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.
lapping water and
lapping water and sparkling rivulets (and perhaps towards the end, birdsong) in the canals of Venice. The Canzone, based on a melody by Rossini, has a sense of deep foreboding, with throaty melodic lines and an underlying tremolo in the left hand. The Tarantella is perhaps the most famous of the set and is a wonderful example of the colours, textures and moods that can be created on the piano. WN: Why are you so drawn to those pianists of the first half of the last century? How has listening to them informed the way you play? Are there contemporary pianists you admire? Do you have any musical heroes who have inspired you? Grosvenor: I do have an interest in pianists of the past, both for the absolute merits of their performances and because one is potentially exposed to expressive and pianistic tools that may have disappeared from the modern lexicon. There are a great many contemporary musicians I also admire, but I’d rather not mention names for fear of leaving out others...! WN: You’ve been in the public eye for more than half your life, since your first appearance on the BBC. How do you reconcile your public and private life? Grosvenor: I don’t think I’ve ever really found it difficult to reconcile “public” and private life. Life as a classical musician is not quite like that of people who have high profiles in other fields, and it is easy to descend into the background. It is a demanding profession though, and involves a lot of work. The challenge is to reconcile private life and professional life. Good planning and time management is key! The vital middle: According to Taylor, Music Toronto occupies “the vital middle” in the city’s classical music life. It’s hard to imagine a better concert or more exciting artist than Grosvenor to open their 44th season. Season highlights include two noteworthy string quartet debuts – Cuarteto Casals and the Artemis Quartet – the return of favourites Marc-André Hamelin, the St. Lawrence Quartet and the Gryphon Trio, as well as appearances by the superb JACK Quartet and Quatuor Ébène, the welcome return of pianist Steven Osborne, and debuts by Peter Jablonski and the young-Polish-quartet-on-the-rise, the Apollon Musagète Quartett. Taylor books 12 to 18 months in advance after a varied process that ranges from surfing the Internet and gleaning concert programs from around the world to listening to advice from other presenters and audience members. A recommendation from an audience member of a Schubert recording by the Cuarteto Casals two years ago led to their upcoming October 22 recital (with a program including Mozart, Kurtag and Ravel). The Berlin Philharmonic Quartet recommended the Artemis Quartet to Taylor several years ago; she finally booked their April 14, 2016 concert after trying since 2012. An amateur pianist and old friend of Taylor’s recommended Jablonski five years ago. Two years ago, something related to the Apollon Musagète Quartett came in the mail. Intrigued by the name, Taylor investigated and closed the deal for their November 26 recital. “It’s always guesswork,” she said about the process. “But at the end of the first movement you know. Sometimes it’s extraordinary.” COC Rehearsal. At the end of week one of rehearsal for the COC’s world premiere of Barbara Monk Feldman’s Pyramus and Thisbe, a small group of invited media witnessed a fascinating process unfold in the company’s headquarters on Front St. Baritone Phillip Addis and mezzo-soprano Krisztina Szabó sat in front of a tall, massive, bright yellow cinder block wall, three metres from conductor Johannes Debus, separated only by their music stands amidst the vastness of the rehearsal room. Addis, his eyes wide open this early in the rehearsal process tells Debus that when he first learned his part as Pyramus, his approach was very rigid; now that he’s more familiar with the piece he feels it can be more jazzy. Debus replies that when the score calls for only one note (and a long one, at that) there’s nowhere to hide. “It’s necessary to discover the Frank Sinatra (or the Ella Fitzgerald) in all of us,” he said. There really are three characters in this new work, Debus told us, but paradoxically Pyramus, Thisbe and the chorus (plus the orchestra) also merge into one (quite slowly). “Maybe we lose the sense of time,” he pointed out. Another one of Monk Feldman’s qualities is that very difficult-to-perform sustaining of notes. Ultimately, Debus finds the Music director and conductor Johannes Debus, with director Christopher Alden (in foreground), at a music rehearsal of Pyramus and Thisbe opera to be a piece in suspended time. Performing it properly is a lot about breathing. “Ninety percent of the time we’re like curators in a museum. [Working on a new opera] puts certain things for us as interpreters into perspective. The exchange between creative minds is absolutely … an adventure as none else. A Canadian-composed-opera premiere is something quite remarkable. “Monk Feldman’s writing is basically orchestral. It works a lot with the natural decay of orchestral music … It’s kind of a meditation on this old Pyramus and Thisbe myth, kind of fragmented.” It’s hard not to overstate Debus’ versatility and engagement in the process. In addition to much back and forth banter with director Christopher Alden, his involvement with the singers was direct and supportive. He sang the chorus cues in Pyramus and played impeccable harpsichord in Il combiattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda, one of two Monteverdi works that complete what should be a memorable CHRIS HUTCHESON 14 | Oct 1 - Nov 7, 2015 thewholenote.com
