BLUE PAGES DIRECTORY
BLUE PAGES DIRECTORY NEWS Early Birds get our member drive off to a flying start WHOLENOTE STAFF The very first WholeNote member directory was back in the summer of 1996 and it wasn’t called the Blue Pages. For that matter we weren’t called The WholeNote either, back then. We were called Pulse: Toronto’s music classical and new, and the name was a carry-over from a column our first publisher, Allan Pulker, wrote for almost two years prior to the launch of Pulse, in the Kensington Market Drum - an eclectic neighbourhood-based tabloid launched in 1988. It was Allan Pulker who convinced KMDRUM Publishing to give Pulse a shot at life as an independent publication, but we weren’t that hard to convince, frankly. The seemingly inexhaustible stream of listings he was gleaning to accompany the column, all from within a two mile radius of the Market, was becoming seriously destabilizing - threatening to take over way more space than we could afford. As a stand-alone publication, we reasoned, Pulse would have the opportunity to sink or swim -and what a swimmer it turned out to be. In September 1995, Pulse - a fourpage newsprint tabloid, like the DRUM had been eight years prior - was launched. And only nine issues Volume 1 no 10 later, in Volume 1 No 10, our first member directory saw the light of day, consisting of 39 organizations (presenters, ensembles and venues) who had already recognized the value to the music community at large of what we were hoping to become, and were willing to support that aim. Our earliest Early Birds! Here’s what Allan Pulker wrote in the introduction to that first member directory: While Pulse’s concert listings are free to all, members or not, Pulse members occupy a special place in our scheme of things. For example, members are invited, upon joining and every summer thereafter, to submit for publication a short profile of themselves and their plans. And members enjoy significant discounts on display advertising throughout the season. Each new membership brings Pulse that much closer to our goal: to be a dependably useful contributor to Toronto’s classical and contemporary musical life. Allan Pulker: longtime dependably useful contributor! Thirty one years later, “dependable usefulness” in communicating the extent and vitality of community-driven live music remains our primary goal, and our Blue Pages members remain the backbone of that endeavour. As Karen Ages, who oversees our memberships and directories, described it in this year’s membership invitation: “As we at The WholeNote enter our 32nd season of publication, we look forward to your membership renewal - your support helps us maintain our free concert listings service to you and the wider community [as well as] guaranteeing you our maximum discount on any advertising you do with us. We look forward to working with you to promote your 2026-27 events.” Once again this year’s Early Bird responses show that the message has a willing audience. So far, 48 organizations have responded to the call (see page 21). Remarkably, ten of them were among the 39 who signed up in the summer of 1996 - an indicator of organizational longevity, tenacity, passion for what they do, and in many cases the readiness of individuals to embrace generational change, as and when the time to pass the torch comes along. Volume 30 no 2 PETER HOBBS Jean-Sébastien Vallée Artistic Director & Principal Conductor 2026/27 MOZART: Requiem & Mass in C minor September 30 & October 1, 2026 FESTIVAL OF CAROLS December 1-3, 2026 ELGAR: The Dream of Gerontius April 1-2, 2027 JOHNSON: Considering Matthew Shepard April 30 & May 1, 2027 tmchoir.org 22 | September 2026 thewholenote.com
Tiptoeing around TIFF - a case study It’s a decades-old “fact of life” in these parts that presenters tend to give the annual two week September slot occupied by TIFF (the Toronto International Film Festival) as wide a berth as possible - this year from September 10 to 20. Just check the listings to see what we mean. That being said, it’s a generalization that needs to be put to the test from time to time. After all, it’s not that TIFF takes over a whole lot of live-music real estate - you could throw a five-block blanket over all the venues they’ll be using this year. But for presenters, particularly the larger ones, it’s a fact of life that when it comes to the media attention they need to thrive, for two weeks the mainstream entertainment press corps goes red-carpet and silver-screen crazy. And of course, one can’t rule out the fact that even some of our most diehard WholeNote readers choose to jump onto the TIFF bandwagon as it rolls through town. After all, music and film are, at the best of times, allied arts - where the love of one intensifies one’s appreciation of the other. Besides, in these post-pandemic voluntarily isolationist times, even convivial movie line-ups can be seen as a legitimate form of congregational art. KICKING OFF THEIR SEASONS Here’s how some of our Early Birds, as a cross-section of presenter life, are meeting, avoiding or ignoring the TIFF challenge. Sept 4 & 5 Canadian Arabic Orchestra “Nightingale” with Mohamed El Mougy - a tribute to Abdel Halim Hafez Sept 5 Canadian Opera Company A free open house at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts Sept 11 Hugh’s Room Live Carole Pope Sept 12 Hugh’s Room Live Maria Doyle Kennedy Sept 13 Barrie Concerts “Romance of the Violin” with Andrew Sords and Cheryl Duvall Sept 13 Trinity Bach Project “A Circle of Concertos” - an allinstrumental Bach celebration with violinist Mayumi Seiler and pianist Godwin Friesen Sept 17 Canadian Opera Company “A Concert Celebration; 20 Years at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts.” Sept 17 Hugh’s Room Live Jovan Santos Neto Celebrates the Music of Hermeto Pascal. Sept 20 Hugh’s Room Live Penderecki Quartet with Brian Dickinson Sept 23 (and on) Canadian Opera Company Free Amphitheatre Concerts resume with “Meet the Ensemble Studio” Sept 24 (also Sep 26 & 27) Toronto Symphony Orchestra “Classics: Yuja Wang Plays Prokofiev.” Sept 25 Piano Lunaire “Harvest Moon: First Night” Sept 25-27 Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra “Beethoven & Farrenc” directed by Jakob Lehmann Sept 26 (until Oct 17) Canadian Opera Company “La Traviata” - Verdi, conducted by Paoli Carignani Sept 26 Friends of Music at St. Thomas’s | Apocryphonia “Sens, Rhetorique, Musique: Machaut and the Three Gifts of Nature” with Comtessa Medieval Ensemble & Diapente Renaissance Quintet. Sept 26 & 27 Confluence Concerts “Global Voices” - curated by Suba Sankaran Sept 26 Hugh’s Room Live Friends of Fiddler’s Green Sept 26 Piano Lunaire “Harvest Moon: Second Night” Sept 26 Toronto Operetta Theatre cabaret series, “Galop Offenbachien” Oct 1 & 3 Toronto Symphony Orchestra “Classics:Petrushka & Passions of Spain” Oct 2 Hugh’s Room Live Jim Galloway’s Wee Big Band Oct 2 Music at St. Andrews Friday Noontime Recitals begins Oct 3 (until Oct 18) Canadian Opera Company “Cosi fan tutte” - Mozart conducted by Johannes Debus Oct 3 Elora Singers “The Elora Singers with The Barrel Boys” - a spirited program of bluegrass and gospel music Oct 3 SinfoniaToronto “Bravo Beethoven! / Homeland” with Sheng Cai, piano Oct 4 North Wind Concerts “Canis Familaris” - a musical and mixed-media celebration of the dog Oct 5 New Music Concerts “International Contemporary Ensemble: Composing While Black” - concert and discussion led by composer George E. Lewis Oct 8 Music Toronto “String Series: Pablo Ferrández, Cello.” thewholenote.com September 2026 | 23
