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Volume 22 Issue 6 - March 2017

  • Text
  • March
  • Toronto
  • Jazz
  • April
  • Arts
  • Symphony
  • Musical
  • Performing
  • Theatre
  • Orchestra
  • Violin
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.

7 and 9: Another major

7 and 9: Another major programming coup for KWCMS: the Lafayette String Quartet playing the complete Shostakovich string quartets. Mar 5: It’s cloning time as Mooredale presents Paganini Competition prizewinner In Mo Yang at Walter Hall, while RCM presents the inimitable Sir András Schiff at Koerner Hall, and Roy Thomson Hall presents Andris Nelsons and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, recent Grammy winners for Best Orchestral Performance. All concerts will take place Sunday afternoon at three o’clock. Mar 7: GGS scholarship student Charissa Vandikas plays Chopin, Schumann and Rachmaninoff in a free noon-hour concert at the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre. Apr 4: Another COC free noontime concert features Mark Fewer in solo violin works by Bach, Ysaÿe and Chris Paul Harman. Apr 5: Rossina Grieco, a native of Southern California and winner of the GGS Ihnatowycz Prize in Piano, fills the Bradshaw Ampitheatre with Liszt’s iconic Sonata in B Minor in her free concert. Mar 9: The relatively new Trio Shaham Erez Wallfisch brings their chamber music bona fides to the Women’s Musical Club of Toronto for what promises to be a memorable afternoon of music by Rachmaninoff, Schumann and Shostakovich. Mar 10: The celebrated duo pianists, Anagnoson and Kinton, continue their 40th anniversary season with a concert at Brock University in St. Catharines. Mar 16: Music Toronto presents the Philharmonic Quartett Berlin (made up exclusively of members of the Berliner Philharmoniker) in a classic program of late Haydn, early Beethoven and middle Schumann. Mar 18: TSO concertmaster Jonathan Crow is the soloist in Brahms’ lyrical Violin Concerto with the Niagara Symphony Orchestra conducted by Bradley Thachuk, at FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre in St. Catharines. Mar 19: Four days before his Music Toronto recital, Marc-André Hamelin performs at the Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts in Kingston. The all-sonata program is anchored in the first half by Beethoven’s fervid Appassionata Sonata and in the second by Chopin’s dark Sonata No.2 in B-flat Minor “The Funeral March.” Mar 23: One-time protégé of the great Arthur Rubinstein, Janina Fialkowska brings her pianistic sensibility to an all-Chopin recital at the Aurora Cultural Centre. Mar 27: The U of T Faculty of Music presents the dedicated and dependable Gryphon Trio performing Beethoven’s buoyant Piano Trio Op.11, Dinuk Wijeratne’s Love Triangle and Brahms’ romantic signpost, the Piano Quartet No.1 in G Minor Op.25. Currently artists-inresidence at the faculty, the Gryphon is joined by guest violist Ethan Filner for the Brahms. Apr 1: The indefatigable Angela Park joins Canadian Sinfonietta’s first violinist, Joyce Lai, and first cellist, András Weber, for an evening of chamber music by Rachmaninoff, Handel-Halvorsen and An-Lun Huang. Apr 1, 2: Tokyo-born, Montreal-raised Karen Gomyo brings her superb musicianship to Beethoven’s splendid Violin Concerto. Young American, Robert Trevino, also conducts the TSO in the 1947 version of Stravinsky’s Petrushka rooted in Russian folklore and melody. Apr 6, 7: TSO favourite Thomas Dausgaard returns to conduct Deryck Cooke’s version of Mahler’s magnificent Symphony No.10; TSO principal cellist Joseph Johnson is the soloist in Schumann’s ravishing Cello Concerto in A Minor Op.129, the opening work on the program. Apr 2: Pianist Anton Nel, fresh from two masterclasses on March 31, performs Mozart and Schumann in a free concert (tickets required; available from March 2) in Mazzoleni Hall. Apr 7: Bravo Niagara! Festival of the Arts presents pianist Jon Kimura Parker in a fascinating program comprised of Beethoven’s formidable Appassionata Sonata, Ravel’s shimmering Jeux d’eau, Alexina Louie’s Scenes from a Jade Terrace and two movie-themed pastiches by William Hirtz: Bernard Herrmann Fantasy and Fantasy on the Wizard of Oz. Bravura Piano at Holy Trinity PAUL ENNIS Eminent pianist, writer and pedagogue William Aide is the curator of “Piano Bravura: The New Generation,” a piano series beginning March 9 at the historic Church of the Holy Trinity. “Last February,” Aide told me via email, “our music director Ian Grundy, Reverend Sherman Hesselgrave and I were on the hunt for a new piano for Holy Trinity, and we had already auditioned several Steinway and Baldwin instruments. All three of us play, but it was up to me to test the resources of prospective instruments with concert repertoire.” Steinway Piano Gallery’s Alex Thomson led them to a private home in Oakville where Aide tested the piano for its tonal range, colours, beauty of sound, pedalling response, and even its rapid repeating-note action, with Mozart, Chopin’s Études and D-flat Nocturne, Ravel’s Alborada del Gracioso and a Debussy prelude. “We March 4 Quintessential Quintets: Words and Music Amanda Tosoff Quintet, Barbra Lica Quintet Presents March 18 Ella Fitzgerald’s 100 th Birthday Tribute Darcy Hepner Jazz Orchestra Sophia Perlman, Vocals April 8 Dueling Pianos Father & Son Eddie & Quincy Bullen plus Caribbean Jazz Collective Paul Ennis is the managing editor of The WholeNote. Toronto Centre for the Arts regular • students (with ID at box office). INFO: jazzcentre.ca • Ticketmaster 1.855.985.2787 LEAD SPONSOR MEDIA SPONSOR 18 | March 1, 2017 - April 7, 2017 thewholenote.com

