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Volume 27 Issue 2 - November 2021

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Live events on the up and up while creative live-and livestreamed hybrids continue to shine. October All-star Sondheim's Follies at Koerner Hall headlines the resurgence; Zoprana Sadiq brings MixTape to Crow's Theatre; Stewart Goodyear and Jan Lisiecki bring piano virtuosity back indoors; Toronto Mendelssohn Choir's J-S Vallee in action; TSO finds itself looking at 60 percent capacities ahead of schedule. All this and more as we we complete our COVID-13 -- a baker's dozen of issues since March 2020. Available here in flipthrough, and on stands commencing this weekend.

Vol 25 No 8 Vol 25 No 9

Vol 25 No 8 Vol 25 No 9 PRICELESS Vol 26 No 1 2607_May_cover.in d 1 2608_JulyAugcover.in d 1 2021-05-04 12:32 PM BACK IN FOCUS Previously covered in The WholeNote, and topical again OPERA ATELIER’S ANGEL WHAT: Oct 28 7:00: Opera Atelier. Angel. A 70-minute film fully staged and filmed at St. Lawrence Hall, with music by Edwin Huizinga, Christopher Bagan, Jean-Philippe Rameau, William Boyce, Matthew Locke, and Max Richter, and featuring Measha Brueggergosman, Mireille Asselin, Meghan Lindsay, sopranos; Colin Ainsworth, tenor; Jesse Blumberg, baritone; and others; Marshall Pynkoski, stage director; Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg, choreographer; Artists of Atelier Ballet; Nathaniel Dett Chorale; Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra; and David Fallis, conductor. www.OperaAtelier.com. WHEN: Single tickets went on sale Oct 1, and the production will be available until November 12. Measha Brueggergosman and Edwin Huizinga, in September 2019, published in 2502 Versailles 2017: We’ve followed the gestation of Angel since its earliest beginnings as a piece titled Inception, featuring violinist and composer Edwin Huizinga and dancer Tyler Gledhill, commissioned by OA for their Versailles tour in 2017 and reprised, in an expanded version, in February 2018 in the Royal Ontario Museum’s Samuel Hall Currelly Gallery. Jennifer Parr (who had attended the Versailles performance in her capacity as Opera Atelier fight director), interviewed Huizinga and wrote about it for our February 2019 edition: When I tell people about Opera Atelier’s ongoing The Angel Speaks project, I always begin with when I saw the very first performance of its first installment, in May 2017. I was sitting at the back of the Royal Chapel at the Palace of Versailles … suddenly there appeared high up on the balcony above, the dramatic figure of what appeared to be a Viking angel playing an exquisite melody on solo violin. This beautiful mystical thread of music then seemed to bring forth, and become tangibly present in, the figure of a dancer (Tyler Gledhill) – another face of the angel – on the ground level with the singers and audience, a figure in search of something or someone... The work was invited back to Versailles in December 2018. Mireille Asselin as the Virgin Mary with Tyler Gledhill as the Angel Gabriel in the Royal Chapel at Versailles (December 2018) with Edwin Huizinga (left) leading the music. October 2020: Inception/Angel is now part of a larger, fully staged production titled Something Rich and Strange, with soprano Measha Brueggergosman now on board. David Perlman interviewed Huizinga and Brueggergosman together, from Brueggergosman’s Halifax home, where they were working together on Huizinga’s musical setting of the Rilke poem, to be sung by Brueggergosman, that was at the heart of the latest iteration of the piece, and wrote in October issue: I’d been wanting to talk to Huizinga and Brueggergosman for a while about [it], but had been expecting to have to speak with each of them separately, so it was an unexpected bonus to find out that he would be flying to Nova Scotia on the Monday “to finish a project with our amazing fearless Canadian soprano Measha Brueggergosman.” “Finish the project” sounds optimistic to me. For one thing, Huizinga and Opera Atelier (OA) have been exploring the 24-line poem at the heart of the project (“Annunciation to Mary” by Bohemian/Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke) for well over two years. Which brings us to now: Each iteration of Angel so far has been coloured and shaped by obstacles transformed into opportunities – choices of medium dictated by shifting pandemic-related circumstances. Intriguingly, with social distancing requirements and public health guidelines having shifted again, OA has an opportunity to add yet another dimension to the shape-shifting show: simultaneously with the 7pm October 28 launch of the stream, there will be a movie presentation of the stream at the TIFF Lightbox, turning the evening, for those attending, into the kind of live, collective event we