program with the Monk Feldman. The TSO Decades Project begins October21 and 24 with Debussy’s enduring masterpiece La Mer and the rare treat of hearing Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony live. Peter Oundjian conducts and Erin Wall and Russell Braun are the vocal soloists in the Vaughan Williams. The first two decades of the 20th century shaped what we are today and the orchestra will be showcasing them in a series of six concerts and cross-disciplinary programming this season. In partnership with the Art Gallery of Ontario, The Decades Project will explore the similarities and differences of the two art forms in the space where music and visual art meet. The concerts are enhanced by pre- and post- concert talks guided by AGO curators and performances by The TSO Chamber Soloists. The project continues October 28 and 29 with Sibelius’ joyous, richly romantic Symphony No.2 and Bartók’s youthful Violin Concerto No.1. Finnish-born John Storgårds, recently named principal guest conductor of the NAC, conducts; the versatile Benjamin Schmid is the soloist in the Bartók. Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music Society highlights this month include: cellist Matt Haimovitz performing two newly commissioned works on the same program as two Bach suites for solo cello, October 4; four concerts by the Attacca String Quartet, October 29, 31 and November 1, as they continue their traversal of Haydn’s complete string quartets; and the star-studded Trio Arkel in works by Haydn, Osterle, Rosza, Dvořák and Beethoven, November 6. QUICK PICKS Oct 11 Angela Hewitt performs works by Scarlatti, Bach, Beethoven, Albeniz and De Falla at the Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts, Kingston. Oct 15 The versatile Afiara String Quartet is joined by harpist Caroline Léonardelli and bassist Joseph Phillips in the first concert of the Women’s Musical Club of Toronto’s 118th season. Oct 15 The world-class Takács Quartet performs Haydn, Shostakovich and Schubert’s Death and the Maiden at the Perimeter Institute, Waterloo. What Sweeter Music — Celebrating Eleanor Daleyy October 18 @ 2:30 pm Church of the Redeemer The MacMillan Singers and Women’s Chamber Choir present a variety of compositions by Eleanor Daley, celebrating her 60 th birthday. The Muse’s Garden: Dame Emma Kirkby Lute Song Recital October 18 @ 7:30 pm Trinity College Chapel Graduate voice students join the legendary Emma Kirkby and lutenist Jakob Linberg for an evening of lute songs. The Faculty of Music gratefully acknowledges the generous support of our presenting sponsors TICKETS: music.utoronto.ca or 416-408-0208 The Music of Gibbons, Purcell, Mendelssohn and Saint-Saëns October21 @ 7:30 pm Church of the Redeemer Presented by the Oratorio Class and the Schola Cantorum. Menotti: The Medium and The Telephone November 5-8 @ 7:30, 2:30 pm MacMillan Theatre Fall Major Opera Production, double bill. Madame Flora, a fraudulent medium, falls prey to the very superstition she has inclulcated in her séance clients. the 15th Season of NOCTURNES IN THE CITY 2015-2016 Sunday, October 4, 5pm KRIPA NAGESHWAR, soprano WILLIAM SHOOKHOFF, piano Dvorák, Kaprálová St. Wenceslaus Church Wednesday, November 11, 7:30 pm ZEMLINSKY QUARTET from Prague Dvorák, Janácek, Suk, Schostakovic St. Wenceslaus Church (*note time) Sunday, December 6, 5pm ELISKA LATAWIEC, soprano, (pianist TBA ) Dvorák St. Wenceslaus Church Sunday, January 17, 2016, 5pm GEORGE GROSMAN AND BOHEMIAN JAZZ QUARTET **Prague Restaurant at Masaryktown, Scarborough (note location) Sunday, March 13, 5pm ADAM ZUKIEWICZ, piano Chopin, Liszt, Dvorák St. Wenceslaus Church Sunday, April 3, 5pm JAN NOVOTNY, piano Smetana, Schumann St. Wenceslaus Church Sunday, May 1, 5pm DREW JURECKA JAZZ TRIO **Prague Restaurant at Masaryktown, Scarborough (note location) Sunday, May 29, 5pm KAROLINA ´KUBA´ LEK, piano Rachmaninov, Mozart, Chopin St. Wenceslaus Church All concerts are at St. Wenceslaus Church, 496 Gladstone Avenue, Toronto, with the exception of **January 17 and **May 1 subscriptions ~ 0 | single tickets ~ / (st) tickets | information 416-481-7294 nocturnesinthecity.com thewholenote.com Oct 1 - Nov 7, 2015 | 15
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!).
