ON OPERA and Mail for March 22 and in the Sunday New York Times. by Christopher Haile The companies involved are the Over the years there has been so COC, the Canadian Children's !nuchoperaticactivityinTorontoand Opera Chorus, Opera Atelier, environs in April and May it has felt Opera Ontario, Queen of Pudas if we were in the midst of an op- dings, Soundstreams and Tapeserafestival. Now, thnnks to Opera.ca try New Opera Works. As part of and a grant from the federal gov- the campaign a phone line (l-800- ernment, we really will be. 642-2241) will be set up and not only tickets but hotel, dinner and OPERA.CA (fonnerly known as the transportation packages will also be Professional Opera Companies· of available. Canada) is a nationwide arts advo- The twofold intention, as Baile cacy group that seeks, according to states, is "to make potential cultural Executive Director Micheline tourists more aware of the great McKay, the "sustainable healthy breadth and diversity of operatic ofope:ating" of !ts member 6pe~~ coi_n- ferings in the Toronto area, and to parues and tnes to create a fertile facilitate the creation of a crossover ground for the creation of new . audience". Those who are interestwork(. In ~002, when Op~ra ed in Verdi and Wagner may also ~menca held its annual convention want to check out Lully. Those inm Toronto, Opera.ca _members co- terested in the mini-operas on offer ordinated their plans to showcase for at Tapestry may want to stay for fullthe visitin? delega_tes th~ range of length operas or other new works opera ch01ces av~1lable m _the ~o- on offer. The members of Opera.ca ronto area. According to ~avid B~e, will see how the present campaign General Manager of Opera Atelier plays out, but if it works, they hope andBoardMemberofOper~-~a, ~at that a Spring Opera Festival will expenence made the part1c1patmg become a biennial event. companies aware of the benefits of joint action. ONE REASON that such an event All the members of Opera.ca do can work in Toronto is that each already coordinate their-season sched- opera corr_ipany occ_u~ies a slil51:tly ules to avoid possible duplication. different mche, providing everything Last year after severai companies from the Baroque to the present, and were hurting after steep declines in from chamber to large-scale fonnats. attendance due to the SARS scare, Of the large-scale presentations, Opera.ca applied to all three levels · there's no doubt that the most anticof government for relief. Ultimate- ipated is th 7 C~C's ne~ produ7ti?~ ly, it received a grant to be used to of Wagner s_Die Walkure ~at ~1t1- promote opera in the area. The re- ates the fi:st-ever Canad1~ Ring suit is a Spring Opera Festival from cycle. Unlike 1:1ost ~ew ~g cy April 1 to May 31 that.will be ad- c)e~, the Canad~an ~g will be the vertised in a brochure in the Globe v1s\on not of a smgle director but of four directors and a single designer. Film-maker Atom Egoyan, director of the COC's successful if controversial Salome, directs. Michael Levine, who designed the COC ' s acclaimed Bluebeard's Castle !Erwar IN THEIR OWN WoRDs: CLAIRE HOPKINSON CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8 night. The creative and performing artists we have worked with find the workshop process to be an invaluable tool in envisioning their new work and in the development of their collaborative partnerships. Tapestry's Composer Librettist Laboratory ("LibLab") is about understanding the art of collaboration and not about creating product. In it we encourage the best playwrights, poets, writers and composers of our " time to imagine a highly dramatic music theatre creation that communi cates directly to the audience. There are no set rules for what this form is and what it can evolve into. Opera, in its ultimate form, is the antithesis of TV - it is live, it is immersive and erootional, it grabs people viscerally, and engages all the senses; it is also a shared human event with hun- same rooment in time. As for "rich people", opera ticket prices are generally lower than pro sports tickets, and our Opera to Go at the Distillery prices are about the same as a good book! And last, I remember thnt leading up to Iron Road a few years back you put together a complex "opera in the schools "program thnt had stu- · dents not just appreciating but also creating. Anything similar hnppening now? · Since Iron Road, when our piloted ucation project involved two Toron- to schools, Tapestry has developed an education programme that is sec- and-to-none. While last year's Fac- ing South Education Programme at . tracted quite a bit of attention - from TYO, the Ontario Arts Council, the dreds of people