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Volume 6 Issue 8 - May 2001

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

Special focus: Seasons

Special focus: Seasons in the Makin by. Allan Pulker and David Perlman White audience attention is only now starting to shift away from the season now reaching its climax, for people planning the concerts we go to, next season is, in many respects, already "done". , We spoke to just three'of the dozens of Toronto's designers of concert series - Tafelmusik's Jeanne Lamof}, Music Toronto's Jennifer Taylor and the Toronto Centre for the Arts' David Kingwell -- to get some sense of what it takes to do what they do. It's hardly a representative sampling but certainly offers some interesting contrasts. TAFELMUSIK Tafelmusik, T9ronto's internationally renowned period instrument orchestra, was founded in 1979 and has been under the leadership of Jeanne Lamon since 1981. Based in Toronto's Trinity-St. Paul's Church, where most of its 50 + Toronto concerts take place. and where its administrative offices are locatied, it tours about three months a year. Now with 60 recordings and five Juno's to its credit, all three of Tafelmusik's latest recordings were nominated for Juno awards in 2001. MUSIC TORONTO Music Toronto, which began producing concerts of chamber music at the Jane Mallett Theatre in 1971, presents not only the best international ensembles but also some of the best local ones, notably its ensembles in residence, the Gryphon Trio and the Toronto String Quartet. Outstanding local talent is also part of Music Toronto's season. In the 2001-2002 season such local artists as percussionist, Beverley Johnston, piano duo, Anagnoson and Kinton, pianist, Naida Cole, violinists, Scott St. John and · Catherine Manoukian and bass, Robert Pomakov will be part of Music Toronto's roster. TORONTO CENTRE FOR THE ARTS Formerly known as the Ford Centre, the Toronto Centre for the Arts has had a tumulltuous history because of the ups and downs of its principal tenant, Liveni Corporation. The superb acoustics of its 1000-seat George Weston Recital Hall make it a natural spot for a chamber music series. The Centre has had an impressive chamber music series in the past --- chamber music looks again like one of its strengths. Beyond a certain point, it seems, the business of art is, like any other business, marketdriven: you provide a product or service that your customers want and/or need, at a price you think the market will bear. They buy. You are successful. (Or they don't, and you're not.) This seems as true for selling a concert season as it is for selling cars or computers. It's certainly true for many more mundane enterprises that what the customer needs and wants is defined, not just by what they needed and wanted last year, but also by the insight and vision of the designer of the product, which can actually anticipate and create new needs and wants. True of the arts? Perhaps. But beware. Get too far ahead of your audience at your own peril. Though none of the three actually said it in so many words, all three communicated to. us that the cardinal rule in creating a concert season is "Know thy audience." All three would probably agree on the importance of giving their audiences what they want, and also that part of what their audiences want is to be led, to be introduced to new music and new artists. But for all three it is a delicate balancing act, because 6 wholenote MAY 1, 2001 - JuNE 7, 2001

Special focus: • • people also want to hear the music and the artists that they know and love. Tafelmusik in the 2001-02 season will ha'lle baroque "greatest hits" · concerts with titles like "Baroque Masterworks," "Viva L'Italia" and "The Glory of Mozart". But there will also be programs that take Tafelmusik's audience places it has never been before: contemporary choral music inspired by music of the baroque·period, for example, and a concert of music either composed by or connected" with a newly discovered late 18th century French composer, Le Chevalier de Saint-George, whose biography was recently published in French. 1 Music Toronto's Jennifer Taylor, like Lamon, knows her audience. Her no-nonsense season brochures, are always chock-a-block with a satisfyingly detailed description of the artists, along with, in most cases, a complete program for the concerts they will be offering. "It's what my audience expects" ·she says -- just as they have grown to expect immensely detailed and useful program books at the concerts themselves. The many combinations and permutations of concerts the subscriber can choose, outlined at the back of the brochure similarly speaks to a strong sense of audience on the part of the presenter. No matter how furiously the organization may be paddling beneath the surface -- as they all are in these trying econon:iic times -- Music Toronto's season offers an enviable quotient of stability and comfort, reinforced by the fact that many of their offerings are performers at the pinnacle of highly successful careers - the Tokyo Quartet, the Emerson Quartet, Stephen Hough and Marc-Andre Hamelin, for example. continues next page visit us at: www.orpheus.on.ca For information about the choir, our upcoming season, or for an audition appointment, please call 416-530-4428 All performances at St. James' Cathedral (except Dec 7, to be determined) Lest We Forget - Oct 26, 2001 Requiem - Eleanor Daley • In Flanders Fields - 4 versions The Falcon - John Rutter A New Birth - Dec 7, 2001 A Boy was Born : Benjamin Britten Navidad Nuestra - Ariel Ramirez Passion in Motion - March 21/22, 2002 With the Danny Grossman Dance Company and Christopher Dawes, Organ Crucifixion (from 'Symphonie Passion' for Organ) - Dupre Stabat Mater - Francis Poulenc • Via Cruds - Franz Liszt Vocal Mass - June 7, 2002 Cantus Missae - Josef Rheinberger Marienlieder - Johannes Brahms Missa Choralis - Franz Liszt SINFONIA TORONTO NURHAN ARMAN Music Director and Conductor ' Toronto's premier chamber orchestra! 2001-2002 season Six super Saturdays in Glenn Gould Studio MOZART EFFECT ANDRE LAFLAl"'ITE, pianist Oct 27 One of our time's greatest' pianists, in a spirited Mozart Concerto that sparkles with other brilliant musicar 1 gems in a mostly-Mozart setting BAROQUE HITS Nov 17 ETSUKO KIMURA, violinist A picturesque journey through the Baroque from Biber's violent 'Battle' suite to the. vivid tale of Don Quixote and the pure lines of a Bach concerto TRANSFORMED BY LOVE Grieg, Sibelius, Schoenberg Feb 9 All that's best said without words, captured in ~he soaring melodies of long Scandinavian nights and lush harmonies from pre-war Vienna HAYDN: STORM & STRESS Mar 2 Symphonies 44, 45 & 49 Jolly "Papa Haydn," but with the dark side too - the anguish and anger of the "sturm und drang" period, in music of amazing passion and power MAGICAL MINIATURES Mozart, Grant, Bach, Schubert Apr 6 A delightful assortment of tuneful treats in short movements, framed with favourites by two beloved Classical composers CHOPIN SPRING May 4 KOHEKT SILVERMAN. pianist A legendary Canadian pianist plays one of the best-loved concertos of all .time, in a program that sings ' with .intimate personal expression SUBSCRIBE AND SAVE 25% Adults 0, Seniors 8; Students Sinfonia Toronto 416-499-0403 264 Bloor Street West, Box 52545, Toronto M5S 3C5 Fax 416-499-0403 sinfoniatoronto@excite.com toront9a rtsFounci I (JAMConada TllE (iLOllE ANll ~!AIL MAv 1, 2001 - JuNE 7, 2001 wholenote 7

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