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8 years ago

Volume 6 Issue 8 - May 2001

  • Text
  • Toronto
  • Theatre
  • Orchestra
  • Choir
  • Symphony
  • Singers
  • Arts
  • Concerts
  • Wholenote
  • Choral

y Allan Pulker Early

y Allan Pulker Early Bird For those who pick up WholeNote early, the May 4, 5, 6 weekend is absolutely packed with great music. Friday May 4 is remarkable for variety - The Glass Orchestra at the Music Gallery, Opera Mississauga's Lucia di Lammermoor at Hammerson Hall, The True North Brass in Thornhill, John Tuttle playing · Durufle's complete organ works, the Toronto Philharmonia with John McDermott and the Via Salzburg Chamber Orchestra with harpist, Naoko Yoshino. Saturday evening then: will be no fewer than seven concerts by orchestras, among other things. And as for Sunday May 6, I counted 17 concerts, so please, just read the listings! Collaborations Reading through the May listings I was reminded of something Jean Ashworth Bartle, artistic director of the Toronto Children's Chorus, said in the story about her in the December 1999 issue ofWholeNote: "Conductors and musicians need to be creative in their programming and to work with their community and, very importantly, with other arts organizations." Ms. Ashworth Bartle practises what she preaches - her choir will be -co-presenting a concert on May 15 with the Toronto Mendelssohn Youth · Choir. Other collaborations in May include the Toronto Classical Singers and the Talisker Pfayers on May 6; the Metro Silver Band and the York Region Board of Education •:• CONCERT Nons •:• OVERVIEW coNT1Nurn •:• EARLY Music Singers also on May 6; the Hannaford Street Silver Band and the Nathaniel Dett Chorale on May 20; Opera Anonymous and the Aradia Ensemble on May 26 and All the King's Voices and Tryptych Productions on June 2. Another delightful collaboration will be on May 12, the final concert of the Academy Concerts Series' season, when five musicians from four different orchestras get together to perform music by Mozart. The musicians are Rona Goldensher and Olga van Kranendonk from Tafelmusik, Paul Meyer, principal second violin in the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Douglas Perry from the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra and Tony Rapaport from the Aradia Ensemble and Sinfonia Toronto. A new concert venue Another chamber ensemble that includes a Toronto orchestral player is the New Arts Trio, of which Toronto Symphony Orchestra concert-master, Jacques Israelievitch, is a member. Its concert on May 13 will take place at a new venue at the University of Toronto, Isabel Bader Hall at Victoria University. The same hall will be in service on May 12, when the famous Brazilian jazz guitarists, Celso. Machado and Romero Lumambo, perform, presented by the Guitar Society of Toronto. Revived Canadian operas Leo the Royal Cadet is not the only Canadian opera being revived this month. One of the collaborations mentioned above is a performance of Joseph Quesnel's opera, Lucas et Cecile, written in Montreal in 1808, and revised by Toronto composer, John Beckwith. It will be performed on May 25 by Opera Anonymous and the Aradia Ensemble. The other Canadian opera to be performed in May will be Harry Somers and James Reaney's Serinette, to be presented on May 31 by Soundstreams. Orchestras As the end of the season ap- . proaches many orchestras will be presenting their final concerts, so there are more orchestral concerts than can be mentioned here. A couple of highlights, however, will be violinist, Mayumi Seiler and violist, Steven Dann, performing Mozart's Sinfonia concertante for Violin, Viola, & Orchestra with the ·Toronto. Symphony on May 5 (the day after Ms. Seiler's Via Salzburg Chamber Orchestra performs at the Glenn Gould Studio). And on May 13 the renowned violinist, Shlomo Mintz will perform. Mozart's Violin Concerto'#5 with I Virtuosi di Toronto. Paul Hodge Design • Recording • Editing • Live Sound Musicologists' Heaven The history of music is the story of an ever changing art form .. One of the best things about being alive for this part of the history of music is that so much moreis known about the musical styles of the last millennium than has been known at any other earlier time, and this translates into the availability of recorded and live historically accurate performances. There seem to be a good many concerts in May that will present the music of a specific period or musical style or a particular compos.er, making this a great month for anyone who wishes to experience the music of other periods. Chronologically starting with the earliest music: Critical Mass, May 29, performing 14th century composer, Guillaume de Machaut's Mass of Notre Dame; May 18, Music in Ordinary will perform music from the late 15th-early 16th century court of Isabella d'Este; St. Anne's Church presents a concert of music from Elizabethan England on May 20; the Tallis Choir will sing music by Palestrina, Victoria and Byrd on May 12; I Furiosi will bring us music from the 17th and 18th centurjes in a concert of music by Biber, Purcell and Bach on June 1; on May 12 the Courant Trio will perform music by contemporaries of Alexander Pope and Jonathan Swift, while on May 20 Baroque Music Beside the Grange will perform music from 18th century Dublin; the Academy ConCeJ:'.t Series, as already mentioned, will feature music by Mozart on May 12; on May 27 the Van Sickle Ensemble will perform music composed in the first third of the 20th century and on May 7 the Art of Time Ensemble will perform music by Arnold Schoenberg. Choral roots recovery It is a fact easy to forget in this age of virtuoso specialization, that the foundation of the western musical tradition was, arguably, communal singing, much of it in the context of religious attendance. The Hymn Society of the . United States and Canada is dedicated to maintaining the vital traditions of hymn writing and congregational hymn singing. On May 26 the Southern Ontario Chapter of the Hytnn Society is presenting a seminar in Mississauga on the value of collective singing in communal religious observances. The seminar leader will be Dr. Brian Wren, a professor at Columbia Theological Seminary in Georgia . . I\" ' ..·.-. . _-.._ ,;~ I\!/ .. . __,]"-_ l*:tl ___ il "t/VV l*L "'IJ.1111 lJ/ phone 41 6-533-6102 web http://paulhodgeaudio.com email info@ paulhodgeaudio.com 10 wholenote MAv 1, 2001-JuNE7, 200 1'

