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Volume 14 - Issue 1 - September 2008

307t;h annualmusic

307t;h annualmusic festival--••w•••-ww••Thursday, September 18Chiwoniso with Valu David @ Lula Lounge (9 pm)Friday, September 19Los Lobos @ Massey Hall (8 pm)Electric Gypsyland @ Supermarket (10 pm)Saturday, September 20Mr. Something Something @ Conservation & Sustainability Fair,Evergreen Brick Works (12 noon)Sunday, September 21Odessa/Havana with Daddo @ Al Green Theatre (8 pm)Monday, September 22Little Cow @ Lula Lounge (8:30 pm)Tuesday, September 23Baba Zula @ Lula Lounge (9 pm)Wednesday, September 24Savina Yannatou•s Primavera en Salonico with Musica Nuda@ Lula Lounge (8:30 pm)Thursday, September 25Jason Wilson CD release feat. Pee Wee Ellis & Brinsley Forde@ Hugh's Room (8:30 pm)Autorickshaw with Gordon Sheard @ Lula Lounge (8:30 pm)Friday, September 26Jason Wilson CD release feat. Ernest Ranglin@ Hugh's Room (8:30 pm)Eccodek CD release with Kiran Ahluwalia & DJ Derek Beres@ Drake Hotel Underground (9 pm)Saturday, September 27One Voice @ Enwave Theatre (8 pm)Sunday, September 28Lo Cor de la Plana @ Lula Lounge (8:30 pm)Toubab Krewe & dj medicineman @ Revival (9 pm)Tuesday, September 30Vieux Farka Toure @ The Mod Club Theatre (9 pm)CanadianHo111~90! to rontoartsbou ncil i AMtoShareParnmcm

