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Volume 21 Issue 2 - October 2015

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 late renaissance to the present day, including eight commissions of original work from Canadian artists. Our 12th season will feature masques classic and contemporary with a program that mixes mainstage productions with intimate salons. In December, we present Dean Burry’s fabulous contemporary Christmas classic, The Mummers’ Masque, based on the 400-year-old Newfoundland tradition of mummering. In May, we present Henry Purcell’s “Restoration spectacular” The Fairy Queen (1692), an ideal introduction to baroque masque. Our salons will explore, in October, the masque work of the Jacobean poet and playwright Ben Jonson and, in February, the background and inspiration of our next commission. Andrew Templeton 416-829-7196 andrew@torontomasquetheatre.com torontomasquetheatre.com ●Toronto Mendelssohn Choir Grand symphonic sound has been the trademark of the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, Canada’s world-renowned large vocal ensemble, for over 100 years. TMC concerts feature choral masterworks, music expressing hope, joy, desolation and faith – the drama of the human condition told through music and word. The 130-voice choir includes a professional core, auditioned volunteers and apprentices. The TMC has a five-concert subscription season and performs regularly with the TSO, including Handel’s Messiah. TMC’s 2015/16 concerts include: “German Romantics” (music of Brahms, Liszt and Schubert) with pianist André Laplante, November 25 at Koerner Hall; “Festival of Carols” with the acclaimed Canadian Staff Band, December 9; the free Conductors’ Symposium concert, January 30; “Sacred Music for a Sacred Space” at St. Paul’s Basilica on Good Friday; and Haydn’s The Creation with orchestra, April 27 at Koerner Hall. The TMC’s education and outreach programs include the annual Conductors’ Symposium for emerging conductors, the Apprentice Program to support young singers and Singsation Saturday choral workshops for anyone who loves to sing. Noel Edison, artistic director Cynthia Hawkins, executive director 416-598-0422 x221 manager@tmchoir.org tmchoir.org ●Toronto Operetta Theatre Toronto Operetta Theatre embarks upon its third decade as Canada’s only performing arts company dedicated to music theatre in all its variety. The season opens on November 1, 2015 with a tribute to Gilbert & Sullivan’s H.M.S. Pinafore starring Charlotte Knight, Gregory Finney, Rosalind McArthur, Michael Nyby and Natasha Fransblow as music director. Our Holiday production will be The Student Prince by Sigmund Romberg featuring Ernesto Ramirez, Jennifer Taverner, Curtis Sullivan, Stefan Fehr and Derek Bate as conductor, from December 27, 2015 to January 3, 2016. The season closes with the Canadian premier of Jacinto Guerrero’s Spanish zarzuela, Los Gavilanes (The Sparrow Hawks), from April 27 through May 1, 2016, featuring Miriam Khalil and Guillermo Silva-Marin with Larry Beckwith as conductor on April 27 to 30 and May 1, 2016. Performances are held at the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts. Yuki Azuma Box Office: 416-366-7723 torontooperetta.com ●Toronto Singing Studio Welcome to a new season of singing! The Toronto Singing Studio offers many ways to improve and develop your voice and singing skills. Interested in private singing lessons? Discover the unique sound that is your singing voice. Are you more comfortable in a group class? The very popular “Singers’ Repertoire Class” for experienced singers (ages 18 and over) may be a perfect fit. The Toronto Singing Studio has four amateur adult choirs: Vocal Mosaic (60 voices, no audition), Celebration Choir (60 voices, no audition, for singers over age 55), Vivace Vox (chamber choir, by audition only), and Summer Singers (65 voices, no audition, meets June and July). The Toronto Singing Studio has locations downtown and midtown. For more information, visit the TTSS website. Linda Eyman, director 416-455-9238 linda@thetorontosingingstudio.ca www.thetorontosingingstudio.ca ●TorQ Percussion Quartet Canada’s premiere percussion ensemble, TorQ Percussion Quartet continues to bring new vitality to percussion repertoire and performance in every situation and opportunity. Renowned for their engaging performances, members Richard Burrows, Adam Campbell, Jamie Drake, and Daniel Morphy are committed to making percussion music accessible to audiences that span generations, and as The Toronto Star states “[TorQ] can stand proud among the growing throng of chamber