who experience the Lieutenant Governor and the press - 26 WWW.THEWHOLENOTE.COM ·Opera Atelier's spectacular Persee tung, is the designer for all four Ring tenor Mark Lundberg is Otelia, Si-. operas and director of Das Rhein- mona Bertini is Desdemona, John gold. COC General Director Rich- Fanning (interviewed on page 7) is ard Bradshaw conducts. The cast Iago and Kurt Lehmann is Cassio. includes Frances Ginzer as Briinnhil- Opera Ontario Artistic Director Dande, Peteris Eglitis as Wotan, Adri~ iel Lipton conducts and Jeannette anne Pieczonka as Sieglinde and Aster directs. Otelia plays in Hamil Clifton Forbis as Siegmund. ton April 24, 29 and May 1 and in The excitement over the first in- Kitchener on May 7. stallment of the Ring tends to over- FROM APRlL 23_ MA y 2, Opshadow the COC's parallel offering, Verdi's Rigoletto. Adrian Osmond era Atelier revives its magnificent directs the production from the San production of Persee by Jean-Bap Francisco Opera that includes Alan tiste Lully. In 2000 OA became the Opie as Rigoletto, Laura Claycomb first company in North America ever to stage this 1682 masterpiece and it as Gilda, Giuseppe Gipali as the Duke of Mantua and Ayk Martiros- proved a resounding triumph. Marsian as Sparafucile. Julian Kovatch- . shall Pynkoski directs and Herve ev conducts. Niquet again conducts but there are important changes of cast. This time Die Walkilre runs between April the French haute contre Cyril Auvi- 4 and 23 (six performances) with Rigoletto running between April 7 ty sings Persee, Marie LeNormand is Andromede and Thomas Meglioand 24 (seven performances). ranza is Meduse. JUST AS THE PAlRofCOC aper- THESE FOUR WORKS represent as is closing Opera Ontario opens its first ever production of Verdi's grand opera in the Festival brochure. Otelia. Acclaimed American Heiden- The other four companies involved this year's IN side Opera education and outreach initiative expands on the grassroots success of previous programmes and offers even roore creation-based learning to many roore learners. Since January, our talented anirnateur, Andy Morris, has worked with about 300 students at seven Ontario schools - from Toronto to Barrie to Georgetown - helping thei;n to craft their own presentations; based on the stories behind each of the five operas in Opera to Go at the Distillery. And because we have ten creative artists, two directors and three designers involved, those students have had as a resource the guidance and mentorship of real, live composers, writers and dramaturges. · As usual we have provided really great study guides, written by each of the librettists, as reference materials for.teachers and students - actual- ly, everyone in the production, along with our commissioning sponsors, has used them to get better acquainted with the works. New this year are a set of dedicated Web pages that follow the professional production from workshop to opening night. Accessible via our horn: page at · www.tapestrynewopera.com, the Opera to Go/INside Opera Web pages include interviews with the creative teams, set and costume sketches, a production diary and much roore. The education programre concludes on April 5 and April 7 when students gather to present their work to each other, followed by a special perfonnance of Opera to Go at the Distillery. It is always a thrill to see what those young minds have done with the same materials as the professional artists. APRIL 1 - MAY 7 2004 UJ "' " z N UJ u :, "' CQ 0 f- 0 :,: "-
Meuo Krisztina Szabo in Queen of Puddings Music Theatre Sirens/Sirenes' production. will present opera on a smaller scale. by Opera.ca 's Canadian Opera Creation Program. The full production The smallest scale, perhaps, is Tapestry New Opera Works' second is part of the Spring Opera Festival season of short operas entitled Opera To Go with seven performances 2:00 pm and 7:30 pm. and takes place May 15-and 16 at from April 1 ~ 7. Each of the five is a Last year Soundstreams offered an complete work with a running time international festival of opera for no longer than 15 minutes. children. This year it brings us The first of the five, lee Time by SomerFest with new productions of composer Chan Ka Nin and librettist Mark Brownell (the team who two works by Harry Somers unseen since their premieres more than 25 created Iron Road), takes us to the years ago. From May 26-29 is a "kiss 'n' cry" section of a Canadian double bill of Somers' opera The skating rink where a coach rips her Death of Enkidu and his ballet The protegee apart. Mother Everest by Merman of Oiford co-presented with composer Abigail Richardson and Dance Theatre David Earle and the librettist Maijorie