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Volume 30 Issue 4 | December 2024 & January 2025

  • Text
  • Toronto
  • Orchestra
  • Theatre
  • February
  • Symphony
  • Violin
  • Jazz
  • Arts
  • Conductor
  • Faculty
TMChoir's Jean-Sébastien Vallée on large-choir community exchange; Vania Chan on Music and Mindfulness; "From Up Here" looks at Classical Life in "Zone 10"; Jazz jam etiquette; Esprit has you on the edge of your seat; Women from Space; a full slate of record reviews; all this and more.

YAMAHAKeiko Abe: six

YAMAHAKeiko Abe: six mallet technique, five octave marimbaLinda Catlin SmithCANADIAN LEAGUE OF COMPOSERSmerged composition and improvisation in a variety of styles, fromjazz to folk and the avant-garde.Women from Space co-curators, Bea Labikova and Kayla Milmine,seem to bring an inexhaustible supply of inventiveness to the event.This year’s festival promises more of the same.Esprit Orchestra in festival moodThis season Esprit Orchestra made an interesting curatorial decision.Instead of distributing their season evenly across the fall andwinter/spring, they decided to concentrate their main efforts on thespring. They did one concert in the fall titled Prelude Concert #1, tobe followed on February 23 with a second Prelude Concert – like thefirst, a program of mostly concertos by influential composers, in thiscase Hans Abrahamsen, Henryk Gorecki and Esprit’s own Alex Pauk,alongside the Canadian premiere of Steve Reich’s Runner.It’s what follows that February 27 concert that could be describedas their main event – their Edge of Your Seat International Festivalwith four concerts between March 5 and April 6 featuring a significantamount of music that will be new to their audiences.Renowned Japanese composer and virtuoso marimba player KeikoAbe will have two of her works featured in the festival, celebratingher enduring influence. Abe has dedicated her career to elevating themarimba’s profile and expanding its possibilities. Through teaching,instructional television programs and her collaboration with Yamaha,she played a pivotal role in extending the instrument’s range fromfour to five octaves. She also pioneered the six-mallet technique andmentored celebrated percussionist Evelyn Glennie. Esprit will performher compositions The Wave on March 4 and Michi on April 2, withRyan Scott as the marimba soloist.The festival will showcase not only orchestral works, but also anarray of chamber pieces, including two works by San Francisco-basedcomposer Gabriella Smith. Smith’s work invites listeners to take delightin climate action and her string quartet Carrot Revolution, performedon April 2, is described as “ecstatic.” The piece draws inspiration froma quote by Cézanne who envisioned a day when “a single, freshlyobserved carrot will start a revolution.” Her other work ImaginaryPancake for solo piano will be part of the April 6 performance.Schnee:A Window into WinterFeb. 8th, 2025St. James Cathedral Centre Event VenueOther works by women in the festival include an Esprit Orchestracommission entitled Floral Reef by Montreal-based Julia Mermelsteinperformed on April 2. Swedish composer Lisa Streich will make aspecial appearance for the performance of her piece ISHJÄRTA (IceHeart) on March 27. Streich is known for integrating motorizedinstruments with spectral harmonies, while Mermelstein combineselectronic soundscapes with choreography, creating a surreal andimmersive experience.Linda Catlin SmithReturning to our first cluster of early February concerts, I’ve longbeen captivated by the subtle shifts and shimmering colours in LindaCatlin Smith’s music, so her new work for New Music Concerts onFebruary 8 was one of the first things to catch my eye when I looked atwhat February/March has to offer. Completed in 2023, We have goneforth for dancing is a commission from Tim Moody and serves as acompanion piece to Das Rosen-Innere for cello and piano premieredby NMC on June 12, 2024 and commissioned by Moody’s partner,Doina Popescu.Both are short works (just as challenging, Smith says, as writinglarger-form pieces), and were composed as responses to specific textsprovided by the commissioners (in this case a quote from the tenthbook of the Hindu sacred text, the Rig-Veda.)In our conversation we explored ideas around her compositionalapproach, why creative people are drawn to the things they are, andhow aesthetics come into being.“As a child, I listened to many recordings and always favoured theslow movements,” she observed. “They allowed me the time to heareverything, creating an atmosphere of feeling. There’s space to dwellin the sound world being created, rather than observing somethingexciting happening in front of me. I can wrap myself around this stateof being, and like walking in water, it slows you down so everythingcan be felt and observed.”Arising from this, she says “I approach music as a kind of thinkingin sound—not verbal thinking, but ‘sound thought,’ a state I loveinhabiting. Similar to still life paintings, where subtle shifts of colour,especially in the shadowy backgrounds, are atmospheric, beautifuland mysterious. I strive for that kind of thing.“Over time, I’ve also tried to allow for more harmonic complexityand have become increasingly drawn to melody— something thatpeople avoided for a long time. I love meandering melodies, like thosein Gregorian chant, that gently move up and down, creating subtledelineations of line. It’s like pulling on a thread and seeing whereit leads.”I am looking forward to hearing where this progression has taken her.Wendalyn Bartley is a Toronto-based composer and electro-vocalsound artist. sounddreaming@gmail.comnewmusicconcerts.com14 | February & March 2025 thewholenote.com

Visionaries:Vivaldi & Da VinciFebruary 8, 2025Jeanne Lamon Hall,Trinity-St. Paul’s CentreJean-Sébastien Vallée, conductorToronto Mendelssohn SingersInstrumental EnsembleLeonardo da Vinci’s brilliance comes alivein Jocelyn Hagen’s multimedia concert,paired with Vivaldi’s Gloria.Missa solemnisApril 4, 2025Roy Thomson HallJean-Sébastien Vallée, conductorTracy Cantin, sopranoSimona Genga, mezzo-sopranoFrédéric Antoun, tenorBrett Polegato, baritoneToronto Mendelssohn ChoirKitchener-Waterloo SymphonyBeethoven’s Missa solemnis, his self-proclaimedgreatest work, closes Toronto Mendelssohn Choir’s130th season with grandeur, profound emotion,and timeless resonance.tmchoir.org | 416.598.0422Radio Sponsorthewholenote.com February & March 2025 | 15

Volumes 26-30 (2020- )

Volumes 21-25 (2015-2020)

Volumes 16-20 (2010-2015)

Volumes 11-15 (2004-2010)

Volumes 6 - 10 (2000 - 2006)

Volumes 1-5 (1994-2000)