Festival in 2003, has become one of Gordon Monahan's best known works. This automated sound sculpture consists of 32 computercontrolled water valves dripping their rhythms onto 24 suspended small metal and plastic objects. The result is a magical sounding percussion orchestra. At the core of the Scratch festival will be a collaborative, intensive, week-long creative session between installation artists Ian Birse & Laura Kavanaugh and Arraymusic artistic director Bob Stevenson. The end result of their work will be a new multimedia performance piece for the Arraymusic Ensemble. The public is invited into the creative process through a series of open rehearsals. The festival closes on March 31st with a free concert featuring the Arraymusic Ensemble at Hart House. Along with the new Birse I Kavanaugh I Stevenson piece, the Ensemble will also tackle a brand new composition by Gordon Monahan with theremin, dance and DJ. This is sure to be a prime display of the eclectically broad palette Monahan uses to create his exceptional sound-worlds. Pianist Stephen Clarke adds in Monahan' s brilliantly muscular Piano Meehan- lyn Glennie brings Chen Yi' s Perics, an earlier work from 1984. A cussion Concerto for a Canadian return to the work of Dutch elec- premiere, blending Chinese musitronica master Gilius van Bergeijk cal themes, instruments and vocals rounds out the evening. For more with Western compositional techinfo about Scratch 3 visit niques. Joel Quarrington will give www .arraymusic.com or call 416- the first in a rolling series of fif- 532-3019. teen premieres of American com- The Toronto Symphony Or- poser John Harbison' s Concerto chestra follows on the success of for Bass Viol. On the following their inaugural New Creations Fes- concert Peter Serkin tackles Peter tival with a second installment run- Lieberson's Piano Concerto No . ning March 30 to April 5. Origi- 3 in its Canadian premiere. An innally planned as a two-year pilot, teresting note is that all these the New Creations Festival did so works were written especially for well at the box office in 2005 that these soloists, which should make the TSO has already announced a it even more of a special treat to third installment as part of its 2006- hear them live. 2007 season. Canadian content comes to the But let's not get too far ahead New Creations Festival mostly of ourselves. The line-up for 2006 from the pioneering generation of certainly offers enough to demand our country's musical creators. our attention. Maestro Oundjian Veteran Quebec composer Jacques has programmed three dense con- Hetu opens the festival with a TSOcerts around the theme of the con- commissioned world premiere, Vartemporary concerto, showcasing iations concertantes Op. 74. Our world-renowned soloists who are Dean of Canadian Composers, passionate champions of this gen- John Weinzweig (who turns 93 on re. Pianist Emanuel Ax gives the March11) will receive the premiere Canadian premiere of Melinda of his fully revised Rhapsody for Wagners' Extremity of the Sky, in- Orchestra on April 1st. This one spired by the tragic events of Sep- is a rare treat, one ofWeinzweig's tember 11th, which Wagner ob- last creative efforts before he put served first-hand from her New down the pen two years ago. Fi Jersey home. Percussionist Eve- nally, thepremiereofTorontocom- Win a trip for 2 to Amsterdam! Composer John Harbison poser Alexander Levkovich's new double concerto, Isle of a Beautiful Illusion , will take place on April 5th. This work was composed expressly for TSO Concertmaster Jacques lsraelievitch and his son, percussionist Michael Israelievitch. Complete concert details for the New Creations Festival are available through 416-593-4828 or at www .newcreationsfestival.com . So take this month to do something festive. Celebrate sound through some thing new. Jason van Eyk is the Canadian Music Centre's Ontario Regional Director. He can be reached at 416-961 -6601 x . 207 or jasonv@musiccentre.ca. E :::J :::J c +-' c 0 (_) Enter Continuum's raffle for a chance to win a trip for two to Amsterdam - flight, hotel and concert tickets included. • • • Airfare for two to Amsterdam* Four nights for two at the remarkable Lloyd Hotel - a 1921 monument transformed by renowned Dutch architects MVRDV, in collaboration with leading designers and artists. A select package of tickets for to contemporary, jazz and/or baroque music events. Ticket draw takes place on Monday April 3, 2006 9:00pm at Grano Restaurant Tickets are , or 6 for 0 ' \ ,....-.... ,· ', ·,, \' I ,, / To purchase your tickets: visit www continuummusic.orn to order and pay online or call (416) 924-4945 to request tickets by mail Raffle entrants must be residents of Ontario and 18 years of age or older. *Travel between Sept. 15- Oct. 2ih, 2006 inclusive. 7/ Tr,,Wf.l .~Gflf CY U/!11[:I LLOYD HOTEL 26 WWW. TH EWHOLENOTE.COM M ARCH 1 - APRIL 7 2006