Chan is about the Pierrot Ensemble. From June 2-4 is first woman to climb Mount Everest without oxygen and the Sherpa a double bill of Somers' The Fool and German composer Viktor Ullman's The Emperor of Atlantis pre guide who questions her motives. Rosa by James Rolfe (composer of sented by Histrion Productions. Beatrice Chancey) and librettist Can1- yar Chai is about a man who has On June 3-4 Queen of Puddings is been searching for his wife ever since offering a workshop production of she ran away after the death of their a new Canadian opera, The Midnight child. Brush by composer Koji Nakano and librettist Kico Gonzalez a libretto by Paul Bentley, who has Court, written by Ana Sokolovic to Risso deals with painter Francisco recently achieved fame as the librettist for Poul Ruders' The Handmaid's Goya and the mystery of his Maja paintings. And The Two Graces by composer Sean Ferguson and librettist Alexis Diamond is an opera buffa based on an historical encounter in 1593 between Irish pirate Grace O'Malley and Queen Elizabeth I of England. The perfonners appearing in various combinations in the five wm;ks are baritone Ian Funk, tenor Martin Hounnan, soprano Tamara Hummel, mezzo-soprano Lynne McMurtry and soprano Xin Wang. Banuta Rubess directs all five and Wayne Strongman conducts. AT lPM on March 28, the Canadian Children's Opera Chorus will present a preview of excerpts from their own contribution to the SpMg Opera Festival. This is The Hobbit by Dean Burry, a work supported APRIL 1 - MAY 7 2004 Tale. The story is based on a satiric Irish epic by Brian Merriman writte;;n about 1780. The cast will include Krisztina Szabo and John Kriter. The Spring Opera Festival marketing initiative, extensive as it is , covers only a portion of what is on offer during the same period. Royal Opera Canada, for example, will be presenting Verdi's Aida at the Liv.ing Arts Centre in Mississauga April 24-May 1 and at the Toronto Centre for the Arts May 6-15. Toronto Operetta Theatre has since 1985 carved out a special niche in Toronto's music theatre scene. From April 23-May 2 it presents that masterpiece of Golden Age Viennese operetta, Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss, Jr. The starry cast includes Laura Whalen, Mark DuBois and Keith Savage. TOT Artistic Director Guillermo Silva-Marin directs and Derek Bate conducts. Besides the fully staged works listed above, there are also notable performances of opera in concert. On April 16-17 the Toronto Consort presents Calisto by Francesco Cavalli. The Venetian work from1651 is a carnivalesque retelling of the god Jupiter's pursuit 0f the titular nymph Otello I Mark Lundberg Iago I John Fanning Desdemona I Simona Bertini Cassio I Kurt Lehmann Emilia I Elizabeth Turnbull Lodovico I Joseph Rouleau Conductor I Daniel Lipton Otell Hamilton Place I April 2• The Centre In The Squa 8pm performances CALL NOW FOR TICKE ·, Hamilton 800-575-138 Kitchener-Waterloo 800 www.operaontario.c disguised as the goddess Diana. Suzie LeBlanc sings Calisto and David Fallis conducts. On Saturday, May 8 a Calyx Concerts opera-in-concert production of Madama Butterfly will be held at 8:00 pmat Humbercrest United Church in Toronto, with Narelle Martinez as Butterfly, Rebecca Haas as Suzuki, Stuart Howe as Pinkerton and Stephen Horst as Sharpless. Stuart Hamilton is the host and narrator and Brahm Goldhamer provides the piano accompaniment. As SHOULD BE· abundantly clear from the array of offerings, the April May period in the Toronto area has developed into a kind of de facto opera festival on its own. Yet, most cultural tourists from south of the border and even within Canada tend to be aware only of the largest players in Toronto's opera scene. Therefore, Opera.ca's plan to promote this period as a Spring Opera Festival should have wide-ranging positive effects. If it succeeds in its goal of raising public awareness about the breadth and diversity of the operatic riches in Southern Ontario, it will have benefited not just the member companies in particular but the cultural community in Southern Ontario in general.
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Choral Scene: Uncharted territory: three choirs finding paths forward; Music Theatre: Loose Tea on the boil with Alaina Viau’s Dead Reckoning; In with the New: what happens to soundart when climate change meets COVID-19; Call to action: diversity, accountability, and reform in post-secondary jazz studies; 9th Annual TIFF Tips: a filmfest like no other; Remembering: Leon Fleisher; DISCoveries: a NY state of mind; 25th anniversary stroll-through; and more. Online in flip through here, and on stands commencing Tues SEP 1.
