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PRICELESS!
Vol 21 No 5
FEBRUARY 1 – MARCH 7, 2016
LISTINGS | FEATURES | RECORD REVIEWS
Teng Li
No Second
Fiddle
Andrew
Burashko’s
Artful Times
Legacies:
Bley & Boulez
Remembered
Teng Li, viola
A BLOCKBUSTER FEBRUARY AT
DIRECTED BY
BRUNO WEIL &
IVARS TAURINS
9
BEETHOVEN
SYMPHONY
AT KOERNER HALL
THE BEST OF
MOZART
th
VIOLINIST AND
GUEST DIRECTOR
MIRA GLODEANU
Feb 25-28
Feb 4-7
KOERNER HALL AT THE TELUS CENTRE (KH)
RUBY HUGHES | SOPRANO
MARY-ELLEN NESI | MEZZO-SOPRANO
COLIN BALZER | TENOR
SIMON TISCHLER | BARITONE
TAFELMUSIK BAROQUE ORCHESTRA AND CHAMBER CHOIR
Beethoven’s remarkable final symphony is a celebration
of the human spirit culminating in the legendary and
exhilarating “Ode to Joy.” This Tafelmusik presentation
heralds the return of German conductor and
long-term friend, Bruno Weil.
The first half of the programme features the Tafelmusik
Chamber Choir in Rheinberger’s Abendlied, Brahms’ Warum
ist das Licht gegeben, and Valediction, a NEW Tafelmusik
choral commission, all directed by Ivars Taurins.
TAFELMUSIK
media
These performances will be recorded for release on the
Tafelmusik Media label, completing our full cycle of
Beethoven symphony recordings with Maestro Weil.
TRINITY-ST. PAUL’S CENTRE,
JEANNE LAMON HALL (TSP)
TAFELMUSIK BAROQUE ORCHESTRA
“Music is my life and my life is music”
—W. A. MOZART
Join Tafelmusik for some of Mozart’s most beloved
orchestral works, including the charming Eine kleine
Nachtmusik, the dramatic Symphony no. 40 in G Minor,
and the glorious Sinfonia concertante for violin and viola.
KH: 416.408.0208
TSP: 416.964.6337
tafelmusik.org
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Mark Rowswell “Dashan”, host
Li Huanzhi: Spring Festival Overture
Prokofiev: Selections from
Romeo and Juliet
Various: Selections from Peking Opera
He Zhanhao & Chen Gang:
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MAXIM VENGEROV,
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Schumann Symphony 4
Wed, Feb 17 at 8:00pm
Thu, Feb 18 at 8:00pm
Thu, Feb 25 at 8:00pm
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Fabien Gabel, conductor
Baiba Skride, violin
Louis Langrée, conductor
Marc-André Hamelin, piano
Simon Bertrand:
Rideau et Fanfares
Brahms: Violin Concerto
Franck: Symphony in D Minor
Beethoven:
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Piano Concerto No. 1
Schumann: Symphony No. 4
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Friday, February 12, 8pm
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Box Office 416-964-6337
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un organisme du gouvernement de l’Ontario
HANNAFORD STREET SILVER BAND PRESENTS
an Ontario government agency
un organisme du gouvernement de l’Ontario
Direct from the Berlin Philharmonic,
Horn Virtuoso Fergus McWilliam
makes his HSSB debut with the
Sunday February 21st, 2016, 3:00 PM
Jane Mallett Theatre
buoyant Strauss First Horn Concerto.
James Gourlay will lead the brass
in a shimmering performance of the
Grand March from Tannhauser and
the Overture from Die Fledermaus.
The Hannaford Youth Band joins the
HSSB on stage to bring the concert
to a rousing finish.
James Gourlay,
Conductor
Fergus McWilliam,
French Horn
TM
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Book Tickets online www.stlc.com For a special group rate (10 or more tickets) Call 416.366.7723 OR 1.800.708.6754
Volume 21 No 5 | February 2016
FEATURES
6. OPENER | Judging the Book by Its Cover | DAVID PERLMAN
8. No Second Fiddle: Teng Li | MJ BUELL
8. The Artful Times of Andrew Burashko | PAUL ENNIS
49. WE ARE ALL MUSIC’S CHILDREN | Teng Li | MJ BUELL
68. Paul Bley: A Modern Jazz Piano Master | KEN WAXMAN
BEAT BY BEAT
11. Jazz Stories | ORI DAGAN
13. Art of Song | HANS DE GROOT
ACD2 3017
70. CBC RADIO TWO: A Point to Prove | Pierre Boulez| DAVID JAEGER
14. On Opera | CHRISTOPHER HOILE
16. Classical & Beyond | PAUL ENNIS
20. In with the New | WENDALYN BARTLEY
21. Early Music | DAVID PODGORSKI
23. Choral Scene | BRIAN CHANG
25. Bandstand | JACK MacQUARRIE
26. World View | ANDREW TIMAR
44. Mainly Clubs, Mostly Jazz! | BOB BEN
LISTINGS
28. A | Concerts in the GTA
40. B | Concerts Beyond the GTA
42. D | In the Clubs (Mostly Jazz)
46. E | The ETCeteras
DISCOVERIES: RECORDINGS REVIEWED
50. Editor’s Corner | DAVID OLDS
52. Strings Attached | TERRY ROBBINS
54. Keyed In | ALEX BARAN
56. Vocal
58. Early Music and Period Performance
59. Classical & Beyond
60. Modern & Contemporary
62 Jazz & Improvised
65. Pot Pourri
65. Something in the Air | KEN WAXMAN
67. Old Wine, New Bottles | BRUCE SURTEES
MORE
6. Contact Information & Deadlines
7. Index of Advertisers
48. Classified Ads
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Judging the Book by Its Cover
This issue’s cover: It would be interesting to count the references to
the subject of this issue’s cover photograph, violist Teng Li.
MJ Buell takes up Li’s story on page 8 (and continues it in Music’s
Children on page 49.) But I also counted passing references in at least
three other places in the issue (four if you include this one!). First of
these references, as a matter of fact, is in the other story commencing on page 8, Paul Ennis’ in-depth interview with Art of Time
artistic director Andrew Burashko, in whose series Li will appear, for
the first time this coming April. (Burashko is also referenced on this
month’s cover.)
Our third cover reference is to “Legacies”: those of two musical
masters, both of whom died early in this new year – both remembered in this issue. Modern jazz piano master Paul Bley is celebrated
by columnist Ken Waxman on page 68. Waxman’s own regular CD
column in the issue is in many ways testimony to Bley’s influence.
David Jaeger weaves his encomium to Boulez into his ongoing memoir
of the golden years of CBC Radio that now occupies the inside back
pages of the magazine (this month on page 70).
And a roundabout elegy to a third “B” also finds its way into our
pages – perhaps for the first time. David Olds, in his Editor’s Corner
on page 50, finds himself engaging with David Bowie’s death.
Tributes to, and gatherings for, Boulez and Bley are coming together,
slowly. Bowie’s passing generated a firestorm. A Choir! Choir! Choir!
singalong/gathering at the AGO drew over 500 people within 25
minutes of being announced – an astounding range of people – all
ages shapes and sizes – the all-ages children of Faceborough seeking
out live music to mourn life lost. Now there’s a message of hope.
publisher@thewholenote.com
y early pleasure at our playfully shiny December/January
cover was, sad to say, more than slightly diluted by receiving a
gentle note from Against the Grain artistic director Joel Ivany
shortly after we sent him a link to the online flip-through edition of
the magazine inquiring as to whether we might be able to change the
title on the cover “because the people in the photo were in fact Meher
Pavri and Joshua Wales, not, as we had stated, Miriam Khalil and
Stephen Hegedus.”
To clarify: Meher, Joshua, Stephen and Miriam were all four
involved in the Against the Grain production of the Messiah to
which the cover, admittedly obliquely, referred. But unless they
were all switched at birth (in which case we missed a GREAT story),
Joshua Wales is NOT Stephen Hegedus; and Meher Pavri is NOT
Miriam Khalil.
To clarify even further: Hegedus and Khalil were two of the the four
soloists (bass-baritone and soprano, respectively) in the rollicking AtG
Messiah which once again sold out its Harbourfront run; Wales and
Pavri (tenor and soprano, respectively) were members of the chorus
in the same show. (All are rising presences on our increasingly adventurous home-grown opera scene.)
One might be tempted to theorize that, given the number of projectiles flying around in the cover photo, the soloists demanded stunt
doubles for the shoot, and that the nostrils of tenors are less susceptible to injury from flying french fries than those of bass-baritones!
But a simple apology to all concerned is probably the wiser course,
and will leave me some room to talk about this issue’s cover! So, sorry
again, Joshua, Meher, Stephen and Miriam – and on we go!
The WholeNote™
VOLUME 21 NO 5| FEBRUARY 1 - MARCH 7, 2016
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THANKS TO THIS MONTH’S CONTRIBUTORS
Beat Columnists
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David Olds, David Podgorski, Wendalyn Bartley,
Ori Dagan, Bob Ben, mJ buell, Andrew Timar
Christopher Hoile, Paul Ennis
Features
mj Buell, Paul Ennis,
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Wright, Hans de Groot, Janos Gardonyi, Ken
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MUSIC PROGRAMS IN:
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INDEX OF ADVERTISERS
Adam Sherkin 29, 38
Alliance Française 36
Amadeus Choir 23
Annex Singers 39
Art of Time Ensemble 18, 27
ArtsMedia Projects 48
Associates of the TSO 17, 35
ATMA 5, 53
Avery Raquel 43
Bravo Niagara 41
Canadian Opera Company 72
Cantemus Singers 22
Cathedral Bluffs Symphony
Orchestra 30
Christ Church Deer Park Jazz
Vespers 45
Claude Watson Secondary Arts
Program 7
Daniela Nardi 51
FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre
11, 42
Gallery Players of Niagara 31
Hannaford Street Silver Band 4, 34
Horizon Tax 48
Jubilate Singers 39
Kaleid Choral Festival 25
Kindred Spirits Orchestra 30
Lark Ensemble 33
Living Arts Centre Miss. 12
Loach Engineering Inc 57
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Maryna Yakhontova 32
MasterPerforming 48
Miles Nadal JCC 46
Mississauga Symphony 32
Music at Metropolitan 18, 28, 59
Music at St. Andrew’s 30
Music Toronto 9, 29, 33, 38
Musica Beth Tikvah 36
Musicians in Ordinary 32
Navona Records 55
Naxos 51, 53, 55
New Music Concerts 33
Off Centre Music Salon 21, 34
Opera York 15
ORIANA Women’s Choir 36
Orpheus Choir 24
Pasquale Bros 47
Quinte Symphony 41
Rea Beaumont 51
Roy Thomson Hall 71
Royal Canadian College of Organists
47
Royal Conservatory 33, 36, 69
Saluki Music 48
Scarborough Philharmonic
Orchestra 31
Sine Nomine 36
Soundstreams 19
St. Olave’s Church 32
St. Philip’s Jazz Vespers 45
Steinway Piano Gallery 17
Syrinx Concerts Toronto 18, 31, 39
Tafelmusik 2, 29, 35
Tafelmusik Baroque Summer
Institute 46
Talisker Players 38
Tallis Choir 39
Tapestry Opera 13, 29
The Hymn Society Southern Ontario
Chapter 47
Theatre Passe Muraille 10
Tom Gordon 57
Toronto City Opera 35
Toronto Classical Singers 37
Toronto Consort 4, 32, 71
Toronto Mass Choir 23
Toronto Symphony Orchestra 3, 32,
38
Trinity-St. Paul’s United Church 21
Trio Arkel 34
Unitarian Congregation in
Mississauga 34
Universal Music Canada 55, 57
Vancouver Symphony Summer
Institute 47
Victoria Scholars 37
Voicebox: Opera in Concert 15
Windermere String Quartet 35
Women’s Musical Club 19, 38
Wychwood Clarinet Choir 37
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February 1, 2016 - March 7, 2016 | 7
No Second Fiddle: The ArtfulTimes of
Teng Li
Andrew Burashko
MJ BUELL
A
T
brave little girl is
wakened on a sweaty
night in Nanjing by her
father around 10pm. They
ride double on his bike to the
train station, about an hour
through the city. They get on a
Teng Li
midnight train and she sleeps
No Second
Fiddle
a little – maybe on a luggage
pile, or on some newspapers
Andrew
Burashko’s
on the floor under a seat. They
Artful Times
arrive in Shanghai at 6am
Legacies:
Bley & Boulez
and have a little breakfast.
Remembered
She has an 8am violin lesson.
Then they travel all the way
home again. And they do this
every weekend.
Young Teng Li devoted much
of her childhood to the violin. She was not yet a teenager when an
important instructor at the Beijing Central Conservatory, who also
taught viola, complained about the calibre of viola students in general
and demanded that she switch because he wanted “the best.” It was a
bigger instrument, the articulation more difficult, the sound projection different. Li accepted the challenge and so began her visceral
bond with an instrument that sings with an almost human voice.
At 16, speaking very little English, she auditioned for, and earned
a place at, the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. Her new teacher, the
renowned Michael Tree, offered this new challenge: he said he had
no worries about her playing, but that she must also become the best
human being she could. She was embarking on a journey during
which competition and being “’the best” can push aside the physical
and mental health of young artists, and the isolation of rigorous
practice and study can turn out emotional and social misfits. Tree’s
admonition hit the right note, and resonated – what she understood
was that if you are not a good person it will show in your music.
Li was still a student when she was invited by Peter Oundjian to
audition for the first viola chair of the TSO. She returned to play
Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony under Oundjian’s direction and found
herself hooked on the symphony. At the start of the 2004/05 season
she became the TSO’s youngest player at the age of 21 and the orchestra’s first chair viola, a position she retains today.
She rose to this new challenge with the same combination of grit
and grace that saw her through the earlier ones: the sheer volume of
repertoire; the numbers of rehearsals and engagements; earning the
trust of the other players whom she is quick to credit for helping her
learn on the job. The outcome has, according to all accounts, been
mutually rewarding. Alongside her vigorous TSO schedule, including
appearances as featured soloist she’s been establishing herself as a
violist internationally, with regular engagements as soloist. She is
busy as a chamber musician and collaborator, appearing in major
international festivals and competitions. She is one-third of Trio
Arkel, along with violinist Marie Bérard and cellist Winona Zelenka.
She teaches at the University of Toronto Faculty of Music and the
Conservatoire de Musique de Montréal.
Last summer she released her debut recording, 1939, with collaborators Meng-Chieh Liu (piano), and Benjamin Bowman (violin). The CD
is an extraordinary collection of chamber works by Jongen, Ullmann,
Hindemith, Hua and Klein. In the liner notes Li says “I wanted to
showcase the works of different composers at that point in history
to express how human beings from all walks of life can be affected
during such horrific times.” (See Pamela Margles’ review in The
WholeNote’s DISCoveries, September 2015.)
PA U L E N N I S
he Art of Time Ensemble has been a fixture on Toronto’s cultural
landscape for many years, committed to redefining the experience of music performance and exploring the juxtaposition of
high art and popular culture. I’ve long been fascinated by founder
and artistic director Andrew Burashko’s programming acumen and his
ability to attract a coterie of top-notch musicians to perform with him.
Two days before Art of Time’s Sgt. Pepper Canadian Tour began with
a concert at the Sony Centre, January 21, I spoke to Burashko on the
phone about the origins of Art of Time and Burashko’s own musical
training. Perhaps fittingly for a conversation about the Art of Time, our
chat proceeded chronologically.
Burashko had a typical classical music training for a serious young
piano student. At nine and a half, he began studying with Marina
Geringas “the best teacher in the city for young, gifted kids – she
produced a lot of professional pianists” – in 1975, about two years after
he and his family arrived in Canada from Russia via Israel.
“She gave me an incredible physical foundation,” he says. “I was
being groomed to be a concert pianist.” ... His break came when he
attracted the attention of Walter Homburger and Andrew Davis. “I
was 17; I made my debut with the Toronto Symphony. I performed
with them well into my career. I think I did ten seasons with them.
Ten different concerti. I was supposed to go to Manhattan School of
Music to study with Nina Svetlanova. Because my whole life I was
made to practise, I guess I rebelled as I was finishing high school. And
I quit music [pause]. So I spent a year at U of T doing sciences and
then towards the end of that year, Roman Borys, who was the cellist
of the Gryphon Trio, talked me into going to Banff – I hadn’t touched
the piano in a year – as a duo. Which I did, to the chamber music
program. It was my first time in Banff and there I met a lot of people
who are friends to this day. As well as one of my most important
mentors, Marek Jablonski.”
While in Banff, he realized that his “heart was in music, but I
wanted to do it in my terms.” That meant going to Vancouver to study
with Lee Kum-Sing for two years. (One of the people Burashko had
met in Banff was Jamie Parker and Parker and his brother Jackie
had studied with Lee.) Then Jablonski came to Toronto in 1987 and
Burashko followed him to what is now the Glenn Gould School.
“Those were the four most formative years of my life,” he said,
“because I had at least one lesson a week with Marek and I played
every month with Leon Fleisher.”
I reacted positively to Burashko’s comment about his link to
Fleisher (I am a great admirer of Fleisher’s work); Burashko responded
in kind: “You know, most of my ideas about pianism and interpretation come from Fleisher …. He is incredible. Truly.”
After those four years with Jablonski, Burashko studied with Bella
Davidovich in New York for two more. “And things began to happen
for me.” He worked with new music groups, chamber music groups
like Amici, even toured with the Gryphon Trio before Jamie Parker
joined. And taught. Which he considers a crucial part of his life
until recently.
PRICELESS!
Vol 21 No 5
FEBRUARY 1 – MARCH 7, 2016
LISTINGS | FEATURES | RECORD REVIEWS
Teng Li, viola
Classical music ... has the potential to speak
to anyone if they’re exposed to it just at the
right time at the right place in the right way.
Turning points: A key part of the Burashko narrative involves
modern dancer Peggy Baker, who returned to Canada from New York
in 1991. “Working with her I gained access to a whole other world.
The world of the theatre, really. Where things are, for lack of a better
word, a helluva lot more theatrical than in a concert hall. Lighting is
important. Staging. All those things. And creating a dramatic environment. And also, after all those years I got to know a lot of incredible
Please see Interview, We Are All Music’s Children, page 49.
8 | February 1, 2016 - March 7, 2016
thewholenote.com
JOHN LAUENER
ST. LAWRENCE
QUARTET
Andrew Burashko conducts “War of the
Worlds” (2011) at the Enwave Theatre
people like Karen Kain, James Kudelka, Margie Gillis.”
Then comes a surprisingly candid admission: “I guess that, along
with the fact that it was a real grind and struggle in the classical music
world, I never got to the point where I could dictate my terms. So if
ever an orchestra called that I hadn’t worked with before and asked
me ‘Do you know, whatever, Rach 2?’ I would say yes. Between travelling and working I was at the piano all the time cramming, some years
learning three or four new concerti a year. And it’s no fun playing
stuff for the first time, all the time. It’s a huge pressure. Blah-blahblah-blah. So all those things kind of converged. And the main thing
was that I was disheartened by the fact that all the classical audiences
were so old and nobody was really doing anything about turning
people on to classical music. I always believed, as I still do, that it was
incredibly compelling and exciting and has the potential to speak to
anyone if they’re exposed to it just at the right time at the right place
in the right way. And so that’s how Art of Time began.
“The general idea – I’m oversimplifying – was to create programs
which would also include the involvement of either actors or dancers.
Because of Peggy I had access to the dance world. I had many friends,
still do, who are actors. So actors, dancers, pop musicians, jazz musicians – with the idea that they would hopefully attract their audience
and once they were in the theatre then they would be disarmed by the
familiar and open to the unfamiliar. And that’s how it began and it’s
evolved from there.”
Disarmed by the familiar and open to the unfamiliar. Juxtaposition
as the catalyst for gaining and growing an audience. And doing it on
his terms.
The impetus for his first concert production came from an agent he
shared with Scott St. John. St. John was running a series at the time
called “Millennium” but he “got sick of doing it.” The agent asked if
Burashko would be interested in starting something in its stead. He’d
been dreaming of doing something like that for years, even tried to
organize similar projects but unable to follow through because of lack
of time or know-how. “Even in the first few years of Art of Time, I was
so busy with my own career it was completely haphazard. I invested
my own money in it. I would write grants. I would just basically have
enough money to rent the Glenn Gould Studio three nights a year
and present three different chamber music programs. And by then I
had really long-standing musical partnerships with Steven Dann and
Joel Quarrington and Amanda Forsyth, Pinchas Zukerman. It’s such a
small world. I knew all these people, they were my friends, colleagues.
And they were excited about doing something new and different.
And musicians are always excited or drawn to working with other
good musicians.”
The concert he produced in 1998, “a very eclectic program of
Russian music – from Glinka to Schnittke,” is one he’s presented
frequently since. “It was Stravinsky, Glinka, this big sprawling, cheesy,
beautiful kind of bel canto mini-concerto for piano and string quintet,
the Schnittke quintet and Prokofiev Overture on Hebrew Themes.
And I opened with a Brodsky poem. I’m also a very big fan of Joseph
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JOHN LAUENER
will complete the 2015/2016 season,
Zappa, Erwin Schulhoff and Hawksley
Workman. “What drew you to Frank
Zappa?” I ask. “Wow!” he responds,
explaining that Zappa has made a deep
impression on him since his teens.
Later, in the new music world, he was
exposed to him a number of times.
(“Zappa’s the only one I could think of
who straddled more than one world
completely.”) In fact, he says, it was a
Zappa concert by Frank Boudreau and
the Quebec Contemporary Music Society
at the Music Gallery, way back in 1988, that planted the seed for Art of
Time’s own Zappa program, February 19 and 20. “Their Zappa show
was so much fun. It blew me away.”
That concert never left him; and knowing that the charts for that
music existed defined the repertoire for February’s show. Most of the
arrangements for the upcoming concert are from the late 1980s and
are very dense and busy. Burashko wanted to dilute the “assault-onthe-senses” effect a little bit by adding numbers like Bobby Brown
Goes Down and Don’t Eat the Yellow Snow. And Stephen Clarke
and Gregory Oh, the two keyboardists in the show (Burashko is
conducting), wanted to do Zappa’s four-hands piece, Ruth Is Sleeping
(so astonishingly contemporary, it sounds like it could have been
written today).
“I’m trying to turn people on to all this music,” Burashko said,
explaining his decision not replicate the Boudreau program. “We have
such a diverse audience and we’ve developed all this trust just based
on previous experience, not necessarily knowing what to expect, so I
wanted to add a few of Zappa’s lighter fare tunes.”
Burashko says that his programming has become increasingly
more daring over the years. His “War of the Worlds” program began
with a tribute to Bernard Herrmann, who collaborated with Orson
Welles on radio, and ended as a theatre piece with a few musicians
when Burashko realized that there was very little music (and none by
Herrmann) in the original radio broadcast. “I Send You This Cadmium
Red” blended Gavin Bryars’ music with John Berger’s words and
images. “Magic and Loss: A Tribute to Lou Reed” was, in his words,
amazing. “It was seminal in a way, because the essence of Lou Reed is
rock ‘n’ roll and simplicity and attitude. To dress it up in fancy clothes
would be to just miss the point and destroy the music. I can’t think of
anything farther from classical music.”
The current Beatles project, Sgt. Pepper, also crosses no genres.
Admitting he’s a Beatles nut, Burashko says that the important thing
is to approach the project with great reverence, while retaining the
spirit and feel of the original, which is pop music and rock ‘n’ roll.
There’s nothing classical about this show other than the involvement
of classical musicians (along with the pop musicians) and the classical
composers who wrote the arrangements. Sgt. Pepper is far and away
Art of Time’s most popular show. It’s been mounted three separate
times. And Burashko completed a “great, gruelling” 13-concert, 18-day
tour of the show through the Eastern United States in November. A
tour of the American midwest is set for September 2016. “That music
just connects on such a deep level with people.”
Next, I ask about the Schulhoff show, coming up April 1 and 2.
I’m a fan of Schulhoff’s diverse sonic palette, I say. Again Burashko
agrees. Schulhoff, he says, was very eclectic; the upcoming concert is a
repeat of one Art of Time put on in 2005, with the addition of Martha
Burns performing the aptly named Sonata Erotica for female voice
solo. Violinist Stephen Sitarski, cellist Thomas Wiebe, flutist Susan
Hoeppner and Burashko on the piano all return from the original cast
ten years ago, joined by such local superstars as violist Teng Li, alto
saxophonist Wallace Halladay and others in Schulhoff’s Hot Sonate for
Alto Sax & Piano, Concertino for Viola, Flute & Double Bass, Five Jazz
Etudes for Piano and String Sextet.
Burashko wanted to bring it back because “it’s such amazing music”
(there’s that word again!). The first time he played any Schulhoff
was on a [Robert Aitken-led] New Music Concerts program in 1993,
Brodsky. Which was about exile, essentially. And I think that first time I had
Ted Dykstra read it. Basically it was
music, with a little bit of a twist.”
That “First Season” (1999/2000)
consisted of just three one-nighters.
“Then for the next few years, I just kept
going. There was no infrastructure. I
would get on the phone, I would invite
people. There was nothing, other than
to pay the players and to rent the hall.
And that’s how it continued until about
2005. Slowly it was growing, mainly
through the arts community. I was becoming more and more daring
with the programs and I was just aware that it would never grow if
I kept doing it on the sidelines, growing by the seat of my pants, it
would never go anywhere.
“In 2005 we moved to Harbourfront and started doing four shows
of two-nighters. It was basically, I don’t want to say whim, I went on
some sort of belief that wasn’t backed by anything in the physical
world. That first year our budget was about $60,000. Today it’s over a
million dollars.”
I point out to him that Art of Time is such an evocative name, since
the concept of time is so central to what is arguably the core of music.
He immediately agrees and expands the thought: “The most noticeable and important fingerprint, for lack of a better word, the most
important quality, of a musician or the first thing I notice about a
musician, is their sense of time.” But the name also works on another
level, he quickly says. And again Leon Fleisher’s name re-enters the
conversation.
“Fleisher used to talk about compositions as these elaborate structures or cathedrals built out of time. They were time structures. So on
those two levels, really, that’s how I came up with Art of Time.”
2015/2016: Our conversation moves into the three shows that
Beat by Beat | Jazz Stories
the year Burashko’s daughter was born. “So thanks, Bob,” he says.
Besides, Art of Time’s audience has grown exponentially. “In 2005, our
audience was one-twentieth of what it is now.” So for many it will be
an entirely new show.
Finally in this season, Hawksley Workman will sing Bruce
Cockburn’s music in the latest instalment of the Art of Time
Songbook, May 13 and 14. This is the first time a songbook has been
devoted to the work of a single composer and is the culmination
of much back and forth between Burashko and Workman. “I love
Hawksley Workman,” Burashko told me, before offering an explanation as to why it took so long for the singer to agree. “He called me;
he had seen and heard enough stuff that we did that he really wanted
to do something with us.” The general idea for Songbook is to invite a
non-classical singer to choose 12 songs they’ve always wanted to do;
then Burashko delegates the songs to a group of disparate composers/
arrangers to create arrangements for an ensemble that is half pop, and
half classical. It’s always a collaboration but he gives the singer licence
to be as creative as possible. “It’s about finding that fine line about
being as creative as possible without ruining the original intent of the
song.” It was Workman’s choice to do Cockburn, and only Cockburn.
Burashko will get the charts for the music two months before the
show and the concert will be preceded by four full days of intensive rehearsal.
One of Art of Time’s strengths is its impressive roster of musicians.
I comment on the alchemy that must have have gone into selecting
Christine Duncan and Wallace Halladay for Zappa, and Halladay and
Teng Li for Schulhoff, all of whom are making their debut with the
ensemble. “The thing that I pride myself on most is the group of musicians, of artists, that I get to work with,” Burashko answered. “Having
that incredible luxury of only working with people that I want to.
Over the years, that collective has grown to such an extent that I’m
proud to say that most musicians would love to work with Art of Time
because it also means working with musicians whom they love.
“With Christine – I had heard her a number of times over the years
– when I heard these Zappa charts – they’re incredibly complex –
and when I heard them in the 80s they were done with two classical singers. It was still a great show and I loved it, but it really ruined
something for me. So Christine was a no-brainer because there aren’t
that many non-classical singers who are literate enough to learn this
music, who are good readers.”
All three remaining shows this season exemplify Burashko’s curatorial prowess: the programs themselves; the chemistry that unites
great music and excellent musicians; Art of Time’s transformative
theatrical magic.
“It’s so intuitive” Burashko says. “Ultimately I never go near
anything that is unfamiliar to me. Programming to me is about
creating something balanced with a really interesting arc. And the
world is my oyster.”
The Art of Time Ensemble performs Zappa February 19 and 20 at
Harbourfront Centre Theatre.
O
Priceless Gene
ORI DAGAN
DON VICKERY
n an excruciatingly cold January afternoon Gene DiNovi
welcomes me into his home and provides warm smiles and a
pair of slippers. He leads me up the stairs, through the kitchen,
proudly showing me family photos and art pieces he has collected
through the years. We finally reach “the museum,” a spacious room
busily adorned with framed photos and autographed posters, shelves
full of sheet music and a grand piano.
Gene DiNovi performs at the Old Mill’s Home Smith Bar
Now 87-years young, DiNovi has been in show business for seven
decades and has hundreds of stories to share: We talk about his
new gig at The Old Mill on the first Tuesday of every month; on
his triumphant career as pianist, arranger, songwriter and musical
director; on working with Peggy Lee, Tony Bennett, Lena Horne
and Carmen McRae; sitting in with Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie
Parker; recording with Lester Young and Benny Goodman; his native
Brooklyn; a stint in Los Angeles; moving to Toronto.
But how did he get into this music in the first place? He takes a
moment, stares ahead, and smiles as he remembers his first musical
inspiration: “I heard a record of ‘The World is Waiting for the Sunrise’
which is a Canadian tune actually, by Ernest Seitz and Gene Lockhart.
It was Mel Powell and His Orchestra – Melvin Epstein from the Bronx,
who became Mel Powell. My brother Victor used to take me to the
Paramount Theatre on a Saturday, or the Strand, or the Loew’s State
Theatre. But I heard Mel there. Mel recorded that song a number of
times with Benny. On this particular side he plays a solo which had
three or four horns on it: Billy Butterfield on trumpet, George Berg on
tenor, Lou McGarity on trombone and of course Benny on clarinet,
Kansas Fields on drums, who I played with later. So I heard this piano
Paul Ennis is the managing editor of The WholeNote.
Marie-Josée Lord
& Quartango:
Cameron
Carpenter
TANGOPÉRA
MARCH 30
MARCH 3
The show-stopping
Juilliard grad and Grammy
nominee performs a diverse
repertoire on his custom-built
International Touring Organ.
The sparkling soprano and
accomplished quartet revisit
operatic classics with the
bewitching rhythms of the tango.
FirstOntarioPAC.ca
Box Office: 905-688-0722
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February 1, 2016 - March 7, 2016 | 11
Riddle, Mancini, John Williams, Marty Paich, a generation of film
composers. A lovable man, an Italian Jew who had to get out of there
fast when Mussolini hooked up with the other guy. He ended up in
Beverly Hills where he taught all these people. Can you imagine? You
walk in and Villa-Lobos is in there or Segovia is there going over the
fingering, you know? (laughs) It was heavyweight stuff!”
Living in Los Angeles, DiNovi started to gain respect as an arranger
and musical director and worked on six specials for Gene Kelly. But
the times they were a-changin’: “Things really dried up because this
was a period where you could replace 65 guys with two synthesizers.”
DiNovi pauses to ask me if I want to hear one of his tunes that
Carmen McRae recorded, and how can I decline? It’s titled “Boy, Do
I Have a Surprise for You” (lyrics by Spence Maxwell) from the 1968
album, Portrait of Carmen on Rhino Atlantic. To the ears of this
McRae fan, she never sounded better than on this majestic recording,
which DiNovi also arranged and conducted.
After a memorable engagement with McRae at the Colonial Tavern
for a week in 1971, DiNovi tells me, he soon found himself back in
Toronto accompanying two other MacRaes – Meredith MacRae for two
weeks, followed by two weeks with her mother, Sheila MacRae.
“So I lived at the Royal York Hotel for six weeks for the lowest rate in
the 20th century! It was a couple of hundred bucks for the six weeks
(laughs). ... So I said hey, I like it here in Toronto! It looks like New
York in 1945. In L.A. you had to drive 50 miles just to have a cup of
coffee with somebody. I liked the New York feel of Toronto.”
