Volume 24 Issue 6 - March 2019

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Classified Advertising | classad@thewholenote.com WE ARE ALL MUSIC’S CHILDREN for the APRIL edition. classad@thewholenote.com WONDERFUL STEINWAY MODEL O GRAND PIANO. 1907 NY fully restored 2005. Free delivery GTA. Contact Dr. G Manning musicdirector@saintgeorge.ca INSTRUCTION ANARCHIST PIANO LESSONS: Maximize your musical autonomy – follow new rules daily – every student creates their own sound – integrated lessons in piano, improvisation, theory, (and composition). fb.me/anarchistpiano CELLO LESSONS DOWN TOWN TORONTO Individual approach to every student. Young professionals, adults and beginners. Dr. Dobrochna Zubek zubekdobrochna@ hotmail.com http://dobrochnazubek.com http://celloteaching.ca DO YOU SING IN A CHOIR? Would you like to practice your sight-singing skills? Or need a little help learning your notes or rhythms? Or experience the joy of singing duets? Treat yourself! Private and group lessons available Monday-Saturday afternoons. Near Woodbine subway. Call or text Sheila at 416-574-5250, or lilackayak@gmail.com FRIENDLY, WISE PIANO TEACHER with loyal following and buckets of patience. Conservatory washouts and hesitant adult beginners most welcome. Lovely Cabbagetown studio. “Best teacher ever!” - Beaches tween. “Beats studying with those Quebec nuns!” - Rosedale senior. Peter Mose, 416.923.3060. MosePianoForAll.com. (This might change your life.) FLUTE, PIANO, THEORY LESSONS. RCM Certified Advanced Specialist. Samantha Chang, FTCL, FLCM, LRAM, PGDip, ARCT. Toronto, Scarborough 416-801-9196, samantha.studio@gmail.com www.samanthaflute.com If you play Fur Elise, no animals are harmedit’s not real fur. MosePianoForAll.com LESSONS FOR ALL! Friendly and firm - I’m an experienced musician and mom teaching piano and singing to children (and the young at heart) in my Toronto home (East Leslieville). To discuss your child’s need for music-making please contact kskwhite@gmail.com. MUSIC LESSONS IN WEST TORONTO in a relaxed and friendly environment. Piano, bass, guitar, ukelele, banjo and voice. marcenkin@gmail.com 416-763-3516 SERVICES ACCOUNTING AND INCOME TAX SERVICE for small business and individuals, to save you time and money, customized to meet your needs. Norm Pulker, B. Math. CMA. 905-251-0309 or 905-830-2985. DOG BOARDING (near Woodbine subway). Heading away for a while and can’t bring your favourite canine companion? I take just one dog at a time and give it a very special vacation. Your dog will pull you to my door on repeat visits! Call or text Sheila at 416-574-5250 or lilackayak@gmail.com RESTORE PRECIOUS MEMORIES lost on old records, tapes, photos etc.? Recitals, gigs, auditions, air checks, family stuff. on 78’s, cassettes, reels, 35mm slides etc?. ArtsMediaProjects will lovingly restore them to CD’s or DVD’s. Call George @ 416-910-1091. VENUES AVAILABLE / WANTED ARE YOU PLANNING A CONCERT OR RECITAL? Looking for a venue? Consider Bloor Street United Church. Phone: 416-924- 7439 x22. Email: tina@bloorstreetunited.org. PERFORMANCE / REHEARSAL / STUDIO SPACE AVAILABLE: great acoustics, reasonable rates, close to Green P Parking, cafés & restaurants. Historic church at College & Bellevue, near Spadina. Phone 416-921-6350. E-mail ststepheninthefields@gmail.com. PRECIOUS MEMORIES & PERFORMANCES transferred to CD, DVD. records | tapes VHS | Hi-8 | mini DV slides | photos | clippings RESTORED & PRESERVED ArtsMediaProjects 416-910-1091 ADVERTISE music-related needs, skills and services Recruit new members for choirs, bands, orchestras. Find a new music director | Find a music teacher | Buy or sell Just $24 for the first 20 words. .20 for each additional word. Discounts for 3x, 5x and 10x insertions. INQUIRE BY MARCH 23 for the APRIL edition. classad@thewholenote.com March’s Child CHRISTINA MAHLER MJ BUELL Christina Mahler (right) with her partner in music and in life, Jeanne Lamon, and another beloved and constant friend – her 1769 Contreras cello. Considered one of the finest violin makers of Spain, José Contreras is often referred to as the “Stradivarius of Spain.” “Toronto April 17, 2018 …Two cherished and long-standing members of Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, Christina Mahler, principal cello since 1981, and Alison Mackay, principal double bass since 1979, have announced their decision to retire in June 2019 after the 2018/19 season. As key members of Tafelmusik’s continuo section, they have epitomized the orchestra’s