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Volume 25 Issue 7 - April 2020

  • Text
  • Violin
  • Musical
  • Performing
  • Concerto
  • Jazz
  • Theatre
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  • Arts
  • Toronto
  • April
After some doubt that we would be allowed to go to press, in respect to wide-ranging Ontario business closures relating to COVID-19, The WholeNote magazine for April 2020 is now on press, and print distribution – modified to respect community-wide closures and the need for appropriate distancing – starts Monday March 30. Meanwhile the full magazine is right here, digitally, so if you value us PLEASE SHARE THIS LINK AS WIDELY AS YOU CAN. It's the safest way for us to reach the widest possible audience at this time!

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an Ontario government agency The WholeNote VOLUME 25 NO 7 | APRIL 2020 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 Social Media Editor | Danial Jazaeri dan@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, Colin Story, Steve Wallace, Matthew Whitfield Features Brian Chang, Robert Harris, David Perlman, Lydia Perović CD Reviewers Stuart Broomer, Max Christie, Austin Clarkson, Sam Dickinson, Daniel Foley, Raul da Gama, Janos Gardonyi, Richard Haskell, Tiina Kiik, Kati Kiilaspea, Roger Knox, Barry Livingston, Pamela Margles, Lesley Mitchell-Clarke, Nancy Nourse, David Olds, Ted Parkinson, Ivana Popovich, Allan Pulker, Terry Robbins, Michael Schwartz, Adam Scime, Michael Schulman, Andrew Scott, Sharna Searle, Adam Seelig, Adam Sherkin, Bruce Surtees, Andrew Timar, Ken Waxman, Matthew Whitfield Proofreading Karen Ages, Paul Ennis, Danial Jazaeri, David Perlman, John Sharpe Listings Team Ruth Atwood, Tilly Kooyman, John Sharpe, Gary Heard, Colin Story, Katie White Design Team Kevin King, Susan Sinclair Circulation Team Lori Sandra Aginian, Wende Bartley, Beth Bartley / Mark Clifford, Jack Buell, Sharon Clark, Manuel Couto, Paul Ennis, Robert Faulkner, Terry Gaeeni, James Harris, Micah Herzog, Jeff Hogben, Bob Jerome, Chris Malcolm, Luna Walker-Malcolm, Sheila McCoy, Lorna Nevison, Garry Page, Andrew Schaefer, Tom Sepp, Julia Tait, Dave Taylor BEAT BY BEAT 13 Classical & Beyond | PAUL ENNIS 15 In with the New | WENDALYN BARTLEY 17 Music Theatre | JENNIFER PARR 20 Early Music | MATTHEW WHITFIELD 22 Jazz Notes | STEVE WALLACE 24 Bandstand | JACK MACQUARRIE 43 Mainly Clubs, Mostly Jazz | COLIN STORY LISTINGS 28 A | Concerts in the GTA 39 B | Concerts Beyond the GTA 41 C | Music Theatre 43 D | In the Clubs (Mostly Jazz) 45 E | The ETCeteras DISCOVERIES: RECORDINGS REVIEWED 48 Editor’s Corner | DAVID OLDS 50 Strings Attached | TERRY ROBBINS 45 52 Keyed In 55 Vocal 57 Classical and Beyond 59 Modern and Contemporary 62 Jazz and Improvised Music 65 Pot Pourri 66 Something in the Air | KEN WAXMAN 67 Old Wine, New Bottles | BRUCE SURTEES MORE 6 Contact Information 7 Upcoming dates and deadlines 46 Classified Ads UPCOMING SPECIAL SECTIONS IN MAY 2020 | THE CANARY PAGES All things choral in southern Ontario. IN SUMMER 2020 (June/July/ August) | THE GREEN PAGES | The WholeNote’s Summer Music Guide VENUES AT RISK un organisme du gouvernement de l’Ontario an Ontario government agency un organisme du gouvernement de l’Ontario 6 | April 2020 thewholenote.com

