Ida recently in town KAVAFIAN interviewed by Pam Margles Ida Kavafian's career encompasses a remarkable range of musical activities. Violinist with Tashi, the Beaux Arts Trio, and Opus One, frequent guest with other ensembles, concerto soloist with major orchestras, a core member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, long-time artistic director of Music from Angel Fire, as well as a teacher at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, Kavafian has even toured and recorded with jazz artists Chick Corea and Wynton Marsalis. Equally accomplished on violin and viola, she has mastered the complete repertoire for both instruments, from baroque to contemporary, including many works written for her. And to top it off, she breeds prize-winning champion dogs. Kavafian has visited Toronto frequently throughout her career, most recently last month with Amici. I spoke with her in her hotel room the day before the concert. 'I've been very all-inclusive by design,' she said. 'I realty like doing everything. So I've tried to have a lot of variety.' But chamber music has always been at the heart of her musical life. 'It's the most fulfilling part. With chamber music, you learn from your colleagues, if you do it the right way. But the money is not good in chamber music, and it's very sporadic, so it's very difficult to make a living doing chamber music alone.' 'If I hadn't had my quartet Tashi at the beginning of my career in the 1970s I might have pursued more solo opportunities. did things in a reverse order from how most people think it goes, which is to study your solo stuff and then become a chamber musician.' Tashi gained acclaim for its adventurous repertoire and the extraordinary musicianship of members Kavafian, clarinetist Richard Stoltzman, cellist Fred Sherry and pianist Peter Serkin. 'Peter has as great a technique as any of today's young sensations. But he does not use his technique in the same way. He uses his technique to make music. And that's always been my desire in my own music making.' Her six years during the 1990's with pianist Menahem Pressler and cellist Peter Wiley in the legendary Beaux Arts Trio were 'a wonderful experience, playing all that repertoire over and over again in such an intense way. I love that repertoire. It's almost like playing sonatas. You can have a more individual style than in a string quartet. But it was too much touring.' After they had both left the Beaux Arts, Kavafian and Wiley formed Opus One with Kavafian's husband, violist Steve Tenenbom, who also teaches at Curtis, and pianist Anne-Marie Mc Dermott. 'We run Opus One by ourselves as a cooperative, without an agent. I actually do all the bookings.' For Kavafian's Toronto concert, Amici pianist Patricia Parr and cellist David Hetherington were joined by the Toronto Symphony's new principal violist, Teng Li. 'I taught Teng Li at Curtis. Shumsky would ... only give you fingerings after you'd worked on them yourself. [When] I said "where should I get the fingerings and bowings?" he looked at me like I was from Mars. She's a big talent, a wonderful, wonderful player, so I wanted to do this concert with her. It's been great to catch up with her again.' Kavafian has been teaching at Curtis for the past nine years. 'Curtis is the most exclusive conservatory in the United States - possibly in the world. Only Curtis has merit-based admissions. To get in, the only consideration is performing ability. No one pays any tuition. That, of course, attracts the best players. So most of the kids I teach are incredibly gifted and are going to make a living in music.' 'It's a unique place. Students at Curtis can write their own tickets, pretty much. They can study with two private teachers, and can have as much chamber music coaching as they want.' Kavafian requires all her violin students to play a lot of chamber music. 'I also encourage them to play viola. It gives them a great perspective on music and on their instrument.' 'There's a very nurturing feeling, like a family. There are only 160 students, with over 80 faculty. That proportion is amazing. It's probably harder for kids to leave Curtis than another music school where they are not as well taken care of. I went to Juilliard, so I'm very aware of the differences between schools like Juilliard and Curtis.' 