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Volume 21 Issue 8 - May 2016

  • Text
  • Toronto
  • Jazz
  • Festival
  • Arts
  • Symphony
  • Quartet
  • Choir
  • Theatre
  • Musical
  • Bach
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.

Beat by Beat | Bandstand

Beat by Beat | Bandstand Debuts, Anniversaries & Messages JACK MACQUARRIE After a seemingly endless wait, spring has finally arrived, and with it a virtual explosion of band activity. Not only are there more spring concerts than usual to announce, but there are some anniversaries and even one unusual debut. Another most welcome sign is the number of messages from readers telling us about their bands’ activities. Anniversaries: The first of the anniversaries that came to our attention was that of the Uxbridge Community Concert Band which is celebrating its 25th season. The UCCB is unique in that it is a summertime only band. Originally established to provide a band where students could remain proficient during the summer vacation period, now, 25 years later, band membership encompasses a spectrum from high school students to retirees in their 80s. They have two concerts scheduled for August. New members are always welcome and are urged to contact the band at uccb@powergate.ca or visit their website at uccb2016.webs.com. At the end of each concert season UCCB band members are asked to vote on a selection from that season which they would like to have included in the repertoire for the following season. The music to Pirates of the Caribbean was the popular choice for this year. With that as a starting point, music director Steffan Brunette has come up with an imaginative theme for the 2016 season. The band will be “Sailing the High C’s.” As of this writing Brunette is still accepting suggestions from band members. Suggestions submitted so far include selections from the Sea and Sinbad’s Ship from Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade, Handel’s Water Music Suite, Gilbert & Sullivan’s HMS Pinafore and others. Messages: The first of our messages was from Brenda Leuschen Farkas. When she lived in Toronto, she played in the New Horizons (Intermediate) Band, Toronto, under the direction of Rob Mee. When she and her husband moved to their new home on a lake near Port Loring, Ontario, the hunt for a place to play was a priority. Soon she found the No Strings Attached Community Band in Sudbury. While it’s an hour’s drive to get to the rehearsals, she says that it’s worth it. Recently, the band was awarded a high silver at the Northern Ontario Music Festival and received an invitation to compete at the Nationals in Ottawa. Directed by its founder, Sandra McMillan, the band will celebrate its 15th anniversary with a concert titled “15 Years of Music.” The concert will be held on Sunday, May 29 at 2pm at Cambrian College Auditorium, Sudbury. For more information see nostringsattachedband.org Another welcome letter recently received was from Theresa MacDonald, manager of the Weston Silver Band. As a member of Weston Silver Band, and frequent assistant with Hannaford Youth, she is a fountain of knowledge on the Brass Band movement in North America. In her message she pointed out “a bit of an oversight” in last month’s column regarding participation in NABBA competitions over the years. Here is what she had to say: “Canadian bands have not [recently] participated in NABBA until we [Weston Silver Band] returned to the Championships in 2014 after an 18-year hiatus. We have just returned from the North American Brass Band Championships (April 2, 2016) with a second place finish in First Section (1.5 points off the winning band). We are and remain the only Canadian Brass Band at the Championships…We are currently ranked as one of the top ten brass bands in North America.” New Horizons on Film: A few days ago we had the pleasure of attending a “pre-screening” of a new documentary film about the Toronto New Horizons Band. Directed by Sarah Keenlyside with executive producer Howard Fraiberg of Proximity Films, The Beat Goes Weston Silver Band On portrays the establishment and development of the Toronto New Horizons Band. The premiere on TVO is scheduled for June 8 at 9pm. After that date it will be possible to stream it from the TVO website. While on the subject of Toronto New Horizons, their end-of-season concert is scheduled for May 27 at 7:30. As in past years this will be at St. Michael’s College Arts Centre, 1515 Bathurst Street, north of St. Clair Ave. It seems like only yesterday when I first heard of the prospect for such a group. Now it’s the end of their sixth year. Dan Kapp: Last month I mentioned that Dan Kapp had resigned from his position in the Long and McQuade band department to devote more time to New Horizons activities. They have started to increase already. He will be running a beginner adult full-day band camp this summer from July 18 to 22, at the Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre as part of their Summer Institute for Creative Adults (SICA) program. It will be for adults who want to start playing again. In other words, participants will have to have some background in reading music. The New Horizons Band of Toronto Summer Band (Dan’s regular guys and gals) will be featured guests in an evening concert on July 21 at the Al Green Theatre (within the MNjcc) as part of the camp. If all of that wasn’t enough to keep a retiree busy, Dan was recently invited to conduct at a two-day international music festival in Panama City. He was selected to conduct a 78-member Honour Band of students from grades 7 to 9 as one part of the festival. It’s an annual event sponsored by the International School of Panama. There will be international schools from five other Central American countries as well as schools from Panama represented at the festival. This festival is the only time many of the students get to perform in a large ensemble. Silverthorn: Back to those messages about upcoming events. Word from Heather Engli is that the Silverthorn Symphonic Winds will be ending their season with a concert, May 28, appropriately titled “Sounds of Spring.” To whet the appetite of potential attendees they have scheduled a combination of some outstanding wind band repertoire along with some easy listening, fun stuff: Ralph Vaughan Williams’ English Folk Song Suite, Percy Grainger’s Lincolnshire Posy and Leonard Bernstein’s Overture to Candide along with such lighter fare as selections from Ain’t Misbehavin’, Big Band Salute and A Leroy Anderson Portrait. It is a program with wide appeal. It all takes place at the Wilmar Heights Event Centre. And a deep debut: June 5, Flute Street will present their spring concert featuring the Bach Toccata and Fugue in D and a Sinfonia for Nine Piccolos. The highlight for me will be the debut that I alluded to earlier. A few months ago we had introduced to a Toronto audience for the first time a sub contrabass flute belonging to a guest performer from Australia. That instrument so fascinated Flute Street member Jeff Densham that he was determined to have one for himself. Yes, he purchased such an instrument, and it will have its Canadian debut at this concert in a duet for contrabass and sub contrabass flutes. More Events by date May 7 the York University Community Band Festival returns with a variety of attractions for band members. It all starts at 12:45 with registration in York U’s Accolade East Building. There is a massed band session in the early afternoon followed by workshops on Brazilian drumming, brass performance, woodwind tips and a jazz ensemble. This is followed by a reception with keynote speaker, Canadian composer Donald Coakley. The evening features a massed band concert where Coakley will conduct a number of his compositions. 30 | May 1, 2016 - June 7, 2016 thewholenote.com