These days DiNovi still maintains an admirable performance
schedule, appearing with clarinetist James Campbell, guitarist
Andrew Scott and bassist Dave Young, to name a few. And at the end
of our interview he melts my heart as he gracefully tickles the 88:
“There are three tunes always on my piano: Strayhorn’s ‘Lush Life,’
Harold Arlen’s ‘Last Night When We Were Young’ and ‘The Bad and
the Beautiful’ by David Raksin – those three, you’re gonna go in the
swamp if you don’t play them every week.”
To experience the magic of Gene DiNovi’s playing up close and
personal, and to hear some of his famous stories, do not miss the
opportunity on the first Tuesday of every month at The Old Mill’s
Home Smith Bar from 7:30 to 10:30pm.
Stylianou JPEC-Bound: Some 70 years after DiNovi sat in with
Gillespie and Parker, it isn’t uncommon for Toronto-based jazz artists
to leave the nest and head towards the Big Apple. Vocalist Melissa
Stylianou, formerly a fixture at the Rex Hotel Jazz & Blues Bar, where
she started out as a waitress and ended up a headliner, is a fine
example. About the decision to relocate, she says:
“I did the Jazz and Improvised Music program at the Banff Centre in
2003, and many of the faculty and other musicians I met happened to
Jazz Notes continues on page 42
solo, and it is, to me, the greatest piano solo I ever heard in my life. Mel
Powell was very different from me – incredibly gifted guy. At 16-yearsold he had it all together. He could play like Teddy, he could play like
Tatum, he could play like everybody. Once I heard that record, that
was it … and I’m still trying to do it,” he laughs. “I still get chills when
I hear it!”
As for diving into the music:
“I started late, at 12 years old – the reason I got the start was, my
brother would decorate houses in Brooklyn, and this guy, Frank Izzo,
who was a very eclectic guy said, I don’t have enough money to pay
you, can you wait? And my brother said, give my kid brother piano
lessons. To this day I can’t really say if it was a good deal or not,” he
chuckles.
Living in Brooklyn meant being a subway ride away from the
seminal musicians of the day. “I used to hang out on 52nd Street,
where you could stand in the doorway and listen to Art Tatum. You go
to the next one, you listen to Billie Holiday. You go to the next one, you
could listen to Red Norvo. There were six, seven, eight clubs. You could
hear all of this on a summer night.”
At the age of 15 – 15 and a half, to be precise – he found himself on
stage with Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker, a life-changing moment.
“This was at the Spotlight, in 1945. There was still a curfew in New
York City because of the war. They would start playing at four in the
afternoon. I would get a ginger ale and just sit there. By that time I was
on the street so much the owners and the musicians knew who I was.
Dizzy had heard me at one of the other clubs … eventually he was like
an older brother to me.”
By his late teens, DiNovi became a fixture on the modern jazz scene,
but before long he needed a change.
“You got to remember, this was the beginning of the bebop period,
which was a terrible period from the narcotics point of view,” DiNovi
recounts. “And I never understood it – why the hell do you want to do
that? For me, the music was enough … . Working at Birdland a couple
of years later on, I turned around and realized that everyone on the
bandstand was a junkie but me. And I said, wow – I have got to get
away from this – where can I go to play the music I love without being
around this – so I ended up with Peggy Lee, the first singer I played
for. Can you believe it? Never a note out of tune. Never a note out of
time. She was one of the great natural musicians.”
DiNovi spent many years as a treasured accompanist and musical
director to some of the greatest vocalists of the day: Tony Bennett,
Carmen McRae, Mel Tormé, and most notably Lena Horne, with
whom he worked from 1955 to 1963, and occasionally after that.
Composing and arranging: Studying with Mario CastelnuovoTedesco launched DiNovi on another arc in his career – composing
and arranging. “He trained me, he trained André Previn, Nelson
T H E
L I V I N G
A R T S
C E N T R E
Award winning Jazz Singer-songwriter
SOCAN Songwriting Winner
Pop Jazz Singer-songwriter
LAILA
BIALI
FEB
12
7:30 PM
12 | February 1, 2016 - March 7, 2016
p r e s e n t s
FEB
19
7:30 PM
thewholenote.com
Beat by Beat | Art of Song
how overhearing a conservatory singing lesson changed her musical
direction after years of piano and violin study (“I heard a lyric class
and was fascinated by the production, how to build opera and all the
rehearsals”); and about her return to Haiti in 2011. (“I wanted to close
the circle. I had questions about my background. … I am proud of
my people.”)
As for Quartango itself, the quartet was formed an astonishing 30
years ago. The group consists of four musicians: René Gosselin, double
bass, Stéphane Aubin, piano, Antoine Bareil, violin, and Jonathan
HANS DE GROOT
Goldman, bandoneon (an instrument operated by a bellows, akin to
n March 3, a concert, with the title “Tangopéra” will be given
the accordion).
jointly by Marie-Josée Lord and the quartet Quartango at
In the aforementioned interview with The Star’s Crawford about
Partridge Hall in the brand new FirstOntario Performing
her hopes for that October 28, 2012, Koerner recital, Lord talks about
Arts Centre in St. Catharines. Going by the tracks on the their 2014
wanting to “invite the audience
Tangopera CD, the concert will
into my lyric world.” There’s
feature music ranging from Puccini
no doubt that her collaboraand Bizet to Gershwin and Weill,
tion with Quartango over the
alongside pioneers of tango such as
past five years has significantly
Ángel Villoldo, Carlos Gardel and,
expanded the boundaries of
of course, Astor Piazzolla. Half the
that “lyric world.” In the CD
tracks on the CD feature the tango
liner notes Lord talks about
and milonga-based, hard-driving
the group’s “love of risk-taking
instrumental rhythms of Quartango.
and the unexpected” and their
Lord, backed by the quartet, sings
ability to take “well-known
in the others, putting a remarkable
melodies and blend them into
spin on repertoire much of which
… unique hybrids of tango,
the audience will have heard many
opera, popular song, jazz, clastimes, but, safe to say, not like this!
sical and many other genres.
Something similar happened to
Today, when I sing the original
Lord herself when she first encounversion of the ‘Habanera’ from
tered the Montreal-based group:
Carmen,” says Lord, “I almost
Marie-Josée Lord and Quartango
“When I first heard Quartango’s
feel as if it’s missing something.”
version of the aria ‘Quando men vo,’ from Puccini’s La Bohème,” she
Far from “missing something,” the audience at “Tangopéra” on
says in the liner notes to the record, “I was startled, because I couldn’t
March 3, hearing these unique treatments of familiar repertoire, will
quite place it, even though I’d sung the original version countlikely feel just the opposite – that something has been quite unexpectless times.”
edly gained.
Lord is a distinguished soprano, who was born in Haiti, adopted
Dmitri Hvorostovsky at Koerner Hall on February 21. The Russian
at the age of six by two Canadians working in Haiti at the time, and
baritone first became known in the West in 1989, the year in which
grew up in Lévis, Quebec. She made her operatic debut in 2003 with
he won the Cardiff Singer of the World Competition, beating out
the Opéra de Québec in the role of Liù in Puccini’s Turandot, and has
Bryn Terfel, who had to make do with the Lieder Prize. At the time
performed several important roles with the Opéra de Montréal (Mimì
there was a great deal of grumbling and there were many suggestions
in Puccini’s La Bohème, the title role in his Suor Angelica and Nedda
that the jurors had made a mistake, but in recent years the merits of
in Leoncavallo’s I Pagliacci). At the time of a memorable Koerner
Hvorostovsky have been increasingly recognized. In any case, a discusHall recital in Toronto in October 2012, she talked to Trish Crawford
sion of who makes the better singer seems pointless as they represent
of the Toronto Star (October 25, 2012) about her childhood years in
such different voice types. Terfel made a name for himself in baria nutrition centre in Haiti (“I was in bad shape. Most of the children
tone or bass-baritone roles in Mozart such as Figaro and (later) Don
were orphans. There we could have a meal and education.”); about
O
It Takes Five To
Quartango
NORTH AMERICAN DEBUT OF
SCOTTISH OPERA
THE DEVIL INSIDE
LIBRETTO BY LOUISE WELSH | MUSIC BY STUART MACRAE
A Co-commission & Co-production by Scottish Opera & Music Theatre Wales
North American Premiere Presented by Tapestry Opera
MARCH 10 – 13, 2016
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FEATURING STARS OF THE ROYAL OPERA HOUSE
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Harbourfront Centre Box OOce:
February 1, 2016 - March 7, 2016 | 13
Beat by Beat | On Opera
Giovanni; he sang Schubert and Welsh songs. More recently he has
become famous for his renditions of the heavier Wagnerian roles (the
Dutchman, Wotan, Hans Sachs). In contrast, Hvorostovsky is essentially a high lyrical baritone, especially known for his interpretations
of Russian song, of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin and of the baritone
parts in many of Verdi’s operas (La Traviata, Simon Boccanegra, Don
Carlo, Un ballo in maschera). Since Terfel will be singing at Koerner
Hall on April 24, audiences will have a good chance to compare the
two singers. Last summer Hvorostovsky announced that he was
suffering from brain cancer and would have to take the summer off to
receive medical treatment. He added, however, that he would be back
in the fall to sing the role of the Count di Luna in Verdi’s Il Trovatore
at the Met, and that he would fulfill all subsequent engagements. So
far he has been as good as his word. On February 21, he will perform
songs by Glinka, Rimsky-Korsakov, Tchaikovsky and Strauss.
Tapestry Opera, as its name suggests, specializes in contemporary
opera. Many will remember the production of M’dea Undone by
John Harris and Marjorie Chan in April 2015. On February 5 and 6,
their sixth annual “Songbook” event showcases 36 years of Tapestry’s
original repertoire, in the hands of emerging singers and pianists in Tapestry’s New Opera 101 program. Rising Canadian mezzo,
Wallis Giunta, and conductor/pianist, Jordan de Souza, will anchor
“Songbook VI” at the Ernest Balmer Studio.
Benjamin Butterfield sings Schubert. On February 29, Butterfield
and pianist, Stephen Philcox will perform Schubert’s Die schöne
Müllerin at Walter Hall. I have heard Butterfield in the past (with
Tafelmusik and with the TSO) but never in this repertoire, so I am
very much looking forward to the recital.
Lunchtime concerts at the Four Seasons Centre: Bass Robert
Pomakov joins the Gryphon Trio in “Classics Reimagined” on Feb 2;
Christopher Purves, baritone, and Liz Upchurch, piano, perform in
“The Art of Song” on Feb 9; COC Ensemble Studio singers perform
highlights from Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro on Feb 10; Josef
Wagner, bass-baritone with Rachel Andrist, piano, performs
Schubert’s Winterreise on Feb 11; Doug MacNaughton, baritone and
guitar, performs in “Light and Shadow” on Feb 16.
Vocal Quick Picks: Theatre Passe Muraille presents “Chelsea Hotel:
The Songs of Leonard Cohen” from Feb 3 to 21; Faye Kellerstein
and Noreen Horowitz’s “The Ladies of Broadway” offers selections from Oklahoma!, The King and I, Fiddler on the Roof, My Fair
Lady and The Sound of Music at the Miles Nadal JCC, Feb 4; Alan
Cumming sings “Sappy Songs” (by Billy Joel, Stephen Sondheim,
Rufus Wainwright, Miley Cyrus and others) at the Winter Garden
Theatre, Feb 6; “One Sunday” recreates a Sunday “from the Canadian
Afrikan community of the 1960s” through song, script and piano,
performed by Tiki Mercury-Clarke at the Neighbourhood Unitarian
Universalist Congregation, Feb 7; mezzo Emily D’Angelo (who
recently won first prize in the COC Centre Stage competition for a
place in the COC Ensemble Studio) sings Messiaen’s Poèmes pour
Mi, along with works by Korngold, Mahler and others Feb 12, with
pianist Rashaan Allwood and the Junction Trio, at St. Anne’s Anglican
Church. (D’Angelo and Allwood will then reprise the Messiaen at
Heron Park Baptist Church on Feb 20.) Also on Feb 12, at Heliconian
Hall, the Gallery Players of Niagara/Eybler Quartet concert includes
a transcription of Schumann’s Liederkreis, Op.39, sung by the baritone Brett Polegato; to be repeated in the FirstOntario Performing
Arts Centre, St. Catharines, on Feb 14; rarely performed English art
songs will be performed by Marina Yakhontova and Brian Stevens
Feb 13 at Bloor Street United Church; on Feb 18 at the Canadian Music
Centre, composer Michael Purves-Smith and the soprano Caroline
Déry explore the connection between poetry and music in “Cabaret
Lyrique: Contrasts in Love”; on the jazz front, Feb 19 Laila Biali is at
the Living Arts Centre in Mississauga, while René Marie pays tribute
to Eartha Kitt at Koerner Hall; and Elizabeth Shepherd is at the COC’s
Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre, Feb 24.
Sesquicentennial
Riel Announced
O
CHRISTOPHER HOILE
n January 16, Canadian Opera Company General Director
Alexander Neef unveiled the COC’s 2016/17 season. Where the
2015/16 season featured the first mainstage world premiere of
a Canadian opera since 1999, the 2016/17 season will feature the first
professional revival since 1975 of Harry Somers’ Louis Riel (1967),
perhaps the best-known Canadian opera ever written. Other good
news includes the company premiere of an opera by Handel, star
casting in classic roles, greater use of Canadian directors (and a first
female Canadian conductor) and the renewal of Johannes Debus’
contract as the COC Music Director.
Bellini and Handel: The 2016/17 season will open with a new
production of Bellini’s bel canto masterpiece Norma (1831), last
seen here in 2006. The new COC production is co-produced with
San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago and Gran Teatre del
Liceu of Barcelona and is directed by American Kevin Newbury. Two
of the most in-demand sopranos today – American-born Sondra
Radvanovsky and South African-born Elza van den Heever – alternate
as the Druid high priestess Norma. American Russell Thomas returns
to sing Pollione, Norma’s Roman lover. American mezzo-soprano,
Isabel Leonard, returns to the COC in her role debut as Adalgisa,
Pollione’s new lover. And Russian bass Dimitry Ivashchenko, last
heard here as Hunding in Die Walküre, is Oroveso, Norma’s father. Bel
canto specialist Stephen Lord, who conducted Norma here in 1998,
will take the podium. Norma has eight performances from October 6
to November 5, 2016.
Running in repertory with Norma will be the company premiere of
Handel’s Ariodante (1735), one of several operas by Handel based on
Ludovico Ariosto’s Renaissance epic Orlando Furioso (1532). This will
be the sixth opera by Handel the COC has staged and the third since
2012. After falling into obscurity in the 19th century, Ariodante was
revived in the 1970s and is now regarded as one of Handel’s greatest
operas. The COC production is co-produced with Festival d’Aix-enProvence, Dutch National Opera, Amsterdam and Lyric Opera of
Chicago, and is directed by Richard Jones, who directed The Queen
of Spades here in 2002. British mezzo-soprano Alice Coote, last seen
here in 2014 as Dejanira in Handel’s Hercules, returns in the trousers role of Ariodante. Canadian soprano Jane Archibald makes her
role debut as Ginevra, Ariodante’s wronged fiancée. Armenian mezzosoprano Varduhi Abrahamyan makes her Canadian debut as Polinesso,
the jealous rival of Ariodante. Young Canadian coloratura soprano
Ambur Braid is Ginevra’s friend and unwitting betrayer, Dalinda.
Canadian tenor Owen McCausland is Ariodante’s vengeful brother,
Lurcanio, and French bass François Lis makes his Canadian debut as
Ginevra’s father, the King of Scotland. Johannes Debus will conduct
his first Handel opera. Ariodante has seven performances from
October 16 to November 4, 2016.
Mozart and Wagner: The winter season pairs two familiar COC
productions – Mozart’s The Magic Flute, last seen in 2011, and
Wagner’s Götterdämmerung last seen in 2006. The Magic Flute will
be staged by young Canadian director Ashlie Corcoran based on the
original direction by Diane Paulus. Québécois early music specialist
Bernard Labadie, music director of Les Violons du Roy, will make his
COC debut as the conductor. Canadian tenors Andrew Haji and Owen
McCausland alternate in the role of Tamino, Russian Elena Tsallagova
and Canadian Kirsten MacKinnon alternate in the role of Tamino’s
beloved Pamina, and Canadian baritones Joshua Hopkins and Phillip
Addis alternate as the bird-catcher Papageno. American Kathryn
Lewek and Canadian Ambur Braid share the coloratura soprano role
of the Queen of the Night, while Croatian bass Goran Jurić, in his
Canadian debut, and American bass Matt Boehler share the role of
Hans de Groot is a concertgoer and active listener
who also sings and plays the recorder. He can be
contacted at artofsong@thewholenote.com.
14 | February 1, 2016 - March 7, 2016
thewholenote.com
HARRY PALMER
Sarastro. The Magic Flute runs for 12 performances from
January 19 to February 24, 2017.
In repertory with Mozart’s lighthearted opera is Wagner’s
doom-laden Götterdämmerung, the fourth opera of
Wagner’s Ring Cycle, that concludes the action begun in
Das Rheingold and carried on through Die Walküre and
Siegfried. The charismatic American soprano Christine
Goerke, who stunned audiences here with her effortless
Brünnhilde in Die Walküre in 2015, returns to complete the
valkyrie’s fateful journey in Götterdämmerung. Austrian
tenor Andreas Schager makes his COC debut as Brünnhilde’s
beloved Siegfried. German baritone Martin Gantner is
Siegfried’s rival Gunther. Estonian Ain Anger makes his
Canadian debut as Gunther’s evil half-brother, Hagen. Ileana
Montalbetti is their sister Gutrune and Canadian bass Robert
Pomakov is the dwarf Alberich. The original director, Tim
Albery, takes the helm and Johannes Debus conducts his first
Götterdämmerung. The opera runs for seven performances
from February 2 to 25, 2017.
Somers’ Riel and Puccini’s Tosca: The spring season
opens with what will surely be the opera event of the year
– the revival of Harry Somers’ Louis Riel in a new production directed by Canadian Peter Hinton and conducted
by Johannes Debus. Somers wrote the opera for Canada’s
centennial in 1967 and now the COC is reviving it as a
co-production with the National Arts Centre in Ottawa for
Canada’s sesquicentennial in 2017.
The opera, with a libretto in English, French, Latin
and Cree by Mavor Moore and Jacques Languirand, focuses on the
Manitoba Métis schoolteacher Louis Riel (1844–85), who led the Red
River Rebellion of 1869–70 and the North-West Rebellion of 1884–85.
It is a story that serves as a nexus for tensions in Canada among the
English, French and First Nations. Led by Riel, the Francophone Métis
Harry Somers (1984)
prevented the newly appointed Anglophone, William McDougall, from
entering the huge territory acquired by the newly formed Canadian
government. Riel set up his own provisional government and negotiated directly with the Canadian government to establish Manitoba
as a province. With the arrival of Canadian troops, Riel was formally
Opera for Everyone
CANADIAN PREMIERE!
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Angelo
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Michèle
Ainsworth Bogdanowicz
OPERA IN CONCERT
Guillermo Silva-Marin, General Director
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Donizetti’s
Don Pasquale
by Antonio
Thurs., March 3, 2016, 7:30 pm
Sat., March 5, 2016, 7:30 pm
Larry Beckwith, Conductor
ARADIA ENSEMBLE
Artistic Director :
The VOICEBOX Chorus
Robert Cooper, Chorus Director
Geoffrey Butler
Stage Director
Dion
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Sunday, February 7 at 2:30 PM
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Come early! Opera Salon introducing ISIS AND OSIRIS,
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February 1, 2016 - March 7, 2016 | 15
Beat by Beat | Classical & Beyond
Frang and Skride
In Local Debuts
T
exiled from Canada but returned to lead the unsuccessful North-West
Rebellion of the Métis in what would become Saskatchewan, where he
was tried for high treason and executed.
Singing the title role is COC favourite Russell Braun. The allCanadian principals include baritone James Westman as Sir John
A. Macdonald; soprano Simone Osborne as Marguerite, Riel’s wife;
mezzo-soprano Allyson McHardy as Julie, Riel’s mother and confidante; tenor Michael Colvin as Thomas Scott, the Orangeman executed
on orders from Riel; and bass John Relyea as Bishop Taché, the cleric
who helped the government betray Riel. The COC gave Louis Riel its
world premiere in Toronto in 1967 and later performed it in Montreal.
The COC revived it in 1975 and took it to the National Arts Centre in
Ottawa and to the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., where the
Washington Star described it as “one of the most imaginative and
powerful scores to have been written in this century.” The opera runs
for seven performances from April 20 to May 13, 2017.
Moving from the unfamiliar to the familiar, the COC closes the
16/17 season with Puccini’s ever-popular Tosca (1900), last seen
in 2012. This will be the second revival of the production designed
by Kevin Knight and directed by Paul Curran. In 2012, Canadian
soprano Adrianne Pieczonka sang the title role. This time because
of its extended run, she will share it with American soprano Keri
Alkema. Returning to the COC is renowned Mexican tenor Ramón
Vargas making his role debut as Tosca’s lover, Cavaradossi, a role he
shares with Italian tenor Andrea Carè. German bass-baritone Markus
Marquardt makes his Canadian debut as the tyrannical Scarpia.
The production runs for 12 performances from April 30 to May 20.
Canadian conductor Keri-Lynn Wilson will make her COC debut at
the podium.
Also good news at the season announcement was that the contract
of popular COC music director Johannes Debus has been extended
through the 2020/21 season. The revival of Somers’ Louis Riel seems to
mark a new commitment to Canadian opera after this season’s staging
of Barbara Monk Feldman’s Pyramus and Thisbe. The staying power
of operas from the past can only be marked through revivals and the
COC is the only company in Canada big enough to revive a large-scale
opera like Louis Riel.
Also, the COC showed a new interest in fostering Canadian directing
talent with the selection of Ashlie Corcoran and Peter Hinton. The
late COC General Director Richard Bradshaw did much in this area by
pairing a wide range of Canadian film and stage directors with operas.
This led to such successes as Robert Lepage’s Bluebeard’s Castle/
Erwartung in 1992, Atom Egoyan’s Salome in 1996, François Girard’s
Oedipus Rex with A Symphony of Psalms in 1997, not to mention a
heart-wrenching Dialogues of the Carmelites by Diana Leblanc 1997,
a riveting Tosca by David William and an eerie The Turn of the Screw
by Christopher Newton in 2002.
The only negative note is that the number of performances will
shrink to 53 in 2016/17 from 55 in 2015/16, thus continuing their
gradual decrease from a high of 70 in 2009/10 season.
Turning to the current season: Turning to the present, two COC
productions will be playing in February. From February 2 to 14
is François Girard’s acclaimed production of Wagner’s Siegfried.
German tenor Stefan Vinke sings the title role while the amazing
soprano Christine Goerke returns as Brünnhilde in this, the third
opera in Wagner’s Ring Cycle. They are joined by Wolfgang AblingerSperrhacke as the dwarf, Mime, Alan Held as Wotan and Phillip Ens as
the dragon, Fafner. Johannes Debus conducts.
Running in repertory with Siegfried is Mozart’s The Marriage
of Figaro from February 4 to 27 in a production from the Salzburg
Festival directed by Claus Guth. Josef Wagner stars in the title role
with Jane Archibald as Susanna, Erin Wall as the Countess, Russell
Braun as the Count and Emily Fons as Cherubino. Johannes Debus
conducts. The COC Ensemble Studio takes over the principal roles on
February 22.
PA U L E N N I S
wo brilliant young European violinists make their local debuts
in February. In winning the 2001 Queen Elizabeth Competition,
Latvian violinist Baiba Skride joined such luminaries as Oistrakh,
Kogan, Laredo and Repin in the fiddling firmament. The Guardian
recently called Skride “a passionate heart-on-sleeve player.” Now 34,
she will appear with the TSO in Brahms’ richly sonorous Violin
Concerto, February 17 and 18.
According to BBC Music Magazine, the 29-year-old Norwegian,
Vilde Frang, “has the knack of breathing life into every note.” Frang
will give a recital at Koerner Hall, March 2, with Michail Lifits on
piano. Her program begins with Schubert’s Fantasy in C Major for
Violin and Piano D934, another masterpiece from the last year of the
composer’s life, and moves through Lutoslawski’s Partita, commissioned by Pinchas Zukerman in 1985, before concluding with Fauré’s
ever-popular Violin Sonata No.1. Frang began her musical education
at four, played Sarasate’s Carmen Fantasy with the Oslo Philharmonic
Orchestra, conducted by Mariss Jansons, when she was barely 13,
and was thrust into the limelight when she was named Credit Suisse
Young Artist of the Year in 2012. A recording contract and worldwide
touring were the result.
It’s illuminating to hear both violinists talking about inspiration
and interpretation in interviews readily available in cyberspace. Skride
told Tobias Fischer (on Tokali.com April 20, 2006) that interpretation
“means giving my opinion to the audience, while at the same time
respecting what the composer might have wanted. It’s a combination
of my personal beliefs and the composer’s probable intent.” Her interpretive process, she continued, is “almost always emotional. Of course,
there are certain things you have to know about and naturally you do
get your facts straight while preparing. But 99 percent is intuition,
absolutely.” Her approach to performing live is “simply giving everything you have in that very moment.”
In a YouTube video biography made shortly after her Credit
Suisse honour, while soaring on her violin in rehearsal for Bruch’s
Violin Concerto No.1 with Jakub Hrůša and the Philharmonia
Orchestra, Frang spoke of the importance she places on trusting
her instincts, how it’s crucial to take in things and let yourself be
inspired. “Inspiration is really the most important thing,” she said. “I
use my instrument as a tool [to transform inspiration]. Whether you
hear Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, a wonderful horn solo or the sound of
the sea, it’s something you can actually work with.”
Later that year, on August 1, 2012, Frang spoke with Laurie Niles
of violinist.com about what brought her to the violin. “My father is
a double bass player, and my sister is also a double bass player – my
mother isn’t a musician, actually. But I watched my sister play in
youth orchestras, when I was small, and obviously I thought I was the
next one in line, in the double basses family! To me it was a natural
thing, but then my father made this argument: our family had a
Volkswagen, which was a very tiny car. He said, ‘Can you imagine,
when we go on holiday, with three double basses? There is no chance
the whole family will get space in the car!’
“So he made me a smaller instrument. It was made of cardboard
– there were no strings on it. So I could put my Little Twin Star
stickers on it, and Hello Kitty stickers – but the fact that it didn’t make
any sound – I found this to be very frustrating! I had to ‘play’ on it
for almost a year until I finally got a violin which was alive, which
made sound.
“I remember the moment I got the violin that was real, that was
really living and alive – I’ve never practised so inspired in all my life, as
I did the first couple of days with that violin! I was in seventh heaven,
I was so happy.”
Christopher Hoile is a Toronto-based writer on opera and
theatre. He can be contacted at opera@thewholenote.com.
16 | February 1, 2016 - March 7, 2016
thewholenote.com
MARCO BORGGREVE
Niles asked
Frang, who began
with the Suzuki
method, how
she connected
with Anne-Sophie
Mutter (See my
November 2014
column in The
WholeNote for
more on Mutter
and her foundation): “I first played
for Anne-Sophie
Mutter when I was
11-years-old,” she
said. “After that,
she asked me to
keep her updated,
and she followed
my development.
I kept sending
her recordings
Vilde Frang
and tapes of my
playing, and letters about how I was doing. It was obviously a very
inspirational thing for me, because I knew that she was always there
watching, somewhere. When I was 15, she invited me to Munich to
audition for her again, and then I was taken into her foundation, her
Freundeskreis Stiftung, or Circle of Friends Foundation, and I was also
given this Vuillaume instrument.
“Ms. Mutter has also been a great, great mentor to me over all these
years. I did a tour with her in 2008, and we played in Carnegie Hall
and the Kennedy Center in Washington. I played the Bach Double with
her. Of course, I learned a lot from this experience, not only playing
for her, but playing with her. I think the most important was that she
encouraged me to always trust my own instincts and follow my own
voice. That is her top priority, and that’s the message she wanted to
give, which I think is a wonderful thing.
“But more than any other musician I know, she is extremely focused
on exploring the musical score, in order to get as close as possible
to the composer. Many people might consider her to be very free,
but actually she has the most authentic and strictest approach that I
know of. I think that is why she allows herself to have that amount of
freedom. The more you know the piece and the better you know the
score, the more freedom you actually have yourself.”
Hamelin past and future. Marc-André Hamelin’s Music Toronto
recital on January 5 had a blissful component running through it from
Liszt’s Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude to the Schubert Sonata
in B-flat D960 and the well-chosen encore, Messiaen’s Prelude “The
Dove.” For me, this emotional line reached its apex with the sublime
second movement of the Schubert which had a profundity that
reminded me of the last three Beethoven sonatas. There was a serenity
to Hamelin’s playing that was more pronounced than when he played
at Koerner Hall the previous March. At times he seemed to slow the
music just enough that you could feel it palpably.
During the conversation I had with him in November (see my article
in the December 2015-January 2016 issue of The WholeNote), Hamelin
described his relationship with Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto No.1,
which he will perform with the TSO on February 25 and 27. “I learned
it very early,” he told me. “I remember the first time I played it was
with Skrowaczewski and the Montreal Symphony. I believe it was
somewhere like 1990 or ’91. It’s certainly not the deepest piece ever
written but it shows consummate craftsmanship. And it’s also very
entertaining for audiences. And in some ways quite touching.” Louis
Langrée, famous for his stewardship of the Mostly Mozart Festival,
his career blossoming as music director of the Cincinnati Symphony
Orchestra, will conduct.
thewholenote.com
THE ASSOCIATES
OF THE
TORONTO
SYMPHONY
ORCHESTRA
2016 SEASON
Monday, February 22, 2016, 7:30 p.m.
Winds of the 20th Century
Carl Nielsen, Jean Françaix, Leoš Janáček
Monday, March 7, 2016, 7:30 p.m.
Ensembles from the Toronto Symphony
Youth Orchestra
The talented young solo artists and orchestral
musicians of the future, in a varied program.
Monday, April 11, 2016, 7:30 p.m.
Bow, Brush and Lens
Kye Marshal, Arnold Schoenberg,
Felix Mendelssohn
Monday, May 16, 2016, 7:30 p.m.
2, 3 and 4
Robert Schumann, Ernst von Dohnányi,
Sergei Prokofiev
Tickets $20, Seniors and Students $17
Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre, 427 Bloor Street West
Box Office 416-282-6636 | www.associates-tso.org
February 1, 2016 - March 7, 2016 | 17
NORMAN U. TIMONERA
Feb 13 Celebrate the Year of the Monkey
with the TSO as the great violinist Maxim
Vengerov is the soloist in the Butterfly Lovers
Concerto. Long Yu, artistic director of the
China Philharmonic Orchestra and music
director of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra,
conducts. Feb 22 The Associates of the TSO
present works by Françaix, Janáček and
Brahms for various combinations of flute,
oboe, horn, bassoon and two clarinets. Mar 2
Seven soloists from the TSO’s ranks (including
the ubiquitous Teng Li) showcase their talents
when the TSO presents music by Paganini,
Vivaldi and Haydn (his elegant and tuneful
Sinfonia Concertante in B-flat Major for the unusual combination of
soloists, violin, cello, oboe and bassoon).
Feb 17 The hip, Brooklyn-based orchestral collective, The Knights,
make their Koerner Hall debut, joined by violinist Gil Shaham, whose
warm playing should illuminate Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No.2, in
all its angularity and dark beauty. Feb 26 Koerner Hall gives us the
rare gift of hearing violinist Christian Tetzlaff, his sister, cellist Tanja
Tetzlaff and pianist Lars Vogt performing piano trios by Schumann,
Dvořák and Brahms. Richard Haskell praised them in these pages
last September for their “conducive music-making in the three
Brahms piano trios.” Andras Schiff’s monumental Feb 28 recital in
Koerner Hall is sold out. Those lucky enough to have tickets (myself
included) can look forward to a program memorable for its inclusion of the final piano sonatas by Haydn, Beethoven, Mozart and
Schubert. Mar 4 Much-in-demand (especially since she received the
Avery Fisher Career Grant in 2008) Canadian violinist, Karen Gomyo,
teams up with well-regarded cellist, Christian Poltéra, and talented
young Finnish pianist, Juho Pohjonen, to perform trios and sonatas by
Quick Picks
Feb 4 The last time I heard the Annex
Quartet, they showed their sensitive musicianship supporting Jan Lisiecki in the chamber
versions of Beethoven’s Piano Concertos Nos. 2
and 4. Their solid Music Toronto recital includes
string quartets by Janáček, R. Murray Schafer
and Mendelssohn. Feb 18 The irrepressible
St. Lawrence String Quartet makes its annual
visit to Music Toronto with works by Haydn,
Samuel Adams and Schumann. Mar 1 The distinguished British pianist Steven Osborne performs
two Schubert Impromptus D935 (fresh from his
Steven Osborne
sparkling new Schubert CD) and a selection of
Debussy and Rachmaninoff, in his Music Toronto return.