'When I was a student, I was a voracious concert-attender. I heard some of the greatest musicians, like Richter, Oistrakh, Horszowski, and Milstein. I worked with Nathan Milstein - it was just tremendous. His classes and his concerts were such an inspiration. We would visit him at the Stanhope, across the park, and he would take us out for burgers, his favourite dinner.' 'My main teacher was Oscar Shumsky. He had a strong Canadian connection - he was a close colleague of Glenn Gould and he used to perform up here frequently. He was the biggest musical influence in my life. When he demonstrated in a lesson it was the best violin playing I've ever heard, on the level of Kreisler and Heifetz. His recordings don't show him in his best light. It was his students who heard him play at his greatest. If there were more than even a few people in the room, he would lose a little something. He certainly had many, many fans, people who appreciated his incredibly deep music making. But he just stood up there and played, without the histrionics that go on with some performers.' 'With my first teacher at Juitliard, Ivan Galamian, there had been an emphasis on violin playing. But with Shumsky, first you thought about the music, and then you thought about how the violin playing could make that music live and breathe. And then you stopped thinking about playing the violin and just thought about the music again. You made choices in bowings, fingerings and interpretation simply for musical reasons. In other words, the violin served the music. Before that a lot of what I had seen was quite the other way around, where you use the music to show off your violin playing.' 'Of course this has influenced the way I teach. In class, Shumsky would make you think for yourself and make decisions without being spoon-fed. He would only give you fingerings after you'd worked on them yourself. At my first lesson with him, he said, "Bring the Rondo Capriccioso next week".' 'I said "Great, but where should I get the fingerings and bowings?" He looked at me like I was from Mars, and said, "Go 14 WWW. THEWHOLENOTE.COM JUNE 1 - JULY 7 2006 Back to Ad Index
Back to Ad Index home, work on it yourself - and bring it back to me next week". When I got home I felt like I'd never played the violin before. With Galamian, you played the same fingerings and bowings as everybody else. You usually slowed down in the same places and sped up in the same places. My sister studied with him for seven years and he was great for her, but I was looking for something else. He could teach me the bow arm, but I wanted to talk about music.' Kavafian's sister, Ani Kavafian, is a violinist with an equally successful career. They often play together in chamber music. They also give concerts together as a duo. 'We always have a good time. We don't do too much of it - just enough to keep it really fun .' 'My parents, who were both musicians, were very smart to purposely not have us play together when we were little. My sister was also a very accomplished pianist, so she used to play piano for me. But we never played violin together until we had both established our careers. One day, Ani's husband said, "Let's celebrate your sisterhood and put on a concert". So he produced our first concert together at Carnegie Hall in 1983. Since then we play a few concerts a year with our long-time pianist, Jonathan Feldman.' Kavafian also performs frequently with Tenenbom, who is responsible for the gorgeous bouquet of flowers, topped by two balloons saying "Happy Anniversary', which sits on the desk in Kavafian's hotel room. 'We all do a lot of chamber music together, especially at summer music festivals. We all play at my sister's series in New Jersey, and we are all members of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.' 'Steve and I play works for two violas - we have a crazy piece by George Benjamin called Viola Viola, and Viola Zombie by Michael Daugherty. He is my composer-in-residence this summer at Angel Fire. I've been playing his violin concerto Fire and Blood quite a bit. I premiered it with the Detroit Symphony, who commissioned it. Michael based it on Diego Rivera's murals at the Detroit Institute of Art. Coincidentally, I grew up in Detroit, and was always amazed by them.' Kavafian was born in Istanbul, and moved to United States when she was three. Both parents were Armenian. 