Views
8 years ago

Volume 8 Issue 9 - June 2003

  • Text
  • Festival
  • Toronto
  • Jazz
  • Theatre
  • Musical
  • Concerts
  • Arts
  • Symphony
  • Orchestra
  • Classical

Festival in downtown

Festival in downtown Ottawa - Incredible!. .. more about this in a later issue. WESTBEN FESTIVAL Donna Bennett and Brian's Finley's Westben Festival seems to get bigger and better each year. Unlike many of the festivals it has a number of very interesting events in June, so make sure you read their listings. Last summer I drove out there early in the afternoon to rendez-vous with friends for a picnic, attended a Great Canadian Band Festival in Orono • Westben Arts Fest. Campbellford • POINTS EAST ONTARIO QUEBEC Lanaudiere Fest. at Joliette• ~-----~----, I NEW YORK STATE I I ~~~ S'Jmphnnlf _Jn ~/w Barn Where Culture Meets Agriculture By David Molina and Emmanuel Vukovich July 23 to August 3 Music now complements drama and the visual arts in Canada's festival city, Stratford, Ontario. With 47 concerts and events, Stratford Summer Music presents its third season with special programming to welcome Canadian tenor Ben Heppner in the premiere of his new solo show and to celebrate the 5Q 1 h anniversary of Glenn Gould's first appearance in the city. From its five performance sites downtown and within the beautiful parks system comes a variety of vocal, instrumental, classical, celtic, and even Broadway-based programs. Opening night along the waterfront offers the music of J.S.Bach played by the Festival Bells and a gigantic fireworks display to the music of composer Berthold Carriere. Featured artists include Canada's Primadonna Mary Lou Fallis, Bach organist Ullrich Bohme from St. Thomas Churchin Leipzig, Germany, the music drama Glenn Gould.Meets Bach with Christopher Dawes and Peter Tiefenbach, Norway's Oslo String Quartet, baritone James Westman and bass Robert Gleadow in recitals, pianists Ian Parker and Ilya Poletaev, National Youth Orchestra of Canada, plus company members of the Stratford Shakespearean Festival in after-theatre cabarets at the famous Church Restaurant. At noon from the floating stage along the Avon River enjoy free concerts by the Cape Breton Symphony and Ballybogs. Premieres include The Piano Man '.s Daughter, a song cycle by Laura Burton based on Timothy Findley's novel, sung by James Westman in the Maureen Forrester Young Artists series which opens the festival. Complete information on the Stratford Summer Music Organ Academy with Ullrich Bohme also available by phone. Many events free. Tickets: , 1-866-288-4313 At the heart of Symphony in the Barn is an organic/biodynamic farm in Durham, Ontario. In the summer Glencolton Farms transforms into a diverse cultural centre where talented, young, adult artists from around the world, farm and perform in the barn. Attending a concert at the Symphony Barn is not like attending any other concert hall. The Symphony Barn is a real working barn, where the cows are milked just prior to show time. Where animal life and nature abound, the Barn rests peacefully, warm and adorned with flowers, accompanied by birds chirping in the rafters, and the aroma of baking bread. In its setting the Barn offers a unique experience of country life combined with worldclass performance. From gentle breezes, the soft warm lustre of the evening sun, or even the,northern lights, t.he Symphony Barn is a concert hall in a league of its own. This summer, Symphony in the Barn is entering a new era. An orchestra of highly trained Canadian and International professionals between the ages of 20-30, will perform chamber music concerts, orchestral concerts and more. Not only will the orchestra be responsible for the music, the musicians will also be sustaining their own garden, baking, cooking, cleaning, and preparing the Barn. At Symphony in the Barn, the nature of the farm will be incorporated with the orchestra, thus providing musicians with an experience to cultivate the soil, and captivate the spirit. In its eighth season, Symphony in the Barn is thriving. Attracting international attention and leadership from Maestro Ernst Dunshirn of the Vienna State Opera, and creating sensational Gourmet Operas-the ultimate experience in food and music, with world-renowned chef Michael Stadtlander, Symphony in the Barn is establishing Durham, Ontario as a Canadian cultural centre. The theme for this year's festival is music and nature. While the rhythms ofnature and the changing of the seasons drive life on the farm, they have also inspired and motivated artist and composers throughout the ages. Through our performances we hope to show the interdependent relationship between 'cultivating the soil and captivating the spirit.' (Please consult concert dates and programmes on the inside back cover of this magazine.) 46 www.thewholenote.com June 1 - July 7 2003

