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Volume 23 Issue 9 - June / July / August 2018

  • Text
  • Festival
  • Listings
  • August
  • Toronto
  • Jazz
  • Concerts
  • Musical
  • Theatre
  • Quartet
  • Orchestra
PLANTING NOT PAVING! In this JUNE / JULY /AUGUST combined issue: Farewell interviews with TSO's Peter Oundjian and Stratford Summer Music's John Miller, along with "going places" chats with Luminato's Josephine Ridge, TD Jazz's Josh Grossman and Charm of Finches' Terry Lim. ) Plus a summer's worth of fruitful festival inquiry, in the city and on the road, in a feast of stories and our annual GREEN PAGES summer Directory.

an Ontario government

an Ontario government agency The WholeNote VOLUME 23 NO 9 | SUMMER 2018 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 jazz@thewholenote.com SALES, MARKETING & MEMBERSHIP Concert & Event Advertising / Membership | Karen Ages members@thewholenote.com Advertising Art /Production Support / Operations Jack Buell | adart@thewholenote.com Classified Ads | classad@thewholenote.com Website/Systems Support | Kevin King systems@thewholenote.com Circulation/Subscriptions | Chris Malcolm circulation@thewholenote.com SUBSCRIPTIONS per year + HST (9 issues)* *international subscriptions, additional postage applies THANKS TO THIS MONTH’S CONTRIBUTORS Beat Columnists Wendalyn Bartley, Paul Ennis, Jack MacQuarrie, Jennifer Parr, Lydia Perović, Andrew Timar, Steve Wallace, Christopher Hoile, Matthew Whitfield Features Sara Constant, David Jaeger, David Perlman CD Reviewers Alex Baran, Stuart Broomer, Max Christie, Daniel Foley, Raul da Gama, Hans de Groot, Janos Gardonyi,Tiina Kiik, Roger Knox, Alison Melville, Lesley Mitchell-Clarke, Nancy Nourse, David Olds, Ivana Popovic, Cathy Riches, Terry Robbins, Michael Schulman, Michael Schwartz, Andrew Scott, Sharna Searle, Colin Story, Bruce Surtees, Andrew Timar, Ken Waxman, Dianne Wells. Proofreading Sara Constant, Paul Ennis, John Sharpe Listings Team Ruth Atwood, Tilly Kooyman, John Sharpe, Katie White Design Team Kevin King, Susan Sinclair Circulation Team Lori Sandra Aginian, Wende Bartley, Beth Bartley / Mark Clifford, Diane Boyer, Jack Buell, Sharon Clark, Manuel Couto, Paul Ennis, Robert Faulkner, Terry Gaeeni, Gero Hajek, James Harris, Micah Herzog, Jeff Hogben, Bob Jerome, Chris Malcolm, Luna Walker- Malcolm, Sheila McCoy, Lorna Nevison, Garry Page, Andrew Schaefer, Tom Sepp, Dagmar Sullivan, Julia Tait, Dave Taylor, Randy Weir un organisme du gouvernement de l’Ontario BEAT BY BEAT 18 Classical & Beyond | PAUL ENNIS 21 In with the New | WENDALYN BARTLEY 23 World View | ANDREW TIMAR 26 Jazz Notes | STEVE WALLACE 28 Art of Song | LYDIA PEROVIĆ 30 On Opera | CHRISTOPHER HOILE 34 Music Theatre | JENNIFER PARR 36 Early Music | MATTHEW WHITFIELD 39 Bandstand | JACK MACQUARRIE LISTINGS 52 A | Concerts in the GTA 59 B | Concerts Beyond the GTA 64 C | Music Theatre 66 D | In the Clubs (Mostly Jazz) 67 E | The ETCeteras 44 S | SUMMER FESTIVALS G1-G9 DISCOVERIES: RECORDINGS REVIEWED 72 Editor’s Corner | DAVID OLDS 74 Strings Attached | TERRY ROBBINS 76 Keyed In | ALEX BARAN 78 Vocal 78 Classical and Beyond 81 Modern and Contemporary 83 Jazz and Improvised Music 87 Pot Pourri 89 Something in the Air | KEN WAXMAN 90 Old Wine, New Bottles | BRUCE SURTEES MORE 6 Contact Information 7 Upcoming dates and deadlines 69 Classified Ads SPECIAL SECTIONS G1-G9 The Green Pages Summer Music Guide UPCOMING SPECIAL SECTIONS In October: The Blue Pages Directory of Music Makers 2018/19 an Ontario government agency un organisme du gouvernement de l’Ontario 6 | June | July | August 2018 thewholenote.com

