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8 years ago

Volume 7 Issue 8 - May 2002

  • Text
  • Toronto
  • Theatre
  • Choir
  • Jazz
  • Festival
  • Arts
  • Singers
  • Choral
  • Symphony
  • Orchestra

one, so much for that

one, so much for that one? (He mimes counting oUJ coins, then settles back in his chair.) The board decided to do another choral festival, and that was 19CJ3. After that the government asked me to do something special.as Canada's contribution to the United Nations som anniversary celebration. I thought of Noah's Flood by Benjamin Britten, I had seen the world premiere in Aldeburgh. We had done the North American premiere for the Vancouver International Festival and again for the Centennial. It is one of the jewels of something written for children's chorus. We did eight or nine productions of it across Canada and then at the United Nations in New York. Me: You said before you could not believe the talent. lWzat makes Canadian singers so good? Niki's reply is prompt: Education. You could notdoNoah'sFloodwithschoolchildreninEurope. . Music is only in the professional conservatories there. Canada is a choral country. Outstanding. So we have with the choral festival this enormous, very strong' education program, outreach program, to the schools. These children need to hear Russian basses! We have a choir from Uppsala; they are doing some of their own music and with the Toronto Children's Chorus they will be doing Carmina Burana. It's the original, with. the two pianos and percussion, so much more dramatic than the orchestral version, a very strong work. And who do you think is the percussion? I give up. Niki's eyes shine. "Nexus" he says. The phone rings .. } Niki: Hello, yes? No, you have to buy those tickets not in Roy Thomson but at the Toronto Centre for the Arts. You saw me in Vancouver? Queen Elizabeth Theatre? That makes two - you and Bill Littler, he was ushering there, too. Niki directs the caller to the Ticketmaster number, then continues: Here is a story. I was in Ottawa, walking up Parliament Hill, when a man, very elegantly dressed, said to me, "Hello, you're Niki Goldschmidt." I said "Yes, I am, but you will have to help me, I don't recall your name." He said "Oh you won't remember me, but in the Noah's Flood for the Centennial I was one of the mice." It's an "everywhere in Canada" story; someone recognizes him, and remembers the joy: ( i ;,t.,.,, ;...,.,,,.'\, David Tamblyn i 14 Fifth St..eet "Tol'ot\to Jslat\d Ot\tal'io Cat\ada M532B9 Tel. 416-203-0789 cxq"isite Bows tlat\dmade it\ the Fl'et\ch "t'l'aditiot\ REMEMBERING SRUL IRVING GLICK 1934-2002 On Thursday, April 18, 2002 hundreds of friends, family and musicians gathered at Beth Tikvah synagogue in Toronto to pay their respects to the life of a great man - Srul Irving Glick. It was obvious from the tremendous emotion that filled the sanctuary and the presence of thiee respected choirs, each paying tribute with the performance of a work by Srul, that he was a man who deeply touched all who were present and all those he knew. · Stories told during his funeral service proved what I had known all along, that Srul had a wonderful gift, not just ofcreating music, out of making everyone he was with feel loved and important. Having been a long time composition student and dear friend of Srul for nine years, I was asked to help him with his last two commissions that he had been working on and was in close contact with him up to the very last day. He was becoming too weak to notate the music himself. Srul had finished five movements of his "How Beautiful You Are, My Love: Seven Tableaux from the Song of Songs" for male chorus and cello (to be premiered in June by the Victoria Scholars in Toronto under Jerzy Cichocki), and three of the five movements of his "Isaiah".for choir and orchestra to be premiered in November of this year. Srul was composing right up until a few days before he died, .struggling to complete the Seven Tableaux. He had sketches for the seventh movement. which he called "very special" and the sixfu, the piece he was working on most recently had approximately 24-36 bars completed. I visited Srul less than 24 hours before he passed away and said my good-byes. He reached out his hand to hold mine and I told him that I had completed scoring all ofthe finished movements for hiin. Srul smiled and very faintly said, "No, really?" He then drifted back out of consciousness. Srul' s contribution to Canadian music is enO!"ffiOUS. Four Grand Prix du Disques awards and a Juno for his work with the CBC and numero4s other awards that,line his studio walls, including the "Order of Canada" award, are proof of his pursuit of excellence. He had a profound understanding of music and an incredible optimism which he brought to all .our lessons and

·~TORONTO 2002-03 SEASON + CHAMBER MUSIC DOWNTOWN QUARTETS THURSDAYS Oct. 10 · . Emerson Quartet . Oct. 24 ' Schubert Ensemble Nov. 7 Prazak Quartet Nov. 28 Quatuor Arthur-LeBlanc with pianist Dang Thai Son Jan. 16 St. Lawrence Quartet Feb. 20 Pende.recki Quartet Mar. 27 Orion Quartet Apr. 10 Tokyo Quartet PIANO Oct. 15 Oct. 29 Feb. 25 Mar. 18 Apr. 1 TIJESDAYS Michel Dalberto Pascal Rage and Vanessa Benelli Mar.kus Groh Andreas Haefliger Louise Bessette ENSEMBLES-IN-RESIDENCE TIJESDAYS Oct. 1 Gryphon Trio Dec. 3 Toronto String Quartet with pianist Marc-Andre Hamelin Jan. 28 Toronto String Quartet Ma.r. 4 Gryphon Trio DISCOVERY THURSDAYS Jan. 23 Krisztina Szabo, mezzo soprano Feb. 13 Laura Wilcox, violist ··Mar. 13 Ian Parker, pianist CONTEMPORARY CLASSICS Dec. 3 Toronto String Quartet Feb. 13 Feb. 20 Apr. 1 with pianist Marc-Andre Hamelin Laura Wilcox, violist Penderecki Quartet Louise Bessette, pianist AFFORDABLE + ACCESSIBLE + INTIMATE + EXHILARATING rW~ YoliONTO at . ~ Jane Mallett Theatre St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts 416-366-7723•1-800-70~-67~4 GREAT CLASSICAL MUSIC IN A PERFECT SMALL CONCERT HALL DOWNTOWN SUBSCRIPTIONS FROM

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