'I feel very strongly Armenian. My first language was Armenian. I do like playing Armenian composers like Komitas. My sister and I have some arrangements for two violins. There is a certain soul in his music that I really relate to. Krunk, which means 'the crane', is very emotional for us. It's about the flight of the Armenians from their homeland. Every Armenian knows that piece. But I'm not that fond of the Khachaturian concerto, so I don't play it much. Kavafian has had the same violin, made by Guadagnini in 175 1, since she was a student. 'A friend wanted me to go with him to get his cello adjusted at Wurlitzer. He said , "Why don' t you pretend you're looking for an instrument?" So I asked Marianne Wurlitzer, "Do you have a Stradivarius for sale?" She said, "No, but we have three Guadagninis." She put me in a room with the three instruments. I loved the first one. Then I picked this up, ' she says, pointing to the gorgeous instrument lying in its case on the bed. 'I drew the bow over the a string and couldn't believe the personality that instrument had. It suited me so well, I just had to have it. I never even tried the third.' 'I showed it to Felix Galimir, who taught me chamber music. Felix was a great musician in every way, with integrity, fierceness and passion. He said, "This is great - you've got to get it". I'm very fortunate that I found it as early as I did. At the time it seemed like an unbelievable amount of money, but buying it now would be next to impossible.' I notice the pictures of Stravinsky and the painter Frida Kahlo, who was Rivera's wife, inside the lid . 'I usually have photos of my dogs everywhere in my violin case, but since I got this new case I haven't put my dog pictures back in. ' Kavafian, with her husband, has four purebred champion Hungarian Vizslas which she breeds, trains and shows herself. It CONTINUES NEXT PAGE ) UNE 1 - ) ULY 7 2006 WWW. TH EWHOLENOTE. COM rnSinfqnia 1oronlo NURHAN ARMAN MUSIC DIRECTOR Toronto's Premier Chamber Orchestra 2006-2007 Masterpiece Series featuring Sinfonia Toronto with international soloists and conductors Saturdays, 8 pm, Grace Church-on-the-Hill, 300 Lonsdale Rd BEETHOVEN'S WORLD Oct 7 Richard Raymond, Pianist CHAN KA-NIN The Land Beautiful ·,-: BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 2 ~ SHOSTAKOVICH Quartet No. 1 orchestra/version / j BEETHOVEN Grosse Fugue AUTUMN COLOURS Nov 18 Jesus Amigo, Conductor Angela Park, Pianist, Etsuko Kimura, Violinist CHAUSSON Concerto for Violin and Piano HARRY FREEDMAN Fantasy and Allegro MOZART Quintet K614 orchestral version ...1..::;;;.;:;;~,:-1,L CHRISTMAS FANCIES Dec 9 Floortje Gerritsen, Violinist Ballet Espressivo FEBRUARY HEATWAVE Feb 3 Giancarlo De Lorenzo, Conductor Antonio di Cristofano, Pianist HEALEY WILLAN Poem CHOPIN Piano Concerto No. 2 FUCHS Serenade WINTER DREAMS March 10 Julian Milkis, Clarinetist CORELLI Christmas Concerto MOZART Violin Concerto No. 2 ANDRE PREVOST Scherzo TELEMANN Don Quixote Suite GADE Children's Christmas Eve BRAHMS Clarinet Quintet JEAN COULTHARD A Winter's Tale SHOSTAKOVICH Quartet No. 11 orchestral version SPRING SONGS April 14 Rui Massena, Conductor Mario Carbotta, Flutist LISZT Angelus! 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Choral Scene: Uncharted territory: three choirs finding paths forward; Music Theatre: Loose Tea on the boil with Alaina Viau’s Dead Reckoning; In with the New: what happens to soundart when climate change meets COVID-19; Call to action: diversity, accountability, and reform in post-secondary jazz studies; 9th Annual TIFF Tips: a filmfest like no other; Remembering: Leon Fleisher; DISCoveries: a NY state of mind; 25th anniversary stroll-through; and more.
Online in flip through here, and on stands commencing Tues SEP 1.
Following the Goldberg trail from Gould to Lang Lang; Measha Brueggergosman and Edwin Huizinga on face to face collaboration in strange times; diggings into dance as FFDN keeps live alive; "Classical unicorn?" - Luke Welch reflects on life as a Black classical pianist; Debashis Sinha's adventures in sound art; choral lessons from Skagit Valley; and the 21st annual WholeNote Blue Pages (part 1 of 3) in print and online. Here now. And, yes, still in print, with distribution starting Thursday October 1.
