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Volume 11 Issue 10 - July 2006

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Quoolibet by Allan Pu

Quoolibet by Allan Pu Iker Reflections on the 2005-06 season As I look back over my written contributions to the nine issues of WholeNote published so far this season, a few things stand out. In September I remarked on the early start of the season, as if there were no longer enough days between late September and mid-June to contain all the season's music. Now here we are at the end of June, and one could say the same for the huge amount of music that is being compacted into the brief summer "second season" that is already upon us. What was to become a recurrent theme for me was announced, so to speak, in the December/January issue: "Musicians taking charge of their destinies" I wrote, in connection with a collaborative venture "The Great Holiday Mega­ Launch" a cd-launch concert undertaken co-operatively by five quite different ensembles. The role of initiative and innovation resurfaced in my conversations with Joseph Petric in the February issue, Kevin Mallon in the March issue, and with Bill O'Meara and Gordon Mansell talking about their Organix Festival in the April and May issues. The same theme was at least implicit in all that was written about June's SoundaXis Festival, a stunning collaboration that produced something that will be remembered here for many years to come and is rippling outward to other parts of the world as a coterie of international visitors to the festival returns home. The artists and other collaborators involved in all these initiatives have somehow been able to match the energy of the world in which they live and work, producing events that get and hold people's attention. They send out a very hopeful message as well as providing examples for emulation. Four extraordinary urban summer music seasons (1) Hamilton: Brott Summer Music Festival The fact that Hamilton is a musical hotbed throughout the summer months is completely due to the work of Boris Brott. Undoubtedly he now has help and support in mounting his Brott Summer Music Festival but let there be no doubt that without his energy and vision 18 Back to Ad Index none of this would exist. I have been to Hamilton several times over the years. While it is only about 60 km from Toronto it has a completely different atmosphere. Getting there through the neck of the funnel called the QEW is no pleasure, even at the best of times, so I recommend investigating getting there by GO Train, in order not to lose everything you gain by going there for a concert. Do consider a different kind of night out beginning with a mid afternoon train ride, a leisurely dinner followed by a stroll through Hamilton's historic downtown to an evening of music. ........ '. . ;, ·d{·' ("- ' ~i@~~e ~.-!

