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Volume 14 - Issue 5 - February 2009

there were many

there were many excellent such transcriptionsin the early part of the twentieth century, mostare now out of print and hard to find. In recentyears, Colin Clarke, a young Toronto basedconductor and clinician, produced a first ratetranscription of Holst' s orchestral suite ThePlanets. Unfortunately, such endeavours arerare.A century ago concert bands reached theirzenith with several famous ones touring theworld. The bands of John Philip Sousa, ArthurPryor, Edwin Franko Goldman and GiuseppeCreatore were household names in the early1900's. Although not as well known today asSousa, in his day, The Great Creatore was thedarling of concert audiences throughout NorthAmerica and in Europe. Creatore's Band wasfeatured at the Canadian National Exhibitionno fewer than ten times between 1914 and1926. Some years later, the great Canadianauthor Robertson Davies reminisced about achildhood visit to the CNE to hear one suchconcert in an essay entitled I Remember Creatore.What repertoire did The Great Creatoreselect for his concerts? A brief internetCREATOREAND HIS SANDMiss Katherine Rosenkranz ;:t:,'t.~ 11 •National Thea.treWashington, D. C.SUNDAY NIGHT, MAY 3, 1908l)rogramTL"l

On Operaby Christopher Haile----------- -A HIGHLIGHTOF FEBRUARYwill be theworld premiereof thenew Canadianchamberopera "Ines"produced byQueen ofPuddingsMusic Theatre.Foundedby musiciansJohnHess andDairine NfMheadhra in1995, thecompany hasan enviablerecord of Eponymous: Portugal's celebrated singercreating forward- Ines Santos in QoP title role.looking but immediatelyappealing new music theatre works like "Beatrice Chancy" byJames Rolfe and George Elliott Clarke in 1999 and "The MidnightCourt" by Ana Sokolovic and Paul Bentley in 2005. The latter becamethe first Canadian opera invited for performance at the LinburyStudio of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Currently, "LoveSongs", a song-cycle by Ana Sokolovic that debuted in Toronto in2008 is booked for tours to Montreal, Ljubljana, Zagreb and Paris."Ines" combines the talents of composer James Rolfe, whoalso wrote the highly acclaimed "Swoon" for the COC, with those ofPaul Bentley, now famous for his libretti for Pou! Ruders' operas"The Handmaid' s Tale" and "Kafka's Trial" . "Ines" is inspired bythe famous Portuguese tale of Ines de Castro and will make use ofPortuguese "Facto" music. Interested in the genesis of new operas, Iwrote Ms. Ni Mheadhra, who explained how the idea for the workcame about. The seeds for "Ines" were planted about six years agowhen she and Hess went to hear the now-superstar Portuguese Factosinger Mariza at Harbourfront. "It was the first time we heard Factoand we were hooked ." "Facto" , which can be translated as "fate ", isa uniquely Portuguese music form that can be traced to the early 19thcentury but likely has its origins in Moorish song. As Nf Mheadhraexplains, "Portuguese Facto is a living form of urban folk music developedin Lisbon for solo voice. A deeply emotional music form, itshares a visceral expressiveness with opera and a poetic intimacywith theatre. In Facto, tears are communicated in worthy fashion,with a loneliness that fadistas make attractive through their gracefuland supple singing." They immediately thought, "Wouldn't it be niceto do an opera with Facto in it."Hess and Ni Mheadhra felt the opera would require a composerof a particular sensibility. "James Rolfe has displayed throughhis music an appetite for contrast of diverse musical styles and hasfrequently incorporated critical non-Western musical components.And we've worked with James before on 'Beatrice Chancy' in whichhe incorporated extant African-Canadian music ."For a story they went to Ricardo Sternberg and Joe Blackmoreof the Portuguese Department at University of Toronto. Of themany tales they heard, the one that struck them most was the story ofInes de Castro (1325-55) . Ines came to Portugal in 1340 as a maid ofprincess Constarn;:a of Castile, recently married to Prince Pedro, thelbw'.~-,,,; ~~ .._KnickerbOCk rHolid y Kurt WeillA rare opportunity to see Kurt Weill's 1938 Broadwaysmash hit fully-staged with orchestra!The haunting "September Song" crowns a brilliant score.david speers, conductor • guillermo silva-marin, stage directorcurtis sullivan and david ludwig as the duelling minds far progress!IM·) Ii M if3'1Jiillil:t!@·M•St. LAWRENCE CENTRE~~~ ARTS416-366-7723 1-800-708-6754 www.stlc.comGiuseppe Macina, Artistic Director Adolfo De Santis, Music Directo2009 ,:TORONT0-1Season I O PERA \BizetTickets "La Cenerentola"Student & Senior Available at Uof Ttix Feb. 11, 14, 20, 25, 28 at 7:30 p.m.from Jan. 5, 2009Feb. 22 at 2:00 p.m.www.uofttix.ca (416) 978-8849LR~PER1:°01R~jlwww.toronto-opera.comBickfordCentre I777 Bloor St. W.at GFiJrl§,ti~ S!Jt;iwayFEBR UARY 1 - M ARCH 7 2009 WWW, THEWHOLENOTE,COM 25

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