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Volume 24 Issue 2 - October 2018

  • Text
  • October
  • Toronto
  • Arts
  • Choir
  • Jazz
  • Musical
  • Concerts
  • Performing
  • Orchestra
  • Theatre
Presenters, start your engines! With TIFF and "back-to-work" out of the way, the regular concert season rumbles to life, and, if our Editor's Opener can be trusted, "Seeking Synergies" seems to be the name of the game. Denise Williams' constantly evolving "Walk Together Children" touching down at the Toronto Centre for the Arts; the second annual Festival of Arabic Music and Arts expanding its range; a lesson in Jazz Survival with Steve Wallace; the 150 presenter and performer profiles in our 19th annual Blue Pages directory... this is an issue that is definitely more than the sum of its parts.

BLUE PAGES

BLUE PAGES 2018/19 SECTION I: PRESENTERS & PERFORMERS programming. Rehearsals take place Wednesday evenings in Peterborough, and prior to many rehearsals we provide ongoing educational initiatives which allow members to greatly improve their skill levels if they choose. Auditions take place in the spring and fall. Peg McCracken 705-745-1820 singers@peterboroughsingers.com www.peterboroughsingers.com ●●RCCO Toronto The Royal Canadian College of Organists offers opportunities for professional certification, publishes the magazine Organ Canada/Orgue Canada, publishes new compositions for organ and/ or choir, and organizes workshops and annual festivals. RCCO Toronto is a community in the GTA for professional and amateur organists, church and synagogue musicians, choral conductors and others who values the “King of Instruments.” This year’s activities include recitals by Ryan Jackson at Metropolitan United on October 19, Ken Cowan at Lawrence Park Community Church on November 9 (with a master class on November 10), and Michael Bloss at St. Paul’s Bloor St. on December 9. Our annual free Halloween concert, “Phantoms of the Organ,” will take place on Friday October 26 at 9pm at Holy Trinity Church, Eaton Centre. The ever-popular biennial “Pedals, Pipes and Pizza,” a March break event for children of all ages will take over Yorkminster Park Baptist on Wednesday, March 13, and the fifth annual “Bach Walk” moves to the Danforth on March 23. Full program details for our 2018/19 season can be viewed on our website. Mark Ruhnke, president 416-929-0811 Karen Price, membership convenor 416-783-2762 unsungbeliever@gmail.com www.rcco.ca/toronto-on ●●Ron Davis’ SymphRONica “Superb!” – The Royal Philharmonic Society “Endlessly inventive!” – Jazz.FM91 “One of the most tenacious and engaging musical artists in Canada.” – The WholeNote “He has firmly established himself as an innovative force within the world of jazz.” – National Post Ron Davis’ SymphRONica is the unexpected creative jazz/chamber combination led by pianist/ composer Ron Davis. SymphRONica has topped the charts, for its genre-bending and defying blend of sounds. SymphRONica has performed to worldwide raves, from New York to Glasgow, from Trafalgar Square to the Pan Am Games. SymphRONica combines jazz, world, groove, pop, classical music and a stellar group of Canadian musicians into a mix that can be found nowhere else. Ron and his musical collaborators have spent years working together, and it shows on stage and in the studio. Just as Toronto is a city of many people from many B18 | theWholeNote 2018/19 PRESENTER PROFILES places, SymphRONica is composed of musicians from diverse backgrounds (Kevin Barrett, Aline Homzy and Mike Downes to name but a few). Every one of them plays with intense passion, improvisational brilliance, and pure pleasure. In the words of Jazz.FM: “An opportunity to hear how Ron Davis interprets anything is an opportunity worth taking.” Ron Davis 416-347-6765 info@rondavismusic.com www.rondavismusic.com ●●Roy Thomson Hall Toronto’s premiere venue for bringing the world’s finest, Roy Thomson Hall continues to host Canada’s biggest