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Volume 22 Issue 9 - Summer 2017

  • Text
  • Festival
  • Toronto
  • Jazz
  • August
  • Theatre
  • Musical
  • Concerts
  • Quartet
  • Arts
  • September
  • Volume
CBC Radio's Lost Horizon; Pinocchio as Po-Mo Operatic Poster Boy; Meet the Curators (Crow, Bernstein, Ridge); a Global Music Orchestra is born; and festivals, festivals, festivals in our 13th annual summer music Green Pages. All this and more in our three-month June-through August summer special issue, now available in flipthrough HERE and on the stands commencing Thursday June 1.

Rolston String Quartet

Rolston String Quartet find themselves literally at the centre of Toronto Summer Music’s 24-day festival. In an inspired pairing, their program will echo that of the St. Lawrence String Quartet, which opens TSM on July 13. Each quartet will perform their Banff-winning program, which in the SLSQ’s case, was in 1992. “We work a lot on character, colour and sound quality,” Rolston violist Hezekiah Leung said in their BBC Music Magazine Q&A. The Rolstons’ prize-winning program consists of the Ravel, the Beethoven (“Razumovsky” No.2 – “One of our favourites,” according to cellist Jonathan Lo) and Zosha Di Castri’s Quartet No.1. On July 27 and 28, The Rolstons head east again, to the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival where they play a recital program on the 27th and join pop star Kishi Bashi on the 28th for a performance of his 2015 recording, String Quartet Live, which contains the luminous, hook-filled Manchester and a host of recognizable string tropes. (Presumably his latest album, Sonderlust, a disco tribute from the multi-instrumentalist, won’t be on the agenda.) If you do make the trip to Ottawa, or happen to be there already, don’t miss the opportunity to hear other notable concerts at the festival. Angela Hewitt plays three Bach Partitas and his Sonata in D Minor July 20. The brilliant Stephen Hough plays works by Beethoven, Schumann and Debussy on July 23. Patricia O’Callaghan and the Gryphon Trio illuminate songs by Leonard Cohen, Randy Newman and Ron Sexsmith July 27. The Miró, Cecilia and Penderecki String Quartets each give separate concerts, with the latter two joining the Gryphon Trio and friends Hinrich Alpers, piano, Roberto Occhipinti, double bass and Jenna Richards, celesta, for “Kubrick Mashup,” an intriguing concoction hosted by broadcaster/writer Eric Friesen on July 30 and focused on the music of the films of Stanley Kubrick. Kubrick’s use of existing works of the classical canon across the centuries was instrumental in growing the audience for these works. Indian River and Tuckamore Staying with the indefatigable Rolstons, for their August 6 concert in the historic St. Mary’s Church at the Indian River Festival in PEI, the Rolstons revert to the works they played at Westben a month earlier: Mozart’s first Haydn Quartet, Beethoven’s Op.59 No.2 and Ravel’s Quartet in F. The Indian River venue, considered to be a fine example of the French Gothic influence, was built in 1902 by PEI architect William Critchlow Harris. The use of fir, pine, spruce, maple and birch throughout the building, coupled with Harris’ trademark rib-vaulted or groined ceiling, enhances the site’s quality of sound, making for a fine natural acoustic. Among the other artists appearing at Indian River this summer are the Canadian Brass, one-time piano childprodigy Anastasia Rizikov (now 17), Patricia O’Callaghan (with her “Canadian Songbook”) and on September 15 – yes, it’s still summer – the captivating pop-jazz stylings of Barbra Lica. Three days later the Rolstons find their way across the mighty Gulf of St. Lawrence and through the Cabot Strait to St. John’s, Newfoundland, for dates at the Tuckamore Chamber Music Festival, where their core touring program of Mozart, Beethoven and Ravel is augmented by R. Murray Schafer’s String Quartet No.2 “Waves” and Andrew Staniland’s Four Elements. Knowing Tuckamore’s artistic directors violinist Nancy Dahn and her husband, pianist Timothy Steeves (who also play together as Duo Concertante), the festival will have a stellar lineup to fill the days between August 7 and 20. The tuckamore tree, from which the festival takes its name, is an evergreen unique to Newfoundland and Labrador, celebrated for its tenacity, strength and special beauty. Like some other summer festivals, Tuckamore has a program for young artists; in fact, Dahn and Steeves will also spend July 16 to 29 on the faculty of the Domaine Forget International Festival in Saint-Irénée, on the St. Lawrence east of Quebec City, before leading their own festival’s educational program back at home. Gananoque and Leith, then back to Banff From Tuckamore it’s westward ho (there’s no more east left) to the Gananoque Music Festival, a series of four concerts in a waterfront setting, hosted by former CBC Radio personality Friesen, who chats with the performers as the sun sets over the St. Lawrence River. The Rolstons will perform their summer staple: Mozart, Schafer, Beethoven and Schumann. And last stop before their return to Banff finds the quartet again in Ontario in a rural spot on Georgian Bay near the base of the Bruce Peninsula for the Leith Summer Festival on August 26. Artistic director, pianist Robert Kortgaard, spreads his well-chosen series of five concerts out from July 1 to August 26; the concerts are presented in the sanctuary of the Leith “Auld Kirk,” an “intimate chamber with an incredible sound and ambience.” Duo Concertante performs there a mere three weeks before their Tuckamore Festival begins; the everpopular Gryphon Trio is given a subsequent Saturday slot before the Rolstons wrap up the festival less than a week before their Banff concerts. Home again, at Banff, the Rolstons will participate in three programs, performing Schumann’s Third String Quartet, Schafer’s Second Quartet “Waves,” Shostakovich’s Piano Quintet in G Minor (with London-based, Australian-born pianist Piers Lane), and Steve Reich’s masterwork Different Trains. Charles Richard-Hamelin Charles Richard-Hamelin. Since his second-place finish in the International Chopin Piano Competition in 2015, Charles Richard-Hamelin has been building a burgeoning international career, and he’s also carving an interesting trail across the map this summer. It begins with two Polish recitals in Gdańsk and Katowice, at the second of which he reprises the recent program he performed for the Toronto Women’s Musical Club’s Music in the Afternoon series May 4 at Walter Hall (a concert I attended): Mozart’s Fantasy in D Minor K397; four Chopin Impromptus and three Mazurkas Op.59; four pieces by the Armenian composer Arno Babadjanian; and Schumann’s vibrant Sonata No.1 Op.11. Richard-Hamelin’s sensitivity and unalloyed virtuosity belie his rumpled appearance. At his May 4 concert, he brought an improvisatory quality to the Mozart, occasionally adding grace notes to the manuscript, and a masterful dynamic range contained within a cohesive whole. He brought out the lovely melody of Chopin’s Impromptu No.2 with simplicity and restraint even as he projected the music’s intrinsic freedom. His playing of the well-known No.3 defined “Chopinesque.” The even-more famous Fantaisie Impromptu was well-framed dynamically and rhythmically with its I’m Always Chasing Rainbows tune a lesson in judicious rubato. The first movement of the Schumann sonata brimmed with the excitement of a young man in love; the tenderness of the second movement led into a playful Scherzo that developed into Papillons/Carnaval territory, while the complex, extended finale was at times riven, yet yearning, forthright. The Babadjanian pieces, with their Armenian romantic colourings, ranged from the bucolic to lively, folk-based dance tunes and served as a light contrast to the rest of the menu. It’s a worthy program to hang one’s reputation on over the course of a season. Perugia to Amherst Island After his Gdańsk and Katowice recitals, Richard-Hamelin stops in Perugia, Italy, to visit his compatriot Angela Hewitt, the artistic director of the Trasimeno Music Festival. She’s planned a “Four Piano Spectacular” for July 1 (Canada’s 150th birthday, in case you hadn’t noticed). With Hewitt and Richard-Hamelin playing alongside Janina Fialkowska and Jon Kimura Parker, the party will include solos, duos and arrangements for four pianos. Back in North America, Richard-Hamelin plays the Waterside 26 | June 1, 2017 - September 7, 2017 thewholenote.com

