Includes the 2014 Canary Pages directory of choirs.
is a legend of salsa
is a legend of salsa percussion.” They’re both making repeat visits toLula and will lead workshops and share stage time with our city’s AllStars. You’re encouraged to come for the tropical fusion dinner, takea beginner salsa lesson and stay afterward to dance salsa, merengue,bachata and top 40 to the post-show DJs.Mateca Arts Festival: In contrast to Lulaworld’s well-seasonedoperation, this is the first edition of the Mateca Arts Festival. This“Community Multi-Arts Celebration,” notes its press release, is“inspired by the riches of Latin American culture … honouring thediversity of the city of Toronto. Approximately 15 countries will berepresented: Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru,Venezuela, Spain, USA and Brazil amongst others.”The festival takes place in Burwash Quad, Victoria College,University of Toronto on June 7 and 8. This an all-inclusive type ofcultural gathering, the kind that Harbourfront Centre has popularizedover the years, replete with musicians, dancers, visual artists, artsand crafts, food vendors, karaoke, workshops and yoga. Even “motivationalspeeches” are listed.For world music fans however perhaps the outstanding event is thetrio concert led by the Argentinean singer Beatriz Pichi Malen. With athriving international concert and recording career, Malen draws onher deep-rooted native Mapuche (indigenous people of south-centralChile and southwestern Argentina) heritage. Her trio performs songs,some inter-generationally passed on, dominated by themes from thenatural world and by the Mapuche worldview centred on its intimateand harmonious relationship with Mother Earth. Among theindigenous instruments the group plays to accompany their songsare the kashkawilla (bell rattles), kultrung (drum), trompe (jewsharp), and truutruka (valveless horn). The native Quechua dancerLucho Cruz adds to the concert’s Andean flavour with her choreographyillustrating what the press release poetically calls “passagesof sacred moments in an open and arid geography, splashed by thesouthern wind.”21C Music Festival: The venerable Royal Conservatory, with itsKoerner and other halls, is certainly no newcomer to presenting asweeping variety of music, though admittedly until the 21st century itwas mostly of the Euro-American classical variety. The RC’s five-yearoldKoerner world music series offerings on the other hand have oftenbeen mentioned in this column.The 21C Music Festival, running from May 21 through 25 is a brandnew RC project hosting seven ensembles and numerous soloists,most of them Canadian. The media kit reflects one artistic inspirationfor the event. Philanthropist Michael Koerner first quotes composerCharles Ives and then remarks that “21C Music Festival is … about earstretching.” One of the ear stretching elements evidently is musicoutside the Euro-American classical mainstream. Let’s call it worldmusic for the lack of a better term.Of all the individual works and non-orchestral instruments in thefestival which could claim world music provenance I’d like to focus onthe concert on May 23. Titled “After Hours #1,” the event begins late,approximately at 10pm, at the Conservatory Theatre. It features thecompositions and performances of two drummer-composers, TrichySankaran and Gurpreet Chana, respectively representatives of theSouth Asian “classical” Carnatic and Hindustani musical traditions.The internationally renowned Indian-Canadian percussion virtuosoand York University music professor Sankaran has been a prominentperformer on the Toronto scene since the early 1970s. He has beencommissioned by the RC to compose a new work for this occasion.His Hamsa (2014) for the 21C Ensemble consisting of violin, viola,cello, flute, clarinet and Sankaran on the mrdangam (Carnatic barrelshapeddrum) will receive its world premiere at the concert. Newmusic by Sankaran is in itself cause for celebration.Gurpreet Chana grew up in Canada and studied Indian tabla(double drum) in the Punjab gharana (school/style). He also presentsa world premiere, TABLIX, for solo tabla and electronics. In his notes,Chana states that TABLIX is the “product of four years of meticulousresearch and development … explor[ing] technology’s impact on theuntapped melodic potential of the tabla.” Chana’s early experiencesas a second-generation South Asian immigrant in Canada echo manyother musicians’ experiences, “characterized by interactions withevery type of musician.” It is an environment that instils an opennessthat echoes clearly throughout TABLIX which invites the