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Volume 6 Issue 5 - February 2001

  • Text
  • February
  • Toronto
  • Theatre
  • Wholenote
  • Symphony
  • Arts
  • Bloor
  • Jazz
  • Faculty
  • Musical

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0 Ill Ill l!i Ill !I! II! Ill liiif liiif liiif liiif liiif IAXOS 11111 11111 11111 11111 11111 The World's ·Best-selling Classical Label NEW CANADIAN RELEASE I Harp Showpieces Music by Tournier, Dussek, Grand' an , Palmer etc. lJ,\lll' SHOWPIECES li•:t••l.i:t:· " l ~>IU~ r Judy Loman, Solo harp RECENT CANADIAN RELEASES The Tempest Henry Purcell Aradia Ensemble Kevin Mallon, Director Christmas Cantatas J.S. Bach- J.S.itACH l1orhtM11tL-...W11t .-....................;.....-...... ~ ......-.....,,., """"'."' ·--~- Aradia Ensemble Kevin Mallon, Director Complete Music for Solo Guitar Heitor Villa-Lobos · ~nt Gnll:Jr (:,1lk!r1lnn :*1:! · -·· · ····-.,......:..~~- \'Jl.L.\-1.0110.') c- .,.11:•~ .\l'»if !\>I" .Wla C:uil;>r n .;,,.. .... ,.-..,.,..............__,,:,..,•• ,.....•....,, :.-11i:...n,t: .. 11or Norbert Kraft, Guitar AVAILABLE AT ALL FINE RECORD STORES www .naxos.com 1. Over View by Allan Pulker DISTINGUISHED VISITORS Keeping in mind the tongue-in-cheek definition of an expert -- "someone from out of town wearing a suit and carrying a briefcase" let me make clear that the )Jig attraction of visiting musicians is not that they are necessarily better but that, by definition, they bring. a different perspective. Some of the distinguished musicians visiting Toronto in February and early March include pianist Murray Perahia with the TSO Feb 1, the Tokyo String Quartet Feb 15,· Wayne Riddell, founder of the Tudor Singers of Montreal, conducting the Exultate Chamber Singers Feb 23, Arnold Steinhardt (founding and, I believe, still, first violinist with the Guarneri String Quartet) with Amici on March 2, American composer and teacher, Charles Wuorinen with New Music Concerts March . 4, and violinist-composer Mark O'Connor, on March 5 and 6. · O'Connor comes courtesy of the keen eye of Trevor Moat of "Innermusica" who brought us II Giardino Armonico in ' January. Equally at home as a bluegrass and country music fiddler and as a classical violinist, O'Connor is a musical poet capable of meeting the most extreme technical demands. As a composer of concert music based on American folk/popular music, he carries on where Gershwin and Aaron Copland left off. O'Connor learned fiddle from Texas fiddler, Benny Thomasson and toured for a time with Stephane Grappelli: he is a regular with such august institutions as Tanglewood,' Aspen, Berklee and Eastman. As a country & western musician he has made about a dozen CDs, and has made 5 CDs, including two with Edgar Meyer and Yo Yo Ma, on Sony Classical as a. classical artist. I first heard him on the car radio, months before hearing about his Toronto performances, and was utterly amazed. He plays March 5 at the Toronto Waldorf School in Richmond Hill and at Trinity-St. Paul's ori March 6. Once word gets around, tickets will go fast! SINGERS I counted nineteen vocal recitals in the listings: Some of Canada's finest singers will perform here this month, including Paul Grindlay, Mark DuBois, Suzanne Kompass, Jean Stilwell, Patricia O'Callaghan, Russell Braun, Valdine Anderson, Nathalie Paulin, Catherine Robbin, Brett Polegato, Mark Pedrotti and Edi\h Wiens. In addition, CBC OnStage Series is bringing in Austrian baritone, Wolfgang Holzmair and German tenor, Christoph Pregardien, both of whom will be well worth hearing. PIANISTS Watch out for Murray Perahia on Feb 1 with CONCERT Nous the TSO, Eve Egoyan, a truly gifted artist, and Louis Lortie (with the Takacs String Quartet Feb 2 and w'ith a quartet of distinguished singers March 6). Arthur-Ozolins will give a recital Feb 6, and Dang Thai Son is at Walter Hall Feb 8 and in Hamilton Feb 9. Also on Feb 9 in Walter Hall , Canadian pianist Jane Coop gives .a solo recital under the auspices of the Faculty of Music; and Alexander Madzar, like Murray Perahia a winner of the Leeds Piano Competition, will be one of Mayumi Seiler's "Via Salzburg" guests. Jon Kimura Parker performs with the TSO Feb 14, 15 and 17, as does Andrew Burashko Feb 28 and March 1 & 4. On February 18 the Torontobased duo pianists, Jim Anagnoson and Leslie Kinton will perform, apparently in honour of Kinton's birthday! In the realm of other keyboards, Lawrence Park Community Church and Deer Park United Church are both offering evening organ recitals on February 23 and March 3 respectively. And, in case anyone has forgotten, there are three noon-hour organ recitals a week, at three downtown Toronto churches, welcome interludes in the middle of the working day. DAYTIME Speaking of noon-hour concerts, the CBC's "Music Around Us" is another opportunity to hear good mid-day music. Cellist Roberta Janzen, who plays the March 1 concert is really worth going out of your way to hear. (I heard her play at a house concert "dress rehearsal" for the Associates of the TSO "Four Cellists" concert on January 8). Another opportunity to hear her will be the Feb 16 Rothko Trio concert at St. George the Martyr Church. STRING QUARTETS Music Toronto's sterling season offers three string quartets this issue: the Amernet Feb 1, the famous Tokyo Quartet Feb 15 and the Mir6 Quartet March 1. Formed in 1995 at the Oberlin Conservatory, the Mir6 has won a string of first prizes in chamber music competitions.They were appointed to the quartet apprenticeship at the Cleveland Institute of Music in 1997 and are now the teaching assistants to the Juilliard Quartet in New York. In addition to quartets by Mozart and Beethoven the String Quartet #3 by Chan Ka Nin will be on their program. · The Penderecki String Quartet will perform at the St. Jacob's Schoolhouse Theatre Feb 9 and the Weiner Quartet (from Toronto) presents a program in honour of distinguished Toronto violinist Lorand Fenyves on Feb 20. ORIENTAL CONNECTION Skimming the listings, I was struck by a number of concerts with an oriental connection. One is the Canadian Sinfonietta, Feb. 2, which presents music composed by two Chinese-born composers, and includes a 8 wholenote f.EBRUARY 1, 2001 - MARCH-:7;--,-::;2-;::0~0-:1-----------------_:_----'-----=-=-=--