FOR OPENERS | DAVID PERLMAN When a Virus Goes Viral 11.30am, Sunday March 22 2020 At first, about two weeks ago, when the postponements and cancellations of events in March and April and beyond started to trickle in, we thought the best thing to do would be to take them out, as though they had never been planned. But as the trickle turned into a tide, we changed our minds about that. We have an explanation for why, and I’ll get to that. But with “Flattening the Curve” rapidly taking on the weight of an Eleventh Commandment, you will I hope forgive me my mild moment of rebellion in meandering a bit on my way to the point. Ruth Vellis I don’t remember when exactly Ruth Vellis’ first phone call to me was, but I can call to mind even now her bright clarity on the phone, every time we spoke thereafter: “Hello, this is Ruth Vellis speaking. I have read your magazine forever. I used to pick it up at St. Stephen-inthe-Fields, right across the road from here, if I got there before they were all gone.” “Here,” across the road from St. Stephen’s, as she explained, was Kensington Gardens retirement home. “I am 96 and not going to concerts right now, but I still love to read about them, so I can decide which ones I would have chosen to go to. I enjoy doing that.” From that moment on, without fail, Chris Malcolm our circulation manager made a point of dropping off Ruth Vellis’ personal copy at Kensington Gardens. And every time, over the ensuing years, Ruth would call me (most often, I suspect, at times when she could just leave a message) to say thank you, and the message would be the same: “I am 97, 98, 99, … going to be a hundred soon, I am a hundred now … And I still love to read about the concerts I am not going to, because I enjoy choosing which ones I would have gone to if I could.” Just as I cannot remember clearly when that first phone call was, I cannot (or perhaps choose not to) remember when they stopped. But in this singular moment in time, we offer you, our readers, this magazine in the same spirit. Here are, to the best of our ability, the concerts none of us of us will be going to right now, so that you can enjoy deciding which ones you would have chosen to go to, and so that you can, if you so choose, reach out to the artists and presenters in question to express your sense of connection to them, in whatever way you best can. It is our hope that for the community that this issue (our 240th in an unbroken chain stretching back to September 1995) will serve a specific purpose – as a record of what the bright normal would have been, and therefore a useful starting point for compiling an inventory of what has been lost in the April that would have been. Red Tide As soon as word of cancellations and postponements started trickling in, we implemented a “cancelled/postponed” filter for our online listings. It is important for readers to note that the CANCELLED/POSTPONED notices in the listings in this print issue are just a snapshot – a frozen moment in a fluid situation, reflecting information received by us only up to Friday March 20. Do not assume that because something listed here doesn’t say cancelled that it is happening. We will continue, to the best of our ability, to keep updating our listings information on a daily basis, including, whenever that may be, the moment when among the “cancelled” and “postponed” notices, we start to see signs that the tide has turned as things are rescheduled and new dates are announced. Staying in Print, But Not Only in Print As you know, if you are turning pages as you read this, we are staying in print, but matching the number of copies to the distribution points (many forced to shutter temporarily) still available to us and to you. But we have a vigorous online, e-letter and social media existence as well, and I urge you, if you haven’t already done so, to avail yourself of these. A print publication that lumbers into existence nine times a year is illequipped to deal with the ever-changing, fast-moving pace of things, as a resourceful community in danger acts and reacts in the face of this unprecedented challenge, finding hope and beauty in hard times. Cues and clues to this digital realm, for artists and readers alike are dotted throughout this issue. I daresay most of you have time for a more-thanusual amount of reading and re-reading, so please seek them out. continued Upcoming Dates & Deadlines for our May 2020 edition Free Event Listings Deadline Midnight, Wednesday April 8 Display Ad Reservations Deadline 6pm Wednesday April 15 Advertising Materials Due 6pm Friday April 17 Classifieds Deadline 6pm Saturday April 25 Publication Date Tuesday April 28 (online) Thursday April 30 (print) Volume 25 No 8 “MAY 2020” will list events May 1, 2020 to June 7, 2020 AND INCLUDE The 18th Annual CANARY PAGES Canary Pages deadline:Tuesday April 7 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 MARCH 2020 24,000 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 © 2020 WHOLENOTE MEDIA INC thewholenote.com thewholenote.com April 2020 | 7

Volumes 21-25 (2015-2020)

Volumes 16-20 (2010-2015)

Volumes 11-15 (2004-2010)

Volumes 6 - 10 (2000 - 2006)

Volumes 1-5 (1994-2000)