listenerto experience and communicate with contemporary music culturethrough the eyes of the tabla player.Sound in the Land 2014 Festival: As illustrated in my last column,world music concerts have also taken root in Waterloo, Ontario.Presented by Conrad Grebel University College, University of Waterloo,the Sound in the Land 2014: Music and the Environment Festival,June 5 to 8, consists of a series of concerts plus a conference. Severalof the Mennonite-centred, musical and ecologically themed concertshave world music threads as well as mainstream Euro-American ones.On the June 5 “Mennofolk Concert” the Buffleheads, a trio, performwhat is intriguingly described as “Afro-grass” repertoire, a new (sub)genre to me. June 6 at the University of Waterloo’s Humanities Theatrein the concert titled “Sonic Convergences: Orchestra and Multimedia,”the Korean composer and media artist Cecilia Heejeong Kim stagesher engaging multimedia piece Earth Songs (2009), for Korean instrumentsand Korean vocals.Then at the Saturday matinee on June 7 the Grebel Gamelan directedby Maisie Sum plays Balinese instrumental music on the GrebelChapel’s patio (in keeping with the open-air presentation typical ofperformances in the music’s tropical homeland).Weaving together Lulaworld’s Latin and Luso core with Mateca ArtsFestival’s South and Central American community multi-arts celebration,then adding the 21C Music Festival’s embrace of performercomposersoutside the received classical composer matrix and finallythe multi-hued threads of Conrad Grebel’s Afro-grass, Korean ecologicaltheatre, Balinese gamelan and choral kecak, it becomes clear thatthese and other such presenters are key actors defining the practiceand transmission of world music in our time.Andrew Timar is a Toronto musician and music writer. He can becontacted at worldmusic@thewholenote.com.14 | May 1, 2014 – June 7, 2014 thewholenote.com
Beat by Beat | Classical & BeyondShow OneTurns TenPAUL ENNISSometimes it’s not only what you know but who you know.Show One Productions’ founder Svetlana Dvoretsky came toCanada from St. Petersburg in 1998. Culture was a huge part ofher upbringing – her mother, after a brief career as a concert pianist,taught piano – and Dvoretsky wanted to be an arts administratorhere, having studied management in show business. So she lookedfor a job in the arts when she arrived but only volunteer positionswere available. Instead she worked in retail – “the immigrant schoolof learning” – then in the corporate world before scratching her “itch”and launching Show One.It had taken five years, but she was ready. When violinist-conductorVladimir Spivakov came to Toronto for a concert she sought him out –he and her mother had been students together – and fortune smiled.She buttonholed him on an elevator from floors one to three, justenough time to garner an invitation to meet his management in NewYork City. She flew south and returned with Spivakov’s endorsementthat she bring him to Toronto for his next concert here. “It was a lot oftrust on his part,” she admitted. Show One piggybacked onto Spivakovand the Moscow Virtuosi’s 25th Anniversary World Tour with theirconcert October 30, 2004 at George Weston Recital Hall.Working with Spivakov’s charitable education foundation, shelaunched “Young Stars of the Young Century,” a showcase for thecrème de la crème of talent from the vast reaches of the countries ofthe former Soviet Union, alongside a dollop of young Canadians. Fivemore concerts followed, ending in September of 2009. Dvoretsky wasclearly doing something right.In between the first two “Young Stars” events, she got her feet wetwith two popular vocal concerts, Mikhail Turetsky’s Men’s Choir anda second featuring Svetlana Portnyansky and Yevgeny Shapovalovfronting O. Burman’s jazz quartet. The Moscow Chamber Orchestrawith soprano Galina Gorchakova and a memorable performance bythe legendary Borodin String Quartet firmly established her presence.Not even 13 months had passed since Show One’s debut.Dvoretsky broadened her reach by linking into Gidon Kremer andKremerata Baltica’s Tenth Anniversary Tour in the spring of 2007and then conquering Roy Thomson Hall with Russian superstar baritoneDmitri Hvorostovsky backed by the Moscow Chamber Orchestrathat fall. When Spivakov returned with the Moscow Virtuosi andpianist Olga Kern on their 30th Anniversary Tour, Dvoretsky bookedthem into RTH. She did the same for premier violist-conductor YuriBashmet and the Moscow Soloists the following winter. Two monthslater, Spivakov was back at RTH, this time with his other regular gig,the National