July/August issue is now available in flipthrough HERE, bringing to a close 25 seasons of doing what we do (and plan to continue doing), and on stands early in the week of July 5. Not the usual bucolic parade of music in the summer sun, but lots, we hope, to pass the time: links to online and virtual music; a full slate of record reviews; plenty new in the Listening Room; and a full slate of stories – the future of opera, the plight of small venues, the challenge facing orchestras, the barriers to resumption of choral life, the challenges of isolation for real-time music; the steps some festivals are taking to keep the spirit and substance of what they do alive. And intersecting with all of it, responses to the urgent call for anti-racist action and systemic change.
"COVID's Metamorphoses"? "There's Always Time (Until Suddenly There Isn't)"? "The Writing on the Wall"? It's hard to know WHAT to call this latest chapter in the extraordinary story we are all of a sudden characters in. By whatever name we call it, the MAY/JUNE combined issue of The WholeNote is now available, HERE in flip through format, in print commencing Wednesday May 6, and, in fully interactive form, online at thewholenote.com. Our 18th Annual Choral Canary Pages, scheduled for publication in print and flip through in September is already well underway with the first 50 choirs home to roost and more being added every week online. Community Voices, our cover story, brings to you the thoughts of 30 musical community members, all going through what we are going through (and with many more to come as the feature gets amplified online over the course of the coming months). And our regular writers bring their personal thoughts to the mix. Finally, a full-fledged DISCoveries review section offers cues and clues to recorded music for your solitary solace!
After some doubt that we would be allowed to go to press, in respect to wide-ranging Ontario business closures relating to COVID-19, The WholeNote magazine for April 2020 is now on press, and print distribution – modified to respect community-wide closures and the need for appropriate distancing – starts Monday March 30. Meanwhile the full magazine is right here, digitally, so if you value us PLEASE SHARE THIS LINK AS WIDELY AS YOU CAN. It's the safest way for us to reach the widest possible audience at this time!
FEATURED: Music & Health writer Vivien Fellegi explores music, blindness & the plasticity of perception; David Jaeger digs into Gustavo Gimeno's plans for new music in his upcoming first season as music director at TSO; pianist James Rhodes, here for an early March recital, speaks his mind in a Q&A with Paul Ennis; and Lydia Perovic talks music and more with rising Turkish-Canadian mezzo Beste Kalender. Also, among our columns, Peggy Baker Dance Projects headlines Wende Bartley's In with the New; Steve Wallace's Jazz Notes rushes in definitionally where many fear to tread; ... and more.
Visions of 2020! Sampling from back to front for a change: in Rearview Mirror, Robert Harris on the Beethoven he loves (and loves to hate!); Errol Gay, a most musical life remembered; Luna Pearl Woolf in focus in recordings editor David Olds' "Editor's Corner" and in Jenny Parr's preview of "Jacqueline"; Speranza Scappucci explains how not to reinvent Rossini; The Indigo Project, where "each piece of cloth tells a story"; and, leading it all off, Jully Black makes a giant leap in "Caroline, or Change." And as always, much more. Now online in flip-through format here and on stands starting Thurs Jan 30.
Welcome to our December/January issue as we turn the annual calendar page, halfway through our season for the 25th time, juggling as always, secular stuff, the spirit of the season, new year resolve and winter journeys! Why is Mozart's Handel's Messiah's trumpet a trombone? Why when Laurie Anderson offers to fly you to the moon you should take her up on the invitation. Why messing with Winterreisse can (sometimes) be a very good thing! And a bumper crop of record reviews for your reading (and sometimes listening) pleasure. Available in flipthrough here right now, and on stands commencing Thursday Nov 28. See you on the other side!
On the slim chance you might not have already heard the news, Estonian Canadian composing giant Udo Kasemets was born the same year that Leo Thermin invented the theremin --1919. Which means this is the centenary year for both of them, and both are being celebrated in style, as Andrew Timar and MJ Buell respectively explain. And that's just a taste of a bustling November, with enough coverage of music of both the delectably substantial and delightfully silly on hand to satisfy one and all.
