Volume 25 Issue 5 - February 2020

an Ontario government

an Ontario government agency The WholeNote VOLUME 25 NO 5 | FEBRUARY 2020 Centre for Social Innovation 720 Bathurst St., Suite 503, Toronto ON M5S 2R4 PHONE 416-323-2232 | FAX 416-603-4791 Publisher/Editor in Chief | David Perlman publisher@thewholenote.com Chairman of the Board | Allan Pulker directors@thewholenote.com EDITORIAL Managing Editor | Paul Ennis editorial@thewholenote.com Recordings Editor | David Olds discoveries@thewholenote.com Digital Media Editor | Sara Constant editorial@thewholenote.com Social Media Editor | Danial Jazaeri dan@thewholenote.com Listings Editor | John Sharpe listings@thewholenote.com jazz@thewholenote.com SALES, MARKETING & MEMBERSHIP Concert & Event Advertising / Membership | Karen Ages members@thewholenote.com Advertising Art /Production Support / Operations Jack Buell | adart@thewholenote.com Classified Ads | classad@thewholenote.com Website/Systems Support | Kevin King systems@thewholenote.com Circulation/Subscriptions | Chris Malcolm circulation@thewholenote.com SUBSCRIPTIONS per year + HST (9 issues)* *international subscriptions: additional postage applies THANKS TO THIS MONTH’S CONTRIBUTORS Beat Columnists Wendalyn Bartley, Brian Chang, Paul Ennis, Jack MacQuarrie, Jennifer Parr, Lydia Perović, Colin Story, Steve Wallace, Matthew Whitfield Features MJ Buell, David Jaeger, Lydia Perović Jennifer Parr, David Perlman, Andrew Timar CD Reviewers Stuart Broomer, Max Christie, Daniel Foley, Raul da Gama, Janos Gardonyi, Richard Haskell, Tiina Kiik, Kati Kiilaspea, Roger Knox, Pamela Margles, Lesley Mitchell-Clarke, David Olds, Ted Parkinson, Ivana Popovich, Allan Pulker, Terry Robbins, Adam Scime, Michael Schulman, Andrew Scott, Adam Sherkin, Colin Story, Bruce Surtees, Ken Waxman, Matthew Whitfield Proofreading Paul Ennis, Danial Jazaeri, David Perlman John Sharpe Listings Team Ruth Atwood, Tilly Kooyman, John Sharpe, Gary Heard, Colin Story, Katie White Design Team Kevin King, Susan Sinclair Circulation Team Lori Sandra Aginian, Wende Bartley, Beth Bartley / Mark Clifford, Jack Buell, Sharon Clark, Manuel Couto, Paul Ennis, Robert Faulkner, Terry Gaeeni, James Harris, Micah Herzog, Jeff Hogben, Bob Jerome, Chris Malcolm, Luna Walker-Malcolm, Sheila McCoy, Lorna Nevison, Garry Page, Andrew Schaefer, Tom Sepp, Julia Tait, Dave Taylor un organisme du gouvernement de l’Ontario an Ontario government agency un organisme du gouvernement de l’Ontario BEAT BY BEAT 22 Jazz Notes | STEVE WALLACE 24 Classical & Beyond | PAUL ENNIS 28 Early Music | MATTHEW WHITFIELD 30 Choral Scene | BRIAN CHANG 34 In with the New | WENDALYN BARTLEY 36 Music Theatre | JENNIFER PARR 38 Bandstand | JACK MACQUARRIE 57 Mainly Clubs, Mostly Jazz | COLIN STORY LISTINGS 42 A | Concerts in the GTA 52 B | Concerts Beyond the GTA 55 C | Music Theatre 56 D | In the Clubs (Mostly Jazz) 59 E | The ETCeteras 26 DISCOVERIES: RECORDINGS REVIEWED 62 Editor’s Corner | DAVID OLDS 63 Strings Attached | TERRY ROBBINS 65 Keyed In | DANIEL FOLEY, JANOS GARDONYI, TIINA KIIK, ROGER KNOX, IVANA POPOVICH, ADAM SHERKIN, BRUCE SURTEES, MATTHEW WHITFIELD 69 Vocal 72 Classical and Beyond 74 Modern and Contemporary 77 Jazz and Improvised Music 79 Pot Pourri 80 Something in the Air | KEN WAXMAN 82 Old Wine, New Bottles | BRUCE SURTEES MORE 6 Contact Information 7 Upcoming dates and deadlines 60 Classified Ads SPECIAL SECTION IN THIS ISSUE | pg 40-41 SUMMER MUSIC EDUCATION | Early Bird Edition Summer programs with early application deadlines UPCOMING SPECIAL SECTIONS IN MARCH 2020 | SUMMER MUSIC EDUCATION Summer music-making for all ages and abilities – the big picture. IN MAY 2020 | THE CANARY PAGES All things choral in southern Ontario. 6 | February 2020 thewholenote.com

