In this issue: The WholeNote's 7th Annual TIFF TIPS guide to festival films with musical clout; soprano Erin Wall in conversation with Art of Song columnist Lydia Perovic, about more than the art of song; a summer's worth of recordings reviewed; Toronto Chamber Choir at 50 (is a few close friends all it takes?); and much more, as the 2018/19 season gets under way.
Celebrating 200 years
Celebrating 200 years 1818-2018 MUSIC AT METROPOLITAN 2018-19 200TH ANNIVERSARY SEASON FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19 • 7:30PM Organ Recital by Dr. Ryan Jackson Co-sponsored by the Toronto Centre, RCCO, and by ORGANIX SATURDAY, MARCH 9 • 7:30PM Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater and other Neapolitan Masters Ariel Harwood-Jones, soprano and Valeria Kondrashov, mezzosoprano with instrumentalists including Musicians on the Edge SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 3 • 7PM METROPOLITAN… THE MUSICAL! One church, two centuries Our anniversary production celebrating Metropolitan’s 200 years in song, story, and images FREE (DONATIONS WELCOME) SATURDAY, APRIL 6 • 7:30PM The Bach Family and the Improvising Tradition Rezonance Baroque Ensemble and Musicians on the Edge extra time to hear us. He graciously took time out of his busy schedule to coach us on our repertoire for a few upcoming competitions. We kept in contact over the next few years and as our time studying at the Colburn School came to an end we were looking for possible residency programs for which to apply. At this point David recommended us for an opportunity to work with the Emerson at Stony Brook University. We were incredibly fortunate to get to study with the Emerson String Quartet for the next two years. The Emerson Quartet has played an instrumental role in the development of our quartet. Not only have they provided us with profound musical insight, but they have offered us advice on everything that makes the life in a string quartet work. On The Horizon Toronto Symphony Orchestra. The TSO’s post-Oundjian journey begins in earnest September 20 to 22 with interim artistic director Sir Andrew Davis conducting. The program brackets Jacques Hétu’s Variations concertantes with Berlioz’s rarely heard Fantasy on Shakespeare’s The Tempest from Lelio, or The Return to Life and his Symphonie fantastique, one of the cornerstones of the orchestral repertoire. The parade of guest conductors begins on September 26 and 29 with the TSO debut of Ukrainian conductor Kirill Karabits, the chief conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. The program includes Karabits’ countryman Valentin Silvestrov’s Serenade for String Orchestra, Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No.3, and charismatic Scottish violinist Nicola Benedetti as the soloist in Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No.2 with its lovely middle movement. The everpopular Mahler Symphony No.5 is coupled with Ravel’s jazz-tinged Piano Concerto in G on October 3 and 4. Spanish pianist Javier Perianes is the soloist; artistic leader and chief conductor of the Trondheim Symfoniorkester, South Korean-native Han-Na Chang makes her TSO debut. Han-Na Chang GOOD FRIDAY, APRIL 19 • 7:30PM Pieta: Music and Poetry for Good Friday Metropolitan Festival Choir and instrumental ensemble conducted by Patricia Wright with Patricia Orr, poet. Music by Bach, Buxtehude, Tavener, Rachmaninoff and others /10 AGES 18 AND UNDER DOORS OPEN WEEKEND SATURDAY, MAY 25 • 7:30PM Praise and Protest: Jazz, Blues and Gospel Challenges and Affirmations SUNDAY, MAY 5 • 1:30PM L’Aigle Noir: The Music of Barbara Singer-actor Charles Davidson and Jesse Corrigan, accordion, pay tribute to the Parisian singer known for her melodies of melancholy and lost love. Famous songs include “Ma plus belle histoire d’amour c’est vous”, “Göttingen” and L’aigle noir”. SUNDAY, MAY 26 • 1:30PM Silver Band Concert FREE (DONATIONS WELCOME) TICKETS: / (students 18 and under) SEASON TICKET: 0/50 AGES 18 AND UNDER For more information, contact Dr. Patricia Wright at patriciaw@metunited.org or 416-363-0331 ext. 26. MetUnited Music 56 Queen Street East, Toronto • www.metunited.org MetUnitedMusic Royal Conservatory (RCM): The Academy of St Martin in the Fields Chamber Ensemble get the RCM-Koerner Hall regular season underway on October 3, with music by Nielsen, Françaix (his Octet for clarinet, bassoon, horn and string quintet) and Beethoven (his celebrated Septet for clarinet, bassoon, horn, violin, viola, cello