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Volume 18 Issue 2 - October 2012

  • Text
  • Toronto
  • October
  • Choir
  • Arts
  • Jazz
  • Concerts
  • November
  • Theatre
  • Musical
  • Orchestra

The FUTURe OFCAGe:

The FUTURe OFCAGe: CReDOJohn 1912-1992-2012 CageBeat by Beat | In With the NewIn With theNew, IndeedDAVID PERLMANKeynote Lectures byPAULINE OLIvEROS AND ALLEN S. WEISSPerformances and Presentations byArraymusic • The Music Gallery • Gallery 345 • gamUTDu Yun • Christof Migone • Darren Copeland/NAISAPaul Walde • Art M. Blake • David CecchettoG. Douglas Barrett • Aliza Shvarts • Otto MullerRobert Bean • Alexander Waterman • Antje BuddeDidier Morelli • Barbara Browning • Joe CulpepperDavid Schotzko • You Nakai • Anna Sig • JacobGallagher-Ross • Matt Jones • David GrubbsPeter Jaeger • Jenn Cole • Jeremy Strachan • HelenPridmore • Eunsu Kang • Alex McLean and Claire Gallant25-28 OCTObeR 2012Centre for Drama, theatre anDPerformanCe StuDieS214 College St., 3rd Floor • Toronto, ONfutureofcage.weebly.comNow that september’s TIFF-induced somnolence has recededfrom the new music scene, October starts to take on moreof the shape one might hope for, with the emergence of newensembles, an entirely new series of instruments, a major John Cageconference, almost back-tobackKoerner concerts by twoheavyweight ensembles, bothcelebrating their 30th anniversariesand a plethora of inventivesmaller presenters taking advantageof an ever-increasing rangeof intimate venues far and near.It’s a particularly nice coincidencefor me to have thiscolumn kicking off the Beat byBeat section of the magazinein the very month that RichardMarsella’s Regent Park Schoolof Music moves into its new digsin the spectacular new RegentPark Arts and Cultural Centre(this month’s cover story). It wasMarsella, you see, who gave thecolumn the name “In With TheNew” when he served, energeticallyand all too briefly, asThe WholeNote’s new music columnist.I wish him, and the school, momentum and luck.Newest of the new: It is always interesting at the start of a new seasonto look at ensembles at the opposite ends of the spectrum in termsof longevity — at the ones celebrating significant anniversaries and atthose just embarking. In the latter category, a group called the ThinEdge Music Collective probably takes the prize as the newest of thenew. This time last year the collective was nothing more than a goodidea in the minds of pianist Cheryl Duvall and violinist Ilana Waniuk.“TEMC believes that contemporary music is a powerful mediumwhich has the ability to comment and reflect on modern society in aunique and poignant way,” their manifesto reads. “We recognize thatthe broad range of musical idioms which new music encompassesfunctions as an important touchstone for contemporary life and assuch are passionately dedicated to supporting our peers through commissionsand performance. Ultimately we aspire to bring innovativeand challenging 20th and 21st century music to audiences both existingand as yet untapped.”By spring of 2012, following a Banff Centre residency with Torontocomposer Tova Kardonne, they had mounted an inaugural concert,aptly titled “Premieres,” featuring five newly composed worksby emerging Canadian composers: Margaret Ashburner, Aura Giles,August Murphy-King, Nick Storring and Kardonne.Composer/cellist Storring joins them again October 6 for a concerttitled “Unusual Spectrum” featuring works by Sokolovic, Bolton,Nobles, J. TV and Storring himself. And the works are not the onlything “unusual” about the event. The venue (The Placebo Space, Apt.A at 1409 Bloor St.W.) is as unfamiliar to us as Gallery 345 was ahandful of years ago. For the other three programs in their 2012/13season, they will take their act to a range of intimate venues acrossour catchment area: to Gallery 345 and Hamilton’s Artword Artbar14 thewholenote.com October 1 – November 7, 2012

November 22 and 25 respectively; back to Gallery 345 in February;and across town to the Tapestry/Nightwood New Work Studio inthe Distillery District in June. As Amici did, a quarter of a centuryago, TEMC seems to have cottoned on to the fact that commissioningworks for larger combinations of instruments, along with themselves,can be the path to building relationships and bridges as they go.Percussion and cello, accordion and flute already feature in this year’sseries plans.Bohlen-Pierce: Speaking of the newest of the new, it’s not oftenthat entirely new instruments come along and even less commonwhen the instruments in question have the potential to reshapeentirely the way composers write and audiences listen. So circleTuesday October 9, 8pm, (at Gallery 345) for a lecture/recital by Nora-Louise Muller on the Bohlen-Pierce Clarinet which, according to itsits Toronto maker, master clarinet builder Stephen Fox, is designed toproduce “an exotic sequence of tones providing numerous consonantintervals and hence the promise of extensive musical possibilities tothose willing to explore non-traditional sounds.” There’s nothing randomabout it, though. The Bohlen-Pierce Scale, according to Fox “usesan alternative musical system which divides the perfect twelfth into13 steps.”Left, Alex Pauk with the Murray Schafer book that is the inspirationfor the title of the Esprit 2012/13 season. Above, Lawrence Cherneyand Murray Schafer at a Soundstreams Salon 21 event.This Bohlen-Pierce clarinet project began in 2003, with the goal ofdesigning and building clarinet-type instruments — soprano, tenor andcontra — for the purpose of exploring and demonstrating the musicalpotential of the concept. The premiere concert involving Bohlen-Pierce clarinets took place at the University of Guelph on March 20,2008, presenting newly composed works by Owen Bloomfield andTodd Harrop, and “future plans involve holding an international compositioncompetition for Bohlen-Pierce instruments.”New ensemble: Saturday October 27 at Heliconian Hall, the ToyPiano Composers collective unveils something new too, namelyits own ensemble. Hence the concert’s title: “We Started a Band.”Featuring works by TPC members Brophy, Floisand, Guechtal, Pearce,Ryan and Thornborrow, the concert also will also unveil the TPCEnsemble: Katherine Watson, flute; Anthony Thompson, clarinet;Sharon Lee, violin; Adam Scime, double bass; Daniel Morphy, percussion;and Wesley Shen on piano and toy piano. Watch for thefive-year-old collective to flourish as familiarity with a versatile groupof core players breeds content.Soundstreams and Esprit: It’s hard not to draw parallels betweentwo of Toronto’s most venerable presenters this month. Both are 30years old this season. Both have been led by one individual since theirinception (Lawrence Cherney at Soundstreams, Alex Pauk at Esprit).Both opted early on to take the gamble of upsizing their previousvenues and moving their main series to Koerner Hall. Soundtreamslaunches its Koerner season October 11. Esprit follows October 14.Both will feature new commissions by Murray Schafer, himselfstriding towards an important anniversary in the spring. But thesuperficial similarities obscure the fact that the two events promise tobe as different as one might imagine, reflecting two very different, ifequally single-minded, visions.October 1 – November 7, 2012 thewholenote.com 15

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