Philharmonic of Russia, featuring Siberian-born pianophenom Denis Matsuev (who would return twice under the Show Onebanner in solo recitals at Koerner Hall).Less than a year later she paired Dmitri Hvorostovsky with thefast-rising young soprano Sondra Radvanovsky in RTH. Meanwhileshe branched out to Montreal, presenting Valery Gergiev and theMariinsky Orchestra with Matsuev, and then native son YannickNézet-Séguin and the Rotterdam Philharmonic with violinist VictoriaMullova as soloist. She would bring Gergiev back twice more andwiden her terrain to include Ottawa, Hamilton and Vancouver.Over the last ten years she’s presented 30 classical Toronto concerts,32 pop and dance events and 15 theatrical engagements, the latterexclusively in the Russian language.She brought Michel Legrand, John Malkovich and Placido Domingoto us as well as cellist Mischa Maisky for the first time since 1976 (withYuri Bashmet in a superb program commemorating the 20th anniversaryof the Moscow Soloists Chamber Orchestra, then last fall in arecital at Koerner Hall).Cutline: Svetlana Dvoretsky (left) with nine-year-old Anastasia Rizikovand Vladimir Spivakov in May, 2008 at the time Rizikov was performingin the fourth “Young Stars of the Young Century” gala concertorganized by Spivakov’s charity foundation and Show One. That sameyear, Rizikov performed in the Kremlin at the international festival“Moscow Meets Friends,” organized by the Vladimir InternationalCharity Foundation. On May 16 Rizikov can be heard performing in theHigh Notes Gala for Mental Health at the Flato Markham Theatre.Dvoretsky will celebrate Show One’s tenth anniversary with twoworld-class concerts: Spivakov, clearly her backbone, returns forthe sixth time, May 9 at RTH with the Moscow Virtuosi ChamberOrchestra’s 35th Anniversary Tour; Hvorostovsky is back for the thirdtime, June 1, in recital at Koerner Hall with pianist Ivari Ilja. May 9everyone is invited to a post-concert lobby performance and receptionat RTH featuring Canadian-Italian Daniela Nardi’s jazz worldproject Espresso Manifesto. It’s been quite a first decade. What will thesecond bring?Recent EventsThe unpredictability of events is certainly a boon to the OntarioLottery Corporation (among others) but when it smiles unexpectedly(as it did on me a few weeks ago) and reveals its serendipitous side it’scapable of bestowing a big gift.Richard Goode, in Toronto for appearances with the TSO, wasscheduled to give three masterclasses at RCM. Circumstances dictatedthat I was able to attend only one, Friday afternoon, April 4. Thefirst thing that struck me as I picked up the information sheet at theentrance to Mazzoleni Hall was that there was only one piece on theagenda, Mozart’s Piano Concert No.22 in E-flat Major, K482. Thename of Goode’s student for the masterclass, Jan Lisiecki, evokedthewholenote.com May 1, 2014 – June 7, 2014 | 15
After some doubt that we would be allowed to go to press, in respect to wide-ranging Ontario business closures relating to COVID-19, The WholeNote magazine for April 2020 is now on press, and print distribution – modified to respect community-wide closures and the need for appropriate distancing – starts Monday March 30. Meanwhile the full magazine is right here, digitally, so if you value us PLEASE SHARE THIS LINK AS WIDELY AS YOU CAN. It's the safest way for us to reach the widest possible audience at this time!
FEATURED: Music & Health writer Vivien Fellegi explores music, blindness & the plasticity of perception; David Jaeger digs into Gustavo Gimeno's plans for new music in his upcoming first season as music director at TSO; pianist James Rhodes, here for an early March recital, speaks his mind in a Q&A with Paul Ennis; and Lydia Perovic talks music and more with rising Turkish-Canadian mezzo Beste Kalender. Also, among our columns, Peggy Baker Dance Projects headlines Wende Bartley's In with the New; Steve Wallace's Jazz Notes rushes in definitionally where many fear to tread; ... and more.
Visions of 2020! Sampling from back to front for a change: in Rearview Mirror, Robert Harris on the Beethoven he loves (and loves to hate!); Errol Gay, a most musical life remembered; Luna Pearl Woolf in focus in recordings editor David Olds' "Editor's Corner" and in Jenny Parr's preview of "Jacqueline"; Speranza Scappucci explains how not to reinvent Rossini; The Indigo Project, where "each piece of cloth tells a story"; and, leading it all off, Jully Black makes a giant leap in "Caroline, or Change." And as always, much more. Now online in flip-through format here and on stands starting Thurs Jan 30.