Long promised, Vivian Fellegi takes a look at Relaxed Performance practice and how it is bringing concert-going barriers down across the spectrum; Andrew Timar looks at curatorial changes afoot at the Music Gallery; David Jaeger investigates the trumpets of October; the 30th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution (and the 20th Anniversary of our October Blue Pages Presenter profiles) in our Editor's Opener; the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir at 125; Tapestry at 40 and Against the Grain at 10; ringing in the changing season across our features and columns; all this and more, now available in Flip Through format here, and on the stands commencing this coming Friday September 27, 2019. Enjoy.
Vol 1 of our 25th season is now here! And speaking of 25, that's how many films in the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival editor Paul Ennis, in our Eighth Annual TIFF TIPS, has chosen to highlight for their particular musical interest.
Also inside: Rob Harris looks through the Rear View Mirror at past and present prognostications about the imminent death of classical music; Mysterious Barricades and Systemic Barriers are Lydia Perović's preoccupations in Art of Song; Andrew Timar reflects on the evolving priorities of the Polaris Prize; and elsewhere, it's chocks away as yet another season creaks or roars (depending on the beat) into motion. Welcome back.
What a range of stuff! A profile of Liz Upchurch, the COC ensemble studio's vocal mentor extraordinaire; a backgrounder on win-win faith/arts centre partnerships and ways of exploring the possibilities; an interview with St. Petersburg-based Eifman Ballet's Boris Eifman; Ana Sokolovic's violin concert Evta finally coming to town; a Love Letter to YouTube, and much more. Plus our 17th annual Canary Pages Choral directory if all you want to do is sing! sing! sing!
Arraymusic, the Music Gallery and Native Women in the Arts join for a mini-festival celebrating the work of composer, performer and installation artist Raven Chacon; Music and Health looks at the role of Healing Arts Ontario in supporting concerts in care facilities; Kingston-based composer Marjan Mozetich's life and work are celebrated in film; "Forest Bathing" recontextualizes Schumann, Shostakovich and Hindemith; in Judy Loman's hands, the harp can sing; Mahler's Resurrection bursts the bounds of symphonic form; Ed Bickert, guitar master remembered. All this and more in our April issue, now online in flip-through here, and on stands commencing Friday March 29.
Something Old, Something New! The Ide(a)s of March are Upon Us! Rob Harris's Rear View Mirror looks forward to a tonal revival; Tafelmusik expands their chronological envelope in two directions, Esprit makes wave after wave; Pax Christi's new oratorio by Barbara Croall catches the attention of our choral and new music columnists; and summer music education is our special focus, right when warm days are once again possible to imagine. All this and more in our March 2019 edition, available in flipthrough here, and on the stands starting Thursday Feb 28.
In this issue: A prize that brings lustre to its laureates (and a laureate who brings lustre to the prize); Edwin Huizinga on the journey of Opera Atelier's "The Angel Speaks" from Versailles to the ROM; Danny Driver on playing piano in the moment; Remembering Neil Crory (a different kind of genius)' Year of the Boar, Indigeneity and Opera; all this and more in Volume 24 #5. Online in flip through, HERE and on the stands commencing Thursday Jan 31.
When is a trumpet like a motorcycle in a dressage event? How many Brunhilde's does it take to change an Elektra? Just two of the many questions you've been dying to ask, to which you will find answers in a 24th annual combined December/January issue – in which our 11 beat columnists sift through what's on offer in the upcoming holiday month, and what they're already circling in their calendars for 2019. Oh, and features too: a klezmer violinist breathing new life into a very old film; two New Music festivals in January, 200 metres apart; a Music & Health story on the restorative powers of a grassroots exercise in collective music-making; even a good reason to go to Winnipeg in the dead of winter. All this and more in Vol 24 No 4, now available in flipthrough format here.
Reluctant arranger! National Ballet Orchestra percussionist Kris Maddigan on creating the JUNO and BAFTA award-winning smash hit Cuphead video game soundtrack; Evergreen by name and by nature, quintessentially Canadian gamelan (Andrew Timar explains); violinist Angèle Dubeau on 20 years and 60 million streams; two children’s choirs where this month remembrance and living history must intersect. And much more, online in our kiosk now, and on the street commencing Thursday November 1.