are all so hungry for. Angel is dedicated to the memory of Tafelmusik’s founder, Jeanne Lamon. Jack Buell BRUCE ZINGER "Glad to see you back," someone said. But we don't subscribe to that because ... APRIL 2020 CONCERT LISTINGS FEATURES | REVIEWS MAY AND JUNE 2020 Cancelled/Postponed/TBA APRIL 2020 Vol 25 No 7 THE MONTH THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN 25 th SEASON! Next season wi l see the first of our regional runout concerts attached to our main Sudbury season. We would love for any Northern Ontarians interested in bringing top-level classical music and musicians to their communities to contact us. Even the skeptics have upped their Zoom game: people I thought would never turn on their web cams have fina ly done so. So in the meanwhile, I have been playing Beethoven and Debussy on the piano daily. … Witnessing how opera companies across Canada are dealing with the crisis and planning for the future. Advocating for inclusion of more artist voices so that our new reality on the other side of this works for administrators, as we l as for creators and performers. I miss the magic when the lights go down and the curtain rises. I miss the symbiotical flow of energy between us performers and our audiences, and yes I even miss the stress of preparation before. 2507_April20_Cover.in d 1 2020-03-20 12:52 PM 25 No longer bound by geography, we have engaged Canadian solo artists who live abroad and wouldn’t norma ly be able to perform with us. We have also set up a Patreon page so that people can support us with sma l monthly contributions. th SEASON! COMMUNITY VOICES How May is & what may be COVID-19 has brought forward the tipping point, hastening the creation of new structures to support the creation and production of the arts in a different way than has been the case through the latter half of the 20th century to now. Strong developments and innovation arise in hard times as we focus on what matters. We’re optimistic that things wi l eventua ly return, but it’s going to take a long while … Right now, this a l kind o feels like jazz: we’re improvising … 2508_MayCover.indd 3 2020-04-28 1:36 PM 25 th SEASON! JULY | AUGUST 2020 THE BEAT GOES ON 9 TH Annual TIFF Tips MUSIC THEATRE Loose Tea on the boil Once COVID’s in the rearview mirror … Jazz Studies: the struggle for equity SUMMER 2020 Concerts, live & livestreamed Listening Room & record reviews Columns, stories & interviews ON THE FLY 18th annual choral Canary Pages BLUE 21st Annual PAGES 2409_JulyCover.in d 1 2020-06-28 6:32 PM SEPTEMBER 2020 Concerts, live & livestreamed Listening Room & record reviews Stories & interviews PRESENTER PROFILES 2020/21 2601_Sept20_Cover.in d 1 2020-08-25 1:07 PM PIVOTAL TIMES Discoveries along the Goldberg trail The intimacy challenge: falling for dance In with the new: adventures in sound art Choral scene: lessons from Skagit Valley OCTOBER 2020 Concerts, live & livestreamed Record reviews & Listening Room Stories and interviews 2602_OctCover.indd 1 2020-09-23 7:26 PM PRICELESS Vol 26 No 2 December & January 2020 / 21 Concerts, live and livestreamed Record reviews & Listening Room Stories and interviews Alanis Obomsawin 2020 Glenn Gould Prize Laureate Beautiful Exceptions Sing-Alone Messiahs Livingston’s Vocal Pleasures Chamber Beethoven Online Opera (Plexiglass & All) Playlist for the Winter of our Discontent The Oud & the Fuzz Who is Alex Trebek? and more NOVEMBER 2020 Concerts, live & livestreamed Record reviews & Listening Room Stories and interviews 2602_NovCover.indd 1 2020-10-27 8:10 PM PRICELESS Vol 26 No 3 Volume 26 No 5 FEBRUARY 5 TO MARCH 19 2021 Music by date, live and livestreamed Recordings - 81 recent DISCoveries Stories & Interviews SO, how much ground would a groundhog hog? Judith Yan, conductor 2604_DecCover.in d 1 2020-12-01 11:42 PM Vol 26 No 4 SPRINGING FORWARD AND OTHER FALLBACKS Women From Space Musical Playgrounds The Virtues of Necessity Teaching Up Close & Impersonal When SHHH!! means “Listen!” … and more 2605_Feb_cover.in d 1 2021-02-03 6:14 PM Volume 26 No 7 MAY AND JUNE 2021 Volume 26 No 6 MARCH 20 TO MAY 7 2021 Music by date, live and livestreamed Recordings reviewed - 96 recent DISCoveries Stories, interviews, listening room. Meet The Makers Edana Higham and Zac Pulak 2606_March_cover.in d 1 2021-03-13 8:22 AM Volume 26 No 8 SUMMER 2021 Music by date, live and livestreamed Recordings reviewed - 101 recent DISCoveries Stories, interviews, listening room. Events by date, live and livestreamed Stories & interviews 100 recordings reviewed Listening Room Volume 27 No 1 SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBE 2607_May_cover.in d 1 2021-05-04 12:32 PM IT’S QUESTI TIME Blue pages, o R. Murray Sc complex leg What make necessary Live music Events Storie 100 re Listen 2701_Sept_cover 58 | November and December 2021 thewholenote.com