Following the Goldberg trail from Gould to Lang Lang; Measha Brueggergosman and Edwin Huizinga on face to face collaboration in strange times; diggings into dance as FFDN keeps live alive; "Classical unicorn?" - Luke Welch reflects on life as a Black classical pianist; Debashis Sinha's adventures in sound art; choral lessons from Skagit Valley; and the 21st annual WholeNote Blue Pages (part 1 of 3) in print and online. Here now. And, yes, still in print, with distribution starting Thursday October 1.
Alanis Obomsawin's art of life; fifteen Exquisite Departures; UnCovered re(dis)covered; jazz in the kitchen; three takes on managing record releases in times of plague; baroque for babies; presenter directory (blue pages) part two; and, here at the WholeNote, work in progress on four brick walls (or is it five?). All this and more available in flipthrough HERE, and in print Tuesday Nov 3.
In this issue: Beautiful Exceptions, Sing-Alone Messiahs, Livingston’s Vocal Pleasures, Chamber Beethoven, Online Opera (Plexiglass & All), Playlist for the Winter of our Discontent, The Oud & the Fuzz, Who is Alex Trebek? All this and more available in flipthrough HERE, and in print Friday December 4.
July/August issue is now available in flipthrough HERE, bringing to a close 25 seasons of doing what we do (and plan to continue doing), and on stands early in the week of July 5. Not the usual bucolic parade of music in the summer sun, but lots, we hope, to pass the time: links to online and virtual music; a full slate of record reviews; plenty new in the Listening Room; and a full slate of stories – the future of opera, the plight of small venues, the challenge facing orchestras, the barriers to resumption of choral life, the challenges of isolation for real-time music; the steps some festivals are taking to keep the spirit and substance of what they do alive. And intersecting with all of it, responses to the urgent call for anti-racist action and systemic change.
"COVID's Metamorphoses"? "There's Always Time (Until Suddenly There Isn't)"? "The Writing on the Wall"? It's hard to know WHAT to call this latest chapter in the extraordinary story we are all of a sudden characters in. By whatever name we call it, the MAY/JUNE combined issue of The WholeNote is now available, HERE in flip through format, in print commencing Wednesday May 6, and, in fully interactive form, online at thewholenote.com. Our 18th Annual Choral Canary Pages, scheduled for publication in print and flip through in September is already well underway with the first 50 choirs home to roost and more being added every week online. Community Voices, our cover story, brings to you the thoughts of 30 musical community members, all going through what we are going through (and with many more to come as the feature gets amplified online over the course of the coming months). And our regular writers bring their personal thoughts to the mix. Finally, a full-fledged DISCoveries review section offers cues and clues to recorded music for your solitary solace!
After some doubt that we would be allowed to go to press, in respect to wide-ranging Ontario business closures relating to COVID-19, The WholeNote magazine for April 2020 is now on press, and print distribution – modified to respect community-wide closures and the need for appropriate distancing – starts Monday March 30. Meanwhile the full magazine is right here, digitally, so if you value us PLEASE SHARE THIS LINK AS WIDELY AS YOU CAN. It's the safest way for us to reach the widest possible audience at this time!
FEATURED: Music & Health writer Vivien Fellegi explores music, blindness & the plasticity of perception; David Jaeger digs into Gustavo Gimeno's plans for new music in his upcoming first season as music director at TSO; pianist James Rhodes, here for an early March recital, speaks his mind in a Q&A with Paul Ennis; and Lydia Perovic talks music and more with rising Turkish-Canadian mezzo Beste Kalender. Also, among our columns, Peggy Baker Dance Projects headlines Wende Bartley's In with the New; Steve Wallace's Jazz Notes rushes in definitionally where many fear to tread; ... and more.
Visions of 2020! Sampling from back to front for a change: in Rearview Mirror, Robert Harris on the Beethoven he loves (and loves to hate!); Errol Gay, a most musical life remembered; Luna Pearl Woolf in focus in recordings editor David Olds' "Editor's Corner" and in Jenny Parr's preview of "Jacqueline"; Speranza Scappucci explains how not to reinvent Rossini; The Indigo Project, where "each piece of cloth tells a story"; and, leading it all off, Jully Black makes a giant leap in "Caroline, or Change." And as always, much more. Now online in flip-through format here and on stands starting Thurs Jan 30.