Presenters, start your engines! With TIFF and "back-to-work" out of the way, the regular concert season rumbles to life, and, if our Editor's Opener can be trusted, "Seeking Synergies" seems to be the name of the game. Denise Williams' constantly evolving "Walk Together Children" touching down at the Toronto Centre for the Arts; the second annual Festival of Arabic Music and Arts expanding its range; a lesson in Jazz Survival with Steve Wallace; the 150 presenter and performer profiles in our 19th annual Blue Pages directory... this is an issue that is definitely more than the sum of its parts.
In this issue: The WholeNote's 7th Annual TIFF TIPS guide to festival films with musical clout; soprano Erin Wall in conversation with Art of Song columnist Lydia Perovic, about more than the art of song; a summer's worth of recordings reviewed; Toronto Chamber Choir at 50 (is a few close friends all it takes?); and much more, as the 2018/19 season gets under way.
PLANTING NOT PAVING! In this JUNE / JULY /AUGUST combined issue: Farewell interviews with TSO's Peter Oundjian and Stratford Summer Music's John Miller, along with "going places" chats with Luminato's Josephine Ridge, TD Jazz's Josh Grossman and Charm of Finches' Terry Lim. ) Plus a summer's worth of fruitful festival inquiry, in the city and on the road, in a feast of stories and our annual GREEN PAGES summer Directory.
In this issue: our sixteenth annual Choral Canary Pages; coverage of 21C, Estonian Music Week and the 3rd Toronto Bach Festival (three festivals that aren’t waiting for summer!); and features galore: “Final Finales” for Larry Beckwith’s Toronto Masque Theatre and for David Fallis as artistic director of Toronto Consort; four conductors on the challenges of choral conducting; operatic Hockey Noir; violinist Stephen Sitarski’s perspective on addressing depression; remembering bandleader, composer and saxophonist Paul Cram. These and other stories, in our May 2018 edition of the magazine.
In this issue: we talk with jazz pianist Thompson Egbo-Egbo about growing up in Toronto, building a musical career, and being adaptive to change; pianist Eve Egoyan prepares for her upcoming Luminato project and for the next stage in her long-term collaborative relationship with Spanish-German composer Maria de Alvear; jazz violinist Aline Homzy, halfway through preparing for a concert featuring standout women bandleaders, talks about social equity in the world of improvised music; and the local choral community celebrates the life and work of choral conductor Elmer Iseler, 20 years after his passing.
In this issue: Canadian Stage, Tapestry Opera and Vancouver Opera collaborate to take Gogol’s short story The Overcoat to the operatic stage; Montreal-based Sam Shalabi brings his ensemble Land of Kush, and his newest composition, to Toronto; Five Canadian composers, each with a different CBC connection, are nominated for JUNOs; and The WholeNote team presents its annual Summer Music Education Directory, a directory of summer music camps, programs and courses across the province and beyond.
In this issue: composer Nicole Lizée talks about her love for analogue equipment, and the music that “glitching” evokes; Richard Rose, artistic director at the Tarragon Theatre, gives us insights into their a rock-and-roll Hamlet, now entering production; Toronto prepares for a mini-revival of Schoenberg’s music, with three upcoming shows at New Music Concerts; and the local music theatre community remembers and celebrates the life and work of Mi’kmaq playwright and performer Cathy Elliott . These and other stories, in our double-issue December/January edition of the magazine.
In this issue: conversations (of one kind or another) galore! Daniela Nardi on taking the reins at "best-kept secret" venue, 918 Bathurst; composer Jeff Ryan on his "Afghanistan" Requiem for a Generation" partnership with war poet, Susan Steele; lutenist Ben Stein on seventeenth century jazz; collaborative pianist Philip Chiu on going solo; Barbara Hannigan on her upcoming Viennese "Second School" recital at Koerner; Tina Pearson on Pauline Oliveros; and as always a whole lot more!
