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Volume 19 Issue 3 - November 2013

  • Text
  • November
  • Toronto
  • Jazz
  • December
  • Theatre
  • Symphony
  • Orchestra
  • Concerts
  • Arts
  • Bloor

the other choral

the other choral offerings available this month — there is some veryinventive programming taking place.QUICK PICKSAll the following are well worth checking out in the listings.!!Nov 2, 7:30: Chorus Niagara. Handel: Grand and Glorious.Beyond GTA.!!Nov 2, 8:00: Renaissance Singers. Psalms of David. Beyond GTA.!!Nov 9, 8:00: DaCapo Chamber Choir. Evening Song. Beyond GTA.!!Nov 9, 8:00: Guelph Chamber Choir. Passion of Joan of Arc(Carl Dreyer’s 1928 silent film with live music). Beyond GTA.!!Nov 9, 7:30: Amadeus Choir. The Writer’s War: A Tribute to WarCorrespondents.!!Nov 13, 7:30: St. James Cathedral. Mozart’s Requiem.!!Nov 16, 7:00: Church of the Ascension. Toronto Mass Choir.!!Nov 22, 7:30: Georgetown Bach Chorale and Baroque Soloists.Bach: Christmas Oratorio Part One and Magnificat.!!Nov 23, 7:30: Cantemus Singers. Sing Nowell!!!Nov 23, 7:30: Jubilate Singers. This Shining Night.!!Nov 23, 8:00: Bell’Arte Singers. Of Remembrance and Hope.!!Nov 27, 7:30: Toronto Children’s Chorus. Take Flight.Ben Stein is a Toronto tenor and theorbist. He can becontacted at choralscene@thewholenote.com.Visit his website at benjaminstein.ca.photo for choral quick picks. ornoCRisMSradiinST. MICHAEL’S CHOIR SCHOOLAT MASSEY HALLwww.christmasconcert.caMASSEY HALL 416.872.4255Saturday, December 7 at 7:30 p.m.Sunday, December 8 at 3:00 p.m–– Tickets $ 20 to $ 40 ––Conductors: Charissa Bagan, Jerzy Cichocki and Teri DunnAccompanist: William O’ MearaGoing through the listings, I noticed that this month ContinuumContemporary Music offers an interdisciplinary work,Nuyamł-ił Kulhulmx/Singing the Earth, and Esprit Orchestrafeatures an entire concert of hybrid music. Noticing how these twoevents reflected the theme of blurred boundaries between musicalgenres and artforms I’ve been exploring in this column, I then notedno fewer than eight similar instances of fusion in the new music onoffer this month.1. Esprit: Their “OGamelan” concert onNovember 17 marksanother collaborationbetweenthis country’s onlyorchestra dedicatedto new musicand the EvergreenClub ContemporaryGamelan, a Torontobasedensemble whoperform on a series ofbronze and wooden instruments from Indonesia, otherwiseknown as a gamelan. And they too are dedicatedto the commissioning of new works from composersalongside performing both traditional and contemporaryIndonesian repertoire.Looking back historically at the rise of the gamelan’sinfluence within western-based concert music, one caneasily see what an enormous effect this music has had. Itwas Montreal-born composer Colin McPhee’s orchestralwork Tabuh-Tabuhan from 1936 that really got the ballrolling. It combined both Balinese and traditional Westernelements, but at its core is asmall gamelan-like ensemblecomprised of western-basedpercussion instruments. Theshimmering timbres and interlockingrhythmic patterns of thegamelan sound also capturedthe imaginations of pioneersJohn Cage (prepared piano)and Steve Reich (minimalism).The first western composer tobuild his own gamelan-inspiredinstruments and compose forBeat by Beat | In With the NewFusion Times Ten.Count Them!WENDALYN BARTLEYThe Evergreen Club ContemporaryGamelan’s gamelan.The forest is never far away inAnna Höstman’s imagination.them was Lou Harrison. And that brings us full circle to the EvergreenClub. It was when ECCG founder Jon Siddall met Harrison while astudent at Mills College that a vision was spawned to form a gamelanin Canada. Through Harrison’s Indonesian connections, the EvergreenClub eventually was able to acquire their instruments in the early 80s.By bringing both an orchestra and a gamelan together, theEsprit concert is a perfect reflection of this history and appropriately,is presenting a work that Harrison wrote in tribute to CarlosChávez, the man who conducted the premiere of McPhee’s groundbreakingwork. Alongside this historical piece will be a premiere ofO Gamelan, a newly commissioned work by José Evangelista, whofollowed in McPhee’s footsteps by studying in Bali, and is also responsiblefor bringing a gamelan to U de Montréal’s Faculty of Music. Wewill also hear two works originally written by composers Chan Ka24 | Novemberr 1 – December 7, 2013 thewholenote.com

Ann Southam and ChristinaPetrowska Quilico on piano.Nin and André Ristic for a 2005 concert inspired by the birdsongthemes of Olivier Messiaen, as well as a 1983 work by Esprit conductorAlex Pauk.It should come as no surprise to learn that Pauk himself alsostudied gamelan music and his work Echo Spirit Isle is a reworkingfor orchestra of a piece he originally wrote for Gamelan Pacificia basedin Seattle. The program rounds out with an orchestral arrangement ofClaude Vivier’s Pulau Dewata, composed in 1977 as a tribute to theBalinese people.2. Continuum Contemporary Music: On December 4 and 5, CCMwill present a new work by composer Anna Höstman, Nuyamł-iłKulhulmx/Singing the Earth, an interdisciplinary piece that arosefrom the composer’s love of history and storytelling. Rooted in herdeep personal connection with the land and communities of BellaCoola, a gem of natural beauty along the central coast of BritishColumbia, her creative process began with extensive research todiscover the deeper layers of the area. And perhaps even more importantly,what guided her in this labyrinthian journey to uncover thestories of people from different cultural origins living side by sidewas her connection to the land itself. The forest is “never far away inmy imagination,” she told me. In fact it is this relationship with theforest’s expansiveness and quiet that helps her find her way withmusic making. It is like the slipping on of a different jacket, a sensationshe keeps close to herself while composing. And just as thenonhuman world of nature permeates Höstman’s creative process, itis also a “North Star,” a navigational guide, for all the peoples of thearea — a mixture of the indigenous Nuxalk Nation and the descendentsof Norwegian settlers.Höstman’s piece is structured as a series of 11 modules, each one anartistic response to the beauty and isolation of the area, the changesand losses of its people. During the performance, the audience willbe immersed within an installation environment, thus creating aspatial counterpoint between people, objects, video projections anddisplayed texts. These texts originate from a variety of sources andare in four different languages — Nuxalk, English, Norwegian andJapanese. One source is fragments from anthropological field notespublished in the 1940s, while another is a list of words in both Englishand Nuxalk denoting the area’s flora and fauna. The work is scored forContinuum’s ensemble along with mezzo-soprano, bass, saxophoneand accordian. Prior to the 8pm performance will be a 7pm screeningof a film.3. NAISA: Another take on similar themes will occur during NewAdventures in Sound Art’s annual SOUNDplay series which presentsnew fusions between the boundaries of sound art and new media.Fitting into their 2013 programming theme of Sonic Geography,this year’s installations and performances will address concepts ofthewholenote.com November 1 – December 7, 2013 | 25

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