Feb 5 Conductor Eric Paetkau’s contagious energy and musicianship guide the eclectic group of 27 in Finzi’s bucolic A Severn
Rhapsody and a trio of French works including Dubois’ Cavatine for
Horn featuring the TSO’s Gabe Radford. The dynamic Nadina Mackie
Jackson is the bassoon soloist in the world premiere of Paul Frehner’s
Apollo X.
Feb 11 An ingenious piece of animation, The Triplets of Belleville
is filled with cultural references that fly by with terrific panache,
Sylvain Chomet’s 2003 film has rightly become a classic. Composer
Benoît Charest leads Le Terrible Orchestre de Belleville in the live
performance of his infectious, original score for the film (rooted in
1930s vaudeville/jazz) accompanying this special screening at Roy
Thomson Hall.
Feb 12 Cellist Rachel Mercer follows up her well-received CD of
Bach’s unaccompanied cello suites with an exciting concert of music
for solo cello at Gallery 345, beginning with one of those Bach suites.
Mercer then moves from Cassadó’s early 20th century suite to contemporary pieces by Andrew Downing and the world premiere of Darren
Sigesmund’s Solo Suite.
18 | February 1, 2016 - March 7, 2016
thewholenote.com
Haydn, Janáček and Dvořák. All four of these events are presented by
the Royal Conservatory.
Feb 19 The charming Trio Arkel (TSO members violist Teng Li and
cellist Winona Zelenka, COC concertmaster Marie Bérard) move into
their new venue, Jeanne Lamon Hall at Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre, with
a program including Gubaidulina’s exhilarating String Trio, Kodály’s
Serenade for Two Violins and Viola and Beethoven’s glorious Quintet
for Strings, Op.29 “The Storm.” Joining them for this and a repeat
concert in London, Feb 29, presented by the UWO Don Wright Faculty
of Music, will be violinist Scott St. John and violist Sharon Wei.
Feb 20 Also in London, Jeffery Concerts presents the awardwinning cellist Yegor Dyachkov and longtime chamber music partner,
pianist Jean Saulnier, in works by Brahms, Schumann and Janáček.
Feb 23 Charles Richard-Hamelin, who finished second in last year’s
prestigious Chopin competition in Warsaw, will give a COC free noonhour concert of a selection of Chopin’s last piano works at the Richard
Bradshaw Amphitheatre. Based on his thrilling performance of
Chopin’s Sonata No.3 at Mazzoleni Hall on January 15, I urge you not
to miss it.
Mar 3 The Women’s Musical Club of Toronto’s talent-laden season
continues with the widely acclaimed Daedalus String Quartet
performing Sibelius’ String Quartet in D Minor “Voces Intimae”
Op.56. Montreal native, clarinetist Romie de Guise-Langlois, joins
them in James MacMillan’s powerful lament, Tuireadh, and Brahms’
sublime Clarinet Quintet in B Minor Op.115.
Don’t miss Scotland’s most
celebrated conductor and composer
SIR JAMES
MACMILLAN
across Ontario this March!
“A towering
performance…
a conductor of
daunting ability.”
– Sunday Times
Paul Ennis is the managing editor of The WholeNote.
15
16
MUSIC IN THE
AFT E R NOON
118 TH SEASON
WOMEN’S MUSICAL CLUB OF TORONTO
James MacMillan: Seven Last Words from the
Cross and The Gallant Weaver. Plus works by
R. Murray Schafer, James Rolfe, and Knut Nystedt.
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR: SIMON FRYER
Walter Hall, Faculty of Music, University of Toronto (Museum Subway Station)
MARCH 3, 2016 | 1.30 PM
SOUNDSTREAMS
DAEDALUS STRING QUARTET
Min-Young Kim and Matilda Kaul, violins; Jessica Thompson, viola;
Thomas Kraines, cello with Romie de Guise-Langlois, clarinet
The Music of James MacMillan featuring Choir 21
March 8 at 8pm
Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre, Toronto
soundstreams.ca
APRIL 7, 2016 | 1.30 PM
DANNTHOLOGY
Steven Dann, viola;
with: Nico Dann, percussion; Robin Dann, voice; Lucas Dann, piano;
Ilana Zarankin, soprano; Joel Quarrington, double bass; James Parker, piano
ONTARIO TOUR
MAY 5, 2016 | 1.30 PM
PAVEL KOLESNIKOV
Isabel Bader Centre
for the Performing Arts
Featuring Choir 21
March 4 at 7:30pm
The Isabel
Kingston
theisabel.ca
Honens Prize Laureate, piano
Three Concerts for $110 | For information and to subscribe call 416-923-7052
All artists, dates, and programmes are subject to change without notice.
Support of the Ontario Arts Council, an agency of the Government of Ontario, and
the City of Toronto through the Toronto Arts Council is gratefully acknowledged.
PRESENTED BY
University of Waterloo
Featuring the Grand
Philharmonic Choir
March 6 at 3pm
St. Peter’s Lutheran Church
Kitchener
grandphilchoir.com
an Ontario government agency
un organisme du gouvernement de l’Ontario
Black
wmct@wmct.on.ca
www.wmct.on.ca
416-923-7052
CMYK
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February 1, 2016 - March 7, 2016 | 19
Pantone
Beat by Beat | In With the New
New Music’s
Healthy Crop
D
Brett Dean
W E N D A LY N B A R T L E Y
espite chilly temperatures outside, the accumulation of new
music events occurring in both Toronto and the main cities of
southern Ontario, in February and early March, can be likened
to a pot of water coming to a vigorously rolling boil. Bookending the
dates covered by this issue are two major new music festivals – the
University of Toronto’s New Music Festival (January 30 to February 7)
and the Toronto Symphony’s New Creations Festival, opening March 5
and concluding on March 16. Since these festivals straddle the listings
period, let’s begin with them, for those readers ready to jump in early
in February and for those who are planning well ahead for March.
U of T New Music Festival: As was previously mentioned in the
December-January issue of The WholeNote, the highlight of this
year’s U of T New Music Festival is the opportuniuties it presents to
experience the music of Canadian composer Allan Gordon Bell from
Calgary, as well as one concert featuring music of his former students.
A key aspect of Bell’s compositional approach is the way he maps
his listening experiences of the Canadian soundscape to the acoustic
world of instruments, whether that be orchestra, string quartet, opera
or jazz ensembles.
It also has a fine crop of workshops, master classes and guest
lectures, so I suggest perusing the listings and the festival website for
the full scope of what is to be experienced. (The Land’s End Ensemble
will also be performing a concert of works by Allan Bell and Omar
Daniel on February 5 at Western University in London.)
New Creations: Jumping ahead into March, it’s not too early to take
a peek into the upcoming New Creations Festival. This year’s featured
guest is Australian composer, violist and conductor, Brett Dean, who
is currently artist-in-residence with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
Dean spent a good part of his career in Europe playing viola for 14
years in the Berlin Philharmonic, eventually turning to composition
as he approached the age of 40. One of his signature works – his Viola
Concerto – will be performed by the composer at the opening concert
on March 5. Festivalgoers will hear two additional orchestral works
composed by Dean, along with a piece by fellow Australian Anthony
Pateras. Local DJ legend Skratch Bastid, who appeared last May at the
21C festival, will be performing, along with the Afiara String Quartet
in a commissioned work by Kevin Lau; Bastid has also been commissioned to create a Festival Remix for the final concert on March 12.
The festival will also offer a world premiere collaboration between
composer Paul Frehner and filmmaker Peter Mettler, a composition by
Australian James Ledger that pays tribute to Anton Webern and John
Lennon, and a piece by Jonny Greenwood of the iconic English rock
group, Radiohead. A more in-depth look at some of these artists and
concerts will appear in the March issue.
Pick of the Crop: February offers a broad scope for aficionados of
new music no matter what your stylistic preferences may be.
These early weeks of 2016 have seen the passing of several iconic
creative people from various artistic fields, among them French
composer and conductor Pierre Boulez, whose artistic ideas changed
the course of 20th century music. Boulez’s legacy will be celebrated in
a New Music Concerts program on February 15.
At the other end of the new music spectrum, the Art of Time
Ensemble offer a concert on February 19 and 20 that focuses on the
music of Frank Zappa, a musician whose work ranged from rock to
orchestral to musique concrète.
Somewhere in between, stylistically, Soundstreams has chosen to
highlight music for instruments of the squeezebox family for their
February 10 concert. This includes the accordion, the Argentinian
bandoneón and the Korean saenghwang, each performed by virtuosic
20 | February 1, 2016 - March 7, 2016
performers, such as Toronto’s own Joe Macerollo and Héctor del
Curto from Argentina, playing compositions by several Canadian
composers. R. Murray Schafer’s work, La Testa d’Adriana for soprano
and accordion, for one example, features the spectacle of only the
head of Adriana sitting on a table as she sings in interaction with the
accordionist.
Going Home Star: The Royal Winnipeg Ballet along with the
Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra is making a visit to the Sony Centre on
February 5 and 6 to perform a new work entitled Going Home Star –
Truth and Reconciliation, ballet, written by Joseph Boyden based on
stories that emerged during the Truth and Reconciliation Commission
tour of indigenous communities.
Contradictory as it may seem to use the European art forms of ballet
and orchestra to tell these stories, the creative team has worked to
bring aspects of indigenous culture into the overall mix in order to
push the boundaries of the form. With a score composed by Christos
Hatzis, the music includes the powerhouse vocals of Tanya Tagaq as
well as the Northern Cree Singers. Tagaq’s experimentalist approach to
traditional Inuit throat singing combines the influences of electronica
and industrial music to create an unforgettable experience. (Looking
ahead to May, Tagaq will be one of the featured artists of the upcoming
21C festival – but more on that in a couple of issues’ time.)
Roundup: The Music Gallery presents their second Emergents
concert of the season on February 5 with saxophone improvisations
by Linsey Wellman and a song cycle by composer Lisa Conway, based
on myths from Ovid’s Metamorphoses. The literary theme continues
the next evening on February 6 with Spectrum Music’s concert
featuring works by members of their composer collective based on
modern literary gems, including one work by Brad Cheesman inspired
by the novel Infinite Jest, written by the acclaimed American author
David Foster Wallace. On February 12, the Thin Edge New Music
Collective performs a series of premieres by both Canadian and international composers at the Array Space. And on March 6, they will
be performing in a pop-up afternoon concert there. Now in their
fifth year, Thin Edge is currently in the midst of their ensemblein-residence stint at Arraymusic, which will continue into next
season as well.
The Array Space is flourishing as a home for improvisers, with
several opportunities in February for fans of this scene to check
it out, including Audiopollination on February 13, coexisDance
on February 20, and various Toronto improvisers appearing on
February 16, 19 and 28. In this vein, I want to also mention two
Improv Soirées at York University on February 11 and March 3.
Mixed repertoire: A sure sign of the flourishing new music scene
is the increasing appearance of new music within concerts of more
standard classical repertoire and there are several examples of this
in February. The group of 27 chamber orchestra performs the world
premiere of Paul Frehner’s bassoon concerto, Apollo X on February 5.
The Junction Trio will perform new works by Ron Korb on February 21
and by Stephanie Martin on March 6. Music Toronto performs a work
by Schafer on February 4 and music by Oskar Morawetz can be heard
performed by Adam Sherkin on March 3.
thewholenote.com
Beat by Beat | Early Music
Who Says It’s Too
Late for Early?
D
And then there is the Off Centre Music Salon, an organization with
a tradition of providing opportunities for different musical traditions
to dialogue and engage. Their concert on February 25 at the Music
Gallery, inspired by the friendship between Vladimir Horowitz and Art
Tatum, will pit jazz and classical pianists against each other, as well as
singers from the improv, indie-folk and classical traditions.
To close things off, there is new music happening in concerts in
various southern Ontario cities throughout the period, many of
which also combine the new with the traditional. On February 6,
the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra performs A Thousand Natural
Shocks by Kelly-Marie Murphy. This concert also marks the debut
of the HPO’s conductor and music director, Gemma New. The Isabel
Bader Centre for the Performing Arts in Kingston presents Scottish
composer James MacMillan’s piece Seven Last Words of Christ as well
as Schafer’s The Fall into Light on March 4. The electroacoustic music
of Adam Tindale will be featured at the Kingston Community Strings
concert on February 19. The Peterborough Symphony Orchestra will
perform the violin concerto Erika’s Violin written by Elizabeth Raum
and performed by her daughter Erika on February 6.
In the Kitchener/Waterloo/Guelph area there are several concerts.
As part of their Mix Series, NUMUS presents emerging pianist Jason
White on February 21 performing Rzewski’s De Profundis as well as
a world premiere by Colin Labadie. Two members of the junctQín
Keyboard Collective will perform works by Canadian composers
Emily Doolittle and Martin Lachance on February 24 as part of the KW
Chamber Music Series.
And finally, if you are a fan of the theremin, an early electronic
music instrument, two early-month concerts on February 3 at the
University of Waterloo and on February 4 at Guelph University will
give you an opportunity to hear this music as performed by Eric Ross
with video art by Mary Ross.
DAV I D P O D G O R S K I
are one ask if there will come a time in music history when the
historically informed performance practice advocated by the
early music movement becomes no longer necessary? Devotees
of capital-C classical music may well wonder why the early music
revival is so preoccupied with bringing back minor composers from
the 17th and 18th centuries, but stops, officially, with the death of
Bach in 1750.
It’s a worthwhile question to ask: there were, after all, treatises
on musical practice, like those beloved by the early music movement, written well into the 19th century; and the instruments of a
Romantic-era orchestra were no more significantly different from
those of their predecessors as they are from an an orchestra of today.
Fans of Tafelmusik, for example, might once in a while dare to
whisper, given the group’s near-canonic range of orchestral literature,
that the group should take on more conventionally classical repertoire for a symphony orchestra. And indeed, they sometimes do. This
month, as an example, Tafelmusik is giving the concertgoing public
the opportunity to hear an early music take on the Classical and
Romantic eras. Hopefully they will both bend the ears of a few traditionalists with a rare foray into 19th century repertoire that features
works by Brahms, Beethoven and Rheinberger, and will offer a fresh
take on the works in question for hard core classicists more accustomed to hearing the same repertoire kicked to death by over-large
orchestras in unforgivingly large halls. If there’s an early music group
in Toronto that’s qualified to take on Romantic repertoire, Tafelmusik
is it – the group cut its teeth on Haydn and Mozart in the early ’90s,
making it the most forward-leaning ensemble on the Toronto early
music scene.
Tafelmusik’s concert, on February 4 through 7 at Koerner Hall,
features German conductor Bruno Weil, who has been leading the
group through the Beethoven piano concertos and symphonies since
1996, and is now back to complete the cycle with a performance of
the Ninth Symphony. While it’s easy to dismiss Beethoven’s Ninth
as the warhorse of orchestral concert programs (who can’t hum the
Ode to Joy?), it’s not often that one gets to hear it done by a period
ensemble on classical instruments. From a performance practice
Wendalyn Bartley is a Toronto-based composer and electrovocal sound artist. sounddreaming@gmail.com.
FEBRUARY 21, 2016 @ 3 PM
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427 Bloor Street West
featuring
FEBRUARY 25, 2016 @ 8 PM
THE MUSIC GALLERY
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OFF CENTRE dérangé
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- F. SCOTT FITZGERALD
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BORIS ZARANKIN
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- V. HOROWITZ
featuring
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co-presented with THE MUSIC GALLERY
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Jane Archibald
Mary Lou Fallis, host
Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre
trinitystpauls.ca
February 1, 2016 - March 7, 2016 | 21
JEAN BAPTISTE MILLOT
ensemble. And once more, it’s a
perspective, The Ninth is also the
chance to hear an early music take
gateway to the 19th century, and
on some orchestral standards by
the choral works chosen to accoma group that will do a first-class
pany it in this program complejob. Maybe that’s why Tafelmusik
ment Beethoven’s final symphony
keeps getting mistaken for the
perfectly. Brahms’s chromatic,
TSO. You can catch Tafelmusik
fugal Warum ist das Licht gegeben
doing Mozart at their more usual
and Rheinberger’s beautifully
venue, Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre,
imitative Abendlied are both
February 25 to 28.
delightful to listen to and entirely
The Way of the Consort: It’s been
appropriate for an early music
16 years since the Toronto Consort
group – Brahms’ well-known
released their medieval album The
penchant for trying to compose in
Way of the Pilgrim, and if you’ve
the style of Bach is quite evident
never heard the disc before, you’ll
here, and the Rheinberger sounds
get a chance to hear it in concert
like a Palestrina motet updated for a
Mira Glodeanu returns to lead Tafelmusik February 25 to 28
February 12 and 13. The Consort is
19th-century audience.
re-releasing the album this month on the Toronto-based independent
Weil is also a fine conductor with the unique ability to straddle
label Marquis records, and celebrating the occasion with a concert/
both early music and modern territory deftly. Having him back to
conduct the Ninth in order to complete the Beethoven cycle celebrates CD-release-party at Trinity-St. Paul’s on February 12 and 13 at 8
pm. The Way of the Pilgrim features songs from the 12th and 13th
a particularly successful artistic collaboration between the conductor
centuries, from Spain, France and Germany, sung by crusaders, travand the orchestra. Who knows? Maybe we will see Weil next year
ellers, and yes, pilgrims to the Holy Land. The Way of the Pilgrim
conducting Tafelmusik in a Schubert or Brahms symphony.
became something of a seminal album after its release in 2000, and it
If you miss this particular orchestral extravaganza, you might
ranks as one of the best recordings of medieval music by a Canadian
still want to catch Tafelmusik’s other concert later this month. Like
group, so it’s good to see that the Consort is giving the disc some
the earlier concert, it features the group doing orchestral repertoire
publicity as well as a live performance.
that stretches hard-line early music definitions; this time Mozart,
Scaramella pardessus: The social conventions around what is
not Beethoven, is the evening’s dedicatee. The Romanian violinist
considered appropriate behaviour often seem confusing to outsiders
Mira Glodeanu will return to lead the group in a concert of Mozart’s
or succeeding generations. In the ultra-conservative conformity
greatest hits – including Eine kleine Nachtmusik, Symphony No.
of 18th-century France, it was apparently considered unladylike
40 and his Sinfonia Concertante. It should be a worthwhile evening
behaviour for a woman to hold a violin on her shoulder, or worse,
for similar reasons to the Beethoven concert – like Weil, Glodeanu is
under her chin. The elegant solution the French came up with was
a gifted musician with an ear for Classical repertoire, and it will be
the pardessus de viole, a miniature version of the viola da gamba
interesting to see what kind of performance she can pull out of the
that could play music in the same register as the violin while being
held daintily in the lap. On March 5 at 8pm in the Victoria College
Chapel Scaramella pays tribute to this eccentric instrument with a
concert of French music composed just for the pardessus de viole.
Montreal-based gambist Mélisande Corriveau joins New York harpsichordist Eric Milnes and Toronto’s own Jöelle Morton for a concert of
French 18th-century music. An excellent chance to hear a rare instrument played by a virtuoso, so be sure to check it out.
Pisendel: Sometimes you can judge someone by the company he
keeps. We might not appreciate the music of Johann Georg Pisendel
very much today, but the Dresden composer and orchestra leader was
a colleague and friend to a galaxy of talent in 18th century Germany
and Italy, including Bach, Vivaldi, Telemann, Zelenka, JG Graun … you
get the idea. Although Pisendel was more of a bandleader and violinist
than a composer – he left us with just a handful of violin concertos,
orchestral works and sonatas – he had the good fortune to be a musician in a city where culture counted for a lot. His employer, Augustus
the Strong, may well rank as the most extravagant man in history, and
spent lavishly on cultural events ranging from court balls, Venetianinspired masquerades, and animal-tossing contests (?) in order
to entertain a wide succession of mistresses, to a court orchestra,
directed by Pisendel and paid for by Augustus, which was one of the
finest, and largest, in Europe. On February 28 at 2 pm at Gallery 345,
my group, Rezonance, presents a concert of some of the finest music
of the late Baroque, all dedicated to a man who was one of the greatest
conductors of his day. If I may be permitted to blow my own (modern)
horn for a moment, Rezonance is an energetic ensemble that features
up-and-coming talent in the city playing insightful and interesting
concert programs. If you’re interested in an informal, fun concert of
chamber music, this concert promises to be both informative and
entertaining.
David Podgorski is a Toronto-based harpsichordist, music
teacher and a founding member of Rezonance. He can
be contacted at earlymusic@thewholenote.com.
22 | February 1, 2016 - March 7, 2016
thewholenote.com
Beat by Beat | Choral Scene
The Power of
Raised Voices
BRIAN CHANG
VINCE PAHKALA
“Ballet cuts right to the heart of what’s most beautiful, physically in humanity and what’s most beautiful in story. We are taking a
very European form and introducing it to a First Nations experience.”
– Joseph Boyden
remarkable moment in history arrived on December 15,
2015, when the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of
Canada presented its final report on the dark history of Indian
Residential Schools. Beginning in 2008 the TRC has gathered testimony from 6,000 survivors of, and witnesses to, a 120-year legacy
of institutional racism, neglect and destruction. The report makes 94
specific calls to action to help create a better future and to acknowledge and repair the damages of the past and present. The Royal
Winnipeg Ballet’s production of Going Home Star – Truth and
Reconciliation, which is being presented in Toronto at the Sony Centre
for three performances on February 5 and 6, can be seen as a swift
response to this call for action.
With the support of the TRC of Canada, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet
commissioned a story by author Joseph Boyden to be set to music by
composer Christos Hatzis and choreographed by Mark Godden for
the RWB’s 75th anniversary. In this story, Boyden, the Giller Awardwinning author of Through Black Spruce, brings together Annie,
“a young, urban First Nations woman adrift in a contemporary life
of youthful excess,” and Gordon, “a homeless First Nations man
who escaped the Residential School system … [who] possesses the
magic and power of the trickster.” Accompanying the RWB is the
the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. Vocal music is provided by the
incredible Tanya Tagaq, Steve Wood and the Northern Cree Singers,
with Tagaq’s voice as an ancestral presence, powering Annie’s story
and her reconnection to history. The power of voices joined in song
is also there in the show, with the Pow Wow of the Northern Cree
Singers bringing the final scene of the first act to its culmination,
with wild drumming creating the sound of a train. The music is truly
invigorating.
The show’s composer, two-time JUNO Award recipient Christos
Hatzis, is no stranger to working with Aboriginal peoples, having
spent considerable time producing music inspired by the Inuit,
including the award-winning radio documentary Footprints in the
A
Liang Xing and Sophia Lee in Going Home Star – Truth and Reconciliation
Snow. During the year he spent working on the music for Going
Home Star, he developed anxiety and was briefly hospitalized as he
came to terms with the difficult stories that inform the work. It is no
light undertaking. As Boyden says “[It’s] a way to allow Canadians to
begin to understand something of such huge pain [and] … to absorb
not just the pain and the anger but the beauty as well.”
It’s a thought mirrored in the TRC report itself: “Residential
schools were a systematic, government-sponsored attempt to destroy
Aboriginal cultures and languages and to assimilate Aboriginal
peoples so that they no longer existed as distinct peoples …. Across the
globe, the arts have provided a creative pathway to breaking silences,
transforming conflicts, and mending the damaged relationships of
violence, oppression, and exclusion.”
I will be in the audience for Going Home Star – Truth and
Reconciliation, and I hope you will be too.
Klang der Ewigkeit: I am a big fan of cross-disciplinary music
collaborations, so I’m very excited to see the Orpheus Choir/Chorus
Niagara presentation of the Canadian premiere of German filmmaker
Bastian Clevé’s 2005 film, Klang der Ewigkeit (Sound of Eternity), a
multimedia presentation of the Bach Mass in B Minor. Consisting of
27 short episodes inspired by the 27 movements of the mass, Clevé’s
scenescapes were filmed across the globe from Germany to Morocco,
India to the United States. Originally created for Helmuth Rilling
at the Bach Oregon Festival, the setting was controversial since the
B Minor Mass is beloved by many and thought to be perfect in its
existing form. But crossing the lines between music and visual art is
not new. Another current example, The Decades Project, unites the
Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the Art Gallery of Ontario in an
exploration of the ways in which visual art has inspired music and
music has inspired visual art. Earlier this year the presentation of
Claude Debussy’s La Mer accompanied an impressionist painting by
Lydia Adams,
Conductor & Artistic Director
L ove
NotES
❤
Saturday, February 20, 2016 • 7pm
Jubilee United Church, 40 Underhill Drive, Toronto
A celebration of Love with jazz favourites by
guest vocalist Sharon Smith and friends.
Please join us for entertainment,
food, and fun at our annual fundraising
concert and silent auction.
TICKETS : $45 REGULAR |
$35 STUDENTS/SENIORS
416-446-0188 • www.amadeuschoir.com
thewholenote.com
February 1, 2016 - March 7, 2016 | 23
later, at 3pm, at Grace Church-onArmand Guillaumin at the AGO.
the-Hill, the U of T Faculty of Music’s
The Orpheus Choir, along with Chorus
New Music Festival presents a “Choral
Niagara, performs Klang der Ewigkeit
Contemporary Showcase Concert”
with the Talisker Players on March 5 at
featuring the U of T Men’s Chorus and
FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre
Women’s Chamber Choir with Hilary
in St. Catharines and on March 6 at
Apfelstadt, Elaine Choi and Tracy Wong
Metropolitan United Church in Toronto.
conducting. And at 4pm, the Toronto
In the (not very) bleak midwinter:
Children’s Chorus is presenting a free
There is so much happening in choral
outreach concert at St. Paul’s Basilica
music the first weekend of February,
on Power St., featuring their Chorale
you’ll be hard-pressed to choose:
Choir and Youth Choir; Elise Bradley
Tafelmusik’s epic journey to record
and Matthew Otto conduct.
every Beethoven symphony comes to
Also of note: Speaking of the Toronto
a head with the most thrilling of them
Children’s Chorus, the TCC Chamber
all – Beethoven’s Symphony No.9. As
A frame from Bastian Clevé’s Klang der Ewigkeit
Choir will be going on tour in Boston and
Beethoven’s last symphonic work, and
New York City in early March, performing
largely, his most popular, Tafelmusik’s
Choir and Orchestra will fill Koerner Hall with unforgettable music in with Coro Allegro and the Boston City Singers in Cambridge,
singing in the Choirs of America Nationals and performing at Stern
four performances beginning February 4.
On February 6, the Toronto Mass Choir, under director Karen Burke, Auditorium in Carnegie Hall. Before they go, they’ll be warming up
in a concert titled “Poles Apart,” February 27 at Yorkminster Park
will be presenting a concert in collaboration with the Toronto Jazz
Baptist Church.
Orchestra at Bloor Street United Church at 7:30pm. (And if you miss
The following day, February 28 at 4pm, and right across the road
Mass Choir then, you can catch them later in the month when, along
with York University, they will be hosting “Power Up,” a gospel music at Christ Church Deer Park, the Toronto Classical Singers and the
Talisker Players Orchestra present “Fauré’s Requiem and Duruflé’s
workshop. With workshops ranging from Introduction to Steelpan
Requiem, along with other music these popular pieces have inspired.
to Choir 101 to instrument coaching to dance, this three-day intenLater that same day at 7.30pm, the Schola Cantorum Choir and the
sive event runs February 19 to 21, finishing with a concert at Islington
Theatre of Early Music Orchestra present choruses from a variety of
Evangel Centre. With live instruments and well over 100 singers, the
popular masterworks including Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, St. John
Toronto Mass Choir will definitely raise the roof.)
Passion and Handel’s Messiah and Israel in Egypt in the Trinity
Also on February 6, the Mississauga Festival Choir presents its
College Chapel at the University of Toronto.
annual “Festival of Friends.” Ten years on, this concert has raised
This being a leap year, there’s an extra day in February, and what
$25,000 for local charities, this year’s beneficiary being Alzheimer
better way to celebrate it than with the massive 200-voice Bach
Society Peel. Six choirs will be featured including the very wellChildren’s Chorus, as part of Roy Thomson Hall’s free noon-hour
known Cawthra Park Secondary School Boys in B & Chamber Choir,
the Mississauga Festival Chamber Choir, the Mississauga Festival Youth concerts. These concerts feature the grand organ and are a lovely break
from a day’s work.
Choir, the Mississauga Choral Society Chorus and the Queensmen
And on into March, right at the beginning of the month, the Kaleid
Male Chorus. Singing en masse and separately, highlights include
Choral Festival takes place in Kitchener. Under the leadership of
Timothy Corlis’ Gloria (Missa Pax), Eric Whitacre’s Water Night and
Jennifer Moir, this two-day festival for young voices culminates in a
Stephen Hatfield’s Jabula Jesu.
performance on March 3 in St. Peter’s Lutheran Church, Kitchener.
February 7 is even more jam-packed. At 7pm the Victoria College
Artist-in-residence of the festival, Rajaton, will be performing as well.
Choir and the Toronto School of Theology Choir present a free
This small Finnish a cappella group produces music unlike any other
performance of Vivaldi’s Gloria in the Victoria College Chapel. Earlier
heard in Canada.
in the day, at 2:30, VOICEBOX: Opera in Concert presents Salieri’s
Falstaff at the Jane Mallett Theatre, with the VOICEBOX Opera in
Concert Chorus ably supporting a fine cast of soloists. Half an hour
Follow Brian on Twitter @bfchang Send info/media/
tips to choralscene@thewholenote.com
2015-2016
Making a
Robert Cooper, C.M., Artistic Director
Scene!
Edward Moroney, Accompanist
SOUND OF ETERNITY Bach Mass in B Minor
Sunday March 6, 2016 4:30 p.m.
Metropolitan United Church, 56 Queen St E.
Rediscover Bach’s majestic Mass in B Minor with German filmmaker Bastian Clevé’s dramatic
film Sound of Eternity, a lush visual interpretation of Bach’s masterpiece. Mirroring the grand
emotional span of the Mass, Clevé’s 27 short episodes move from alpine mountains to glaciers
to peaceful valleys and pulsating metropolitan cities. A Canadian premiere, this breath-taking
choral and cinematic tour-de-force offers a powerful meditation on the circle of life.
Anita Krause, mezzo • Geoff Sirett, baritone • Jennifer Krabbe, soprano • Charles Sy, tenor
Orpheus Choir • Chorus Niagara • The Talisker Players
Tickets: $35; $30 senior; $10 student
www.orpheuschoirtoronto.com
an Ontario government agency
un organisme du gouvernement de l’Ontario
24 | February 1, 2016 - March 7, 2016
thewholenote.com
Beat by Beat | Bandstand
Johnny Cowell
Ninety and Still
Counting!
JOAN ANDREWS
F
JACK MACQUARRIE
or most of us the arrival of January heralds the beginning of a
new year or the departure from an old year. For some it marks the
beginning of a new decade in their lives. A few days ago I had the
pleasure of attending the birthday party for one such person. It was
trumpeter Johnny Cowell’s 90th birthday party. Johnny and Joan, his
wife of 60-plus years, were the very special guests.
Johnny has been a prominent part of the Toronto music scene for 70
years. His trumpet playing in Toronto started at age 15 when he travelled from his home town of Tillsonburg, Ontario, and began playing
in the Toronto Symphony Band. However, there was a war on, and as
soon as he was old enough, he enlisted in the navy. Within weeks of
his enlistment, Johnny was the trumpet soloist in the band of HMCS
Naden, the principal Canadian Navy base in Esquimault, B.C.
As we chatted at his birthday party, I started to wonder if our paths
might have crossed on more than one occasion over the years. After
all, our birthdays are less than a month apart and we both started
playing in bands at an early age. Actually Johnny started when, at age
five, he was given a used trumpet by his uncle. I didn’t start until I was
13. I lived in a larger community than Tillsonburg and, in addition to
adult bands, we had a boys’ band. His first band experience was with
the Tillsonburg Citizens’ Band.
