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Volume 25 Issue 8 - May / June 2020

  • Text
  • Choir
  • Performing
  • Performances
  • Orchestra
  • Musicians
  • Jazz
  • Recording
  • Toronto
  • Musical
  • Concerts
"COVID's Metamorphoses"? "There's Always Time (Until Suddenly There Isn't)"? "The Writing on the Wall"? It's hard to know WHAT to call this latest chapter in the extraordinary story we are all of a sudden characters in. By whatever name we call it, the MAY/JUNE combined issue of The WholeNote is now available, HERE in flip through format, in print commencing Wednesday May 6, and, in fully interactive form, online at thewholenote.com. Our 18th Annual Choral Canary Pages, scheduled for publication in print and flip through in September is already well underway with the first 50 choirs home to roost and more being added every week online. Community Voices, our cover story, brings to you the thoughts of 30 musical community members, all going through what we are going through (and with many more to come as the feature gets amplified online over the course of the coming months). And our regular writers bring their personal thoughts to the mix. Finally, a full-fledged DISCoveries review section offers cues and clues to recorded music for your solitary solace!

E. ETCeteras Classified

E. ETCeteras Classified Advertising | classad@thewholenote.com viewed on Instagram and Facebook LIVE: @ thepianolunaire. ● Pocket Concerts. Lucas Dann Live from Amsterdam. May 10, 10:00am. Lucas Dann, piano. Presented via Livestream on Youtube. ; (arts/healthcare/child). Ticket holders will be sent a link to this unlisted broadcast, and the link will stay open for 12 hours. 647-896-8295. Tickets are available at pocketconcerts.ca. ● Recollectiv: Currently holding on-line meetings. A unique musical group made up of people affected by memory challenges caused by illness (such as dementia) or brain injury (stroke, PTSD, etc.) and their care partners. Volunteers of all ages also form part of the band, making this a positive intergenerational experience for all. Participation is free with pre-registration. May 02, May 9, 16, 23, 30, June 6, 13, & 20. Contact info@recollectiv.ca. for meeting times, information and registration. recollectiv.ca ● Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts. a•P•art {of} performance series, every Thursday at 7:30pm on facebook.com/ RHCPA. ● Small World Music and Music Together, May 7. Livestreams hourly, beginning at 11:00am, Abbas Janmohamed; 12:00noon, Arnab Chakrabarty; 1:00pm: Karla García; 2:00pm, Sardaar Mohamadjani; 3:00pm, NaMaNa; 4:00pm, Padideh Ahrarnejad and Ali Massoudi; 5:00pm, Amely Zhou; 6:00pm, Shaho Andalibi; 7:00pm, Majd Sekkar. facebook.com/smallworldmusic ● Suite Melody Care: virtual performances created for hospital patients and elderly in Canada and the United States to bring them some joy through music during these challenging times, in the safety and comfort of their own rooms and with their own personal devices. The first of these performance videos is available at youtu.be/UEg4YsVVHdk suitemelodycare.com. ● Toronto Symphony Orchestra: The TSO Facebook page hosts a regular series on Facebook Live on Tuesday and Friday afternoons called #TSOatHome.The TSO can also be found on Instagram (torontosymphony), onTwitter (@TorontoSymphony), and YouTube youtube.com/user/TorontoSymphony. Orchestra members are also represented on Facebook and other platforms. They share content on Facebook (TSO Musicians), Instagram (tsomusicians) and Twitter (@TSOmusicians). The TSO has also partnered with The Toronto Star for a collection of “Musical Moments”on Thursdays, thestar. com/musicalmoments. ● URGNT Live This ad hoc crowd-funded livestream concert series was created in response to the covid-19 outbreak. You can pay a cover charge which will contribute to paying a nominal fee to all involved parties, and help with lost gigs and wages as a result of the quarantine. Presenting a wide range of performances, including, on May 8, a 