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Volume 26 Issue 4 - December 2020 / January 2021

  • Text
  • Choir
  • Composer
  • Jazz
  • Symphony
  • Recording
  • Toronto
  • Orchestra
  • Musical
  • January
  • December
In this issue: Beautiful Exceptions, Sing-Alone Messiahs, Livingston’s Vocal Pleasures, Chamber Beethoven, Online Opera (Plexiglass & All), Playlist for the Winter of our Discontent, The Oud & the Fuzz, Who is Alex Trebek? All this and more available in flipthrough HERE, and in print Friday December 4.

BLUE PAGES

BLUE PAGES 2020/21 SECTION I: PRESENTERS & PERFORMERS open-air weekend festival. A typical concert is accompanied by the sounds of the birds in the rafters, a visit by one of the farm animals, and features a starlight reception, and farm-baked refreshments. Symphony in the Barn has been host to critically-acclaimed opera productions, jazz concerts, an annual film festival, its annual Christkindl market, First Nations dance, classical chamber, and orchestral performances. With the tagline “Where Culture Meets Agriculture”, the festival is centred around themes of sustainability, education, and artistic enlightenment. Symphony In The Barn looks forward to celebrating its 26th anniversary, by producing a full open-air festival on the first weekend in August 2021. Farmer/conductor/general director Michael Schmidt is excited to announce the appointment of pianist Kati Gleiser and conductor Kevin Mallon as co-artistic directors. Virginia Gallop joins the team as Executive Director. Virginia Gallop 416-421-8518 symphonybarn@gmail.com www.symphonyinthebarn.com www.facebook.com/symphonyinthebarn ●●Toronto Operetta Theatre Toronto Operetta Theatre is in its third decade as Canada’s only performing arts company dedicated to music theatre in all its variety. The 2021 season opens with an online presentation of our patron’s favourite Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Gondoliers in early Spring of 2021. The world premiere of Canadian work A Northern Lights Dream by Michael Rose and Kálmán’s The Csardas Princess are being planned and the details to be announced at a later date. Please check our website and social media for upcoming performance announcements and archived video series. Guillermo Silva-Marin 416-922-2912 admin@torontooperetta.com www.torontooperetta.com www.facebook.com/TorontoOperetta www.twitter.com/TorontoOperetta ●●Vesnivka Choir Vesnivka Choir, established in 1965 by founding artistic director Halyna Kvitka Kondracki, is an award-winning women’s ensemble whose repertoire consists of Ukrainian liturgical, classical, contemporary and traditional folk music. The choir’s regular concert season comprises three major concerts, one of which is an annual Christmas concert. Vesnivka, together with its partner the Toronto Ukrainian Male Chamber Choir (TUMCC), are often accompanied by local professional soloists and chamber ensembles. The choir also sings Christmas and Easter Liturgies. While regular rehearsals (normally held on Mondays for TUMCC and on Tuesdays for Vesnivka) as well as performances have been put on hold as a result of the current pandemic, the choirs are occasionally meeting virtually to continue their work. New singers are welcome. We invite you to explore our website for information on the choirs and on Vesnivka’s e-library of Ukrainian choral music, which offers free downloadable scores in both Ukrainian and transliterated versions. Information on ordering CD recordings is also available on the website. We look forward to resuming our full schedule and sharing live music with you as soon as it is safe to do so. Nykola Parzei 416-246-9880 nykola@vesnivka.com www.vesnivka.com www.facebook.com/vesnivka ●●Victoria Scholars Men’s Choral Ensemble The namesake of the Victoria Scholars, Tomás Luis de Victoria, was an outstanding Renaissance composer whose music is renowned for its spirituality and emotional expressiveness. The Victoria Scholars bring clarity and balance of sound so characteristic of Renaissance music to all their repertoire, encompassing Medieval plainchant, works from the Baroque, Classical, Romantic and contemporary eras, and newlycommissioned works. Past winners of the Healey Willan Grand Prize in the CBC Radio National Competition for Amateur Choirs, the Victoria Scholars have performed with many exceptional arts organizations (including Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Kiev Chamber Choir) and vocal soloists (including Sondra Radvanovsky, Michael Schade, Russell Braun and Norine Burgess). They have toured nationally and internationally and are heard regularly on CBC Radio 2 and Classical 96.3FM. We are pleased to offer audiences a threeconcert series each year; however, due to COVID- 19 and in the interests of the health and safety of both our audience and choir members, we currently do not have any concerts planned. Please visit us on our website or Facebook for updates on the remainder of the 2020/21 season should the situation change. Jerzy Cichocki 416-476-4078 admin@victoriascholars.ca www.victoriascholars.ca www.facebook.com/vicscholars ●●VOICEBOX: Opera in Concert VOICEBOX: Opera in Concert is Canada’s only company dedicated exclusively to the presentation of rare opera programming. Our performances rely on the power and beauty of the human voice, the dramatic inflexion of text and poetry accompanied by orchestra or piano. We are having a modified season with a double bill online presentation in January 2021 - Francis Poulenc’s La Voix Humaine and Jean Cocteau’s play of the same title on which the opera was based. Featuring artists are soprano Miriam Khalil and Chilina Kennedy, with Narmina Afandiyeva as music director. Francesco Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur and Georges Bizet’s Les pêcheurs de perles are planned in Spring 2021 and the details to be announced at a later date. Guillermo Silva-Marin 416-922-2147 admin@operainconcert.com www.operainconcert.com www.facebook.com/OperaInConcert www.twitter.com/OperainConcert SECTION II: ARTS SERVICES ●●Eric Alper Public Relations For the past 25 years, Eric has been at the forefront of the Canadian entertainment industry – making the Public in Public Relations his business. His enthusiasm, encyclopedic knowledge of the past and present have made him a go-to music commentator across North America. He is also host of one of the top-rated SiriusXM shows “ThatEricAlper”. Services include: Canadian traditional print and online press campaigns for latest single and/or EP /Album; TV and radio appearances in markets including media and industry tours; Canadian Tour Publicity for target/region-specific outreach as well as nationally broadcasted media placements; Online Publicity for editorial, reviews, product features and promotions/giveaways; PR campaigns for all formats of radio in Canada, including interviews and promotions/giveaways; Focus on campus radio shows, music-based media outlets, and online blogs geared towards music and lifestyle; Assists with media interviews for living room/live concerts online and offline; Daily personal tips with social media initiatives, updated information on industry events, deadlines for awards and grants and social media opportunities with brands. Eric Alper 647-971-3742 Eric@thatericalper.com www.thatericalper.com www.facebook.com/EricAlperPR www.twitter.com/ThatEricAlper Updated online at thewholenote.com/blue 34 | theWholeNote 2020/21 PRESENTER PROFILES

