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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.

CANARY PAGES ●

CANARY PAGES ● Penthelia Singers A vibrant ensemble of women, Penthelia Singers is committed to excellence in performing culturally diverse and musically sophisticated repertoire spanning the renaissance to the 21st century. Now in its 19th season, the choir has earned a reputation for presenting innovative concerts of four- to eight-part choral repertoire in a multitude of languages. The choir aims to demonstrate the diversity of choral music and to cross ethnic and cultural boundaries by connecting with its community through music. The choir works to promote contemporary choral music by talented Canadian composers. Penthelia Singers is a welcoming group of women committed to high standards of music-making, diversity, community outreach and enjoyment through the learning process. The choir adheres to the City of Toronto Declaration of Non-Discrimination. ALICE MALACH 647-248-5079 pentheliasingers@gmail.com www.penthelia.com ● Peterborough Singers 416-256-9421 stmartin@yorku.ca www.scholamagdalena.ca ● Serenata Choir Serenata Choir, directed by conductor Gary Heard for 17 years, is pleased to be celebrating its 29th concert season this year. Presenting a broad repertoire ranging from classical to pop, Serenata’s home is in Midland, with membership from a number of Georgian Bay communities. Rehearsals are Monday evenings at Midland’s Calvary Baptist Church. Auditions are not required for membership, and the choir is known for its friendly and welcoming nature. Annual performances include a Christmas concert, a cabaret with silent auction and a spring concert in support of the emergency shelter “The Guesthouse.” The choir also performs two benefit performances, a full concert in October and the Nine Lessons & Carols in December. SLADJANA GRUNDSTEN 705-516-6800 sladjana@bellnet.ca www.serenatachoir.ca PATRICIA SILVER 416-694-6900 patricia_silver@hotmail.com www.singtoronto.com ● Song Spinners Chorus Everyone always wants to join the chorus. Our choir has been active for over 20 years for older adults in the Milton and surrounding communities. Our innovative director will lead you through new musical experiences, while preparing the group to perform at two annual concerts at the Milton Seniors’ Activity Centre. Rehearsals are scheduled 9:30am to 11:30am on Wednesdays. Come join the fun and make memories with us. No auditions. Contact us for rehearsal and fee information. MILTON SENIORS’ ACTIVITY CENTRE 905-875-1681 shannon.soule@milton.ca www.milton.ca/en/townhall/ miltonseniorsactivitycentre.asp ● Spiritus Ensemble theWholeNote 2016/17 CANARY PAGES DIRECTORY The Peterborough Singers, under the energetic and creative leadership of founder and music director Syd Birrell, performs a diverse musical repertoire from gospel to sacred to pop to oratorio. Classical highlights have included the St. Matthew Passion, Elijah, Carmina Burana and Bach’s Mass in B Minor. The Peterborough Singers regularly feature emerging solo artists alongside well-known international artists and have commissioned works by Canadian composers Serouj Kradjian, Mark Sirett, Stephen Chatman and Len Ballantine. This award-winning group has a reputation for surprising, delighting and challenging its audiences. Concerts for the upcoming season include: the ever-popular Yuletide Cheer; Handel’s Messiah; Celebrate! Canadian Women in Song; and Mozart Requiem and Arias. Rehearsals take place Wednesday evenings in Peterborough. Auditions take place throughout the season. PEG MCCRACKEN 705-745-1820 singers@peterboroughsingers.com www.peterboroughsingers.com ● Schola Magdalena Schola Magdalena is a six-voice ensemble singing medieval polyphony, chant and new music for women’s voices. Ensemble-in-residence at the Church of Saint Mary Magdalene, Toronto, we have recorded two CDs (available on iTunes) and have toured from Stratford to Chicoutimi, from Waterloo to Waupoos. Our past season centred around touring, recording and holding workshops with amateur singers with an interest in learning about Gregorian chant and the music of Hildegard von Bingen. In the coming year we look forward to a return to Prince Edward County, and a program pairing medieval music with Messiaen. For all the details of our activities, please visit our website or our Facebook page, facebook. com/scholamagdalena, or check out our Bravo Video on YouTube. STEPHANIE MARTIN, artistic director ● Serenata Singers The Serenata Singers are a lively group of