On our Cover:Stepping into Jazz Historywith Gene DiNoviInterview by Pamela MarglesEntering Gene DiNovi's studio is like stepping intojazz history - but this is history as it's still beingmade. The large room on the top floor of his downtownToronto townhouse is dominated by a Steinway grand. On thepiano lie some of his arrangements of Gershwin tunes he played ata concert in Kitchener the previous night. The walls are coveredwith photos and posters of concert dates from around the world.Books and scores are piled up everywhere.DiNovi has played piano with legendary singers like PeggyLee, Lena Horne, Tony Bennett, Anita O'Day, Carmen Mccrae,Billy Holiday, Dinah Shore and Frank Sinatra, and worked withjazz greats like Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Buddy Defranco,Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Zoot Sims, RubyBraff, Benny Carter, and even Frank Zappa.He points to a photo of the Claude ThornhillBand's rhythm section. 'My son William isnamed after Thornhill's drummer, Billy Exiner.Billy never made the history books, but he was avery interesting guy, and a great influence. At28, he had never played drums, but one night hejust sat down at the drums at a dance .. . . He wasour cultural guru. I called him the 'sleeping sage'because he would sleep anywhere. The Thornhill band created anincredibly impressionistic cloud-like sound, and Billy would literallyfall asleep playing.''Claude's orchestra was seminal in the forties . But whenever hebecame successful, he would break up his band. He couldn't standsuccess. But his rhythm section wanted to stay together, so they putan ad in Downbeat Magazine, "Rhythm Section for Hire". PeggyLee, who was very smart, hired them. They'd go to Nola's Studioin New York and play. Miles Davis, Stan Getz, Brew Moore, allthese guys would walk in and join them. That's how I startedworking with them.'Two portraits of DiNovi in the studio were sketched by TonyBennett. 'Tony is a great ballad singer, and he can get a rhythmthing going better than Frank Sinatra. But it's more show businessthan jazz. Sinatra's not a jazz singer, either. There's a recording ofhim trying to sing Billy Strayhorn's Lush Life. He just couldn't doit. He tried Have a Heart, which I wrote with Johnny Mercer, andsaid, "Nobody can sing this. " Whereas Peggy did it easily, withphrasing and subtlety. Peggy swung.''I actually learned the most from working with Lena Horne and herhusband, the arranger Lennie Hayton. Lena's not a jazz singer either.But who cares - she's a great performer, even more than a great singer.,'A lot of swing musicians hired us because they wanted to learnabout bebop. Artie Shaw called me to his apartment to show himwhat bebop was about. You know everything when you're eighteenyears old! But there was a lot of friction between the swing andbebop players, with people hating each other. The older musiciansdidn't think we could swing, and they were quite right, at thatpoint. We were great but we weren't good, if you know what Imean. But we did fantastic things that scared the older guys, sothere was a lot of backlash. And we sure did learn to swing ....I never knew back then if I was going to play great or badly. Wetook chances. Playing that kind of music, you have to take hugerisks because it's very hard.''When I joined Benny Goodman's group, he really wanted tofind out about what we were doing. The only time Goodman wastruly happy was when he was playing the clarinet. He was justmade to play that instrument - and he played it like no one ever"When people ask me howto play jazz, I always say,study Ravel for harmony,play the Bach Inventions fortechnique, and swing, becausethey swung. Afterthat ... learn all the tunes."played it. I used to sit alone with him all day in the back of hishouse in Connecticut just playing. He could be very thoughtless,and didn't realize when he hurt people. But I would love to wakeup tomorrow and be able to play with him again. There's an impetusof swing with anything he did, something you can't define.'DiNovi, who was born in 1928, started studying piano whenhe was twelve, and was already playing professionally at fifteen. 'Iwas so in love with the stuff, and I was so young I didn't have thesense to be scared. My brother used to take me to vaudeville. I sawChick Webb's band with Ella Fitzgerald when Iwas about six, and she was about sixteen.''My first teacher, Frank Izzo was a hatblocker and a Communist. He loved music.But he was a really bad player. My brother wasan artist, and he earned his living by decoratinghouses in Brooklyn. Frank gave me some lessonsinstead of paying him for painting hishouse. It wasn't first-class teaching but hemade an eclectic out of me. A lesson wouldconsist of a Bach Invention, a novelty tune like Dainty Miss. Thenhe had me studying Joseph Schillinger's permutations!''When people ask me how to play jazz, I always say, studyRavel for harmony, play the Bach Inventions for technique, andswing, because they swung. After that you can learn all the tunes.Bud Powell used to play Bach and then go and play Bud Powell -and it all showed.''I've always been in love with harmony. It's supposed to be along suit of mine. I learned from Chuck Wayne, a great virtuosoguitar player. He taught me the tunes and the chords. He hadworked with a gorgeous piano player named Clarence Profit, whowrote Lullaby in Rhythm, which was really the first bebop tune.The older I get, the more I feel that I don't need frills. Basie wasthe most original piano player of all time - he just found his ownway of playing. But he could do stride and all that other stuff too,which he learned from Fats Waller.''The best thing we can do is find our own way of expressingourselves that we really feel, so it comes out with substance. A lotof players get ruined when they try