A few months ago I mentioned in this column how small-town
summer-band tattoos were a significant part of a band member’s life.
I had played in many such tattoos in Southwestern Ontario. As we
chatted, it turned out Johnny had not only played in many of the same
tattoos, he had played trumpet solos in these events. As for music
festivals, such as those in Waterloo or the Stratford Music Festival with
Professor Thiele, the answer was the same. We had both been at them.
As teenagers playing in community bands at the same tattoos
and festivals, we never met. Even though we both joined the navy at
the same age and at about the same time, our paths never crossed
there. It was only years later that, in a musical situation reminiscent of our teenage years, we met, playing once again in a marching
band. It may seem hard to believe today, but in the early 1960s the
Toronto Argonauts had their own professional marching band which
performed fancy routines on the field at all home games. Some may
have thought that this was below one’s dignity or not in keeping with
professional musical standards. However, why not get well paid to go
to see the hometown team play football? So that is where we met.
While Johnny is best known for his trumpet virtuosity, he has won
considerable acclaim as a writer and arranger. In fact, on more than
one occasion he turned down attractive offers which might have
brought him fame by writing for stage productions or getting involved
in the Nashville scene. However, the trumpet, his all-abiding first
musical love, second only to that for his wife Joan and their family,
always won out. Offers which would inevitably have separated him
from his trumpet were declined.
Even though he elected to stay home and play trumpet, Johnny
certainly did not turn his back on writing. I couldn’t hope to count
how many of his tunes could be heard on the radio in the 60s.
His 1956 ballad Walk Hand in Hand could be heard on every radio
station in those days. His writing wasn’t limited to that genre. He
has been equally at home writing for trumpet and brass ensembles.
Playing a few selections from the Johnny Cowell CDs in my collection,
I am amazed at the broad gamut of his trumpet works. At one end of
Ninety plus, to the power of three! (from left) Columnist Jack
MacQuarrie, bandleader Eddie Graf and birthday boy Johnny Cowell
the spectrum there is his dazzling Roller Coaster, and on the other
end, his Concerto in E Minor for Trumpet and Symphony Orchestra.
While he is officially retired, he still practises on his trumpet regularly
and is expecting to be a guest soon with the Hannaford Junior Band
playing his composition Roller Coaster with members of that group.
As I sat down for a brief chat with Johnny and 94-year-old Eddie
Graf, who is still playing and writing arrangements, I was humbled to
say the least.
A weekend of special programs: The weekend of February 27 and
28 stands out as a special one for aficionados of the music of wind
ensembles. First, on Saturday we have the Silverthorn Symphonic
Winds continuing their 2015/2016 season with a program called
“Musician’s Choice,” where those planning the program have
consulted band members to determine what music they would like
to perform. They have chosen a broad spectrum from Howard Cable’s
The Banks of Newfoundland to Shostakovich’s Festive Overture.
Within that spectrum they take their audience all the way from Percy
Grainger’s Irish Tune from County Derry to Norman Dello Joio’s
Satiric Dances and Steven Reineke’s The Witch and the Saint. This
latter number is a tone poem depicting the lives of twin sisters Helena
and Sibylla, born in Germany in 1588 at a time when twin children
were considered a very evil omen. As the story unfolds, instruments
in the band which seldom get solos have an opportunity to employ
their special sounds to tell the story of the twins during their lives.
If that isn’t enough, the band might just be able to squeeze in some
excerpts from Leonard Bernstein’s Candide. It all takes place Saturday,
February 27, at 7:30pm at Wilmar Heights Event Centre.
The following evening the Wychwood Clarinet Choir will present
their “Midwinter Sweets.” Exploiting the unique sounds of a clarinet
ensemble to the full, they will feature Red Rosey Bush by composer
and conductor laureate Howard Cable. The composing and arranging
talents of choir member Roy Greaves come to the fore in his composition Trois Chansons Québécoises and his arrangement of Gustav
Holst’s St. Paul’s Suite. That’s Sunday, February 28, at the Church of
St. Michael and All Angels.
KALEID
CHORAL FESTIVAL 2016
A Project of Lyrical Lines
www.kaleidchoralfestival.com
thewholenote.com
featuring acclaimed Finnish
a cappella ensemble RAJATON
March 2 & 3, 2016 at 7 p.m.
St. Peter's Lutheran Church, Kitchener
Sponsored by
kaleidchoralfestival
@Kaleid2016
February 1, 2016 - March 7, 2016 | 25
Beat by Beat | World View
Elsewhere in the band world
February 4 and March 3. The Encore Symphonic Concert
Band presents their monthly noon-hour concert of “Classics
and Jazz,” with John Edward Liddle conducting at Wilmar
Heights Centre.
February 5 at 7:30, as part of the U of T Faculty of Music
New Music Festival, you can hear Rosauro’s Concerto for
Marimba performed by Danielle Sum.
February 7 at 3pm at Knox Presbyterian Church
in Waterloo (and repeated on February 21 at 3pm at
Grandview Baptist Church in Kitchener) the Wellington
Wind Symphony offers “Remembering” with works by
Brahms, Erwazen, Woolfenden and Alford. Also on the
program will be Morawetz’s In Memoriam for Martin
Luther King, Jr.
February 21 at 3pm The Hannaford Street Silver Band will
present “German Brass” with Fergus McWilliam, French
horn, and James Gourlay, conductor.
February 23 at 7:30 The Metropolitan Silver Band will
present “Jubilee Order of Good Cheer,” a blend of classics, marches, sacred, popular and contemporary works at
Jubilee United Church.
For details on all these consult The WholeNote
concert listings.
Calling all brass: For a number of years, the Canadian
Band Association, Ontario has held Community Band
Weekends sponsored by a number of community bands in
various communities across the province. This year there
is a new twist. For the first time, CBA-Ontario will host
a Community Brass Band Weekend from Friday evening
February 19 to Sunday, February 21. Hosted by the Oshawa
Civic Band, the event should not only offer a meeting
ground for dedicated brass band devotees but introduce
brass players from concert bands to the style and repertoire of the All Brass culture. All musical events will take
place at Trulls Road Free Methodist Church, 2301 Trulls
Road S., Courtice. Details on registration were spotty at
time of writing: consult cba-ontario.ca/cbw-registration
for updates.
We have another new all-brass band to report on. The
York Region Brass began rehearsals in Newmarket a few
months ago and are inviting brass players to join them. They
rehearse on Wednesday evenings and would particularly
welcome cornet, trombone and tuba players. If you play a
brass instrument and are interested in exploring that genre
contact Peter Hussey by email at pnhussey@rogers.com.
Another special musical event: Although it has nothing
whatsoever to do with band music, I can’t end without
reporting on a recent outstanding musical event in
Toronto. The Amadeus Choir, the Elmer Iseler Singers
and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Bernard Labadie, performed a special “semi-staged”
version of Mozart’s Requiem K626. The combined choirs,
soloists and conductor, all performing the entire work
from memory, gave this monumental work new meaning.
Through movements and gestures, conceived by stage
director Joel Ivany, choir members and soloists conveyed
the concept of loss and redemption that is the heart of
the requiem mass. To set the mood for the choral work,
as a prelude, the TSO Chamber Soloists performed the
Largetto movement from Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet in A
Major, K581.
Jack MacQuarrie plays several brass instruments and
has performed in many community ensembles. He
can be contacted at bandstand@thewholenote.com.
26 | February 1, 2016 - March 7, 2016
Rich Hybrid
Motherlode
ANDREW TIMAR
I
t’s February. It’s still dark before you arise, and cold, with nary a sign of green
outside. February is also Black History Month and all over Toronto politicians,
schools and cultural organizations are marking it in various ways.
On its events page, the Music Gallery’s David Dacks writes that from its
earliest days the MG “has welcomed adventurous Afro-diasporic sounds [such]
as free jazz, the science fact/fiction of Sun Ra’s Arkestra and the advanced
musical theories of George Lewis. This commitment has intensified over the past
several years with events with saxophone titan Matana Roberts, jazz elder Henry
Grimes, mbira innovator Evelyn Mukwedeya, and ‘world music 2.0’ theorist DJ/
rupture.”
For Black History Month 2016, the
MG presents a two-part event which
pushes these explorations further.
Val-Inc: body and spirit: the first
of these starts at 5pm Saturday,
February 20, with a free panel
discussion called “The New Black:
Challenging Musical Tropes” with
Val-Inc and Witch Prophet, two
“Black artists who create stereotypechallenging music” on the panel,
along with moderator Alanna Stuart
(Bonjay, CBC), Garvia Bailey (JazzFM)
and Amanda Parris (CBC). They plan
to delve into ways in which awareness can be raised around “underrepresented facets of Afro-diasporic
cultural expression, specifically
Val-Inc
within Black Canadian culture.”
Putting these concerns to the musical test that same evening at 8pm, will be a
concert titled “Val-Inc + Witch Prophet.” Val-Inc is Val Jeanty, once a member of
Norah Jones’ band. Her music was described by the New York Times as blending
“traditional-sounding music from Haiti with synthesized sounds and instruments to develop a genre she calls ‘Afro-Electronica.’” Her audiovisual installations have been showcased at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Whitney
Museum, Museum of Modern Art and in European galleries.
Val-Inc’s own characterization of her music is more inclusive; she describes
it as evoking “the musical esoteric realms of the creative subconscious by incorporating African Haitian musical traditions into the present and beyond,
combining acoustics with electronics and the archaic with the postmodern.”
Just how does she do that? I called her in New York City to find out.
I asked first about the accuracy of a media depiction I had read of her music
as “Big Apple Vodou.” “I grew up in Port-au-Prince, Haiti,” she responded,
“attending Catholic schools as well as practising Vodou within my family,
learning to drum [in that context] when I was five years of age.”
So how does this joint spiritual and musical practice influence how she sees
the relationship between sound, music and spirituality? “In Vodou there’s no
separation between sound, sounds and prayers to the ancestors, as in the case
of Guédé, in the spiritual realm,” she explains. [Fête Guédé, the Festival of the
Dead, is celebrated on November 2, All Souls’ Day]. “It’s something that has to
be experienced. I practise it to sustain life … not in order to produce a commercial music product.”
And her drumming practice since childhood and its echoes in her electronics? “There’s not a conscious connection between Vodou drum patterns
and my electronics, but [rather a path I find] through improv. I trust the spirit to
help me via the looper [digital looping station].”
In one track I listened to (“V-iPod #222” on Soundcloud) it’s hard to tell if the
track features a machine or an acoustic tabla. “Whatever it is, it sounds convincing,” I say to her. “I played that on the Roland HandSonic HPD-20, a kind of
thewholenote.com
gave birth to a rich new culture blending religion, dance, food and
music. “Many of their grandchildren became influential musicians,”
she says, “like Charley Patton (Choctaw) and Scrapper Blackwell
(Cherokee). We can continue the roll call with Duke Ellington,
Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Don Cherry, Miles Davis, Jim Pepper
and Don Pullen in jazz. Let’s add Little Richard, Jimi Hendrix, Tina
Turner, Link Wray and Jesse Ed Davis for good measure.”
Early in her career singing with rock bands in NYC, her role models
- in addition to her mother and grandmother - were the leading
female singers of the previous generation: Joni Mitchell, Buffy SainteMarie and Aretha Franklin. Fé was “drawn by their spirit and style.”
All this is the rich hybrid motherlode extensively mined by Fé.
Aiming to explore the bluesy voice of Native Americans as well as their
self-determination, in 1987 she formed the singing trio Ulali with Soni
Moreno and Jennifer Kreisberg, a project which continues as a quartet.
Seven albums followed. Her latest, Sacred Seed (2015) for Nueva Onda
Records, captures those multi-faceted influences, featuring her multitracked voice with a backup studio band consisting of guitar, banjo,
piano, percussion and cello. The tracks resound with references to the
Tuscarora Nation whose musical traditions she carries with indelible ardour.
At her February 26 Music Gallery concert, however, Fé will present
her music more intimately with just her voice, accompanying herself
“with guitar, drum and a loop station which gives me the choral background I crave.” Her repertoire will focus on her Sacred Seed set
list: her own songs like “Idle No More,” plus jazz classics like Duke
Ellington’s “In a Sentimental Mood.” Roots blues legend Taj Mahal
glowingly summed up Fé’s music: “With her voice soaring, foot
stomping, this beautiful songbird transcends time and brings the
message of our Ancestors who have sown this beautiful seed [through
her] powerful music.”
drumpad, a digital hand percussion device. With practice (and understanding of hand drumming) you can transfer your personal energy
into the machine. In the end such tools are just tools, carrying the
spirit. Bypass skin colour, distance, language and what you’re left with
is spirit,” she concludes.
“[The spiritual in music] … is speaking to the soul … feeding the soul
… I’m not trying to connect the spirit to music – but rather it’s trying
to do me – it’s doing the work! [Let’s not forget that] everyone around
the world has a spirit.”
In our chat, Val-Inc’s all-embracing universalist vision came clearly
into focus for me: spirit transcending perceived human distinctions
such as skin colour, race, geographical origin, religious affiliation and
other potentially divisive cultural factors. Makes sense to me.
Pura Fé highlights African-Native American music: Jim Merod,
in his 1995 essay Jazz
as a Cultural Archive,
Pura Fé
proposed that jazz is
not only a reflection
of North American
culture but also serves
as an archive of that
culture. The work of
singer, guitarist, songwriter, activist and
teacher Pura Fé extends
that notion to other
vernacular music
genres, presenting a
rich fabric woven of
many cultural strands
and colours, so that
it is near-impossible to unravel them
all: namely the role of
indigenous peoples in African-Native American contact, cohabitation,
cultural sharing and performance practice.
It is something which occurred in multiple intimate and sometimes
complicated and layered ways, arising from shared histories over
several hundred years and reflected in various features of the music
their descendants created and make today.
I spoke to Fé via Skype, one frigid January afternoon (she now
makes Northern Saskatchewan her home), to discuss her upcoming
Friday, February 26, concert at the Music Gallery. Long active in transcultural music making and touring in Europe, her album Follow Your
Heart’s Desire won the 2006 l’Académie Charles-Cros Award for Best
World Album.
During the course of our conversation Fé’s expansive knowledge
and passion about indigenous influences on the blues, jazz, country,
rock, gospel and other vernacular American musics was infectious. It’s
an intensely personal subject for her. She traces the roots of her family
and personal musical culture to indigenous North Carolina Tuscarora,
Tutelo, as well as Corsican ancestors, the latter via Puerto Rico. (Her
name given by her father means “Pure Faith” in Spanish.)
“On my mother’s side we’ve got eight generations of Tuscarora
singers. While my mother was a gifted Wagnerian soprano it was difficult to make a career as a woman of colour in classical music in her
generation. She also performed in several of Duke Ellington’s Sacred
Concerts and my grandmother sang gospel.” Growing up in New
York City, sampling her parents’ Native music record collection and
participation in Pow Wows gave her the sense of identity she sought
as a teen. “I found myself the day I was able to reconnect with my
indigenous roots.
“People generally aren’t very aware of it yet, but Native peoples have
played a major role in the development of American music, whether
it’s jazz, blues or rock ‘n’ roll,” observes Fé. “This includes a typical
blues rhythm, the shuffle, a rhythmic feel which is much like certain
Native drumming.”
In Fé’s own intense bluesy and other times jazzy singing, she makes
an eloquent case for the close and productive relationship between the
African and indigenous people of the American South, a union that
thewholenote.com
Andrew Timar is a Toronto musician and music writer. He
can be contacted at worldmusic@thewholenote.com
February 1, 2016 - March 7, 2016 | 27
A. Concerts in the GTA
LISTINGS
IN THIS ISSUE: Ajax, Aurora, Brampton, Burlington, Etobicoke, King
Township, Markham, Mississauga, Newmarket, North York, Oakville,
Richmond Hill, Scarborough.
The WholeNote listings are arranged in four sections:
A.
B.
C.
Monday February 1
GTA (GREATER TORONTO AREA) covers all of Toronto
plus Halton, Peel, York and Durham regions.
●●12:30: York University Department of
Music. Music @ Midday: Classical Instrumental Concert. Tribute Communities Recital Hall,
Accolade East Building, YU, 4700 Keele St.
647-459-0701. Free.
●●7:30: University of Toronto Faculty of
Music/Dennis Patrick. New Music Festival:
Gryphon Trio. Works by students of Allan Gordon Bell. Carmen Braden: Candle Ice; Heather Schmidt: Lunar Reflections; Kelly-Marie
Murphy: In a World of Distance and Motion;
Vincent Ho: new work. Walter Hall, Edward
Johnson Building, University of Toronto,
80 Queen’s Park. 416-408-0208. $40;
$25(sr); $10(st).
BEYOND THE GTA covers many areas of Southern
Ontario outside Toronto and the GTA. Starts on page 40.
MUSIC THEATRE covers a wide range of music types:
from opera, operetta and musicals, to non-traditional
performance types where words and music are in
some fashion equal partners in the drama. This section appears on
thewholenote.com. PLEASE NOTE: due to space constraints this
issue's Music Theatre listings appear online only.
D.
E.
IN THE CLUBS (MOSTLY JAZZ)
is organized alphabetically by club.
Starts on page 42.
Tuesday February 2
●●10:00am: Royal Conservatory. Glenn Gould
THE ETCETERAS is for galas, fundraisers, competitions,
screenings, lectures, symposia, masterclasses, workshops,
singalongs and other music-related events (except
performances) which may be of interest to our readers.
Starts on page 46.
School Concerto Competition Finals (AIMIA
Discovery Series). Koerner Hall, Telus Centre,
273 Bloor St. W. 416-408-0208. Free (ticket
required).
●●11:30am: York University Department of
Music. Vocal Masterclass. Nathalie Paulin,
soprano; young singers from the studios of
Catherine Robbin, Stephanie Bogle, Norma
Burrowes, Michael Donovan and Karen
Rymal. Tribute Communities Recital Hall,
Accolade East Building, YU, 4700 Keele St.
416-736-5888. Free. Observers welcome.
●●12:00 noon: Canadian Opera Company.
Vocal Series: Classics Reimagined. Gryphon
Trio; Robert Pomakov, bass. Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre, Four Seasons Centre for
the Performing Arts, 145 Queen St. W. 416363-8231. Free.
●●12:10: Nine Sparrows Arts Foundation/
Yorkminster Park Baptist Church. Lunchtime Chamber Music. Matthew Ross, trumpet. Yorkminster Park Baptist Church,
1585 Yonge St. 416-241-1298. Free; donations
welcome.
●●12:30: York University Department of
Music. Music @ Midday: Student Showcase.
Martin Family Lounge, Accolade East Building,
YU, 4700 Keele St. 647-459-0701. Free.
A GENERAL WORD OF CAUTION. A phone number is provided
with every listing in The WholeNote — in fact, we won’t publish
a listing without one. Concerts are sometimes cancelled or postponed; artists or venues may change after listings are published.
Please check before you go out to a concert.
HOW TO LIST. Listings in The WholeNote in the four sections above
are a free service available, at our discretion, to eligible presenters.
If you have an event, send us your information no later than the
8th of the month prior to the issue or issues in which your listing is
eligible to appear.
LISTINGS DEADLINE. The next issue covers the period from
March 1 to April 7, 2016. All listings must be received by
Midnight Monday February 8.
LISTINGS can be sent by e-mail to listings@thewholenote.com or
by fax to 416-603-4791 or by regular mail to the address on page 6.
We do not receive listings by phone, but you can call 416-323-2232
x27 for further information.
LISTINGS ZONE MAP. Visit our website to see a detailed version
of this map: thewholenote.com.
Georgian
Bay
Lake
Huron
8
7
6
3 4
2
1 City of Toronto
Lake Ontario
5
Lake Erie
28 | February 1, 2016 - March 7, 2016
●●1:00: Cathedral Church of St. James. Mid-
day Organ Series. Thomas Fitches, organ.
65 Church St. 416-364-7865. Free.
●●6:30: Canadian Opera Company. Siegfried.
Wagner. Christine Goerke, soprano (Brünnhilde); Stefan Vinke, tenor (Siegfried); and
others; François Girard, director; Johannes
Debus, conductor. Four Seasons Centre for
the Performing Arts, 145 Queen St. W. 416363-8231. $60-$445; $22(under 30). Also
Feb 5, 11, 14(mat).
●●7:30: University of Toronto Faculty of
Music. Vocalist Master’s/DMA Series: Cabaret. Tranzac Club, 292 Brunswick Ave. 416408-0208. Free.
●●7:30: University of Toronto Faculty of
Music. New Music Festival: Land’s End
Ensemble. Allan Gordon Bell: Field Notes;
Phénomènes; Trails of Gravity and Grace;
Omar Daniel: Trio (Toronto premiere); Roydon Tse: Starscape. James Campbell, clarinet. Walter Hall, Edward Johnson Building,
University of Toronto, 80 Queen’s Park. 416408-0208. Free.
●●8:00: Factory Theatre. One Night Only:
The Greatest Musical Never Written. Two-act
improvised musical comedy, dictated by audience suggestions. 125 Bathurst St. 416-5049971. $32.40-$60.65. Also Feb 3, 4, 5, 6(mat/
eve), 7(mat), 9, 10, 11, 12, 13(mat/eve), 14(mat).
Wednesday February 3
●●5:30: Canadian Opera Company. Jazz Ser-
ies: In for the Count. Big band standards by
Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Stan Kenton,
Bill Holman and others. JAZZ.FM91 Youth Big
Band; Jules Estrin, conductor. Four Seasons
Centre for the Performing Arts, 145 Queen
St. W. 416-363-8231. Free. First-come, firstserved. No late seating.
●●7:00: 3 in the 6ix. Concert #1 of 3: Dumky.
Bridge: Phantasie Trio in c; Bloch: Three Nocturnes; Prokofiev: Sonata No.3 in a, Op.28;
Dvořák: Trio No.4 “Dumky” Op.90. Joan
Blackman, violin; Marlena Tureski, cello; Talisa Blackman, piano. Runnymede United
Church, 432 Runnymede Rd. 416-578-6993.
$25/$20(adv); $15(st); $5(under 18).
●●7:30: Theatre Passe Muraille. Chelsea
Hotel: The Songs of Leonard Cohen. Conceived by Stage Director Tracey Power.
Music Direction and Arrangements by Steven
Charles. 16 Ryerson Ave. 416-504-7529. $35$55; $30(arts); $25(under 30). PWYC at Sat.
matinees. Feb 3-21 at various dates and times.
●●7:30: University of Toronto Faculty of
Music. New Music Festival: gamUT Contemporary Music Ensemble. Works by Allan
Gordon Bell and others. Wallace Halladay,
conductor. Walter Hall, Edward Johnson
Building, University of Toronto, 80 Queen’s
Park. 416-408-0208. Free.
●●8:30: Arraymusic. Explorations I: The Conrad Gayle Trio. Jazz/improvised piano trio.
Array Space, 155 Walnut Ave. 416-532-3019.
Price not available.
●●8:30: Chelsea Shanoff. Recital. Works
by Albright, Schmitt, Berio, Saint-Saëns,
Labadie. Chelsea Shanoff, saxophone; Wesley Shen, piano. Array Space, 155 Walnut Ave.
416-532-3019. Price not available.
thewholenote.com
Thursday February 4
●●12:00 noon: Adam Sherkin. LISZT: Pilgrim-
age. Liszt: Années de pèlerinage, Première
année ​(​Suisse​),​ S.160​ (Excerpts)​​; ​Sherkin: ​
German Promises (2011). Adam Sherkin,
piano. Lower Bluma Lobby, St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts, 27 Front St. E. 416-366-7723.
Free. Presented in partnership with Steinway
Piano Gallery.
●●12:00 noon: Canadian Opera Company.
Chamber Music Series: Chamber Explorations. Students from the Glenn Gould School.
Four Seasons Centre for the Performing
Arts, 145 Queen St. W. 416-363-8231. Free.
First-come, first-served. Concertgoers are
encouraged to arrive early as late seating is
not available.
●●12:00 noon: Encore Symphonic Concert
Band. In Concert: Classics and Jazz. John
Edward Liddle, conductor. Wilmar Heights
Centre, 963 Pharmacy Ave., Scarborough.
416-346-3910. $10. Incl. coffee and snack.
●●12:10: University of Toronto Faculty of
Music. New Music Festival: Thursdays at
Noon. Jarlkaganova/Blumberg: collaboration; Cecilia String Quartet Student Composition Competition: winning work; Levasseur:
new work; and others. Walter Hall, Edward
Johnson Building, University of Toronto,
80 Queen’s Park. 416-408-0208. Free.
●●12:15: Metropolitan United Church. Noon
at Met. Manuel Piazza, organ. Metropolitan
United Church (Toronto), 56 Queen St. E. 416363-0331 x26. Free.
●●1:00: Miles Nadal JCC. The Ladies of Broadway. Songs from Oklahoma!, The King and
I, Fiddler on the Roof, My Fair Lady and The
Sound of Music. Faye Kellerstein and Noreen
Horowitz, vocals. 750 Spadina Ave. 416-9246211 x155. $4.00 (drop-in).
●●7:30: Canadian Opera Company. The
Marriage of Figaro. Mozart. Josef Wagner (Figaro), bass-baritone; Jane Archibald
(Susanna) and Erin Wall (the Countess), sopranos; Russell Braun (the Count), baritone;
Claus Guth, director; Johannes Debus, conductor. Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, 145 Queen St. W. 416-363-8231.
$50-$435; $22(under 30). Also Feb 7, 9, 13, 17,
19, 21, 23, 25 and 27. Start times vary.
●●7:30: Charm of Finches. Charmed, I’m sure.
Ravel: Daphnis et Chloé (arr. Rie Schmidt);
Debussy: Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune
thewholenote.com
(arr. Gudrun Hinze); Hétu: Sérénade (arr.
Sean King); other works. Laura Chambers,
flute and alto flute; Terry Lim, flute and bass
flute; Amelia Lyon, flute; Kaili Maimets and
Sarah Yunji Moon, piccolo & flute. Victoria
College Chapel, 91 Charles St. W. 647-8928251. PWYC.
●●7:30: St. Anne’s Music and Drama Society.
Iolanthe. Gilbert & Sullivan. Laura Schatz, director; Brian Farrow, musical director; Jennie
Garde, choreographer. St. Anne’s Parish Hall,
651 Dufferin St. 416-922-4415. $27; $22(sr/st).
Also Feb 5, 6, 7. Start times vary.
●●7:30: University of Toronto Faculty of
Music. New Music Festival: University of
Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Bell: Symphonies of Hidden Fire; Creston: Accordion Concerto; Higdon: Percussion Concerto; Copland:
El Salón México. Michael Bridge, accordion;
Michael Murphy, percussion; Uri Mayer and
Samuel Tam, conductors. MacMillan Theatre,
Edward Johnson Building, 80 Queen’s Park.
416-408-0208. $30; $20(sr); $10(st).
●●7:30: York University Department of
Music. Faculty Concert Series: Barry Elmes
Quintet. Barry Elmes, drums; Mike Murley, saxophone; Kevin Turcotte, trumpet; Reg
Schwager, guitar; Steve Wallace, bass. Tribute Communities Recital Hall, Accolade East
Building, YU, 4700 Keele St. 416-736-5888.
$15; $10(sr/st).
416-872-4255. $20.
Friday February 5
●●1:10: Gordon Murray Presents. Piano Pot-
pourri. Featuring classics, opera, operetta,
musicals, ragtime, pop, international music.
Gordon Murray, piano. Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre, 427 Bloor St. W. 416-631-4300. PWYC.
Lunch and snack friendly.
●●6:30: Canadian Opera Company. Siegfried.
See Feb 2. Also Feb 11, 14(mat).
●●7:30: Living Arts Centre. Romeo and Juliet.
State Theatre Ballet. Living Arts Centre, Hammerson Hall, 4141 Living Arts Dr., Mississauga. 905-306-6000. $55-$90.
●●7:30: Living Arts Centre. The Basically
Basie Big Band. Living Arts Centre, RBC Theatre, 4141 Living Arts Dr., Mississauga. 905306-6000. $30-$45.
●●7:30: Royal Winnipeg Ballet. Going Home
Star - Truth and Reconciliation. Choreographic representation of the stories of
Indian Residential School Survivors and their
families. Story by Joseph Boyden; music
by Christos Hatzis; choreography by Mark
Gooden. Tina Keeper, Cree actor; Tanya
Tagaq, Inuk throat singer; Northern Cree
Singers; Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra.
Sony Centre for the Performing Arts, 1 Front
St. E. 1-855-872-7669. $54.24-$115.26. Also
Feb 6 at 8:00.
●●7:30: St. Anne’s Music and Drama Society. Iolanthe. See Feb 4. Also Feb 6, 7. Start
times vary.
●●7:30: University of Toronto Faculty of
Music. New Music Festival: Wind Symphony.
Bell: From Chaos to the Birth of a Dancing
Star; Daugherty: Bizarro; Rosauro: Concerto for Marimba (with Danielle Sum); Ling:
Rhapsody (winner of 2015 Wind Composition Award); Bourgeois: Serenade; Maslanka:
Testament. Jeffrey Reynolds, conductor.
MacMillan Theatre, Edward Johnson Building, 80 Queen’s Park. 416-408-0208. $30;
$20(sr); $10(st).
●●8:00: Alliance Française de Toronto. Hampaté & Sahel Blues Senegalese Concert.
24 Spadina Rd. 416-922-2014. $15; $10(sr/st/
members).
●●8:00: group of 27. Beauty Packs a Punch
Basket. Finzi: A Severn Rhapsody, Op.3; Lalo:
Aubades; Dubois: Cavatine for Horn; Massenet: Valse Tres Lente; Frehner: Apollo X.
Gabe Radford, horn; Nadina Mackie Jackson,
Music TORONTO
ANNEX
QUARTET
February 4 at 8 pm
bassoon. Centre for Social Innovation,
720 Bathurst St. 416-323-1292. $30; $25(st);
$10(under 18). $5 off when you buy your
ticket in advance online.
●●8:00: Music Gallery. Emergents II: Lisa
Conway and Linsey Wellman. Curated by
Karen Ng. 197 John St. 416-204-1080. $12;
$8(members).
●●8:00: Roy Thomson Hall/Massey Hall. Live
at Massey Hall: Chilly Gonzales and Kaiser
Quartett. Massey Hall, 178 Victoria St. 416872-4255. $18.94-$29.50.
●●8:00: Roy Thomson Hall/Massey Hall. Hall
Party: Carnival. Great Hall, 1087 Queen St. W.
416-872-4255. $25.
●●8:00: Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra
and Chamber Choir. Beethoven 9th Symphony. Koerner Hall. See Feb 4; Also Feb 6
and 7(mat).
●●8:00: Tapestry Opera. Songbook VI. Wal-
lis Giunta, mezzo; emerging artists from
Tapestry’s New Opera 101 program; Jordan de Souza, conductor-in-residence.
Ernest Balmer Studio (315), Distillery District, 9 Trinity St. 416-537-6066 x243. $25.
Also Feb. 6.
●●9:00: Jazz at Oscar’s. Jazz Night - Harley
Card. Arbor Room, 7 Hart House Circle. 416978-2452. Free.
Saturday February 6
●●8:00: Music Toronto. Annex Quartet.
●●2:00: St. Anne’s Music and Drama Soci-
Janáček: Quartet No.1 “Kreutzer Sonata”; R.
Murray Schafer: Quartet No.5 “Rosalind”;
Mendelssohn: Quartet No.2 in a, Op.13. Stanislav Pronin, violin; Carolyn Blackwell, violin;
Yunior Lopez, viola; Peter Cosbey, cello. Jane
Mallett Theatre, St. Lawrence Centre for the
Arts, 27 Front St. E. 416-366-7723. $21.50;
$10(st).
●●8:00: Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and
Chamber Choir. Beethoven 9th Symphony.
Rheinberger: Abendlied; Brahms: Warum
ist das Licht gegeben; Jeffrey Ryan: Valediction. Ruby Hughes, soprano; Mary-Ellen Nesi,
mezzo; Colin Balzer, tenor; Simon Tischler,
baritone; Bruno Weil and Ivars Taurins, conductors. Koerner Hall, Telus Centre, 273 Bloor
St. W. 416-408-0208. $48 and up; $38 and
up(sr); $26-$91(35 and under). Also Feb 5, 6
and 7(mat).