heartbeat for almost four decades. …” This news, in a release from Tafelmusik, went on to quote Mahler’s personal explanation for her decision. “As instrumentalists, we are very similar to dancers and athletes in terms of the wear and tear our profession exerts on our bodies, and in recent years I began to realize that it was time for me to slow down and plan my retirement from the orchestra’s fast-paced schedule. … The future is very bright for Tafelmusik and I will always hold the orchestra and the audience very close to my heart. Although this represents the closing of a major chapter in my life, it is not the end of the book. I very much hope to be playing the cello in concerts for a long time to come.” In 1981 after five years of study with Anner Bylsma in The Hague, Mahler immigrated to Canada to serve as principal cellist of Tafelmusik Orchestra, a position she has held ever since. In addition to a lifelong appetite for Baroque music, she plays chamber music of the 18th and 19th centuries – many WholeNote readers will have enjoyed hearing Mahler play Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin or Mendelssohn in solo recitals or with small ensembles. She has contributed to more than 80 recordings – including a number of concertos – on many labels, and students come from all over the world to study with her at Tafelmusik’s Summer and Winter Institutes, at the University of Toronto and in her private studio. Mahler lives in Riverdale, Toronto, with her partner Jeanne Lamon and cat Josie, and also a basement tenant: songwriter Debra. Beyond music, some of Mahler’s other pleasures/pastimes include painting and drawing, pottery and being in nature. 62 | March 2019 1 – April 7, 2019 thewholenote.com SIAN RICHARDS

When you look at your childhood photo today? Taken on a nice summer day in the garden by my father, it makes me think of the beautiful spot we grew up in, a house surrounded by a large garden with all sorts of fruit trees and flowers and three houses away from the forest. Where were you born, and who were your parents? Nijmegen - we moved to Heelsum when I was three. Heelsum is a small village near 1959, in Heelsum, Holland Arnhem just north of the Rhine river in the East of Holland. I lived there until I was 18. My father, Arnold Mahler, was a chemical engineer, and my mother, Elizabeth van Hoogenhuyze, who studied the violin professionally, stayed at home to raise the family. Who lived in your childhood home? My parents and four siblings, Veronica, Arthur, Helena and Maarten Michiel. I’m the middle child, the third of five. Our dog Rossie was an important part of our family. Any of them musicians? My mother played quartets regularly at home with other amateurs. All my siblings played one or two instruments. Only one other sibling became a professional musician however. Your absolute earliest musical memory? My earliest musical memories are singing songs at home, St. Nicholas songs in December, birthday songs, singing on trips in the car. I remember the first LP I got on my birthday, Boccherini’s Cello Concerto in B-flat. Where did hearing music fit into your life as a child? At home we listened to the radio and we listened to records (LPs). My mother took us to quartet concerts. Your very first recollection of making music yourself? There was a little singing in school. There was singing in summer camps – also choir pieces. I loved to sing with my siblings. My mother had chosen the cello for me and she decided that I should start at age nine. I was very much looking forward to it and would have liked to start sooner. In fact, she chose which instruments we would all play when we were babies! She said that she heard the last movement of Beethoven’s “Pastoral” Symphony when giving birth to me, so that piece has a special place in my heart! A first music teacher? My first teacher was a very old man. I adored him. He taught me at home for one year. Then he became too old for the trip and I took the bus to his house. He died one or two years later. It was the first death I experienced. Early musical collaborations? At least once a week at home we would all play together, often Baroque music. We would play at special events such as my grandfather’s birthday, a Christmas play, or the end of a school year. The first years of performing were easy and enjoyable for me. Then I remember clearly a moment – I had to play for a new teacher, when I was 13 or 14 – when I felt nervous for the first time. This was shocking and