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Volume 6 Issue 8 - May 2001

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

Taylor also offers a

Taylor also offers a "Discovery Series," three concerts by performers who may be new to the audience but who she feels have the potential to reach the same high level as the more established performe~s. Similarly, while the programs include the "tried, tested and true," the string quartets of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Brahms, the piano sonatas of · Beethoven etc. there itfe always concerts that offer works by contemporary composers - the Arditti Quartet on March 21, 2002, and the Tokyo Quartet on December 20, 2001 for example. Canadian pianist, Marc-Andre Hamelin, will perform one of his own compositions at his concert on October 9. For David Kingwell, who is responsible for programming at the Toronto Centre for the Arts, the relationship with his audience is in a much testier phase. Last year nothing was happening in his hall. Prior to that there was an extraordinary flow of top flight artists through its doors. So the balance to be struck is betWeen bringing in artists whom his audience knows (and are therefore barely affordable) and artists of the same calibre whom it does not yet know. Anchored by four established local groups, Tafelmusik, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Canadian Opera Company and the Toronto Philharmonia, the series will also feature a number of artists who need no introduction here - Ewa Podles, Hakan Hagagard, Dawn Upshaw, Radu Lupu, Richard Goode, Anne Sofie von Otter, Chanticleer and Alicia de Gary A Toronto's Center for Clarinets and Oboes SALES * REPAIR * , Special focus: Seasons in the Making Larrocha. Innovation and artistic vision come in the form of notable artists and ensembles who are young, extraordinarily gifted and new to Toronto audiences. Artists like pianist ~elson Freire, and violinist Antje Weithaas and ensembles like Les Musiciens du Louvre, the Mir6 String Quartet, the Takacs Quartet and the Borromeo String Quartet. The Canadian Opera Company .will make a major innovative contribution to the Toronto Centre's season in the world premiere of The Scarlet Princess, a new opera by Alexina Louie and David Henry Hwang. While pleasing and sometimes leading and educating the audience are the two guiding principles of creating a concert season; the season must also be created between the ~in pillars of reality, budget and the availability of artists. And here too there are interesting differences Jennifer Taylor's fiscal rule of thumb, and the foundation of Music Toronto's financial viability, is that one-third of revenues comes from ticket sales, one third from arts grants and one third from corporate and private sponsorship. · For the Toronto Centre for . the Arts, the ticket sales target is much higher. Notwithstanding a generous and anonymous sponsorship, which has made the mounting of a season in 2001-02 possible, the Centre has to put in place a realistic long-term sponsorship program in order for its concert season to become a reliable part of the music scene. And audience is essential for sponsorship, as is revealed in our 6-535-6000 Warranty Repair Depot Used instruments bought & sold Behind the Scenes article elsewhere in this issue. Tafelmusik, partly because of its unique primary venue, is in the rare position of being able to present each ot'its programs five days in a row in Toronto. This means potentially five.times more revenue per series of rehearsals than a comparable orchestra, such as Sinfonia Toronto, would e;im. Not all expenses, of course, function that way. Such things as musicians' fees, rent and insurance must be paid for each concert. But Tafelmusik can also call on revenues from its own recordings, something pure presenters like the other two cannot. If money were no object then artist availability would not be the major issue that it is. When careful financial management is a top priority, however, then longterm planning is the key to reconciling the problem of getting the people you want for a price you can afford to pay. Tafelmusik will have waited for five years for Bruno Weil, who has conducted them several summers at the Klang und Raum Festival in Irsee, Germany, to come to Toronto to conduct them in2001-02. (Weil, with whom Tafelmusik has "a deepening artistic relationship," is well worth waiting for.) Similarly Music Toronto booked the Emerson Quartet for three consecutive years to perform the Shostakovich and late Beethoven String Quartets, showing foresight stretching out four and a half to five years ahead. You can be quite sure that Jennifer Taylor, who announced Music Toronto's 2001-02 season in February is now well into the planning of the 2002-03 season and beyond. While "plan years ahead" could be another cardinal rule in the business, years were not available to David Kingwell when he sat down to plan.the Toronto Centre for the Arts season. What he did have going for him, however, was the Weston Recital Hall, whose acoustics and whose audience were both much loved by many of the performers who had been there. A significant number of them agreed to perform there in · 2001-02 on relatively short notice, simply because they had so enjoyed their earlier performances there. That was this year, however. No doubt he will be working with much more lead time on the 2002-03 season! Once the season starts it brings its own set of tasks: publicity, advertising, printing and selling tickets, picking up guest artists, feeding and accommodating them, writing and printing the programs, organizing ushers - the list goes on and on. The actual concert that you attend is just the tip of the iceberg! Think of that the next time you go to a concert, which, we hope, will be soon! We buy your classical LP collection (like Beethoven, Mozart, Stockhausen) we travel anywhere.for good collection 314 CHURCHILL AVE. NORTH X,ORK, ONTARIO M2R 1E7 CANADA Fax No: (1) 416-224-2964 Phone No: (1) 416-224-1956 www.interlog.com/..:...mikro MIKROKOSMOS 8 wholenote MAY i, 2001 - JuNE 7, 2001