10-show, one day festival that includes the Gryphon Trio, and Stewart Goodyear urgnt. ca. Special Offer for May 1 through June 30: FREE Online classifieds offering immediate paid employment opportunities for musicians. WholeNote classifieds are online all the time, and can be published at any time! Inquiries by email only to classad@thewholenote.com WholeNote classifieds can help you recruit new members for your choir, band or orchestra; find a new music director or accompanist; sell your banjo! Starting at only /issue. INQUIRE BY June 27 for the combined JULY & AUGUST print edition, or inquire TODAY for an immediate online ad. classad@thewholenote.com AUDITIONS & EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES AUDITIONING TENORS AND SOPRANOS on Zoom now until July for Mostly Madrigals: 1-on-a-part a cappella ensembles. 2-hr workshops bi-monthly from October 2020- May 2021. Coaching fee: /workshop. Contact Sheila. Call/text 416-574-5250. CHOIR DIRECTOR WANTED. The Rockway Entertainers, an inclusive 40 member community chorus mainly composed of older adults, sing four-part harmony. The Kitchener chorus performs at retirement communities and gives four concerts per year. We seek an experienced chorus director for the 2020-21 season. (Honourarium) Apply to Diane Girard at digirar@gmail.com BUY & SELL CLASSICAL RECORD AND CD COLLECTIONS WANTED. Minimum 350 units. Call, text or e-mail Aaron 416-471-8169 or A@A31.CA NEED HELP WITH YOUR TAXES? Specializing in personal and business tax returns including prior years and adjustments HORIZON TAX SERVICES INC. • free consultation • accurate work For CRA stress relief call: 1-866-268-1319 hts@horizontax.ca www.horizontax.ca PRECIOUS MEMORIES & PERFORMANCES transferred to CD, DVD. records | tapes VHS | Hi-8 | mini DV slides | photos | clippings RESTORED & PRESERVED ArtsMediaProjects 416-910-1091 TENOR SAXOPHONE, Yamaha; TRUMPET, Olds Ambassador; EUPHONIUM Besson silver, compensating. TROMBONE, classic Silver King 2B in hard case. Phone 416-964-3642. WHAT’S IN YOUR CLOSET? Does your old guitar gently weep? Sell that nice old accordion / clarinet / drum kit and find it a new owner! WholeNote classified ads start at just .00 . INQUIRE BY June 27 for the combined JULY & AUGUST issue. classad@ thewholenote.com INSTRUCTION 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 to private lessons on ZOOM, for now. Call or text Sheila at 416-574-5250, or woodbine.joyofsinging@gmail.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) on Zoom, from my Toronto home (East Leslieville). To discuss your child’s need for music-making please contact kskwhite@ gmail.com SIGHT-SINGING WORKSHOPS: sacred/ secular Renaissance music, on the last Monday of the month. 7:30-9:30pm. Drop-in . Free for members of the Toronto DO YOU DRIVE? Do you love The WholeNote? Share the love and earn a little money! Join The WholeNote’s circulation team: 9 times a year, GTA and well beyond. Interested? Contact: circulation@thewholenote.com Early Music Centre. All levels are welcome. Workshops to resume in September 2020. Call/text 416-574-5250. VIOLIN, GUITAR, AND PIANO LESSONS ONLINE. Violinist with TSO, COC, Kitchener and other symphony orchestra experience. Details and references available upon request. 647-701-4255, alex.audioamp@yahoo.com 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. LET YOUR DOG RUN FREELY while the off-leash parks are closed. Fully fenced backyard available by the hour for Pay-whatyou-can. North of Woodbine subway. Text Sheila at 416-574-5250. 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. BUSINESS CLASSIFIEDS Economical and visible! Promote your services & products to our musically engaged readers, in print and on-line. BOOKING DEADLINE: JUNE 18 classad@thewholenote.com 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 for the first 20 words. .20 for each additional word. Discounts for 3x, 5x and 10x insertions. INQUIRE BY JUNE 27 for the SUMMER edition. classad@thewholenote.com 34 | May 2020 thewholenote.com