FOR OPENERS | DAVID PERLMAN “Planting Not Paving” T he 2018 Toronto Arts Foundation Awards F or the 10 or 12 remaining people on the face of the planet who haven’t yet heard the news, this past May 16 The WholeNote received the Toronto Arts Foundation biennial Roy Thomson Hall Award of Recognition for our “role in promoting current music, emerging artists, and for being vital to the entire music community.” We were one of three finalists in our category. Musicworks magazine and Mitchell Marcus of the Musical Stage Company (formerly known as Acting Up) were the others. Our category was one of five. The Arts for Youth Award went to RISE Edutainment – a youth-led grassroots performance arts and storytelling movement “in recognition of its role in creating a healthy and inspiring space for youth, and for challenging systemic barriers through innovative partnerships.” The Celebration of Cultural Life Award went to Ruth Howard – founding artistic director of Jumblies Theatre “in recognition of the impact, sustainability and legacy of her community-engaged arts practice.” The Emerging Artist Award went to Jivesh Parasram – multidisciplinary artist, researcher and facilitator “in recognition of his ability to create excellent work that is honest, diverse and collaborative. And the Toronto Arts and Business Award was shared this year by Active Green + Ross – Complete Tire and Auto Centre “in recognition of its first-time contribution to the arts through its sponsorship of the HopeWorks Connection, covering transportation costs for performers and offering discounted and VIP services,” and to RBC “in recognition of its sustained contributions to the arts through its Emerging Artist Program, making RBC a vital contributor to the arts ecosystem.” The awards were announced and presented at the 13th Annual Mayor’s Arts Lunch (this year held at the King Edward Hotel) and actually attended by Mayor John Tory (not something one could count on with his predecessor!), along with a broad cross section of arts and business leaders, elected politicians and a hearteningly strong representation from the arts community itself. All finalists were instructed to prepare acceptance speeches around two minutes in length (300 words maximum), and I am pleased to say that, as befits my inky stained status in life, I complied to within a dozen words of the letter of the instruction. I’m equally pleased to say that the majority of the other recipients blithely ignored the stated limitations, leading to some of the event’s most heartfelt, inspirational, moving, hope-filled and, yes, constructively political moments. (I also found myself wishing I had a chance to see what the other finalists wrote down. I would wager there was no set of words among them that would have been less inspiring than the ones we heard.) In my two minutes and 15 seconds and 314 words, this is what I said: “I want to acknowledge, by name, Allan Pulker, co-founder of The WholeNote (or Pulse as it was originally known) 23 years ago. His unshakeable belief in the richness and variety of Toronto’s grassroots music scene is the reason The WholeNote exists. I also want to thank Sharna Searle who nominated us for this award. It took her three years to persuade us, mind you. We are more comfortable telling stories than being in them. I can’t name everyone else – our eight-member core team; 30 to 40 writers every issue; a five-member listings team who come up with 400 to 500 live performance listings each month; the 20 to 25-person distribution team regularly carrying 30,000 free copies per issue to 800+ locations where a deeply loyal readership snatches them up. To the finalists and other artists in this room, flag-bearers for countless others for whom the arts are necessary to feel fully alive, thank you for being passionate contributors to all our city’s villages – street by street, block by block. Thank you for giving us something to write about. And to the Toronto Arts Council and the Toronto Arts Foundation, the knowledge that you share our belief in a grass-roots music city makes this award very special. Make no mistake, though: the grassroots music city is at risk. Housing/land cost is displacing artists, along with the rest of the working poor, from our overheated downtown; small-scale live performance venues are disappearing one by one. Outside the downtown, the nurturing of block-by-block cultural life across our metropolis is a mighty challenge – painfully slow because it is a process of planting not paving. It’s astonishing, thinking back, that the breakthrough technology that helped launch this magazine was … the fax machine! Now we must all adjust, almost daily, to the ongoing challenge of dizzying change with all its dangers and opportunities. What a story it promises to be.” Two weeks on, there’s not much I would want to add to those words, except this: the bit about a “deeply loyal readership” means you. Without your use of what we harvest, there would be no point to our labours. May your summer be filled with the music you find in these pages! And may much of it be live! We’ll see you on the other side. publisher@thewholenote.com Upcoming Dates & Deadlines for our September 2018 edition Free Event Listings Deadline Midnight, Wednesday August 8 Display Ad Reservations Deadline 6pm Wednesday August 15 Advertising Materials Due 6pm Friday August 17 Classifieds Deadline 6 pm Saturday August 25 Publication Date Tuesday August 28 (online) Thursday August 30 (print edition) Volume 24 No 1 “SEPTEMBER” will list events Sept. 1 through Oct. 7, 2018 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 2018 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 © 2018 WHOLENOTE MEDIA INC thewholenote.com thewholenote.com June | July | August 2018 | 7

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