·::~ \ _ .· "' ·. Minding our B T f~tj:·z \ NESS by Phil Ehrensaft U (~J) · No. of Volunteers Salary Payments Number Employed Private Support Gov't. Support ; I \ Trends, Performing Arts 1996/97 to 1998/99 The ROYAL CONSERVATORY of MUSIC 411111;ffiij May 13, 2001 1 :00 - .4:00 pm Bring your children and explore our numerous and exciting programs le Classes scim\l Performances Mother's Day Gift for 1st 50 Moms! IF11'¥j~ JJ~.f Fun Activities nstrcitions tie mo Tic.ket Sales Attendance -40 -30 -20 -10 0 10 II Ontario [J Quebec Change (Percent) Profoundly disquieting is the term which springs io mind from a first look at the results of StatsCan 's Performing Arts Survey, as reflected in this graph. Although recession turned into economic expansion from 96197 onward, performing arts attendance in Ontario continued to decline. So did the number of people working (salaried and contract), and so did the volunteering which, according to neo-con doctrine, is supposed to pick up a chunk of the slack caused by government cuts. The grimness is not uniform, though. Total ticket sales and subscriptions increased modestly, even as attendance fell. (Whether fewer people buying more expensive tickets is healthy is another matter). And attendance in Quebec increased modestly, which suggests there are strategies Ontario could adopt to reverse the slide. Also slightly encouraging, total revenue from private foundations, individual donors and sponsorships expanded at a modestly greater rate than the rate of government cutbacks - not sufficiently, however, to offset cutbacks because the level of government grants at the beginning of the period was greater than private donations. Interestingly, total wage and contract payments shrank at a considerably lower rate than cuts in the labour force, suggesting fewer people working for better wages. This usually occurs either in the context of rapid technological change or when a mature industry is in decline. Canada's foremost Violin Specialists 201 Church Street Toronto, On. MSB 1Y7 email GHCL@idirect.com www.georgeheinl.com 20 May 24, 2001 7:30 pm (to 9:30) Delight in a Sampling of Adult Music Programs • Participate in ,a sing-along • Mingle with students • Entertainment • Talk to faculty & staff • Observe a class or lesson • Attend a mini-lecture Both events: 273 Bloor St. W., Toronto 416-408-2825 Details at www. rcmusic.ca - click on "What's New" . ANTON KUERTI, pianist, performs Beethoven's late sonatas in two sessions on Saturday, June 23, 2001: Part 1 at 3:00 pm and Part 2 at 8:00 pm. Separate fund-raising banquet between concerts: MEET THE ARTIST . JASPER WOOD, violinist with piano accompaniment Saturday, July 7, 2001 at 8:00 pm INTERNATIONAL CHAMBER ENSEMBLE flute, clarinets, strings and piano Saturday, July 14, 2001 at 8:00 pm LAUGHTON & O'MEARA, trumpet and organ Saturday, July 21, 2001 at 8:00 pm THE NYLONS Saturday, July 28, 2001at3:00 pm and 8:00 pm SHAUNA ROLSTON, cellist with piano accompaniment Saturday, August 11, 2001 at 8:00 pm RESONANCE STRING ORCHESTRA Sunday, August 19; 2001 at 4:00 pm All concerts will be held at Trinity United Church 140 Maple Street, Collingwood TICKETS AND INFORMATION 519-599-4561 Web site: www.lynx.org/music . E-mail: music@lynx_org MAY 1, 2001 - JuNE 7, 2001 wholenote 9

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