The WholeNote VOLUME 31
The WholeNote VOLUME 31 NO 1 SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER 2025 IN THIS EDITION STORIES AND INTERVIEWS Wendalyn Bartley, Gloria Blizzard, MJ Buell, Vania Chan, Jennifer Parr, David Perlman CD Reviewers Stuart Broomer, Ori Dagan, Sam Dickinson, Michael Doloschell, Raul da Gama, Richard Haskell, Tiina Kiik, Kati Kiilaspea, Lesley Mitchell-Clarke, David Olds, Terry Robbins, Andrew Scott, Michael Schulman, Yoshi Maclear Wall, Ken Waxman. Proofreading David Olds, Ted Parkinson, John Sharpe Listings Team John Sharpe, Kevin Harris, Gary Heard, Kevin King, Sophia Perlman Design Team Kevin King, Susan Sinclair Circulation Team Dave Bell, John Bentley, Jack Buell, Jane Dalziel, Bruno Difilippo, Carl Finkle, Vito Gallucci, James Harris, Bob Jerome, Marianela Lopez, Miguel Brito-Lopez, Chris Malcolm, Sheila McCoy, Lorna Nevison, Janet O’Brien, Tom Sepp DEADLINES Weekly Online Listings Updates 6pm every Thursday for the following Thursday Print listings deadline: for Volume 31 No. 2, Nov 1 - DEC 31 2025 6pm Thursday, Oct 9, 2025 Print advertising, reservation deadline: 6pm Tuesday, Oct 7, 2025 Web advertising can be booked at any time PUBLICATION DATES OUR 31st SEASON includes six print editions: Vol 31 no 1 | September 16, 2025 Vol 31 no 2 | November 1, 2025; Vol 31 no 3 | January 6, 2026; Vol 31 no 4 | February 24, 2026; Vol 31 no 5 | April 21, 2026; Vol 31 no 6 | June 23, 2026. Printed in Canada Couto Printing & Publishing Services FOR OPENERS Not a rant, for once Our most faithful readers have grown accustomed to me sounding off indignantly in this spot, on one subject or another. So rest assured. This time I have resolved to be useful by pointing out a couple of things in this issue that you might otherwise not give the attention they deserve. The first is our BLUE PAGES annual directory of presenters and venues - tucked in just ahead of our daily listings, starting on page 21. There are 64 profiles in print this issue, with more to follow in the November/December issue. They are in alphabetical order, which if you think about it, is as random as you can get, if you are looking for something specific - a specific genre, for example. But the thing they do give you, if you browse from beginning to end, is a tantalizing taste of the range of music on offer in what have been to this point in time, our areas of greatest strength. It’s not the easiest way to find what you already know you are interested in. But it’s a great way to stumble across things it might never have occurred to you to explore. Beyond that, please take a look at the introduction to this year’s directory, on page 21, because it explains how the support of our Blue Pages members helps us honour the most fundamental pledge we made to our readers 30 years ago - that “we would offer free daily concert listings to as broad a spectrum of presenters as possible - a service not only to our readers but to the live music community at large.” The second is our DAILY LISTINGS - over 70,000 in the last twelve years alone, and increasing in numbers, and the range of music covered, with every issue, and becoming more and more difficult to do justice to in print alone - especially given the fact that, as our listings editor, John Sharpe, explains in his note to readers on page 34, “our new bimonthly print cycle reduces the usefulness of the listings themselves [because] too much gets announced between issues for us to be able to keep up with the constant inflow of new listings.” And because printing listings in the detail to which our most devoted print readers have become accustomed “pushes up the cost of print, unsustainably” leaving us unable to find space for all the stories we would like to be able to run. Consequently, starting with this issue we have significantly reduced the level of detail in the individual listings - specifically descriptions of repertoire and names of performers. We have not stopped collecting this information. And will not do so. It is available on our website (where it can also be sorted in ways impossible to do in print), and even more useful, you can sign up for our weekly listings update which goes out by email every Thursday. Close to 5,000 readers have already signed up. All the details about how to do so are also on page 34, immediately following John Sharpe’s note. For the rest, all that remains here is to wish you all the joy and sustenance that live and recorded music can offer. We are glad to be around to assist in getting out the word. David Perlman, publisher@thewholenote.com T'KARONTO For thousands of years before European settlement, T’karonto (The Meeting Place) was part of the traditional territory of many Nations, including the Mississaugas of the Credit River, the Anishinaabe, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat peoples, and remains their home to this day, as it now is for many diverse First Nations, Inuit and Metis peoples. This Meeting Place lies within the territory governed by the Sewatokwa’tshera’t (Dish with One Spoon) treaty between the Anishinaabe, Mississaugas and Haudenosaunee - a Treaty which bound them to share the territory and protect the land. Subsequent Indigenous Nations and Peoples, and all newcomers are invited into this treaty in the spirit of peace, friendship, respect and reconciliation. We are grateful to live and work here, helping spread the word about the healing power of music in this place. an Ontario government agency un organisme du gouvernement de l’Ontario 6 | September & October 2025 thewholenote.com
KOERNER HALL 2025.26 CONCERT SEASON PRESENTING PERFORMANCE PARTNER: Stephen Kovacevich, piano SUN. OCT. 5, 3PM KOERNER HALL TICKETS START AT Piano sonatas by Brahms, Beethoven, and Schubert Series generously supported by Michael Foulkes & Linda Brennan Concert generously supported from The Estate of Claudia Krawchuk Generous additional support provided from The Michael and Sonja Koerner Fund for Classical Programming Royal Conservatory Orchestra with conductor JoAnn Falletta Jonathan Alter, piano FRI., OCT, 10, 8PM KOERNER HALL TICKETS START AT The Grammy Award-winning conductor leads the Royal Conservatory Orchestra in a thrilling program of works by John Adams, Ludwig van Beethoven, and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Part of the Temerty Orchestral Program Matthias Goerne with Daniil Trifonov THU. OCT. 16, 7PM KOERNER HALL TICKETS START AT Hear these titans of the classical world perform an unforgettable rendition of Schubert’s masterpiece, Winterreise. Generously supported by Deanne & Joseph Bogdan and Michelle Koerner & Kevin Doyle Generous additional support provided from The Michael and Sonja Koerner Fund for Classical Programming An Intimate Evening with Renée Fleming Voice Of Nature: The Anthropocene Concert With the Royal Conservatory Orchestra conducted by Robert Moody SAT. NOV. 01, 7:30PM KOERNER HALL TICKETS START AT 0 PRESENTING SPONSOR: DINNER SUPPORTER: Generously supported in Memory of Gary Miles Generous additional support provided from The Michael and Sonja Koerner Fund for Classical Programming Kyung Wha Chung with Kevin Kenner SUN., NOV. 9, 3PM KOERNER HALL TICKETS START AT The legendary violinist is joined by long-time sonata partner Kevin Kenner to perform works by Debussy, Schubert, Schoenberg, and Franck. Generous support provided from The Michael and Sonja Koerner Fund for Classical Programming Ray Chen with Julio Elizalde SUN., APRIL 7, 2PM KOERNER HALL TICKETS START AT Works by Beethoven, Bach, Saint-Saëns, Bazzini, Dvořák, and Chick Corea. “Ray Chen can do pretty much anything he wants on the violin.” (The Washington Post) Generous support provided from The Michael and Sonja Koerner Fund for Classical Programming TICKETS & SUBSCRIPTIONS ON SALE NOW! 416.408.0208 RCMUSIC.COM/PERFORMANCE 237 BLOOR STREET WEST (BLOOR ST. & AVENUE RD.) TORONTO
