seasons, making their temporary home among the sensational acoustics of Trinity College Chapel. Later in the month there are three excellent programs that caught my eye and interest: the East York Choir, conducted by Jenny Crober, are offering a Celtic Song and Dance celebration on May 27 with some of Canada's top Celtic instrumentalists, Pax Christi Chorale Stephanie Martin, Conductor 2006-07 20th Anniversary Season AUDITIONS • the 80-voice oratorio choir • • choral scholars (honorarium position) • • the inaugural Pax Christi Chamber Choir • • an assistant conductor • • professionals interested in solo work • To arrange an audition, contact Hugh at lyshugh@eol.ca www.paxchristichorale.org The Bach Elgar Choir is seeking an Artistic Director/Conductor for an 80 member mixed adult choir in the city of Hamilton, Ontario. With its exceptional performances, the Bach Elgar Choir, the second oldest choral organization in Canada, has enriched its cultural and artistic community for 101 years. Knowledge of the best choral music and the skills to conduct both choir and orchestra are essential to the successful candidate who must also enjoy and work well with choristers and members of the community. Salary is based on weekly rehearsals and scheduled performances from September to May. Deadline for applications is July 31, 2006. This position is to begin in September, 2006 . For further information contact David Duff, Artistic Director Search Committee, Bach Elgar Choir, 86 Homewood Avenue, Hamilton, Ontario L8P 2M4 E-mail duffd@sympatico.ca.: website: www.bachelgar.com including Anne Lederman, Brian Taheny and Sharlene Wallace. The program includes excerpts from the popular Celtic Mass for the Sea. On the same evening, Robert Cooper's Orpheus Choir is presenting the premiere of a new show from Canada's priceless PrimaDonna MaryLou Fallis. Entitled Prima Donna Choral is, it promises to be a hi larious send-up of the wonderful world of choral music. Written by BOSLEY REAL ESTATE OOSLEY ~EAL EST AHL TD . RE;.LTOP. PETER MAHON Sales Representative 416-322-8000 pmahon@trebnet.com www.petermahon.com MaryLou and her supremely witty pianist Peter Tiefenbach, Prima Donna Choralis is also being presented with choirs elsewhere in Ontario this month (check the out-of-town listings for details). The Nathaniel Dett Chorale - which acquitted itself brilliantly in the recent CBC Easter Sunrise broadcast - is in concert on May 31. Conductor Brainerd Blyden-Taylor has put together another fascinating program of Afro-American choral music entitled "And still we sing: let us rise in love". June begins with important concerts by the Amadeus Choir (June 3) and Penthelia Singers (June 4) and also on June 4, the Toronto Jewish Folk Choir has its 80th anniversary celebration! Ron Cheung's choir Voices is having its 10th anniversary in June, as well. Ron is anxious to hear from past members of the choir who might be interested in returning to sing in this concert and help them celebrate. You can contact him at rkmcheung@yahoo.ca More about all of this in next month's column. Enjoy the warm weather .. . and the music! Position Open Organist I Choir Director Port Perry United Church Duties to commence Sept. 1, 2006 Send resumes by June 1, 2006 Apply to: Music Search Committee Port Perry United Church 294 Queen St., Port Perry, Ont. L9L 1 B9 or e-mail to portunited@bellnet.ca a school with a Notable difference! Home of the renowned boys' choir of St. Michael's Cathedral, our school provides a superb musical and academic education for boys in grades 3 through 12. Admission is normally at grade 3. with a few openings in upper years for boys who love to sing and have a good musical ear. AUDITIONS are now in progress. Please call for information. 66 Bond St. Toronto ON (416) 393-5518 www.smcs.on.ca VocalPoint Chamber Choir Ian Grundy, Musical Director Stephen Powell, Interim Conductor Toronto's most dynamic semi-professional Chamber Choir ANNUAL OPEN AUDITIONS JUNE 2006 Experienced choral singers are invited to apply for paid and unpaid positions in the choir for the 2006/07 Season Phone (416) 461-8301 for an audition time WWW. THEWHOLENOTE.COM AY 1 - UNE 7 LO
WORLD View by Karen Ages Spring brings Bollywood fever May is South Asian Heritage Month, and Alan Davis of Small World Music has put together another stellar line-up of musicians for the occasion. This year's concerts include: Bollywood Fever, a fundraiser for children in Bangladesh on May 3; TANTRA & Catherine Potter's Duniya Project, May 12; auto rickshaw, with guests Trichy Sankaran and members of the Hannaford Street Silver Band, May 13; the Gundecha Brothers of Bhopal, who specialize in the ancient Hindustani vocal form Dhrupad, May 19; and Bageshree Vaze & Vineet Vyas, kathak dance and music, May 26. For more details, see our daily I is tings or visit www.smallworldmusic . com (Small World also presents Sima Bina, a night of Persian