concerto for erhu, which will be played by Toronto virtuoso George Gao. Another is Feb 8 at U. of T. 's Scarborough College: the Kiyoshi Nagata Ensemble with guests Ritesh Das, Kwasi Dunyo & Zhou Wei performs a program of Japanese music. Then, Feb 15, Nishikawa Ensemble performs a program of traditional and contemporary Asian and Western music as part of the Music Gallery's offerings. And Feb 16, also presented by the Music Gallery, the Rothko Trio performs a program called "East-West", with works by Asian composers as well as by Maurice Ravel. EARLY Music by Frank Nakashima In April last year, Early Music Ameri~a and The Dorian Group, Ltd., announced the winners of the second Dorian/EMA Recording Competition. From an entry pool of 50 previously-unrecorded early music ensembles, the trio known as Masques, based in Montreal, was awarded the grand prize, a clebut CD, to be recorded and distributed by The Dorian Group, Ltd. for their program of "Consorts of Two Parts for several friends" by Matthew Lo.eke ( 1621122-1677). · Friday Feb 2, they make their Toronto debut with a program of music by Locke, Jenkins, Lawes and Cooper. With an admission price of only , this has to be one of the best deals in town on that day! Voices of Influence - There aren;t too many bass voices with the agility, range, and - burnished radiant tones of Paul Grindlay (now Jiving in Calgary, but managing to get back here often). Feb 3 he joins baroque trumpeter Norman Engel, Rona Goldensher & Julie Baumgartel (fine baroque violinists, both), Mary-Katherine Finch (cello), and Christopher Dawes (on a chamber organ considerably smaller than his usual St. James ' giant). Mr. Grindlay will perform cantatas and arias by G. P. Telemann and theatre music byBenry Purcell. A new initiative of the Toronto Early Music Centre (T.E.M.C.) in cooperation with the AGO is the presentation of historical performance events the first Sunday of the month, "Family Sundays". Feb 4, La Belle Danse (director Daniel Gari.epy) presents a delightful costumed display of 17th-century French baroque.dance. The time has not yet been confirmed, so check with the AGO first - (416) 979-6610, or www.ago.net Do you know T.E.M.P.O.? It stands for the Toronto Early Music Players' Organization. They hold monthly workshops at which members are invited to hone their skills and/or participate in a~ early music "jam session". At · the next one, Sunday Feb 4, Prof. David Klausqer guides the workshop in music of the Renaissance at Lansing United Church, 49 · Bogert Avenue. For information about T.E.M.P.O., call: (416) 487-9261. ~VALLl .LLEE ~-~ Digital Imaging Solutions ~05.702.808~7teleplione ~QS,.702.95~3 \!ax 47 King§trE!,et ; Georgetowh, 0ntabot L7G 2G3 Canada Laura Adlers · Director Artist Representation Grantwriting Project Coordination Tafelmusik's next program, Music for War and Peace (February 7-11), features Dandrieu's Caracteres de la Guerre and Handel's glorious Utrecht Te Deum, performed by the Tafelmusik Chamber Choir and Orchestra, joined by guest soloist brilliants British tenor Charles Daniels (The Tallis Scholars, The Orlando Consort). And harpsichordist Charlotte Nediger (often subtly obscured in the "rhythm section" of the · Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra) finally gets to strut her stuff in Bach's Harjisichord Concerto in D (February 7) in a program which features works by "Big Daddy" J. S. Bach anll his family. The irrepressible "a cappella" Renaissance trio, The MadriGALS, presents a Valentine's Day concert, "Renaissance Love Safari" - a 3- voice journey through five stages of Jove in words and song, here in Toronto! Most of their recent performances have been out of town. So, catch them while you can. They hav.e a website that you can visit. It is - http:// webhome.idirect.com/ - madrigal Crit~cal Mass is a musical initiative to help the homeless (freewill offering to the "Out of the Cold" program). It presents Cristobal de Morales' Missa de beata virgine at St. Thomas Church (Feb 27 at 12:10). It's an opportunity of hearing some very beautiful, rarely performed renaissance choral works. Mocontinues tfie sound post Canada's String .Shop violins, violas, cellos & bows . expert repairs & rehairs strings & accessories at guaranteed lowest prices Canada's largest stock of string music fast mail order service all prices in CDN $ -- Not a US $ price in the store! 93 Grenville St., Toronto MSS 1B4 ~el (416) 971-6999 fax (416) 597-9923 FEBRUARY 1, 2001 - MARCH 7, 2001 wholenote 9

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