BAND Stand by Merlin Williams I HA VE SOMETIIlNG OF AN OBSESSION with carrying everything with me into a gig or rehearsal in one load. I've frequently walked into a hall carrying a baritone sax, bass clarinet, alto sax, clarinet & flute, with stands for all of the instruments as well. I usually refuse offers of help, since it just unbalances the load, though I do appreciate it when someone opens doors for me. So ifl make the decision that it's going to be a two-trip load in, you can bet that I'm either getting paid the big bucks (rather than the more frequent medium-sized bucks that I make) or it's a gig I'm really looking forward to doing. I'm playing one of the latter with the Humber College Faculty/Alumni Band this week for a concert with arranger/composer Vince Mendoza and it's definitely going to be a two carry gig - baritone sax, bass sax, clarinet, bass clarinet & contrabass clarinet. Thank goodness for synthetic reeds (made in Canada by Legere!), or I'd spend the entire evening sucking on cane in the vain hopes that I might not squeak at some crucial juncture. I'll let you know how things turned out next month. NOVEMBER IS ALWAYS PACKED with things to see and do for the band crowd. Long & McQuade is offering its very popular clinic series once again at the Toronto/Bloor St. e._1~ Brass - Woodwind - String Instruments - Guitar Buy direct from the Distributor AUTHORIZED DEALER FOR: Armstrong, Artley, Besson, Benge Boosey & Hawkes, Buffet, Conn Getzen, Jupiter, Keilworth, King Ibanez Guitars, Scher! & Ruth String Inst. ___!t!§>_ __ /~\JFF.tf ··-. \r>·~-k-&~: ,VUNll"JIU" , __ "&fl, __ _ ....... A. PAR.lS ... ~' www.harknettmusic.com Gary Armstrong WOO D W I N D S LTD Vince Mendoza location. The Toronto Sax Quartet leads off the series on Nov. 5 with a workshop on ensemble playing. Saxophonist Don Palmer will ........ HARKNETT Musical Services Ltd. MUSIC BOOKS BEST SELECTION OF POPULAR & EDUCATIONAL MUSIC Piano - Guitar - Instrumental Mid-Town Store 416-423-9494 943 Eglinton Ave. E. (W. of Leslie) (Next door to Robert Lowrey's Piano Experts) Main Store 905-477-1141 2650 John Street Oust North ofSteeles) d7 ,£iice l '- PARIS _; present a session focusing on Melodic Improvisation on Nov. 12. Former Vancouver Symphony flutist Camille Churchfield is next in the series on Nov. 19 with a clinic on approaching sound production on flute. Trombonist Colin Traquiar of the National Arts Centre Orchestra will round out the month on Nov. 26 with a workshop on improving practising and performing for brass players. Give the band department at Long & McQuade'sa call at 416- 588-7886 if you need more info. Gary Armstrong Woodwinds is also presenting clinics of interest this month - Toronto Symphony bass clarinetist David Bourque will be in the store on Sat. Nov. 19 to talking about reeds, and to launch his new DVD "Adjusting the Single Reed." Call the store at 416- 535-6000 for details. THERE ARE MANY intriguing concerts on this month. High on my list of must sees would be the Hannaford Street Silver Band with guest artists The Nathaniel Dett Chorale and conductor Brainerd Blyden-Taylor. If you live in or near Toronto and haven't caught either the HSSB or the NDC yet, you have an excellent opportunity to get to hear both on Nov. 13. The Hart House Symphonic Band with conductor Keith Reid are launching their season on Nov. 26 with music by Mozart, Rossini, Kopetz, Smith, and Ticheli. It'll be interesting to find out what works are on the programme, given its title - "Broken Mirror". There are some great groups playing outside of Toronto this month. The Wellington Winds are a professional calibre group in the KW area; their concert "Getting Ready for Winter" will be presented at St. Peter's Lutheran Church in Cambridge on Dec. 4. The equally fine McMaster University Concert Band is playing at Convocation Hall, McMaster U. in Hamilton on November 20. As always, I recommend you make use of the complete listings in this month's copy ofThe WholeNote to plan your concert going. Those of us who make the music always appreciate an audience, and are inspired by a packed house. Yes, there are times in life when bigger really is better. Woodwind doubler Merlin Williams is an Artist/Clinician for Jupiter Music Canada. If you would like an upcoming band event to be featured in the Bandstand column, e-mail, merlinwilliams@sympatico.ca or phone 416-803-0275. Autumn Band Clinic Series Learn from the best in the business - for free! Visit www.long-mcquade.com for all the details of this popular clinic series. i-1 Long & McQuade l.) MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS..,_ w w w. Ion g .. m c quad e. com Michael J. Ierullo Concert Tuner I Technician FREE CLINICS FEATURING: Stephany Wolfe (Oct.29) Toronto Sax Quartet (Nov.SJ Don Palmer (Nov.12) Camille Churchfield (Nov.19) Colin Traquair (Nov.26) Chase Sanborn (Dec.3l 935 Bloor St.W. 416-588-7886 info@long-mcquade.com Sales - Service - Tuning - Restoration Serving Toronto's Major Concert & Jazz Venues Tel: 416-889-8667 / Fax: 866-711-3 165 I E-mail: pianomd @sympatico.ca Back to Ad Index