Well, it ' s summer again, and it's time to turn one's thoughts to barbeque, ice cream, travel, vacation, the cottage, West Nile virus, air conditioning, and early music, among other things. Fortunately, one won't have to go far to indulge in some early music. E ight of the 21 free out- EARLY Music by Frank Nakashima ~~ ;_ y ~1 • . ,1ti~. ~~/ door concerts (weather permitting) at Toronto's Music Garden will be of particular interest to this column's readers as the line-up of music, from medieval to Schubert, features mostly period instruments. J . The Windermere String Quartet at Toronto Music Garden. From left, violinist Genevieve Gilardeau, violist Anthony Rapoport, cellist Laura Jones, and violinist Rona Goldensher. PHOTO: TERRY w ILLIAMS The ensemble Musica Franca returns, loaded with bassoons, Baroque guitar, organ and harpsichord, to perform "Italian-flavoured" music of the French Baroque - music by Corrette, Boismortier, and Rameau (July 2) - with Nadina Mackie Jackson, Mathieu Lussier, and Fraser Jackson (bassoons), Sylvain Bergeron (guitar), and Paul Jenkins (keyboards). Alison Melville will be playing an array of recorders, baroque flutes and folk flutes, in a program inspired by birdsong from the 17th to 21st centuries (July 13), including music by Jakob van Eyck, Boismortier, Hans-Martin Linde, excerpts from The Bird Fancyer's Delight, as well as music by Bach, Telemann, James Oswald, and some traditional Norwegian tunes. Islamic and Christian cultures will blend in harmony as the Alpharabius Ensemble presents songs inspired by love and flowers, from Arabic lands and medieval Europe (July 27). Performers include Andrea Budgey, Suzanne Meyers­ Sawa, Randall Rosenfeld, George Sawa and Bolbol Shehadeh. One doesn't often have a chance to enjoy the sounds of late Renaissance and early Baroque played on period cornettos, sackbutts, recorders and dulcian, by a new, yetnameless, Montreal-based ensemble (August 10). Maybe you can help Matthew Jennejohn, Douglas Kirk, Dominique Lortie, Trevor Dicks and (Bostonian) Dan Stillman, think of a name? Baroque violinists Kathleen Kajioka and Christopher Verrette, lutenist Lucas Harris and 'cellist Rebecca Morton will razzle-dazzle you with the effervescent music of 17thcentury Italy - "the brave new world of the early baroque" (August 13). Don't say I didn't warn you. The TSO principal 'cellist, Winona Zelenka, performs Bach's Suite No . 6 in D Major for unaccompanied 'cello, and also gives the world premiere of a new work (inspired by Bach) by Canadian composer Chris Paul Harman (August 31). Another solo performer, Baroque violinist Linda Melsted, performs Bach's Sonata in C Major for unaccompanied violin (September 7) . Dave Snider Music Centre 3225 Yonge St. PH (416) 483-5825 c Mai I: sn i dcrm u s i c @ sn iderm usi c. com www. s n iderm u s i c .com One of Toronto's Oldest Music Stores ... With The Best Selection of Pop, Jazz & Broadway Sheet Music in the city - For Beginners and Professionals - Franz Schubert's String Quartet in A Minor, D. 804, and Haydn's lyrical Quartet in C major, op. 9 No. 1, will be performed on period instruments by the Windermere String Quartet: violinists Rona Goldensher and Genevieve Gilardeau, violist Anthony Rapoport and 'cellist Laura Jones (September 10). Please note that due to our early deadlines, Whole­ Note's Music Garden listings may not be quite up to date. For current information and listings, visit www .harbourfumtcentre.com Now in their 15th season, the summer lunchtime series Music Mondays offers a few early music events - namely, baroque flutist Sang-Joan Park and harpsichordist Borys Medicky performing music from France and Germany by Hotteterre, Philidor, Quantz and others (July 3); and later, some Medieval and Renaissance music (July 17) performed by Michael Franklin and Rikki LaCoste. See www .musicmondays.ca Meanwhile, not too far away, in Elora, Christopher Jackson, who has been a leader in the field of early music in Montreal for more than 30 years, directs the Elora Festival Singers and the Festival Chamber Orchestra in a program of cantatas by J . S. Bach (# 131, #150, and #37, if you want to know - July 21 ). Later, he conducts the Singers, unaccompanied, in the program "Music from the Sistine Chapel " - choral music from the most glorious period of the Renaissance (July 23) by Josquin, Palestrina, and Victoria. The six "Brandenburg" concertos that Bach dedicated to the Margrave ofBrandenburg in 1721, each for a different combination of instruments, are among his best-loved Paul Jenkins: Music Garden and Philipsville compositions. They will be performed in their entirety by the Elora Festival Chamber Players (on modern instruments) on July 29. An Elora Festival favourite, countertenor Daniel Taylor, gives an intimate solo recital of early folk songs and ballads (July 30) accompanied by lutenist Sylvain Bergeron. See www.elorafestival.com In a fairly new summer series, the Philipsville Summer Arts, the Aradia Baroque Ensemble (under the direction of Kevin Mallon), with special guest, mezzo-soprano Marion Newman, appear in concert, Serenissima: Chamber Music of Venice, in what was formerly known as Philipsville Baptist Church (July 24) in rural Ontario. Frank T. Nakashima (franknak@interlog.com) is the President of the Toronto Early Music Centre, a non-profit charitable organization which promotes the appreciation of historically-informed performances of early music www.interlog.com/ - temc Geo. I I ; 0 ~ & Co. Limited COl\'S!_RVAIORS & PlJRVIYORS or I ine & Rare Violins Come in and browse over 25,000 sheet music publications. We have a wide array of Woodwind, Brass, Keyboards, Guitars and Accessories. Music Lessons offered on site. 20 I Chur,:f. St.. Toruntn. ON. M.5 3 I Y', Tel. 416-363 0093 • far. : '116 36J 0053 Email: ghcl @idirect.com www.gcorgchcin1 .com Canada's foremost v10lin experts. Proud of m:r h·~ri'.agt~. Er.cited about lhc futu :-·.! . WWW.THEWHOL ENOTE. COM Back to Ad Index

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