FOR OPENERS | DAVID PERLMAN Go plant a tomato, Mr. Mayor! Wouldn’t it be nice if in the coming year…the phrase “making Toronto into a real music city” disappeared once and for all from the rhetorical toolkit of certain elected officials who, in the interests of not embarrassing any particular mayor, shall remain nameless? Why? Because it is worse than meaningless drivel; it is actually poisonous. It sounds like a noble mission, well worth studying (topdown, of course). But it does way more harm than good. You see, in order to accept the premise that Toronto needs to be “made into a real music city,” one has to buy into the prior proposition that, right now, “a real music city” is something that Toronto is not. A position with which I very respectfully beg to differ. Differing, of course, is not difficult to do, but is not in and of itself helpful unless one proposes a useful alternative to the counterproductive bafflegab to which one is objecting. The challenge we are facing, Mr. Mayor, is not that of “making Toronto into a real music city.” Rather it’s the challenge of figuring out how to keep real the astonishing music city that we already are. Problem is, to start doing that, you’d have to actually believe it. So take a look at the level of musical activity represented daily, weekly, monthly in this one small publication alone, Mr. Mayor. And realize that we serve and reflect only one relatively small part of the overall music-making spectrum. Then ask yourself what the things are that keep this astonishing musical ecosystem alive. And once you’ve come closer to understanding that, ask yourself what the things are that are happening under your watch that pose the greatest threat to this ecosystem’s existence. Starting with an out-of-the-box comparison might be useful, so here’s one: a city cannot really hope to be a safe city for all its citizens, when the majority of its police officers have, for more than the past two decades, decided they can no longer afford to live here and have moved themselves and their families outside our city’s borders. Similarly, we are rapidly becoming a city where the working poor (and most musicians fall into that category) are daily confronted with policies and economic realities that force displacement from our downtown of renters, of our young people, of artists, idealists, dreamers…. The urban corners and cracks and crevices where these dreamers learn to ply their trades, fixing up their surroundings as they go, are disappearing, threatened by lack of affordable accommodation. Highrise development wherever two or three properties can be assembled; commercial tax policies that penalize rebuilding small, even when the same uses are proposed for the new spaces; commercial bank financing that penalizes developers who try to factor independent business into mortgage financing; tired rows of the same old franchises on the ground floors of every new development making a mockery of the planning department’s commitment to vibrant mixed-use main street development…. There are dozens and dozens of examples like these which could be found and remedied, if they were understood as problematic. What I am trying to say is that far more than any of these individual factors, the vibrant, street-level cultural fabric of our urban life is threatened when our highest officials dismiss it as “not “real” and decide to take a top-down social engineering approach to solving a problem you exacerbate by the way you define it. So no more “making it real,” please, Mr. Mayor. Try “Our Music City: Keeping It Real,” instead, with pride in your voice for good measure. The WholeNote VOLUME 22 NO 5 | FEBRUARY 1, 2017 - MARCH 7, 2017 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 Digital 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 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, Christopher Hoile, David Podgorski, Lydia Perović, Andrew Timar, Jack MacQuarrie, Ori Dagan, mJ buell, Bob Ben, Brian Chang Features David Perlman, Sara Constant, Colin Puffer Paul Ennis, Henry Ingram, David Jaeger CD Reviewers David Olds, Terry Robbins, Alex Baran, Hans de Groot, Michael Schulman, Janos Gardonyi, Robert Tomas, Daniel Foley, Andrew Timar, Roger Knox, Vanessa Wells, Michael Schwartz, Bruce Surtees, Max Christie, Richard Haskell, Tiina Kiik, Allan Pulker, Cathy Riches, Lesley Mitchell-Clarke, Raul da Gama, Stuart Broomer, Ted Quinlan, Barry Livingston, Ken Waxman Proofreading Vanessa Wells, Jennifer Liu, John Sharpe, Paul Ennis, Sara Constant Listings John Sharpe, Bob Ben, 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 an Ontario government agency un organisme du gouvernement de l’Ontario Upcoming Dates & Deadlines Free Event Listings Deadline 6pm Wednesday February 8 Display Ad Reservations Deadline 6pm Wednesday February 15 Classifieds Deadline 6pm Monday February 20 Advertising Materials Due 6pm Friday February 17 Publication Date Friday February 24 (Online) Wednesday March 1 (Print) Volume 22 No 6 covers March 1, 2017 - April 7, 2017 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 February 2017: 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 © 2017 WHOLENOTE MEDIA INC thewholenote.com 6 | February 1, 2017 - March 7, 2017 thewholenote.com
Go plant a tomato: Jim Galloway, longtime artistic director of the Toronto Downtown Jazz Festival, and for 16 years the jazz columnist of The WholeNote, was as proud of being a Torontonian as he was of never losing his Scottish accent. In the spring following his death on December 30, 2014, there was a gathering in his honour at Whistler’s Grille (Broadview and Mortimer), upstairs in the 4,000 sq ft McNeil Room. The place was packed. And as we were leaving, each of us was handed (Jim’s wish) a little box containing a tomato plant seedling to plant the same spring. How like him. Not “mighty oaks from tiny acorns grow” but a sense of cultural legacy as an aggregation of hundreds of small, nourishing, affectionate sustainably urban gestures. Standing at the bus stop after, a few of us mused on how, poignant as the moment was, we’d likely miss him more with the passing of time. Wouldn’t it be grand, we said, if the Jim Galloway Wee Big Band could reconstitute itself, seasonally, from time to time to celebrate his memory through the music he loved to play. Some things do come to pass: February 16 The WholeNote and The Ken Page Memorial Trust will host a third reunion of the Jim Galloway Wee Big Band under the direction of Martin Loomer, right here in the ground floor “Garage” performance space at 720 Bathurst. (There’s an ad with all the details on page 59.) Jim loved the ground floor space here with its wooden beams and pillars, high ceilings and exposed brick. In the year or so before the Centre for Social Innovation bought the building, while it was mostly locked and empty, teetering between possibly being sold for condo redevelopment or else being turned into high-end offices, we’d ride the freight elevator down from the fifth floor WholeNote office and turn the lights on and talk about how it was opportunities like these, taken or missed, that would over time define the future of our music city. Little sustaining cultural acts, seeding hope, one tomato plant at a time. publisher@thewholenote.com “ The March wind doth blow …and we shall have snow …” so it’s time to start singing about summer! The WholeNote’s GUIDE TO SUMMER MUSIC EDUCATION is online year-round for browsing and dreaming of summer. But the new updated guide will be launched in our upcoming March 2017 print magazine! And speaking of singing … THE CANARY PAGES – our guide to the fabulous choral diversity of Southern Ontario is online and searchable yearround for anyone looking for anything about choirs. And it’s updated annually in our May print magazine! thewholenote.com/resources FOR ADVERTISING INQUIRIES PLEASE CONTACT karen@thewholenote.com INDEX OF ADVERTISERS 5 at the First Chamber Music Series.............................54 Academy Concert Series.................................................48 Adam Sherkin..............................................................38, 47 All Saints Kingsway Anglican Church.................... 