percussion ensembles around the world.” Since coming together in 2004, some of their international highlights include the International Percussion Quartet Festival (Luxembourg), Percussive Arts Society International Convention (Indianapolis) and with the Stuttgart Chamber Choir. At home, TorQ has made appearances at the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival, PEI’s Indian River Festival, Toronto’s Soundstreams, and Kitchener’s Open Ears Contemporary Music Festival. In 2012, they launched their first annual concert series in Toronto where they collaborated with invited guest artists, composers, and dancers. As collaborative artists, the quartet has performed with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, and the Hamilton Children’s Choir, as well as soloists Krisztina Szabo, Rivka Golani, and composer Nicole Lizée. Richard Burrows 416-788-8272 info@torqpercussion.ca torqpercussion.ca ●Toyich International Projects Toyich International Projects (TIP) is a non-profit charitable organization devoted to developing the skills, professional training and musical education of music students, performers, mature amateur musicians and music teachers by providing them with opportunities to develop and present their talents nationally and internationally. Our acclaimed Monster Concerts (piano orchestras) have showcased many talented performers over the years and have been featured on radio, television and print media in Canada and Europe. TIP’s mandate is inclusive and we provide and support professional training on an ongoing basis to musicians of all ages, in the form of coaching, masterclasses and performance practice (contact Boyanna Toyich for information about participation). TIP, in collaboration with the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Music, is proud to present RomeSMARTS (Rome Summer Musical Arts) in Rome, Italy, each summer, offering performance programs, masterclasses with Canadian and Italian teachers, lectures, seminars, public performances and University of Toronto credit courses for eligible students. The dates for next year’s program in Rome are July 4 to 15, 2016. boyanna@sympatico.ca boyanna.toyich@utoronto.ca romesmarts.org ●Trio Arkel Trio Arkel is a unique ensemble at the pinnacle of Canadian classical music. Formed in 2008, this string trio is comprised of three women who are not only highly-respected soloists and chamber musicians in their own right, but also orchestral leaders; Marie Bérard is the Concertmaster of the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra, Teng Li is the Principal Violist of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and Winona Zelenka is the Assistant Principal Cellist of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Brought together by their mutual love of chamber music as well as the fascination for new and unusual repertoire for small ensembles, the Trio began a concert series in the fall of 2013, dedicated to the presentation of these great masterpieces to an enthusiastic audience. Along with playing both well-loved string trio repertoire and lesser known works for that combination, B24 | theWholeNote 2015/16 PRESENTER PROFILES

they invite prestigious guest artists to perform rarely played works such as Britten’s Phantasy Quartet for oboe and strings, Magnus Lindberg’s Clarinet Quintet and George Crumb’s Black Angels. To find out about Trio Arkel’s 2015/16 season, please see our Facebook page at TrioArkel. Winona Zelenka 416-409-6824 admin@trioarkel.com ● Ukranian Art Song Project Ukrainian Art Song Project (UASP) is a groundbreaking initiative that aims to record and publish a veritable anthology of over 1,000 art songs by 26 of Ukraine’s greatest composers for distribution to the music world. Over its eleven-year history, UASP has launched boxed CD sets of the art songs of Kyrylo Stetsenko, Yakiv Stepovyi (sponsored by the Ukrainian Music Society of Alberta), Mykola Lysenko and GALICIANS I consisting of four composers: Barvinsky, Liudkevych, Sichynsky and Turkewich. Released to critical acclaim, many of these art songs have been recently discovered and never previously recorded. Internationally renowned bass-baritone Pavlo Hunka, artistic director, along with Roman Hurko, producer, have assembled a stellar cast of Canadian operatic performers for both recordings and performances. The principal piano accompanist for the project is Albert Krywolt. Musical scores for Ukrainian art songs are soon to be published on the UASP website and are available free of charge for download in Sibelius or as PDFs. The 2015/16 season