THE SMARTEST ,, TilVIE
THE SMARTEST ,, TilVIE TO INVEST IN A STEINWAY IS AL\VAYS THE SA lVlE. TODAY. Steinway Pianos have a legendary record ofjinancial appreciation, increasing in value to many times their original purchase price. lffe i11\lite you to visit us today or call for a complimentary investment brochure. 011tario'., Only Authorized Steinway Gallery and Restoration Centre. www.rernenyi.com On OPERA by Christopher Haile A house for all seasons The dream come true It seems impossible to believe, but it's true. On Sunday, June 11, Toronto's new opera house will open. On that day the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, the first purpose-built opera house in Canada will have its official ribbon-cutting. The COC has arranged a series of open houses and a host of celebratory events. The ribbon-cutting will symbolically bring to an end the 30 plus years the COC has struggled to have its own opera house. From its beginnings in 1950 the Canadian Opera Company performed at the Royal Alexandra Theatre, despite a pit accommodating at most 30 players. The company remained there until 1961 when it moved to the then new O'Keefe Centre (now the Hummingbird Centre). The O'Keefe, of course, was built as a touring venue not an opera house. There is no side stage or back stage for multiple sets to allow works to run smoothly in repertory. The pit holding at most 76 musicians has meant Wagner and Richard Strauss cannot be performed with full orchestra. The fan-shaped auditorium with 3, 155 seats on two levels was designed for size not intimacy or acoustics. The worst artistic minus is that from 1961 on amplification has had to be used so singers' and actors' voices could fill the hall. The idea that the COC should have its own house surfaced in the 1970s. The Odeon Carlton (now demolished), the Pantages (now the Canon) and the Elgin (where the company staged various productions in 1991-94) were all considered but all lacked sufficient backstage space and a large enough pit. Many will recall the period in the 1980s when the COC held a design competition for a ballet/house and had land designated for the building at Bay and Wellesley. Moshe Safdie won the competition and unveiled a spectacular model in 1989 scheduled to open in 1994. The Liberal government, however, gave priority to building the SkyDome. In 1990 the newly elected NDP government cancelled the government's financial commitment and in 1992 its offer of the land. (It did not go unnoticed that the 3 million the Ontario government lost in sale of the Sky Dome (now the Rogers Centre) in 1994 could have paid for the opera house. Such disappointments in the past make the physical presence of the building at Queen and University and its imminent opening seem all the more unreal. The Four Seasons Centre will not have the two side stages and the two back stages of the Safdie design, but will have one of each to allow three shows to run in repertory. Its pit will hold canary corrections, continued from p.18 offered for children in Grades 3- 6. For more information, call 416-932-8666, ext. 231. i nfo@torontochild renschorus. com www.torontochildrenschorus.com TORONTO WELSH MALE VOICE CHOIR The choir was founded in 1995 to kindle the tradition of four-part Welsh male voice singing. Under the leadership director David Low, associate director Lenard Whiting, and accompanist Kathryn Tremills, the choir has grown to an ensemble of 60 men from many ethnic backgrounds, performing approximately ten concerts a year. Membership requires an