On OPERA by Christopher Haile ON NOVEMBER 5 Opera Atelier opens its new production of Armide by Jean-Baptiste Lully at the Elgin Theatre. The occasion is notable for two reasons. First, it marks Opera Atelier's 20th season and second, the production of Armide will be the North American premiere of what is generally considered Lully's supreme masterpiece. Opera Atelier is one of the great PREMIERING IN 1686, Armide was success stories among performing Lully's final opera. It is unique for arts groups in Canada. It has been its time in foregoing display in faa steady, vertiginous rise from its vour of an intense examination of beginnings, twenty years ago (with its characters' psychology. The lidancers interpreting Monteverdi' s bretto by Philippe Quinault is based Oifeo played on a boom box in the on episodes from "Jerusalem De Walker Court of the AGO) to its livered" (1580), Torquato Tasso's present position as North Ameri- epic poem about the First Crusade. ca's premier purveyor of baroque Quinault's libretto starts from opera, a company in demand around the same Christian chauvinist point the world for the consistently high of view as Tasso's poem. The quality of all aspects of its produc- Circe-like Musi im sorceress Artions. mide, whose power derives from In a telephone interview in Oc- never having experienced love, has tober, Marshall Pynkoski, Co-Ar- been recruited by Satan to distract tistic Director ofOA with Jeannette the Christian forces, in particular Zingg, reflected on the past twenty their greatest warrior Renaud. The years: "It seems the most extraor- centrepiece of the opera, a passage dinary thing. Jeannette and I both that would be studied for generathink the twenty years raced by, tions to come, is Armide's meditathen we look at the amount of rep- tion over the sleeping body of Reertoire, more than 40 productions, naud. Rather than murder him as and we think 'How did we fit it all she intends, she is shocked to realin?' We started it with an idea and ize that she has fallen in love with it then took on a life of its own and him. Most surprisingly, however, we've all been racing after it ever Quinault deliberately deviates from since. The nerves and the excite- his source. Contrary to Tasso, Rement we feel in preparing Armide naud, too, falls in love with Arare the same that we felt twenty mide not due to her sorcery but for years ago before our first appear- real. Rather than resolve the situaance in Walker Court." tion as Tasso does by having Ar- Exceeding all of Pynkoski's ex- mide convert to Christianity, Quinpectations of twenty years ago is ault ends this extraordinary opera, that now the company has funding as Pynkoski points out, "with both not merely for its five-week rehearsal Christian and Muslim protagonist process but also for the months of in exactly the same situation, still preparatory workshops necessary in love with their traditional enemy for such complex works as this. and shattered by the experience". THE CIVIC LIGHT OPERA COMPANY proudly presents I Do! I Do! Book, Music & Lyrics by Tom Jones & Harvey Schmidt Starring JOE CASCONE & CAROLINE MORO-DALICANDRO FAIRVIEW LIBRARY THEATRE Oct. 27 - Nov. 12, 2005 Don Mills Rd. & Sheppard Ave .• N. York Wednesdays at 7 p.m. Thursdays. Fridays. Saturdays at 8 p.m. TICKETS: Sundays at 2 p.m. Fri/SaUSun; .50 Wed/Thurs Saturday. Nov. 12 at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Box Office: 416-755-1717 (s.c. PER TICKETappliesonphoneorders) Visit our website: www.CiviclightOperaCompany.com N OVE MBER 1 - D ECEMBER 7 2005 Back to Ad Index WWW,TH EWHOLENOTE, COM Colin Ainsworth and Stephanie Novacek in Armide He adds, "I have no idea how this ever got past the censors". That Armide should resonate with contemporary events is purely coincidental since Pynkoski and Zingg have had the presentation of Armide in their 20th season as their goal for the past five years. Indeed, Music by Errol Gay Libretto by Michael Patrick ~lbano Pynkoski says that their recent presentations of Persee along with Charpentier's Acteon and Medee have been deliberate steps in OA 's long-range plan to accustom the company and the audience to the declamatory style of the French baroque opera before moving on to SCHOOL PERFORMANCES: \,() December 8 & 9, 2005 10:00 am & 1 :00 pm .o..###COLUMNCONTENT###~ ~~~ PUBLIC PERFORMANCES: ~" ~~~ December 1 O & 11, 2005 2:00 pm & 7:30 pm ~~ Harbourfront Centre Theatre, BOX OFFICE 416.973.4000 or more information visit us at: www.canadianchildrensopera.com Commissioned by Douglas L Ludwig, Karen J. Rice & Family t orontc a rts :.:.o u nc1 r