Welcome to our December/January issue as we turn the annual calendar page, halfway through our season for the 25th time, juggling as always, secular stuff, the spirit of the season, new year resolve and winter journeys! Why is Mozart's Handel's Messiah's trumpet a trombone? Why when Laurie Anderson offers to fly you to the moon you should take her up on the invitation. Why messing with Winterreisse can (sometimes) be a very good thing! And a bumper crop of record reviews for your reading (and sometimes listening) pleasure. Available in flipthrough here right now, and on stands commencing Thursday Nov 28. See you on the other side!
On the slim chance you might not have already heard the news, Estonian Canadian composing giant Udo Kasemets was born the same year that Leo Thermin invented the theremin --1919. Which means this is the centenary year for both of them, and both are being celebrated in style, as Andrew Timar and MJ Buell respectively explain. And that's just a taste of a bustling November, with enough coverage of music of both the delectably substantial and delightfully silly on hand to satisfy one and all.
Long promised, Vivian Fellegi takes a look at Relaxed Performance practice and how it is bringing concert-going barriers down across the spectrum; Andrew Timar looks at curatorial changes afoot at the Music Gallery; David Jaeger investigates the trumpets of October; the 30th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution (and the 20th Anniversary of our October Blue Pages Presenter profiles) in our Editor's Opener; the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir at 125; Tapestry at 40 and Against the Grain at 10; ringing in the changing season across our features and columns; all this and more, now available in Flip Through format here, and on the stands commencing this coming Friday September 27, 2019. Enjoy.
Vol 1 of our 25th season is now here! And speaking of 25, that's how many films in the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival editor Paul Ennis, in our Eighth Annual TIFF TIPS, has chosen to highlight for their particular musical interest. Also inside: Rob Harris looks through the Rear View Mirror at past and present prognostications about the imminent death of classical music; Mysterious Barricades and Systemic Barriers are Lydia Perović's preoccupations in Art of Song; Andrew Timar reflects on the evolving priorities of the Polaris Prize; and elsewhere, it's chocks away as yet another season creaks or roars (depending on the beat) into motion. Welcome back.
What a range of stuff! A profile of Liz Upchurch, the COC ensemble studio's vocal mentor extraordinaire; a backgrounder on win-win faith/arts centre partnerships and ways of exploring the possibilities; an interview with St. Petersburg-based Eifman Ballet's Boris Eifman; Ana Sokolovic's violin concert Evta finally coming to town; a Love Letter to YouTube, and much more. Plus our 17th annual Canary Pages Choral directory if all you want to do is sing! sing! sing!
Arraymusic, the Music Gallery and Native Women in the Arts join for a mini-festival celebrating the work of composer, performer and installation artist Raven Chacon; Music and Health looks at the role of Healing Arts Ontario in supporting concerts in care facilities; Kingston-based composer Marjan Mozetich's life and work are celebrated in film; "Forest Bathing" recontextualizes Schumann, Shostakovich and Hindemith; in Judy Loman's hands, the harp can sing; Mahler's Resurrection bursts the bounds of symphonic form; Ed Bickert, guitar master remembered. All this and more in our April issue, now online in flip-through here, and on stands commencing Friday March 29.
Something Old, Something New! The Ide(a)s of March are Upon Us! Rob Harris's Rear View Mirror looks forward to a tonal revival; Tafelmusik expands their chronological envelope in two directions, Esprit makes wave after wave; Pax Christi's new oratorio by Barbara Croall catches the attention of our choral and new music columnists; and summer music education is our special focus, right when warm days are once again possible to imagine. All this and more in our March 2019 edition, available in flipthrough here, and on the stands starting Thursday Feb 28.
In this issue: A prize that brings lustre to its laureates (and a laureate who brings lustre to the prize); Edwin Huizinga on the journey of Opera Atelier's "The Angel Speaks" from Versailles to the ROM; Danny Driver on playing piano in the moment; Remembering Neil Crory (a different kind of genius)' Year of the Boar, Indigeneity and Opera; all this and more in Volume 24 #5. Online in flip through, HERE and on the stands commencing Thursday Jan 31.