May 8 at 2pm, the Markham Concert Band will present “Sneak Peek: Murder at the Markham Theatre,” a fun-filled afternoon, as band member Heather Wardell spins a tale of dastardly deeds unfolding before your eyes at the Markham Theatre. Great music melds with intrigue in the search for the Markham Theatre murderer. Between each piece of music more information will be provided about motive and opportunity for the suspects and at the end of the show the murderer will be revealed. May 15 at 2pm, the Caledon Concert Band will present “Heroes from Fantasy and History,” including Guardians of the Galaxy, Star Trek Into Darkness and Pirates of the Caribbean. May 15 at 3:30pm, the Wychwood Clarinet Choir (led by artistic director and clarinet soloist Michele Jacot) offers “Sounds of Spring” at the Church of St. Michael and All Angels. This concert will feature McIntyre Ranch and other works by composer and conductor laureate Howard Cable and Immer Kleiner by Adolf Schreiner. The one work that I am looking forward to is Gustav Holst’s First Suite in E Flat as arranged by Matt Johnston. In the past I have been amazed at how well this group interprets such large works for full concert band with only the resources of the family of clarinets. Also in the Listings May 27: Etobicoke Community Concert Band. “Summer Prelude: Memories of the ‘Summer of Love’ at Woodstock,” featuring big band and Latin music. Works by Glenn Miller, Duke Ellington and others. May 28:The North York Concert Band presents “Dancing and Romancing,” a composite of swing tunes, Latin music, show tunes and other music at the Al Green Theatre. May 29: Mississauga Pops Concert Band presents “First in Films” with selections from The Lion King, Robin Hood Prince of Thieves, The Phantom of the Opera and other works; Joseph Resendes, conductor. May 29: North Toronto Community Band presents “Spring Rhythms,” with Keli Schmidt, mallets percussion, Cindy Sloane, vocals, Danny Wilks, conductor. Sunday June 5 at 3pm, the Newmarket Citizens’ Band will present their “Spring Fling Concert” with special guests the Upper Canada Chordsmen Chorus, at Trinity United Church, 461 Park Ave, Newmarket. June 7: Resa’s Pieces Concert Band’s “17th Gala Concert,” will range from Gustav Holst’s Jupiter from The Planets to Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story. Local trumpeter and composer Vern Kennedy’s Chandler Point Suite will add a local flavour. The band will be joined for part of the program by Resa’s Pieces Singers and Resa’s Pieces String Ensemble; Resa Kochberg, conductor. Howard Cable Word is spreading through the music world of the passing of Howard Cable. Canadian music has lost a great composer and conductor. Much has been written in the media already, and next month The WholeNote will include a feature story about him. For myself, in addition to playing much of his music over the years, more recently, I had begun talking with him about a special project. For some time I have wanted to write something about the process of music composition by looking into a specific work, following the processes and persons involved from the original concept to first performance of the piece. A couple of years ago I broached the idea to Howard after a concert of the Wychwood Clarinet Choir (with whom he had also developed a special relationship in recent years). In my mind I envisioned some town band commissioning him to compose a concert overture to commemorate an anniversary of the band. We would then discuss the many steps involved as the ideas went from the composer’s brain to printed page and on to a public performance. We had agreed on a tentative format and, always ready to look ahead, Howard suggested that we get down to it this spring. Alas, it will not happen in quite that way now. Jack MacQuarrie plays several brass instruments and has performed in many community ensembles. He can be contacted at bandstand@thewholenote.com. thewholenote.com May 1, 2016 - June 7, 2016 | 31

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