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Volume 13 - Issue 5 - February 2008

wh,olenote~The Toronto

wh,olenote~The Toronto Concert-Goer's Gu ideVolume 13 #5, February 1- March 7, 2008Copyright © 2007 Whole Note Media , Inc.720 Bathurst Street, Suite 503, Toronto ON M5S 2R4416-323-2232 info@thewholenote.com fax 416-603-4791General Inquiries: Extension 21Publisher: Allan Pulker, extension 27; publisher@thewholenote.comEditor: David Perlman, extension 28 ; editorial@thewholenote .comNational & retail advertising :Allan Pulker, extension 27; publisher@thewholenote.comEvent advertising/membership:Karen Ages, extension 26; members@thewholenote.comProduction liaison/education advertising :Jack Buell, extension 25: adart@thewholenote.comClassified Advertising; Announcements, Etc:Simone Desilets, extension 29; classad@thewholenote.comListings department: extension 21; listings@thewholenote.comDavid Perlman, Sophie Bisson, Richard Haskell , Joyce LeungJazz Listings: Sophia Perlman, extension 28; jazz@thewholenote.comCirculation, Display Stands & Subscriptions:Chris Malcolm, extension 33; circulation@thewholenote.comProduction: 416-351-7171; Fax: 416-351-7272Production Manager: Peter Hobbs, production@thewholenote.comLayout & Design: Verity Hobbs, Rocket Design (Cover Art)Systems Manager: systems@thewholenote.comWebmaster: Colin Puffer, webmaster@thewholenote.comContributors:Discoveries Editor: David Olds, discoveries@thewholenote.comBeat by Beat: Quodlibet (Allan Pulker); Early (Frank Nakashima); Choral(Allan Pulker); World (Karen Ages); New Music (Richard Marcello} ; Jazz (JimGalloway) ; Band (Jack MacQuarrie); Opera (Christopher Haile , Phil Ehrensaft);Musical Life (mJ Buell}; Books (Pamela Margles)Features (this issue):CD Reviewers (this issue): Jim Galloway, Terry Robbins, Bruce Surtees,Ken WaxmanProofreaders: Karen Ages, mJ Buell, Simone DesiletsListings: Sophie Bisson, Richard Haskell , Joyce LeungDATES AND DEADLINESNext issue is Volume 13 #6 covering March 1 - April 7, 2008Display Ad Reservations Deadline: 6pm Friday, February 15, 2008Free Event Listings Deadline: 6pm Friday, February 15, 2008Advertising Materials Due: 6pm , Tuesday, February 19, 2008Publication Date: Friday, February 29, 20086april 9 - 1 7 newcreationsfcstiYal.com~ TIPPET~RICHARDSON BMO e· Fmanc1al Group~ :{, i,~ CONCERT SEASON Conductors' Podium SponsorWholeNote Media Inc. accepts noresponsibility or liability for claims madefor any product or service reported onor advertised in this issue.Circulation Statement,November 2007:30,000 printed and distributedPrinted in Canada by Couto Printing andPublishing ServicesCanadian Publication Product SalesAgreement 1263846ISSN 14888-8785 WHOLENOTEPublications Mail Agreement #40026682Return undeliverable Canadianaddresses to:WholeNote Media Inc.503-720 Bathurst StreetToronto ON M5S 2R4www.thewholenote.comWWW,THEWHOLENO TE, COM F EBR U ARY 1 - M ARCH 7 2008

FOR OPENERS •••F oreshorteningsThis young year has already had some magical musicalmoments which, no matter what transpires, will remain,for me, among its highpoints.One was in the midst of an extraordinary two day, twoconcertpresentation by New Music Concerts. The focus ofthe weekend was the work of Edgard Varese (of whom ithas been said that he suffered by being the greatest composerof the 21 " century in the middle of the 201h). But thefocus of the moment to which I am referring was notVarese but Varese's erstwhile student, composer ChouWen-chung who, well into his eighties, stood before ustirelessly regaling us with extraordinary insights into hisown, and Varese's, music and lives.The year was 1937 and Chou Wen-chung found himself inShanghai, after hardships he remained silent on, steps aheadof the invading Japanese- Shanghai, as he tells it, waspeopled by expatriate Russians, Jews mainly, teaching themusic he had already had found himself drawn to. And then,.... the moment: on one particular day, in the Englishlanguagenewspaper, a story that the composer MauriceRavel had died. "It would not have occurred to me till thatmoment" said Chou "that Ravel had been still alive. " Andimmediately another thought: "And I said to myself 'ifRavel who is an undoubted composer could have been aliveonly yesterday, then I, who am undoubtedly alive today, canbe a composer too.'"And that moment put me in mind of another, several yearsearlier, that had struck me the same way. It was a salonstyleconcert presented by Off Centre Music Salons - InnaPerkis and Boris Zarankin - and one of their guests that daywas violinist Jacques Israelievitch. He had played theDebussy violin sonata and, in the context of the conversationthat flows easily at such salon-style events, Israelievitch hadmentioned that his own violin teacher had received the piecefrom Debussy himself. Another one of those moments,where history foreshortens itself - the line of demarcationbetween the dead greats and our small selves blurring intosmall specific meetings, in which lore and learning passfrom one living person to the next, and the notes on thescore become merely minutes of the meeting.At least, that is how I'd remembered, or maybemisremembered, the story, so in talking with Israel ievitchfor this month's cover story, I thought I'd better check.GREAT CHAMBER MUSIC DOWNTOWNTOKYO STRINGQUARTETThursday February 7at8 pmHaydn, Lera Auerbach,BrahmsZORANA SADIQsopranoThursday, February 14at8pmwith pianist PeterTiefenbach and tablaShawn MativetskyTickets just !JON KIMURAPARKERTuesday February 26at8pmAlexina Louie, Schumann,StravinskyGRYPHON TRIOTuesday March 4at8pm15th anniversary concertMozetich, Schumann,Stankovych, Beethoven"You've remembered it quite well" he said. My teacherwas Gaston Poulet, I was 10-14. I would hear him practisethe piece and started learning it that way . Yes, Debussyhimself had played the piano part for Poulet. I still rememberbeing taken by Poulet to Passy, to Debussy's tomb andthe big effect it had on me. It brought home the link we havewith these composers, flesh and blood."Welcome to another month of chance encounters in thegreat continuum of musical common time.to rontdartsbo u ncil>.norrn'slenothbodyollh•C•yo! Trnonto~·YoOON~www.music-toronto.comatBfB Canada Council Conseil des Ar1s~lorlheArts du CanadaJ)A_ ONTARIO ARTS COUNCIL7-1\ CONSEILDES ARTS DEl.:ONTARIOJane Mallett TheatreSt. LAWRENCE CE NTRE ['c ARTS416-366-7723 • 1-800-708-6754order online at www.stlc.comF EBRUARY 1 - M AR CH 7 2008 WWW. THEWHOLENOTE.COM 7

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