When is a trumpet like a motorcycle in a dressage event? How many Brunhilde's does it take to change an Elektra? Just two of the many questions you've been dying to ask, to which you will find answers in a 24th annual combined December/January issue – in which our 11 beat columnists sift through what's on offer in the upcoming holiday month, and what they're already circling in their calendars for 2019. Oh, and features too: a klezmer violinist breathing new life into a very old film; two New Music festivals in January, 200 metres apart; a Music & Health story on the restorative powers of a grassroots exercise in collective music-making; even a good reason to go to Winnipeg in the dead of winter. All this and more in Vol 24 No 4, now available in flipthrough format here.
Reluctant arranger! National Ballet Orchestra percussionist Kris Maddigan on creating the JUNO and BAFTA award-winning smash hit Cuphead video game soundtrack; Evergreen by name and by nature, quintessentially Canadian gamelan (Andrew Timar explains); violinist Angèle Dubeau on 20 years and 60 million streams; two children’s choirs where this month remembrance and living history must intersect. And much more, online in our kiosk now, and on the street commencing Thursday November 1.
Presenters, start your engines! With TIFF and "back-to-work" out of the way, the regular concert season rumbles to life, and, if our Editor's Opener can be trusted, "Seeking Synergies" seems to be the name of the game. Denise Williams' constantly evolving "Walk Together Children" touching down at the Toronto Centre for the Arts; the second annual Festival of Arabic Music and Arts expanding its range; a lesson in Jazz Survival with Steve Wallace; the 150 presenter and performer profiles in our 19th annual Blue Pages directory... this is an issue that is definitely more than the sum of its parts.
In this issue: The WholeNote's 7th Annual TIFF TIPS guide to festival films with musical clout; soprano Erin Wall in conversation with Art of Song columnist Lydia Perovic, about more than the art of song; a summer's worth of recordings reviewed; Toronto Chamber Choir at 50 (is a few close friends all it takes?); and much more, as the 2018/19 season gets under way.
PLANTING NOT PAVING! In this JUNE / JULY /AUGUST combined issue: Farewell interviews with TSO's Peter Oundjian and Stratford Summer Music's John Miller, along with "going places" chats with Luminato's Josephine Ridge, TD Jazz's Josh Grossman and Charm of Finches' Terry Lim. ) Plus a summer's worth of fruitful festival inquiry, in the city and on the road, in a feast of stories and our annual GREEN PAGES summer Directory.
In this issue: our sixteenth annual Choral Canary Pages; coverage of 21C, Estonian Music Week and the 3rd Toronto Bach Festival (three festivals that aren’t waiting for summer!); and features galore: “Final Finales” for Larry Beckwith’s Toronto Masque Theatre and for David Fallis as artistic director of Toronto Consort; four conductors on the challenges of choral conducting; operatic Hockey Noir; violinist Stephen Sitarski’s perspective on addressing depression; remembering bandleader, composer and saxophonist Paul Cram. These and other stories, in our May 2018 edition of the magazine.
In this issue: we talk with jazz pianist Thompson Egbo-Egbo about growing up in Toronto, building a musical career, and being adaptive to change; pianist Eve Egoyan prepares for her upcoming Luminato project and for the next stage in her long-term collaborative relationship with Spanish-German composer Maria de Alvear; jazz violinist Aline Homzy, halfway through preparing for a concert featuring standout women bandleaders, talks about social equity in the world of improvised music; and the local choral community celebrates the life and work of choral conductor Elmer Iseler, 20 years after his passing.
In this issue: Canadian Stage, Tapestry Opera and Vancouver Opera collaborate to take Gogol’s short story The Overcoat to the operatic stage; Montreal-based Sam Shalabi brings his ensemble Land of Kush, and his newest composition, to Toronto; Five Canadian composers, each with a different CBC connection, are nominated for JUNOs; and The WholeNote team presents its annual Summer Music Education Directory, a directory of summer music camps, programs and courses across the province and beyond.
In this issue: composer Nicole Lizée talks about her love for analogue equipment, and the music that “glitching” evokes; Richard Rose, artistic director at the Tarragon Theatre, gives us insights into their a rock-and-roll Hamlet, now entering production; Toronto prepares for a mini-revival of Schoenberg’s music, with three upcoming shows at New Music Concerts; and the local music theatre community remembers and celebrates the life and work of Mi’kmaq playwright and performer Cathy Elliott . These and other stories, in our double-issue December/January edition of the magazine.
