Volume 27 Issue 5 | March 4 - April 15, 2022

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2607_May_cover.in d 1 2608_JulyAugcover.in d 1 2701_Sept_cover.in d 1 2021-05-04 12:32 PM 2021-06-24 6:54 PM 2021-09-16 3:45 PM BACK IN FOCUS Previously covered in The WholeNote, and topical again ravine), Jewish-Ukrainian composer Dmitri Klebanov (1907- 1987) was vilified as “unpatriotic” for memorializing Jewish civilians rather than Soviet soldiers. The Union of Soviet Composers banned the symphony and Klebanov lost his posts as chairman of the Composers Union’s Kharkiv branch and head of the Kharkiv state conservatory’s composition department. He was eventually “rehabilitated.” Hard to Watch and Impossible to Ignore “The news from Ukraine is both hard to watch and impossible to ignore, about the recent invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces. We are thinking of Jewish-Ukrainian composer, Dmitri Klebanov, whose career was a casualty of Soviet-era cultural suppression – his works nearly forgotten under Stalin’s regime. May we listen to his music today and not forget the terrible cost of conflict and war.” This latest in the Music in Exile series by Toronto’s ARC Ensemble (Artists of the Royal Conservatory) presents violinists Erika Raum and Marie Bérard, violist Steven Dann and cellist Thomas Wiebe in Klebanov’s String Quartets Nos.4 and 5. The joyous No.4 (1946), filled with singable, folk-like tunes, is dedicated to the memory of composer Mykola Leontovych, a Ukrainian separatist murdered by the secret police in 1921. It includes two melodies by Leontovych familiar to Ukrainian listeners, one of them known in the West as the Christmassy Carol of the Bells. No.5 (1965) is more “serious,” its melodies tinged with dissonance and pessimism, with heavily accented rhythms – it’s strong, attention-riveting music. Pianist Kevin Ahfat joins Bérard and Wiebe in the highly Romantic Piano Trio No.2 (1958). Here, warm, tender lyricism alternates with splurges of invigorated celebration, ending as sweetly as it began. There’s real beauty on this disc, all beautifully played. Klebanov died in 1987, shortly before the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The fall and rise of choral music SUANE HUPA ARC Ensemble The speaker is Simon Wynberg, Artistic Director of the ARC Ensemble, responding to the news that ARC Ensemble has been nominated for a JUNO award - Classical Album of the Year, Small Ensemble – for Klebanov: Chamber Works, the newest recording in their Music in Exile series on the Chandos label (CHAN 20231). ARC performs a wide range of music with a focus on music that was suppressed and marginalised under repressive 20th century regimes. The Klebanov recording was reviewed by Michael Schulman in our December 2021/January 2022 edition. Schulman wrote as follows: After his Symphony No.1 (1947), “dedicated to the memory of the martyrs of Babi Yar,” was performed in his native Kharkiv and then in Kyiv (where, in 1941, Nazis had massacred over 30,000 Jews at the Babi Yar On April 5, 2019, CHOIR!CHOIR!CHOIR! invited the public to come and sing The Beatles’ Here Comes the Sun to launch The Canadian Cancer Society’s Daffodil Campaign, The WholeNote’s Kevin King was there: “A fantastic event and experience to be there photographing it; surrounded by so many smiling faces and joyous voices. The sun itself had been a bit shy that day but these singers managed to bring the sunshine with them!” That will seem like a lifetime ago, for choral singers and their audiences. When we published our Canary Pages in May 2019, with that joyful daffodil yellow cover, the profiles were bursting with projects and concerts and plans for the 2019-2020 season. A year later, in April 2020 (Vol 25 No 7), our choral columnist, Brian Chang (currently running for running as a candidate, in Toronto Centre, in the upcoming provincial election campaign), was lamenting the more than hundred choral events precipitously postponed or cancelled in COVID’s first wave: among them Oakham House Choir’s Elijah, Considering Matthew Shepard with Pax Christi Chorale, and the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir’s annual “Sacred Music for a Sacred Space” concert, always performed on Good Friday. (As a member of the TMC, Brian had been rehearsing Healey Willan’s How They So Softly Rest – written to commemorate service people who died in World War I.) Need a back issue? circulation@thewholenote.com or call 416-323-2232 ext 33. Volume 26 No 5 FEBRUARY 5 TO MARCH 19 2021 Music by date, live and livestreamed Recordings - 81 recent DISCoveries Stories & Interviews Volume 26 No 7 MAY AND JUNE 2021 Volume 26 No 8 SUMMER 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. Volume 27 No 1 SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER 2021 IT’S QUESTION TIME Blue pages, orange shirts? R. Murray Schafer’s complex legacy? What makes theatre necessary? Live music: ready or not? Volume 27 No 2 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021 Volume 27 No 3 DECEMBER 2021 / JANUARY 2022 Many Happy Returns! Volume 27 No 4 FEBRUARY 2, 2022 Record reviews Listening Room Music by date, live and livestreamed Stories & interviews Beyond the shadow ... live music ahead! Never miss another – subscribe now! subscriptions@thewholenote.com SO, how much ground would a groundhog hog? SPRINGING FORWARD AND OTHER FALLBACKS Women From Space