torontohearandnow roundup by Keith Denning There was an exciting development in the new music world in Canada recently, and the Toronto Coalition of New Music Presenters is pleased to be a part of it. After extensive discussions with the national new music community, the Canadian New Music Network has been established. This is a network of artists, ensembles, producers, labels, educators, and fans of new music who believe in the importance and value of creative music making. This is an exciting step for the new music community in Canada, which has recognized, over the past number of years, the increased need of Canada-wide organizations to promote new music in all of its forms. Please visit www.newmusicnetwork.ca to learn more and to join the network. THE RISING GENERATION Right at the top of the month, on March 1st, at the brand-new Young Centre for the Performing Arts in the Distillery, Tapestry New Opera presents Opera To Go, six short chamber operas by composers Aaron Gervais, Rose Bolton, Andrew Staniland, and others. This promises to be a rich and varied show, featuring music from the rising generation of Toronto's composers. (You can read more about it in Chris Hoile's On Opera.) On Saturday, March 18th, Earshot Concerts returns after a nearly year-long hiatus with Bassic Reeding, a concert of new music for low winds, featuring the talents of Max Christie on bass clarinet and Wallace Halladay on baritone saxophone, performing a varied contemporary program, including works by Torontonians Rose Bolton, Erik Ross, and yours truly, Keith Denning. Bassic Reeding will be presented at the Music Gallery. Again at the Music Gallery, on March 24th, is Toca Loca's new concert, Words We (Never) Use, featuring works by Rzewski, Globokar, and Andrew Staniland. _________ _ JOHN KAMEEL FARAH John Kameel Farah is a pianist and an electronics wizard who is quite busy this month. On March 9th, he will be at the Music Gallery to launch the fascinating DVD project entitled GRAVIT AS . This collaboration between himself and astronomer John Dubinsky is billed as "a convergence of music and astronomy. " Farah is a fantastically imaginative improviser, performer, and composer, and I am certain that this performance will be very John Farah impressive. Later in the month, on March 21st, Farah will perform a solo concert of improvised and experimental music at the Drake Hotel. WOMEN COMPOSERS CONTACT Contemporary Music presents a show entitled Girlfriend on March 8th, which is International Women' s Day. The concert features new and recent works by women composers, mainly from Canada, including Monique Jean, Dierdre Piper, Linda Catlin Smith, Lori Freedman, and Ann Southam, one of my personal favourites . Girlfriend is being presented at the Music Gallery. This sounds like one not to miss. At the end of the month (March 30th), the Heliconian Club presents another concert of works, titled Finding North by Canadian women composers. You can read about the origins of this concert in Allan Pulker's Quodlibet, elsewhere in this issue. MORE IMPROVISATION Fans of improvisation will not want to miss the improv quintet comprising Henry Kaiser, Lukas Ligeti, John Oswald, Michael Snow and Casey Sokol. This is a possible one-time-only coming together of this remarkable group of musicians. Don't miss them on March 26th at the Music Gallery. (And on March 28th, the Music Gallery presents another evening of improvisations, this time at the Red Guitar, on Markham Street just south of Bloor.) REVIEWS Finally, I invite readers to tell us what you think of the concerts you attend. You can post your concert reviews at the Coalition of New Music Presenters' website: www .torontohearandnow.com. M ARCH 1 - A PRIL 7 2006 WWW, TH EWHOLENOTE,COM 27