2021-06-24 6:54 PM BRAINERD BLYDEN-TAYLOR and The NATHANIEL DETT CHORALE Funny how an ensemble can slip off one’s radar for a while, then, all of a sudden seem to show up in several unrelated contexts all at once, when really they never went away. Front and centre on our February 2009 cover, The Nathaniel Dett Chorale performs on the steps of the Canadian Embassy overlooking the beginning of U.S.President Barack Obama’s Inaugural parade. The choir’s founder and conductor, Brainerd Blyden-Taylor talked about the founding of the Chorale in the story: “The idea was to do more than just sing notes well. There was also a social component to it – to build bridges of caring, understanding and appreciation through the medium of music. And we wanted to do that within what is perceived to be the larger black community. When I started it, I decided that I didn’t want to name the group after myself – I wanted a name that would honour black Canadian heritage somehow.” In our February 2019 edition in a story titled Celebrating Jessye Norman | 12th Glenn Gould Prize Laureate we reported that the Nathaniel Dett Chorale would perform three pieces at the gala concert in Norman’s honour, and chatted with Blyden- Taylor (for whom Norman had long been part of his inspirational musical frame of reference: “My consciousness of her goes back to my youth in Barbados in the mid-60s” he says, “and even more so after I came to Toronto in 1973 to be musical director at my uncle’s church. She was an ongoing part of my listening in terms of a sound ideal in terms of performance of spirituals, in my work with the Orpheus Choir, and workshops I was asked to do across the country, helping other choirs with interpretation of spirituals. You’d have to say she was one of those voices that were pivotal in terms of reading of the spirituals.” Now, “all of a sudden” – as noted above The Chorale features (“heard but not seen”) in Opera Atelier’s Angel; – Nathaniel Dett’s The Chariot Jubilee is one of two major works on the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir’s season-opening concert, and Brainerd Blyden-Taylor, with the Chorale returns to TMC in April for the third concert of the TMC season; – Icing on the cake: December 4 at 8pm Orchestra Toronto presents Great Joy II: An Indigo Christmas with the Nathaniel Dett Chorale. Blyden-Taylor directs, with Corey Butler on piano. Available on demand, but also live at George Weston Recital Hall, in the Meridian Arts Centre (formerly Toronto Centre for the Arts). David Perlman Proceeds to benefit the Community Services Program Lynn Ahrens • Kristen Anderson-Lopez • Benny Andersson Billie Joe Armstrong • Howard Ashman • Sara Bareilles • Lionel Bart Jerry Bock • Leslie Bricusse • Jason Robert Brown • Johnny Burke Marrn Charnin • Mindi Dickstein • Anthony Drewe • Jack Feldman Stephen Flaherty • Maahew Gerrard • Zina Goldrich • Green Day Sheldon Harnick • David Hein • Marcy Heisler • Jason Howland Herbert Kretzmer • Jonathan Larson • Alan Jay Lerner • Frank Loesser Frederick Loewe • Robert Lopez • Alan Menken • Tim Minchin Robbie Nevil • Anthony Newley • Benj Pasek • Jussn Paul • Tim Rice Irene Sankoff • Dick Scanlan • Claude-Michel Schönberg Stephen Schwartz • Marc Shaiman • Richard M. Sherman Robert B. Sherman • Glenn Slater • Stephen Sondheim • George SSles Charles Strouse • Jeanine Tesori • Björn Ulvaeus • Jimmy Van Heuse Frank Wildhorn • Scoo Wiiman D OCTOBER 2021 STION E ages, orange shirts? rray Schafer’s lex legacy? t makes theatre essary? music: ready or not? Events by date, live and livestreamed Stories & interviews 100 recordings reviewed Listening Room FESTIVALS 701_Sept_cover.indd 1 2021-09-16 3:45 PM ...we never went away. Back issues (Cheaper by the dozen!) subscriptions@thewholenote.com ALL TOGETHER NOW! is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre Internaaonal (MTI). All authorized performance materials are also supplied by MTI. www.mmshows.co.uk • www.mmshows.com • www.mmshows.com.au thewholenote.com November and December 2021 | 59

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