Canada to organize
Canada to organize fundraising ef- forts and benefit concerts. Of the Tallis, Durutle and young Cana many happening these days, I call your attention to an event at St. Clement ' s Church on Feb. 4, thew Larkin. The evening is entiho ted by Judy Maqdren (of CBC News fame) and featuring the choirs of St. Clement's, a male can call 416-483-6664. The proquintet called Les Cinq, organist Thomas Fitches and a gorgeous program of liturgical music in the Anglican tradition including Byrd, dians Carmine Luppano and Mat tied "I will not leave you comfort less" and for more information you ceeds go to the Primate's World Relief and Development Fund. The circus is coming to town. On March 2, an international touring production of Carl Orff's Carmina Burana touches down at the 1\ir Canada Centre, promising a ''mediaeval garden of lust which abducts the audience to a foreign, sensual world of phantasy". A huge stage set, designed by Mihail Tchernaev, a fascinating light show and lire effects will create "a unique background for a spectacular show with 30 dancers in 300 different costumes, a choir, a large orchestra and oloists. Worldly and churchly power, the citizens, the juggler, the beggar and the jester - in this imaginary world of thl,! mediaeval all people have the same desire for lust. " Well, lust is good, but when I hear about spectaculars like these (Aida at Sky Dome was another) I wonder whether audiences come away feeling satisfied or duped. Aida has some spectacular crowd scenes, but they don't last very long. The majority of the time we're concerned with the complicated ins and outs of a handful of mixed-up characters. Even Wagner's Ring Cycle is in essence an intellectual marathon full of psychological depth and philosophical discourse. True, Carmina Burana has long been sold as a Dionysian romp and excerpts of its score used as background for sports highlight reels and the like. "O fortuna" seems to have morphed into an inspirational mantra for individuals to take control of the challenges in front of them, as opposed to the piece's true message of the fickleness of human fate. For those going to a performance and expecting to be "blown away" by the awesome force of the piece there will be some fulfillment, but Carmina i al o a work of great intimacy and quiet beauty. What happens to the true essence of the work of art being presented when used as jumping-off point for a spectacle primarily deigned to dazzle? I don't know; but caveat emptor. Editor's Note: you can also get your Burana straight up Feb 25 and 26 courtesy the Kitchener-Woterloo Symphony and some fine soloists. See Concert Listings Beyond the GTA. 21J 12004 2005 fj fj fj fj .MID-SEASON AUDITIONS for all voice parts 40 I IH- .. \ ·. ··-' ... " I rrl •• .... , EXPAND your musical horizons under the dynamic leadership of Artistic Director Robert Cooper BE A PART of a group with a 40-year tradition of bringing diverse, unusual performances to Toronto PERFORM with soloists such as Michael Colvin, Monica Whicher, Karen Wierzba PARTICIPATE in the world premiere ofa new work by Derek Holman CALL 416 530-4428 TO ARRANGE AN AUDITION WORLD View As I WRITE THIS, the event still dominating world news is the terrible tsunami disaster in Asia. While the human toll is staggering and the devastation unimaginable, notable too is the generosity of individuals in Canada and elsewhere who have collectively donated enormous sums to the various relief agencies. The arts community has also contributed by organizing fund raising events. One concert I attended at the Indonesian Consulate last month, featuring the community gamelan ensembles, dancers and puppeteers, raised ,000 alone! ·Still more tsunami relief concerts are planned this month, and a few, the details of which appear in our listings, are as follows: Feb 2 at Hugh's Room, sitar player Neeraj Prem and his north Indian classical/ folk ensemble Ragaffaire will be joined by jazz band lndus West Project, Ravi Naimpally's Asian fusion band Tasa, and Suba Sankaran 's south Indian/western fusion band autorickshaw. Feb 8, York University's Centre for Asian Research is sponsoring a concert in Founders College; performers include the university Garnelan ensemble, Chinese classical orchestra, jazz bands, Greek music, Thai boxing and more. Feb 11/12, Standing Room Only Concerts, featuring song and dance excerpts from various musicals, will donate a portion of its ticket sales to tsunami relief. And Feb 26, the Cantabile Chorale of York Region will perform Faure's Requiem. It's Lunar New Year February 9, and there is no shortage of music WWW. THEWHOLENOTE.COM from China this month: The Canadian Music Centre presents a concert of traditional and new works featuring renowned erhu player George Gao and the Dunhuang Traditional Chinese Music Ensemble, Feb 6 at the ROM. George Gao can be heard again as soloist in the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Suite for Erhu and Orchestra in the Canadian Sinfonietta 's Chinese New Year Celebration concert on Feb 19, and again as part of the CanAsian Dance Festival program for Feb 23 and 25. Feb 15, the Lillian H. Smith Public Library (College St. ) presents Celebrating the Year of the Rooster, featuring performers on traditional Chinese