elemental audition, and an ear for, and a love of choral music. Repertoire includes: opera choruses, folk songs, show tunes, spirituals, and traditional Welsh music. Practices are held Wednesdays 7: 30-lOpm, September to June at Dewi Sant Welsh United Church, at Yonge/Lawrence. president@twmvc.com 416-410-2254 www.twmvc.com The Choral Canary Pages is available year-round at www.thewholenote.com Phone 416-323-2232 Main Store 210 Bloor St. \X' Toronto Tel 416.961.3111 North 1455 16th Ave. Richmond Hill Id 905 881 3400 ~------------ - -- - - 26 WWW. THEWHOLENOTE.COM ) UNE 1 - ) UL Y 7 2006 Back to Ad Index
Back to Ad Index 80 musicians in the open but can expand under the stage to accommodate up to 105. The auditorium will hold only 2000 on five levels in the time-honoured horseshoe format of the great opera houses of Europe. Unlike the European houses, however, there will be no "restricted-view seats" - all seats are designed to have a clear view of the stage. The ribbon-cutting ceremony on June 11 is an invitation-only event. On June 14 at 7.30pm comes a Fundraising Gala Concert featuring the COC Orchestra and Chorus and a spectacular line-up of Canadian opera stars including Ben Heppner, Adrianne Pieczonka, Gerald Finley and Brett Polegato. A live simulcast of the concert will be shown on large screens in Nathan Phillips Square. Further celebratory concerts follow on June 16 and 17 with the orchestra, chorus and stars. On June 17 and 18 are the first open houses for COC subscribers. Next is the schools' open house on June 23 featuring the first performance of a complete opera in the new house albeit in the main rehearsal hall , not in the auditorium. This is Dean Burry's Isis and the Seven Scorpions. Burry is already the composer of The Brothers Grimm, the most performed Canadian opera ever written, seen as part of the COC Ensemble school tours by over 50,000 schoolchildren since 2001. Isis, directed by Graham Cozzubbo and designed by Brent Krysa, concerns a group of university students who stumble across a lost temple of Isis and learn how the goddess travelled guarded by seven scorpions as she sought to hide her child Horus from the angry god Seth. When Isis seeks shelter in a village a rich woman, frightened by Isis's insect entourage, refuses her entry. A poor woman, however, helps the goddess who later comes to the woman's aid. On June 24 and 25 are the first open houses for the general public during which there will be mini-concerts by the COC Ensemble and further performances oflsis. The Four Seasons Centre is a dream come true not just for Toronto but for the nation. 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 index of advertisers WE ARE ALL Music's CHILDREN May's Child was musical theatre's Louise Pitre Louise grew up in Smooth Rock Falls, Ontario, the middle of three children. She began piano at six, and graduated from University of Western Ontario with a B.Mus(ed) en route to a sensible career as a high school music teacher -- except that performing in a revue (Flicks) during her final year at UWO had left her by mJ Buell hooked. She dug in her already elegant heels in the Toronto theatre scene - everything from temp-typing and wedding-singing with the same powerhouse energy that would eventually see her play Fantine in Les Miserables (Montreal, Toronto, Paris), and legendary French singer Edith Piaf in three different productions of Piaf As Donna Sheridan in Mamma Mia! (Toronto, Chicago, L.A., San Francisco) she made her Tonynominated Broadway debut at New York's Winter