●●9:00: Roy Thomson Hall/Massey Hall.
Mouse on the Keys. Rivoli, 334 Queen St. W.
BEETHOVEN
9TH SYMPHONY
AT KOERNER HALL
Feb 4-7
416.408.0208
tafelmusik.org
ety. Iolanthe. See Feb 4. Also Feb 7. Start
times vary.
●●2:00: Toronto Symphony Orchestra/
Ontario Science Centre. Science @ the Symphony. Amir Safavi, violin; Heidi Breier, Sean
Lee Ying, Donna Francis; Evan Mitchell, conductor. Roy Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe St. 416593-4828. $20.50-$32.75. Also 4:00.
●●3:00: Corporation of Massey Hall and Roy
Thomson Hall/Less Border. Alan Cumming
Sings Sappy Songs. Songs by Billy Joel, Stephen Sondheim, Rufus Wainwright, Miley
Cyrus and others. With Lance Horne, piano;
Eleanor Norton, cello. Winter Garden Theatre, 189 Yonge St. 416-593-5201. $49.50$139.50. Also 8pm.
●●4:00: Toronto Symphony Orchestra/
Ontario Science Centre. Science @ the Symphony. Amir Safavi, violin; Heidi Breier, Sean
Lee Ying, Donna Francis; Evan Mitchell, conductor. Roy Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe St.
February 1, 2016 - March 7, 2016 | 29
A. Concerts in the GTA
416-593-4828. $20.50-$32.75. Also 2:00.
●●4:30: Beach United Church. Jazz and
Reflection: Overjoyed. Wes Allen and Anthony
Brancati with Bill MacLean. 140 Wineva Ave.
416-691-8082. Free will offering.
●●4:30: Royal Conservatory. Phil and Eli Taylor Performance Academy for Young Artists
Showcase Concert. Mazzoleni Concert Hall,
Royal Conservatory, 273 Bloor St. W. 416-4080208. Free (ticket required).
●●7:30: Living Arts Centre. Junia-T. Living
Arts Centre, Hammerson Hall, 4141 Living
Arts Dr., Mississauga. 905-306-6000.
$25-$35.
with
Ken Whitely & Friends
Sat. Feb 6, 7:30pm
standrewstoronto.org
●●7:30: Music at St. Andrew’s. This Lit-
tle Light: Mardi Gras at St Andrew’s. Ken
Whiteley and Friends. St. Andrew’s Church,
73 Simcoe St. 416-593-5600 x231. $25.
●●7:30: Opera by Request. Norma. Bellini.
Naomi Eberhard, soprano (Norma); Jessica Lane, soprano (Adalgisa); Jason Lamont,
tenor (Pollione); Andrew Tees, baritone
(Oroveso); Jennifer Routhier, mezzo (Clotilde); Fabian Arciniegas, tenor (Flavio); William Shookhoff, pianist and music director.
College Street United Church, 452 College St.
Conservatory Theatre, 273 Bloor St. W. 416408-0208. $25.
●●8:00: Royal Winnipeg Ballet. Going
Home Star - Truth and Reconciliation. See
Feb 5(7:30).
416-455-2365. $20.
●●7:30: Toronto Jazz Orchestra and Toronto
Mass Choir. The Big Band Gospel Project.
Traditional tunes and original compositions,
jazz and gospel music. Toronto Jazz Orchestra and Toronto Mass Choir. Bloor Street
United Church, 300 Bloor St. W. 416-8995299. $25($30 at door); $20 (sr/st) ($25 at
door).
●●7:30: University of Toronto Faculty of
Music. New Music Festival: Jazz Faculty with
Special Guests. Improvisational and new
music. Walter Hall, Edward Johnson Building,
University of Toronto, 80 Queen’s Park. 416408-0208. Free.
●●8:00: Cathedral Bluffs Symphony Orchestra. Tryptych Concert and Opera. Puccini:
Gianni Schicchi; Smetana: Die Moldau. Norman Reintamm, conductor. P.C. Ho Theatre,
Chinese Cultural Centre of Greater Toronto,
5183 Sheppard Ave. E., Scarborough. 416879-5566. Regular: $34; $29(sr/st); Premium:
$54; $44(sr/st); Free(under 12).
●●8:00: Corporation of Massey Hall and Roy
Thomson Hall/Less Border. Alan Cumming
Sings Sappy Songs. See 3pm.
●●8:00: Gallery 345. Trio d’Argento. Works by
Haydn, Jacques Bondon, Saint-Saens, Kuhlau,
F. Schmitt and Miguel del Aguila. Sibylle Marquardt, flute; Peter Stoll, clarinets and sax;
Anna Ronai, piano. 345 Sorauren Ave. 416822-9781. $20; $15(sr); $10(st).
●●8:00: Kindred Spirits Orchestra. Pictures at an Exhibition. Mussorgsky: Pictures
at an Exhibition; Beethoven: Piano Concerto
No.2 in b-flat, Op.19; Dukas: The Sorcerer’s
Apprentice (symphonic poem). Kristian Alexander, conductor; Antonia de Wolfe, piano;
Alexa Petrenko, host. Flato Markham Theatre,
171 Town Centre Blvd., Markham. 905-3057469. $15-$35.
●●8:00: Mississauga Festival Choir. Festival of Friends Choral Festival. Numerous local
choirs in solo and massed repertoire. Eden
United Church, 3051 Battleford Rd., Mississauga. 905-824-5578. $25; $15(children 12
and under). All proceeds go to Alzheimer
Society Peel.
●●8:00: Royal Conservatory. Music Mix:
Bluebird North. Blair Packham, host.
BEETHOVEN
& BRAHMS
FEB. 6
AT
8 P.M.
SALVATION ARMY
SCARBOROUGH CITADEL
2021 LAWRENCE AVENUE EAST
VISIT US AT SPO.CA
●●8:00: Scarborough Philharmonic Orches-
tra. Great Romantic Music. Beethoven: Overture to the Ruins of Athens, Symphony No. 6;
Brahms: Double Concerto for Violin, Cello and
Orchestra. Ronald Royer, conductor; Conrad Chow, violin; Jacob Shaw, cello. Salvation
Army Scarborough Citadel, 2021 Lawrence
Ave. E., Scarborough. 416-429-0007. $30;
$25(sr); $15(st); $10 (children under 10).
●●8:00: Small World Music. World on a
String. Small World Music Centre, Artscape
Youngplace, 180 Shaw St. 416-536-5439. $20.
●●8:00: Spectrum Music. Literary Landscapes. Cheesman: Infinite Jest (homage to
David Foster Wallace); new music by Spectrum composers and guests depicting fictitious realms from modern literature. Tara
Davidson, Nick Fraser, Shannon Graham
and Brad Cheesman. Alliance Française de
Toronto, 24 Spadina Rd. 416-937-6180. $15;
$10(sr/st/arts workers).
●●8:00: Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and
Chamber Choir. Beethoven 9th Symphony.
Koerner Hall. See Feb 4; Also Feb 7(mat).
●●8:00: Tapestry Opera. Songbook VI. Wallis Giunta, mezzo; emerging artists from
Tapestry’s New Opera 101 program; Jordan de Souza, conductor-in-residence.
Ernest Balmer Studio (315), Distillery District, 9 Trinity St. 416-537-6066 x243. $25.
Also Feb. 5.
Sunday February 7
●●10:30am: St. Philip’s Anglican Church.
Mardi Gras Mass with Bob DeAngelis Dixieland Band. John MacLeod, trumpet; Phil
Disera, banjo; Ron Johnston, bass; Bob
DeAngelis, clarinet/saxophone. 25 St. Phillips Rd., Etobicoke. 416-247-5181. Freewill
offering.
●●1:30: Tiki Mercury-Clarke. One Sunday. A recreation of a Sunday from the Canadian Afrikan community of the 1960s
through song, script and piano. Neighbourhood Unitarian Universalist Congregation,
79 Hiawatha Rd. 416-686-6809. $15; $10(sr/
child/artist); $25(family). Intergenerational
event aimed for Gr.3 children and up.
●●2:00: Canadian Opera Company. The Marriage of Figaro. See Feb 4. Also Feb 9, 13, 17,
19, 21, 23, 25 and 27. Start times vary.
●●2:00: Etobicoke Philharmonic Orchestra. Klassical Hitz For Kidz. Prokofiev: Peter
and the Wolf. Brian Anderson, narrator; Mimico Children’s Choir. Assembly Hall, 1 Colonel
Samuel Smith Park Dr., Etobicoke. 416-2395665. $20; $10(child). Also 4:30.
●●2:00: St. Anne’s Music and Drama Society.
Iolanthe. See Feb 4.
●●2:30: Voicebox: Opera in Concert. Salieri’s
Falstaff. Aradia Ensemble; Allison Angelo;
Michèle Bogdanowicz; Justin Welsh; Sydney Baedke; Dion Mazerolle; Colin Ainsworth;
VOICEBOX: Opera in Concert Chorus; Robert Cooper, chorus director; Larry Beckwith,
conductor. Jane Mallett Theatre, St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts, 27 Front St. E. 416366-7723. $52-$73.
●●3:00: Gallery 345. Fundraiser
Concert: Music on Canvas. Works by Prokofiev, Lysenko, Barvinsky, Kolodub, Taktakishvili, Kosak and Yachshenko. Alex McLeod,
viola; Peter Stoll, clarinet; Izabella Budai, flute;
Matthew Christakos, cello; Maria Dolnycky,
Cathedral
Bluffs
SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Norman Reintamm
Artistic Director/Principal Conductor
Saturday February 6, 2016 8 pm
PUCCINI Gianni Schicchi
PLUS… SMETANA Die Moldau
SUBSCRIPTION CONCERT 3 | TICKETS: REGULAR – $34 adult $29 senior/student
PREMIUM – $54 adult $44 senior/student (under age 12, free)
P.C. HoTheatre
5183 Sheppard Avenue East, Scarborough
The Ontario Trillium Foundation is an
agency of the Government of Ontario
cathedralbluffs.com | 416.879.5566
30 | February 1, 2016 - March 7, 2016
thewholenote.com
piano. 345 Sorauren Ave. 416-822-9781. $35;
$20(st). Price includes wine reception to follow. All proceeds support Ukraine Prosthetic
Assistance Project.
●●3:00: Greater Toronto Philharmonic
Orchestra. Waltzes & Overtures. Verdi: Overture to Nabucco; J. Strauss II: Waltz from Der
Zigeunerbaron; Künstlerleben (Artists’ Life);
Lehár: Waltz from The Merry Widow; Verdi:
Overture to La forza del destino; Rossini:
Overture to L’italiana in Algeri (The Italian
girl in Algiers); selected opera arias by Lehár,
Verdi and Bellini. Jennifer Mizzi, soprano;
Jean-Michel Malouf, conductor. Columbus
Centre, 901 Lawrence Ave. W. 647-238-0015.
$20-$25.
●●3:00: University of Toronto Faculty of
Music. New Music Festival: Choral Contemporary Showcase Concert. Allan Gordon Bell:
new work (premiere); O Virtus Sapientiae
(arr. Parker); and other works. Men’s Chorus
and Women’s Chamber Choir; Hilary Apfelstadt, Elaine Choi and Tracy Wong, conductors. Grace Church on-the-Hill, 300 Lonsdale
Rd. 416-408-0208. PWYC.
Ilya Poletaev piano
Axel Strauss violin
●●4:30: Etobicoke Philharmonic Orches-
Chandrae Roettig, swing dancers; Patricio
Touceda and Eva Lucero, tango dancers. Roy
Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe St. 416-598-3375.
$33.75-$107. Also Feb 9 and 10(2:00).
tra. Klassical Hitz for Kidz. Prokofiev: Peter
and the Wolf; other works. Assembly Hall,
1 Colonel Samuel Smith Park Dr., Etobicoke.
416-239-5665. $20; $10(child). Also at 2:00.
●●7:00: Victoria University, University of
Toronto. In Concert. Vivaldi: Gloria; other
works. Victoria College Choir and Toronto
School of Theology Choir; Taylor Sullivan, director; Becca Whittla, director. Victoria College
Chapel, 91 Charles St. W. 416-585-4521. Free.
Thursday February 11
●●12:00 noon: Canadian Opera Company.
Tuesday February 9
●●12:00 noon: Canadian Opera Company.
Vocal Series: The Art of Song. Christopher
Purves, bass-baritone. Richard Bradshaw
Amphitheatre, Four Seasons Centre for the
Performing Arts, 145 Queen St. W. 416-3638231. Free.
●●12:10: Nine Sparrows Arts Foundation/
Yorkminster Park Baptist Church. Lunchtime Chamber Music. Michela Comparey;
tuba quartet. Yorkminster Park Baptist
Church, 1585 Yonge St. 416-241-1298. Free.
Donations welcome.
●●1:00: Cathedral Church of St. James. Midday Organ Series. Rashaal Allwood, organ.
65 Church St. 416-364-7865. Free.
●●7:00: Sam Broverman. EP Launch: Feelings
of Affection. Sam Broverman, vocals. Jazz
Bistro, 251 Victoria St. 416-363-5299. $10
cover (includes copy of EP).
●●7:30: Canadian Opera Company. The Marriage of Figaro. See Feb 4. Also Feb 13, 17, 19,
21, 23, 25 and 27. Start times vary.
●●8:00: Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Let’s
Dance! Jeff Tyzik, conductor; Ted Louis Levy,
tap dancer/vocalist; Stephen Sayer and Chandrae Roettig, swing dancers; Patricio Touceda
and Eva Lucero, tango dancers. Roy Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe St. 416-598-3375. $33.75$107. Also Feb 10(2:00 and 8:00).
Wednesday February 10
thewholenote.com
Vocal Series: A Song on the Breeze. Highlights
from The Marriage of Figaro. COC Ensemble Studio. Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre,
Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts,
145 Queen St. W. 416-363-8231. Free.
●●2:00: Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Let’s
Dance! Jeff Tyzik, conductor; Ted Louis Levy,
tap dancer/vocalist; Stephen Sayer and Chandrae Roettig, swing dancers; Patricio Touceda
and Eva Lucero, tango dancers. Roy Thomson
Hall, 60 Simcoe St. 416-598-3375. $29.50$83.75. Also Feb 9 and 10(8:00).
●●7:30: University of Toronto Faculty of
Music. U of T 12tet. Terry Promane, director.
Walter Hall, Edward Johnson Building, University of Toronto, 80 Queen’s Park. 416-9780492. $20; $10(st).
●●8:00: Roy Thomson Hall/Massey
Hall. Emilie-Claire Barlow. Massey Hall,
178 Victoria St. 416-872-4255. $29.50-$69.50.
●●8:00: Soundstreams. Squeezebox. A crosscultural concert featuring the accordion
and its extended family. Mozetich: Dance of
the Blind; Pidgorna: new work; Schafer: La
Testa d’Adriana; Sokolović: Nocturne au petit
cirque. Héctor del Curto, bandoneón; Joe
Macerollo and Michael Bridge, accordion;
chamber ensemble. Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre,
427 Bloor St. W. 416-504-1282. $37.50-$67.50.
7:00: pre-concert chat.
●●8:00: Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Let’s
Dance! Jeff Tyzik, conductor; Ted Louis Levy,
tap dancer/vocalist; Stephen Sayer and
FROM THE HEART
February 12, 2016
Heliconian Club 7:30pm
^
In Music. Mozart: Sonata K526; Jean Lesage:
Morceau de concours; Schumann: Sonata in
a; Enescu: Impressions d’enfance. Ilya Poletaev, piano; Axel Strauss, violin. Heliconian Hall, 35 Hazelton Ave. 416-654-0877. $25;
$20(st). Post-concert reception.
●●3:30: Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and
Chamber Choir. Beethoven 9th Symphony.
Koerner Hall. See Feb 4.
●●4:00: Cathedral Church of St. James.
Twilight Organ Series. Ian Sadler, organ.
65 Church St. 416-364-7865. Free.
●●4:00: Church of St. Mary Magdalene.
Organ music by Felix Mendelssohn. Andrew
Adair, organ. Church of St. Mary Magdalene
(Toronto), 477 Manning Ave. 416-531-7955.
Free.
●●4:00: Toronto Children’s Chorus. Outreach
Concert. Toronto Children’s Chorus
Chorale Choir and Youth Choir; Elise Bradley and Matthew Otto, conductors; Helen Becqué and Michel Ross, accompanists. St. Paul’s
Basilica, 83 Power St. 416-932-8666 x231.
Free. Donations accepted.
●●4:30: Christ Church Deer Park. Jazz Vespers. 1570 Yonge St. 416-920-5211. Free.
Donations welcome.
Friday February 12
●●1:10: Gordon Murray Presents. Piano Pot-
Vocal Series. Schubert: Winterreise. Josef
pourri. Classics, opera, operetta, musicals,
Wagner, bass-baritone; Rachel Andrist,
ragtime, pop, international and other genres.
piano. Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre, Four Gordon Murray, piano. Trinity-St. Paul’s CenSeasons Centre for the Performing Arts,
tre, 427 Bloor St. W. 416-631-4300. PWYC.
145 Queen St. W. 416-363-8231. Free.
Concert in chapel; lunch and snack friendly.
●●12:10: University of Toronto Faculty of
●●3:30: Junction Trio. A Love Letter from
Music. Thursdays at Noon: Matthew Li, piano.
Messiaen. Messiaen: Poèmes pour Mi; works
Stockhausen: Klavierstück IX; Brahms: Klaby Schumann, Korngold, Mahler, Fauré and
vierstücke, Op.119; Ravel: Alborada del graGuilmant. Guests: Emily D’Angelo, mezzo;
cioso; Scriabin: Sonata No.5, Op.53; Messiaen:
Rashaan Allwood, piano; Junction Trio (Jamie
Regard de l’Esprit de joie. Walter Hall, Edward
Thompson, flute; Ivana Popovic, violin; RaphJohnson Building, University of Toronto,
ael Weinroth-Browne, cello). St. Anne’s
80 Queen’s Park. 416-978-0492. Free.
Anglican Church, 270 Gladstone Ave. 416●●12:15: Metropolitan United Church. Noon
536-3160. PWYC. Refreshments.
●●7:30: Gallery Players of Niagara. From
at Met. Patricia Wright, organ. Metropolitan
United Church (Toronto), 56 Queen St. E. 416- The Heart. Schumann: Liederkreis, Op.39
363-0331 x26. Free.
(new transcription); Beethoven: String Quar●●2:00: Orchardviewers. Piano Recital by
tet, Op.18 No.6 “Melancholy;” other works by
Schubert. Brett Polegato, baritone; Joseph
Kara Huber. Northern District Public Library,
Phillips, bass; Timothy Phelan, guitar; Eybler
Room 224, 40 Orchard View Blvd. 416-393Quartet: Aisslinn Nosky and Julia Wed7610. Free.
●●6:30: Canadian Opera Company. Siegfried.
man, violin; Patrick Jordan, viola; Margaret
Gay, cello. Heliconian Hall, 35 Hazelton Ave.
See Feb 2. Also Feb 14(mat).
●●7:00: Music Gallery. Music Gallery Fund416-778-5911. $15-$25. Also Feb 14 (mat, St.
Catharines).
raiser. 197 John St. 416-204-1080. $20. For
●●7:30: Living Arts Centre. Alejandra Ribera.
details see Section D: Fundraisers.
●●7:30: York University Department of
Living Arts Centre, RBC Theatre, 4141 Living
Arts Dr., Mississauga. 905-306-6000.
Music. Concerto Competition Winners in
$30-$50.
Concert with the York University Symphony
●●8:00: Gallery 345. Cello Revolution: Rachel
Orchestra. Mark Chambers, conductor. Tribute Communities Recital Hall, Accolade East
Mercer. J. S. Bach: Suite for Solo Cello; CasBuilding, YU, 4700 Keele St. 416-736-5888.
sado: Solo Suite; Andrew Downing: viyolonsel
$15; $10(sr/st).
semai (2015); Darren Sigesmund: Solo Suite
●●8:00: Gallery 345. Music and Poetry: Devo2016 (world premiere). 345 Sorauren Ave.
416-822-9781. $20; $10(st).
rina Gamalova, Solo Violin. Works by Bach,
●●8:00: Kingston Road Village Concert SerPaganini, Kreisler, Goleminov and Gamalova
(music and poetry). 345 Sorauren Ave. 416ies. A Cappella. Countermeasure. Kingston
822-9781. $20; $10(st).
Road United Church, 975 Kingston Rd. 416●●8:00: Roy Thomson Hall/Massey Hall.
699-6091. $20; $10(st); free(child).
●●8:00: Living Arts Centre. Chantal KreviaThe Triplets of Belleville. Film screening. Roy
Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe St. 416-872-4255.
zuk and Raine Maida. Living Arts Centre,
$39.50-$59.50.
Hammerson Hall, 4141 Living Arts Dr., Missis●●8:00: York University Department of
sauga. 905-306-6000. $45-$65.
●●8:00: Royal
Music.
Improv Soiree.
evening
improConservatory.
Royal Page
Con- 1
Wholenote
sq 6thAnFeb
12 of2016.qxp_Layout
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visation in a participatory “open mike” set-up,
servatory Orchestra. Rimsky-Korsakov:
●●12:00 noon: Canadian Opera Company.
●●3:00: Syrinx Concerts Toronto. Friends
hosted by the improv studios of Casey Sokol.
Sterling Beckwith Studio, 235 Accolade East
Building, 4700 Keele St. 647-459-0701. Free.
Performers and observers welcome.
35 Hazelton Ave, Toronto
Featuring a new transcription of
Schumann’s Liederkreis Op. 39
and Beethoven’s intensely
personal String Quartet Op. 18 #6.
PERFORMERS
Brett Polegato BARITONE
Joseph Phillips BASS, Timothy Phelan GUITAR
Eybler Quartet
Aisslinn Nosky VIOLIN, Julia Wedman VIOLIN
Patrick Jordan VIOLA, Margaret Gay ‘CELLO
TICKETS CALL
of Niagara
416 778 5911
February 1, 2016 - March 7, 2016 | 31
A. Concerts in the GTA
Scheherazade; Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto
No.1; and other works. Edward Zhou, piano;
Johannes Debus, conductor. Koerner Hall,
Telus Centre, 273 Bloor St. W. 416-408-0208.
$25-$55. 6:45: Prelude Recital.
●●8:00: Thin Edge New Music Collective. Premieres V. New works by Tereszkowski, Livingston, E. Hall, Nickel, Hui-Hsin
Hsieh, Mays and Frederickson. Array Space,
155 Walnut Ave. 647-456-7597. $20/$18(adv);
$15(sr/st/arts)/$13(adv).
●●8:00: Toronto Consort. Way of the Pilgrim. Pilgrim songs, crusaders’ laments, and
dances from Spain, France and Germany.
Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre, Jeanne Lamon Hall,
427 Bloor St. W. 416-964-6337. $24-$64; $22$52(sr); $10(st/30 and under). 7:00: pre-concert talk. Also Feb 13.
Saturday February 13
●●2:00: King Music Collective. All About Love.
Home of Michele Mele and Luciano Tauro,
15785 8th Concession, King Township. 416486-6742. $30; $15(st). Includes beverage
and snacks.
●●2:30: Gallery 345. The Art of the Piano:
Bruce Vogt. Sonatas by Haydn and
Beethoven. 345 Sorauren Ave. 416-822-9781.
$25; $20(sr/arts workers); $10(st).
●●3:00: Yorkminster Park Baptist Church
Choir. Music to Warm a Winter Day. Yorkminster Park Baptist Church, 1585 Yonge St.
416-922-1167. $20. Fundraising event for the
Choir’s upcoming trip to St. Paul’s in London.
●●7:30: Canadian Opera Company. The Marriage of Figaro. See Feb 4. Also Feb 17, 19, 21,
23, 25 and 27. Start times vary.
●●7:30: Living Arts Centre. A Broadway Valentine. Janet Martin and Philip Douglas Kerr,
vocalists. Living Arts Centre, RBC Theatre,
4141 Living Arts Dr., Mississauga. 905-3066000. $30-$45.
●●7:30: Toronto Symphony Orchestra. The
Year of the Monkey: A Chinese New Year
Celebration. Huanzhi: Spring Festival Overture; Prokofiev: Selections from Romeo
and Juliet; Various: Selections from Peking
Opera; Zhanhao/Gang: Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto. Maxim Vengerov, violin; Wang
Yi, Peking Opera soloist; Mark Rowswell
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FEB 13 | TSO
“Dashan”, host; Long Yu, conductor. Roy
Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe St. 416-598-3375.
$50.00-$182.50.
●●8:00: 2Cellos. In Concert. Sony Centre for
the Performing Arts, 1 Front St. E. 1-855-8727699. $48.39-$78.39.
Edwards, lutenist; Musicians In Ordinary Violin Band; Christopher Verrette, conductor.
Heliconian Hall, 35 Hazelton Ave. 416-5359956. $30, $20(sr/st).
●●8:30: Oakville Centre for the Performing
Arts. Paradiso Dance and Drama Series:
Eh440. 130 Navy St., Oakville. 905-815-2021.
$44. Valentine’s Dinner & Show package
available.
●●8:00: Small World Music. Noura Mint Seymali. Small World Music Centre, Artscape
Youngplace, 180 Shaw St. 416-536-5439. $30.
Also Feb 14.
●●8:00: Somewhere There/Arraymusic.
Audiopollination. Array Space, 155 Walnut
Ave. 416-532-3019. $10 or PWYC.
●●8:00: Toronto Consort. Way of the Pilgrim.
See Feb 12.
Sunday February 14
●●2:00: Canadian Opera Company. Siegfried.
English Art Songs that
haven’t been performed for
years
Bloor Street United Church
February 13, 8:00 pm
Maryna Yakhontova
Denis MastroMonaco
MUsic Director &
c o n D U c t o r
MSO
Epic
●●8:00: Bloor Street United Church. In Con-
See Feb 2.
●●2:00: Visual and Performing Arts New-
market (VPAN). Young Artists’ Showcase.
Karine White, soprano; Harrison Jarvis,
piano; Jasmine Doucette-Gaylor, dancer; Belle
Nove Vocal Ensemble. Newmarket Theatre,
505 Pickering Cres., Newmarket. 905-9535122. $20; $10(st); $40(family of 4).
●●3:00: Symphony on the Bay. Romance.
Jenkins: Palladio Suite, 1st movement;
cert. Rarely performed English art songs.
Marina Yakhontova, voice; Brian Stevens,
piano. 300 Bloor St. W. 416-886-9392. Freewill offering.
●●8:00: Jazz Performance and Education
Centre. Everything I Love. Melissa Stylianou Trio (Melissa Stylianou, vocals; Jamie
Reynolds, piano; John MacLeod, trumpet).
Toronto Centre for the Arts, 5040 Yonge St.,
North York. 416-461-7744. $30; $20(st).
●●8:00: Mississauga Symphony Orchestra. Love at the Opera. Love-themed arias
and overtures. Hammerson Hall, Living Arts
Centre, 4141 Living Arts Dr., Mississauga.
905-615-4405. $50-$65; $45-$58.50(sr);
$30(youth); $20(child).
●●8:00: Musicians in Ordinary. Sweet Swan
of Avon: Words and Music. Shakespeare’s
Lives of Girls and Women. Readings from
Hamlet, Richard III, Taming of the Shrew and
other works. Music by Campion, Byrd, Dowland and other Tudor and Stuart composers.
Ruby Joy, reader; Hallie Fishel, soprano; John
32 | February 1, 2016 - March 7, 2016
thewholenote.com
Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez; Tchaikovsky: Symphony No.6 in b, Op.74 “Pathétique”;
Gershwin: selections. Emma Rush, guitar;
Claudio Vena, conductor. Burlington Performing Arts Centre, 440 Locust St., Burlington. 905-681-6000. $11.30-$39.56.
●●4:00: Cathedral Church of St. James.
Twilight Organ Series. Ian Sadler, organ.
65 Church St. 416-364-7865. Free.
●●4:00: St. Philip’s Anglican Church. Valentine Vespers with Carol McCartney Quartet.
Kieran Overs, bass; Chris Robinson, saxophone; Brian Dickinson, piano. 25 St. Phillips Rd., Etobicoke. 416-247-5181. Freewill
offering.
●●4:00: St. Olave’s Anglican Church. Charles
Wood 150. Choral Evensong for the First
Sunday in Lent. Works of Charles Wood,
Willan, Stanford and Vaughan Williams.
Schola Ecclesiam; Clem Carelse, conductor.
360 Windermere Ave. 416-769-5686. Free.
Contributions appreciated. Refreshments following with discussion about music featured
in Evensong. Religious Service.
●●7:00: Acoustic Harvest. Showcase
at the Winterfolk Festival. Jane Lewis;
Jason LaPrade; Katherine Wheatley; Rosalee Peppard; Lotus Wight. Black Swan,
154 Danforth Avenue, 2nd Floor. 416-4690537. $20/$15(adv).
●●7:30: Levon Ichkhanian/Global Village Creative Inc. Fall Into Love. Mitch Smolkin, Gabi
Epstein, Amanda Martinez, and David Dunbar,
vocals; David Warrack, piano; Anna Atkinson,
violin; Levon Ichkhanian, music director/guitar. Toronto Centre for the Arts, 5040 Yonge
St., North York. 416-250-3708/416-7339388. $45.
●●8:00: Small World Music. Noura Mint Seymali. Small World Music Centre, Artscape
Youngplace, 180 Shaw St. 416-536-5439. $30.
Also Feb 13.
●●8:00: Somewhere There/Arraymusic.
Somewhere There Presents. Lineup TBA.
Array Space, 155 Walnut Ave. 416-532-3019.
$10 or PWYC.
Monday February 15
SKYLIGHT SERIES
CORKIN GALLERY
Monday, February 15th
7:30 PM
Tickets at the door, or
brownpapertickets.com
●●7:30: LARK Ensemble. Inspiration. Copland:
Threnodies; Harbison: Six American Painters;
Brahms: Clarinet Quintet Op.115. Leslie Allt,
flute; Aaron Schwebel, violin; Keith Hamm,
viola; Roberta Janzen, cello; guests: James
thewholenote.com
to borrow.
●●8:00: Harbourfront Centre. Frazey Ford.
Frazey Ford, vocals. Harbourfront Centre
Theatre, 235 Queens Quay W. 416-872-4255.
$19.50-$29.50.
Shields, clarinet; Dominique Laplante, violin. Corkin Gallery, 7 Tank House Ln. 416-9791980. $35; $20(st). Refreshments included.
BOULEZ+BASHAW
Gil Shaham and
The Knights
WED., FEB. 17, 8PM
KOERNER HALL
Mon. Feb. 15 | Oliphant Theatre
Generously supported by
David G. Broadhurst
www.NewMusicConcerts.com
TICKETS 0N SALE NOW: 416.408.0208
WWW.PERFORMANCE.RCMUSIC.CA
●●8:00: New Music Concerts. Boulez and
Bashaw. Boulez: Incises; Sur Incises; Bashaw:
Postmodern Counterpoint - Antiphonals and
Canons with Gabrieli Remembered. NMC
Ensemble; Erica Goodman, Sanya Eng and
Angela Schwarzkopf, harp; Rick Sacks, Ryan
Scott and David Schotzko, percussion; Gregory Oh, Stephen Clarke and Simon Docking,
piano; Robert Aitken, conductor. Betty Oliphant Theatre, 404 Jarvis St. 416-961-9594.
$35; $25(sr/arts workers); $10(st). 7:15:
Introduction.
●●8:00: Royal Conservatory. Chamber
Music: Gil Shaham and The Knights. Works by
J-F. Rebel, Prokofiev, Wagner, S. Stevens and
Dvořák. Koerner Hall, Telus Centre, 273 Bloor
St. W. 416-408-0208. $45-$100.
●●8:00: Toronto Symphony Orchestra.
Brahms Violin Concerto. Bertrand: Rideaux
et Fanfares; Brahms: Violin Concerto;
Franck: Symphony in d. Baiba Skride, violin;
Fabien Gabel, conductor. Roy Thomson Hall,
60 Simcoe St. 416-598-3375. $33.75-$148.00.
Also Feb 18.
Tuesday February 16
●●12:00 noon: Canadian Opera Company.
Thursday February 18
Vocal Series: Light and Shadow. John Rutter:
Shadows; other works (arr. Doug McNaughton). Doug McNaughton, baritone/guitar. Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre, Four
Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts,
145 Queen St. W. 416-363-8231. Free.
●●12:10: Nine Sparrows Arts Foundation/
Yorkminster Park Baptist Church. Lunchtime Chamber Music. Omar Ho, clarinet.
