Views
8 years ago

Volume 20 Issue 9 - Summer 2015

  • Text
  • Festival
  • Jazz
  • August
  • Toronto
  • Quartet
  • Musical
  • Concerts
  • Trio
  • Violin
  • Flute
  • Summers

Festival Fingerprints

Festival Fingerprints continued from page 13 Miller explains that this year’s programming is in part a culmination of years of experimentation. “What makes this year special for us is that there are a number of performers and ensembles who are coming back from the first 14 years, but presenting new programs that are quite unique ... like the Stratford Festival that at one point only did Shakespearean plays, but now presents a variety from Greek works to new Canadian works, we try to hit a variety of tastes in music – and I think that too is somewhat different with the extent of the variety that we have at our festival.” Music and Beyond: Varied and unique programming that grows out of past successes is a point of focus, it seems, for summer festival directors right across the province. At Music and Beyond, a slightly younger festival celebrating its sixth summer in Ottawa this July, artistic and executive director Julian Armour has built this year’s schedule on his vision for a festival experience that goes above and beyond the traditional concert setting. “We really see this season coming up as a progression from what’s happened before,” Armour explains. “We’re trying to do really two things. Number one is just making sure that we’re putting on really fantastic concerts of the highest possible level. The second goal is to keep exploring links between music and all other kinds of art forms and disciplines. We keep pushing the boundaries of ‘beyond’ in a lot of different directions, and I’m very happy with what we’ve got this year from that point of view.” The bilingual festival, which in French is titled Musique et autres mondes – “Music and Other Worlds” – lives up to its name in both languages, bringing together otherwise disparate cultural spheres to create an immersive concertgoing experience. Notable on this year’s calendar, in addition to a number of concerts organized in a more traditional style, are a Music and Circus gala in collaboration with Montreal’s Cirque Fantastic; a concert that explores the links between music and law, interspersed with anecdotes of the legal problems of famous (and infamous) composers; and a tango soirée of music, dance, film, art, food and wine, billed as “the ultimate tango party.” By pairing classical works with other forms of art and craft, Armour hopes to introduce audiences to new music and other media, in a way that enriches their experience of both. “There’s no need to add any beyond to really great music,” he clarifies, “but at the same time I’m trying to add elements that people can get excited about.” One of the most exciting of those pairings is a “National Gallery Soirée” the evening of July 8, where musicians will be seizing control of Ottawa’s National Gallery of Canada. “We’re filling the gallery with about 200 mini-concerts, so that in every gallery we’ll have a short performance that matches the art in that room,” says Armour. “In the 16th-century gallery we’ll have English madrigals sung in front of an English painting that’s there; for modern paintings there will be modern music that really matches them; in the Italian baroque gallery we will have an early music ensemble playing Italian baroque music; and so on ... so people can wander around and just explore. And it’s really that feeling of exploration that I’m trying to create.” Finding a Festival Sound: This summer will also be one of continued musical experimentation for Parry Sound’s Festival of the Sound, which has scheduled its 36th season for July 18 to August 9. Clarinetist James Campbell, who has been the festival’s artistic director since 1985, reflects on the festival’s long history as a useful starting point for finding its sound and its niche. “I think every festival has its own identity, and over the past 36 years we’ve come upon ours,” Campbell says. “The festival is not just a collection of concerts, it is an integral whole. And each concert contributes to that whole, and that whole makes up the personality of the festival.” For a series with a 36-year history, maintaining and sometimes reinventing a festival identity can be a continual process of discovery. This year, Campbell has looked to their audiences for inspiration. “One thing that will play a large part in the festival this year and next year, is that last summer I asked our audience to list their top ten chamber music works. We got a huge response - and not always the answers that you might expect, either. That response has formed one of the “We’re very proud of our concert hall, the Charles W. Stockey Centre ... it’s flexible but chamber music there really comes to life” - James Campbell, artistic director, Festival of the Sound bases of the programming ... I’m looking forward to how that evolves.” When asked about his personal festival highlight, Campbell touches upon the type of attachment to place and community that live music can produce, and that makes it all worthwhile. “We’re very proud of our concert hall, the Charles W. Stockey Centre. It’s our 13th year in there and it’s built for chamber music – it’s flexible but chamber music there really comes to life,” he explains. “What I kind of feel that we – all my colleagues at the other festivals, too – are really all about is that moment when someone is playing onstage and there is this wonderful, magical quiet that comes when you feel that everybody is listening. When those moments happen you can feel the real connection that goes on. That’s when everything comes together – the performance, the listeners, the hall, all the work that’s been done ... it’s at those moments that absolutely everything comes together and for me, that’s why I’m still doing it after so many years.” Perhaps it is the chameleon-like nature of the summer music festival and the way that it defies definition that make it so open to becoming whatever you make of it – and so well-suited to capturing extraordinary musical moments. For more details on all of these festivals, as well as dozens of others happening across the country this summer, look to our Green Pages in this issue, where you’ll find profiles of festivals and special events happening all summer long. Regardless of whether or not you choose to explore this year’s festival scene, here’s hoping that music will help make your summer to come a season to remember. Sara Constant is social media editor at The WholeNote and studies music at U of T. She can be reached at editorial@thewholenote.com. 36 | June | July | August, 2015 thewholenote.com

an Ontario government agency www.BrooksideMusic.com BACKGROUND PHOTO BY MARJ DUBEAU PHOTO BY BRUNO SCHRECKERB 11 Midland and Meaford July 2nd to August 29th July 2nd - Midland Cultural Centre July 4th - Meaford Hall Toronto All Star Big Band July 9th - Midland Cultural Centre The Judgement of Paris July 10th - *Midland - Lot 102 July 11th - Meaford Hall Adam Crossley July16th - Midland Cultural Centre July 17th - Meaford Hall Mauro Bertoli & Wolfgang David July 21st - Midland Cultural Centre New Zealand String Quartet & James Campbell July 23rd - Midland Cultural Centre Leopoldo Erice - Bach’s Goldberg Variations July 30th - St. Paul’s United Church August 1st - Meaford Hall Wendake/Huronia featuring the Toronto Consort August 4th - Midland Cultural Centre Festival Ensemble - from the Festival Of The Sound August 7th - St Paul’s United Church August 8th - Meaford Hall Jackie Richardson & Joe Sealy - Africville August 13th - Midland Cultural Centre Sinfonia Toronto & Mauro Bertoli Aug 14th - Meaford Hall Aug 15 - Midland St. Paul’s United Church Susan Aglukark August 20th - Midland Cultural Centre Ted Baerg & John French August 22nd - Midland Cultural Centre Bicycle Opera August 28th - *Midland Lot 102 August 29th - Meaford Hall Sultans of String * Dinner Package available at these locations in Midland only. Midland Cultural Centre Tickets Available at the Box Office in: Meaford Hall Arts & Cultural Centre 705-527-4420 1-877-538-0463 or online at: un organisme du gouvernement de l’Ontario www.BrooksideMusic.com

Volumes 21-25 (2015-2020)

Volumes 16-20 (2010-2015)

Volumes 11-15 (2004-2010)

Volumes 6 - 10 (2000 - 2006)

Volumes 1-5 (1994-2000)