MUSICAL LIFEVladimir Orloff - a life in musicINTERVIEWED BY BRUCE SURTEESWho has not heard a recording of an old favouriteso fresh and captivating that one becomesintensely curious about the artist? Thiswas the feeling for me generated by a newrelease of Tchaikovsky's Rococo Variationsplayed by cellist Vladimir Orloff, recordedlive in 1970 with the Lucerne Chamber Orchestra(DOREMJ DHR-7896). Jn this performanceand in the following pieces on thisCD, in addition to a velvet tone, elegantphrasing and inspired musicianship, onesenses a depth and breadth of tradition andculture that captures Tchaikovsky's gamutfrom the poetic to the turbulent.Yet Orloff is not a household name as Rostropovichand Piatigorsky are, even thoughhe is very much in the same league. Jn anenthusiastic review of The Art of VladimirOrloff (DOREMJ DHR-7711/3, 3 CDs), Diapason,the influential French journal, states"Un violoncelliste de tres grande talent a(re)decouvir." Actually, Orloff was a wellknownand respected concert soloist duringthe 50s and 60s, regularly appearing withconductors the likes of Barbirolli, Bault, Sawallisch,Goossens, Silvestri, and Ancerl.His busy concert career slowed down inthe 70s after he became a cello professor atthe University of Toronto, devoting himself tohis students, the most notable of whom wasOfra Harnoy, who had come to him as a specialscholarship student from the Royal Conservatorywhen she was 12 years old. Healthproblems also contributed to the slowdown ofhis concert career. Nonetheless, he was stillperforming in various parts of the world untilhis retirement.Vladimir Orloff still lives in Toronto,where I spent a few delightfulhours with him just before hiseightieth birthday last May inwhich he reminisced about hisroots and career. Jn spite of hisyears, he is an athletic, handsomeman, with the charisma ofa matinee idol.So, start at the beginning ....I was born in Odessa. My father, a fine cellist,was my first teacher. I started with himbut father and son didn't work very well together... after a while he gave me to his beststudent. We lived in Minsk but my familycame from Bessarabia.I heard the Rococo Variations since beforeI was born because my father was practisingit all the time. In 1943 my parents moved toBucharest where my grandparents lived. Atthat time Romania was a German-controlledterritory.My father was not Jewish so the Nazis didnot touch us but my teacher was killed becausehe was Jewish and I witnessed it. Theway they killed him was to push him in a holewith many other people and put them on fire.Bucharest was such a big change frompoverty and war ... it was beautiful and prosperous.There was a king, princes, andcounts. Rich people sent their children to Paris... Most people spoke French. Very musicalpeople, the Romanians.The famous Grigoras Dinicu was active,leading his own orchestra in a posh hotelwhich had a concert hall. Jascha Heifetzstayed in this hotel and heard Dinicu playinghis Hora Staccato and asked for the music.The piece became almost a signature tune forHeifetz who played his own version of it andpopularized it. Another illustrious figure inBucharest was the violinist and composerGeorge Enescu. I heard Enescu conducting... by this time he was not playing anymore.Do you know the story about Enesco andRavel? When Enescu lived in Paris, Ravelpresented him with his new violin sonata. Thetwo played together with Enescu sight- readingthe violin part. After they finished Enescusaid "Let's do it again." Enescu put away thescore and played it entirely from memory!This episode was witnessed by Yehudi Menuhinwho was Enescu's pupil.When I was 16 I joined the BucharestSymphony Orchestra, a great orchestra. Atthat time Bucharest was influenced by theFrench style with cafes and an easy life. Underthe Communist regime things changed.I entered competitions and was successfulin winning the events in Bucharest, Warsaw,and Geneva. After winning the competitions,the Ministry of Culture awarded me the titleof State Soloist and I was then taken out ofthe orchestra and played with them only as aVLADIMIR ORLOFF, CONTINUES ON PAGE 50index of advertisersACROBAT Music 50DORIAN SONO-LUMINUS 12Music TORONTO 4 , 9ST . JOHN'S Music 29ADI BRAUN49ELMER l SELER SINGERS 35NEw Music CONCERTS 19ST. PATRICK'S PARISH CHURCH 36ALDEBURGH CONNECTION 17E NSEMBLE TRYPTYCH CHAMBER CHOIR 47OFF CENTRE Music SALON 37SWEETWATER Music WEEKEND 10ALL SAINT'S K.JNGSWAY ANGLICANESPRIT ORCHESTRA 3OPERA BY REQUEST 22T AFELMUSIK 64CHURCH 18ETOBICOKE CENTENNIAL CHOIR 24OPERA IN CONCERT 39TAPESTRY 21ALL THE KING'S VOICES 27ALLAN PULKER 40AMADEUS CHOIR 25AMICI 17AMOROS0 43ANNEX SINGERS 46ETOBICOKE SUZUKI SCHOOL 49GEORGE HEINL 24HAMILTON CONSERVATORYFOR THE ARTS 40HARKNETT M USICAL SERVICES 23HELICONIAN HALL 4 7ORPHEUS CHOIR 250SHAWADURHAMSYMPHONY ORCHESTRA 41PASQUALE BROS. 50PAX C HRISTI CHORALE 27PETER ARTHUR 49TORONTO BEACH CHORALE 47TORONTO CHAMBER CHOIR 25TORONTO CHILDREN'S CHORUS 26TORONTO CONSORT 38TORONTO MENDELSSOHN CHOIR 6TORONTO OPERA R EPERTOIRE 47ART OF TIME ENSEMBLE 38HIGH PARK CHOIRS 47PETER MAHON 26TORONTO PHILHARMONIA 15ATMA5HUMBERCREST UNITED CHURCH 46PRINCE EDWARD COUNTYTORONTO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA 2AUTORICKSHAW 36CANADIAN CHILDREN'S OPERA CHORUS 45INTERNATIONAL R ESOURCE CENTRE FORPERFORMING ARTISTS 18Music F ESTIVAL 40REMENYI HOUSE OF Music 14TORONTO WELSH MALE VOICE C HOIR 35TRYPTYCH PRODUCTIONS 22CANADIAN OPERA COMPANY 22J UBILATE SINGERS 47ROARING GIRL CABARET 28U OFT FACULTY OF M usic 33CANCLONE SERVICES 50KITCHENER-WATERLOOROEL OLAY INVESTMENT ADVISOR 46WELLINGTON WINDS 47CHRIST CHURCH D EER PARK JAZZCHAMBER ORCHESTRA 41ROGER B ERGS 49WHOLENOTE C LASSIFIEDS 4 6V ESPERS 28LA BELLE DANSE 45ROYAL CONSERVATORY OF Music 7WHOLENOTE MARKETPLACE/CITY OF TORONTO HisroRIC M USEUMS 44LI D ELUN Music FOUNDATION 44S ECOND VINYL 43EDUCATION 48Civic LIGHT OPERA COMPANY 33LONG & MCQUADE 26SHOKO I NOUE 35WHOLENOTE MARKETPLACE/CLASSICAL 96FM 61COLOURS OF Music 11CONTACT CONTEMPORARY 35CosMo Music 23COUNTERPOINT CHORALE 24MIKROKOSMOS 43MooREDALE CONCERTS 16MPCMus1c39Music GALLERY 20M usi c ON THE HILL 33SINFONIA TORONTO 15SMALL WoRLD Music 30SouND PosT 14SOUNDSTREAMS 13ST. JAMES' CATHEDRAL 32, 39SERVICES 51WINDERMERE STRING Q UARTET 18, 39WORLDS OF Music 4 5YAMAHA CANADA 63Y ORKMINSTER PARK BAPTIST CHURCH 38SEPTEM BER 1 - OCTOBER 7 2 008WWW. TH EWHOLENOTE.COM31

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