Hall Theatre in Peterborough at 3pm. Also starting at 3pm, OT’sconcert, titled “The Musician Storyteller,” includes Berlioz’s Marchto the Scaffold and Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel overture, aswell as works by Khachaturian and Villa-Lobos. All OT’s concertsare at the George Weston Recital Hall, Toronto Centre for the Arts.Staying with youth-oriented fare for a moment, MooredaleConcerts, which operates a youth orchestras programme (in additionto its two other established series), presents three levels oforchestras comprising 100 players (ages 6 to 18) on December 11,3pm, at Rosedale Heights School of the Arts. TheJunior Orchestra, under WilliamRowson, performs Handel’sGavotte in A, Pichl’s Pastorellaand Menuett in G by (“Mr. 25%”)Mozart. Rowson also conducts theSenior Orchestra and it performsElgar’s Serenade for Strings Op.20and — yes, indeed — Mozart’sDivertimento in D Major K136. TheIntermediate Orchestra will playHandel’s Concerto Grosso Op.6No.4, Clare Carberry conducting.Kudos to Mooredale Concerts forexposing so many youth to the richesof the orchestral repertoire. In itsto its regular concert series, Mooredaleshares the wealth of chamber musicwith young people, ages 5 to 15. At1:15pm, on January 15, for example, youcan take the munchkins in your life toPianistJanLisiecki,TSOJan 18,19, 22.hear music by Mendelssohn, Tchaikovskyand Piazzolla; the “adult” concert startsat 3:15pm the same day, featuring thesame repertoire played in full.Returning to our “less is more” December theme, in a concerttitled “Holiday Charms,” December 9 at Glenn Gould Studio,Sinfonia Toronto performs Mozart’s Violin Concerto No.1 underguest conductor Robert Bokor and violinist Sanghee Cheong. Theprogramme also includes Wolf-Ferrari’s String Serenade, Corelli’sConcerto Grosso Op.6 No.8 “Christmas Concerto,” and Ricercareby Buhr. (ST offers more Mozart on January 20, in its concert titled“Black and White”: Clarinet Quintet K581, orchestral version, withJames Campbell, clarinet; and Divertimento K137; this Januaryconcert also features the orchestral version of Shostakovich’s PianoQuintet, with Dmitriy Gordin, piano.)Mozart is also on offer when the Junction Trio presents its“Celebrating the Season with Sound” concert on December 15,7pm, at the North York Central Library auditorium. The trio alsoperforms works by Bach and Handel. The concert is free, but we areasked to give them a call to register.the chance to attend a “Doctoral Recital in Orchestral Conducting,”for free, no less. At 1:15pm at Walter Hall (University of TorontoFaculty of Music) Kerim S. Anwar will conduct Debussy’s Préludeà l’après-midi d’un faune and works by Stravinsky and Schoenberg.Good luck Mr. soon-to-be-Dr. Anwar! And since we’re at theU of T, the Faculty of Music’s free, three-day “PianoFest” happensDecember 12, 14 and 16, at 7:30pm each night, featuring theadvanced students of the piano department.Just two more December concerts and then I’ll move on toJanuary. Amici Chamber Ensemble presents “Critics Choice: Whatdo they really want to hear?” on December 16 at 8pm. Sounds likefun, especially since they’ve invited critics John Vandriel, ColinEatock and John Terauds as their guests, along with YehonatanBerick and Min-Jeong Koh, violin and Barry Shiffman, viola.Hopefully, everyone attending will enjoy hearing the programme ofworks by Beethoven, Poulenc and Elgar. (What? No Mozart?)Syrinx Sunday Salons presents a splendid afternoon of worksby Chopin, Liszt, Rachmaninoff, Gershwin, Alexander Levkovich,Dmitri Levkovich and others. Pianist/composer Dmitri Levkovichand pianist Anzhelika Fuks will also perform a piece dear to myheart, Schubert’s Fantasie for Four Hands in F Minor Op.103 D940,a copy of which sits atop my piano, at the ready, should someonedrop by who can handle the secondo part; I always play the primo.A young friend of mine in Vancouver and I have valiantly attemptedto make our way through it many times, over many years; she is myprimo secondo! I’m excited to hear these two young and dynamicplayers do it justice on December 11, 3pm, at Heliconian Hall!JANUARY’S JEWELS: With over 40 concerts, there’s much