Volume 7 Issue 3 - November 2001

y Allan Puiker A GRAND

y Allan Puiker A GRAND CAUSE The Royal Conservatory of Music pulls out all the stops Nov . 16 when it presents a blockbuster concert at Massey Hall to raise funds for a badly needed new concert grand piano. The program will be Brahms' 2nd Piano Concerto and Beethoven,.s 9th Symphony. The performers, all conservatory teachers,.alumni/ae or friends of the Conservatory, include pianist Andre Laplante, soprano Laura Whalen, mezzo Jean Stilwell, tenor Darryl Edwards and bass-baritone, Daniel Lichti. With them will be the Royal Conservatory Orchestra, the RCM Repertory Chorus and the Orpheus Choir of Toronto, all under the baton of Leon Fleisher one of the foremost interpreters ~f Beethoven's music of our time. As a pianist he has recorded most of the piano sonatas, and legendary recordings of the piano concertos with George Szell and the Cleveland Symphony. Interestingly, the first recording Fleisher made with Cleveland was the Brahms 2nd a recording that catapulted him to' pianistic fame. The concert will be a unique opportunity to hear him revisit it from the podium rather than the piano. ORCHESTRAS The RCM Nov 16 concert also offers the best opportunity in a long time to hear a symphony orchestra playing "standard" repertoire in Massey Hall-­ reauditioning the'hall, so to speak, in advance of the TSO taking up residency there in spring 2002 while the acoustically-motivated renovations to Roy Thomson Hall are taking place. These renovations won't solve all the problems which have brought the TSO to its much talked about current crisis. But for many among the hard-core musical community that constitutes WholeNote's 60,000 readers there's no doubt that the difficult orchestral acoustical properties of Roy Thomson Hall have been one part of the problem. Time, as they say, will tell. CHAMBER MUSIC Two concert venues where there have never been any complaints about being able to hear properly ate the Jane Mallett Theatre and the George Weston Recital Hall. These two halls, so complementary to each other - the Jane Mallett in the heart of the city, the George Weston, on Yonge Street north of Highway 401--are.home to the two largest chamber music series in Toronto, Music Toronto and the George Weston Recital Hall

NOVEMBER 1, 2001 - D ECEMBER 7, 2001 wholenote 9 \ unusual: soprano Stacie Robinson, performs the music of contemporary Canaqian composers, including our own Hear and Now columnist, Paul Steenhuisen, at the Music Gallery Nov 27 (you can also hear the versatile Ms. Robinson with the Toronto Philharmonia Nov. 15); and Nov 16 soprano Norma Gentile, also described as a "sound, healer,''. performs music by the twelfth century German abbess and mystic, Hildegard von Bingen at the Church of the Holy Trinity. ·:· CONCERT Nons ·:· OVERVIEW NEW VENUES A good sign of robust good health in the live music scene is often the appearance of viable new venues. Two that appear for the first time . in this issue of WholeNote are the historic Women's Art Association on Prince Arthur, and College Street United Church at the corner of College and Bathurst. Violinist Elizabeth Macmillan will perform with pianist, Mildred Bennett at the former on Nov 4; And the Sunrise (string?) Quartet will perform at the latter Nov 25. ' MUSIC AND MEMORIES Music and memories is the name of a concert celebrating the 80th anniversary of University Settlement Music and Arts School. With Don Ferguson of the Royal Canadian Air Farce as a doubtless lively MC, the concert will feature performances by some of the fine musicians who are or have been associated with this venerable school which offers music instruction to the children of families that could probably otherwise not afford it. Some six years ago I heard baritone James Westman at a USH concert, well before his career , took off. (He appears Nov 9 with Aldeburgh Connection.) And around the same time, at a different USH concert, I heard pianist Eve Egoyan, now, I think, universally recognized as a major contributor to the contemporary music scene. This may be one of those opportunities to hear tomorrow's 1 stars today; it will 'certainly be an opportunity to support·the school's good work! SINFONIA TORONTO · NURHAN ARMAN Music Director and Conductor Toronto's premier chamber orchestra Saturday, November 1 7, 8 pm Glenn Gould Studio BAROQUE HITS Etsuko Kimura:, violinist Biber Battle Suite B~ch Violin Concerto in E BrandeQburg Concerto No. 3 Telemann Don Quixote Suite 416-205-5555 Adults I Seniors I Students Box Office open 11-6 Monday -Friday; 2 hours before concerts MUSIC UMBRELLA CHAMBER CONCERTS 2001 -. 2002 season THE ORCHID ENSEMBLE . Traditional music from China Lan Tung, ethu; Mei Han, zheng; Jonathan Bernard, marimba and percussion SAT, Nov. 3rct, 2001, 8:00 p.m. · HELLENIC NIGHT Traditional music from Greece Kostas Triandafilou, Leonidas Zafiri, Sophia· Grigoriadis, Debashis Sinha, Jayne Brown SAT, Jan. 19th, 2002, 8:00 p.m. SAX APPEAL Music for winds & sax by Kulesha, Tomasi and Janacek Featuring Wallace Halladay, saxophone SAT, Feb 9th' 2002, 8:00 pm LORIEN QUARTET Music for strings & clarinet by Mendelssohn & Brahms Lorien Quartet with Steve Pierre, clarinet SAT, Mar. 9th' 2002, 8:00 pm JAVA MEETS INDIA IN TORONTO Indian; Indonesian & Jazz Andrew Timar, Trichy. Sankaran &.friends SAT, Mar. 16th, 2002, 8:00 p.m. PAN&. TELYN Music for flute and harp by Ravel & Takemitsu SAT, May 4th, 2002, 8:00 p.m. Lori Gemmell, harp; Carol Ann Savage, flute Adults: - St. /Sen. : Children under 12: All Concerts 8:00 p.m. EASTMINSTER UNITED CHURCH 310 DANFORTH A VENUE (at Chester) Information: 416-461-6681