to be little John Coltranes, BillEvans, or Charlie Parkers. We all listened to each other, and itshowed. You have to give a guy like Paul Desmond credit forplaying a different way from Charlie Parker. You've got to try foryour own thing. We all are able to do it if we understand that wecan all do things that the other guy can' t do, and we can't do thingsthat he does - that's the beauty of it. Music will eventually humbleyou, one way or the other.'DiNovi gestures to a photo of a very large man with a beautificsmile. ' I dedicated my recording Live at the Montreal Bistro to thegreat Tiny Kahn. Tiny was about 6'4" and 300-and-somethingpounds. He looked like a whale. He was a wonderful wiz, and anincredible personality. I remember when we were waiting to recordwith Lester Young. I was all of twenty, and he said to me, like thiswas a dream, "Man, you' re going to record with Prez." Tinyswung, so Lester really liked him. Now I realize how ill Lesterwas at that time, but, boy, he really played.''Lester had his own language. You just had to figure it out.He would turn to you while you 're playing, and say, "GeorgeWashington". Okay, he meant "Go to the bridge of the tune". Ifhe liked something, he'd say, "Bells". And ifhe didn't like some-12 WWW.THEWHOLENOTE.COM N OVEMBER 1 - D ECEMBE R 7 2006
··'From left to right:DiNovi with Teddy Wilson(c.1967, photo TommyShepherd);With Benny Carter (1995);With Duke Ellington (1968).thing, he'd say, "No bells". This was an inventive mind. There usedto be a saying that if you threw something out a window in New Yorkin those days you would hit a Lester Young-type tenor player'.'But if Lester got drunk, you ran the other way fast. Zoot Simswas the only junkie I ever knew who was always affable, without abad bone in his body. Even in the worst times he always had a greatsense of humour. He was a fun-lover, and he played that way.''But those guys didn't play better because they did drugs, eventhough they thought they did. They were just so good they wereable to do it. We're talking about maybe twenty-five very talentedmusicians. But there were another 2,000 who were also killingthemselves with drugs and drinking, but couldn't play anyways. Ijust never understood. I guess I would have had a bigger name todayif I had been one of them. But I'd be dead like they are.'DiNovi has always spent a lot of time with classical musicians,like the avant-garde composer Stefan Wolpe, who taught some ofDiNovi's jazz friends. 'We were around him all the time in NewYork. He liked jazz musicians. I used to listen to records with him.He was an egomaniac, but I liked him. He was very dramatic, verygrand, and he had a bit of confidence. But let's face it, if you'regoing to write music like that you've got to be able to afford it.Guys would put money in a bowl for him.'When I ask DiNovi whether there is anyone he wishes he hadplayed with, he is, for the first time during our interview, at a lossfor words. 'I was lucky enough to play with everybody we've talkedabout. So it's more a matter of some people I wish I had playedmore with, like the drummer Kenny Clarke.''But playing alone is absolutely the badge of honour. If you'rereally comfortable doing that, you've passed a supreme test. I'm stillnot there, but I get closer every time. That's why I still practice. Alot of bass players don't like two-fisted piano players. I knew I wasstarting to play really good solo piano when a bass player walkedout on me. He said, "You're playing my part, man".''But it can be a pleasure to give up being that definite with theleft hand when you're with a great bass player like Dave Young,Neil Swainson or Don Thompson. In my era, the bebop thing wasto hit a chord and then be brilliant with the right hand. So we didn'thave to use the left hand, even though there were very few greatbass players in those days, not as many as there are now. But I'malways developing my left hand.'Since his move to Toronto in 1972, DiNovi has found terrificmusicians to record and work with. Along with Young, Thompsonand Swainson, there's the remarkably versatile clarinetist JamesCampbell, known primarily as a classical musician, as well as drummersTerry Clarke and Joe LaBarbera.DiNovi has a special rapport with audiences. 'I like people. I liketo talk to them.' He reaches them directly. It's a talent that has puthim frequently on radio and television, and taken him all over theworld performing and giving masterclasses. In fact his latest disc,Flower of the Night, was recorded on one of his many trips to Japan.'I went to Russia in 1967 with Dinah Shore. Dinah was anAmerican icon at that point. It was like she was in her living roomwith these people. But we were playing in a circus in Minsk. It wasthe most interesting experience of my life. I never want to do itagain. The orchestra was great. The lead trumpet player played sobeautifully he could make you cry, but the guy right next to himcouldn't play anything. We couldn't figure it out. They gave DinahEXPERTS, MAKERS AND DEALERS INFINE INSTRUMENTSBased 11pon three generations of experience and internationalreputation, we continually strive to ju!jill the exacting requirementsof plqyers, teachers and progressing students alike.Pianos: Toronto'sSteinway Gallery andRestoration Centre, ~Ifeaturing the entire lineof Steinway designedpianosStrings: Violins,violas, cellos, andbows fromstudent level torare masterworks.Professionally setup rentals, repairsand valuationsare alsoavailable.~-Sheet Music & Books:Canada's largest sheetmusic selection for allinstruments and voices.Guitars: A uniqueselection handcraftedfrom Canada, theUS and Europe.lMusiKids: Anentire departmentdedicatedto inspiringchildren withmusic.STEINWAY & SONStSStAwww.remenyi.com1h. "> /1 . .;. ... ·\
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!).