folk music, on May11.) If you live in Hamilton, the Malhar Group Music Circle and the Jhankar Academy of Performing Arts presents its own South Asian Heritage Music Festival, May 6, at the Downtown Arts Centre. Beginning at 3:30 the program includes a variety of performers oflndian music and dance. And May 27, the Indo Canadian Networking Council of Hamilton presents sitar player Neeraj Prem's Ragaffaire, at the Hamilton Convention Centre. This gala dinner event will be presided over by Hamilton's mayor, Larry DiLanm. And there's more on the same theme: the Toronto Tabla Ensemble and Joanna de Souza'sChhandam Dance Company join forees May 26 and 27 at M-DO (50 Spadina); and tabla player Ravi Naimpally's band Tasa performs May 18 at the Supermarket (268 Augusta, Kensington Market) and June 3 in Creemore, Ont. (see www.tasamusic. com). There are three choral concerts this month on world music themes: Echo Women's Choir celebrates its 15th anniversary (and Mother's Day) on May 14 with music from many countries and in many languages, at Church of the Holy Trinity. The East York Choir presents an evening of Celtic song and dance, with guest musicians Loretto Reid (tin whistle, flute , concertina, accordion), Sharlene Wallace (celtic harp), Anne Lederman (fiddle), and others on traditional instruments, May 27 at Danforth Baptist Church. And the Toronto Jewish Folk Choir presents its 80th(!) annual spring concert on June 4 at the Leah Posluns Theatre. In addition to other works, the choir will premiere In Amerike , by Sid Rabinovich, a work for choir and klezmer band, based on a novel in verse by Montreal Yiddish poet Sholem Shtern. They'll be joined for this work by Beyond the Pale klezmer ensemble, who will also do a short set of their own. Beyond the Pale, recently named "best instrumental group" at the Canadian Folk Music Awards, will also perform May 15 at Beth Tikvah Synagogue, where they'll be joined by guest vocalist David Wall. Visit www.beyondthepale.net and www .musicabethtikvah.com. BEYOND THE PALE performs May 15 at Beth Tikvah, and June 4th at the Toronto Jewish Folk Choir 's eightieth spring concert. In the photo: Eric Stein (mandolin, cimbalom); Bret Higgins, bass; Martin Van de Ven, clarinet; Milos Popovic, accordion; Bogdan Djukic, violin Happy Birthday to Maza Meze! Toronto's (and perhaps Canada's) best loved Arabic/Greek band, rooted in tradition but not limited to it, celebrates ten years of music making, May 17 at Harbourfront Centre Theatre. Vocalists Jayne Brown, Sophia Grigoriadis and Jennifer Moore, along with instrumentalists John Gzowski, Kathleen Kajioka, Ernie Tollar, Debashis Sinha and Jeff Wilson, welcome former members, Canada's leading Arabic singer Maryem Tollar, and belly-dancer extraordinaire Roula Said. For more info on Maza Meze, visit their website, www .mazameze.com, or see this column in WholeNote's June 04 issue. Maryem and Roula will also perform June 1 at Arabic Night at the Lula Lounge, where they ' ll be joined by Karim Nagi (percussion), Dr. George Sawa (qanun), Bassam Bishara (oud) , Ernie Tollar (various), and Kathleen Kajioka (violin). For years, human rights groups have documented the often deadly persecution of practitioners of the peaceful spiritual discipline of Falun Gong in China. On May 27, the Global Mission to Rescue Persecuted Falun Gong Practitioners (GMR) is holding an Orphan Rescue fundraising concert, in support of children who have faced torture and lost their parents at the hands of the government. Two escapees now living in Australia and New Zealand will share their stories in an evening which will include dance and music from China . Visit www.rescuetlgchildren.ca. Vocalist and songwriter Eliana Cuevas invites you on a musical tour of South America, May 28 at the Mod Club. This Venezuelan native will perform a variety of Latin, Brazilian and Caribbean styles, bossa nova, Cuban rhythms and calypso, in English, Portuguese and Spanish. She'll be joined by Brazilian guitarist and percussionist Celso Machado, and Toronto band CaneFire, who mix calypso with blues, Cuban and Latin jazz. And looking ahead to June, the Muhtadi International Drumming Festival is back, June 2-4. Opening night is at Harbourfront's Brigantine Room; the rest takes place at Queen's Park, 1 lam to 8pm, free of charge. The festival showcases a huge variety of professional and community based drummers representing traditions from around the world. Visit www . muhtadidrum fest. com. WorldSongs Vocal Camp for Adults For people who love singing!!!! Village music from around the world including: Appa lachia , Eastern Europe, Georgia , and Ire land Leaders: Alan Gasser, Val Mindel, and Moira Smiley Where: Amherst Island on Lake Ontario (near Kingston) When: August 20-27, 2006 For info and applications, check out our website: www.worldsongs.ca E-mail: worldsongs3@yahoo.ca 416-588-9050, ex 2 MAY 1 - JUNE 7 2006 WWW.TH EWHOLENOTE . COM