Welcome to our December/January issue as we turn the annual calendar page, halfway through our season for the 25th time, juggling as always, secular stuff, the spirit of the season, new year resolve and winter journeys! Why is Mozart's Handel's Messiah's trumpet a trombone? Why when Laurie Anderson offers to fly you to the moon you should take her up on the invitation. Why messing with Winterreisse can (sometimes) be a very good thing! And a bumper crop of record reviews for your reading (and sometimes listening) pleasure. Available in flipthrough here right now, and on stands commencing Thursday Nov 28. See you on the other side!
On the slim chance you might not have already heard the news, Estonian Canadian composing giant Udo Kasemets was born the same year that Leo Thermin invented the theremin --1919. Which means this is the centenary year for both of them, and both are being celebrated in style, as Andrew Timar and MJ Buell respectively explain. And that's just a taste of a bustling November, with enough coverage of music of both the delectably substantial and delightfully silly on hand to satisfy one and all.
Long promised, Vivian Fellegi takes a look at Relaxed Performance practice and how it is bringing concert-going barriers down across the spectrum; Andrew Timar looks at curatorial changes afoot at the Music Gallery; David Jaeger investigates the trumpets of October; the 30th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution (and the 20th Anniversary of our October Blue Pages Presenter profiles) in our Editor's Opener; the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir at 125; Tapestry at 40 and Against the Grain at 10; ringing in the changing season across our features and columns; all this and more, now available in Flip Through format here, and on the stands commencing this coming Friday September 27, 2019. Enjoy.
Vol 1 of our 25th season is now here! And speaking of 25, that's how many films in the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival editor Paul Ennis, in our Eighth Annual TIFF TIPS, has chosen to highlight for their particular musical interest.
Also inside: Rob Harris looks through the Rear View Mirror at past and present prognostications about the imminent death of classical music; Mysterious Barricades and Systemic Barriers are Lydia Perović's preoccupations in Art of Song; Andrew Timar reflects on the evolving priorities of the Polaris Prize; and elsewhere, it's chocks away as yet another season creaks or roars (depending on the beat) into motion. Welcome back.
What a range of stuff! A profile of Liz Upchurch, the COC ensemble studio's vocal mentor extraordinaire; a backgrounder on win-win faith/arts centre partnerships and ways of exploring the possibilities; an interview with St. Petersburg-based Eifman Ballet's Boris Eifman; Ana Sokolovic's violin concert Evta finally coming to town; a Love Letter to YouTube, and much more. Plus our 17th annual Canary Pages Choral directory if all you want to do is sing! sing! sing!
Arraymusic, the Music Gallery and Native Women in the Arts join for a mini-festival celebrating the work of composer, performer and installation artist Raven Chacon; Music and Health looks at the role of Healing Arts Ontario in supporting concerts in care facilities; Kingston-based composer Marjan Mozetich's life and work are celebrated in film; "Forest Bathing" recontextualizes Schumann, Shostakovich and Hindemith; in Judy Loman's hands, the harp can sing; Mahler's Resurrection bursts the bounds of symphonic form; Ed Bickert, guitar master remembered. All this and more in our April issue, now online in flip-through here, and on stands commencing Friday March 29.
Something Old, Something New! The Ide(a)s of March are Upon Us! Rob Harris's Rear View Mirror looks forward to a tonal revival; Tafelmusik expands their chronological envelope in two directions, Esprit makes wave after wave; Pax Christi's new oratorio by Barbara Croall catches the attention of our choral and new music columnists; and summer music education is our special focus, right when warm days are once again possible to imagine. All this and more in our March 2019 edition, available in flipthrough here, and on the stands starting Thursday Feb 28.
In this issue: A prize that brings lustre to its laureates (and a laureate who brings lustre to the prize); Edwin Huizinga on the journey of Opera Atelier's "The Angel Speaks" from Versailles to the ROM; Danny Driver on playing piano in the moment; Remembering Neil Crory (a different kind of genius)' Year of the Boar, Indigeneity and Opera; all this and more in Volume 24 #5. Online in flip through, HERE and on the stands commencing Thursday Jan 31.
