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.
BLUE PAGES
BLUE PAGES 2015/16 ● Syrinx Concerts ●Talisker Players ●Tapestry Opera Syrinx will present six Sunday concerts during the 2015/16 season. Each concert will feature a work by a Canadian composer, integrated within a more familiar repertoire. Our performers include well-established award-winning artists as well as up-and-coming young musicians who have won prestigious prizes. In supporting and encouraging our Canadian musicians we offer a substantial vehicle for new works to be heard and appreciated. Our concerts are held in an intimate chamber music setting and all concerts are recorded for archives and the benefit of the artists. After each concert there is a reception so that both the audience and artists may mingle. This season Syrinx offers exciting collaborations between many outstanding musicians including James Campbell, Leo Erice, and Leslie Fagan; Tom Wiebe with Sharon Wei, Douglas McNabney, Solomiya Ivakhiv and Scott St. John, and Ensemble Made In Canada. Peter Longworth will be back by popular demand alongside Sheila Jaffé. Ilya Poletaev will perform with Axel Strauss, and in a special four hands concert Syrinx presents Narmina Efendiyeva and Lisa Tahara. Dorothy Glick 416-654-0877 dorothyglick@hotmail.com syrinxconcerts.ca ●Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Chamber Choir Music of the 17th and 18th centuries, performed on period instruments with Tafelmusik’s renowned “passion and refinement.” (The Globe and Mail) Join Tafelmusik in 2015/16 for a season that celebrates the future, as we welcome guest artists and returning favourites to the beautifully revitalized Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre, Jeanne Lamon Hall, while continuing our popular series at Koerner Hall and George Weston Recital Hall. Celebrated guest artists join Tafelmusik to lead the orchestra in diverse programs sure to delight all audiences, including violinists Rodolfo Richter, Cecilia Bernardini, and Elisa Citterio. Other highlights include Bruno Weil conducting Beethoven’s remarkable 9th Symphony, the “Best of Mozart” with Tafelmusik musicians, Bach’s Goldberg Variations with the virtuosic Benjamin Alard, and “Tales of Two Cities”, our latest multimedia creation. Choral highlights include the always-popular Messiah and “Sing-Along Messiah” and Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, led by choir director Ivars Taurins. William Norris, managing director Box Office: 416-964-6337 Administrative Office: 416-964-9562 info@tafelmusik.org tafelmusik.org Talisker Players is a unique ensemble of instrumentalists dedicated to working with singers and to exploring the interaction of words and music. The group presents an adventurous concert series in Toronto, and also performs throughout southern Ontario and across the country. The roots of the ensemble are in the choral tradition, and it maintains a busy schedule of engagements with choirs of all sizes in music ranging from baroque to contemporary, sacred and secular. The ensemble’s own concert series, at Trinity St. Paul’s Centre, takes its collaborative skills into the intimate realm of chamber music. Core players are joined by leading vocal soloists and actors in an annual series of programmes that are as much theatrical as they are musical. “Renovated Rhymes” (October 27 & 28, 2015) – songs and stories for grown-up children. “High Standards” (January 10 & 12, 2016) – favourites from the great American songbook. “Spirit Dreaming” (March 1 & 2, 2016) – creation myths from indigenous cultures around the world. “Cross’d by the Stars” (May 3 & 4) – tales of true love, doomed by the fates. Mary McGeer, artistic director Elizabeth Shannon, administrative director 416-466-1800 words.music@taliskerplayers.ca taliskerplayers.ca ●Tallis Choir The Tallis Choir is a chamber ensemble of 36 voices that has earned a reputation for innovative programming and polished performances across Southern Ontario. Works from Gregorian Chant to contemporary choral music are represented, but the choir is best known as one of the few Canadian ensembles specializing in the music of the renaissance, particularly 16th-century Italy and England. The choir consists primarily of auditioned amateur singers, built around a small core of professional musicians. Founded in 1977, the choir presents an annual four-concert subscription series, including a cappella programs, small chamber ensembles, organ works and, on several occasions, larger scale productions featuring choir, professional soloists and chamber orchestra. The Tallis Choir has earned particular acclaim from audiences for its presentation of themed concert programs and historical recreations, placing both well-known and rarely heard choral masterpieces in their broader historical context. The Tallis Choir can also be engaged for special performances outside their regular concert series. Customized programs featuring both current repertoire and new music can be developed to suit individual needs and budgets. David Martin 416-286-9798 info@tallischoir.com tallischoir.com Tapestry is a professional company creating and producing opera from the heart of here and now. For 35 years, the company has presented award winning works by preeminent artists, brought to life by some of the most talented and versatile performers of the contemporary stage. As Canada’s leader in opera developments, Tapestry is committed to cultivating new creators and performers to serve the evolution of the form and build a lasting Canadian repertoire. tapestryopera.com ●That Choir Celebrating its 8th