Garden Theatre. Louise's achievements include three Dora Mavor Moore awards (Mamma Mia!, Piaf, and Blood Brothers). She will receive an honourary diploma at the Humber Lakeshore Campus Nov 4th 2006, and an honourary Doctorate of Music June 12th at UWO. Louise's most recent recording is Shattered, which is her 3rd full-length CD - a "cathartic" journey of musical heartbreak songs. Currently ... ? She is the "Song" half of Song & Dance, the Andrew Lloyd Webber "concert for the theatre" held over for three weeks at the newly re-opened Danforth Music Hall. Song & Dance features Pitre, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet's internationally acclaimed Evelyn Hart and National Ballet of Canada soloist Piotr Stanczyk and a dynamite 6- person dance ensemble. Song and Dance will now run to June 18. CONGRATULATIONS to our winners! Tickets! Carrie Loring and a guest will attend a performance of Song and Dance at the Danforth Music Hall . CDs: Caroline Bonner and Irmgard Upmanis will each receive a copy of Shattered. Thank-you to all our readers who guessed. No June " Child" while we make a list Music's Children is busy making a list of mystery children for the 2006-2007 season! The contest series will relaunch in July/August . . 'Know someone whose photograph should appear on this page? Suggestions are most welcome! Contact musicschildren@thewholenote.com A CROBAT 4 0 Aucirn ARTS CHAMBER M usrc 33 A MADEUS CHOIR 19 AN AlEKTA 54 ASSOCIATES Of THE TSO 3 1 ATMA ClASSIOUE 7, 17, 2 1, 22 BAY BLOOR RADIO 56 BRon M usic FESTIVAL G5 CANClONE SERVICES 40 CARA A DAMS I J USTIN W ELSH 33 CBC RECOROS 47 CHRIST CHURCH DEER PARK J AZZ VESPERS 23 CoLUNGwooo Music FEsTIVAl G3 COSMO M USIC 23 Om SNIDER Music CENTRE 23 DAVID SWAN 32 ELENA C10RICI 40 Eu ANO FRIE NDS /LATIN SoutsTICE 23 ELORA f ESTIVAl Gl 1 ETOBICOKE CENTENNIAL CHOIR 2 0 f ESTIVAl OE LANAUOltRE 3 FESTIVAL Of THE Sourm 11 FESTIVAL WtNO ORCHESTRA 33 GEORGE H EINl 13 GRANO RIVER BAROQUE FESTIVAL 8 HARBOURFRONT CENTRE I ToRoNTO M usic GARDEN 29 HARKNETT M USICAL SERVICES 24 HARlEOUIN SINGERS 20 HEALEY WlllAN SINGERS 20 HEllCO NIAN HAll 40 HIGH PARK CHOIRS 19 I FUHIOSI B AROQUE ENSEMBLE 31 INNERM USICA 3 1 J AN ET CATHERlrlE DEA 32 LOCKRI DGE H1f1 13 LONG & M cOuAOE 38 M AESTRO ENTERPRISES 40 M ARKHAM THEATRE 5 M IKROKOSMOS 40 M oNTREAl BARoou, 8 M usrc FOR YouNG CHILDREN 39 Music IN THE ORCHARD, T ORONTO CULTURE 3 0 M usic M oNOAYS 28 M usic ON THE Hill 28 M usic Ptus 13 M usic ToRONTO 9 M usic, FRANCA 49 NAXOS 43 N,w Mus,c CONCERTS 31 No STRINGS THEATRE PRooucTIONS 36 NORTH 44' ENSEMBLE 20 ONTARIO GUilo Of HANOBEll R1NGERs 22 T AFElMUSIK B,Roou, ORGAN FDR Sm 41 SuMMER INSTITUTE 29 ORPHEUS CHOIR 18 TD CANADA TRUST 0SHAWA·0 URHAM SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA 34 T ORONTO J AZZ fESTIVAl 83 OTTAWA INT't. CHAMBER Music FESTIVAL 4 T ORONTO CHltORENS CHO RUS 19 PASOUAlE BROS . 4 0 TORONTO M ENDELSSOHN CHOIR 18 PETER MAHON 18 TORONTO SUMMER CHAMBER MUSIC PHIUP L. DAVIS, LUTHIER 17 FESTIVAL 2 RCM CoMMUNITY ScHoot 3 7 TORONTO SUMMER Music A cAOEMY REMEN YI HousE Of Mus,c 26 ANO FESTIVAL G6 ROBERT l owREY·s P1ANO EXPERTS 55 ToRONTO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA 53 SINFONIA TORONTO 15 TRUE NORTH BRASS 30 Sou, o PosT 17 V1cTOmA ScHOlARS 32 SouNoAX1s G7 · G 10 VoCALPOINT 27 SRI CANADA 6 WHOlENOTE M AGAZINE 50. 51 ST. Ros, OF L1MA CHURCH 34 WHOtENDTE MARKETPLACE 39. 4 1 STRmo,o SuMMER Music Gl3 WoMENS Mus1cAt Cw, 16 T AfElMUSIK 52 WYCHWOOO PARK PRODU CTIONS 4 5 JUNE 1 - JULY 7 2 006 WWW.THE WHOLENQTE.COM 27
