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Volume 15 Issue 1 - September 2009

  • Text
  • September
  • Jazz
  • October
  • Toronto
  • Symphony
  • Musical
  • Colours
  • Trio
  • Orchestra
  • Theatre

orchestra. I arrived

orchestra. I arrived well in advance of thescheduled 8:00pm start time, set my music onthe stand, warmed up and awaited the downbeat.The conductor, a string player, startedby working with the string sections on somesections where they were having difficulty.I listened with my trombone on my lap asthe string players were coached on bowingtechniques etc. I played my very first note at9:30pm. I never returned.In another community symphony, I arrivedwell in advance of the scheduled downbeatonly to find that the librarian had forgotten allof the low brass music at home. Rather thanoffer to rush home to retrieve the music, itwas suggested that I “come back next week.”I didn’t.On the excellent side, I had the pleasure,for many years, of playing under the guidanceof the late Clifford Poole. From Gilbertand Sullivan pit orchestras to the York RegionalSymphony, Cliff was always considerateand sympathetic to the concerns of allof his orchestra members. Rehearsals beganwith sections requiring all orchestra membersand ended with those components requiringonly the strings. In that way every memberplayed until there were no more notes forthem to play. Rather than sit around listeningto other sections labouring over difficultparts, these members were free to leave whenthey had nothing more to do.Also on the excellent side is the youngconductor Steffan Brunette and his UxbridgeCommunity Concert Band (UCCB). Unlikethe vast majority of community groups wediscuss here, this is a summertime-only ensemble.After their final concert on August30, members folded their respective tentsand went back to their regular fall and wintergroups until next May. This conductor is themost organized of any I’ve had the pleasureto work with. At the first rehearsal of the seasonevery member is given his or her musicfolder for the season. In addition to the music,the folder contains a sheet with the completerehearsal and performance schedule,detailing which selections will be rehearsedeach night. Also included is a sheet coveringall information from rehearsal expectations,contact phone numbers to concert informationand membership fees.Earlier, mention was made of concertprogrammes with a theme. The UCCB hasan interesting theme this year. “The ClassicalConnection” features works by Bach,Beethoven, Fauré and Mozart. In contrast,we have works by contemporary composerswhich, if not directly inspired by these, tooksome inspiration from the form. The BachToccata in D Minor is paired with Frank Erickson’spopular Toccata for Band, The FauréPavane is contrasted with Morton Gould’sPavane, and other masters are similarlypaired. It works well for both the performersand the audiences.beat by beat: worldviewSomething for EveryoneBy Karen AgesLooking to expand your own musical horizons but don’t know where to start? Below is ashort list (by no means comprehensive) of community education organizations offering classesin a variety of world music traditions.But first, some concert highlights for this month. The 8th Annual Small World MusicFestival runs September 24 to October 4 at various venues, and features 23 artists from 20countries, including Zakir Hussain with Béla Fleck and Edgar Meyer (September 29, partof the Grand Opening concert series at the RCM’s new Koerner Hall), Tasa, Bajofondo,Electric Gypsyland, Beyond the Pale, Omnesia Live, to name just a few. See our listings, orvisit www.smallworldmusic.com for full