concert and then drove home afterwards. It is a longish drive but certainly possible. MUSIC AT PORT MILFORD Music at Port Milford, like the Southern Ontario Chamber Music Institute, is a summer string program for intermediate to advanced students by day and a concert series by night. Concerts take place in an old church with a balcony, sort of like Trinity-St. Paul's, large enough to accommodate even more people than usually attend. If you were to arrange overnight accommodation it is not a long way from the Westben barn, so these two festivals might combine well into a single trip. QUEBEC If you can venture beyond Ontario this summer, why not get a real change of pace and language and go to Quebec. The Festival de Lanaudiere, north of Montreal, is unlike any of the Ontario festivals in that it has a large outdoor amphitheatre with a permanent outdoor stage large enough to accommodate a symphony orchestra. A number of its concerts are by the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and the Quebec Symphony Orchestra, plus there are performances by many fine performers and , ensembles, both local and from abroad. North of the City of Quebec you will find another music school and summer festival combined at Demaine Forget, and in the Eastern Townships the Orford Arts Centre Summer Music Festival. There are unexpected Toronto connections with these last two festivals: violist, Douglas McNabney is the artistic director of Demaine Forget while Agnes Grossman is the artistic director of the Orford Arts Centre. The Toronto International Chamber Music Festival Toronto Centre for the Arts (George Weston Recital Hall, and Studio Theatre) July 3 to 6, 2003 416 763-5066 The highlight of the festival is the appearance of the Penderecki String Quartet, one of the world's most acclaimed chamber ensembles. Also featured in this international line-up of talent are the exciting Piano Duo Kutrowatz from Austria, violinists Eva Gruesser (Germany) and Rohan Smith (Australia), vocalists Lenard Whiting, Nina Scott-Stoddart, Edward Franko, plus Ensemble TrypTych in music ranging from Brahms and Chausson to Quenten Doolittle and Andrew Ager. The Festival will also include the performance of the winning composition from the Festival's Young Composers' Competition. J One of the only classical music celebrations to be held in Toronto during the summer months, the Festival provides a real feast of delights for instrumental chamber music loyers who also enjoy vocal fT\USic. TrypTych Music Dire_ctor William Shookhoff believes the quality of the performers will establish the Festival as an annual event that will attract the same kind of enthusiastic audiences enjoyed by chamber music festivals in other cities such as Ottawa. "The Penderecki String Quartet is a real coup for the start of the Festival" said Shookhoff. "We expect many people will find this and other events at the Festival a truly memorable experience." Tickets are available by calling Ticketmaster at 416-872- 1111, at anyTicketmaster outlet or are available at the Centre's box office. info@torontochambermusic,com http://torontochambermusic,com WESTBEN ARTS FESTIVAL THEATRE "World-Class Music in Wide Open Countryside" The sun is shining, The air is sweet. From a timberframe barn amidst Northumberland's rolling hills wafts the magnificent sound of music Campbellford, Ontario - The Westben Arts Festival Theatre presents Concerts at The Barn 2003: 70 internationally-acclaimed Canadian musicians offering world-class music in wide open countryside. With repertoire from Bach to Broadway and full orchestral, chamber and solo concerts, Westben presents Gerald Finley, Gary Relyea, Stephen Sitarski, Thomas Wiebe, Stuart Laughton() Richard Dorsey, Michael Burgess, Philip Thomson, Mark DuBois, Douglas Finch, as well as the Borealis String Quartet, Hannaford Street Silver Band, members of the Kitchener Waterloo Symphony and its own Westben Festival Chorus. In June Westben welcomes the Royal Opera Canada Chorus under Dwight Bennett. Then UBC's Opera Ensemble presents Lehar's The Merry Widow. An orchestral gala weekend ushers in July with real fireworks following Handel's Music for the Rqyal Fireworks, and Mr. Bach himself in Coffee & Suites, Weekend concerts in July are complimented by Westben's Music of the Night series - classical performances accompanied only by crickets & bullfrogs! The last two weeks in September are An Autumn Feast for the Ears featuring pianists Robert Silverman, Brian Finley and David Jalbert, along with the Emperor Quartet, William O'Meara accompanying a Charlie Chaplin film, and Cantabile Choir. Co-founded by Donna Bennett (soprano) and Brian Finley (piano), Westben is 3 kilometres NW of Campbellford, Visit www.westben.on,ca or call (877) 883-5777. June1 - July 7 2003 www.thewholenote.com 47

Volumes 26-29 (2020- )

Volumes 21-25 (2015-2020)

Volumes 16-20 (2010-2015)

Volumes 11-15 (2004-2010)

Volumes 6 - 10 (2000 - 2006)

Volumes 1-5 (1994-2000)