LISTINGS These event listings are free to all eligible artists, venues and presenters. These listings are, for reasons we do not have to explain, a work in progress as we explore how best to present to our readers all the new ways our music community is discovering to reach their audiences, in a time where the old constants of fixed dates, times and places to gather and meet no longer apply. For readers wanting to filter listings by event type or geography, we are similarly working at how to rejig our online listings at thewholenote. com to make them usefully searchable, and we encourage you to explore that resource. We look forward to your input as we move forward. Please address all concerns and queries to the attention of our listings editor, John Sharpe at listings@thewholenote.com. TWO SECTIONS There are only two sections to the listings in this issue instead of our previous five. ● Section 1: Events by date ● Section 2: Continuing, ETCetera Section 1 includes any event that has a date and time you can circle on your calendar if you want to be there when it is presented for the first time: live and live-streamed performances; first broadcasts and screenings; concerts, workshops, symposia, and so on. If the event in question remains available after that first presentation (e.g. online or on demand), this is noted at the end of the listing in question. Section 2 is for recurring musical activities that readers can access in their own time, where the nature of the event or the name of the presenter is a more useful identifier than a particular date and time. HOW TO LIST: 1. Use the convenient online form at thewholenote.com/applylistings 2. Email listings to listings@thewholenote.com. Please note, we do not take listings over the phone. Deadlines 1. Weekly online updates: submission deadline is 6pm Tuesday for Friday posting. 2. Print: fifteen days before publication. Next print issue covers February 2021 and the submission deadline is 6pm Friday January 8. thewholenote.com December 2020 / January 2021 | 35

Volumes 26-29 (2020- )

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)