events through its 2018/19 season. This fall, the season kicked off with another successful run of The Toronto International Film Festival, hosting gala screenings and Hollywood stars. Roy Thomson Hall is also the proud home to The Toronto Symphony Orchestra and pleased to present another exciting season of classical performances. National Geographic Live! returns for an eighth season of talks, featuring some of the world’s most adventurous explorers sharing stories of their triumphs and challenges. Our free choir and organ concert series continues into its 22nd year, and we celebrate our favourite new year’s traditions at the Hall, ringing in 2019 with “Bravissimo! Opera’s Greatest Hits,” and welcoming the year with “Salute to Vienna” on New Year’s Day. Roy Thomson Hall Box Office 416-872-4255 contactus@mh-rth.com www.roythomsonhall.com ●The ● Royal Conservatory of Music The Royal Conservatory’s Koerner Hall is “the greatest venue in this city” and “magnificent in its acoustics, as much as in its design” (Toronto Star) and voted “Best Concert Hall” in NOW’s Best of Toronto Awards 2017. The 2018/19 concert season marks Koerner Hall’s 10th anniversary, with spectacular concerts by the world’s top classical, jazz, roots, and world music artists. The concert season also features The Conservatory’s renowned faculty and students performing in The Royal Conservatory’s two additional concert venues, all located in the TELUS Centre at 273 Bloor St. West. Alicja Stasiuk 416 408 2824 x205 alicja.stasiuk@rcmusic.ca www.rcmusic.com/performance ●●Scaramella Concerts Scaramella presents intimate, one-of-a-kind, period instrument chamber music concerts, bringing together top-notch musicians from Canada and abroad for fresh and vivacious performances. Children 14 and under are welcomed, free of charge. Scaramella’s overarching theme for 2018/19 is singing. The season opens with Scottish ballads from a 1787 collection, with Montreal tenor/ guitarist Nils Brown backed by a team of versatile instrumentalists whose classical and folk music interests collide. January’s program centres on the cello (said to be the closest sounding instrument to the human voice) with Juno-nominated Elinor Frey. And April’s concert features countertenor Daniel Cabena in a sampling of Vivaldi’s chamber cantatas complemented by a bassoon as part of the continuo section. Do please join us! More details are available on our website: www.scaramella.ca. Tickets are always available at the door, or for advance purchase using the order form on the website. October 6, 2018: “Scots Musical Museum” (2 singers, flute, violin, bass, harpsichord, narrator) January 12, 2019: “Singing Cello” (cello, G violone, archlute); April 6, 2019: “Red Priest” (countertenor, bassoon, gamba, organ) Joëlle Morton 416-760-8610 www.scaramella.ca ●●Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra The Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra (SPO) is dedicated to enriching the musical life of the Greater Scarborough area by presenting high-quality musical performances that offer a friendly, affordable, enriching, and convenient live-entertainment experience. The six concerts of the 2018/19 season will feature great romantic music by Beethoven, Brahms, Dvořák, Mendelssohn, and Tchaikovsky, as well as lively Canadian works and a thrilling film-music concert. Soloists include Kara Huber, piano; Aaron Schwebel, violin; and Annie Ramos, soprano. The SPO is dedicated to educational outreach, youth engagement, and mentoring of New Generation Artists. Please visit www.spo.ca and @SPOGreatMusic for more information. Ronald Royer, music director Devin Scott, executive director spo@spo.ca www.spo.ca ●●SINE NOMINE Ensemble for Medieval Music The versatile singers and instrumentalists of SINE NOMINE are passionate about the music of the Middle Ages and about bringing it to life for modern audiences, by working with original manuscript materials, researching language, literature,