In this issue: several local artists reflect on the memory of composer Claude Vivier, as they prepare to perform his music; Vancouver gets ready to host international festival ISCM World New Music Days, which is coming to Canada for the second time since its inception in 1923; one of the founders of Artword Artbar, one of Hamilton’s staple music venues, on the eve of the 5th annual Steel City Jazz Festival, muses on keeping urban music venues alive; and a conversation with pianist Benjamin Grosvenor, as he prepares for an ambitious recital in Toronto. These and other stories, in our October 2017 issue of the magazine.
In this issue: a look at why musicians experience stage fright, and how to combat it; an inside look at the second Kensington Market Jazz Festival, which zeros in on one of Toronto’s true ‘music villages’; an in-depth interview with Elisa Citterio, new music director of Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra; and The WholeNote’s guide to TIFF, with suggestions for the 20 most musical films at this year’s festival. These and other stories, in our September 2017 issue of the magazine!
CBC Radio's Lost Horizon; Pinocchio as Po-Mo Operatic Poster Boy; Meet the Curators (Crow, Bernstein, Ridge); a Global Music Orchestra is born; and festivals, festivals, festivals in our 13th annual summer music Green Pages. All this and more in our three-month June-through August summer special issue, now available in flipthrough HERE and on the stands commencing Thursday June 1.
From science fact in "Integral Man: Music and the Movies," to science fiction in the editor's opener; from World Fiddle Day at the Aga Khan Museum to three Canadians at the Cliburn; from wanting to sashay across the 401 to Chamberfest in Montreal to exploring the Continuum of Jumblies Theatre's 20-year commitment to the Community Play (there's a pun in there somewhere!).
In this issue: Our podcast ramps up with interviews in March with fight director Jenny Parr, countertenor Daniel Taylor, and baritone Russell Braun; two views of composer John Beckwith at 90; how music’s connection to memory can assist with the care of patients with Alzheimer’s; musical celebrations in film and jazz, at National Canadian Film Day and Jazz Day; and a preview of Louis Riel, which opens this month at the COC. These and other stories, in our April 2017 issue of the magazine!
On our cover: Owen Pallett's musical palette on display at New Creations. Spring brings thoughts of summer music education! (It's never too late.). For Marc-Andre Hamelin the score is king. Ella at 100 has the tributes happening. All; this and more.
In this issue: an interview with composer/vocalist Jeremy Dutcher, on his upcoming debut album and unique compositional voice; a conversation with Boston Symphony hornist James Sommerville, as as the BSO gets ready to come to his hometown; Stuart Hamilton, fondly remembered; and an inside look at Hugh’s Room, as it enters a complicated chapter in the story of its life in the complex fabric of our musical city. These and other stories, as we celebrate the past and look forward to the rest of 2016/17, the first glimpses of 2017/18, and beyond!
In this issue: a conversation with pianist Stewart Goodyear, in advance of his upcoming show at Koerner Hall; a preview of the annual New Year’s phenomenon that is Bravissimo!/Salute to Vienna; an inside look at music performance in Toronto’s health-care centres; and a reflection on the incredible life and lasting influence of the late Pauline Oliveros. These and more, in a special December/January combined issue!
In this issue: David Jaeger and Alex Pauk’s most memorable R. Murray Schafer collabs, in this month’s installment of Jaeger’s CBC Radio Two: The Living Legacy; an interview with flutist Claire Chase, who brings new music and mindset to Toronto this month; an investigation into the strange coincidence of three simultaneous Mendelssohn Elijahs this Nov 5; and of course, our annual Blue Pages, a who’s who of southern Ontario’s live music scene- a community as prolific and multifaceted as ever. These and more, as we move full-force into the 2016/17 concert season- all aboard!
Music lover's TIFF (our fifth annual guide to the Toronto International Film Festival); Aix Marks the Spot (how Brexit could impact on operatic co-production); The Unstoppable Howard Cable (an affectionate memoir of a late chapter in the life of of a great Canadian arranger; Kensington Jazz Story (the newest kid on the festival block flexes its muscles). These stories and much more as we say a lingering goodbye to summer and turn to the task, for the 22nd season, of covering the live and recorded music that make Southern Ontario tick.
