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Volume 19 Issue 4 - December 2013

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  • December
  • Toronto
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Beat by Beat | Art of

Beat by Beat | Art of SongAddis and Hamperat Music TorontoHANS DE GROOTAnumber of well-known singers will perform in Toronto inDecember: on December 13 the tenor Marcello Giordani willsing arias and songs by Tosti, Bizet, Cilea and Puccini; onDecember 15 and 16 soprano Natalie Dessay will sing items from theMichel Legrand songbook; Richard Margison will perform “The GreatSongs of Italy” on December 10(all at Koerner Hall; therePhillip Addis.will be another performanceof the Margison recitalon December 7 in the RegentTheatre, Oshawa); on NewYear’s Eve at Roy ThomsonHall “Bravissimo” will presenta number of singers, includingtwo Canadians (Wallis Giunta,mezzo, and James Westman,baritone). But the recital whichI am most looking forwardto is the one to be given byPhillip Addis, baritone, andEmily Hamper, piano, onDecember 19 at the JaneMallett Theatre, St. LawrenceCentre. The main works on theprogram are Britten’s Songsand Proverbs of William Blakeand Poulenc’s La fraîcheur etle feu. The program will alsoinclude Abendbilder by Wolf,two songs by Korngold andthree new songs by Erik Ross.Addis spent his high schoolyears in Toronto. At that timehe played the tuba and theeuphonium. At one pointhe intended to become anengineer but at the last moment he decided that he would studymusic instead, a choice that we can all be grateful for. So he went toQueen’s, still intending to be a tuba player. But singing took over: afterQueen’s, Addis studied for a diploma in operatic performance fromthe University of Toronto, which was followed by an apprenticeshipat the Atelier lyrique de l’Opéra de Montréal. Since then he has sungmany parts in many opera houses: he sang the high baritone role ofPelléas in Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande (at the London Proms lastsummer; under John Eliot Gardiner, no less); yet he has the lowersonorities which have allowed him to sing the title role in Mozart’sDon Giovanni. He is no stranger to lieder, having sung Schubert’sWinterreise and Schwanengesang, Schumann’s Dichterliebe andMahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen.Last summer, after his performance as Pelléas, a reviewer wrote thathe sounded “like a young Thomas Allen.” I asked Addis about that andhis reply was both diplomatic and sensible. It was not, he said, a claimhe would himself wish to make but, if others thought of him that way,then it was a compliment that he would try to live up to. I heard Allena number of times when I was young (and Allen was even younger);the performance that I especially cherish is one that I saw and heardon a video, that of the title role in Britten’s Billy Budd. That is a rolethat Addis has not yet sung. It is a part that, for both dramatic andmusical reasons, needs a young singer. I certainly hope that sometimein the near future Addis will be given the chance to sing it.We saw Addis most recently in the COC production of Puccini’sLa bohème, where he sang in all performances, some of the time asMarcello, in other performances as Schaunard. After that it was off tosouthern California, where he sang in Britten’s War Requiem and asthe Sprecher in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte and where on December 6he will perform in Britten’s The Prodigal Son. After the Torontorecital he will travel to Paris, where he and Hamper will repeat theToronto program and go on to sing Pelléas at the Opéra Comique. Butwhat Addis is especially excited about is the production next Julyof Kevin Puts’ opera Silent Night, a work that dramatizes the briefChristmas truce during the first year of the First World War. The opera(first performed in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 2011) is based on the filmJoyeux Nöel and Addis will be singing the role of the French lieutenantAudebert.In the Toronto recital, Addis will be accompanied by Emily Hamper(we have in recent years trained ourselves to use theterm “collaborative pianist,” but Hamper assures methat “accompanist” is good enough for her). She isalso Addis’ wife and the mother of their young sonSebastian. As a vocal coach she is much in demand;she has worked with distinguished Canadiansingers such as Gregory Dahl, Thomas Goerz, RogerHoneywell, Michael Schade, John Tessier — and, ofcourse, Phillip Addis.The return of Jennie Such: In an earlier column Iwrote about singers who have retired and who havegone on to do other things. Among them was thesoprano Jennie Such. Well, she is back. She is singingthe first soprano part in a performance of Bach’sMagnificat along with the VOCA chorus of Toronto,conducted by Jenny Crober. The other soloists areClaire de Sévigné, soprano, Marion Newman, mezzo,Andrew Haji, tenor, and Alexander Dobson, baritone,at the Eastminster United Church, December 7.Other events: John Pizzarelli and Daniela Nardiwill sing songs by Paolo Conte and Frank Sinatra atKoerner Hall, December 7.At the Kingston Road United Church, December 8,Eve Rachel McLeod, soprano, and Jason Nedecky,baritone, are the soloists in a concert by the TorontoBeach Chorale, which will include music by Finzi,Holst and Vaughan WilliamsThere will be a chance to hear the winnersof the Jim and Charlotte Norcop Prize in Songand the Gwendolyn Williams Koldofsky Prize inAccompanying on January 7 at Walter Hall.Introducing . . .Flute StreetA dazzling professional ensemble of flutes,alto flutes, bass flutes, piccolo flutes,treble flutes and a contrabass flute!The Wonderful FluteMusic of ChristmasWorks by Tchaikovsky,Manfredini, Delius, Nourse,Via and othersSunday, December 8, 4pmAll Saints’ Kingsway Anglican Church2850 Bloor Street West, Toronto416-485-8262 Free – donation requestedKRISTIN HOEBERMANN16 | December 1, 2013 – February 7, 2014 thewholenote.com

