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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.

FOR OPENERS | DAVID

FOR OPENERS | DAVID PERLMAN What Would You Say The Odds Are? What are the odds of two concerts both involving recreations of Zimmermann’s Coffee House in Leipzig (circa 1725), both happening on Saturday May 21, 2016, one in Toronto and one in Bethlehem, and that I will get to go to both of them? Pretty good actually because they’re both happening on other nights as well, and it’s only a shorthaul hop, skip and bus ride from Toronto’s Island Airport to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. But it’s a pretty neat coincidence, as Alison Mackay agrees. (All is revealed in my conversation with Alison Mackay, starting on page 16.) That story, by the way, is excerpted from a much longer conversation taped in what we refer to, rather grandly, as “our studio” in The WholeNote offices. The entire conversation is one of two (the other is with choral conductor Lydia Adams) recently made available as a podcast on our website at thewholenote.com. Still on the topic of May 21, what are the odds that the other concert this month I really don’t want to miss (Ernie Watts, Brad Goode, Adrean Farrugia et al.) also takes place that very same night, at the George Weston Recital Hall in North York. Steve Wallace explains why it’s a concert not to miss (the story starts on page 13). Still on the subject of odds, it was a pretty safe bet that Toronto would be one of the venues as 37-year-old iconic a cappella group the Nylons kick off a yearlong farewell tour. Ori Dagan talks with sole remaining founding member Claude Morrison in a great little meander through the evolution of our a cappella scene from those beginnings to today (page 11). Simple coincidence throws up all kinds of interesting patterns and synchronicities when one views things, that maybe just happened to have taken place at the same time, from a particular point of view. Face to face with the momentous, we can look back on some small moment as the one that started it all. Listening to Tanya Tagaq with the Kronos Quartet on the opening night of the upcoming 21C Music Festival (see Wendalyn Bartley’s cover story) for example, it will be hard for me not to wonder what would have happened had David Harrington not listened all the way through to track 18 of that particular CD on that particular plane on that particular night 13 years ago. Odds are, I suppose, that if one compiles enough stories and facts about all the interesting musical stuff going on around us all the time, the resulting document will always contain enough different threads for the individual reader, depending on your likes, to weave into pleasurable patterns of interesting connectedness. Maybe for you, somewhere down the line, you will look back on something you found in this issue of the magazine as having changed things for you in some interesting way – a piece of music that fell fresh on your ears, a new ensemble or performer or recording. Or, for that matter, a band or choir to join, so that making music became (again) an integral part of your life. The WholeNote VOLUME 21 NO 8| MAY 1 -JUNE 7, 2016 Centre for Social Innovation 720 Bathurst St., Suite 503, Toronto ON M5S 2R4 PHONE 416-323-2232 | FAX 416-603-4791 Publisher/Editor In Chief | David Perlman publisher@thewholenote.com Chairman of the Board | Allan Pulker directors@thewholenote.com EDITORIAL Managing Editor | Paul Ennis editorial@thewholenote.com Recordings Editor | David Olds discoveries@thewholenote.com Social Media Editor | Sara Constant editorial@thewholenote.com Listings Editor | John Sharpe listings@thewholenote.com Club Listings Editor | Bob Ben jazz@thewholenote.com