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,.. ONCERT NOTES ~ contin'!-ed from page 5 accompanied by Toronto pianist, Graham Jackson. For further information call 416-.963-9975 and after July 6, 416-496- 2108. OUT OF TOWN PERFORMANCES The sheer number and quality of the niusic being presented at the summer music 'festivals is testimony to the enduring popularity of classical music. The proverbial "grey heads" in the audience that the gloom and doom gurus always talk and write about are being joined regularly by many younger heads. Summer listings like these speak for · themselves. SUMMER FESTIVALS WE MISSED The following arrived too late to be listed but may be of interest to some of our readers. People going east this summer will find New Brunswick's Lameque International Baroque Music Festival, (July 29 to August 1, 1-800-320-2276); Quebec's Festival de Lanaudiere (June 29 to August 1, 1-800-561-4343); the Orford Festival near Magog, Quebec, (July 2 to August 15, 1-800-567-6155): and the Festival International du Domaine Forget, (June 20 to August 22, 418-452- 3535). Closer to home there is the Muskoka Lakes Festival, under the artistic direction of Toronto Symphony violinist, Atis Bankas, who has assembled musicians from all over North America to perform in a variety of venu.es in various small towns in Muskoka. (August 2 to 26, 1-888-311-2787). NOT ON In a conversation with artistic director, Michael Schmidt, WholeNote has confirmed that -the Altamira Symphony in the Bam will not be taking place this summer, but will return. in summer 1999. MUSICAL FRINGE The Fringe Theatre Festival, now a ten year Toronto tradition, is offering a couple of offbeat musicals. One is · "Musical Pawns" based on the life of almost forgotten composer David Nowakowsky (1848-1921), whose 1200 works were saved by three successive generations of his family, fleeing Bolshevik and then Nazi persecution. The show is the creation of Toronto baritone, Ron Graner, who will perform it with violin, celio and piano.' (See Too · Late to List, page 29 for dates.) And Del Artie Productions, creators of the Fringe hits "Go to Hell", "Faust" and "Get Stuffed" offer "Five Alive", described as a "Save-our-souls our-greatship-went-down-and-we've-been-hijacked hilarious hijinks on the high seas!" Both productions will be staged at the Ettore Mazzoleni Concert Hall at the RCM. Fringe hotline: 416-534-5919. MUSICALS FOR CHILDREN Leslie Arden An9 if you're looking for something out of the ordinary to which to take the children, August 8 and 9 at Theatre Orangeville, House of Martin Guerre composer Leslie Arden hooks up with three stellar cast members from last fall's production--Giynis Ranney and Dora winners Julaine Molnar and Roger Honeywell. They will perform music from six of Ms. Arden's musical shows~ In a brief telephone interview Ms. Arden told WholeNote. that the four of them love working together,_ have chosen only the songs that they really want to sing, and that a whole section of the show will be devoted to music from the shows written · especially for cqildren. '0 mitt I ~· 217 Danforth Ave. ('+. (Between Chesler · ~ & Broa!Niew) . (416) 406·1641 IC ' Sing the Songs . (Published by Saxon Houso Canada) Specializing in the Sale . of New and Used Compact Discs Featuring Classical Hi~Voi c• IY DAVID MillS Available wherever printed music is sold . ~~ . the opera store 0 ~ · G'ff C rl'fi t' · world's biggest bookstore 1/enng I e I/Ca es, CD 19704 dave snider music centre ltd Tra~e-lns an? :i~~. x:~~~~~~~~o:~sthe the queesway music centre ltd Spec1_al Ordenng ~':Z'· . _, ··~~ --- ._._~/· '.li. Canadian Music Cemre or wherever you live just a free 20 St. Joseph Street phone call away: Toronto, M4Y 1]9 0 , jl Tel: (41(5) .961-6601 1-800-690-2612 ~ . L_ __ F~_._ · C-41_6_)-96-l--7-19-8--------------------~~----------------------------~ TORONTO'S ONLY COMPREHENSIVE MONTHLY CLASSICAL & CONTEMPORARY CONCERT LISTING SOURCE
~ETERA ~ July-August 1998: ANNOUNCEMENTS •July 1: Canada Day Hotline: 416-338-0338. •July 1 llam: Huntsville Festival of the Arts: Canada Day Artspicnic & Strawberry Social. Great fiddling, blue grass & country. Muskoka Pioneer Village. 1-800-663- 2787. ; children free. •July 1 7:00: Festival of the Sound: Canada Day Birtluiay Cruise with pianist, composer & arranger John Arpin aboard the Island Queen. 705-146- 2410. ,. •July 3 - 5: Toronto Street Festival. Official launch of the new city. 416-338-0338. •July 13 2pm: Huntsville Festival: Thirty-two Short Fibns about Glenn Gould. Capitol Theatre, Huntsville. 1- 800-663-2787. Free. •July 18 10:00am: OttJlwa Chamber Music Festival: Family Music Fair. 100 short concerts; try musical instruments; have lunch with the musicians; make your own instruments; learn-about broadcasting & recording; computers & music, and more! Adult High School, Ottawa. 