seniors, about 65 of us, who enjoy singing four-part harmony. We’re celebrating our 40th anniversary in 2016, and will begin the next 40 years in September with Vincent Cheng as the new director. Serenata’s repertoire covers a wide range of music including classical, show tunes, pop, folk, and Canadiana for Canada’s 150th birthday in 2017. Rehearsals are Wednesday mornings from September to May at Wilmar Heights Centre, 963 Pharmacy Ave., Scarborough. Each season crescendos with a pair of concerts in May. The choir welcomes new members in every vocal range. Find us on Facebook at facebook.com/ SerenataSingers76. LOIS SULLIVAN 416-223-6885 mpmcd@mathville.com www.serenatasingers.ca ● SING! Toronto Vocal Arts Festival SING! The Toronto Vocal Arts Festival is Canada’s premier a cappella festival, celebrating Canadian and international vocal artists, joined in collaboration to illustrate that the voice knows no limits or constraints of genre, language or cultural background. Headliners have included recording artists Take 6, The Real Group, Nathaniel Dett Chorale, Elmer Iseler Singers, New York Voices, Rajaton, Nylons, and Swingle Singers. A registered charity, SING! inspires and educates students, teachers and professional musicians through a school workshop day and public weekend masterclasses. Performance styles include classical, world, pop, jazz, beatbox, barbershop, folk and more, featuring professional and community groups. Free and ticketed events take place throughout downtown Toronto in the Distillery Historic District and area theatres annually in late May. Spiritus Ensemble is a semi-professional choralinstrumental ensemble of 18 voices plus an orchestra of varying size that performs mainly the liturgical music of J.S. Bach and other music of the German Baroque. We perform four or five times a season in Kitchener-Waterloo, sometimes in concert and sometimes in a Bach Vespers format. Rehearsals take place on the two or three Saturday mornings preceding each performance. Performances are on Sundays at 4pm. During the 2016/17 season, Spiritus will perform Bach’s Mass in B minor, Cantatas 39, 102, and 133, as well as music by other composers. KENNETH HULL 519-579-8335 krhull@uwaterloo.ca www.spiritusensemble.com ● St. James Cathedral Parish Choir If you enjoy singing a wide range of motets that span five centuries – from the sublime offerings of Byrd, Palestrina and Tallis to the composers of today via Healey Willan, John Rutter, Saint-Saëns, and Charles Gounod – there is no better remedy for your craving than the exhilarating membership of a Cathedral Choir of like-minded volunteers with an appetite for musical challenges and artistic companionship. This social group of singers rehearses each Thursday from 7pm to 8pm, and comprises sopranos, altos, tenors and basses. Their director of music, Robert Busiakiewicz, is always willing to welcome enquiries from those who might like to join the ranks, or those who simply want to give singing a try in a relaxed rehearsal setting. The choir sings at the 9am Cathedral Eucharist each week. We warmly welcome all genders and ages. The choir has four paid leads. ROBERT BUSIAKIEWICZ, director of music dom@stjamescathedral.on.ca www.stjamescathedral.on.ca C12

● St. Jude’s Anglican Church Oakville At St. Jude’s Church, two different choirs sing for the two Sunday morning services. The ‘9:30 Choir’ is non-auditioned, sings accessible repertoire and is open to people of all ages. Rehearsals on Wednesday evenings 7pm to 8pm. The ‘11am Choir’ sings Choral Evensong on the third Sunday of the month at 4pm in addition to Sunday morning services 11am. Rehearsals are Thursday 7:30pm to 9:30pm and admission is by informal audition. Repertoire is drawn from the finest music in the Anglican choral tradition, and choral scholarships are available for promising young singers. This choir toured to England in the summer of 2015. SIMON WALKER 905-844-3972 choir@stjudeschurch.net www.stjudeschurch.net ● St. Michael’s Choir School Founded more than 75 years ago by Monsignor John Edward Ronan, St. Michael’s Choir School has served the Archdiocese of Toronto by educating and training musicians who sing at St. Michael’s Cathedral. The school is unique – offering an enriched academic program for boys from grades 3 to 12, with extended French instruction, as well as a lively ministry of sacred music. Choirs from SMCS perform annually on tour and at many local concerts and events. From September to June, the choirs sing weekly Masses at St. Michael’s Cathedral. Auditions are held annually