It's combined June/July/August summer issue time with, we hope, enough between the covers to keep you dipping into it all through the coming lazy, hazy days. From Jazz Vans racing round "The Island" delivering pop-up brass breakouts at the roadside, to Bach flute ambushes strolling "The Grove, " to dozens of reasons to stay in the city. May yours be a summer where you find undiscovered musical treasures, and, better still, when, unexpectedly, the music finds you.
INSIDE: The Canaries Are Here! 116 choirs to choose from, so take the plunge! The Nylons hit the road after one last SING! Fling. Jazz writer Steve Wallace wonders "Watts Goode" rather than "what's new?" Paul Ennis has the musical picks of the HotDocs crop. David Jaeger's CBC Radio continues golden for a little while yet. Douglas McNabney is Music's Child. Leipzig meets Damascus in Alison Mackay's fertile imagination. And "C" is for KRONOS in Wende Bartley's koverage of the third annual 21C Festival. All this and as usual much much more. Enjoy.
From 30 camp profiles to spark thoughts of being your summer musical best, to testing LUDWIG as you while away the rest of so-called winter; from Scottish Opera and the Danish Midtvest, to a first Toronto recital appearance by violin superstar Maxim Vengerov; from musings on New Creations and new creation, to the boy who made a habit of crying Beowulf; it's a month of merry meetings and rousing recordings reviewed, all here to discover in The WholeNote.
2016 is off to a flying start! We chronicle the Artful Times of Andrew Burashko, the violistic versatility of Teng Li, the ageless ebullience of jazz pianist Gene DiNovi and the ninetieth birthday of trumpeter Johnny Cowell. Jaeger remembers Boulez; Waxman recalls Bley's influence, and Olds finds Bowie haunting Editor's Corner. Oh, and did we mention there's all that music? Hello (and goodbye) to the February blues, and here's to swinging through the musical vines of the Year of the Monkey.
What's a vinyl renaissance? What happens when Handel's Messiah runs afoul of the rumba rhythm setting on a (gasp!) Hammond organ? What work does Marc-Andre Hamelin say he would be content to have on every recital program he plays? What are Steve Wallace's favourite fifty Christmas recordings? Why is violinist Daniel Hope celebrating Yehudi Menuhin's 100th birthday at Koerner Hall January 28? Answers to all these questions (and a whole lot more) in the Dec/Jan issue of The WholeNote.
"Come" seems to be the verb that knits this month's issue together. Sondra Radvanovsky comes to Koerner, William Norris comes to Tafel as their new GM, opera comes to Canadian Stage; and (a long time coming!) Jane Bunnett's musicianship and mentorship are honoured with the Premier's award for excellence; plus David Jaeger's ongoing series on the golden years of CBC Radio Two, Andrew Timar on hybridity, a bumper crop of record reviews and much much more. Come on in!
Vol 21 No 2 is now available for your viewing pleasure, and it's a bumper crop, right at the harvest moon. First ever Canadian opera on the Four Seasons Centre main stage gets double coverage with Wende Bartley interviewing Pyramus and Thisbe composer Barbara Monk Feldman and Chris Hoile connecting with director Christopher Alden; Paul Ennis digs into the musical mind of pianist Benjamin Grosvenor, and pianist Eve Egoyan is "On the Record" in conversation with publisher David Perlman ahead of the Oct release concert for her tenth recording. And at the heart of it all the 16th edition of our annual BLUE PAGES directory of presenters profile the season now well and truly under way.
Paul Ennis's annual TIFF TIPS (27 festival films of potential particular musical interest); Wu Man, Yo-Yo Ma and Jeffrey Beecher on the Silk Road; David Jaeger on CBC Radio Music in the days it was committed to commissioning; the LISTENING ROOM continues to grow on line; DISCoveries is back, bigger than ever; and Mary Lou Fallis says Trinity-St. Paul's is Just the Spot (especially this coming Sept 25!).
