Volume 29 Issue 5 | April & May 2024

MG: I’m very proud to

MG: I’m very proud to be nominated for the Junos alongside so many amazing projects and musicians. As a French Canadian from Quebec, it means a lot for me to be nominated for the number one Canadian music award ceremony. It makes me feel more part of the great Canadian musical community. As an artist, I believe strongly in the meaning of sharing art as a way of making the world a better place, and to be nominated for a JUNO Awards definitely helps the music to be more widely shared. Lemish: It means a lot for my music to be recognized in this way. This nomination is not only an acknowledgment of my work as a pianist and composer, but really the collective efforts of everyone that was involved in creating this album. I’m really looking forward to taking part in the festivities in Halifax with my fellow nominees! Biali: This nomination came as quite a surprise. It’s been a tough few years for many musicians, so it was a lovely boost – though I always remind myself that we create music for the love of it, to connect with listeners and hopefully spread some goodness in the world. That’s really what drives us, though the recognition of a JUNO nomination is helpful and a great honour, of course. On other nominees Gould: I have always been a huge admirer of Christine Jensen. She’s a phenomenal musician, and is also someone that I look up to in the music industry. I’ve loved all of her records, including the one that is currently nominated. Biali: Caity Gyorgy is a phenom and I was very grateful to have her guest with me on Your Requests (on Pennies from Heaven). I also had the opportunity to share the stage recently with Dominique Fils- Aimé and the audience was completely rapt. She is an electrifying performer, completely devoted to her art, and a beautiful soul. Upcoming Post-JUNO Shows Lemish: I’ll be performing at The Rex (in Toronto) May 8-11 with the wonderful American guitarist/oud virtuoso and long time musical collaborator Amos Hoffman. Biali: I will be joining the Mississauga Temple Big Band for the first time on Saturday, April 27 at the Mississauga Salvation Army Mississauga Community Church. My trio featuring George Koller and Ben Wittman will play a few selections on our own, and then I’ll be playing and singing with the large ensemble the rest of the night. Colin Story is a jazz guitarist, writer, and teacher based in Toronto. He can be reached at www.colinstory.com, and on Instagram and Twitter. The complete list of Jazz Category nominees Vocal jazz album of the year Songwriter, Alex Bird & Ewen Farncombe Vol 28 No.4 You’re Alike, You Two, Caity Gyorgy and Mark Limacher Vol 29 No.5 Little Bit a’ Love, Denielle Bassels Vol 29 No.1 Our Roots Run Deep, Dominique Fils-Aimé Your Requests, Laila Biali Vol 29 No.1 Jazz album of the year (solo) Day Moon, Christine Jensen Walls Made of Glass, Gentiane MG Vol 28 No.2 Sonic Bouquet, Jocelyn Gould Vol 29 No.4 Twelve, Noam Lemish Vol 28 No.3 The South Detroit Connection, Russ Macklem Jazz album of the year (group) Migrations, Allison Au with the Migrations Ensemble Vol 29 No.4 Septology-The Black Forest Session, Canadian Jazz Collective Vol 28 No.6 Cry Me a River, Hilario Duran and His Latin Jazz Big Band Vol 29 No.3 Recent History, Mike Murley & Mark Eisenman Quartet Vol 29 No.4 Convergence, Nick Maclean Quartet feat. Brownman Ali Vol 29 No.5 FROM FEATURE UP HERE HOMES FOR MUSIC help communities heal and grow SOPHIA PERLMAN When it comes to defining the line between North and South in Ontario, it very much depends on who you ask and where you are. If you are using The WholeNote’s website to search for listings using the JUST ASK feature, you will find the province’s vast geography divided into zones, with all of “Northern Ontario” defined as “zone 10”, the southern border of which starts somewhere near Mattawa, and covers anything north of Algonquin Park and Highway 17 – with a bit of a dip south to also include Manitoulin Island. And it doesn’t seem to know where to classify Sundridge or Emdale, though I suspect if you asked people there, their compass would pull north rather than east, which is where LUDWIG (Listings Utility for WholeNote Information Gathering) – as it was affectionately dubbed back in the early 2000s – currently wants to put them. In other words, like most government agencies and service sectors, The WholeNote lumps “the North” into one big zone that encompasses nearly half the province’s geography (if not necessarily the equivalent population!) and doesn’t yet have ways of accounting for and documenting the variety and richness of Northern musical life. The (big) view from up here… If I was keeping track of the state of the Ontario music and arts community purely from what I see on my social media feeds, or on the news, things would seem decidedly gloomy: this morning, for example, I woke up to another news story about how many arts festivals are on the brink of collapse, and every time an orchestra or arts company folds, or another venue or artist-friendly space closes, there is an outpouring of very understandable grief, and passionate conversation about the state of things and questions about what we “as a community” can do. It’s why I still eagerly await a print copy of this magazine - because it’s physical, tangible proof of all the music that is still alive and surviving and even thriving. Similarly, using Orchestra Canada’s fantastic database as a starting place, I was able to go from there to find 81 orchestras in Ontario alone whose websites indicated they were still active. This includes professional “regional” orchestras, auditioned or non-auditioned community ensembles and – perhaps more important than all of these – youth orchestras training programs. Best of all, when I zoom the map in on “Northern Ontario” (as we have defined it), I discover that my “less populated” zone is already home to eight of these organizations. (As a relatively recent transplant to the zone, I know that “discover” is a very loaded word – like thinking you have discovered the full extent of food when you open your refrigerator door. I am constantly “discovering” things that are obvious to my neighbours - musically and otherwise.) 30 | April & May 2024 thewholenote.com