all three fell in love with it and through a generous anonymous donation were able to acquire it,” he said. “On April 7, 2016, flutist Robert Aitken and I offered the first concert featuring the piano as an accompanying and solo instrument.” From there it seemed obvious to Aide that a series of piano recitals would display the new instrument’s fine qualities. Aide’s decades of teaching and adjudicating had kept him in touch with “younger pianistic talent” and Piano Bravura was born. He chose the initial three pianists because “I know them and their playing at close quarters.” Aide also told me that he was pleased with the repertoire the three selected for the series. “[Their] choices cover a wide range of styles and feature some unusual items.” Angela Park: “As adjudicator, I first heard Angela Park play the Schumann concerto in a London festival when she was 14. ‘This is the real thing,’ I thought. We worked together for nine years and I was so gratified to help prepare her masters’ graduating recital in 2003, the year of my retirement from U of T’s Faculty of Music. Angela is a much sought-after chamber music player, as the pianist in Ensemble Made in Canada and duo partner of such artists as cellist Rachel Mercer and violinist Jonathan Crow. Her solo playing is outstandingly expressive and her concerto performances second to none. She occasionally still plays for me and we are good friends.” Park’s recital March 9 begins with Mozart’s irresistible Sonata K333 before moving to the impressionistic Images: Book II of Debussy and Liszt’s revolutionary Années de Pèlerinage Book I: Suisse. Aide had no part in choosing the content of the recitals but he told me that he did coach Angela in the Debussy Images II set years ago. Tony Yike Yang: As a juror, Aide heard Tony Yike Yang in the last National Chopin Competition which was held in Mississauga several years ago. “I remember fondly that he liked my Chopin Berceuse, an item in a recital the jury members offered during that event,” Aide told me. “We sent Tony to the International Chopin Competition in which his laureate playing was so compelling.” Yang was 16 in 2015 when he became the youngest prizewinner (he finished fifth) in the history of the competition. “I have recently reheard his Chopin E Minor Concerto and B-flat Minor Sonata from that competition on YouTube and was astounded once again by his inspired, world-class playing. By the way, in his emails he confers an honourary doctorate upon me.” Aide asked Yang, now 18, to include that Chopin sonata in his April 2 recital. Mussorgsky’s monumental Pictures at an Exhibition was Yang’s own choice. Sheng Cai: “In 2003, I was musical advisor to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition,” Aide said. “That year the jury chose Sheng Cai to play the Chopin E Minor Concerto. At the reception after his incredibly poetic performance we fell into a lively pianists’ dialogue and we have continued these conversations ever since. Sheng comes over to our house several times a year and brings with him his most recent CD concerto performances. I must be some kind of mentor. At any rate we enjoy swapping CDs and discussing the challenges of forging a career as a concert artist. His exuberance is contagious.” Cai’s program comprises two Scarlatti sonatas, Mozart’s Sonata K332, Chopin’s addictive Barcarolle and two pieces “one doesn’t often hear,” according to Aide: Schumann’s Humoresque Op.20 and Villa Lobos’ Rodepoema, written for Arthur Rubinstein. As for other ideas in the works for additional musical events in the church: “There was a time, especially under the aegis of CBC producer, Srul Irving Glick, when Holy Trinity was a favoured venue for national broadcasts. Its luminous acoustic and, of course, the new piano suggest future chamber music and voice series as well as a continuation of these superb piano recitals. I know a number of musicians of the next generation who will easily fill the bill. We will keep you posted.” Paul Ennis is the managing editor of The WholeNote. 2017 Happy Birthday Bach Walk SATURDAY MARCH 18, 2017 Celebrate Johann Sebastian Bach’s 332 nd Birthday! Start at All Saints Kingsway Church (Etobicoke) at 1:00pm. From there we will walk to Kingsway Baptist Church (arrival for 2:00pm) and Our Lady of Sorrows Church (arrival for 3:00pm). For those using the TTC, get off at the ROYAL YORK Subway Station – USE the GRENVIEW exit. 1:00 pm All Saints Kingsway 2850 Bloor Street West (Prince Edward Dr.) Stefani Bedin, organist 2:00 pm Kingsway Baptist 41 Birchview Blvd (Montgomery Rd. North of Bloor) Jennifer Krabbe, soprano; Matthew Dalen, tenor; Daniel Thielmann, baritone; Michelle Cheung, organist; Mel Hurst, organ accompanist 3:00 pm Our Lady of Sorrows 3055 Bloor St. (near Royal York Rd.) Manuel Piazza, organist Birthday Cake and Coffee will end the day! FREE ADMISSION (donations welcome) INFO 416-489-1551 ext 28 RCCOToronto.ca thewholenote.com March 1, 2017 - April 7, 2017 | 19

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