Yorkminster Park Baptist Church, 1585 Yonge
St. 416-241-1298. Free. Donations welcome.
●●1:00: Cathedral Church of St. James. Midday Organ Series. Stephen Frketic, organ.
65 Church St. 416-364-7865. Free.
●●7:30: SING! The Toronto Vocal Arts Festival. SING! Celebration 2016. Fundraising a cappella concert. Kongero (Swedish a
cappella ensemble); Countermeasure. Lula
Lounge, 1585 Dundas St. W. 416-694-6900.
$15. Dinner reservations guarantee seating.
●●8:00: Mark Segger. In Concert. Mark Segger, drums and Toronto improvisers, TBA.
Array Space, 155 Walnut Ave. 416-532-3019.
$10 or PWYC.
●●12:00 noon: Canadian Opera Company.
Chamber Music Series: Serenade. Mozart: Serenade in c, K388; other works for
wind octet. Members of the COC Orchestra. Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre, Four
Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts,
145 Queen St. W. 416-363-8231. Free.
●●12:15: Metropolitan United Church. Noon
at Met. Fergus McWilliam, horn; Ron Jordan,
piano. Metropolitan United Church (Toronto),
56 Queen St. E. 416-363-0331 x26. Free.
●●2:00: Orchardviewers. Viola Recital by
Carolyn Farnand. Northern District Public Library, Room 224, 40 Orchard View Blvd.
416-393-7610. Free.
●●7:30: Canadian Music Centre. CMC Presents Cabaret Lyrique: Contrasts in Love.
Composer Michael Purves-Smith explores
the connection between poetry and music.
Michael Purves-Smith, piano; Caroline Déry,
soprano; Shannon Purves-Smith, clarinet;
Bolt-Martin, cello; Amanda Jernigan and
Fabienne Tosi, poets. 20 St. Joseph St. 416961-6601 x202. $20; $15(CMC members/arts
workers).
●●8:00: Toronto Symphony Orchestra.
Brahms Violin Concerto. Bertrand: Rideaux
et Fanfares; Brahms: Violin Concerto;
Franck: Symphony in d. Baiba Skride, violin;
Fabien Gabel, conductor. Roy Thomson Hall,
60 Simcoe St. 416-598-3375. $33.75-$148.00.
Also Feb 17.
●●8:30: Hugh’s Room. Almeta Speaks.
2261 Dundas St. W. 416-531-6604.
$30/$27(adv).
Wednesday February 17
●●7:30: Canadian Opera Company. The Mar-
riage of Figaro. See Feb 4. Also Feb 19, 21, 23,
25 and 27. Start times vary.
●●7:30: Toronto Shape Note Singing Community. Toronto Sacred Harp Singing. Selections from The Sacred Harp, 1991 Denson
Edition. Bloor Street United Church,
300 Bloor St. W. 647-838-8764. PWYC. Also
Mar 16. Singing is participatory; songbooks
Music TORONTO
ST. LAWRENCE
QUARTET
February 110
8 atat88pm
November
pm
●●8:00: Music Toronto. St. Lawrence Quar-
tet. Haydn: Quartet in g, Op.20, No.3; Samuel Adams: String Quartet in 5 Movements
(2013), composed for the St. Lawrence Quartet; Schumann: String Quartet in A, Op.41,
No.3. Jane Mallett Theatre, St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts, 27 Front St. E. 416-366-7723.
$55, $50; $10 student tickets; age 18 to 35 –
pay your age.
Friday February 19
●●1:10: Gordon Murray Presents. Piano Pot-
pourri. Classics, opera, operetta, musicals,
ragtime, pop, international and other genres.
Gordon Murray, piano. Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre, 427 Bloor St. W. 416-631-4300. PWYC.
Concert in chapel; lunch and snack friendly.
●●7:00: Acting Up Stage Company. Grey Gardens. Book by Doug Wright. Music by Scott
Frankel. Lyrics by Michael Korie. Lisa Horner
(Little Edie); Nicola Lipman (Big Edie); Matthew Brown, Amariah Faulkner, Tim Funnell, and others. Berkeley Street Theatre,
26 Berkeley St. 416-368-3110. $35-$55. Until
Mar 6. Dates and times vary.
●●7:00: Trio Arkel. String Tapestry. String
music by Gubaidulina, Kodály and Beethoven.
Guests: Scott St. John, violin; Sharon Wei,
viola. Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre, 427 Bloor St.
W. 416-409-6824. $30; $15(st). 6:30: informational talk.
●●7:30: Brampton Folk Club. Guitar Masters
with Wendell Ferguson and Friends. St. Paul’s
United Church (Brampton), 30 Main St. S.,
Brampton. 647-233-3655. $15; $12(sr/st).
●●7:30: Canadian Opera Company. The Marriage of Figaro. See Feb 4. Also Feb 21, 23, 25
and 27. Start times vary.
●●7:30: Living Arts Centre. Laila Biali. Living
Arts Centre, RBC Theatre, 4141 Living Arts Dr.,
Mississauga. 905-306-6000. $30-$50.
●●7:30: Timothy Eaton Memorial Church.
Songs of Love and Passion. Allison Arends,
Brittany King, Olenka Slywynska, Joanne
Leatch, Paul Williamson, David Michael
Moore, Andrew Adridge, Michael York, voice;
Eliane Choi and Stephen Boda, piano. 230 St.
Clair Ave. W. 416-925-5977. $20; $15(sr/st);
free(12 and under).
●●8:00: Arraymusic. Array SESSION #36.
An evening of improvisation by Toronto musicians with guests from out-of-town. Avesta
Nakhaei, piano; Brain Abbott, guitar; Ted Phillips, electronics; Rick Sacks, percussion.
Array Space, 155 Walnut Ave. 416-532-3019.
February 1, 2016 - March 7, 2016 | 33
A. Concerts in the GTA
Free or PWYC.
●●8:00: Art of Time Ensemble. Zappa: The
Genius of Irreverence of Genius. Andy; The
Black Page #1; The Black Page #2; Inca Roads;
Peaches in Regalia; and other works. Stephen
Clarke, keyboards; Christine Duncan, singer;
Wallace Halladay, saxophone; John Johnson, saxophone; Pat Kilbride, bass; Andrew
Burashko, conductor; and others. Harbourfront Centre Theatre, 235 Queens Quay W.
416-973-4000. $25-$59. Also Feb 20.
●●8:00: Gallery 345. Jazz at Gallery 345:
Landen Vieira. CD Release: Dream. Landen
Vieira, sax; Adrean Farrugia, piano; Malcolm Connor, bass; Ethan Ardelli, drums.
345 Sorauren Ave. 416-822-9781. $20; $10(st).
●●8:00: Roy Thomson Hall/Massey Hall.
Classic Albums Live: The Beatles “Help!”. Roy
Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe St. 416-872-4255.
$29.50-$59.50.
●●8:00: Royal Conservatory. Quiet Please,
There’s a Lady on Stage Series: René Marie’s
I Wanna Be Evil (With Love to Eartha Kitt).
C’est Si Bon, Come On to My House and other
songs. Guest: Wycliffe Gordon. Koerner Hall,
Telus Centre, 273 Bloor St. W. 416-408-0208.
$35-$80.
Saturday February 20
●●2:00: Royal Conservatory. Sweet Honey
In The Rock. A cappella family concert and
music mix: spirituals, blues, folk, gospel, jazz,
pop and world music. Koerner Hall, Telus
Centre, 273 Bloor St. W. 416-408-0208. $25$35. Also 8:00. American Sign Language
interpretation.
●●4:30: Bach on the Beach. Elizabeth Anderson & Patrick Dewell, Organ. Beach United
Church, 140 Wineva Ave. 416-691-8082.
Free will offering. Informal reception before
concert.
●●7:00: Amadeus Choir of Greater Toronto.
Love Notes. A celebration of love with jazz
favourites. Sharon Smith, vocals; and others.
Jubilee United Church, 40 Underhill Dr. 416446-0188. $45; $35(sr/st). Annual fundraising concert and silent auction. Refreshments
available.
●●7:00: Andrew Clark. A Woman’s Love and
Life. Schumann: Frauenliebe und leben; songs
●●8:00: Art of Time Ensemble. Zappa: The
Genius of Irreverence of Genius. See Feb 19.
●●8:00: CoeXisDance. Duet Series. Array
Space, 155 Walnut Ave. 416-532-3019. $10.
●●8:00: Gallery 345. The Art of the Piano: Alejandro Vela -- Noche Azúl. Brahms: Intermezzo in E-flat Op.117 No.1; Rachmaninov:
6 Selections; Lecuona: Noche Azúl, La Comparsa; Córdoba; Gitanerías; Malagueña;
Ginastera: Danzas Argentinas; Radiohead:
Let Down; Exit Music (For a Film); You (arr. O’
Riley). 345 Sorauren Ave. 416-822-9781. $25;
$20(sr/arts workers); $10(st).
●●8:00: Gordon Murray Presents. Piano
Soirée. Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No.2
- 1st Movement; Romberg: I Bring A Love
Song, You Will Remember Vienna (from Viennese Nights); Sieczynski: Vienna, City of My
Dreams (all arr. G. Murray); other works. Gordon Murray, piano. Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre,
427 Bloor St. W. 416-631-4300. $15; $10(st).
Concert is in chapel.
●●8:00: Guitar Society of Toronto. Pavel
Steidl. Works by Bach, Paganini, Sor and
Steidl. Heliconian Hall, 35 Hazelton Ave. 416964-8298. $30; $25(sr/st).
●●8:00: Music Gallery. Val-Inc and Witch
Prophet. The New Black: Challenging
Musical Tropes. 197 John St. 416-204-1080.
$15/$13(adv); $10(members). Free panel discussion at 5:00.
●●8:00: Oakville Centre for the Performing
Arts. Comedy Series: Bowser and Blue.
130 Navy St., Oakville. 905-815-2021. $45.
●●8:00: Roy Thomson Hall/Massey Hall. Corb
Lund. Winter Garden Theatre, 189 Yonge St.
416-872-4255. $29.50-$49.50.
●●8:00: Royal Conservatory. Sweet Honey
In The Rock. A cappella music mix: spirituals,
blues, folk, gospel, jazz, pop and world music.
Koerner Hall, Telus Centre, 273 Bloor St. W.
416-408-0208. $35-$80. Also 2:00. American Sign Language interpretation.
●●8:00: Small World Music. Turkwaz. Small
World Music Centre, Artscape Youngplace,
180 Shaw St. 416-536-5439. $20.
by Mahler, Barber, Korngold, Charles and
others. Emily D’Angelo, mezzo; Rashaan Allwood, piano. Heron Park Baptist Church,
4260 Lawrence Ave. E., Scarborough. 416284-1741. Donation - PWYC.
●●7:30: Concerts at Scarborough Bluffs. Rising Stars Concert. Students from the Royal
Conservatory’s Taylor Performance Academy. Scarborough Bluffs United Church,
3739 Kingston Rd., Scarborough. 416-2678265. $15. All proceeds to Springboard to
Music.
●●7:30: Oakville Chamber Orchestra. Vivaldi
for Freaky Instruments. Vivaldi: Concerto for
Sopranino Recorder in C; Purcell: The Fairy
Queen, Suite No.1; Vivaldi: Concerto for Viola
d’amore in d; Telemann: Suite “La Musette”;
Vivaldi: Concerto for Lute in D. Allison Melville,
Thomas Georgi, Benjamin Stein, soloists. St.
John’s United Church (Oakville), 262 Randall
St., Oakville. 905-483-6787. $30; $25(sr);
$20(st). Also Feb 21 (St. Simon’s Anglican
Church).
●●7:30: Sony Centre and Attila Glatz Concert
Productions. The Godfather Live in Concert.
Motion Picture Symphony Orchestra; Justin Freer, conductor. Sony Centre for the Performing Arts, 1 Front St. E. 1-855-872-7699.
$49-$99.
●●7:30: Toronto Symphony Orchestra. From
Mozart to Rachmaninoff. Mozart: Overture to
The Magic Flute, K620; Rachmaninoff: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini; Berlioz: Le corsaire; Debussy: Prélude à l’après-midi d’un
faune; Bizet: Suite from Carmen. Pavel Kolesnikov, piano; Earl Lee, RBC Resident Conductor. Roy Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe St.
416-598-3375. $33.75-$107. Also Feb 21
(3:00).
●●8:00: Acoustic Harvest. A Special Tribute
to Rosemary Phelan with CD re-release. Eve
Goldberg; Allison Lupton; Jane Lewis; Tannis
Slimmon; Adam Warner; Jason LaPrade, host.
St. Nicholas Anglican Church, 1512 Kingston
Rd. 416-691-0449. $25/$22(adv) or PWYC.
●●8:00: Alliance Française/Smash Entertainment. Sound Waves. French Touch music
and dance. Alliance Française de Toronto,
24 Spadina Rd. 416-922-2014. $15; $10(sr/st/
members).
Sunday February 21
●●2:00: Canadian Opera Company. The Mar-
riage of Figaro. See Feb 4. Also Feb 23, 25 and
27. Start times vary.
●●2:00: Unitarian Congregation in Mississauga. Carson Freeman Band. Featuring smooth jazz music. 84 South Service Rd.,
Mississauga. 905-278-5622. $25; $20 (sr/
st); PWYC.
●●2:00: Canzona Chamber Players. In Concert. Works by Bach, Bloch and Ibert. Amelia
Lyon, flute; Christopher Miranda, piano; Jonathan Krehm, clarinet. St. Andrew by-the-Lake
Church, Cibola Avenue. 416-203-0873. $20.
●●3:00: Hannaford Street Silver Band. Ger-
man Brass. R. Strauss: Horn Concerto No.1;
Wagner: Grand March from Tannhäuser; J.
Strauss II: Overture from Die Fledermaus.
Guests: Fergus McWilliam, French horn; Hannaford Youth Band; James Gourlay, conductor. Jane Mallett Theatre, St. Lawrence
Centre for the Arts, 27 Front St. E. 416-3667723. $50; $40(sr); $35(under 35); $15(st).
●●3:00: Oakville Chamber Orchestra. Vivaldi for Freaky Instruments. Vivaldi: Concerto for Sopranino Recorder in C; Purcell:
The Fairy Queen, Suite No.1; Vivaldi: Concerto for Viola d’amore in d; Telemann: Suite
“La Musette”; Vivaldi: Concerto for Lute in D.
Allison Melville, Thomas Georgi, Benjamin
Stein, soloists. St. Simon’s Anglican Church,
1450 Litchfield Rd., Oakville. 905-483-6787.
$30; $25(sr); $20(st). Also Feb 20 (St. John’s
United Church).
●●3:00: Off Centre Music Salon. The Cocktail Époque. Allison Angelo, soprano; Joseph
Macerollo, accordion; Jimmy Roberts, piano;
UNITARIAN CONGREGATION
IN MISSISSAUGA presents
String Tapestry
CARSON
FREEMAN
BAND
Friday, February 19th, 2016
Sunday,
February 21
at 2 pm
Marie Berard - Teng Li - Winona Zelenka
Music by Gubaidulina, Kodaly and Beethoven
Guest Artists Scott St. John, Violin and Sharon Wei, Viola
7:00 PM / seminar about the repertoire at 6:30 PM
2010 Canadian
Smooth Jazz
Wind Instrumentalist
of the Year
New Location Trinity St.Paul's Centre, 427 Bloor St.W
Tickets $30/$15 for Students
at door or online at brownpapertickets.ca
34 | February 1, 2016 - March 7, 2016
www.uucm.ca
the cocktail époque
February 21, 2016 @ 3 PM
TRINITY ST. PAUL’S CENTRE, 427 BLOOR ST. W.
offcentremusic.com
thewholenote.com
Krisztina Szabo, mezzo; James Westman,
baritone; and others. Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre,
427 Bloor St. W. 416-466-1870. $50; $40(sr/
st); $15(youth); $5(child).
●●3:00: Toronto Symphony Orchestra. From
Mozart to Rachmaninoff. Mozart: Overture to
The Magic Flute, K620; Rachmaninoff: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini; Berlioz: Le corsaire; Debussy: Prélude à l’après-midi d’un
faune; Bizet: Suite from Carmen. Pavel Kolesnikov, piano; Earl Lee, RBC Resident Conductor. Roy Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe St.
416-598-3375. $29.50-$83.75. Also Feb 20
(7:30).
●●7:30: Canzona Chamber Players. In Con-
Metropolitan Silver Band. Classics, marches,
sacred, popular and contemporary works.
Jubilee United Church, 40 Underhill Dr. 416447-6846. $10; free(youth).
●●8:00: Massey Hall/GlobalFEST. Creole Carnival. Haitian Roots, Vintage Samba, Jamaican One-String. Emeline Michel; Casuarina;
Brushy One String; and others. Massey Hall,
178 Victoria St. 416-872-4255. $19.50- $69.50.
cert. Works by Bach, Bloch and Ibert. Amelia
Lyon, flute; Christopher Miranda, piano; Jonathan Krehm, clarinet. St. George the Martyr
Church, 197 John St. 416-822-0613. $20.
Wednesday February 24
●●5:30: Canadian Opera Company. Jazz Ser-
ies: The Signal. Elizabeth Shepherd, vocals/
piano. Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre, Four
Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts,
145 Queen St. W. 416-363-8231. Free.
●●8:00: Katherine Hill and Doug Tielli. In concert. Early music, country music, Debussy,
Queen original compositions. Katherine Hill
and Doug Tielli. Array Space, 155 Walnut Ave.
416-532-3019. Price not available.
WINDS OF THE
20TH CENTURY
●●12:00 noon: Canadian Opera Company.
Carl Nielsen, Jean Françaix,
Leoš Janáček
with Joe Phillips, bass
Mozart, Onslow, Rival
Sunday Feb 21, 3:00
●●3:00: Windermere String Quartet. The
Great Outdoors. Mozart: Quartet in B-flat,
K458 “The Hunt”; Robert Rival: Traces of a
Silent Landscape (2011); George Onslow:
Quintet in c, Op.38 “The Bullet”. Guest: Joe
Phillips, bass. St. Olave’s Anglican Church,
360 Windermere Ave. 416-769-0952. $25,
$20(sr); $10(st). On period instruments.
●●3:30: Junction Trio. Celebrating the Year of
the Monkey. Guest: Ron Korb, flute; Junction
Trio (Jamie Thompson, flute; Ivana Popovic,
violin; Raphael Weinroth-Browne, cello). St.
Anne’s Anglican Church, 270 Gladstone Ave.
416-536-3160. PWYC. Refreshments.
●●4:00: Cathedral Church of St. James.
Twilight Organ Series. David Briggs, organ.
65 Church St. 416-364-7865. Free.
●●4:30: Christ Church Deer Park. Jazz Vespers. Joe Sealy, piano; Paul Novotny, bass.
1570 Yonge St. 416-920-5211. Free. Donations
welcome.
●●7:00: Show One Productions. In Recital.
Songs by Glinka, Rimsky-Korsakov, Tchaikovsky and Strauss. Dmitri Hvorostovsky, baritone; Ivari Ilya, piano. Koerner Hall, Telus
Centre, 273 Bloor St. W. 416-408-0208. $60$155. SOLD OUT.
●●7:00: Toronto Mass Choir. Powerup Finale
Concert. Islington Evangel Centre, 49 Queen’s
Plate Drive. 905-794-1139. $10; $5(st).
Monday February 22
●●7:30: Canadian Opera Company. The Mar-
riage of Figaro: Ensemble Studio Performance. Mozart. Ensemble Studio young artists;
Claus Guth, director; Johannes Debus, conductor. Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, 145 Queen St. W. 416-363-8231.
$25-$55.
thewholenote.com
MOZART
Feb 25-28
416.964.6337
tafelmusik.org
Thursday February 25
February 22
The Great Outdoors
THE
BEST OF
Dance Series: Sporting Life. Julia Sasso, choreographer. Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre,
Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts,
145 Queen St. W. 416-363-8231. Free.
●●12:10: University of Toronto Faculty of
Music. Thursdays at Noon: Opera Spotlight. Preview of U of T Opera’s production of
Britten’s Paul Bunyan. Walter Hall, Edward
Johnson Building, University of Toronto,
80 Queen’s Park. 416-978-0492. Free.
●●12:15: Metropolitan United Church. Noon
at Met. Melody Chan, piano. Metropolitan
United Church (Toronto), 56 Queen St. E. 416363-0331 x26. Free.
●●12:30: York University Department of
Music. Jazz @ Midday: Jazz Jam featuring
Chris Potter. Martin Family Lounge, Accolade East Building, YU, 4700 Keele St. 647-4590701. Free.
●●7:30: Canadian Opera Company. The Marriage of Figaro. See Feb 4. Also Feb 27. Start
times vary.
●●7:30: Toronto City Opera. Die Fledermaus.
Strauss. Beatrice Carpino, artistic director;
Adolfo De Santis, conductor. Bickford Centre
Theatre, 777 Bloor St. W. 416-978-8849. $28;
$20(sr); $15(st). Sung in English. Also Feb 27,
Mar 4, 6(mat).
●●7:30: University of Toronto Faculty of
Music. U of T Jazz Orchestra. Gordon Foote,
director. Walter Hall, Edward Johnson Building, University of Toronto, 80 Queen’s Park.
416-978-0492. $20; $10(st).
●●8:00: Living Arts Centre. Bruce Cockburn. Living Arts Centre, Hammerson Hall,
4141 Living Arts Dr., Mississauga. 905-3066000. $40-$65.
●●8:00: Off Centre Music Salon/Music Gallery. Tea for Two. Christine Duncan, vocals;
Lucy Fitz Gibbon, soprano; Alex Lukashevsky,
folk artist; Ryan MacEvoy McCullough, piano;
Chris Donnely, piano. Music Gallery, 197 John
St. 416-466-1870. $25; $20(arts); $15(st);
$12(members).
●●8:00: Oakville Centre for the Performing
Arts. World Artists Series: The Wailers.
130 Navy St., Oakville. 905-815-2021. $74.
●●8:00: Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and
Chamber Choir. The Best of Mozart. Eine
kleine Nachtmusik; Symphony No.40 in g; Sinfonia Concertante and others. Guest: Elisa
Citterio, violin/conductor; Stefano Marcocchi,
viola. Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre, Jeanne Lamon
Hall, 427 Bloor St. W. 416-964-6337. $38 and
www.associates-tso.org
●●7:30: Associates of the Toronto Symphony
Orchestra. Winds of the 20th Century. Nielsen: Wind Quintet; Françaix: Sixtour; Janáček:
Mládí (“Youth”) Suite for Wind Sextet. Leonie Wall, flute; Sarah Jeffrey, oboe; Joseph
Orlowski, clarinet; Amy Zoloto, bass clarinet;
Gabriel Radford, horn; Samuel Banks, bassoon. Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre, 427 Bloor St.
W. 416-282-6636. $20; $17(sr/st).
Tuesday February 23
●●12:00 noon: Canadian Opera Company/
Desjardins/Jeunesses Musicales du Canada.
Piano Virtuoso Series: Chopin’s Last Works.
Charles Richard-Hamelin, piano. Richard
Bradshaw Amphitheatre, Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, 145 Queen St. W.
416-363-8231. Free.
●●12:10: Nine Sparrows Arts Foundation/
Yorkminster Park Baptist Church. Lunchtime Chamber Music. Rising Stars Recital.
Featuring performance students from the
UofT Faculty of Music. Yorkminster Park Baptist Church, 1585 Yonge St. 416-241-1298.
Free. Donations welcome.
●●12:30: York University Department of
Music. Music @ Midday: Student Showcase.
Martin Family Lounge, Accolade East Building,
YU, 4700 Keele St. 647-459-0701. Free.
●●1:00: Cathedral Church of St. James.
Midday Organ Series. David Briggs, organ.
65 Church St. 416-364-7865. Free.
●●6:30: Royal Conservatory/Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival. Music on Film: In Search of Beethoven.
Film screening and music accompanying. Phil
Grabsky, film director; Barry Shiffman, host
for Q & A. Bloor Hot Docs Cinema, 506 Bloor
St. W. 416-408-0208. $16. Post-screening discussions and string quartet performance.
●●7:00: Toronto Children’s Chorus. Outreach
Concert. Toronto Children’s Chorus Main
Choir. Calvin Presbyterian Church, 26 Delisle
Ave. 416-932-8666 x231. Free. Donations
accepted.
●●7:30: Canadian Opera Company. The Marriage of Figaro. See Feb 4. Also Feb 25 and 27.
Start times vary.
●●7:30: Jubilee Order of Good Cheer.
up; $30 and up(sr); $15-$81(35 and under).
Also Feb 26, 27 and 28(mat).
TORONTO CIT Y OPERA
Artistic Director: Beatrice Carpino
Music Director: Adolfo De Santis
Die
Fledermaus
The Bat, by Johann Strauss II
sung in English
Tickets
$15-$28
www.uofttix.ca
(416) 978-8849
Donizetti's
L'Elisir d'Amore
The Elixir of Love
sung in Italian
English titles
Feb. 25 - Mar. 6, 2016
Bickford Centre Theatre
777 Bloor St. W.
at Christie subway
www.torontocityopera.com
February 1, 2016 - March 7, 2016 | 35
A. Concerts in the GTA
●●8:00: Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Schu-
mann Symphony 4. Beethoven: Leonore Overture No.2; Mendelssohn: Piano Concerto No.1;
Schumann: Symphony No.4. Marc-André
Hamelin, piano; Louis Langrée, conductor.
Roy Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe St. 416-5983375. $33.75-$148.00. Also Feb 27.
Friday February 26
●●1:10: Gordon Murray Presents. Piano Pot-
pourri. Classics, opera, operetta, musicals,
ragtime, pop, international and other genres.
Gordon Murray, piano. Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre, 427 Bloor St. W. 416-631-4300. PWYC.
Concert in chapel; lunch and snack friendly.
●●7:30: Toronto City Opera. L’Elisir d’Amore.
Donizetti. Beatrice Carpino, artistic director;
Adolfo De Santis, conductor. Bickford Centre
Theatre, 777 Bloor St. W. 416-978-8849. $28;
$20(sr); $15(st). Sung in Italian with English
TCOtitles. Also Feb 28(mat), Mar 3, 5.
●●8:00: Living Arts Centre. The Wailers. Liv-
ing Arts Centre, Hammerson Hall, 4141 Living
Arts Dr., Mississauga. 905-306-6000.
$25-$85.
●●8:00: Music Gallery/Native Women In The
Arts. Pura Fé and Rosary Spence. Music Gallery, 197 John St. 416-204-1080. $20/$17(adv);
$15(members); $10(sr/st/youth).
●●8:00: Sine Nomine Ensemble for Medieval Music. Incendium amoris. Music from
a mystical manuscript. St. Thomas’s Anglican Church (Toronto), 383 Huron St. 416-9788879. $20/$15.
●●8:00: Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and
Chamber Choir. The Best of Mozart. See
Feb 25; Also Feb 27 and 28(mat).
●●8:00: Royal Conservatory. Chamber Music:
Christian Tetzlaff, Tanja Tetzlaff and Lars
Vogt. Schumann: Piano Trio No.2; Dvořák:
Piano Trio, “Dumky;” Brahms: Piano Trio No.1.
Christian Tetzlaff, violin; Tanja Tetzlaff, cello;
Christian Tetzlaff,
Tanja Tetzlaff
& Lars Vogt
Drive, December Dove, and It Looks Like Rain.
Aimée Butcher, vocals; Robin Claxton, drums;
Jeff Deegan, bass; Joel Visentin, keyboard;
Brandon Wall, guitar. St. Paul’s Anglican
Church, 227 Church St., Newmarket. 905853-7285. $15.
●●7:30: Musica Beth Tikvah. Jewish Classics and Beyond. Cecilia String Quartet;
Shoshana Telner, piano. Beth Tikvah Synagogue, 3080 Bayview Ave. 416-221-3433.
$25/$18(adv).
●●7:30: Silverthorn Symphonic Winds.
Musician’s Choice. Wilmar Heights Centre,
963 Pharmacy Ave., Scarborough. 416-3015187. $20.
●●7:30: Toronto City Opera. Die Fledermaus.
See Feb 25; Also Mar 4, 6(mat).
FRI., FEB. 26, 8PM KOERNER HALL
Generously supported by
David G. Broadhurst
TICKETS 0N SALE NOW: 416.408.0208
WWW.PERFORMANCE.RCMUSIC.CA
Lars Vogt, piano. Koerner Hall, Telus Centre,
273 Bloor St. W. 416-408-0208. $35-$75.
Musica Beth Tikvah presents
Saturday February 27
●●4:00: Toronto Children’s Chorus. Poles
Apart. N.Y. and Boston tour repertoire, including music from the Arctic Circle. Training
Choirs, Boys’ Choir and Main Choir. Yorkminster Park Baptist Church, 1585 Yonge St. 416932-8666 x231. $25; $20(sr/st); $10(ch).
●●4:30: Canadian Opera Company. The Marriage of Figaro. See Feb 4.
●●7:00: Gallery 345. Bell Ball Quartet:
401 Towards London CD Release Concert.
Music inspired by the late artist Jack Chambers: 401 Towards London No.1; The Dance
of Death; Meadow; Diego Sleeping No.2; La
Siesta; and others. Ben Ball Quartet (Ben Ball,
drums; Bryden Baird, trumpet; Jae Chung,
guitar; Mike Downes, bass). 345 Sorauren
Ave. 416-822-9781. $20; $10(st).
●●7:30: Aimée Butcher. In Concert. The
World is Alright, Autumn in Paris, Stay or
An Evening of Classical Music Featuring the
Cecilia String Quartet and
Pianist Shoshana Telner
February 27 at 7:30pm, Beth Tikvah Synagogue, 416.221.3433
sine nomine
Ensemble for Medieval Music
Incendium amoris
Music from a
mystical manuscript
Friday, February 26, 8 pm
Saint Thomas's Church
383 Huron Street
Tickets $20 / $15
416-978-8849 uofttix.com
Information 416-638-9445
sinenominetoronto@gmail.com
36 | February 1, 2016 - March 7, 2016
●●8:00: Alliance Française de Toronto.
Impressions de France. Caroline Léonardelli,
harp; Julie Nesrallah, mezzo. 24 Spadina Rd.
416-922-2014. $15; $10(sr/st/members).
●●8:00: Jazz Performance and Education
Centre. Justin Gray’s Synthesis. Justin Gray,
bass; Derek Gray, drums; Ravi Naimpally,
tabla; Ted Quinlan, guitar. Toronto Centre for
the Arts, 5040 Yonge St., North York. 416461-7744. $30; $20(st).
●●8:00: NYCO North York Concert Orchestra. Colder Than Canada. Sibelius: Finlandia;
Grieg: Peer Gynt Suite No.1; Vivaldi: Winter
from The Four Seasons. Phillip Coonce, violin;
Rafael Luz, conductor. Yorkminster Citadel,
1 Lord Seaton Rd., North York. 416-628-9195.
$25; $20(sr); $10(st).
●●8:00: Oakville Centre for the Performing
Arts. Dan Cooper Concert Series: Bruce
Cockburn. 130 Navy St., Oakville. 905-8152021. $82.
●●8:00: Oriana Women’s Choir. In Praise
of Music: The Connection Between Life and
Song. Telfer: Of Things Eternal; Barnes: Madrigals; Fauré: Messe Base; Holst: Two Eastern Pictures; and works by Conte, Vaughan
Williams, Elgar and others. Grace Church onthe-Hill, 300 Lonsdale Rd. 416-978-8849. $25;
$20(sr/under 35); $10(st).
●●8:00: Royal Conservatory. Joan Baez.
Koerner Hall, Telus Centre, 273 Bloor St. W.
416-408-0208. From $60. SOLD OUT.
●●8:00: Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and
Chamber Choir. The Best of Mozart. See
Feb 25; Also Feb 28(mat).
thewholenote.com
●●8:00: Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Schu-
mann Symphony 4. Beethoven: Leonore Overture No.2; Mendelssohn: Piano Concerto No.1;
Schumann: Symphony No.4. Marc-André
Hamelin, piano; Louis Langrée, conductor.
Roy Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe St. 416-5983375. $33.75-$148.00. Also Feb 25.
Sunday February 28
●●2:00: Gallery 345. Rezonance Baroque
Ensemble: Dedicated. Works by Vivaldi, Telemann, Pisendel and others. 345 Sorauren
Ave. 647-779-5696. $20; $10(st).