Musical Playgrounds The Virtues of Necessity Teaching Up Close & Impersonal When SHHH!! means “Listen!” … and more Meet The Makers 2605_Feb_cover.in d 1 2021-02-03 6:14 PM Events by date, live and livestreamed Stories & interviews 100 recordings reviewed Listening Room Edana Higham and Zac Pulak 2606_March_cover.in d 1 2021-03-13 8: 2 AM 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 2607_May_cover.in d 1 2021-05-04 12:32 PM “ MUSIC MAKES US” Zorana Sadiq FESTIVALS 2701_Sept_cover.in d 1 2021-09-16 3:45 PM 2608_JulyAugcover.in d 1 2021-06-24 6:54 PM Music by date, live and livestreamed Stories & interviews Record reviews, listening room Music by date, live, and livestreamed Record reviews Stories, interviews listening room 2703_Dec_cover.in d 1 2021- 1-30 2:53 PM 2702_Nov_cover.indd 1 2021-10-27 10:16 PM Scaling Gould’s Wa l • Buying into hope • Beyond the music theatre lockdown blues • Charlotte Siegel - watershed moments • Deep Wireless at 20 • Towards fu l capacity, with fingers crossed 62 | February 2022 thewholenote.com

2408_MayCover.indd 1 PRICELESS Vol 24 No 8 2019-04-21 6:52 PM 2507_April20_Cover.indd 1 2020-03-20 12:52 PM 25th SEASON! Vol 25 No 7 MAY 2019 CONCERT LISTINGS FEATURES | REVIEWS INSIDE: 17th ANNUAL CANARY PAGES CHORAL DIRECTORY APRIL 2020 CONCERT LISTINGS FEATURES | REVIEWS Cancelled/Postponed/TBA ART OF SONG The Right Kind of Crazy Vocal Mentor, Liz Upchurch PLANTING NOT PAVING Faith-Arts Centres Creating Healthy Hybrids REAR VIEW MIRROR A Love Letter to YouTube Choir!Choir!Choir! GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL’S Within a matter of weeks, rehearsal halls and concert venues went silent and dark. Our RINALDO choirs were the sector of the music community to comprehensively shut down live rehearsals and performances the fastest. There were so many good reasons for this beyond just the business of deep breathing in shared air. Some of it had to do with the kinds of performance and rehearsal spaces involved; some to do with the sheer numbers of people involved at close quarters. In Mount Vernon Washington, a Skagit Valley Chorale rehearsal became a “superspreader event” when 53 of 61 choristers became infected with COVID-19. A karaoke bar in Quebec City became the centre of a 70-person outbreak that would spread to three schools. In that very dark April of 2020, Brian Chang offered us this: “Silence is part of the great music we all love, and rests mark so much of what we know in music. The world in isolation is no different. We’re on a grand pause right now. This isn’t the silence at the end of a song, it’s the dramatic silence before something wonderful. We have beautiful sounds ahead of us. We’ll see you back at rehearsal and in concerts soon enough.” Now as we inch towards April 2022, “soon enough” can’t come soon enough; but choirs, for the same reasons that they were the first to succumb, are among the last to resume. Even so, April 2022 is looking hopeful for the resumption of live choral music, and May more hopeful still. Don’t expect the sector to throw caution to GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL’S the winds just because the province is now saying full capacity is permitted. RINALDO Choirs seem to be resuming with caution and care, based on their knowledge of their communities, rather than raw numbers – a fact that should reassure their singers and audiences alike. An example: the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, with their new music director THE Simon GLENN Rivard GOULD conducting, SCHOOL will once SPRING again OPERA present 2022 “Sacred Music for a Sacred Space” on Good Friday (April 15) joined by the Nathaniel Dett Chorale, and their conductor Brainerd Blyden-Taylor, at Yorkminster Park Baptist Church, with in-person or online streaming tickets available. And despite provincial permission to return to full capacity, TMC has chosen to maintain one-third capacity “for the safety and comfort of their patrons” who must still provide proof of Covid vaccination and wear a mask. Back in Focus is compiled by The WholeNote editorial team. We can be reached at editorial@thewholenote.com DO YOU DRIVE? Do you love The WholeNote? Share the love and earn a little money! Join our circulation team, and deliver 8 times a year. Currently seeking circulation associates in the Hamilton/Halton area and Kawartha Lakes/Peterborough. Interested? Contact: circulation@thewholenote.com APRIL 2020 THE MONTH THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN 2021.22 CONCERT SEASON GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL’S RINALDO GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL’S RINALDO THE GLENN GOULD SCHOOL SPRING OPERA 2022 GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL’S RINALDO THE GLENN GOULD SCHOOL SPRING OPERA 2022 WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16 & FRIDAY, MARCH 18, 7:30PM KOERNER HALL One of George Frideric Handel’s most celebrated operas, Rinaldo, is a story of love, war, and redemption, set at the time of the First Crusade in a magical world inhabited by kings, furies, dragons, and magicians. This masterpiece of Baroque opera will be conducted by Ivars Taurins and directed by Tom Diamond. Part of the Price Opera Program. TICKETS ON SALE NOW! 416.408.0208 RCMUSIC.COM/PERFORMANCE 237 BLOOR STREET WEST (BLOOR ST. & AVENUE RD.) TORONTO thewholenote.com March 4 - April 15, 2022 | 63