fromwhich to choose, making the decision of who and what to include(and exclude) that much more challenging, As a solution, I’msimply going to “rattle off” as many as I can, allowing for asmany concerts — and presenters — as possible to get some print:Let’s start with the New Year’s Day “double-header inVienna,” I alluded to earlier. Attila Glatz Concert Productions’“Salute to Vienna” features the Strauss Symphony of Canada,András Deák, conductor, with Renee Schüttengruber, soprano,Wolfgang Gratschmaier, tenor and dancers from the Kiev-Aniko Ballet of Ukraine, at Roy Thomson Hall, 2pm. Anhour later, the Guelph Symphony Orchestra presents its “Tourthe World Series: Dreams of Vienna” with arias, duets,waltzes, polkas and marches. Judith Yan conducts, withMark Dubois, tenor and Corinne Lynch, soprano, at theRiver Run Centre in Guelph.offerings: on January 12, 8pm, at the Jane Mallett Theatre,traditional South American folk songs and music by RaviShankar, alongside works by Bach, Saint-Saëns, Doppler/Zamara and others, for MT’s “Discovery Series.” And aweek later, on January 19, (same time/same place), weare treated to a concert by the divine Lafayette Quartetperforming Wolf’s Italian Serenade, Shostakovich’s String QuartetNo.2 in A Major Op.68 and the String Quartet in C Minor Op.51No.1 by Brahms.The Toronto Symphony Orchestra prevails, hands down, however,in the “Much Mozart” department. Mozart@256 Festival, the TSO’seighth annual celebration of the composer’s birthday, offers nofewer than eight concerts in which to immerse yourself, includingtwo for kids; all but one is at Roy Thomson Hall. Mozart@256runs January 11 to January 22. Some of the highlights include:the Concerto for Three Pianos and Orchestra K242 (with StewartGoodyear, Katherine Jacobson Fleisher and Leon Fleisher doing thehonours); the aforementioned Symphony No.41 K551 “Jupiter”; a23 excerpts from Mozart’s works; astonishing young Canadian pianistJan Lisiecki in the Piano Concerto No.20 K466; and the RequiemK626 with a luminous cast. Phew! For all the details, see the listings.And if after all that you still crave more Mozart, you’re in luck. Inmy October column I referred to a certain all-Mozart programme,adding that you’d have to wait for it. Well, it’s here! On January 25,as artistic director and principal conductor, presents “CelebratingMozart” at its home in the George Weston Recital Hall. Theprogramme? Mozart’s Serenade No.6 in D Major K239 “Serenatanotturna,” Piano Concerto in C Major K467 “Elvira Madigan” andSymphony No.40 in G Minor K550. The pianist is André Laplante.In winding up, I want to mention Trio Bravo’s February 5recital at All Saints Kingsway Anglican Church at 2pm. The trio’sNovember 6 concert was cancelled due to the ill-health of one of itsmembers. It’s nice to see that they’re back on track with a robustprogramme of works by Bach, Beethoven, Bruch and Schubert.Bravo, Bravo!Wishing you all sustained good health, a festive, music-infusedholiday season and a soul-nourishing New Year and beyond!Sharna Searle trained as a musician and lawyer, practised alot more piano than law and is listings editor at The WholeNote.She can be contacted at classicalbeyond@thewholenote.com.14 thewholenote.comDecember 1 – February 7, 2012ANDRAS SCHRAM
Introductions @ 7:15Concerts @ 8:00Info 416.961.9594Sunday December 11, 2011 • 8 pmBetty Oliphant Theatre, 404 Jarvis St.Vinko Globokar guest composerNew Music Concerts EnsembleRobert Aitken flute and directionmusic by Vinko Globokar and Elliott Carteraffiliated events:University of Toronto Nov. 29, 30, Dec. 2www.music.utoronto.caMusic Gallery Slide Summit, Dec. 7–9www.musicgallery.orgSunday January 29, 2012 • 8 pmEnwave Theatre, 231 Queens Quay W.Tyler Duncan baritoneXin Wang, Carla Huhtanen,Erica Iris Huang, sopranosNew Music Concerts EnsembleRobert Aitken directionOmar Daniel Mehetapja (Husband Killer)Jeffrey Ryan The Whitening of the OxThomas Kessler Quintet World Premiere Canadian PremiereBox Office: 416-973-4000, press 1tickets@harbourfrontcentre.comhttp://www.harbourfrontcentre.comfull season details @www.NewMusicConcerts.comDecember 1 – February 7, 2012 thewholenote.com 15