When is a trumpet like a motorcycle in a dressage event? How many Brunhilde's does it take to change an Elektra? Just two of the many questions you've been dying to ask, to which you will find answers in a 24th annual combined December/January issue – in which our 11 beat columnists sift through what's on offer in the upcoming holiday month, and what they're already circling in their calendars for 2019. Oh, and features too: a klezmer violinist breathing new life into a very old film; two New Music festivals in January, 200 metres apart; a Music & Health story on the restorative powers of a grassroots exercise in collective music-making; even a good reason to go to Winnipeg in the dead of winter. All this and more in Vol 24 No 4, now available in flipthrough format here.
Reluctant arranger! National Ballet Orchestra percussionist Kris Maddigan on creating the JUNO and BAFTA award-winning smash hit Cuphead video game soundtrack; Evergreen by name and by nature, quintessentially Canadian gamelan (Andrew Timar explains); violinist Angèle Dubeau on 20 years and 60 million streams; two children’s choirs where this month remembrance and living history must intersect. And much more, online in our kiosk now, and on the street commencing Thursday November 1.
Presenters, start your engines! With TIFF and "back-to-work" out of the way, the regular concert season rumbles to life, and, if our Editor's Opener can be trusted, "Seeking Synergies" seems to be the name of the game. Denise Williams' constantly evolving "Walk Together Children" touching down at the Toronto Centre for the Arts; the second annual Festival of Arabic Music and Arts expanding its range; a lesson in Jazz Survival with Steve Wallace; the 150 presenter and performer profiles in our 19th annual Blue Pages directory... this is an issue that is definitely more than the sum of its parts.
In this issue: The WholeNote's 7th Annual TIFF TIPS guide to festival films with musical clout; soprano Erin Wall in conversation with Art of Song columnist Lydia Perovic, about more than the art of song; a summer's worth of recordings reviewed; Toronto Chamber Choir at 50 (is a few close friends all it takes?); and much more, as the 2018/19 season gets under way.
PLANTING NOT PAVING! In this JUNE / JULY /AUGUST combined issue: Farewell interviews with TSO's Peter Oundjian and Stratford Summer Music's John Miller, along with "going places" chats with Luminato's Josephine Ridge, TD Jazz's Josh Grossman and Charm of Finches' Terry Lim. ) Plus a summer's worth of fruitful festival inquiry, in the city and on the road, in a feast of stories and our annual GREEN PAGES summer Directory.
In this issue: our sixteenth annual Choral Canary Pages; coverage of 21C, Estonian Music Week and the 3rd Toronto Bach Festival (three festivals that aren’t waiting for summer!); and features galore: “Final Finales” for Larry Beckwith’s Toronto Masque Theatre and for David Fallis as artistic director of Toronto Consort; four conductors on the challenges of choral conducting; operatic Hockey Noir; violinist Stephen Sitarski’s perspective on addressing depression; remembering bandleader, composer and saxophonist Paul Cram. These and other stories, in our May 2018 edition of the magazine.
In this issue: we talk with jazz pianist Thompson Egbo-Egbo about growing up in Toronto, building a musical career, and being adaptive to change; pianist Eve Egoyan prepares for her upcoming Luminato project and for the next stage in her long-term collaborative relationship with Spanish-German composer Maria de Alvear; jazz violinist Aline Homzy, halfway through preparing for a concert featuring standout women bandleaders, talks about social equity in the world of improvised music; and the local choral community celebrates the life and work of choral conductor Elmer Iseler, 20 years after his passing.
In this issue: Canadian Stage, Tapestry Opera and Vancouver Opera collaborate to take Gogol’s short story The Overcoat to the operatic stage; Montreal-based Sam Shalabi brings his ensemble Land of Kush, and his newest composition, to Toronto; Five Canadian composers, each with a different CBC connection, are nominated for JUNOs; and The WholeNote team presents its annual Summer Music Education Directory, a directory of summer music camps, programs and courses across the province and beyond.
In this issue: composer Nicole Lizée talks about her love for analogue equipment, and the music that “glitching” evokes; Richard Rose, artistic director at the Tarragon Theatre, gives us insights into their a rock-and-roll Hamlet, now entering production; Toronto prepares for a mini-revival of Schoenberg’s music, with three upcoming shows at New Music Concerts; and the local music theatre community remembers and celebrates the life and work of Mi’kmaq playwright and performer Cathy Elliott . These and other stories, in our double-issue December/January edition of the magazine.