In this issue: conversations (of one kind or another) galore! Daniela Nardi on taking the reins at "best-kept secret" venue, 918 Bathurst; composer Jeff Ryan on his "Afghanistan" Requiem for a Generation" partnership with war poet, Susan Steele; lutenist Ben Stein on seventeenth century jazz; collaborative pianist Philip Chiu on going solo; Barbara Hannigan on her upcoming Viennese "Second School" recital at Koerner; Tina Pearson on Pauline Oliveros; and as always a whole lot more!
In this issue: several local artists reflect on the memory of composer Claude Vivier, as they prepare to perform his music; Vancouver gets ready to host international festival ISCM World New Music Days, which is coming to Canada for the second time since its inception in 1923; one of the founders of Artword Artbar, one of Hamilton’s staple music venues, on the eve of the 5th annual Steel City Jazz Festival, muses on keeping urban music venues alive; and a conversation with pianist Benjamin Grosvenor, as he prepares for an ambitious recital in Toronto. These and other stories, in our October 2017 issue of the magazine.
In this issue: a look at why musicians experience stage fright, and how to combat it; an inside look at the second Kensington Market Jazz Festival, which zeros in on one of Toronto’s true ‘music villages’; an in-depth interview with Elisa Citterio, new music director of Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra; and The WholeNote’s guide to TIFF, with suggestions for the 20 most musical films at this year’s festival. These and other stories, in our September 2017 issue of the magazine!
CBC Radio's Lost Horizon; Pinocchio as Po-Mo Operatic Poster Boy; Meet the Curators (Crow, Bernstein, Ridge); a Global Music Orchestra is born; and festivals, festivals, festivals in our 13th annual summer music Green Pages. All this and more in our three-month June-through August summer special issue, now available in flipthrough HERE and on the stands commencing Thursday June 1.
From science fact in "Integral Man: Music and the Movies," to science fiction in the editor's opener; from World Fiddle Day at the Aga Khan Museum to three Canadians at the Cliburn; from wanting to sashay across the 401 to Chamberfest in Montreal to exploring the Continuum of Jumblies Theatre's 20-year commitment to the Community Play (there's a pun in there somewhere!).
In this issue: Our podcast ramps up with interviews in March with fight director Jenny Parr, countertenor Daniel Taylor, and baritone Russell Braun; two views of composer John Beckwith at 90; how music’s connection to memory can assist with the care of patients with Alzheimer’s; musical celebrations in film and jazz, at National Canadian Film Day and Jazz Day; and a preview of Louis Riel, which opens this month at the COC. These and other stories, in our April 2017 issue of the magazine!
On our cover: Owen Pallett's musical palette on display at New Creations. Spring brings thoughts of summer music education! (It's never too late.). For Marc-Andre Hamelin the score is king. Ella at 100 has the tributes happening. All; this and more.
In this issue: an interview with composer/vocalist Jeremy Dutcher, on his upcoming debut album and unique compositional voice; a conversation with Boston Symphony hornist James Sommerville, as as the BSO gets ready to come to his hometown; Stuart Hamilton, fondly remembered; and an inside look at Hugh’s Room, as it enters a complicated chapter in the story of its life in the complex fabric of our musical city. These and other stories, as we celebrate the past and look forward to the rest of 2016/17, the first glimpses of 2017/18, and beyond!
In this issue: a conversation with pianist Stewart Goodyear, in advance of his upcoming show at Koerner Hall; a preview of the annual New Year’s phenomenon that is Bravissimo!/Salute to Vienna; an inside look at music performance in Toronto’s health-care centres; and a reflection on the incredible life and lasting influence of the late Pauline Oliveros. These and more, in a special December/January combined issue!
In this issue: David Jaeger and Alex Pauk’s most memorable R. Murray Schafer collabs, in this month’s installment of Jaeger’s CBC Radio Two: The Living Legacy; an interview with flutist Claire Chase, who brings new music and mindset to Toronto this month; an investigation into the strange coincidence of three simultaneous Mendelssohn Elijahs this Nov 5; and of course, our annual Blue Pages, a who’s who of southern Ontario’s live music scene- a community as prolific and multifaceted as ever. These and more, as we move full-force into the 2016/17 concert season- all aboard!
