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Volume 11 Issue 7 - April 2006

  • Text
  • April
  • Toronto
  • Theatre
  • Jazz
  • Musical
  • Arts
  • Orchestra
  • Symphony
  • Concerto
  • Choir

~ 4 ,/ Be Our Guest

~ 4 ,/ Be Our Guest READER Pon FIRST UP IN THIS MONTH'S OPENER - thoughts from a WholeNote staffer on the phenomenal amount of building going on these days on behalf of music and the arts. "A couple of unique visions for arts education, " she says, "are in contrasting stages of bloom. " "I was at the late March opening of York University' s impressive new facility, the Accolade Project -- state-of-the-art teaching, exhibition and performance facilities in two new buildings, a 325-seat proscenium theatre with orchestra pit, a 325- seat recital hall with integrated recording studio, a 500-seat cinema-lecture hall, a performance halls lobby, specialized dance and music studios, dozens of cutting-edge 'smart' classrooms, labs and seminar rooms for general University use, two art galleries .... Phillip Silver, York's Dean of Fine Arts, spoke about 'tremendous synergy between disciplines, ... an accessible, dynamic Fine Arts cluster integrated within the larger academic community ... . '" Perhaps too a greater use of York as a venue by the community at large . Time will tell. "Meanwhile, the Royal Conservatory of Music awaits with great anticipation the completion of its downtown Telus Centre for Performance and Learning in 2007/08, an impressive complex which will include a 1, 140-seat concert hall, a new-media and broadcast centre, fully wired practice and teaching studios, rehearsal, studio and meeting rooms, a comprehensive music library, lobby with .... " The list goes on. "The Centre will bring a welcome resolution to the RCM' s present struggle to operate under less than ideal conditions while all the construction is taking place! The recent performances of Britten's A Midsummer Night 's Dream by the RCM Glenn Gould School Opera Ensemble - imaginatively produced and altogether on a very high artistic level - had to make do in a high school auditorium, with no orchestra pit and a shallow stage that allowed for only a minimal set. It's tantalizing to think what magic those fairies and elves might have wrought in the facility to come. For now, the potion still lies within the flower." Tapestry New Opera Works ' recent "Opera to Go" evening took place in an analogous facility -- George Brown College Theatre School's Young Centre for the Performing Arts -- part of the same largely welcome trend. If only one didn' t have to watch post-secondary proliferation with the same eyes that are seeing music education in our public schools (and other community centres) being hacked off at the knees. A question for the gifted , flocking to our post-secondary paradise: Where do audiences come from in a society of people deprived of early exposure to music? David Perlman, with files from Simone Desilets The topic this month is favourite (and least favourite) composers. +Who are your top three composers? +Who are three you think are over-rated and over-exposed? +Who are your three favourite Canadian composers? Complete this survey online at www.thewholenote.com Or send it in by mail or fax. Four randomly chosen respondents will each receive a one year free subscription to WholeNote. Dispatches from Vacuumland As could be expected, last month's reader poll Radio Listening Habits showed WholeNote readers are avid radio listeners - particularly to classical music. The most popular time to tune in is weekend mornings (72%), followed by weekday mornings (69%), weekday evenings (62%) and weekend afternoons (62% ), with weekday nights (52% ). Car radios were preferred listening device (85%) followed by hi-fl system (65% ). Classical music was listeners' first choice (58%) compared to 21 % for news and information and 17% for jazz. And 75% of readers said they confine their listening to either two or three stations. Said one, "Are there more than three radio stations in Toronto!!??" And don't forget! You can also tell us what you think of WholeNote in general when you respond to the poll. We love to have your feedback. Paul Farrelly May: Choral Music in Ontario: WholeNote's annual "Canary Pages," an invaluable guide to the choral scene in the province. Features on extra-mural children's choirs and the choral experience in Ontario's schools, past and present. Why did James Rolfe's school choir lapse when he was in grade 3? (See February's WholeNote, page 56.) Some of our upcoming editorial features and special directories Cana ry Pages A 010r;i! Dired0t)' June: Planning your musical getaway. WholeNote's annual "Green Pages" (profiles of summer music festivals in Toronto, within Southern Ontario, and within easy driving distance) enable you to plan a musical summer vacation. July/August: Comprehensive listings for the festivals profiled in the June issue. Reach WholeNote's 100,000+ readers. Get your choir or your summer festival profile into one or more of these upcoming issues. INFO@THEWHOLENOTE.COM OR 416-323-2232 10 WWW , TH EWHOLENOTE.COM APRI L 1 - M AY 7 2006

April's Cover What better photo to anchor our annual opera issue than La Musica in Monteverdi's Oifeo, "the first true opera" some say . "It' s a brand new image", photographer Bruce Zinger explains, "for the upcoming Oifeo." I try to persuade Zinger, who has been photographing for Atelier since 1999, to let me see other variations of the photo-­ other poses. "There was truly just the one", he says. And then as if by way of explanation, "It's Jeannette in the mask." (Dancer Jeannette Zyngg is co-artistic director of Atelier, the author of the company's elaborate language of movement-- the graceful choreographing of gesture that, because it is so formal, leaves the singers free to inhabit their mighty characters, without having to worry what their bodies are doing.) Bruce Zinger's current role with the company goes far beyond what one would normally think of as being in the photographer's purview. "Marshall (Pynkoski, Atelier artistic director) and I have been at it for abour five years now" Zinger says, "working on a more unified look and feel to the company's production photographs. think photographs like this one are very accessible stuff, reminiscent of paintings in the Louvre -- warm tones." great chamber music downtown TRIO FIBONACCI Thursday April 6 at 8 pm CANCELLED Ticket holders please contact Box Office 416-366-7723 NIKOLAI LUGANSKY 1994 Tchaikovsky Competition winner & recording star plays Beethoven & Chopin Tuesday April 11 at8 pm An unusual image for opera, in that Musica, masked, is voiceless? "If '-------------- you think about it," Zinger Bruce Zinger said, "photography is always like that - voiceless, frozen time. Its counterpart in music is the moment of 'rest' - of significant silence. But it was different, for sure. It's the first opera photo I've done where I didn't have to retouch the face .... Well there was one spot in the paint actually .... " Bruce's first photos for Opera Atelier in December 1999 were for Coronation of Poppea. "I had the technical talent," Bruce says, "and that was a start. They could relax knowing that we'd always be getting something usable from a shoot -- this was all pre-digital. But beyond the technical, there's being adept at the magic - being able to see the decisive moment." t o rontda.-ts~ou nci! ~ CanJda Counctl Co11se1I des Ar1s ...... Canadian Patr1rno,no ..,,.,,.,·,1eng1~11odyolt».C;1,01lorooto ~ forthoAr1s du Cunada .,,.... Hentuge canadiori "I remember one moment from the Houston Poppea" he says, where Poppea's husband is trying to kiss the passion back into their marriage and she hangs there passive in his embrace. Capturing her limp body hanging there speaks volumes, more than large gestures. Those are the moments I mean. Marshall and I have a real simpatico. We understand each other's take on things. We're both happy with what we're doing." David Perlman www.music-toronto corn Jane Mallett Theatre St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts 416-366-7723 • 1-800-708-6754 order online at www.stlc.com APRIL 1 - MAY 7 2006 www.THEWHOLENOTE.COM 11

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