and bass). Worth hearing alone for the distinctive timbre the unusual instrumentation produces. When Yannick Nézet-Séguin and his Orchestre Métropolitain made their exciting Koerner Hall debut in April 2015, they brought the cello phenom Stéphane Tétrault; for their return visit, October 5, to augment a program that includes Sibelius’ Symphony No.1 and Nicolas Gilbert’s Avril, it’s the well-established pianist Nicholas Angelich who will be the soloist in Rachmaninoff’s first work composed after leaving Russia for good, the Piano Concerto No.4. Music in the Afternoon. Francis Poulenc’s invigorating, amusing, noble and otherworldly Trio for Oboe, Bassoon and Piano is the bestknown example of music written for this unusual combination of instruments. No double reed player can resist its charms, so it’s no wonder that the Poulenc Trio (pianist Irina Kaplan Lande, bassoonist 24 | September2018 thewholenote.com
SIMON FRYER, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR 2018 2019 Poulenc Trio Bryan Young and oboist James Austin Smith) named themselves for its composer. They launch the 121st season of the Women’s Musical Club on October 4 in Walter Hall, with a modernist program of music by Schnittke, Viet Cuong, Shostakovich, Previn and their namesake (whose famous trio they will perform) should enliven the first afternoon of the new month. Summer continues. It’s still summer for the Prince Edward County Chamber Music Festival. Artistic directors, the enterprising New Orford String Quartet, open this year’s edition on September 7 with Mozart’s “Dissonance” quartet along works by Burge and Ravel. André Laplante’s ambitious program on September 9 includes Schubert’s delightful Sonata in A Major D664 and a significant Liszt component: Three Sonetti del Petrarca, from Années de pèlerinage, deuxième année: Italie and his revolutionary masterpiece, the Sonata in B Minor. September 15 violinist Mark Fewer heads a jazz evening heavy on Ellington, with pianist David Braid and bassist Joseph Phillips. The next afternoon it’s Fewer with his classical pals doing a variety of chamber music headed by Dvořák’s Piano Quintet Op.81. CLASSICAL & BEYOND QUICK PICKS !! SEP 20, 8PM: Brampton-native Jarred Dunn, a former assistant to, and collaborator with, the well-known author, pianist and teacher David Dubal, performs works by Szymanowski, Debussy, Górecki, Liszt and Chopin in his recital at Gallery 345. !! SEP 23, 2PM & SEP 29, 2PM: Pocket Concerts launches their sixth season of chamber music in an intimate setting with Montreal-based violinist, Andrea Tyniec and Pocket Concerts co-director pianist Emily Rho in music by Beethoven, Sokolović and Debussy. In his Strings Attached column in our Summer 2016 issue, Terry Robbins praised Tyniec’s faultless technique and outstanding musicianship. !! SEP 27, 7:30PM: Gallery 345 presents Payadora Tango Ensemble-member, Rebekah Jarred Dunn Wolkstein, performing music from Norway on the nine-string Hardanger fiddle. Tom King is the collaborative pianist. !! OCT 2, 8PM: Marc-André Hamelin’s virtuoso program for Music Toronto’s new season continues his current examination of Samuel Feinberg with the Russian pianist-composer’s Sonata No.3, Op.3 and showcases old favourites like Alexis Weissenberg’s charming Six Arrangements of Songs Sung by Charles Trenet. Busoni’s arrangement of Bach’s famous Chaconne and Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Cypresses bring out Hamelin’s astonishing technique, which of course also supports the Chopin Polonaise-Fantaisie and Scherzo No.4 that conclude the recital. Paul Ennis is the managing editor of The WholeNote. OCTOBER 4, 2018 | 1.30 PM POULENC TRIO James Austin Smith, oboe; Bryan Young, bassoon; Irina Kaplan Lande, piano NOVEMBER 8, 2018 | 1.30 PM THOMAS OLIEMANS Thomas Oliemans, baritone Malcolm Martineau, piano FEBRUARY 28, 2019 | 1.30 PM JOEL QUARRINGTON & FRIENDS Joel Quarrington, double bass David Jalbert, piano; Yehonatan Berick, violin Jethro Marks, viola; Carole Sirois, cello WMCT commissioned work by Bramwell Tovey APRIL 4, 2019 | 1.30 PM MARIAM BATSASHVILI piano MAY 2, 2019 | 1.30 PM ROLSTON STRING QUARTET Luri Lee, violin; Emily Kruspe, violin Hezekiah Leung, viola; Jonathan Lo, cello TORONTO DEBUT TORONTO DEBUT 121 st Season Subscribe to Five Thursday Afternoon Concerts for 0 Walter Hall, Faculty of Music, 80 Queen’s Park (Museum Subway) wmct@wmct.on.ca www.wmct.on.ca 416-923-7052 thewholenote.com September2018 | 25
