EARLY MUSIC QUICK PICKS
EARLY MUSIC QUICK PICKS Podger and Tafelmusik during the 2023 “La Passione” concerts- a portion of which were captured live for Tafelmusik’s upcoming Haydn Symphonies 43 & 49 recording. 2024/5 and beyond: Audiences in Toronto can look forward to Podger leading Tafelmusik three times in this first season of her, so far, two-year principal directorship. Beyond that, the artistic triumvirate of Chui, Teresi and Zacharias are brimming with enthusiasm for what else Tafel has in store this season: “A Korean tour with Rachel; collaborating with the exquisite French violinist Amandine Beyer; superstar soprano Samuel Mariño; and the incredible Italian oboist Alfredo Bernardini, all orchestra and audience favourites.” The list goes on. And how far does the planning go beyond the current season, I ask. Any teasers? “Well into the future,” is the reply. “We already have several wonderful guests in place for 2025-26 – we can tease for you that the fabulous violinist Lina Tur Bonet will return then! We also look forward to the choir’s 45th anniversary in 2026-27 and the orchestra’s 50th anniversary in 2028-29. Exciting dreams.” Podger is looking forward to being part of those dreams. She first came to Toronto as a guest director for a program with Tafelmusik about 13 years ago and says: “What struck me was that it was just very, very alive. They were so incredibly responsive, up for anything…very easy. It felt like I’d already played with them.” This last point brings me back to my own initial feeling about Podger in meeting her; like I’d known her all my life. She seems so genuinely delighted and surprised at how naturally relationships develop, seemingly unaware of how her own special personality contributes to this reality. She continues to enjoy the life of the traveling musician, performing and teaching in equal measure. She lives in Wales and teaches at the Royal Welsh College there, as well as the Royal College of Music in London and Juilliard in New York. She has recorded close to three dozen discs with Channel Classics and is a regular soloist and guest director with many organizations “though I’ll be doing a little less of that, with this new situation with Tafelmusik”. So, what are you most looking forward to in this new situation, I ask, as we conclude. She has no hesitation and laughs delightedly. “I think just really, deep, beautiful musical experiences, collaborations on the stage, risk-taking, moving the audience and changing people’s lives!” As we say good-bye, warmly, I have the strong feeling of having met a new friend, and a happy intuition that this is going to be a great new chapter in the evolving life of Tafelmusik. Larry Beckwith is a familiar figure on the Toronto musical scene, contributing where he can as a conductor, singer, violinist, educator, writer and impresario. He is in his seventh season as the Artistic Producer of Confluence Concerts. Previously he was the Artistic Director of Toronto Masque Theatre (2003-2018) and co-Artistic Director of Arbor Oak Trio (1988-2002). He sang in the Tafelmusik Chamber Choir’s tenor section from 1989-1996 and 2002-2010. DAHLIA KATZ Daniel Adam Malz Sep 17 7:00: Campbell House Museum. Daniel Adam Maltz, Fortepiano. “Have piano will travel” sounds implausible if one thinks of hauling around a 1,000 pound, 88-key typical concert grand. Not so if the instrument is a 200-pound 61-key 1792 Viennese fortepiano, like the one Vienna-based Daniel Adam Malz will play at Campbell House Museum Sept 17, part-way through a 70-concert North American tour. It’s a chance to hear the instrument Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven composed for, played by a master of the instrument in an intimate venue. “The fortepiano’s touch is ten times lighter than the modern piano,” Malz explains, “which opens up more expressive capabilities. 2,000-person concert halls didn’t exist back in the 18th century.” 160 Queen St. W. www.universe.com/events/daniel-adam-maltz-fortepianoconcert-tickets-RMB4GH. $30. Sep 20 5:15: Kingston Baroque Consort. French Brocade. Music by Lully, Charpentier, Rameau, and Marais. Now in their fourth year, the Consort promises “an exquisite blend of timeless Baroque masterpieces and innovative interpretations that celebrate the rich heritage of this unique genre.” This first of four concerts this season takes place at St. James Anglican Church (Kingston), 10 Union St. W., as will their January 17 and March 28 concerts, featuring Vivaldi, and Bach and Handel respectively. The second concert in the series, October 21, moves from St. James to the beautiful acoustic of Kingston’s Isabel Bader Theatre, and promises to be more rambunctious, featuring a retelling of the 