details. The Klezmer Kids, from Winnipeg, performSeptember 12 at the Winchevsky Centre, 585 Cranbrooke Ave., followed by a workshop thenext day. (www.winchevskycentre.org or call 416-789-5502); and KlezFactor, Toronto’s“alternative” klezmer band, performs at the Tranzac Club, September 29. Finally, BernardoPadron and his band are at Hugh’s Room, October 1 (Venezuelan influenced jazz, with AlanHetherington, Mark Duggan, Marylin Lerner and Andrew Downing).Arabesque Academy1 Gloucester Street, Suite 107416-920-5593www.arabesquedance.caIn addition to being one of the best places inthe city to study the art of belly dance, (includingan auditioned professional course),Arabesque Academy offers classes in Arabicinstrumental music. At the time of writing,the fall schedule was not available, but checktheir website for updates. Music classes areoffered by noted local Arabic musicians Dr.George Sawa, Bassam Bishara and SuleimanWarwar on a variety of traditional instrumentsincluding dumbek, Qanoon, Naye,Oud, Voice, Violin, Saz, as well as historyand theory.Clapping Land – songs, movement andrhythm for young childrenSophia Grigoriadis416-220-8161sophia@clappingland.comwww.clappingland.com“Through moving, singing and instrumentplay, music opens those crucial pathways foryour child’s language and social developmentand physical coordination, giving opportunitiesfor creative thinking and exploration.”Classes begin soon in the following ageranges: Newborn to 18 months; 18 months to3 years; 3 to 5 years. Check the website forschedules and registration.Gamelan Degung Sora Priangan“Voice of the Spirit of the Ancestral Mountains”Arraymusic studio, 60 Atlantic Ave. Suite218 (rehearsal location)atmar@istar.ca (Andrew Timar, contact)Sora Priangan is the Evergreen Club ContemporaryGamelan’s community group,directed by Andrew Timar. The instrumentsand repertoire are indigenous to the highlandSundanese people of West Java, Indonesia.Sora Priangan’s mission is to foster an understandingand appreciation of the gamelandegung music of West Java, and the uniquerepertoire commissioned by its parent group,the public, and the group presents concertsand workshops. Rehearsals are Tuesdays 6-9pm.Sora Priangan in concert at the Music GalleryKathak Dance355 College St., second floor416-504-7082joanna@mdo-tte.orgwww.mdo-tte.orgIn partnership with the Toronto Tabla Ensemble,Joanna de Souza offers classes inNorth Indian Kathak dance, from beginner toprofessional levels, in the Kensington Marketarea. For full schedule and registration, visitthe website.Koffler Centre of the ArtsProsserman JCC’s Donald Gales Family Pavilion4588 Bathurst St416-638-1881 x4269registration@kofflerarts.orgwww.kofflerarts.orgIn addition to a number of music classes andworkshops offered by the Koffler Centre,new this fall is the opening season of the TorontoJewish Chorus, under the direction ofJudy Adelman Gershon. Auditions to be heldin the fall.Miles Nadal JCC750 Spadina Ave., at Bloor416-924-6211info@mnjcc.orgwww.milesnadaljcc.caIn addition to a vast array of recreationaland cultural activities, the Miles Nadal JewishCommunity Centre offers a number ofComing Events: Please see the listings sectionfor full details.Please write to us: bandstand@thewholenote.comthe Evergreen Club. Membership is open toContinued on page 4328 WWW.THEWHOLENOTE.COM September 1 - October 7, 2009