●●2:00: Hugh’s Room. Ken Whiteley’s Gospel Matinee. Mike Stevens, Jesse Palidofsky,
Colina Phillips and George Koller. 2261 Dundas
St. W. 416-531-6604. $20/$22.50(adv).
●●2:00: Toronto City Opera. L’Elisir d’Amore.
See Feb 26. Also Mar 3, 5.
●●2:00: Toronto Improvisors Orchestra/
Arraymusic. Open Concert. Array Space,
155 Walnut Ave. 416-532-3019. Free or PWYC.
All musicians invited to participate.
●●3:00: Oakville Centre for the Performing
Arts. World Artists Series: Russ Woodbridge
and his Tribute to the Benny Goodman Sextet.
130 Navy St., Oakville. 905-815-2021. $45.
●●3:00: Opera by Request. A Mystery Musical
Experience. Lindsay MacIntyre and Peggy
Evans, sopranos; Vilma Vitols, Marcia Whitehead and Lisa Spain, mezzos; Taylor White,
Mark Reaney, Stephen McClare, Michel Corbeil and Charles Davidson, tenors; Gene Wu,
Peter Wiens, and Sung Chung, baritones; William Shookhoff, conductor and piano. College
Street United Church, 452 College St. 416455-2365. $20.
●●3:00: Royal Conservatory. Invesco
Piano Concerts: Sir András Schiff. Final
piano sonatas of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven
and Schubert. Koerner Hall, Telus Centre,
273 Bloor St. W. 416-408-0208. $40-$95.
●●3:30: Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and
Chamber Choir. The Best of Mozart. See
Feb 25.
●●4:00: Cathedral Church of St. James.
Twilight Organ Series. David Briggs, organ.
65 Church St. 416-364-7865. Free.
●●4:00: Oakville Symphony Orchestra.
Young People’s Concert. St. Matthew’s Catholic Church, 1150 Monks Passage, Oakville.
905-815-2021. $12; $6(st/child).
●●4:00: St. Philip’s Anglican Church. Steel
Pan Vespers with Joy Lapps-Lewis Quartet.
Joy Lapps-Lewis, steel pan; Andrew Stewart,
bass; Larnell Lewis, drums; Jeremy Ledbetter,
keyboard. 25 St. Phillips Rd., Etobicoke. 416247-5181. Freewill offering.
●●4:00: Toronto Classical Singers. Fauré’s
Requiem and Duruflé’s Requiem, and the 20th
Century Work It Inspired. Sheila Dietrich,
soprano; Christina Campsall, mezzo; Bruce
Kelly, baritone; Talisker Players Orchestra;
Jurgen Petrenko, conductor. Christ Church
Deer Park, 1570 Yonge St. 416-443-1490. $30;
$25(sr/st).
●●4:00: University Settlement Music & Arts
School. Chamber Program Student Concert.
End of term concert. St. George the Martyr Church, 197 John St. 416-598-3444 x243.
PWYC.
●●7:00: St. Giles Kingsway Presbyterian
Church. All Jazzed Up: Casual Jazz Concert. Suite for cello; Bolling: Jazz piano trio;
Piazzolla: Grand Tango; works by Atilla Fias.
Andras Weber, cello; Attila Fias Jazz Piano
Trio (Attila Fias, piano; Richard Brisco, drums;
Pat Kilbride, bass). 15 Lambeth Rd. 416-2338591. $25/$20(adv). Reception to follow.
●●7:30: Trinity-St. Paul’s United Church. A
Gala of Song. Featuring operatic and classical favourites. Jane Archibald, soprano;
Lawrence Wiliford, tenor; Mary Lou Fallis,
host. 427 Bloor St. W. 416-922-8435 x21. $50.
Fundraiser for Trinity-St. Paul’s Choir tour
to France.
●●7:30: Wychwood Clarinet Choir. Midwinter
Sweets. Cable: Red Rosey Bush; D. Brubeck:
A Portrait in Time; Greaves: Trois Chansons
Québécoises; Holst (arr. Greaves): St. Paul’s
Suite. Michele Jacot, solo clarinet and director. Church of St. Michael and All Angels,
611 St. Clair Ave W. 647-668-8943. $20;
$10(sr); $5(st/child).
●●7:30: University of Toronto Faculty of
Music. The People Shall Hear: Great Choruses by Bach and Handel. Excerpts from
Bach: St. John Passion, St. Matthew Passion;
Handel: Israel in Egypt, Messiah; other works.
Schola Cantorum; Choir and Orchestra of the
Theatre of Early Music. Trinity College Chapel,
U of T, 6 Hoskin Ave. 416-408-0208. $30;
$20(sr); $10(st).
●●7:30: Victoria Scholars. Masterpieces
of the Renaissance. Works by Victoria,
Allegri, Byrd, Josquin, Tallis and others. Victoria Scholars. Our Lady Of Sorrows Catholic Church, 3055 Bloor St. W. 416-761-7776.
$30/$25(adv); $25(sr/st - $20 adv).
Monday February 29
●●12:00 noon: Roy Thomson Hall/Massey
Hall. Free Noon Hour Concert: Bach Children’s Chorus. Roy Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe
St. 416-872-4255. Free.
●●12:30: York University Department of
Music. Music @ Midday: Classical Instrumental Concert. Tribute Communities Recital Hall,
Accolade East Building, YU, 4700 Keele St.
647-459-0701. Free.
●●7:30: University of Toronto Faculty of
Music. Benjamin Butterfield and Steven Philcox. Schubert: Die schöne Müllerin. Walter
Hall, Edward Johnson Building, University of
Toronto, 80 Queen’s Park. 416-978-0492. $40;
$25(sr); $10(st).
Tuesday March 1
●●12:00 noon: Canadian Opera Company.
Chamber Music Series: Beauty of Baroque.
Featuring chamber music from England,
T O R O N T O C L A S S I CA L
S I NGER S
presents
Fauré’s REQUIEM OP.48
Duruflé’s REQUIEM OP.9
Soloists:
Sheila Dietrich, soprano; Christina Campsall, mezzo-soprano
Bruce Kelly, baritone
The Talisker Players Orchestra
Jurgen Petrenko, conductor
Sunday, February 28, 2016 at 4 pm
Christ Church Deer Park
1570 Yonge Street, at Heath St. W.
www.torontoclassicalsingers.ca
Tickets $30 Adult;
$25 Senior/Student
Sunday, 28 February 2016 | 7:30pm | our lady of sorrows church
Featuring the music of Tomás Luis de Victoria, and works by
Allegri, Byrd, Josquin, Tallis and other Renaissance masters.
thewholenote.com
February 1, 2016 - March 7, 2016 | 37
A. Concerts in the GTA
France, Germany, Austria, and Italy. Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra. Richard Bradshaw
Amphitheatre, Four Seasons Centre for the
Performing Arts, 145 Queen St. W. 416-3638231. Free.
●●12:10: Nine Sparrows Arts Foundation/
Yorkminster Park Baptist Church. Lunchtime Chamber Music. Rising Stars Recital.
Featuring performance students from the
UofT Faculty of Music. Yorkminster Park Baptist Church, 1585 Yonge St. 416-241-1298.
Free. Donations welcome.
●●1:00: Cathedral Church of St. James.
Midday Organ Series. David Briggs, organ.
65 Church St. 416-364-7865. Free.
●●7:00: University of Toronto Faculty of
Music. Student Composers Concert. Walter Hall, Edward Johnson Building, University
of Toronto, 80 Queen’s Park. 416-978-0492.
Free.
Music TORONTO
STEVEN
OSBORNE
Pianist
March 1 at 8 pm
Centre, 963 Pharmacy Ave., Scarborough.
416-346-3910. $10. Incl. coffee and snack.
VIVALDI TO
CONCERO
FOR TW TS
TRUMPT,ETRUMPET
Friday March 4
●●1:10: Gordon Murray Presents. Piano Pot-
MER
STEVEN WOO
CA
O.
TS
|
MAR 2
●●6:30: Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Viv-
●●12:00 noon: Adam Sherkin. Rachmanin-
aldi Concerto for Two Trumpets. Rossini:
Overture to La gazza ladra; Paganini: Sonata
per la Gran Viola; Vivaldi: Concerto for Two
Trumpets; Haydn: Sinfonia concertante in
B-flat, Hob.I/105. Peter Oundjian, conductor;
Earl Lee, RBC Resident Conductor; Tom Allen,
host. Roy Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe St. 416598-3375. $29.50-$83.75.
●●8:00: Living Arts Centre. The Trews
Acoustic. Living Arts Centre, Hammerson
Hall, 4141 Living Arts Dr., Mississauga. 905306-6000. $45-$55.
●●8:00: Royal Conservatory. String Concerts: Vilde Frang and Michall Lifits. Schubert: Fantasy in C for Violin and Piano, D934;
Lutosławski: Partita; Fauré: Violin Sonata
No.1 Op.13. Koerner Hall, Telus Centre,
273 Bloor St. W. 416-408-0208. $30-$65.
off: Preludes of the North. Rachmaninoff:
Preludes, Op.32 (excerpts); ​Sherkin: ​​Postludes from Adlivun (2014). Adam Sherkin,
piano. Bluma Appel Lobby, St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts, 27 Front St. E. 416-366-7723.
Free. Presented in partnership with Steinway
Piano Gallery.
●●12:15: Metropolitan United Church. Noon
at Met. Sergio Orabona, organ. Metropolitan
United Church (Toronto), 56 Queen St. E. 416363-0331 x26. Free.
●●12:30: York University Department of
Music. Faculty Spotlight: Patricia Wait, clarinet and Mark Chambers, cello. Tribute Communities Recital Hall, Accolade East Building,
YU, 4700 Keele St. 647-459-0701. Free.
●●8:00: Music Toronto. Steven Osborne,
piano. Schubert: Impromptus D935, Nos.1
& 4; Debussy: Masques; Debussy: Images,
Book 2; Debussy: L’ile joyeuse; Rachmaninoff:
Études-Tableaux, Op.33 Nos.1 3, 6, 7, 8; Rachmaninoff: Études-Tableaux, Op.39: Nos.2, 5, 7,
8, 9. Jane Mallett Theatre, St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts, 27 Front St. E. 416-366-7723.
$55, $50; $10 student tickets; age 18 to 35 –
pay your age.
●●8:00: Talisker Players. Spirit Dreaming: Creation Myths from Around the World. Somers:
Kuyas; Beckwith: Tanu; Ravel: Chansons Madécasses; Villa-Lobos: Suite for voice and violin;
Jaubert: Chants sahariens; and other works.
Ilana Zarankin, soprano; Laura McAlpine,
mezzo; Andrew Moodie, reader. Trinity-St.
Paul’s Centre, 427 Bloor St. W. 416- 978-8849.
$40; $30(sr); $10(st/un(der)employed). Preconcert talk at 7:15. Also Mar 2.
Wednesday March 2
●●12:00 noon: Canadian Opera Company.
World Music Series: Petal. Avataar marries Hindustani raag and taal, hardbop
jazz, Brazilian lyricism, electronica, atmospheric textures and ambiance, Javanese
gamelan, and contemporary improvisation.
Sundar Viswanathan, woodwinds and director. Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre, Four
Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts,
145 Queen St. W. 416-363-8231. Free.
38 | February 1, 2016 - March 7, 2016
Michael Robert Broder (Don Pasquale); Dion
Mazerolle (Dr. Malatesta); Anne Marie Ramos
(Norina); and others; Geoffrey Butler, artistic director; Renee Salewski, stage director. Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing
Arts, 10268 Yonge St., Richmond Hill. 905787-8811. $40-$50; $110(gala package). With
supertitles. Also Mar 5.
●●7:30: Toronto City Opera. L’Elisir d’Amore.
See Feb 26; Also Mar 5.
●●8:00: York University Department of
Music. Improv Soiree. An evening of improvisation in a participatory “open mike” set-up,
hosted by the improv studios of Casey Sokol.
Sterling Beckwith Studio, 235 Accolade East
Building, 4700 Keele St. 647-459-0701. Free.
Performers and observers welcome.
SPIRIT
DREAMING
❚ Creation myths from
around the world
March 1 & 2, 8:00 pm
www.taliskerplayers.ca
Talisker Players Music
●●1:30: Women’s Musical Club of Toronto.
Music in the Afternoon. Sibelius: String
Quartet in d Op.56 “Voces intimae”; MacMillan: Tuireadh; Brahms: Clarinet Quintet in b
Op.115. Daedalus Quartet; Romie DeguiseLanglois, clarinet. Walter Hall, Edward
Johnson Building, University of Toronto,
80 Queen’s Park. 416-923-7052. $45.
●●7:30: Opera York. Don Pasquale. Donizetti.
●●8:00: Talisker Players. Spirit Dreaming:
Creation Myths from Around the World. See
Mar 1.
Thursday March 3
●●12:00 noon: Encore Symphonic Concert
Band. In Concert: Classics and Jazz. John
Edward Liddle, conductor. Wilmar Heights
pourri. Classics, opera, operetta, musicals,
ragtime, pop, international and other genres.
Gordon Murray, piano. Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre, 427 Bloor St. W. 416-631-4300. PWYC.
Concert in chapel; lunch and snack friendly.
●●7:00: University Settlement Music & Arts
School. End of Term Student Concert. St.
George the Martyr Church, 197 John St. 416598-3444 x243. PWYC. Proceeds in support
of Music & Arts School programming.
●●7:30: Heliconian Hall. All Aboard on a
Musical Tour of Norway, Australia, Estonia,
Spain, Greece and Russia. Grieg: Songs;
Sculthorpe: Djilile; Works by Pärt, Mompou,
Theodorakis. Paula Arciniega, mezzo; Louise
Morley, Ruth Kazdan, Suzanne Yeo, piano; Rita
Greer, clarinet; Jane Blackstone, voice/piano;
Velma Ko, violin. 35 Hazelton Ave. 416-9223618. $25; free(child).
●●7:30: Opera by Request. La Traviata. Verdi.
Allison Arends, soprano (Violetta); Ryan
Harper, tenor (Alfredo); Andrew Tees, baritone (Germont); soloists and chorus of U of T
Scarborough Concert Choir (Lenard Whiting,
conductor); William Shookhoff, conductor
and piano. Trinity Presbyterian Church York
Mills, 2737 Bayview Ave. 416-455-2365. $20.
●●7:30: Toronto City Opera. Die Fledermaus.
See Feb 25. Also Mar 6(mat).
●●7:30: York University Department of
Music. New Chamber Competition Concert.
Tribute Communities Recital Hall, Accolade
East Building, YU, 4700 Keele St. 416-7365888. $15; $10(sr/st).
●●8:00: North Toronto Players. Chelsea
Moor Castle. Book and Lyrics by Barb Scheffler and Michael Harms. Music by W.S. Gilbert. Selections from Pirates of Penzance,
The Mikado, HMS Pinafore, The Gondoliers
and Iolanthe. Justin Ralph, tenor; Laurie
Hurst, mezzo; Barb Scheffler, soprano; Alison Boudreau, soprano; Julius Fulop, bass.
Jubilee United Church, 40 Underhill Dr. 416481-4867. $25; $22(sr); $15(st); free(children
under 14). Also on Mar 5 (Gala - 7pm); 6 (mat);
11 (eve); 12 (mat and eve); 13 (mat).
●●8:00: Royal Conservatory. Chamber
Music: Karen Gomyo, Christian Poltéra and
Juho Pohjonen. Haydn: Piano Trio in E Major,
Hob.XV:28; Janáček: Pohádka (Fairy Tale),
Violin Sonata, JW7/7; Dvořák: Piano Trio in f,
Op.65. Koerner Hall, Telus Centre, 273 Bloor
St. W. 416-408-0208. $35-$75.
Saturday March 5
●●3:00: Annex Singers Chamber Choir. Cam-
erata. Chamber works by Byrd, Victoria, Morley, Chatman, Gjeilo and The Beatles. Guest:
thewholenote.com
Mark Chambers, cello; Maria Case, conductor. St. Andrew’s United Church (Bloor
St.), 117 Bloor St E. 416-968-7747. $25; $20(sr);
$15(under 30); free(12 and under). Also 7:30.
●●4:30: Beach United Church. Jazz and
Reflection: Gospel Jazz - Down By the Riverside. Jake Hiebert Trio. 140 Wineva Ave. 416691-8082. Free will offering.
●●7:00: North Toronto Players. Chelsea Moor
Castle. See Mar 4 (eve); Also Mar 6 (mat); 11
(eve); 12 (mat and eve); 13 (mat).
annexsingers.com
Camerata
ANNEX SINGERS
CHAMBER CHOIR
March 5th, 3pm & 7:30pm
St. Andrew’s United Church
●●7:30: Annex Singers Chamber Choir. Cam-
erata. See 3:00.
●●7:30: Jubilate Singers. Winter Warmth:
Latin American Voices. Works by Villa-Lobos,
Ramirez, Guastavino and Moruja; traditional
songs and rhythms. Guest: Rodrigo Chavez on charango, guitar and Latin percussion. St. Simon-the-Apostle Anglican Church,
525 Bloor St. E. 416-485-1988. $25; $20 (sr/
st).
●●7:30: Opera by Request. Così fan tutte.
Mozart. Ontario Opera Collaborative; Morgan
Strickland, soprano (Fiordiligi); Heidi Jost,
mezzo (Dorabella); Jeffrey Boyd, tenor (Ferrando); Kyle Merrithew, baritone (Guglielmo);
Misty Banyard, soprano (Despina); Norman Brown, baritone (Don Alfonso); Frederic La Croix, conductor and piano. College
Street United Church, 452 College St. 416455-2365. $20.
●●7:30: Opera York. Don Pasquale. Donizetti.
Michael Robert Broder (Don Pasquale); Dion
Mazerolle (Dr. Malatesta); Anne Marie Ramos
(Norina); and others; Geoffrey Butler, artistic director; Renee Salewski, stage director. Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing
Arts, 10268 Yonge St., Richmond Hill. 905787-8811. $40-$50; $110(gala package). With
supertitles. Also Mar 3.
●●7:30: Tallis Choir. Palestrina, Prince of
Music. A re-creation of the Papal Office of
Compline as it may have been celebrated
by Pope Clement VIII in the Sistine Chapel
on September 7, 1593, sung by candlelight.
Palestrina: Missa Papae Marcelli; O Magnum Mysterium; Salve Regina. Peter Mahon,
conductor. St. Patrick’s Catholic Church
(Toronto), 131 McCaul St. 416-286-9798. $30;
$25(sr); $10(st).
●●7:30: Toronto City Opera. L’Elisir d’Amore.
See Feb 26.
●●7:30: York Chamber Ensemble. Bring Home
thewholenote.com
Beethoven. Beethoven: Violin Concerto; Symphony No.7. Michael Adamson, violin. Trinity Anglican Church (Aurora), 79 Victoria St.,
Aurora. 905-727-6101. $20; $15(sr/st).
●●8:00: Alliance Française de Toronto.
Through the song: From Félix Leclerc to
Francis Cabrel. Welcome Soleil (Guy Smagghe, vocals; Bernard Dionne, bass; Philippe
Lafaury, guitar/mandolin; Paddy Morgan, percussion). 24 Spadina Rd. 416-922-2014. $15;
$10(sr/st/members).
●●8:00: Jazz Performance and Education
Centre. Jazz ‘n’ Pizazz: Jane Fair Rosemary
Galloway Quintet. Jane Fair, saxophone; Rosemary Galloway, bass; Nancy Walker, piano;
Lina Allemano, trumpet; Nick Fraser, drums.
Toronto Centre for the Arts, 5040 Yonge St.,
North York. 416-461-7744. $30; $20(st).
●●8:00: Roy Thomson Hall/Massey Hall. Matt
Andersen. Roy Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe St.
416-872-4255. $29.50-$59.50.
●●8:00: Royal Conservatory. TD Jazz: Brian
Blade and The Fellowship Band. Koerner Hall,
Telus Centre, 273 Bloor St. W. 416-408-0208.
$40-$80.
●●8:00: Scaramella. Délices de la solitude.
Mélisande Corriveau, pardessus; Joëlle Morton, basse de viole; Eric Milnes, clavecin.
Victoria College Chapel, 91 Charles St. W. 416760-8610. $30; $25(sr); $20(st).
●●8:00: Somewhere There/Arraymusic.
Triple CD Release Party. Array Space,
155 Walnut Ave. 416-532-3019. $10 or PWYC.
●●8:00: Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Fragile Absolute. György Kurtág: The Answered
Unanswered Question; Brett Dean: Viola
Concerto; Anthony Pateras: Fragile Absolute; Kevin Lau: Concerto Grosso for Orchestra, String Quartet, and Turntables (world
premiere/TSO commission). Afiara Quartet, string quartet; Skratch Bastid, turntables
& effects; Peter Oundjian, conductor and
host; Brett Dean, conductor and viola. Roy
Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe St. 416-598-3375.
$33.75-$148.00.
Brook Community Church, 60 Kearney Dr.,
Ajax. 905-427-5443. $15, $10(sr/under 18).
●●2:00: Royal Conservatory. Mazzoleni Masters: La travail du peintre. Works by Poulenc,
Debussy, Fauré, Wolf, and others. Mireille
Asselin, soprano; Brett Polegato, baritone;
Peter Tiefenbach and Rachel Andrist, piano.
Mazzoleni Concert Hall, Royal Conservatory,
273 Bloor St. W. 416-408-0208. $25.
●●2:00: Thin Edge New Music Collective/
Arrraymusic. Pop-Up Afternoon Concert.
Works by Bartók, Stravinsky, Feldman and
Bunch. Array Space, 155 Walnut Ave. 416-9704162. $10.
●●2:00: Toronto City Opera. Die Fledermaus.
See Feb 25.
●●2:00: Visual and Performing Arts Newmarket (VPAN). Campbell/Afiara. Works
from Mozart to Brazilian choros new urban
music. James Campbell, clarinet; Graham
Campbell, guitar; Afiara String Quartet. Newmarket Theatre, 505 Pickering Cres., Newmarket. 905-953-5122. $30; $25(sr); $10(st).
●●3:00: St. Paul’s Bloor Street. Organ
Recital. Works by Bach. Matthew Whitfield,
organ. 227 Bloor St. E. 416-859-7464. Free.
Retiring collection.
●●3:00: Syrinx Concerts Toronto. 4 Hands
Pianists: 4 hands
Lisa Tahara
Narmina Efendiyeva
Sunday March 6, 3pm
Heliconian Hall
SyrinxConcerts.ca
Sunday March 6
●●2:00: North Toronto Players. Chelsea
for Fun. Chopin: Scherzo No.3 in c-sharp; Scriabin: Fantasy Op.28; works by Dvořák, Brahms,
Tchaikovsky, Piazzolla and Menzefricke. Narmina Efendiyeva and Lisa Tahara, piano. Heliconian Hall, 35 Hazelton Ave. 416-654-0877. $25;
$20(st). Post-concert reception.
●●3:00: Orchestra Toronto. Shamrocks at
the Symphony. Celebration of Irish music.
Grainger: Country Derry (Londonderry Air);
Molly on the Shore; Hardiman (arr. Moore):
Music from Lord of the Dance; Whelan: Riverdance Suite. Guest conductor, William Rowson; guest performers, Irish Folk Dancers.
George Weston Recital Hall, 5040 Yonge St.
1-855-985-2787. $43; $37(sr); $15(child/OTopus 14-29). 2:15: pre-concert chat.
●●3:30: Junction Trio. Evensong with Schola
Magdalena. Works by Orlando di Lasso,
Hildegard of Bingen and Stephanie Martin. Guests: Schola Magdalena; Junction Trio
(Jamie Thompson, flute; Ivana Popovic, violin;
Raphael Weinroth-Browne, cello). St. Anne’s
Anglican Church, 270 Gladstone Ave. 416536-3160. PWYC. Refreshments.
●●4:00: Cathedral Church of St. James.
Twilight Organ Series. Ian Sadler, organ.
65 Church St. 416-364-7865. Free.
●●4:00: Church of St. Mary Magdalene.
Organ music by César Franck. Andrew
Adair, organ. Church of St. Mary Magdalene
(Toronto), 477 Manning Ave. 416-531-7955.
Free.
●●4:00: St. Philip’s Anglican Church. Barbra
Lica Trio. 25 St. Phillips Rd., Etobicoke. 416247-5181. Freewill offering.
●●4:30: Christ Church Deer Park. Jazz Vespers. Russ Little Quintet. 1570 Yonge St. 416920-5211. Free. Donations welcome.
●●4:30: Orpheus Choir of Toronto. Sound
of Eternity. Bach: Mass in b; Bastian Clevé:
Sound of Eternity (film) (Canadian premiere).
Anita Krause, mezzo; Geoff Sirett, baritone;
Jennifer Krabbe, soprano; Charles Sy, tenor;
Orpheus Choir; Chorus Niagara; Talisker Players. Metropolitan United Church (Toronto),
56 Queen St. E. 416-530-4428. $35; $30(sr);
Jubilate
singers
Moor Castle. See Mar 4 (mat); Also Mar 11
(mat); 12 (mat and mat); 13 (mat).
●●2:00: Pickering Community Band. Here
Comes Spring. Barry Sears, vocalist. Forest
Director Peter Mahon
Palestrina, Prince of Music
The crown of the High Renaissance in the
magnificent music of Giovanni Pierluigi da
Palestrina, the “Princeps Musicae”.
Palestrina: Missa Papae Marcelli
Papal Office of Compline by candlelight
Saturday, March 5 at 7:30 pm
St. Patrick’s Church
141 McCaul St.
Winter
Warmth
L AT I N
AMERICAN
VOICES
featuring works by
HEITOR VILLA-LOBOS
guest instrumentalist
Tickets: $30, Seniors: $25, Students with ID: $10 (only at the door)
Info: 416 286-9798 Order online: www.tallischoir.com
RODRIGO CHAVEZ
Saturday March 5, 7:30 pm
St. Simon-the-Apostle Church
an Ontario government agency
un organisme du gouvernement de l’Ontario
jubilatesingers.ca
February 1, 2016 - March 7, 2016 | 39
A. Concerts in the GTA
$10(st). Also Mar 5 (See Section B. Beyond
GTA, Chorus Niagara).
●●6:00: Teo Milea. My Piano Stories. Original
piano works. Milea: Agony and Ecstasy; Sarabanda; Cathedral. Teo Milea, piano. Music Gallery, 197 John St. 647-877-2607. $20; $15(st).
●●8:00: Somewhere There/Arraymusic.
Somewhere There Presents ... Jeffrey Roberts. Jeffrey Roberts, quoin. Array Space,
155 Walnut Ave. 416-532-3019. Price not
available.
705-742-7469. $28.50-$39.50; $15(st). 6:40:
Pre-concert talk.
●●8:00: Don Wright Faculty of Music. Falstaff. See Feb 5. Also Feb 7.
●●8:30: Hugh’s Room. Enter the Hag-
gis. 2261 Dundas St. W. 416-531-6604.
$25/$22.50(adv).
Sunday February 7
Monday March 7
●●2:00: Don Wright Faculty of Music. Fal-
●●7:30: Associates of the Toronto Symphony
staff. See Feb 5.
Orchestra. Ensembles from the Toronto
Symphony Youth Orchestra. Trinity-St. Paul’s
Centre, 427 Bloor St. W. 416-282-6636. $20;
$17(sr/st).
●●2:30: Georgian Music. Penderecki String
Quartet with Leopoldo Erice, piano. Vierne:
Piano Quintet; and works by Beethoven and
Schubert. Grace United Church (Barrie),
350 Grove St. E., Barrie. 705-726-1181. $65.
●●3:00: Don Wright Faculty of Music. Faculty Concert Series. Exploration of Beethoven’s sonatas. Leslie Kinton, piano. Von Kuster
Hall, Music Building, Western University,
1151 Richmond St. N., London. 519-661-3767.
Free.
●●3:00: Wellington Wind Symphony. Remembering. Works by Brahms, Ewazen, Woolfenden and Alford; Morawetz: In Memoriam for
Martin Luther King, Jr. Ben Bolt-Martin, cello;
Daniel Warren, conductor. Knox Presbyterian Church (Waterloo), 50 Erb St. W., Waterloo. 519-669-1327. $20; $15(sr); free(st). Also
Feb 21 (Kitchener).
●●4:00: Spiritus Ensemble. Bach Vespers
before Lent. Bach: Cantata 18 “Gleichwie der
Regen und Schnee;” Kuhnau: Cantata “Gott,
sei mir gnädig.” St. John the Evangelist Anglican Church, 23 Water St. N., Kitchener. 519743-0228. Freewill donation.
●●6:00: Don Wright Faculty of Music. Faculty Concert Series. Annette-Barbara Vogel,
violin; Durval Cesetti, piano. Von Kuster
Hall, Music Building, Western University,
1151 Richmond St. N., London. 519-661-3767.
Free.
●●7:30: Cuckoo’s Nest Folk Club. ODE. Chaucer’s Pub, 122 Carling St., London. 519-4732099. $18/$15(adv).
●●8:00: Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music
Society. Toronto Serenade String Quartet.
Alexander Taneyev: Piano Quintet; Shostakovich: Piano Quintet. Brett Kingsbury, piano.
KWCMS Music Room, 57 Young St. W., Waterloo. 519-886-1673. $35; $20(st).
B. Concerts Beyond the GTA
IN THIS ISSUE: Barrie, Belleville, Dundas, Guelph, Halton Hills,
Hamilton, Kingston, Kitchener, Lindsay, London, Niagara onthe-Lake, Orillia, Peterborough, St. Catharines, Waterloo.
Tuesday February 2
●●12:00 noon: Department of Music, Mari-
lyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing
Arts. RBC Foundation - Music@Noon. Recital:
Voice Students. Cairns Hall, FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre, 250 St. Paul St., St.
Catharines. 905-688-0722. Free.
●●8:00: Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music
Society. CIA (Composers and Improvisers
Association). Selections by student composers. WLU Faculty of Music: Trio (flute/bassoon/piano); The Fact Pack: voice/trumpet;
bass; percussion; keyboards. KWCMS Music
Room, 57 Young St. W., Waterloo. 519-8861673. $15; $10(st).
Wednesday February 3
●●12:00 noon: Midday Music with Shigeru.
A Concert of Hymns. Includes multi-media.
Cheryl Graham, piano. Hi-Way Pentecostal
Church, 50 Anne St. N., Barrie. 705-726-1181.
$5; free(st).
●●12:30: University of Waterloo Department of Music. Noon Hour Concerts: Music
of the Future. Eric Ross, theremin; Mary Ross,
video art. Conrad Grebel University College,
140 Westmount Rd. N., Waterloo. 519-8850220 x24226. Free.
●●8:00: Don Wright Faculty of Music. String
Quartet. Elissa Lee, violin; Benjamin Bowman,
violin; Sharon Wei, viola; Blair Lofgren, cello.
Von Kuster Hall, Music Building, Western University, 1151 Richmond St. N., London. 519661-3767. Free.
●●8:00: Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber
Music Society. Penderecki String Quartet.
Beethoven: Op.18 No.2; Schubert: Impromptus, D899; Louis Vierne: Piano Quintet in c,
Op.42. Penderecki String Quartet; Leopoldo
Erice, piano. KWCMS Music Room, 57 Young
St. W., Waterloo. 519-886-1673. $35; $20(st).
Thursday February 4
●●12:00 noon: University of Guelph Col-
lege of Arts. Thursday At Noon: Music
from the Future. Ultimedia Concept Boulevard d’Reconstructie (Op.54). Eric and Mary
Ross. Goldschmidt Room, 107 MacKinnon
Bldg., 50 Stone Rd. E., Guelph. 519-824-4120
x52991. Free.
●●8:00: Don Wright Faculty of Music. Intention and Improvisation. Les Choristes; Chorale; Gary Diggins, soundwork artist. New St.
James Presbyterian Church, 280 Oxford St.
E., London. 519-434-1127. Free.
40 | February 1, 2016 - March 7, 2016
Friday February 5
●●12:30: Don Wright Faculty of Music. Fri-
days @ 12:30. Canadian works by Omar Daniel, Allan Gordon Bell and more. Land’s End
Ensemble. Von Kuster Hall, Music Building,
Western University, 1151 Richmond St. N., London. 519-661-3767. Free.
