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Volume 12 - Issue 10 - July/August 2007

  • Text
  • Festival
  • Chart
  • Jazz
  • August
  • Toronto
  • Musical
  • Theatre
  • September
  • Concerts
  • Choir

QuonLrnET: Outdoor

QuonLrnET: Outdoor Pickscontinued from page 101 .. . ~Amphitheatre at Lanaudieredoing a concert performance; and organist, AndrewHenderson, a recent graduate from TheJuilliard School with a Doctor of Musical Artsdegree in organ performance, will give a midweek,late afternoon recital.A festival I have never got to so far is theKincardine Summer Music Festival, on theshores of Lake Huron west of both Symphonyin the Barn and Stratford Summer Music. Maybethis is the year. It has a very strong educationalcomponent for both classical music and.jazz and its strong teaching staff feature pr?m1-nently in an interesting concert array. Music atPort Milford, near Picton in Prince EdwardCounty, has a similar formula - a music campwith faculty performances at a church in Picton.I made it to one of their fine string quartetconcerts a few years ago, and would welcomethe chance to go back. Another festival which Iam still looking forward to is the HuntsvilleFestival (a visit to which would combine wellwith Festival of the Sound). Among otherthings, Huntsville this summer offers the opportunityto hear three very different vocal. luminaries,baritone Russell Braun, tenor MichaelBurgess, and folk legend Bruce Cockburn. Imust go!!! .I always enjoy my visits to the Brott Festivalin Hamilton too. While Hamilton isn't exactlyrural, it offers sufficient contrast to makeme feel quite rejuvenated. The musical content,under the capable direction of Boris Brott, isalways of a high standard, making the trip wellworth while on that count as well.Two of my very favourite festivals are theFestival of the Sound and the Ottawa InternationalChamber Music Festival. What I particufor Tickets and Information larly like is programming throughout the daycall (105) 75+-+167 orand into the evening. While I love evening concerts,there is much to be said for going toconcerts earlier in the day, when everyone, artistsand audience, are fresher and perhaps a bitE_mail admin@patria.org or more attentive. In addition, hearing two orvisit our websitewww. patria music.ca"Without man the worldwas born andw1tho11t him 1t shall end"12' !· ·$(;.;:>

I . 0. Mt1sical Diaryby Colin EatockStyle WarsMay 24, 2007: As I'm listening to Steve Reich's minimalist musingsat one of Soundstream's "Cool Drummings" concerts, I find myselfwondering why this blatantly un-modernist style made such a bigsplash in the United States when it emerged there in the 1970s? Andwhy has it made so small a splash here in Canada? After the concert,the second question, in particular, stays in the back of my mindfor the next few weeks.June 2, 2007: Tonight, the Elgin Theatre is just about packed forthe second of three performances of Philip Glass's and LeonardCohen's new work, Book of longing. It's nice to see a new audiencefor new music - but where's the "old" audience for new music?Scanning the theatre (and also watching people as they exit atthe end of the show), I see exactly one person I know, whom Iwould describe as a regular attendee of contemporary-music concertsin Toronto.This well advertised event - a world premiere by an internationallyfamous composer - seems to have been shunned by thiscity's traditional new-music community. I' m reminded of the firsttime I heard the Philip Glass Ensemble in Toronto, back in 1980:the concert was punctuated by prominent local composers getting upand walking out.June 14, 2007: I attend a little celebration at the Canadian MusicCentre, marking the launch of the CMC's new website, "Influencesof Many Musics." (The site is quite impressive, by the way: youcan find a link to it on the CM C's main website, at www .musicentre.ca.) Spotting several knowledgeable experts in the crowd, I askthem who Canada's minimalists are. One suggests the composerMarjan Mozetich - "sort of" - and another points out that AnnSoutham acknowledges the influence of the American minimalistTerry Riley. A contemplative silence descends on the small group,and no further names emerge.Then I notice Frank Horvat in the corner. I first met thisToronto composer some years ago, but haven't seen him for awhile. Because Horvat is something of a minimalist, I ask him whythe style hasn't won many adherents here in Canada. Without hesitation,he replies that minimalism "is opposed by the Canadian academictradition." He adds that he'll send me a copy of his latestcompact disc.June 25, 2007: As I write these words, I'm listening to Horvat'sCD, "I'll Be Good," a collection of piano works he's composedand performed. It's an eclectic mixture of various influences - everythingfrom Steve Reich to Billy Joel - and it sounds very "American"for a Canadian composer. (Space doesn't permit a full reviewof the disc here, but I can say that I was most impressed by thehaunting exoticism of track 12, entitled "Smokers.")I'm still wondering what it means that Canadian composershave largely shunned minimalism - and that the few who have takenan interest tend to be marginalized by some movers and shakers inCanada's "official" contemporary-music community. I'm not sayingthat minimalism is necessarily better than the European high-modernisttradition: on the contrary, I have problems with the oppressive,obsessive nature of many minimalist scores , and the tendency forsome minimalists - Glass, in particular - to repeat themselves fromone work to the next.I guess what I'm really getting at is how music, and theteaching of music, can take on the dogmatic aspects of religious orpolitical indoctrination, with certain ideas labeled orthodox, and othersheterodox. "We don't do that here," said John Weinzweig, duringhis years as a University of Toronto composition professor,whenever a student brought him a score with a major triad in it.Does anyone really benefit from such efforts to police style?Colin Eatock is a Toronto-based composer and writer, who frequentlycontributes to the Globe and Mail and other publications.The Music Gallery presenisXAVANTSEPT. 13-16, 2007FEAT __; RIN GPAULINE OLIVEROS & ANNE BOURNEPl CASTROMADAWASKA STRING QUARTETTRICHY SANKARANRAINER WIENS' FOLLOW FOLLOWWOODEN STARSEUGENE CHADBOURNE & JIMMY CARL BLACKSRUDRESH MAHANTHAPPA & RICH BROWNDAVID DANIELL'S SUNFISHCONTACT CONTEMPORARY MUSICDES CALLIOUX ET DU CARBONEMusicGallery1•t 1 .I 1:. 1.'197 JOHN ST. ·TORONTO, ON· MST 1X6 · WWW. MUSICGA LL ERY.O RGNormanReintammnewArtisticDirector andPrincipalConductort o ro n t ea rts::;o u n c iiNEW MUSIC FESTIVALSECONO EOITIONCathedralBluffsSy_mphonyOrchestraJoin us for five subscription concertsin our exciting new venue:the P.C. Ho Theatre in theChinese Cultural Centre of Greater Torontowww.cathedralbluffs.com416 879 5566to rontdartsbo u nci IA n aHn 's l ~ ng•~ Ddy GI 111e City o• Tor onl aJ ULY 1 - SE PTEM BE R 7 2007 WWW.TH EWHOLENOTE.COM 13

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