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Volume 14 - Issue 6 - March 2009

Sunday

Sunday March 29 2009 • 8pmROGER REYNOLDSAND HIS PROTEGESIsabel BaderTheatreRobert Aitken I David SwanNMC Ensemble I music byRoger ReynoldsDavid FelderChaya CzernowinJuan CampoverdeAntonio Borges-Cunha.s-~~Saturday April 18 2009 • 8pmTHE \VIT OFJORG \VVlTENBACHGlenn Gould StudioNMC EnsembleJ iirg Wyttenbach,conductor and pianistmusic by Wyttenbach,Beethoven & MussorgskyMonday April 20 2009 • 7pmJORG \VVlTENBACHLECTURE-RECITALSpecial event at Gallery 345345 Sorauren Avenue\VI.VW.NE\VMUSICCONCERTS. COM14RESERVATIONS 416.961.9594~ Canada Council Conseil des Arts© for lhe Arts du CanadaI •• Canadian?atrimoine, Heritage canadlenPA. ONTARIO ARTS COUNCILM CON SEIL DES ARTS DE l'ONTARIOto ront dart sbou n ci IAn ~irm· ~ 1~ 119111 bolly o ! 111(! C tl y o l To r o n H:swiss arts councilpr~helvetiaBEAT BY BEAT: IN WITH THE NEWEast, West, andthe Big Bangby Jason van EykMORE OFTEN THAN NOT these days I can hear thesounds of new musical ideas coming through mywalls , coaxed from the keys of my next-doorneighbour's grand piano. Living next to acomposer is one of those curious joys of living ina big city like Toronto. If I'm patient, eventually Ican hear those kernels of melody and harmonyform into exciting new works that open brand newmusical perspectives. But it 's not only myneighbour who's been busy this winter, as Marchseems to be packed full with world premieresfrom local composers.The month launches off with the TSO 's fifthNew Creations Festival , which is focusing onmusic for string instruments and Far East influences(an odd connection, perhaps, but one thatseems to work) . This year's special guest is TanDun, one of the world 's most accomplished livingcomposers and perhaps most known for hisGrammy Award-winning film score for CrouchingTiger, Hidden Dragon. The first two dates of thisthree-concert festival (March 5, 7 and 12) willfeature several of Tan's concerti and largeensemble works , which marry together music ofEastern and Western heritage with avant-gardetechniques to explore cultural and spiritualthemes . While more concerti from ToruTakemitsu and Toronto-based Gary Kulesha willadd to the overall experience, I'm most keen tohear the results of Alexina Louie's latest commission,a concerto for string quartet and orchestra.I had the chance to chat briefly with Alexinaabout her motivations for tackling such a bigcommission. Her inspiration, she explained, camefrom the opportunity to write for the renownedTokyo Quartet, which will premiere the workwith the TSO on March 7"' , and specifically towork again with quartet violinist (and Canadian)Martin Beaver. Louie and Beaver met back in1991, when he gave what she credits as the bestperformance of her Thunder gate concerto at theMontreal International Musical Competition. Hernew concerto, though , isn 't about one instrument.Rather, it tries to find a soloist's virtuosity in thevoice of the quartet. More info about the NewCreations Festival can be found online atwww .newcreationsfestival .corn.Skipping way ahead in the month, the EspritOrchestra concert on March 26 promises to blendthe brand new with the pre-loved. The localcomposer commission on this program comesfrom Andrew Staniland, who was recently nameda finalist in CBC's Evolution young composers'competition . Big Bang! is the title of the work, apercussion concerto for the extremely talentedAiyun Huang.In corresponding with Andrew about hisWWW, THEWHOLENOTE.COMComposer Andrew Stanilandinspirations for the piece, he wrote "Big Banggenerally refers to the idea that the universe hasexpanded from a primordial condition at somefinite time in the past and continues to expand tothis day . This idea has long captured my creativeimagination . I thought a percussion concerto to bethe perfect place to experiment with this idea. Thefirst movement of the work is the big bang - loud,heterophonic cacophony. This gives way to asecond movement, Cadenza, featuring virtuosomulti-percussion. The third movement, Credo, issoft and slowly undulating. It slowly fades away -an homage to the 'big chill ,' a theory that postulatesthe fading, cooling fate of the universe. "It's a shame that Andrew won't get to hear thepremiere of Big Bang! (he will still be in Banffcompeting for the Evolution prize) but you cancertainly catch it, alongside works by BruceMather, Omar Daniel and Dutch composer MaykeNas (now known to Torontonians through February'sShift festival) at the Jane Mallett Theatre.Further details are available throughwww.espritorchestra.com.Directly on Esprit's heels falls the fifth incarnationof Tapestry New Opera Works' Opera to Goprogram. Starting on March 26 at Mississauga'sLiving Art Centre, and continuing from March 27-29 at the Enwave Theatre, Tapestry will offer amenu of bit-sized operas on subjects ranging fromthe darkly comedic and farcical, to the dramaticallysuspenseful and mechanically melodramatic. Theevening will culminate in the world premiere ofThe Perfect Screw, a new one-act opera fromcomposer Abigail Richardson and librettist AlexisDiamond - a comic allegory for Canadian­American trade relations that follows the racebetween Robertson and Phillips to have their ownbrand of screwdriver become the industry standard.For full Opera to Go details, including info aboutM AR CH 1 - A PRIL 7 2009