1685 comic broadside ballad The Dragon of Wantley, which recounts the slaying of said dragon by a kick to its “arse-gut” delivered by the intrepid knight, Moore of Moore Hall. Single concert tickets (Adults , Students , Under 17 free) are available by emailing/calling legerek@queensu.ca, 613-217-5099, or in person at Novel Idea, 156 Princess St. Sep 21 7:30: North Wind Concerts. Acquiescent: The French Baroque in China. Works by Rameau and Blavet. Louise Hung, harpsichord & direction; Jin Cho, traverso; Margaret Jordan-Gay, cello, Matt Antal, viola. Founded in 2018, and anchored by veterans of of the Toronto early and baroque music scene, North Wind Concerts “celebrates and encourages the enjoyment of chamber music of many kinds, with a soft focus on music for wind instruments,” presenting performances and educational events including concerts of early, Classical and contemporary chamber music and a series, Encircling the World, which “brings together musicians of different backgrounds who play similar instruments for an afternoon or evening of musical discovery, performance, Q&A with the audience, and improvisation.” Heliconian Hall, 35 Hazelton Ave. 416-588-4301 or www. bemusednetwork.com/events/detail/1022. Pay-What-You-Can. 10 | September 2024 thewholenote.com
CHORAL SCENE Community through song: Elaine Choi’s choral journey ANGUS M AC CAULL Babεl Chorus- founded in 2018 by Elaine Choi - performing Cultural Landscapes at the PODIUM National choral conference, Montreal 2024, singing in Arabic, Seriac, Japanese, Cantonese, Mandarin and Malaysian. One day in the golden late ’80s in Hong Kong, almost past the reaches of Elaine Choi’s memory, she balanced on her mother’s piano bench. She was about three years old. Her mother helped one of her small fingers find middle C. The note resonated through the black upright Yamaha, as it did for the many piano students who filled Choi’s childhood home. Choi’s own lessons with her mother turned out to be the beginning of an impressive international music career bridging East and West. But not as a performance soloist. Instead, Choi found success in one of music’s most collaborative genres – as a conductor for choral music. “I’ve always known that I love to play collaboratively,” Choi says. “What I love about choral music is really the community sense.” Her first fully formed childhood musical memory is singing in a group. As a kindergartener at about five years old, she sang Christmas carols in a mall in Hong Kong. Later, in high school, her favourite school event was the yearly carolling program at a local hotel. In her early years, Choi also enjoyed making music with others as a pianist. She played duets with her mother and many of her mother’s students, then later with her younger sister. She wanted to join the school choir but was recruited instead to accompany them. In order to join other music groups, she kept learning new instruments. Violin to play in a string orchestra. Erhu to play in a Chinese orchestra. Then, after her mother and father brought their family to Canada in the early 2000s, Choi learned clarinet just so she could play in the school band at St. Aloysius Gonzaga in Mississauga. U of T: Choi entered the University of Toronto’s music program in 2004, already intending to teach music. Despite her technical proficiency from a young age, she never wanted to be a solo artist. To her, making music always meant finding joy and friendship. She wanted to become a music educator to share these things with others. Three years into her degree, she took up yet another instrument to play in yet another ensemble: bassoon for the U. of T. Wind Symphony. But that year she also took a class in choral conducting, and that was a turning point. “When I found choral conducting, which really cannot survive without collaborative music making, I realized I found the vocation that I care so much and so deeply about,” Choi says. Prior to attending university, the picture that came to mind for Choi when she pictured the word “conductor” was an old, authoritative, white man – in effect someone who felt like a solo artist. At U. of T. it was female choral conductors from the previous generation who became key role models for Choi. Her first choral conducting class was group-taught by sessional instructors including Lydia Adams, Zimfira Poloz and Doreen Rao, who became mentors, showing Choi how to stand at the podium for the purpose of bringing people together; showing her how conducting for singers was a way to create both beautiful music and community. Adams modelled respect for everyone in a choir, listening closely to all singers’ feedback. Poloz modelled a commitment to life-long thewholenote.com September 2024 | 11