Hymn Society seminar: Brian Wren and the writer of numerous hymns, two books about the place of hymns in worship and six · collections of hymns. For more information or to register, contact the seminar registrar, George Bell at 905-271-6697 or < georgebell@home.com > . Some fine . concerts out of town. There are several fine concerts out of town but within easy driving distance of Toronto. The School of Philosophy's chamber music weekend, May 4-6, in Niagara-on-the-Lake will be well worth the drive. There will be three excellent concerts at the Arkell Schoolhouse just south of Guelph on May 4, 26 and June 2. The Guelph Spring Festival at the end of May will no doubt have some interesting performances and can be reached by phone at 519-821-3210. Pianist, Brian Finley, soprano, Donna Bennett and mezzo soprano, Anita Krause will be giving a recital of music by Schumann, Humperdinck and Offenbach in Cobourg on May 13. Lastly, four teenagers in Brampton have formed a string quartet, the Four Quarters String Quartet, which will present its debut concert with young pianist, Irene Wong, at the Bramalea Civic Centre on May 27. byFrankNakashima Tafelmusik' s performance (Choral Counterpoint - May 9 thru 13) of Bach's little-known Lutheran Mass in G Major and Zelenka's frothy Missa dei Filii brings together some fabulous soloists - Karina Gauvin (soprano), Matthew White (counter: tenor), Alan Bennett (tenor), and Brett Polegato (baritone) along with the Tafelmusik Chamber Choir and Orchestra under the watchful eye and ear of I vars Taurins. Take a look at the website: www.tafelmusik.org Viola jokes? Not by Mozart. His respect for the instrument i! revealed in quintets featuring tw1 of them! These quintets are among his.late chamber works. Too seldom performed, these magnificent stril}g quintets with two'violas are sure to prove that the viola was the composer's favourite string instrument. May 12 at 8pm Academy Concert Series provides an opportunity to hear this music performed by some of the country's finest historical string instrument players: Rona Goldensher (violin), Paul Meyer (violin), Anthony Rapoport (viola), Douglas Perry (viola), and Olga van Kranendonk (cello). 0 Sacrum Convivium! - The Tallis Choir under the direction of Peter Walker present a procession of Renaissance choral masterpieces for the feast of Corpus Christi (also May 12).' Program includes Palestrina's Missa Lauda Sion, Victoria's Lauda Sion, Byrd's A.ve verum corpus, performed in the resonant acoustics of the Church of St. Martin in-the-Fields. CONTINUES Builders of historical keyboard instruments Harpsichords \ . Clavichords \ FortePianos Sales & Rentals If

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