Music lover's TIFF (our fifth annual guide to the Toronto International Film Festival); Aix Marks the Spot (how Brexit could impact on operatic co-production); The Unstoppable Howard Cable (an affectionate memoir of a late chapter in the life of of a great Canadian arranger; Kensington Jazz Story (the newest kid on the festival block flexes its muscles). These stories and much more as we say a lingering goodbye to summer and turn to the task, for the 22nd season, of covering the live and recorded music that make Southern Ontario tick.
It's combined June/July/August summer issue time with, we hope, enough between the covers to keep you dipping into it all through the coming lazy, hazy days. From Jazz Vans racing round "The Island" delivering pop-up brass breakouts at the roadside, to Bach flute ambushes strolling "The Grove, " to dozens of reasons to stay in the city. May yours be a summer where you find undiscovered musical treasures, and, better still, when, unexpectedly, the music finds you.
INSIDE: The Canaries Are Here! 116 choirs to choose from, so take the plunge! The Nylons hit the road after one last SING! Fling. Jazz writer Steve Wallace wonders "Watts Goode" rather than "what's new?" Paul Ennis has the musical picks of the HotDocs crop. David Jaeger's CBC Radio continues golden for a little while yet. Douglas McNabney is Music's Child. Leipzig meets Damascus in Alison Mackay's fertile imagination. And "C" is for KRONOS in Wende Bartley's koverage of the third annual 21C Festival. All this and as usual much much more. Enjoy.
From 30 camp profiles to spark thoughts of being your summer musical best, to testing LUDWIG as you while away the rest of so-called winter; from Scottish Opera and the Danish Midtvest, to a first Toronto recital appearance by violin superstar Maxim Vengerov; from musings on New Creations and new creation, to the boy who made a habit of crying Beowulf; it's a month of merry meetings and rousing recordings reviewed, all here to discover in The WholeNote.
2016 is off to a flying start! We chronicle the Artful Times of Andrew Burashko, the violistic versatility of Teng Li, the ageless ebullience of jazz pianist Gene DiNovi and the ninetieth birthday of trumpeter Johnny Cowell. Jaeger remembers Boulez; Waxman recalls Bley's influence, and Olds finds Bowie haunting Editor's Corner. Oh, and did we mention there's all that music? Hello (and goodbye) to the February blues, and here's to swinging through the musical vines of the Year of the Monkey.
What's a vinyl renaissance? What happens when Handel's Messiah runs afoul of the rumba rhythm setting on a (gasp!) Hammond organ? What work does Marc-Andre Hamelin say he would be content to have on every recital program he plays? What are Steve Wallace's favourite fifty Christmas recordings? Why is violinist Daniel Hope celebrating Yehudi Menuhin's 100th birthday at Koerner Hall January 28? Answers to all these questions (and a whole lot more) in the Dec/Jan issue of The WholeNote.
"Come" seems to be the verb that knits this month's issue together. Sondra Radvanovsky comes to Koerner, William Norris comes to Tafel as their new GM, opera comes to Canadian Stage; and (a long time coming!) Jane Bunnett's musicianship and mentorship are honoured with the Premier's award for excellence; plus David Jaeger's ongoing series on the golden years of CBC Radio Two, Andrew Timar on hybridity, a bumper crop of record reviews and much much more. Come on in!
Vol 21 No 2 is now available for your viewing pleasure, and it's a bumper crop, right at the harvest moon. First ever Canadian opera on the Four Seasons Centre main stage gets double coverage with Wende Bartley interviewing Pyramus and Thisbe composer Barbara Monk Feldman and Chris Hoile connecting with director Christopher Alden; Paul Ennis digs into the musical mind of pianist Benjamin Grosvenor, and pianist Eve Egoyan is "On the Record" in conversation with publisher David Perlman ahead of the Oct release concert for her tenth recording. And at the heart of it all the 16th edition of our annual BLUE PAGES directory of presenters profile the season now well and truly under way.
Paul Ennis's annual TIFF TIPS (27 festival films of potential particular musical interest); Wu Man, Yo-Yo Ma and Jeffrey Beecher on the Silk Road; David Jaeger on CBC Radio Music in the days it was committed to commissioning; the LISTENING ROOM continues to grow on line; DISCoveries is back, bigger than ever; and Mary Lou Fallis says Trinity-St. Paul's is Just the Spot (especially this coming Sept 25!).