and cultural background, analysing, improvising, and experimenting. Our performances have blended vocal and instrumental music from medieval courts and churches with readings, drama, and liturgical action, to provide insight into the fascinating artistic and intellectual culture of the Middle Ages. Based in Toronto since 1991, the group has also performed in other Ontario centres, as well as Alberta, Quebec, the Maritimes, the eastern USA, and England, and has recorded A Golden Treasury of Medieval Music for the British label Saydisc-Amon Ra. For information about our upcoming concerts and collaborations, please visit our web-page or find us on Facebook. SINE NOMINE is ensemble-in-residence at the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies. For tickets: 416-978-8849 or www.uofttix.ca Andrea Budgey 416-638-9445 andrea.budgey@utoronto.ca www.pims.ca/amici/sine-nomine ●●Sinfonia Toronto Acclaimed as “A World-Class Orchestra” (headline, Russelsheimer Echo, Germany), Sinfonia Toronto celebrates its 20th anniversary season in 2018/19, with Masterpiece Series concerts in Glenn Gould Studio and the Toronto Centre for the Arts. Sinfonia Toronto consists of virtuoso strings who perform standing, in the tradition of great European chamber orchestras, blending each musician’s soloistic energy into a brilliant ensemble style inspired by music director Nurhan Arman. The orchestra’s programming combines major compositions and delightful surprises from the Baroque through the Classical, Romantic and contemporary periods. The orchestra plays in Toronto schools, travels throughout Ontario to perform for concert associations from Brockville to Sarnia, and performs every season in Barrie and Sault Ste-Marie. Sinfonia Toronto has toured in Germany, Spain and Florida, and in April 2018 made a two-week tour in Peru, Argentina and Uruguay, with every concert drawing standing ovations, multiple encores, superb reviews and requests to return. Margaret Chasins 416-499-0403 margaretchasins@sinfoniatoronto.com www.sinfoniatoronto.com ●●Small World Music Society Small World Music Society is “The Beat of the Globe in the Heart of Toronto,” presenting concerts and workshops in venues ranging from prestigious concert halls, to outdoor festival stages, to its own intimate space, the Small World Music Centre at Artscape Youngplace. Its annual season has traditionally been anchored by the Asian Music Series in the spring, and the Small World Music Festival in the fall, though the 17th edition marked a move to Harbourfront Centre at the height of the SOUNDCROWD summer season. This October, Small World features the long-awaited return of Persian classical duo Shahram Nazeri & Hafez Nazeri, in collaboration with Link Music Lab, for classics and new works from the Rumi Symphony Project. Meanwhile Polyphonic Ground, an initiative of Small World that aligned it with 10 culturally diverse music presenters, nears the end of its pilot phase. Attend upcoming “Polyphonic Ground Presents” concerts to access music for the culturally curious, join Polyphonic Ground Conversations to discuss the future of music in Toronto, and follow the project as it evolves. Jess Cimo 416-536-5439 jess@smallworldmusic.com www.smallworldmusic.com ●●SoundCrowd All voice. No limits. SoundCrowd’s vision is to: • enrich the Toronto community with the proven health and social benefits of participating in and experiencing choral music; • make connections through voice and movement using repertoire that is exciting, fun and meaningful to all; • create dynamic and original performances of music from all genres using the musical language of a cappella. SoundCrowd, the brainchild of artistic director Scott Pietrangelo, is Toronto’s first large-scale a cappella ensemble. The group made its concert debut in 2016 alongside former Barenaked Ladies front man Steven Page at Toronto’s Danforth Music Hall. Since then, they have been featured guests on a national TV show (The Social, www.thesocial.ca) created viral videos (over 79k Facebook views and counting), performed with other notable Toronto-based a cappella groups (Cadence, Countermeasure, Retrocity), sold out their own high-energy concerts, and travelled to New York City to perform at Carnegie Hall with choirs from around the world under the direction of Deke Sharon (Pitch Perfect, The Sing Off). SoundCrowd is an auditioned choir and accepts new submissions in Spring and Summer. Scott Pietrangelo 647-970-1397 info@soundcrowd.ca www.soundcrowd.ca ●●Soundstreams About Soundstreams: A world leader among contemporary music companies, Soundstreams is the foremost global presenter of new Canadian music. Lawrence Cherney, artistic director and Ben Dietschi, executive director are dedicated to showcasing the work of living Canadian and international composers. We accomplish this through our three Toronto-based performance series: Main Stage, Ear Candy and Encounters. Serving a broad community of music lovers, we also offer free outreach and educational programs, Sound- Makers provides interactive learning experiences online and in the classroom; the Emerging Composer Workshop is an intensive mentorship program that helps young composers from Canada and abroad launch their careers. Soundstreams further extends their endeavours through touring, the commissioning of new works, and digital distribution. SoundWave provides accessible tickets to young adults. Peter Donato 416-504-1282, x102 peterd@soundstreams.ca www.soundstreams.ca ●●Southern Ontario Chapter of the Hymn Society (SOCHS) Southern Ontario Chapter of the Hymn Society (SOCHS) is a non-denominational organization supporting congregational song and offering events each season in the Barrie, Kitchener-Waterloo, Pickering triangle. Anyone theWholeNote 2018/19 PRESENTER PROFILES | B19

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