between January and March. MUSIC OFFICE 416-397-6367 musicoffice@smcs.on.ca www.smcs.on.ca ● Summer Singers Looking for a summer choir to join? Look no further! The Summer Singers is a fun and musicloving adult ensemble of over 60 voices which meet Wednesday evenings 6:30pm to 8:30pm in June and July (eight weeks) at Bloor Street United Church, 300 Bloor St. W., Toronto. Repertoire is a cool mix of folk, pop, standards, classical and more. An informal concert is presented on the last evening. No audition. A membership fee is charged. LINDA EYMAN 416-455-9238 linda@thetorontosingingstudio.ca www.thetorontosingingstudio.ca ●Tafelmusik Chamber Choir Tafelmusik Chamber Choir, directed by Ivars Taurins, is one of Canada’s leading ensembles specializing in historically-informed performances of the music of the 17th and 18th centuries. Formed in 1981, it has been praised for its clarity, nuance and brilliance. The choir joins the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra at Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre, George Weston Recital Hall and Koerner Hall, and for its annual performances of Handel’s Messiah and Sing-Along Messiah. In the 2016/17 season, the Tafelmusik Chamber Choir will celebrate its 35th anniversary. LUISA TRISI 416-481-1161 ltrisi@sympatico.ca www.tafelmusik.org ●Tallis Choir Tallis Choir, founded in 1977 and directed by Peter Mahon, specializes in renaissance choral music but performs a wide variety of musical styles. “Our Good Wills” May 14 celebrates the world of William Shakespeare and William Byrd. The 2016/17 season launches with “Music for Bloody Mary” October 15 with a performance of the glorious polyphony from the Tudor Chapel Royal. Talisker Players joins the choir December 3 for “Monteverdi: Vespers of Christmas Eve.” “Requiem for a Renaissance King” March 4 features a rare performance of of Duarte Lobo’s Requiem. Period brass and organ join the choir May 3 for “Lassus & Luther: A Mighty Fortress” to mark the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. Concerts are performed at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, 141 McCaul St. BEV JAHNKE 416-467-5961 bjahnke@sympatico.ca www.tallischoir.com ●Tempus Choral Society Tempus Choral Society is a 100-voice SATB community choir based in Oakville, led by director Brian Turnbull. Its repertoire encompasses contemporary, Broadway, Great American Songbook, gospel, classical and jazz. In 2015, a Tempus children’s choir and a jazz choir were formed as part of a grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation. Tempus has performed with the Canadian Male Orpheus Choir, the Sankt Annae Youth Choir of Denmark and at many festivals. Tempus placed third (jazz category) at the 2012 World Choir Games. In December 2014, the group sang the Messiah at the Lincoln Center. Members performed Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem at Carnegie Hall in April 2015 as part of an international choir of auditioned singers. A European tour is planned for the summer of 2018. BRIAN TURNBULL 905-466-2168 pipeorgn@hotmail.com www.tempuschoralsociety.com ●That Choir Founded in 2008 by artistic director Craig Pike, That Choir is one of Toronto’s most exciting a cappella ensembles, combining high-calibre performance with storytelling through choral music. The ensemble now draws together 30 auditioned singers with diverse backgrounds in work and study. Each season, That Choir presents a four-concert series of contemporary choral works and an exciting cabaret series, undertakes a range of professional development projects, and appears at many local and provincial music festivals and arts events. That Choir’s repertoire ranges from Eric Whitacre, Ola Gjeilo, Pentatonix and Rajaton, to works by Canadian composers Eleanor Daley and Kathleen Allan. Auditions are held at the end of May. Visit www.thatchoir. com for more details! COLIN FROTTEN, general manager 416-706-5221 info@thatchoir.com www.thatchoir.com ●Toronto Beach Chorale The Toronto Beach Chorale is an auditioned SATB choir of up to 65 voices, under artistic director Mervin W. Fick. With a passion for great choral music, the TBC invites guest soloists, professional musicians and other arts organizations to join in presenting repertoire from the renaissance to the 20th century in three or four concerts per season. TBC also participates in many community and fundraising events. TBC offers a Choral Scholars Program to encourage THAT CHOIR theWholeNote 2016/17 CANARY PAGES DIRECTORY C13

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