35, 40 Amadeus Choir..................................................................44 ArtsMediaProjects...........................................................62 Associates of the TSO................................................. 43, 51 ATMA................................................................................5, 65 Aurora Cultural Centre.....................................................41 Bridge Records.................................................................. 67 Canadian Children’s Opera Company...........................20 Canadian Opera Company................................... 4, 38, 39 Cantemus Singers.............................................................33 Cathedral Bluffs Symphony Orchestra..........................41 Christ Church Deer Park Jazz Vespers........................36 Elmer Iseler Singers.........................................................34 Esprit Orchestra............................................................3, 43 Hannaford Street Silver Band.................................. 13, 45 Horizon Tax.........................................................................62 Iain Scott (Opera IS).........................................................23 Jazz Performance and Education Centre.................... 37 Jubilate Singers.................................................................48 Ken Page Memorial Trust......................................... 44, 59 Kindred Spirits Orchestra...............................................42 Leaf Music...........................................................................69 Living Arts Centre.................................................. 11, 45, 47 Lorin Shalanko...................................................................65 Masterworks of Oakville Chorus and Orchestra........ 18 Missisauga Symphony......................................................43 Mooredale Concerts.........................................................51 Music at Metropolitan.......................................................41 Music at St. Andrew’s................................................. 27, 39 Music Toronto.................................................. 9, 40, 44, 48 New Music Concerts....................................................... 40 Opera Atelier.......................................................................21 Opera York..........................................................................20 Oriana Women’s Choir.................................................... 50 ORMTA - Central Toronto Branch..................................62 Orpheus Choir of Toronto................................................28 Peterborough Singers.....................................................53 Peterborough Symphony.................................................51 Remenyi House of Music...................................................15 Rhodes Piano.....................................................................62 RideauStone Arts Centre..................................................41 Roberto Occhipinti............................................................ 67 Roy Thomson Hall.............................................14, 19, 47, 50 Royal Conservatory.............................................. 42, 46, 87 Royal Conservatory/Universal Music............................85 Schola Magdalena............................................................49 Shirley Eikhard Music....................................................... 67 Show One Productions....................................................22 Showplace Performance Centre...................................52 Soundstreams............................................................. 13, 48 Southern Ont. Chapter of the Hymn Society.............. 60 Spectrum Music / Musicata ...........................................49 St. Olave’s Church............................................................. 50 Stand Up Guy......................................................................62 Steinway Piano Gallery..................................................... 17 Svetlana Lunkina and Friends.........................................42 Symphony on the Bay.......................................................53 Syrinx Concerts Toronto..........................................40, 50 Tafelmusik................................................................. 2, 41, 46 Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute........................ 60 Talisker Players................................................................... 17 Tallis Choir..........................................................................49 Toronto Children’s Chorus...............................................46 Toronto City Opera............................................................44 Toronto Classical Singers................................................45 Toronto Consort............................................. 29, 31, 39, 48 Toronto Masque Theatre.................................................32 Toronto Mendelssohn Choir...........................................49 Toronto Symphony Orchestra...........................39, 43, 88 Trio Arkel.............................................................................46 U of T Faculty of Music......................................................38 Ukrainian Art Song Project....................................... 25, 61 Universal Music.................................................... 65, 67, 68 Victoria Scholars Men’s Choral Ensemble.................. 50 Voicebox - Opera in Concert........................................... 24 VSO Institute at Whistler................................................. 61 Women’s Musical Club......................................................51 Yip’s Music Festival........................................................... 60 thewholenote.com February 1, 2017 - March 7, 2017 | 7
Beat by Beat | Mainly Clubs, Mostly
9:30pm Way North. February 27 6:30p
“ The March wind doth blow …and
LEONARDO DELL’ANNO WE ARE ALL MUS
The title work is the most recent a
Shostakovich’s help, and the two
filigree that we uniquely associate
VOCAL♦ Bach - Magnificat BWV243;
to a degree. If there is no story,
teacher and both scored their works
and in celebration of Loman’s 80t
Stuart’s heartrending tenor solo
from master musician Keith Jarrett
voices can be appreciated on Credo.
See Avi Avital In Concert! DOVER QU
KOERNER HALL IS: “ A beautiful sp
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