613-234-8008. Free. •July 19 & August 16 llam: Shaw Festival: Sunday Br,unch Concerts. Selection of songs with piano accompaniment on the terrace of the Festival Theatre. Niagara-on-the-Lake. 1-800-511-7429. . •July 20 Spm: Jazz Cruise featuring Hot Five Jazzmakers & Hot Antic Jazzband. 7pm dockside jazz parade. Toronto Island Ferry dock at foot of Bay St. 905-821-1728 .. •July 22• 5:30: Festival of the Sound: dinner at "the perfect country inn" & concert w/members of the Festival · Virtuosi & Festival Winds. Beethoven: Septet in E flat Op.20. Sherwood Inn, Parry Sound. 705-746-2410. 0. • August 4 12 noon: Festival of the Sound Rainbow Theatre Package. Luncheon at the Bobby Orr Community Centre, the play Bedside Manners (2pm) & Dixieland Cruise on the Island Queen with the Harvey Seigel Band 7pm. 705- 746-2410. . •August 5 5:30: Festival of the Sound: Gala Evening at Manitou Inn. Schubert & Mozart; Allegri String ·Quartet & James Campbell, clarinet. 705-746-2410. 0. • August 6 4:30: Festival of the Sound: Brass on the Bay. Festival Brass; gourmet barbeque. 705-746-2410. . • August 9 3:00: Festival of the Sound: Bruno's Party. . Allegri String Quartet; Haydn: String Quartet #2 in f minor Op. 77. Celebratory performance & reeeption in a home overlooking Georgian Bay. 705-746-2410. . • August 15 12:00 nQOn: Southern Ontario Chamber Music Institute: The Downtown String Fling. String Quartet events at Town Square & various venues along Lakeshore Road, Oakville. 905-844-2076. •August 16 3:00: Southern Ontario Chamber Music Institute: Comical Classics for Kids- A Merry Musical Picnic. Story telling, face painting & more. Appleby College grounds, 540 Lakeshore .Rd W. Oakville. 905-844-2076. Free. •August 21: Shaw Festival: Gershwin Centenary Gala, a midsummer fundraising songfest in the Royal George Theatre followed by cocktail reception at Fort George's Navy Hall. Niagara-on-the Lake. 1-800-511-7429. . •Classic Jazz Society of Toronto needs people to share their homes with visiting jazz musicians, July & October. Call 698-0336. •Drum Corps International Summer Music Games 1998: Jul 25: Brantford'; Jul 26: Peterborough; Jul 29: Kitchener; Aug 4: Montreal Call 630-495-9866 for details. • Harbour Star Toronto: a relaxing Toronto Island lagoon & canal cruise in Amsterdam Canal boat, serenaded by classical string trio. Daily to end of Sept. 410-0536. . Evening w. dinner /person. •Ruth Watson Henderson Choral Composition Competition: SATB work for chamber chorus. For guidelines & application, 416-363-7488. AUDITIONS, ETCETERA, see page 30 . ..._, USICIANS IN OUR MIDST: ~ Robert Bruce Many of us have heard Joseph Campbell's advice, ~·follow your bliss" but whom do you know who has? Hamilton composer, Robert Bruce, is one such. Growing up with parents who were not musicians, in a house where there was no piano, somehow he knew that he needed to become a composer. Working in the tobacco harvest when he was 13 gave him the money he needed to buy his first instrument, a Hammond organ, on which he taught himself to play and to compose. As a teenager he approached several teachers. One of them, Hamilton pianist, Evelyn Bedford, recognized the necessity of inCluding his creativity in his program of learning. His three years with her were his only formal musical training. Formal training behind him at age 21, he continued composing, learning to live in what he calls "the inner world of creative musical expression and imagination ... infmitely more real, safe and enjoyable than my outer world ...." Supporting himself playing solo and band gigs, composition was for him entirely a personal quest. However in 1990 a friend convinced him to publish some of his piano works, which he did under the title "Miniatures I." Recognition came from the RCM, the Western Ontario Conservatory of Music, McGill, and the Western Board of Music, all of which published his music in their graded piano books. Recently, on May 31, the Hamilton Philharmonic Youth Orchestra performed his "Concert Variations for Hammond Orchestra and Orchestra." He is also very popular as a lecturer on creativity and composition: exploring musical effects and how they make you feel; recording them; and then using them as building blocks for compositions. "You need to accumulate ideas to draw on - 'effects' - you need to learn how to reproduce the effect, so that you can do it anytime you choose. Learn the things that appeal to you." The ultimate aim is, for him, "to break through what stops me from being in that state, that area of light, all the time." This summer Robert will be sharing his ideas with audiences in various Southern Ontario centres, including Barrie, Hamilton, London, Kitchener-Waterloo and Toronto. In the fall and winter he will be touring Eastern Canada, Alberta and California. - ' Musicians in our Midst is photographed by Michael Shaw Ashley & Crippen, Photographers 200 Davenport Road. Toronto 416 925-2222 TORONTO'S ONLY COMPREHENSIVE MONTHLY CLASSICAL & CONTEMPORARY CONCERT LISTING SOURCE