Jennifer Enns Modolo, mezzo, and Bud Roach, tenor, will singselections from the Cole Porter songbook, with the Talisker Players atTrinity-St. Paul’s Centre, January 12 and 14.The Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the Amadeus Choir areperforming Mozart’s Coronation Mass with Leslie Ann Bradley,soprano, Lauren Segal, mezzo, Lawrence Wiliford, tenor, and GordonBintner, bass-baritone, at Roy Thomson Hall, January 15 and 16.Last June Domoney Artists Management presented “The Star ofRobbie Burns” consisting of songs by Burns as well as selections fromthe musical Brigadoon. There will be a repeat of this concert in theChurch of the Redeemer on January 25. Benjamin Covey, baritone,will sing again but there is a different soprano (Charlotte Corwin),a different pianist (Christopher Bagan) and a different narrator(Andrew Gillies).Tracy Dahl, soprano, and Liz Upchurch, piano, will perform artsongs and arias in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre, February 4.Stephanie Blythe is the John R. Stratton Visitor in Music at theFaculty of Music, University of Toronto. She will give an art songmasterclass on January 21, a masterclass on opera arias on January 23and will perform, along with voice and collaborative piano students,in “An Evening of English Song” on January 24. Also at WalterHall there will be free performances featuring voice studies andcollaborative piano students on December 3 and January 14. OnFebruary 3, Walter Hall is the venue for the distinguished baritoneSir Thomas Allen to give the Geiger-Torel lecture. Tracy Dahl will givethe Ricky Turofsky masterclass in voice on February 7 in the Geiger-Torel Room.And in Oshawa: At the College Park Church on December 8, AllysonMcHardy, mezzo, will be the soloist in a concert of works by Bach,Handel and Vivaldi given by the Durham Philharmonic Choir.Hans de Groot is a concert-goer and active listener,who also sings and plays the recorder. He canbe contacted at artofsong@thewholenote.com.JAN 25-Feb 2Gabriel ProkofievU OF T NEW MUSIC FESTIVALComposer, DJ and founder/producer of theNONCLASSICAL record label and night club in theU.K., Gabriel Prokofiev headlines the 18-eventNew Music Festival. Other participants includecomposer Paul Chihara, the Louis ApplebaumDistinguished Visitor in Composition, guest pianistRoberto Turrin and Walter Buczynski.www.music.utoronto.ca/events/nmfDEC 4Jazz ConcertJim Lewis and Christine Duncandirect the 11 O’Clock JazzOrchestra and Vocal JazzEnsemble in a free concert inWalter Hall at 7:30 pm.JAN 21-24StephanieBlytheThe renowned mezzo sopranogives two voice masterclassesand performs An Evening ofEnglish Song with pianist StevenPhilcox and student artists. FreeJAN 17-19Dido & AeneasDaniel Taylor leads the U of TSchola Cantorum & Theatre ofEarly Music in 4 performancesof Purcell’s baroque opera atTrinity College Chapel.Sir ThomasAllenAn established star of the greatopera houses of the world,baritone Sir Thomas Allen givesthe Geiger-Torel Lecture inWalter Hall at 7:30 pm. FreeJAN 20Shauna Rolston& FriendsThe acclaimed cellist invites anall-star cast for Tchaikovsky’sSouvenir de Florence and theMendelssohn Octet. 7:00 pm.FEB 3 FEB 7Tracy DahlCanada’s premier coloraturasoprano Tracy Dahl hasperformed at the major operahouses in the world. She willhost the Riki Turofsky MasterClass in Voice at 2:00 pm inGeiger-Torel Room. FreeCall 416.408.0208www.music.utoronto.ca1314 .SEASON OF EVENTSthewholenote.com December 1, 2013 – February 7, 2014 | 17WN-U of Toronto DecJan half page.indd 113-11-19 2:48 PM

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