKoerner Hallat Royal Conservatory of MusicTELUS Centre forPerformance and Learning,273 Bloor Street WestESPRIT ORCHESTRAespritorchestra.comTickets:416.408.0208performance.rcmusic.caStarting at $20Quote “Unfolding2” toget 25% offthewholenote.com March 1 - April 7, 2015 | 19