DISCOVERIES | RECORDINGS REVIEWED DAVID OLDS While I don’t personally put much store in celestial beings, in these dire times I concede that we need all the help, comfort and support we can get anywhere we can find it. It seems that the extraordinary cellist Margaret Maria firmly believes in angels, and they are an ongoing source of inspiration in her work. Her latest, Flights of Angels (enchanten.bandcamp.com), once again creates an orchestral texture by combining many layers of sounds generated by her solo cello. From the artist’s website (enchanten.com) we learn this is meant to be: “Healing music being released into a broken world. Music created from otherworldly energies and the spirit world that can only be felt when you open your spirit to the invisible that exists just beyond what we can see. This music represents my spiritual journey in finding my music and moments of subconscious/dream states where I felt compelled to move in a certain direction, as if guided by a light towards an idea or emotion…” Beginning with Snow Angel, “overjoyed by the dancing snowflakes as they descend upon her wings,” we embark upon a journey that takes us through many states of being and consciousness: An Impossible Gift (to feel everything, to be a channel for both the dark and the light); An Angel for Maria (a special angel or spirit... one of the most beautiful Angels); Another World Opens (limitless, timeless, expansive); Tears of an Angel (listening to the sadness in the world); Passing Through (reality passes in and out of consciousness and finally, through); Breathtaking Light (a liminal light... made of half earth and half heaven); What If (...what if / In your dream / You went to heaven / And there plucked a strange and beautiful flower...); Floating Hope (the strongest emotion that keeps propelling me forward is hope...); And They Kept Kissing (heaven on earth to my tortured soul); Be Love (...a place where I can float in a space of love) and finally Princes of Heaven (I have been sent four Archangels in my life...). Having disclosed my scepticism of celestial creatures I must consider it a coincidence that as I write this on April 21 while listening to Snow Angel I am enchanted to find myself watching a veritable blizzard outside my window. It has now passed and it’s a beautiful, albeit blustery, sunny day. Hopefully, like the late season snow, the COVID-19 virus too shall pass quickly. In the interim I take heart from Margaret Maria’s music. It does have healing powers, if the calm and gentle invigoration I’ve been feeling while listening is any indication. As with almost everyone I am sure, self-isolation (with my dear wife Sharon) has curtailed much of my activity, foremost that of making music with other people. As regular readers will know, I am an avid amateur cellist, and in the months before this lockdown my string quartet had been working on several movements from Richard Krug’s arrangement of Schubert’s Winterreise. We were almost ready to bring in a singer to work with us when the pandemic reared its ugly head and all bets were off for the moment. I first encountered the string quartet version several years ago when I received a recording with baritone Johan Reuter and the Copenhagen String Quartet, of which Krug is the cellist (you can find my April 2018 review at thewholenote. com). Last fall, in my first outing following knee replacement surgery, I had the pleasure of experiencing a live performance by Daniel Lichti and the Penderecki String Quartet, during which I found myself thinking, hey, I could play (at least some of) that! I contacted Krug and purchased the score and parts to his arrangement and shortly after began to rehearse with my friends. I look forward to getting back to rehearsal as soon as this crisis is over, but in the interim another interesting transcription has come my way. Winterreise for string quartet (Solo Musica SM 335 naxosdirect.com) is a purely instrumental version of the classic song cycle arranged by Andreas Höricht, violist of the featured Voyager Quartet. Höricht has taken half of the original songs and linked them with intermezzi of his own design to make a 50-minute suite (the entire cycle spans about 75 minutes). I have mixed feelings about the result. While it works quite well in its own right, and of course Schubert’s tunes are among the finest, I still miss the singer and the emotional content provided by the words. And I miss some of the songs, most particularly two of the ones my group has been focused on, Die Wetterfahne and Erstarrung, this latter presenting What we're listening to this month: thewholenote.com/listening Flight of Angels Margaret Mara Transcendent healing music being released into a broken world. Music dreamed of, composed, performed and produced by a uniquely inspirational Canadian artist. Giuseppe Clemente Dall'Abaco: Cello Sonatas Elinor Frey Passacaille Records and Elinor Frey, with Federica Bianchi, Giangiacomo Pinard, and Mauro Valli, present the first recording of cello sonatas by Giuseppe Clemente Dall’Abaco." Imp in Impulse Barbara Kolarova Bracing solo violin recording by virtuoso Czech violinist including the premiere of Pascal Le Boeuf's title piece alongside two underrepresented 20th century masterpieces. nocturnes & lullabies Richard Valitutto Beautifully curated and performed album of inward looking piano compositions that challenge conventional ideas about virtuosity. thewholenote.com May and June 2020 | 35

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