In this issue: conversations (of one kind or another) galore! Daniela Nardi on taking the reins at "best-kept secret" venue, 918 Bathurst; composer Jeff Ryan on his "Afghanistan" Requiem for a Generation" partnership with war poet, Susan Steele; lutenist Ben Stein on seventeenth century jazz; collaborative pianist Philip Chiu on going solo; Barbara Hannigan on her upcoming Viennese "Second School" recital at Koerner; Tina Pearson on Pauline Oliveros; and as always a whole lot more!
In this issue: several local artists reflect on the memory of composer Claude Vivier, as they prepare to perform his music; Vancouver gets ready to host international festival ISCM World New Music Days, which is coming to Canada for the second time since its inception in 1923; one of the founders of Artword Artbar, one of Hamilton’s staple music venues, on the eve of the 5th annual Steel City Jazz Festival, muses on keeping urban music venues alive; and a conversation with pianist Benjamin Grosvenor, as he prepares for an ambitious recital in Toronto. These and other stories, in our October 2017 issue of the magazine.
In this issue: a look at why musicians experience stage fright, and how to combat it; an inside look at the second Kensington Market Jazz Festival, which zeros in on one of Toronto’s true ‘music villages’; an in-depth interview with Elisa Citterio, new music director of Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra; and The WholeNote’s guide to TIFF, with suggestions for the 20 most musical films at this year’s festival. These and other stories, in our September 2017 issue of the magazine!
CBC Radio's Lost Horizon; Pinocchio as Po-Mo Operatic Poster Boy; Meet the Curators (Crow, Bernstein, Ridge); a Global Music Orchestra is born; and festivals, festivals, festivals in our 13th annual summer music Green Pages. All this and more in our three-month June-through August summer special issue, now available in flipthrough HERE and on the stands commencing Thursday June 1.
From science fact in "Integral Man: Music and the Movies," to science fiction in the editor's opener; from World Fiddle Day at the Aga Khan Museum to three Canadians at the Cliburn; from wanting to sashay across the 401 to Chamberfest in Montreal to exploring the Continuum of Jumblies Theatre's 20-year commitment to the Community Play (there's a pun in there somewhere!).
In this issue: Our podcast ramps up with interviews in March with fight director Jenny Parr, countertenor Daniel Taylor, and baritone Russell Braun; two views of composer John Beckwith at 90; how music’s connection to memory can assist with the care of patients with Alzheimer’s; musical celebrations in film and jazz, at National Canadian Film Day and Jazz Day; and a preview of Louis Riel, which opens this month at the COC. These and other stories, in our April 2017 issue of the magazine!
On our cover: Owen Pallett's musical palette on display at New Creations. Spring brings thoughts of summer music education! (It's never too late.). For Marc-Andre Hamelin the score is king. Ella at 100 has the tributes happening. All; this and more.
In this issue: an interview with composer/vocalist Jeremy Dutcher, on his upcoming debut album and unique compositional voice; a conversation with Boston Symphony hornist James Sommerville, as as the BSO gets ready to come to his hometown; Stuart Hamilton, fondly remembered; and an inside look at Hugh’s Room, as it enters a complicated chapter in the story of its life in the complex fabric of our musical city. These and other stories, as we celebrate the past and look forward to the rest of 2016/17, the first glimpses of 2017/18, and beyond!
In this issue: a conversation with pianist Stewart Goodyear, in advance of his upcoming show at Koerner Hall; a preview of the annual New Year’s phenomenon that is Bravissimo!/Salute to Vienna; an inside look at music performance in Toronto’s health-care centres; and a reflection on the incredible life and lasting influence of the late Pauline Oliveros. These and more, in a special December/January combined issue!
In this issue: David Jaeger and Alex Pauk’s most memorable R. Murray Schafer collabs, in this month’s installment of Jaeger’s CBC Radio Two: The Living Legacy; an interview with flutist Claire Chase, who brings new music and mindset to Toronto this month; an investigation into the strange coincidence of three simultaneous Mendelssohn Elijahs this Nov 5; and of course, our annual Blue Pages, a who’s who of southern Ontario’s live music scene- a community as prolific and multifaceted as ever. These and more, as we move full-force into the 2016/17 concert season- all aboard!