COUNTERPOINT (PUBLISHER’S PERCH)On Keeping the Old“Make new friends, but keep the old.One is silver and the other gold”So go the words of asong more than a fewof you will know, andmight even have sung,as a canon, perhaps– silvery threads ofmelody weaving theirmagic in the flickeringgold of a campfire’s light, round and round.“Make new …. make new …. make…new…”,“gold ... gold ... gold.” In such moments ofcollective creation and re-creation is a lifelonglove of music born.“Bumps” is the word that editor Colin Eatockchooses in this month’s Opener, on page6, to describe the process of gently nudgingyou, esteemed reader, toward events we’dlike you to notice. “Ten bumps” is his ambitioustitle, and indeed he delivers ten – spreadjudiciously throughout the upcoming season.So what the heck. Here’s my two centsworth on the bumpy theme: ladies and gentlemen,direct your attention, if you will, to RowJ, seat 11, Jane Mallett Theatre, St. LawrenceCentre, April 8, 2010, at, let’s say, 9.15pm.That’s me sitting there, perhaps reading thealways interesting programme notes, butmostly just waiting for the single work in thesecond half of the evening’s concert to start.For the audience at the evening’s MusicToronto concert, the featured performers areindeed old friends. The Tokyo String Quartethas been coming to Music Toronto almostevery year since 1974 (albeit with somechanges in personnel). Even for subscriberswho haven’t been around that long, there’s aheightened sense of connection with the ensemble,because this is the fourth concert ofsix, over a three year period, encompassingALDEBURGH CONNECTION 19ALEXANDER KATS 46ALISON HODSMAN 45ALL THE KING’S VOICES 23AMADEUS CHOIR 24AMICI 11AMOROSO 54ANNEX SINGERS 46ARADIA ENSEMBLE 17ATMA 5BEL CANTO SINGERS 46BLOOR CINEMA 60BRAVO INTERNATIONAL -SINGERS ONSTAGE 36CALEDON CHAMBER CONCERTS 19CANADIAN CHOPIN FESTIVAL 42CANADIAN OPERA COMPANY 13CANCLONE SERVICES 55CANTEMUS 35,46CARMEN ROMERO FLAMENCODANCE SCHOOL 45CIVIC LIGHT OPERA COMPANY 30CLASSICAL 96.3FM 61COLOURS OF MUSIC 2COSMO MUSIC 27ELMER ISELER SINGERS 25EMILE BELCOURT 45GEOFFREY MOULL 45GEORGE HEINL 56GLIONNA MANSELL 57GRAND PHILHARMONIC CHOIR 21HARKNETT MUSICAL SERVICES 27HELICONIAN HALL 56HONENS INTERNATIONAL PIANOCOMPETITION 11I FURIOSI 12JUBILATE SINGERS 46KENSINGTON CARPETS INC. 55KINDRED SPIRITS ORCHESTRA 42KITCHENER-WATERLOO CHAMBERORCHESTRA 38the entire Beethoven string quartet cycle.So, April 8, 2010 at 9.15, in seat J11, I willsit awaiting the moment when the disquietingopening notes of Beethoven’s ninth stringquartet (the Quartet in C Major, Op. 59, No.3-the last of the three named Rasumovsky) startto spread like smoky gold into the attentiveair.That moment, when it arrives, will bea “bump” of a different kind for me – thekind that I’m told time-travellers experience,touching down. You see, on April 10 2010,it will be exactly 33 years and 333 days sincethe start of the most significant two weeks ofmy musical life. And on the final night of thattwo weeks (May 10-21 1976) I sat, same hall,roughly same spot, while another eminentstring quartet, alas long silenced, wrapped thetendrils of those same uncompromising chordsaround my much younger heart.It wasn’t called the Jane Mallett Theatre inthose days, it was the Town Hall. And theseries was not called Music Toronto, it wascalled Music at the Centre. It was the yearof the Montreal Olympics, so the AmadeusString Quartet’s six-concert-in-two-weeksperformance of the entire 17 quartet cyclewas predictably described in Olympian terms.And the cycle was performed not in the orderBeethoven wrote the quartets (which is whatthe Tokyo is doing) but in a mesmerizing mixtureof early, middle and late quartets in eachprogramme. And this work, the third Rasumovsky,was, as I mentioned, the very finalwork in the final concert of the two weeks.If you’d asked me, I’d have argued till thecows came home for the final opus of thecycle to be one of the late quartets – probablythe Grosse Fugue. I