instruments; Feb 20, Harbourfront Centre and Jeunesses Musicales of by Karen Ages Ontario present Memories of China; and, the Orchid Ensemble. known for its blending of traditions from China and beyond, performs at the RCM's new Croatia St. location Feb 26 and on Mar 1 in Hamilton. It may be freezing in Toronto. but it's Carnival in Brazil. You can catch a bit of that warmth and excitemem when the Escola de Samba de Toronto hits Nathan Phillips Square Feb 4-6 as part of the Wintercity Festival. This community ensemble led by Alan Hetherington is comprised of Samba enthusiasts from all walks of life. There is even an excellent documentary film about the band, We Are Samba. They will also perform later on Feb 415 as part of Carnaval Brasil at The Red Violin (Danforth at Broadview). The Escola gives workshops and holds open rehearsals this month and next through the RCM Community School. For more info, call 416-408-2824 x32 t or visit www.sambatoronto.ca. Toronto's much celebrated Flying Bulgar Klezmer Band, led by trumpeter David Buchbinder, celebrates its I 7th anniversary at the Isabel Bader Theatre Feb 5. The concert will feature arrangements of new material discovered by band member and pianist Marilyn Lerner at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research in New York, which in addition to its vast holdings in other areas, houses field recordings and transcriptions of music collected from Russia and the Ukraine. The Bulgars also dust off some of their older repertoire, and will work with pre-recorded sound and 20th century sound collages. · Another Toronto klezmer band, Beyond the Pale, will join forces with the Creaking Tree String Quartet, at the Glenn Gould Studio, Feb 12. Creaking Tree is not a traditional string quartet, consisting of violin, guitar, mandolin and bass. While both bands are rooted in their respective traditions of klezmer and bluegrass, both draw inspiration from jazz, rock and other folk styles. They will each perform individually, then combine at the end of the program to perform expanded versions of their original material as well . as new collaborative works. For info on each group, visit www. beyondthepale.net and www.creakingtree.com. More Jewish music "quick picks": TafelmusiI
A T I T G I 0 R G I T H I M A R T Y R saturday february 26 toca voca THE COMPOSER NOW: V.l.P. SERIES 8PM, // Toca Loca, one of Canada's most innovative and merciless new music ensembles. presents "Toca Voca," a program of singing. panting. scraping and chanting. Guest vocalists Heidi Klann and Vilma Vitols join pianist Gregory Oh in performing works by notable Canadians hke Chris Harman. Andrew Staniland, Omar Daniel, Jocelyn Morlock. Erik Ross. Alice Ho and featuring new commissions by lnouk Demers. James Rolfe/Dennis Lee. James Rolfe/Anna Chatterton and Alain Beauchesne. This concert will be recorded for future broadcast on Two New Hours on CBC Radio Two. and is presented with the assistance of the Laidlaw Foundation, The SOCAN Foundation and Yamaha Canada. music gallery: core programming feb. 2005 I r thu 02/10 trio phoenix with ingrid schmithusen (mtl + germany) THE COMPOSER NOW: ON TOUR SERIES @ 8PM , /$10/ Since 1992, Montreal's Trio Phoenix has been commissioning and adapling pieces for· flute (Lieve Schuermans). cello (Simon.Turnerj and piano (Brigitte Poulin). On Feb. 10, these Music Gallery velerans will be performing wilh guest soprano from Germany. Ingrid Schmithi.isen -- a devoted pmformer of chamber music, Lied, oralorio and c:onternporary music:. This programme includes world prernieres by Annelies van Parys and'Ana Sokolovic, p!us works by Debussy, Ravel. Leos Janacek and Jotin Rea. qwholenote at the music gallery! 02/07 old music, new ideas NINE MONDAYS SALON SERIES, HOSTED BY WHOLENOTE MAGAZINE. A SOIREE Wl'rH SOME OF TORONTO'S EMINENT EARLY MUSIC PERFORMERS. HOSTED BY TORONTO EARLY MUSIC CENTRE PRESI DENT, FRANK NAKASHIMA. 8PM, /. music gallery: also in feb. 02/12 wavelength 250 PART OF FIFTH ANNIVERSARY FESTI VAL FOR INDEPEND ENT MUSIC SERIES + ZINE. FEATURING JON-RAE & THE RIVER, FINAL FANTA SY, SHAWN HEWITT, HOLY F *"* AND THANKSGIVING. - $10 SLIDING SCALE. fri 02/18 barbara pritchard (piano halifax) THE COMPOSER NOW: ON TOUR SERIES @ BPM, /$10/ Arraymusic/Continuum alumnus Barbara P ritchard has a long-standing commitment to new music, and. since her move to Nova Scotia. has been a strong advocate for Maritime composers. On Feb 18, Prilch;:ird will be presenting Dennis Farrell's "Six Sonatas Af1er the Slyle of Dornonico Scarlatti" (1974), and Richard Gibson's "25 Prellll:lcs pour Piano" (1996). SOCAN Foundation The J.P. Morgan Chase Foundation t St. Q•orge the Martyr !"'!LI..- torontoartscounci I ""' """'•' "" ,_"«'"'II''"'('"·.,..,.. ............ , ........... .......... ... free lunch music series WEDNESDAYS 12:30-1 :30PM, FREE! 02/02 BARRY PROPHET + WILLIAM BEAUVAIS 02/09 DORON ZOR ' S POETIC JUSTIC 02/16 PARISH CONCERT . 02/23 SIDEWAYS HAND 03/02 DARREN COPELAND music gallery: co-ordinates location: st. george the martyr church, 197 john st. box-office: 416-204-1080 web: www.musicgallery.org www.mginstitute.ca I .a. I Canadian ..,,.. Heritage Patrimoine canadlen Bfe. tanada Council Conseil des Arts for the Arts du Canada FrnRUARY 1 - MARCH 7 2005 WWW. THEWHOLENOTE.COM