Music lover's TIFF (our fifth annual guide to the Toronto International Film Festival); Aix Marks the Spot (how Brexit could impact on operatic co-production); The Unstoppable Howard Cable (an affectionate memoir of a late chapter in the life of of a great Canadian arranger; Kensington Jazz Story (the newest kid on the festival block flexes its muscles). These stories and much more as we say a lingering goodbye to summer and turn to the task, for the 22nd season, of covering the live and recorded music that make Southern Ontario tick.
It's combined June/July/August summer issue time with, we hope, enough between the covers to keep you dipping into it all through the coming lazy, hazy days. From Jazz Vans racing round "The Island" delivering pop-up brass breakouts at the roadside, to Bach flute ambushes strolling "The Grove, " to dozens of reasons to stay in the city. May yours be a summer where you find undiscovered musical treasures, and, better still, when, unexpectedly, the music finds you.
INSIDE: The Canaries Are Here! 116 choirs to choose from, so take the plunge! The Nylons hit the road after one last SING! Fling. Jazz writer Steve Wallace wonders "Watts Goode" rather than "what's new?" Paul Ennis has the musical picks of the HotDocs crop. David Jaeger's CBC Radio continues golden for a little while yet. Douglas McNabney is Music's Child. Leipzig meets Damascus in Alison Mackay's fertile imagination. And "C" is for KRONOS in Wende Bartley's koverage of the third annual 21C Festival. All this and as usual much much more. Enjoy.
From 30 camp profiles to spark thoughts of being your summer musical best, to testing LUDWIG as you while away the rest of so-called winter; from Scottish Opera and the Danish Midtvest, to a first Toronto recital appearance by violin superstar Maxim Vengerov; from musings on New Creations and new creation, to the boy who made a habit of crying Beowulf; it's a month of merry meetings and rousing recordings reviewed, all here to discover in The WholeNote.
2016 is off to a flying start! We chronicle the Artful Times of Andrew Burashko, the violistic versatility of Teng Li, the ageless ebullience of jazz pianist Gene DiNovi and the ninetieth birthday of trumpeter Johnny Cowell. Jaeger remembers Boulez; Waxman recalls Bley's influence, and Olds finds Bowie haunting Editor's Corner. Oh, and did we mention there's all that music? Hello (and goodbye) to the February blues, and here's to swinging through the musical vines of the Year of the Monkey.
What's a vinyl renaissance? What happens when Handel's Messiah runs afoul of the rumba rhythm setting on a (gasp!) Hammond organ? What work does Marc-Andre Hamelin say he would be content to have on every recital program he plays? What are Steve Wallace's favourite fifty Christmas recordings? Why is violinist Daniel Hope celebrating Yehudi Menuhin's 100th birthday at Koerner Hall January 28? Answers to all these questions (and a whole lot more) in the Dec/Jan issue of The WholeNote.
"Come" seems to be the verb that knits this month's issue together. Sondra Radvanovsky comes to Koerner, William Norris comes to Tafel as their new GM, opera comes to Canadian Stage; and (a long time coming!) Jane Bunnett's musicianship and mentorship are honoured with the Premier's award for excellence; plus David Jaeger's ongoing series on the golden years of CBC Radio Two, Andrew Timar on hybridity, a bumper crop of record reviews and much much more. Come on in!
Vol 21 No 2 is now available for your viewing pleasure, and it's a bumper crop, right at the harvest moon. First ever Canadian opera on the Four Seasons Centre main stage gets double coverage with Wende Bartley interviewing Pyramus and Thisbe composer Barbara Monk Feldman and Chris Hoile connecting with director Christopher Alden; Paul Ennis digs into the musical mind of pianist Benjamin Grosvenor, and pianist Eve Egoyan is "On the Record" in conversation with publisher David Perlman ahead of the Oct release concert for her tenth recording. And at the heart of it all the 16th edition of our annual BLUE PAGES directory of presenters profile the season now well and truly under way.
Paul Ennis's annual TIFF TIPS (27 festival films of potential particular musical interest); Wu Man, Yo-Yo Ma and Jeffrey Beecher on the Silk Road; David Jaeger on CBC Radio Music in the days it was committed to commissioning; the LISTENING ROOM continues to grow on line; DISCoveries is back, bigger than ever; and Mary Lou Fallis says Trinity-St. Paul's is Just the Spot (especially this coming Sept 25!).