had loved someBeethoven from my teens, especially the Emperor,and the Waldstein Sonata. But barely ayear before this time, in my early twenties, Ihad been introduced to his late quartets, andmy sense of music’s power – to express theinexpressible – had been changed forever.advertisers indexLOCKWOOD ARS 60LONG & MCQUADE 26MASON & HAMLIN 58METROPOLITAN UNITEDCHURCH 33MOOREDALE CONCERTS 21MUSIC GALLERY 12MUSIC TORONTO 4,9NEW MUSIC CONCERTS 15NINE SPARROWS ARTSFOUNDATION 36NORM PULKER 55OFF CENTRE MUSIC SALON 33ONTARIO PHILHARMONIC 20OPERA BY REQUEST 35OPERA IN CONCERT 18OPERA-IS 13,42ORCHESTRAS MISSISSAUGA 20ORPHEUS CHOIR 23PASQUALE BROS. 54PATTIE KELLY 45PAX CHRISTI 25PETER MAHON 54PHILHARMONIC MUSIC LTD. 46RAYMOND SPASOVSKI 35So my assumption back in 1976, I suppose,would have been that the older Beethovenwould have been as dismissive of his youngerself as I then was. The third Rasumovsky,May 21, 1976, changed that for me. From itssmoky opening to the unfussy simplicity of itsclose, it was all-encompassing, early and late,old and new.I was new to town. But since that day, thatconcert series in that hall has stood for me asa hallmark of chamber music as it should beexperienced – the right size hall for the audience’sattentiveness to be a palpable part ofthings, and above all, as the years roll by, asense of curatorial connectedness, of continuityand change.Now I am sitting looking at the MusicToronto (“Music at the Centre”) season brochurefor 1981 – their tenth anniversary season:listed under piano recitals we have AntonKuerti, Arthur Ozolins, Andras Schiff, AlfredBrendel, Jean-Philippe Collard , Emanuel Ax.“Aha,” you say, “in those days they couldafford to bring in the truly greats.” But if yousay so, you are missing a fundamental point.To give but one example: Andras Schiff, inthis brochure’s words is “the young Hungarianvirtuoso.” And the Sunday “Introductions”series that year asks audiences to takea chance on such unknowns (to us anyway)as Peter Oundjian, Norbert Kraft and BonnieSilver, and Catherine Robbin.New friends and old, a lobby where peoplerecognize, nod and greet, a sense of history,continuity and adventure, for presenter, artists,and audience alike – these are the thingsthat a chamber series with a pedigree, in atruly chamber-sized venue, continues to offer.Like everyone around here, I’m getting abit giddy as excitement over the new KoernerHall mounts.So, welcome, new friend. But, on that nightI have a date with someone I’ve known a longtime.David Perlman, publisherRCCO 34RCM 62,63REMENYI 57ROB HANSON 60ROY THOMSON HALL 64SINFONIA TORONTO 14SOUND POST (THE) 56SOUNDSTREAMS 15ST. GEORGE’S ON THE HILL 47ST. OLAVE’S CHURCH 32ST. PHILIPS ANGLICANCHURCH 32STEVE’S MUSIC STORE 27STUDIO 92 60SUE CROWE CONNOLLY 45SWEETWATER MUSIC FESTIVAL 37SYRINX / JCC / GLICK SOCIETY36TAFELMUSIK 16TAPESTRY NEW OPERA WORKS 10TIM BUELL 43TORONTO CLASSICAL SINGERS 24TORONTO CONSORT 34TORONTO MASQUE THEATRE 17TORONTO MENDELSSOHNCHOIR 19TORONTO OPERA REPERTOIRE 43TORONTO OPERETTA THEATRE 18TORONTO PHILHARMONIA 7TORONTO SUMMER MUSIC 47TORONTO SYMPHONYORCHESTRA 3U OF T FACULTY OF MUSIC 7VIA SALZBURG 36VICTORIA SCHOLARS 22VISUAL AND PERFORMING ARTSNEWMARKET 22VIVA! YOUTH SINGERS 43VOICES OF ST. FRANCIS 47WALLY HAUPT TRAVELMARKETING INC 41YAMAHA MUSIC SCHOOL 45YORK UNIVERSITY 31LABYRINTH COMMUNITYCHRIST CHURCH DEER PARK NETWORK 32TORONTO CENTRE FORJAZZ VESPERS 26LE COMMENSAL 55THE ARTS 59CHRIST CHURCH MISSISSAUGA 47 LIZ PARKER 46TORONTO CHAMBER CHOIR 24CITY OF TORONTO MUSEUMS 31 LIZPR 55TORONTO CHILDREN’S CHORUS 42September 1 - October 7, 2009 WWW.THEWHOLENOTE.COM 29

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