season, That Choir is one of Toronto’s most exciting a cappella ensembles, combining high-calibre performance with storytelling through choral music. Founded in 2008 by artistic director Craig Pike, That Choir now draws together 30 auditioned singers with diverse backgrounds in work and study. That Choir’s 15/16 season features four selfpresented concerts: “That Choir Remembers,” - November 8, 2015; “That Choir Carols,” with a reading of A Child’s Christmas in Wales – December 13, 2015; “That Choir Kitchen Party” featuring folk music of Ireland and Newfoundland - March 13, 2016; and “That Choir Horizons” an exploration of contemporary choral music from around the world – May 15, 2016. It is That Choir’s goal to share our passion for choral music with the arts community and to inspire audiences both young and young at heart. We look forward to sharing our music with you in our 15/16 season in Toronto. Please follow us @thatchoir on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter! Colin Frotten 416-419-1756 info@thatchoir.com thatchoir.com ●Toronto Chamber Choir For over four decades, the Toronto Chamber Choir’s mission has been to present creative programs of Renaissance and Baroque repertoire, including performances with period instruments. The choir also explores music from later periods that complements or illuminates this core repertoire. Established in 1968, we number around 35 singers and are now in our second season with artistic director Lucas Harris. The TCC auditions new singers throughout the season as necessary; interested singers should bring a rich choral background and a deep love for early repertoire. Our season presents two full-length evening concerts and two Kaffeemusiks: Sunday afternoon presentations that combine music with commentary or narration as well as a slideshow. This season’s concerts will feature sacred polyphony from Italy and Iberia in “The Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci” (Nov. 1), festive music by B22 | theWholeNote 2015/16 PRESENTER PROFILES
Praetorious and Schutz in “Christmas in Dresden” (Dec. 12), music by women composers in “A Voice of Her Own” (March 13), and music from Eastern & Central Europe in “The Sun Rises in the East” (May 28). 416-763-1695 torontochamberchoir.ca info@torontochamberchoir.ca ●Toronto Children’s Chorus The Toronto Children’s Chorus, marking its 38th season and its ninth year under conductor Elise Bradley, has given thousands of children exceptional musical opportunities. Auditions are held in May and early September for membership in one of five choral levels. Non-auditioned KinderNotes classes for children aged three to six are also offered, as well as the Youth Choir. This season, “Music of the Spheres” features performances by all TCC choristers, aged six to 16. Concerts in St. Anne’s Anglican Church (October 24), Calvin Presbyterian Church (November 7 and June 26), Roy Thomson Hall (December 19), Yorkminster Park Baptist Church (February 27), Church of the Redeemer (April 2), Toronto Centre for the Arts (May 7), and Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre (June 16) will delight audiences of all ages. Guest artists for the 2015/16 season include the world renowned percussion ensemble Nexus, baritones Russell Braun and James Westman, and more. During the March Break, the Chamber Choir will be performing in Carnegie Hall and will perform two concerts with the Boston City Singers. The TCC has been invited to participate in Songbridge (a project of the International Federation for Choral Music) in the Bahamas in August. We welcome you to this exciting 2015/16 season! Elise Bradley, artistic director Victoria Buchy, managing director info@torontochildrenschorus.com torontochildrenschorus.com ●Toronto Choral Society The Toronto Choral Society was founded in 1845 to present concerts and foster the development of the local musical community. Today, under the leadership of artistic director Geoffrey Butler, the 150-voice TCS choir presents great works of the choral repertoire, produces innovative concerts celebrating our city’s rich history and diversity and participates in special community events. The 2015/16 season will include Bach’s Weihnachts-Oratorium on December 16; Shakespeare in Love, Romeo and Juliet, a co-production with the Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra, on April 2; and in 2016 we will be conducting a singing tour of Iceland where we will sing a selection of choral pieces of Nordic origin. Elaine Alexander 416-410-3509 info@torontochoralsociety.org torontochoralsociety.org TORONTO CHILDREN’S CHORUS ●Toronto City Opera Toronto City Opera, under the artistic direction of Beatrice Carpino and the musical direction of Adolfo De Santis, is Toronto’s most public-access opera company, and one of Canada’s oldest opera organizations, unique in the world, with roots dating back to 1946. Anyone can join our Chorus, perform in a fully-staged opera, no audition required. We will help teach you to sing and to act. This year we are presenting Gaetano Donizetti’e L’elisir d’amore, which will be sung in Italian, as well as Johann Strauss’s Die Fledermaus, which will be sung in English. For more information see our website at www.torontocityopera.com. We will present our current Season (our 49th) in late February and early March, 2016. Come enjoy a show for as little as ! Chris Lea info@torontocityopera.com torontocityopera.com ●Toronto Classical Singers Under the direction of Jurgen Petrenko, the Toronto Classical Singers produce three performances each year, tackling the works of history’s most gifted and complex composers. For our 2015/16 season, we’re bringing you some alltime favourites: J.S. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio BWV 248 on Dec. 6; Fauré’s Requiem op.48 and Duruflé’s Requiem op.9 on Feb.28; Puccini’s Messa di Gloria and music from the world of opera on May 15. Concerts are held at 4pm at Christ Church Deer Park, 1570 Yonge St. Auditions are held in September. Season tickets (adult) (senior/student), with single tickets (adult) and (senior/student). Shirley Paquette 416-443-1490 tickets@torontoclassicalsingers.ca torontoclassicalsingers.ca ●Toronto Consort The Toronto Consort is Canada’s leading ensemble specializing in the music of the middle ages, renaissance and early baroque. Founded in 1972, the Consort presents an annual subscription series at the newly revitalized Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre in Toronto. The Consort has toured extensively and has recorded 13 CDs as well as music for film and television, including the hit television series The Tudors and The Borgias. Artistic director David Fallis has programmed a unique series of concerts for the 2015/16 season: “The Soul of Naples” with Vesuvius Ensemble November 13 & 14, 2015; “Christmas at the Monastery of Santa Cruz” with Žak Ozmo December 11, 12 & 13, 2015; “The Way of the Pilgrim” February 12 & 13, 2016; “Beowulf” with Benjamin Bagby March 11 & 12, 2016; and, “Monteverdi Vespers” with Charles Daniels May 6, 7 & 8, 2016. For tickets and information, visit our website and follow us on Facebook for updates. tickets are available for ages 30 and under through our Club Consort program. David Fallis, artistic director Terry Raininger, managing director Admin: 416-966-1045 Box Office: 416-964-6337 info@torontoconsort.org torontoconsort.org ●Toronto Masque Theatre Founded in 2003 by artistic director Larry Beckwith, Toronto Masque Theatre is one of the only companies in the world devoted to the performance of masque, an art form that results from a fusion of music, dance and theatre. Inspired by the rich courtly tradition of the late renaissance, we seek to reinvent the art form for today’s audiences, speaking to contemporary Toronto. We have produced over 40 critically-acclaimed productions, ranging in repertoire from the theWholeNote 2015/16 PRESENTER PROFILES | B23
Choral Scene: Uncharted territory: three choirs finding paths forward; Music Theatre: Loose Tea on the boil with Alaina Viau’s Dead Reckoning; In with the New: what happens to soundart when climate change meets COVID-19; Call to action: diversity, accountability, and reform in post-secondary jazz studies; 9th Annual TIFF Tips: a filmfest like no other; Remembering: Leon Fleisher; DISCoveries: a NY state of mind; 25th anniversary stroll-through; and more.
Online in flip through here, and on stands commencing Tues SEP 1.
Following the Goldberg trail from Gould to Lang Lang; Measha Brueggergosman and Edwin Huizinga on face to face collaboration in strange times; diggings into dance as FFDN keeps live alive; "Classical unicorn?" - Luke Welch reflects on life as a Black classical pianist; Debashis Sinha's adventures in sound art; choral lessons from Skagit Valley; and the 21st annual WholeNote Blue Pages (part 1 of 3) in print and online. Here now. And, yes, still in print, with distribution starting Thursday October 1.
Alanis Obomsawin's art of life; fifteen Exquisite Departures; UnCovered re(dis)covered; jazz in the kitchen; three takes on managing record releases in times of plague; baroque for babies; presenter directory (blue pages) part two; and, here at the WholeNote, work in progress on four brick walls (or is it five?). All this and more available in flipthrough HERE, and in print Tuesday Nov 3.
July/August issue is now available in flipthrough HERE, bringing to a close 25 seasons of doing what we do (and plan to continue doing), and on stands early in the week of July 5. Not the usual bucolic parade of music in the summer sun, but lots, we hope, to pass the time: links to online and virtual music; a full slate of record reviews; plenty new in the Listening Room; and a full slate of stories – the future of opera, the plight of small venues, the challenge facing orchestras, the barriers to resumption of choral life, the challenges of isolation for real-time music; the steps some festivals are taking to keep the spirit and substance of what they do alive. And intersecting with all of it, responses to the urgent call for anti-racist action and systemic change.
"COVID's Metamorphoses"? "There's Always Time (Until Suddenly There Isn't)"? "The Writing on the Wall"? It's hard to know WHAT to call this latest chapter in the extraordinary story we are all of a sudden characters in. By whatever name we call it, the MAY/JUNE combined issue of The WholeNote is now available, HERE in flip through format, in print commencing Wednesday May 6, and, in fully interactive form, online at thewholenote.com. Our 18th Annual Choral Canary Pages, scheduled for publication in print and flip through in September is already well underway with the first 50 choirs home to roost and more being added every week online. Community Voices, our cover story, brings to you the thoughts of 30 musical community members, all going through what we are going through (and with many more to come as the feature gets amplified online over the course of the coming months). And our regular writers bring their personal thoughts to the mix. Finally, a full-fledged DISCoveries review section offers cues and clues to recorded music for your solitary solace!
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!).