will focus on recording and introducing the next four composers for GALICIANS II: Ostap and Nestor Nyzhankivsky, Lopatynsky and Volynsky at Glenn Gould Studio. Daria Olynyk 416-873-2287 info@ukrainianartsong.ca ukrainianartsong.ca ● University of Toronto Faculty of Music The Faculty of Music at the University of Toronto is regarded as a top destination for the professional and scholarly study of music in North America. As part of one of the world’s top universities, the Faculty of Music is home to a diverse and dynamic community of scholars, performers, composers and educators. With superb educators in every area of music study and dozens of areas of specialization in our degree and diploma programs, we offer an education that is both broad and deep. Our students and alumni have garnered such awards as Prix Italia, the Peabody, JUNO and National Jazz Awards, and occupy prominent positions with such ensembles as the Toronto Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Boston Symphony and the Berlin Philharmonic. The Faculty of Music’s annual concert season features students, faculty and guests in over 100 public concerts, lectures and masterclasses. THE TORONTO CONSORT This year’s featured guests include composers Michael Colgrass, Alan Gordon Bell, Lawrence Shragge and Philippe Leroux; singers Barbara Hannigan, Sondra Radvanovsky and Norma Winstone; director Atom Egoyan; musicologist Scott Burnham; and percussionist Pedram Khavarzamani. Dr. Don McLean, dean 416-408-0208 music.utoronto.ca ● Univox Choirs of Toronto Univox Choirs of Toronto is a family of choirs for young adults in their 20s and 30s. The organization, overseen by artistic director Dallas Bergen, is comprised of Univox (SATB) and Florivox (SA). Univox Choirs holds relationship building, social responsibility and musical excellence as their core principles. Most new choristers have previous choral experience or have some musical proficiency. Selected repertoire spans five centuries, including choral classics, contemporary works and popular music, ranging from William Byrd to Eric Whitacre and Daft Punk. Potential choristers are invited to observe a rehearsal after initial contact. Univox rehearsals take place Tuesdays; Florivox on Mondays – both from 5:45pm to 8pm, at New Horizons/Dovercourt Baptist, 1140 Bloor St. W. The choirs run from September to June. Matthew Pollishuke president@univoxchoirs.org univoxchoirs.org ● Upper Canada Choristers The Upper Canada Choristers is a mixed voice community choir in Toronto committed to musical excellence, community service and with a history of collaboration with both local and international choirs. The choir’s diversity is reflected in its wide range of repertoire and the variety of its guest artists. Cantemos is the auditioned latin chamber ensemble of the Choristers. Founding artistic director and conductor, Laurie Evan Fraser and accompanist, Cecilia Lee provide the professional musical leadership for this vibrant organization. The choir performs 15-20 concerts annually in a variety of community venues. Our 2015-16 season opens with “Wolcum Yole!”, a holiday concert on December 4 at 8 PM at Grace Church on-the-Hill. The choristers will be joined by Emily Belvedere, harpist in Benjamin Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols. On May 13, the choir presents “Our Home and Native Lands”, a multi-cultural programme that highlights the cultural roots of choir members. The final event of the season will be a “Strawberry Social” on Sunday, June 12 in the Parish Hall of Grace Church. The centrepiece of the entertainment will be The Musical Adventures of Jack and Jill. Jacqui Atkin 416 256-0510 info@uppercanadachoristers.org uppercanadachoristers.org ●Vesnivka Choir Vesnivka Choir celebrates 50 years of singing! This award-winning women’s ensemble, established by Halyna Kvitka Kondracki in 1965, has delighted audiences around the world with its rich repertoire of Ukrainian classical, sacred, contemporary and traditional/folk music. Vesnivka begins its 50th concert season on October 18, 2015 with a newly commissioned work from Toronto composer Roman Hurko. We welcome everyone to this free in-concert performance of Mr. Hurko’s Liturgy No. 4 (Vesnivka). On January 10, 2016, Vesnivka, joined by the Toronto Ukrainian Male Chamber Choir, presents its ever-popular annual Ukrainian Christmas concert. This year’s program will feature Christmas music with a chamber orchestra and three guest soprano soloists. The anniversary theWholeNote 2015/16 PRESENTER PROFILES | B25

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