the stellar cast and creative team, visitwww. trapestrynewopera. corn.If time allows, my last stop for the month will be at the MusicGallery on March 28 to hear the Attar Project - a collaborativeeffort between composer/improviser/performer Parmela Attariwalaand tabla player Shawn Mativeksy. Parmela and have happilycrossed paths since 2005, and I recently had the chance to ask herabout how the project, which she formed back in the 1990s, wasreborn. "Subsequent to our first performance together," she replied,"Shawn expressed a desire to continue working with me and wehave since resurrected the Attar project - a moniker reserved formaterial I performed, commissioned and created that crossed genreand discipline boundaries. Over the past year, I have begun theprocess of commissioning and creating a new series of works forviolin and tabla. It is these new works - alongside Shawn's solorepertoire and new solo choreographies for me by Gitanjali Kolanad- that I will present to Toronto audiences."Sonic MosaicsComposer PaulSteenhuiseninterviewsthirty-two ofhis colleagueswith candour,sympathy,and expertise.344 pages • .9532 B&W photoswww.uap.ualberta.caB THEUNIVERSITYof ALBERTA PRESSOn the program are recently commissioned works by AndrewStaniland (with whom Parmela improvises in The Human Remains -a free-improv band that meets weekly) and Toronto-based film andTV composer Meiro Stamm. Rounding out the concert will be recentcommissions from Hamilton-based Christien Ledroit (his Never theTwain Shall Meet for violin, tabla and electronics was premiered bythe Attar Project as part of the New Music in New Places series in2008) and jazz composer Nicole Rampersaud. Full details areavailable through www.musicgallery.org. The Attar Project can beheard online on MySpace.•I theMusjcGallerySUNDAY MARCH 1QUATUOR BOZZINI(BOZZINI QUARTET)Part of SHIFT Festival • From QuebecWorks by Walter Boudreau, Martijn Voorvelt,Richard Ayres, Hanna KulentySATURDAY MARCH 21MARILYN NONKEN:SOLO PIANONew York's rising star of the contemporary pianoWorks by Liza Lim, Richard Festinger, Drew BakerSATURDAY MARCH 28THE ATTAR PROJECTFeaturing Parmela Attariwala (violin/dance, Toronto)+Shawn Mativesky (tabla/percussion, Montreal)BECOME A MUSIC GALLERY MEMBER AND SAVEON TICKET PRICES! Email info@musicgallery.orgThe Music Gallery· 197 John St. · Toronto M5T 1X6416-204-1080 · www.musicgallery.orgBfB Canada Council Conseil des Arts~ for the Arts du Canadatorontdarts~ounci II "*-I Canadian..,.... HeritagePatrimolnecanadienera"TOBOX OFFICE 416-973-4000harbourfrontcentre.comtapestrynewopera.comWWW. THEWHOLENOTE.COM... one of the most anticipatedevents of the musical year ...This program is not to be missed."PAULA CITRON, CLASSICAL 96.3 FMMARCH 27-29, 2009AT THE en~e theatre ""''""""'c'"'"DIRECTORTOM DIAMONDMUSIC DIRECTORWAYNE STRONGMANCASTSCOTT BELLUZSALLY DIBBLEEKEITH KLASSENPETER MCGILLIVRAYKRISZTINA SZAB6WRITERSALEXIS DIAMONDTAYLOR GRAHAMMARCIA JOHNSONSANDY POOLCOMPOSERSGLENN JAMESABIGAIL RICHARDSONWILLIAM ROWSONSTEPHEN ANDREW TAYLOR15

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