FOR OPENERS | DAVID PERLMAN Plenty of Nothing There’s an improv class I take from time to time (that’s comedy improv, not musical improv, by the way) that’s good for lots of things. Sometimes it’s good for when I am wracked with guilt and beating myself up for having messed up something really important, and need something entirely unimportant to beat myself up over instead – Beethoven called it Die Wut über den verlorenen Groschen, ausgetobt in einer Caprice and you should give it a listen sometime. Sometimes it’s good as affirmation when I know I can do no wrong because in improv there are no mistakes other than believing there are such things as mistakes. Sometimes it’s good as a way of affirming that there’s one evening in the deadline-driven world I occupy when I can, if I wish, make a stand and say “sorry I can’t save the world tonight, or go visit your aunt, or come to your concert, or write my editor’s opener that the printer is waiting for. Because. I. Have. A. Class. To. Go. To. (It didn’t work tonight, but what the heck.) Sometimes it’s only good for some laughs during, and a couple of beers after. But once in a while – perhaps in a very long while – it is good for life-changing revelations, such as the following. It happens while you are shuffling your feet waiting to make an entrance (because it’s your turn), neither able to empty your mind and trust the moment, not even able to latch onto some carefully prepared nugget, so you can fake spontaneity even though you know you will feel like a fraud on the other side, because at least there would be another side. It was, in short, the dark 6.45pm Monday evening of the soul. The moment you realize you have nothing. Nothing funny to say. No heart to wander out and mime making a cup of coffee in some imaginary room waiting for one of your fellow improvisers to rescue you. No funny walk that won’t make the pain in your back unbearably worse. Not even ice-cold terror. Trust me, it’s worse than forgetting your lines, because there’s isn’t even anything you know you’ve forgotten.. There’s just nothing. Nada. Nichts. Lutho. Semmi. So what do you do in that situation? [This is what’s called the big reveal, folks!] What you do is you walk out and you say in no particular tone of voice, to no-one in particular “I got nothing.” And just stand there. Trust me. Shout-Out No. 1: Bowerbird Collective sent in a listing, very late, for a benefit concert, at Heliconian Hall on Sunday February 1 at 3pm. The title is self-explanatory: A Concert Raising Funds for the Bushfires in Australia, and the artists’ website, wheresongbegan.com, suggests an intrinsic relationship between their musical interests and the cause the concert will benefit. So check it out. Shout-Out No. 2: Summer personal enrichment starts in February, if you have the wit to plan ahead! Accuracy in advertising requires me to say this particular announcement is a case of me advising you to do as I say, not as I do, because all I ever do in the summer is kick myself for not having thought about registering for stuff earlier when I had the chance. So do yourself a favour and check out pages 40 and 41 for a taste of what could be in store. All the programs here have early deadlines. There will be more in March. Make this the year you did. Shout-Out No. 3: Family Day in Ontario in 2020 is Monday February 17. What better way to celebrate the four-day weekend (starting at 7pm on Valentine’s Day, Friday February 14) than with opera’s single most dysfunctional family! Opera By Request’s complete Ring Cycle starts on the Friday at College Street United Church, at Bathurst St. with Rheingold (a 7pm start). And it ends Monday, as it should, with Götterdämmerung. Start time on Monday is 2pm, so you should be exiting at twilight right on cue. It’s an astonishing undertaking for Bill Shookhoff’s intrepid outfit and guaranteed to be a version of the Cycle you will likely never see again. A story to tell your grandchildren, if you ever want to have any after this! Accompaniment is “piano and selected orchestral instruments” and that in itself should be something to behold. Two cautionary notes: first, if you go to Rheingold on the Friday, Valentine’s Day, do not, I repeat not try to impress anyone by stealing the ring. Bad things will happen, trust me; and second, if you are still around at the end of Monday’s show, you might want to know that the nearest firehall is at College and Bellevue, just two blocks east. Lots to read ahead! And lots, musically, as always, to see and hear. And that’s something. publisher@thewholenote.com Upcoming Dates & Deadlines for our March 2020 edition Free Event Listings Deadline Midnight, Saturday February 8 Display Ad Reservations Deadline 6pm Saturday February 15 Advertising Materials Due 6pm Monday February 17 Classifieds Deadline 6pm Saturday February 22 Publication Date Tuesday February 25 (online) Thursday February 27 (print) Volume 25 No 6 “MARCH 2020” will list events March 1, 2020 to April 7, 2020 WholeNote Media Inc. accepts no responsibility or liability for claims made for any product or service reported on or advertised in this issue Printed in Canada Couto Printing & Publishing Services Circulation Statement DECEMBER 2019 24,000 printed & distributed Canadian Publication Product Sales Agreement 1263846 ISSN 14888-8785 WHOLENOTE Publications Mail Agreement #40026682 Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: WholeNote Media Inc. Centre for Social Innovation 503–720 Bathurst Street Toronto ON M5S 2R4 COPYRIGHT © 2020 WHOLENOTE MEDIA INC thewholenote.com thewholenote.com February 2020 | 7