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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.

The WholeNote VOLUME

The WholeNote VOLUME 26 NO 4 | DECEMBER 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 Production & Operations / Advertising Art | Jack Buell jack@thewholenote.com, adart@thewholenote.com Classified Ads | classad@thewholenote.com Website/Systems Support | Kevin King systems@thewholenote.com Circulation/Subscriptions | Chris Malcolm & Sheila McCoy circulation@thewholenote.com SUBSCRIPTIONS per year + HST (9 issues)* *international subscriptions: additional postage applies THANKS TO THIS MONTH’S CONTRIBUTORS Wendalyn Bartley, Camille Kiku Belair, Brian Chang, Paul Ennis, Meghan Gilhespy, Robert Harris, Jack MacQuarrie, Jennifer Parr, David Perlman, Lydia Perović, Cathy Riches, Adam Sherkin, Colin Story, Andrew Timar, Steve Wallace, Matthew Whitfield CD Reviewers Sophie Bisson, Larry Beckwith, Stuart Broomer, Max Christie, Sam Dickenson, Raul da Gama, Janos Gardonyi, Richard Haskell, Tiina Kiik, Kati Kiilaspea, Roger Knox, Barry Livingston, Pamela Margles, Lesley Mitchell-Clarke, Cheryl Ockrant, David Olds, Ted Parkinson, Ivana Popovic, Cathy Riches, Terry Robbins, Michael Schulman, Michael Schwartz, Adam Scime, Andrew Scott, Melissa Scott, Adam Sherkin, Bruce Surtees, Andrew Timar, Yoshi Wall, Ken Waxman, Mathew Whitfield Proofreading Karen Ages, Paul Ennis, Danial Jazaeri, David Perlman, John Sharpe Listings Team Ruth Atwood, Tilly Kooyman, John Sharpe, Gary Heard, Colin Story 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, Soudy Gaeeni, 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. STORIES & INTERVIEWS 28 VENUE SNAPSHOT | The Oud & the Fuzz | MEGHAN GILHESPY 29 BANDSTAND | Time to Reminisce | JACK MACQUARRIE 61 WHAT’S IN A LABEL | Sergei Kvitko’s Blue Griffin | ADAM SHERKIN 64 FEATURE | IMAGINE offers Shelter from the Storm | CATHY RICHES 66 GOING DIGITAL | Six Musicians Reflect | COLIN STORY 68 JAZZ NOTES | Playlist for the Winter of Our Discontent | STEVE WALLACE 70 REARVIEW MIRROR | Who is Alex Trebek? | ROBERT HARRIS LISTINGS 35 By Date 39 Continuing, ETCetera 40 Classified Ads DISCOVERIES: RECORDINGS REVIEWED 41 Editor’s Corner | DAVID OLDS 43 Strings Attached | TERRY ROBBINS 45 Vocal 49 Classical and Beyond 52 Modern and Contemporary 53 Jazz and Improvised Music 57 Pot Pourri 58 Something in the Air | KEN WAXMAN 59 Old Wine, New Bottles | BRUCE SURTEES SPECIAL SECTIONS 21st ANNUAL BLUE PAGES Presenter Profiles 2020/21 Part 3 - the writing on the wall PAGES 31-34 21 st ANNUAL BLUE PAGES 65 4 | December 2020 - January 2021 thewholenote.com

FOR OPENERS | DAVID PERLMAN All in Good Time Looking over my notes, there were a lot of things I thought this last “For Openers” of 2020 was going to be about. Last week, for example, I had what I am tempted to call my “usual” chat with a cherished reader, who calls without fail after receiving the issue, but only after having had time to read it closely enough to make specific observations (occasionally trenchant), about its contents. But also always unfailingly encouraging, as well as (time after time over the years) offering suggestions (usually in the form of questions) for stories we should consider taking on. This time the question was “Have you considered doing a story for readers like me (who need for various reasons to get tax receipts for our donations) who are willing and able, especially at a time like this, to support musical organizations (particularly those with a sense of social justice)? A story like that would help us figure who to give our money to.” A good idea indeed, I agreed. Except that afterwards, I’m sorry to say, I found the idea irking me like a scratchy tag in a new shirt. Why? Because I am less sure than ever before that being able to issue tax receipts for donations is necessarily a reliable indicator of which organizations, in the music community and beyond, are the most at risk right now, or the most deserving of support. A bit like the way, back in March and April, when it came to deciding who should be eligible for governmental pandemic support, only T4 employment earnings were initially deemed proof of “real work” – no comfort to workers in the gig economy, or small businesses, where the dreamers usually pay themselves last anyway. seaworthy and not all equally equipped to issue life jackets (or T4s) to those on board. But that one is not so simple either. After all, how do you define “seaworthy” when what is needed for the urgent task at hand is the alacrity to change course to avoid an iceberg? So, yes, there’s a story there too, but definitely a more nuanced one than at first glance. So … um, not right now. Instead, there’s this, from all of us at The WholeNote whose lives, like most of yours, are under (re)construction without benefit of blueprint: a crazy quilt of artistic initiative and endeavour and tenacity on the cusp between what was then and who knows what next? Still all doing the things we know how to do, but in ways we never needed to know till now; still figuring out ways to keep telling the stories we are driven to tell; hanging in until we can hang out. And maybe, just maybe, getting a teensy bit better, with each other’s help, at figuring out when to say “um, not right now” to the things we long for that just bloody well have to wait. Right now “all in good time” is not the worst thing to wish on. Enjoy the read, and we’ll see you on the other side. publisher@thewholenote.com So, there’s a story there, but definitely a more nuanced one than at first glance. And yes, we’ll probably tackle it – but, um, not right now. A few weeks before that, according to my notes, it was the “We’re all in this together” pep talks from our social, cultural and civic leaders that were seriously irking me to the point I was vowing to thunder about them here. What’s the “this” we’re supposedly all in? Not the “same boat,” that’s for sure, I scribbled. The same storm? Yes indeed, but in a whole range of craft, not all equally Upcoming Dates & Deadlines for our February 2021 edition Free Event Listings, deadline Midnight, Friday January 15 Display Advertising, reservation deadline 6pm Friday January 15 Display Advertising, artwork due 6pm Wednesday January 20 Classifieds deadline 6pm Saturday January 23 Publication Dates Tuesday, January 26 (online) Friday, January 29 (print) Volume 26 No 5 “February 2021” will cover events February 1, 2021 through March 7, 2021 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 November 2020 8,000 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 December 2020 - January 2021 | 5

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)