Dave and Don Carroll - The Sons of Maxwell. Conductor William Rowson (top): Sudbury Symphony Orchestra and Stratford Symphony (499km apart). Conductor Joshua Wood: North Bay Symphony to Timmins Symphony (362km) Five out of eight! The Sudbury Symphony Orchestra used its season this year to bring in the finalists in their search for new leadership. They recently announced composer/conductor William Rowson as the new Artistic and Executive Director. Their April 20th program, Lights, Camera, Symphony will serve as his debut, which features the world premiere of Rowson’s Suite from the 2020 Film Brotherhood, alongside some of John Williams most iconic film scores. Rowson also remains on as the music director for the Stratford Symphony Orchestra. It will be interesting to see whether this creates a model for collaboration and resource sharing across the north/south divide! Rowson is not the only northern conductor pulling double duty. Joshua Wood serves as Music Director for the symphonies in both North Bay and Timmins. His combined schedule for the 2023-24 season offers a small glimpse into what this kind of collaboration between orchestras can look like. The Timmins Symphony Orchestra has two concerts left in its main concert season – a collaboration with local favourites Dave and Don Carroll (The Sons of Maxwell) on April 6, and a Britain and Bohemia program featuring principal cellist Yu Pei with the Timmins Symphony Chorus on May 11. The North Bay Symphony is presenting a program of Brahms, Elgar and Haydn, featuring mezzo-soprano Rachel Wood on April 27, and closing their concert session with the Mendelssohn Octet on May 26. The final concert in Wood’s busy schedule brings players from both orchestra’s string sections together at St. Matthew’s Anglican Cathedral in Timmins for a joint chamber concert of works by Mendelssohn and Boccherini. Heading west, you find the Sault Symphony Orchestra under the leadership of Artistic Director Stephen Mallinger. Their four-concert season wraps up on May 12, with The SSO On Broadway. Continue along Highway 17 and you find yourself at the western (and southern) end of Zone 10, where the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra has four concerts left in their masterworks, pops and family programming this year. Of particular note: returning by popular demand, on April 13, is The Spirit Horse Returns – a concert production that combines traditional teachings, original visual art, music and an all-new orchestral score by Kevin Lau, with Jodi Contin and Andrew Balfour. Suitable for all ages, it tells “the story of the Ojibwe Horses, traditional helpers and spirit guides for First Nations and Metis people. It’s a journey of hope and reconciliation as Indigenous and non-Indigenous people come together to rescue the last of these horses and give them new life. Suitable for all ages, this production is an entertaining opportunity to learn about Indigenous cultures, reconciliation, and how we all play a part in the future of the land and its inhabitants.” Rhonda Snow is the Métis visual artist and Ojibwe Horse Knowledge Keeper who created the art seen in “The Spirit Horse Returns”. This painting is called The Small Spanish Mustang jumped over Thunder Mountain to Save the Breed. RHONDA SNOW ATTENTION ZONE 10! WHOLENOTE MUSICAL EVENT LISTINGS are free of charge and can be submitted by artists, venues or presenters at any time, from anywhere in Ontario. We invite listings for date-specific LIVE events (including events streamed live). They don’t all make it into print but are all made available to the public on our website. HOW TO LIST Use the convenient online form at thewholenote.com/applylistings or email listings to listings@thewholenote.com. Inquiries about WholeNote listings can be addressed to John Sharpe, Listings Editor at listings@thewholenote.com thewholenote.com April & May 2024 | 31