NEW! FREE CLASSICAL KIDS CONCERTS SERIES Three free fun and engaging concerts that introduce children ages 4-10 to classical music. Summer camps and groups welcome! THE VIOLIN - Wed, July 19 at 10am Superstar Canadian violinists James Ehnes, Jonathan Crow, and Andrew Wan team up to present an engaging, participatory, and fun introduction to the music of the violin. SCHOOLYARD CARMEN - Wed, July 26 at 10am By Shoestring Opera In this age-appropriate adaptation of the famous opera, Carmen is a feisty newcomer. When the “coolest kid in school” tries to bully her, she stands up to him. Set to Bizet’s bewitching, infectious music, Carmen’s flamenco dancing and the action-packed story are not to be missed! CELEBRATING CANADA - Wed, August 2 at 10am Toronto’s own TSO Chamber Soloists present portions of a newly commissioned work by Yellowknife composer, Carmen Braden, to be performed for the very first time! Other highlights include works by Brahms, Debussy, and Mozart, all hosted by Joanna Kellam. Kids Concerts Media Sponsor Concerts at Walter Hall, Edward Johnson Building, University of Toronto, 80 Queen’s Park TORONTOSUMMERMUSIC.COM Wonny Song, Artistic Director 2017-18 Season Toronto’s Best Bargain for Great Music! 6 Sundays at 3:15 pm 0/0/ SAVE UP TO 47% OVER SINGLE TICKETS Walter Hall Edward Johnson Building, U of T Concerts for young people (and adults!) Music & Truffles 1:15-2:15 pm 5 Concerts ONLY Sept. 24 - TSO Chamber Soloists Jonathan Crow, concertmaster and TSO principal chairs perform Francaix, Neilsen, Strauss, and Beethoven’s Septet in E flat Major, Op. 20 Oct. 29 - Jasper String Quartet Keen award winners from Philadelphia – Mozart Quartet in G Major, K. 387, Prokofiev and Beethoven late quartet. "Outstanding…Exceptional” - The New Yorker Nov. 26 -Rebelheart Collective with Mai Tategami, violin Erika Raum, Scott. St. John, Sharon Wei, Thomas Wiebe connect with Haydn (The Joke), Dvorák (American), Mendelssohn Quintet in B flat Major, Op. 87 Jan. 14 - Piano Dialogue, David Jalbert & Wonny Song Return with a 20th Century program – Rachmaninoff’s Suite No. 1 (Fantasietableaux) G minor, Op. 5, Stravinsky’s Petrushka, and more Feb. 18 - Paul Huang, violin and Helen Huang, piano Canadian debut, Saint–Saëns' Violin Sonata No. 1, Op. 75, Sarasate's Spanish Dances (Romanza Andaluza), Cyril Scott's Lotus Land (arr. Kreisler) Apr. 15 - Forestare Ensemble Québec-based, unique group of 12 guitars plus 2 double basses perform Baroque classics by Lully, Vivaldi, and J.S. Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, BWV 1048 SUBSCRIBE NOW - guarantee your seats, save up to 47% www.mooredaleconcerts.com or call 416-922-3714 x103 thewholenote.com June 1, 2017 - September 7, 2017 | 27

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