SALES, MARKETING & MEMBERSHIP Concerts & Events/Membership | Karen Ages members@thewholenote.com Record Industry Sales/Marketing | Thom McKercher thom@thewholenote.com Directory Sales and Services | Adrienne Surtees adrienne@thewholenote.com Advertising/Production Support/Operations Jack Buell | adart@thewholenote.com Classified Ads | classad@thewholenote.com Website/Systems | Bryson Winchester systems@thewholenote.com Website/Systems Support | Kevin King kevin@thewholenote.com Circulation/Subscriptions | Chris Malcolm circulation@thewholenote.com SUBSCRIPTIONS per year + HST (9 issues) THANKS TO THIS MONTH’S CONTRIBUTORS Beat Columnists Paul Ennis, Wendalyn Bartley, Brian Chang, David Podgorski, Hans de Groot, Andrew Timar, Jack MacQuarrie, Bob Ben, mJ buell, David Olds Features David Perlman, Wendalyn Bartley, Steve Wallace, Ori Dagan, David Jaeger, Paul Ennis, Vanessa Wells CD Reviewers Alex Baran, Wendalyn Bartley, Stuart Broomer, Raul Da Gama, Hans De Groot, Janos Gardonyi, Richard Haskell, Tiina Kiik, Jesse Locke, Lesley Mitchell-Clarke, Ted Quinlan, Terry Robbins, Michael Schulman, Paul Steenhuisen, Bruce Surtees, Andrew Timar, Robert Tomas, Ken Waxman, Dianne Wells, Elliot Wright Proofreading Vanessa Wells, Jennifer Liu, John Sharpe, Paul Ennis Listings John Sharpe, Bob Ben, Kevin King Tilly Kooyman, Ruth Atwood, Simone Desilets, Jennifer Liu, Katie White Circulation Team Abram Bergen, Beth Bartley / Mark Clifford, Bob Jerome, Dagmar Sullivan, Dave Taylor, Garry Page, Gero Hajek, Jack Buell, James Harris, John Dodington, Jeff Hogben, Jonathan Spencer, Lorna Nevison, Manuel Couto, Micah Herzog, Patrick Slimmon, Paul Ennis, Robert Faulkner, Sharon Clark, Tiffany Johnson, Tom Sepp, Vanita Butrsingkorn, Wende Bartley Layout & Design Bryson Winchester an Ontario government agency un organisme du gouvernement de l’Ontario Upcoming Dates & Deadlines Free Event Listings Deadline 6pm Sunday May 8 Display Ad Reservations Deadline 6pm Sunday May 15 Classifieds Deadline 6pm Monday May 24 Advertising Materials Due 6pm Wednesday May 18 Publication Date Wednesday June 1 (Online) Friday June 3 (Print) Volume 21 No 9 covers June 1 - September 7, 2016 WholeNote Media Inc. accepts no responsibility or liability for claims made for any product or service reported on or advertised in this issue. Printed in Canada Couto Printing & Publishing Services Circulation Statement May 2016: 30,000 printed & distributed Canadian Publication Product Sales Agreement 1263846 ISSN 14888-8785 WHOLENOTE Publications Mail Agreement #40026682 Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: WholeNote Media Inc. Centre for Social Innovation 503–720 Bathurst Street Toronto ON M5S 2R4 COPYRIGHT © 2016 WHOLENOTE MEDIA INC thewholenote.com 6 | May 1, 2016 - June 7, 2016 thewholenote.com

Odds of the latter happening this month are somewhat higher than usual, because this is the month we publish our Canary Pages choral directory (you’ll find it following page 34, just ahead of the daily concert listings). This is our 14th annual Canary Pages, and if perusing it leaves you a step closer to thinking that maybe finding a choir that would suit you is a distinct possibility, it will have served its task. Longtime readers will have to forgive me for telling those of you who haven’t heard this story how in the first heady year of compiling this directory, we called it our Choral Yellow Pages. That was before we received friendly legal advice to cease doing so before we were ordered to cease and desist. Canary seemed a clever alternative but drew an almost immediate reproach from a reader who pointed out that canaries were solitary songsters, charged with the grim responsibility of singing in cages in mines so as to warn miners, by falling