strange. CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR WINNERS! The Bach St. Matthew Passion includes Christina Mahler’s all-time favourite huge cello part. Based on advance ticket sales it’s an audience favourite too – by the time you read this you may find it’s sold out. But if you’re lucky and you hurry you might get a ticket. (Jeanne Lamon Hall, March 21 to 4). TICKETS “The Hunt: Mozart and Haydn.” Jeanne Lamon, Tafelmusik’s music director emerita, returns to lead this classical concert featuring Scott Wevers, horn soloist, in Mozart’s joyous Horn Concerto No.4. Four horns take the stage in Mozart’s Symphony No.25 and Haydn’s spirited “Hunt Symphony” (Apr 25 to 28, Jeanne Lamon Hall; Apr 30 at George Weston Recital Hall). A pair of tickets is awarded to RICHARD SMITH and to VOLKER MASEMANN. “Bach Magnificat.” Ivars Taurins directs Zelenka’s Missa Divi Xaverii, ZWV12 Do you remember when you began to think of yourself as a career musician? I met a professional cellist at a summer camp when I was ten. Meeting him made me realize that I wanted to have a career in music. Did you ever think you would do something else? Never! Where did you attend high school? Zetten. We had to cross the Rhine river on a little ferry to get to school. It was a 45-minute bike ride each way, ferry included. My high school didn’t have an official instrumental music program: our orchestra was made up of my mother and sister on violin, my brother on oboe, another girl on trumpet, my teacher on keyboard and me on cello! What must that have sounded like! And right after high school? I went to study at the conservatory in Arnhem and later in The Hague. What helped to form your appetite for early music? At home we played mostly early music. Why did you come to Canada? Jeanne and I met in 1976 in Amsterdam – we were invited by Marion Verbruggen for a concert in Amsterdam. We wanted to work together in a permanent setting and Tafelmusik offered a wonderful and unique opportunity. We’ve never looked back! And today … How does teaching/mentoring fit into your current musical life? I very much like teaching and mentoring young musicians. I feel I have the wisdom of all these years of experience and I love being around young people. Where does music fit into your “time off” – your life at home and among friends and extended family? Whenever I am working on pieces, I like to be busy with it in my mind and leave the space for that, by not listening to other interpretations or other pieces. In the summer at the cottage I really enjoy listening to a wide variety of music. What would you say to people hoping young children in their family will grow up to love and make music? It is important to have music in the house. Play recordings if you don’t play yourself. Help the children gently with a bit of daily discipline to practise their instruments, because it is too hard for a child to practise without help. If you were all ALONE (in the shower, driving) and could sing along with complete abandon to ANY recording, what would you choose? The jazzy L’Arpeggiata Purcell recording called Music for a While. UPCOMING… Performances you’re excited about? I am really looking forward to the St. Matthew Passion (March 21 to 24), Alison Mackay’s program Tales of Two Cities in Ottawa (March 26) and the Mozart and Haydn program with Jeanne Lamon April 25 to 28) – all upcoming programs with Tafelmusik. New recordings or projects you are involved in? This is my last season as a core member of Tafelmusik. I need some time to make this transition. Some chamber music plans are in the works and other projects will grow. A NEW CONTEST WILL APPEAR HERE IN OUR APRIL EDITION and Bach’s Magnificat, BWV243, with Jana Miller, soprano; Meg Bragle, mezzo-soprano; Colin Ainsworth, tenor. (May 9 to12 at Koerner Hall). A pair of tickets is awarded to MICHAEL HINGERT and to KWAN-WAH INGLIS. RECORDINGS Here are some of Christina Mahler’s favourite Tafelmusik recordings from over the years: Avison Concerti Grossi (CBC Records 1987); Haydn Creation (Sony classical,1995); Tafelmusik: A Baroque Feast [Analekta, 2002], with Mahler featured in the Vivaldi double concerto; Concerti Virtuosi [Analekta, 2005], with Mahler featured in the Leo cello concerto; ); Bach with Jeanne Lamon and Dan Taylor (Analekta 2011); Bach Brandenburg Concertos (2012 re-release Tafelmusik Media). Some that are still available will be awarded to DEBORAH DAVIS, DAVID ARNOT- JOHNSON, and PAUL KAY. thewholenote.com March 2019 | 63