deathly silent, of the impending threat of lethal gas in the mines. “So, not a very cheerful name,” our reader opined. I see it a bit differently, still. Choirs have long been the bedrock of our thriving music scene and, especially while music sits sidelined in our school system, perhaps our greatest hope. As art, yes, but also as a social, communal force. Count the canaries! Take heart from the fact that they haven’t fallen silent! Better still, join the singing! Odds are good that where there’s this much musical life, there’s hope. publisher@thewholenote.com Readers and presenters take note: Next issue is our combined June/July/August summer issue containing our Green Pages Guide to Summer Music. Ask LUDWIG! LUDWIG enables you, the reader, to better search our live concert listings. On our website you can search for specific text (like a performer’s or composer’s name). You can also refine your search to geographic zones or genres or date range. LUDWIG online! is brand new and still in what we call a "Beta" trial. This means there may be some bugs or errors that we are not yet aware of. We thank you for helping us "kick the tires" on this new service and apologize in advance for any problems you may encounter. Find what you like online at TheWholeNote.com/Ask-Ludwig INDEX OF ADVERTISERS 3-in-the-Six 48 5 at the First Chamber Players 52 Adam Sherkin 36 Amadeus Choir 50, 58 Analekta 65 Annex Singers 38 ArtsMediaProjects 59 Associates of the TSO 21, 43 ATMA 5 Bach Children’s Chorus 41 Berkovsky and Chow 44 Bravo Niagara 53 Canadian Children’s Opera Company 39 Canadian Opera Company 58 Canadian Orpheus Male Choir 34 Cantemus Singers 25 Cathedral Bluffs Symphony Orchestra 46 Christ Church Deer Park Jazz Vespers 56 Claude Watson Secondary Arts Programme 36, 60 Columbus Centre 31, 50 Continuum Contemporary Music 29 Counterpoint Community Orchestra 49 Elmer Iseler Singers 38 Estonian National Opera Boys’ Choir 19 Exultate Chamber Singers 45 Eybler Quartet 40 Festival of the Sound 23 Flute Street 50 Gallery 345 38 Harmony Singers 45 Horizon Tax / Norm Pulker 59 Jubilate Singers 49 Lawrence Park Community Church 37 Li Delun Music Foundation 38 Lulaworld 11 Master Performing 59 Mississauga Symphony 46 Music and Beyond 24 Music at Metropolitan / Noon at Met 36 Music Gallery 27 Music Mondays, Church of the Holy Trinity 36 Music Toronto 9 Nagata Shachu 49 National Youth Orchestra of Canada 79 Naxos 63, 65 New Horizons Band 59 Open Ears Festival 26, 52 ORIANA Women’s Choir 49 Orpheus Choir 58 Pasquale Bros. Downtown 57 Peterborough Singers 51 Ravi Naimpally 65 Rhodes Piano 59 Rosewood Consort 52 Roy Thomson Hall 19 Royal Conservatory 3, 45, 46 Scarborough Philharmonic 46 SING! The Toronto Vocal Arts Festival 19, 39, 40, 41, 42 St Michael’s Choir School 40 St. Paul’s Anglican Church, Newmarket 47 St. Philip’s Jazz Vespers 56 Steinway Piano Gallery 22 Stephen Satory 49 Tafelmusik 2, 36, 43, 44 Tallis Choir 25 Tapestry Opera 17 TD Toronto Jazz Festival 13, 15, 55 That Choir 42 That Choir / Northern Kentucky U. Chamber Choir 39 Toronto Bach Festival / Four Centuries of Bach 45 Toronto Chamber Choir 47 Toronto Children’s Chorus 37 Toronto Choral Society 43 Toronto City Opera 58 Toronto Classical Singers 42 Toronto Consort 4, 37 Toronto Masque Theatre 46, 47, 48 Toronto Summer Music Academy & Festival 4 Toronto Symphony Orchestra 40, 44, 80 TorQ Percussion Quartet 29, 44 Trio Arkel 45 Universal Music Canada 63, 65 Victoria Scholars 47 Viva! Youth Singers of Toronto 33 Westben Arts Festival Theatre 23 Windermere String Quartet 42 Women’s Musical Club of Toronto 37 Wychwood Clarinet Choir 43 Young Voices Toronto 50 thewholenote.com May 1, 2016 - June 7, 2016 | 7

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