●●8:00: Don Wright Faculty of Music. Exquisitely Lost. Bent Note Duo; Allison Balcetis,
saxophone; Sandra Joy Friesen, piano. Von
Kuster Hall, Music Building, Western University, 1151 Richmond St. N., London. 519-6613767. Free.
●●8:00: Don Wright Faculty of Music. Falstaff. Verdi. Opera based on William Shakespeare’s comedy The Merry Wives of
Windsor. Paul Davenport Theatre, Talbot
College, Western University, 1151 Richmond
St. N., London. 519-661-3767. $30; $20(sr/
st). Also Feb 6,7.
●●8:00: Folk Under the Clock. Blues, World
Music Songwriter. Harry Manx. Market Hall
Performing Arts Centre, 140 Charlotte St.,
Peterborough. 705-749-1146. $39.50.
●●8:00: Folk Under the Clock. Harry Manx.
Market Hall Performing Arts Centre,
140 Charlotte St., Peterborough. 705-7491146. $39.50.
Monday February 8
●●8:00: Don Wright Faculty of Music. Early
Music Studio Concert. Von Kuster Hall, Music
Building, Western University, 1151 Richmond
St. N., London. 519-661-3767. Free.
Saturday February 6
●●7:30: Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra.
Gemma Conducts Shostakovich. Premiere
appearance of HPO’s new music director.
Shostakovich: Symphony No.1; Prokofiev:
Piano Concerto No.3; Kelly-Marie Murphy:
A Thousand Natural Shocks. Katherine Chi,
piano; Gemma New, conductor. Hamilton
Place, 10 MacNab St. S., Hamilton. 905-5267756. $25-67; $23-$64(sr); $17(under 35);
$10(child). 6:30: pre-concert talk.
●●7:30: Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts. A Night in Vienna. Ballroom
concert with professional dancers, food and
Viennese music. Queen’s Orchestra; students, faculty and alumni from Queen’s Music.
390 King St. W., Kingston. 613-533-2424.
$30(balcony); $70(floor seating w/ food);
$490(table of 8).
●●7:30: Peterborough Symphony Orchestra. Erika’s Violin. Featuring a violin concerto written by Erika’s mother. Beethoven:
Symphony No. 4; Elizabeth Raum: Violin Concerto. Erika Raum, violin; Michael Newnham, conductor. Showplace Performance
Centre, 290 George St. N., Peterborough.
Tuesday February 9
●●12:00 noon: Marilyn I. Walker School of
Fine and Performing Arts, Brock University. RBC Foundation: Music@Noon. Instrumental Students. Cairns Hall, FirstOntario
Performing Arts Centre, 250 St Paul St., St.
Catharines. 905-688-5550. Free.
●●12:30: McMaster School of the Arts.
Lunchtime Concert Series. Hamilton
Schola Cantorum. Convocation Hall, UH213,
McMaster University, 1280 Main St. W., Hamilton. 905-525-9140 x27671. Free.
●●12:30: School of the Arts. Hamilton Schola
Cantorum. Classical and jazz based works
and arrangements for woodwinds, saxophone and piano. Gregorian Chant features
selections from the English (Sarum) repertoire. William Renwick, director. Convocation
Hall, UH213, McMaster University, 1280 Main
St. W., Hamilton. 905-525-9140 ext. 27038.
$20; $15(sr); $5(st).
Wednesday February 10
●●12:30: Don Wright Faculty of Music. Sym-
phonic Band Concert: In Light and Darkness.
Paul Davenport Theatre, Talbot College, Western University, 1151 Richmond St. N., London.
519-661-3767. Free.
●●12:30: University of Waterloo Department
of Music. Noon Hour Concerts: Michael
Wood Trio. Mike McClennan, bass; Ted Warren, drums; Michael Wood, vibes. Conrad
Grebel University College, 140 Westmount
Rd. N., Waterloo. 519-885-0220 x24226. Free.
●●2:30: Seniors Serenade. Chris Au, piano.
Works by Bach and Schumann. Grace United
Church (Barrie), 350 Grove St. E., Barrie.
705-726-1181. Free. 3:30: tea and goodies $5.
●●6:00: Don Wright Faculty of Music. Heart
to Heart. St. Cecilia Singers and Western University Singers. Von Kuster Hall, Music Building, Western University, 1151 Richmond St. N.,
London. 519-661-3767. Free.
Thursday February 11
●●12:00 noon: University of Guelph Col-
lege of Arts. Thursday At Noon: Jim Gelcer
Group. Goldschmidt Room, 107 MacKinnon
Bldg., 50 Stone Rd. E., Guelph. 519-824-4120
x52991. Free.
●●12:30: Don Wright Faculty of Music. Wind
Ensemble Concert: Bits ‘n Bobs. Works by
Elgar, McCabe, Carpenter and Woolfenden.
Paul Davenport Theatre, Talbot College, Western University, 1151 Richmond St. N., London.
519-661-3767. Free.
●●7:30: Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts. 2 Pianos, 4 Hands. Greenblatt
and Dykstra. Richard Todd Adams and Bryce
Kulak, pianos. 390 King St. W., Kingston. 613533-2424. $36 and up; $17 and up(st); $31 and
up(faculty/staff).
Friday February 12
●●8:00: Don Wright Faculty of Music. Char-
acters. Western University Jazz Ensemble.
Paul Davenport Theatre, Talbot College, Western University, 1151 Richmond St. N., London.
519-661-3767. Free.
●●8:00: McMaster School of the Arts. Trio
D’Argento. Classical and jazz based works
and arrangements for woodwinds, saxophone and piano. Sibylle Marquardt, flute;
Peter Stoll, clarinet; Anna Ronai, piano. Convocation Hall, UH213, McMaster University,
1280 Main St. W., Hamilton. 905-525-9140
x27038 or x27671. $20; $15(sr); $5(st).
Saturday February 13
●●7:30: FirstOntario Performing Arts Cen-
tre. Corb Lund with American Aquarium.
250 St. Paul St., St. Catharines. 905-6880722. $40.
●●7:30: Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts. Global Salon Series: Sounds
of the Forbidden City. China Court Trio, featuring court instruments Pipa, Xiao, Xun and
GuZheng. 390 King St. W., Kingston. 613-5332424. $29; $15(st); $24(faculty/staff).
●●8:00: Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music
Society. Christian Vachon, violin and Frédéric Lacroix, piano. Fauré: Complete works
for violin and piano. KWCMS Music Room,
57 Young St. W., Waterloo. 519-886-1673.
$25; $15(st).
Sunday February 14
●●2:00: Gallery Players of Niagara. From
thewholenote.com
The Heart. Schumann: Liederkreis, Op.39
(new transcription); Beethoven: String Quartet, Op.18 No.6 “Melancholy;” other works by
Schubert. Brett Polegato, baritone; Joseph
Phillips, bass; Timothy Phelan, guitar; Eybler
Quartet: Aisslinn Nosky and Julia Wedman,
violin; Patrick Jordan, viola; Margaret Gay,
cello. Cairns Hall, FirstOntario Performing
Arts Centre, 250 St. Paul St., St. Catharines.
905-468-1525. $5-$34. Also Feb 12 (Toronto).
●●2:00: Kawartha Concerts. Earth, Seas
and Air. Original works. Chris McKhool, violin/guitar/voice. Market Hall Performing Arts
Centre, 140 Charlotte St., Peterborough.
705-878-5625. $15; $5(youth/child). Also
Feb 15(Lindsay).
Monday February 15
●●2:00: Kawartha Concerts. Earth, Seas
and Air. Original works. Chris McKhool, violin/guitar/voice. Glenn Crombie Theatre,
Fleming College, 200 Albert St. S., Lindsay.
705-878-5625. $15; $5(youth/child). Also
Feb 14(Peterborough).
Wednesday February 17
●●12:00 noon: Music at St. Andrew’s. Sarah
Svendsen, organ. St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church (Barrie), 47 Owen St., Barrie. 705726-1181. $25; free(st).
Thursday February 18
●●8:00: Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music
Society. Pavel Steidl, guitar. Bach: Chaconne;
Roux: Les grands Jardins; Domeniconi:
Steidleriana; Castelnuovo Tedesco: Sonata
Homaggia a Boccherini; Steidl: Three Humoresques. KWCMS Music Room, 57 Young St. W.,
Waterloo. 519-886-1673. $30; $20(st).
Friday February 19
Music Society. Joseph Ferretti and Elaine
Lau, piano. Schubert: Fantasie in f; Silvestrov: Three Bagatelles, Op.1; Chopin: Ballade
No.4 in f, Op.52; Doolittle: Sorex; Lachance:
Ondulations; Ravel, Ma mère l’Oye; Ravel
(arr. L. Garban): La Valse. KWCMS Music
Room, 57 Young St. W., Waterloo. 519-8861673. $25; $15(st).
Kingston. 613-546-6316. Donations at door.
Saturday February 20
●●7:30: Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and
Performing Arts, Brock University. Viva
Voce! Choral Series: Animalia: The Lighter
Side of the Animal Kingdom. Avanti Chamber Singers; Harris Loewen, conductor.
Covenant Christian Reformed Church,
278 Parnell Ave., St. Catharines. 905-6885550. $25/$20(adv); $20(sr/st)/$15(adv);
$5(eyeGo).
●●8:00: Jeffery Concerts. Yegor Dyachkov and Jean Saulnier, Cello and Piano Duo.
Works by Brahms, Schumann, and Janáček.
Wolf Performance Hall, 251 Dundas St., London. 519-672-8800. $35; $30(sr); $15(st).
Thursday February 25
●●12:00 noon: University of Guelph College
of Arts. Thursday At Noon: Jasmin Lacasser Roy. Works for classical guitar from the
1920s. Goldschmidt Room, 107 MacKinnon
Bldg., 50 Stone Rd. E., Guelph. 519-824-4120
x52991. Free.
Friday February 26
Sunday February 21
●●12:30: Don Wright Faculty of Music. Fri-
days @ 12:30 Concert Series: Brahms
Sonatas. Thomas Wiebe; Peter Longworth,
piano. Von Kuster Hall, Music Building, Western University, 1151 Richmond St. N., London.
519-661-3767. Free.
●●3:00: Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and
Performing Arts, Brock University. Music
Ed Plus: Jazz Ensemble. FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre, 250 St. Paul St., St.
Catharines. 905-688-5550. Free. In lobby.
●●7:30: Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine
and Performing Arts, Brock University. ENCORE! Professional Concert Series: Stretch Orchestra. Contemporary jazz
trio. Kevin Breit, mando-cello, mandola and
mandolin; Matt Brubeck, cello; Jesse Stewart, percussion. Cairns Hall, FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre, 250 St. Paul St., St.
Catharines. 905-688-0722. $29; $23(sr/st);
$5(eyeGO).
●●8:00: Don Wright Faculty of Music. Clarinet Day Opening Recital. James Campbell;
Stephan Sylvestre. Von Kuster Hall, Music
Building, Western University, 1151 Richmond
St. N., London. 519-661-3767. $10.
●●3:00: Guelph Youth Singers. Concert
Three: Honour Song. Canadian Aboriginal
music. Guests: Wiiji Numgumook Kwe Drum
Circle. Frank Hasenfratz Centre of Excellency,
Tech Hall, 700 Woodlawn Rd. W., Guelph. 519763-3000. $25; $20(sr/st); $5(eyeGO).
●●3:00: Wellington Wind Symphony. Remembering. Works by Brahms, Ewazen, Woolfenden and Alford; Morawetz: In Memoriam for
Martin Luther King, Jr. Ben Bolt-Martin, cello;
Daniel Warren, conductor. Grandview Baptist Church, 250 Old Chicopee Dr., Kitchener.
519-669-1327. $20; $15(sr); free(st). Also
Feb 7 (Waterloo).
●●4:30: St. Thomas' Anglican Church (Belleville). Classical Guitar Recital. David Ratelle,
classical guitar. 201 Church St., Belleville.
613-962-3636. Freewill offering. Reception
following.
●●8:00: NUMUS Concerts. Jason White,
piano. Rzewski: De Profundis; R.E. Smith:
World of Plenty (Canadian premiere); new
work by Colin Labadie (world premiere);
and other works. Jazz Room, Huether Hotel,
59 King St N., Waterloo. 519-896-3662. $15;
$10(sr/arts worker); $5(st).
Saturday February 27
Tuesday February 23
●●2:00: Peterborough Singers. The Beatles.
●●12:00 noon: Marilyn I. Walker School of
Rob Phillips, piano; Barry Haggarty, guitar;
Andrew Affleck, bass guitar; Curtis Cronkwright, drums; Steve McCracken, saxophone;
Sydney Birrell, conductor. Calvary Pentecostal Church, 1421 Lansdowne St. W., Peterborough. 705-745-1820. $30; $20(under 30);
$10(st).
●●7:30: Melos Choir and Period Instruments.
Tavern Night Fundraiser: Rites, Revels and
Romance. Music of the 12th to 18th centuries.
Bawdy songs, period music, refreshments
and silent auction. St. George’s Cathedral
Great Hall, 129 Wellington St., Kingston. 613767-7245. $40.
Fine and Performing Arts, Brock University. RBC Foundation: Music@Noon. Faculty Recital: Erika Reiman, piano. Cairns Hall,
FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre, 250 St
Paul St., St. Catharines. 905-688-5550. Free.
●●12:30: McMaster School of the Arts.
Lunchtime Concert Series. Mathew Coley,
marimba, percussion, dulcimer. Convocation
Hall, UH213, McMaster University, 1280 Main
St. W., Hamilton. 905-525-9140 x27671. Free.
●●12:30: School of the Arts. Matthew Coley.
Works for marimba, cimbalom, hammer dulcimer and glass. Convocation Hall, UH213,
McMaster University, 1280 Main St. W., Hamilton. 905-525-9140 ext. 27038. $20; $15(sr);
$5(st).
●●7:30: Bravo Niagara! Festival of the Arts.
Intimately Classical. Works by Bach, De Falla,
Granados, The Beatles and others. Miloš
Karadaglić, guitar. Historic Niagara District Court House, 26 Queen St., Niagara onthe-Lake. 289-868-9177. $60; $125(VIP). VIP
ticket includes premium seating, post-concert Meet and Greet and CD signing plus
reception.
●●7:30: Kingston Community Strings. In Concert. Featuring electroacoustic music. Adam
Tindale, electronics. St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church (Kingston), 130 Clergy St. E.,
thewholenote.com
Performing Arts. Piano Series: Stewart
Goodyear. Works by Rachmaninoff, Ravel and
Prokofiev. 390 King St. W., Kingston. 613-5332424. $27 and up; $13.50 and up(st); $22 and
up(faculty/staff).
●●3:00: Don Wright Faculty of Music. An
Hour with Robert Schumann. Gwen Beamish. Von Kuster Hall, Music Building, Western
University, 1151 Richmond St. N., London. 519661-3767. Free.
●●3:00: Don Wright Faculty of Music. Studies
in Motion 2016: Dance Showcase. Students in
the Dance Minor program at Western University. Paul Davenport Theatre, Talbot College,
Western University, 1151 Richmond St. N., London. 519-661-3767. $10.
●●7:30: Cuckoo’s Nest Folk Club. Fraser and
Girard. Allan Fraser and Marianne Girard.
Chaucer’s Pub, 122 Carling St., London. 519473-2099. $18/$15(adv).
●●7:30: FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre. David Francey. 250 St. Paul St., St. Catharines. 905-688-0722. $35.
Monday February 29
●●8:00: Don Wright Faculty of Music. Trio
Arkel. Gubaidulina: String Trio; Kodaly: Serenade; Beethoven: “Storm” viola quintet.
Guests: Sharon Wei and Scott St. John. Paul
Davenport Theatre, Talbot College, Western
University, 1151 Richmond St. N., London. 519661-3767. Free.
Wednesday March 2
●●12:00 noon: Midday Music with Shigeru.
Jazz Pianist Lance Anderson. Works by
Gershwin, Peterson. Hi-Way Pentecostal
Church, 50 Anne St. N., Barrie. 705-726-1181.
$5; free(st).
●●12:30: University of Waterloo Department of Music. Noon Hour Concert: Afternoon’s Night Music. Andrew Chung, violin;
Ben Bolt-Martin, cello; Catherine Robertson, piano. Conrad Grebel University College,
140 Westmount Rd. N., Waterloo. 519-8850220 x24226. Free.
●●7:00: Kaleid Choral Festival. A Kaleidoscope of Voices with Rajaton. Finnish a cappella group Rajaton with more than 300 high
school students from the Kitchener/Waterloo Region. St. Peter’s Lutheran Church,
49 Queen St. N., Kitchener. 519-584-5757.
$25. Also Mar 3. See ad page 25.
Sunday February 28
●●2:00: Quinte Symphony Orchestra. Euro-
pean Holiday. Arutiunian: Trumpet Concerto;
Tchaikovsky: Capriccio Italien; Dvořák: Slavonic Dance No.10; other works. Dan Tremblay,
trumpet and conductor. Bridge Street United
Church, 60 Bridge St. E., Belleville. 613-9627430. $25; $20(sr); $10(st); free(child).
●●2:30: Georgetown Bach Chorale. Chiaroscuro. Works by Schubert, Schumann,
Brahms, Reger, Rachmaninoff and Tavener.
Helson Gallery, Halton Hills Library and Cultural Centre, 9 Church St., Halton Hills. 905877-7915. $35; $10(st).
●●2:30: Isabel Bader Centre for the
Wednesday February 24
●●12:30: University of Waterloo Depart-
ment of Music. Noon Hour Concerts: Timepoints - Toronto Percussion Ensemble. John
Brownell, David Campion, Mark Duggan and
Beverley Johnson. Conrad Grebel University College, 140 Westmount Rd. N., Waterloo.
519-885-0220 x24226. Free.
●●7:30: FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre. Bruce Cockburn. 250 St. Paul St., St.
Catharines. 905-688-0722. $55.
●●8:00: Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber
February 1, 2016 - March 7, 2016 | 41
Beat by Beat | Jazz Stories
B. Concerts Beyond the GTA
Thursday March 3
●●7:00: Kaleid Choral Festival. A Kaleido-
scope of Voices with Rajaton. See Mar 2.
FirstOntarioPAC.ca | St. Catharines
●●7:30: FirstOntario Performing Arts Cen-
tre. Marie-Josée Lord and Quartango:
Tangopéra. 250 St. Paul St., St. Catharines.
905-688-0722. $52.
Friday March 4
●●12:30: Don Wright Faculty of Music. Fri-
days @ 12:30 Concert Series. Works by
Brahms, Martinů and others. Sharon Wei,
viola, and Stephan Sylvestre, piano. Von
Kuster Hall, Music Building, Western University, 1151 Richmond St. N., London. 519-6613767. Free.
●●1:30: Don Wright Faculty of Music. Voice
Fridays: Canadian Composers of Song. Patricia Green. Talbot College, University of Western Ontario, Room 100, 1151 Richmond St. N.,
London. 519-661-3767. Free.
●●7:30: Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts. Ensemble Series: Soundstreams Canada. MacMillan: Seven Last
Words of Christ; Schafer: The Fall into Light;
Nystedt: Immortal Bach. Soundstreams Canada’s Choir 21. Guest: James MacMillan,
conductor and composer. 390 King St. W.,
Kingston. 613-533-2424. $27 and up; $13.50
and up(st); $22 and up(faculty/staff).
Sunday March 6
●●2:00: Don Wright Faculty of Music. Trad-
itions. Western University Jazz Ensemble.
Mocha Shrine Centre, 468 Colborne St., London. 519-661-3767. Free.
●●2:00: McMaster School of the Arts.
Ensemble Concerts Series. Flute Ensemble.
Convocation Hall, UH213, McMaster University, 1280 Main St. W., Hamilton. 905-5259140 x27671. Free.
●●3:00: John Laing Singers. Resplendent and
Romantic. Featuring music for choir and virtuoso piano. Works by Beethoven, Buhr, Brahams Bergs, Rossini, Schubert and Whitacre.
Guest: Paul Thorlaksen, piano. St. Paul’s
United Church (Dundas), 29 Park St. W., Dundas. 905-628-5238. $25; $20(sr); $5(st);
free(child).
●●3:00: University of Waterloo Department
of Music. Sawatsky Visiting Scholar: Music of
Sir James MacMillan. Choir 21; UW Chamber
Choir; Grand Philharmonic Choir. St. Peter’s
Lutheran Church, 49 Queen St. N., Kitchener.
519-885-0220 x24226. $30; $14(st/under30);
$5(youth/child).
Saturday March 5
●●1:00: Don Wright Faculty of Music. Lon-
don Music Scholarship Foundation Competition, Second and Final Round. Von Kuster
Hall, Music Building, Western University,
1151 Richmond St. N., London. 519-661-3767.
Free. Also 8:00.
●●2:00: Kawartha Concerts. Little Big Frog.
Masks, puppetry, poetry, music and dance.
Faustwork Mask Theatre. Market Hall
be from New York. I came
down to visit and to take
some lessons and later
received a grant from
the Canada Council for
the Arts to relocate here
temporarily and study.
I fell in love with the
place and the people and
decided to stay. I feel a
real kinship with the large
but still tight-knit group
of musicians I play with
and listen to here and find
Jamie Reynolds and Melissa Stylianou
myself inspired to explore
different musical directions as a result.” Stylianou performs regularly in New York City, especially at the 55
Bar in Greenwich Village, where she has held down a monthly residency for the past six years. Of all the venues in New York City, this
casual, cozy and unpretentious spot is perhaps the most Rex-like.
“Toronto will always be my home, but New York is the source of
much of my creative inspiration. Living in New York is an intense
proposition. I’ve found I need to be really present all day long here:
to navigate this crazy city and get where I need to go ... to be aware
of my surroundings in the interest of my personal safety, and to grab
opportunities for connection with the people in my life. And being
the parent of a toddler in the city adds some interesting elements what little time I have to work on my craft and the business of music
is often squeezed into tiny cracks in my life.”
The silken-voiced Stylianou will be performing a concert titled
“Everything I Love” at the Toronto Centre for the Arts on Saturday
February 13, launching an exciting new series presented by JPEC (Jazz
Performance and Education Centre).
“I’m really excited to be coming up to play this concert. Jamie
Reynolds (my husband and musical collaborator) and I have been
exploring the voice/piano setting since our first musical meeting in
2003, and we both love the intimacy and space this format provides.
We’ll be playing repertoire which stretches from Fats Waller and
Irving Berlin to Bjork and Annie Lennox, along with some of our
original songs. We’ll be joined by my friend (and former member
of the Melissa Stylianou Sextet back in the day!), John MacLeod on
cornet and flugelhorn.”
The TCA JPEC series continues February 27 at the Toronto Centre
for the Arts with “Justin Gray’s Synthesis” fusing Indian music and
jazz, featuring Justin Gray on bass, Derek Gray on percussion, Ravi
Naimpally on tabla and special guest Ted Quinlan on guitar. On
March 5: “Jazz n’ Pizazz” with Jane Fair on saxophone, Rosemary
Galloway on bass, Nancy Walker on piano, Lina Allemano on trumpet
and Nick Fraser on drums. Tickets are $30 and $20 for students. Visit
jazzcentre.ca for details.
Monday March 7
●●8:00: Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music
Ori Dagan is a Toronto-based jazz musician, writer and
educator who can be reached at oridagan.com.
Society. Heidi Wall, piano. Bach: Prelude and
Fugue from Bk.1 No.21 in b-flat; Liszt: Transcendental Etudes Nos.11 & 12; Haydn: Sonata
No.52 in E-flat H.XVI:52. KWCMS Music Room,
57 Young St. W., Waterloo. 519-886-1673. By
donation. Fundraising concert (tax receipts
over $20).
D. In the Clubs (Mostly Jazz)
120 Diner
120 Church St. 416-792-7725
120diner.com (full schedule)
Every Wed 6pm Genevieve Marentette; 8pm
Lisa Particelli’s Girls Night Out Jazz Jam. February 2 6pm Emily Coulston; 8pm Mermaid &
the Bear. February 4 6pm iSpy feat. Rebecca
Everett; 8:30pm Nerissa Kay & Reuven Grajner. February 5 6pm Denielle Bassels. February 6 6pm Natasha Buckeridge & Kevin
Wong; 9:30pm Lily Frost & the Kelvinators.
February 7 6pm Ben Walker Project; 8pm
C. Music Theatre
Due to space constraints, this month’s Music Theatre listings appear online
only. Please visit thewholenote.com/MT for music theatre events not
carried in our daily concert listings, as well as Quick Picks for daily listings of
particular interest to followers of music theatre.
42 | February 1, 2016 - March 7, 2016
Darlene Stimson. February 9 6pm Chris Birkett; 8pm Jessica Stuart Few. February 11
6pm Janet Whiteway. February 12 6pm Hello
Darlings. February 13 6pm Joanne Morra;
9pm Chris Tsujiuchi. February 14 6pm Beth
Anne Cole; 8pm Fergus Hambleton. February
16 6pm Heather Luckhart; 8pm Mirian Kay.
February 18 6pm Ori Dagan & Dave Young.
February 19 6pm Kathleen Gorman. February 20 6pm Stu MacDonald. February 21
6pm Julia Pal; 8pm Kristina Nojd. February
23 6pm Amir Brandon; 8pm Weatherstone.
February 25 6pm Beverly Taft. February 26
thewholenote.com
JOANNE GREEN
MARCH 3
MARIE-JOSÉE LORD &
QUARTANGO: TANGOPÉRA
Priceless Gene continued from page 12
Performing Arts Centre, 140 Charlotte St.,
Peterborough. 705-878-5625. $15; $5(youth/
child). Also Apr 3(Lindsay).
●●7:30: Cellar Singers. Light Perpetual 2.
Duruflé: Requiem and Motets. Jennifer Enns
Modolo, mezzo; Matthew Cassils, baritone;
Children’s Community Choir of Midland;
Mitchell Pady, conductor. St. James Church,
58 Peter St. N., Orillia. 705-481-1853. $25;
$10(st).
●●7:30: Chorus Niagara. Eternity: Bach Mass
in B Minor. Featuring 27 dialogue free short
films created to mirror the 27-part musical
structure of Bach’s work. Clevé: Sound of
Eternity (film; Canadian premiere). Jennifer Krabbe, soprano; Anita Krause, mezzo;
Charles Sy, tenor; Geoffrey Sirett, baritone;
Chorus Niagara; Orpheus Choir; Talisker
Players. FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre, 250 St. Paul St., St. Catharines. 1-855515-0722 or 905-688-0722. $40; $38(sr);
$25(under 30); $15(st); $12(child). 6:30: Preconcert chat. Also Mar 6 (See Section A. GTA,
Orpheus Choir of Toronto).
●●8:00: Don Wright Faculty of Music. London Music Scholarship Foundation Competition, Second and Final Round. Von Kuster
Hall, Music Building, Western University,
1151 Richmond St. N., London. 519-661-3767.
Free. Also 1:00.
Beat by Beat | Mainly Clubs, Mostly Jazz!
C
Loud Outfits
but one thing
I remember
clearly is
marvelling at
how messy
Duke Ellington’s
handwriting was.
The Orange
Devils combine
Martin Loomer
Loomer's encyclopedic knowledge of the repertoire with the expertise of those sharing
the bandstand with him: people like John McLeod, William Carn,
and Richard Whiteman (including, up until recently, the late Dr. Kira
Payne who passed away on January 2: Payne doubled flawlessly both
on alto and tenor saxophones, and as a musician and an accomplished
M.D.; she is missed by the community). Go hear this band with no
skepticism. Just go. I have no doubt you will like it.
Turbo Street: Another fairly large band – as distinct from a big band
– I’d like to draw everyone’s attention to is Turbo Street Funk. If you
don’t know them by name, you might recognize them from their
busking days on major street corners around the downtown core,
including Queen and Spadina, Bay and Bloor and so on. The band
plays a combination of original tunes and pop standards, modern and
otherwise, tightly arranged and performed by recent graduates of the
big three music schools in the city. Turbo Street Funk will be bringing
their outdoor dance party indoors on February 9 at Fat City Blues.
This, friends, is the month when the city begins to thaw. Or, it will
be if there is any justice in the world. Come out and celebrate. With
any luck, I’ll see you in the clubs.
BOB BEN
utting through the huge sound of the horns behind him, Martin
Loomer plays the appropriate chords in the appropriate order
on his electric guitar, laying down the time as authoritatively as
any drummer. He wears a contagious grin and what looks to me like
a bright orange jumpsuit. Which is super cool. If there’s anything I
admire, it’s a loud outfit, and there are few outfits louder than a bright
orange jumpsuit.
Martin Loomer’s Orange Devils have a monthly gig, on the second
Monday of every month, at The Monarch Tavern. They play music by
big bands of the 1930s and 40s, like those led by Count Basie, Duke
Ellington, Fletcher Henderson and more, with skill and authenticity.
And who better to bring these charts to life than someone who
makes his living as a music copyist?
I first became aware of Loomer through the Orange Devils’ vocalist
Rita di Ghent about three years ago – almost to the day – at the end
of January 2013. Since then, I’ve chased down the Orange Devils, and
Loomer himself, attended several of their gigs and bombarded him
with questions, as you do with those more experienced in your field.
I guess I must have asked the maximum number of questions he
could answer at a gig or on Facebook, because he eventually invited
me and a friend to come to his house to talk about composing and
arranging. We convened in his living room, me, my friend, Loomer,
his wife Karen, their cats, and a tray of muffins and tea, and we talked
about a lot: family, education, cartoons and video games and, even at
points, music.
Once we migrated from the living room, Loomer showed us his
score collection, which might be the largest number of scores I’ve ever
seen in one room, music libraries included. This was a long while ago,
Bob Ben is The WholeNote’s jazz listings editor. He
can be reached at jazz@thewholenote.com.
D. In the Clubs (Mostly Jazz)
6pm Kevin Barrett & Julie Michels. February
27 6pm Jordana Talsky. February 28 6pm
Janel Jones & Bob Ben; 8pm Whitney RossBarris sings Tom Waits.
Alleycatz
2409 Yonge St. 416-481-6865
alleycatz.ca
All shows: 9pm unless otherwise indicated.
Call for cover charge info.
February 4 Pick up the Pieces. February
5 Royal Pains. February 6, 27 Soular. February 11, 25 The Flow with Carlos Morgan.
February 12 Nine Times Band. February 13,
20 Lady Kane. February 18 Solo & Duets Concert Series. February 19 Universal Boogie
Band. February 26 Switchbeat.
Arbor Room
7 Hart House Cir. 416-978-2452
harthouse.ca
February 26 9pm Jim Lewis.
Artword Artbar
15 Colbourne St., Hamilton. 905-543-8512
artword.net (full schedule)
February 11 8pm Jazz vocal jam with Sue
Ramsay Trio $10. February 13 8pm Valentine sweet harmonies by The Ault Sisters $15.
February 18 8pm Jazz with Jesse Martel and
band. February 19 8pm Jazz with the Scott
Taplay Group $10. February 25 8pm Nicole
Chambers & Lauren Cumberbatch $5. February 26 8pm Blues, Funk, Groove w/ Wayne
Janus Trio.
thewholenote.com
All shows: No cover/PWYC
Black Swan Tavern, The
De Sotos
C’est What
154 Danforth Ave. 416-469-0537
February 12 7pm(Fri)/1pm(Sat, Sun) Winterfolk XIV: Top Talent from Nova Scotia to Nashville $15.
67 Front St. E. 416-867-9499
cestwhat.com (full schedule)
February 6, 20 3pm The Boxcar Boys. February 13, 27 3pm The Hot Five Jazzmakers.
Blakbird, The
Chalkers Pub, Billiards & Bistro
812b Bloor St. W. 647-344-7225
theblakbird.com (full schedule)
247 Marlee Ave. 416-789-2531
chalkerspub.com (full schedule)
Bloom
1079 St. Clair Ave. W. 416-651-2109
desotos.ca (full schedule)
Every Sun 11am Sunday Live Jazz Brunch
No cover.
Emmet Ray, The
924 College St. 416-792-4497
theemmetray.com (full schedule)
All shows: No cover/PWYC
AVERYRAQUEL
2315 Bloor St. W. 416-767-1315
bloomrestaurant.com
All shows: 19+. Call for reservations.
February 14 7pm Amy McConnell (voice) Trio
with Ross MacIntyre (bass), Mark Keiswetter
(piano) $85 (with dinner).
Blue Goose Tavern, The
1 Blue Goose St. 416-255-2442
thebluegoosetavern.com
Every Sun 4pm Blues At the Goose with the
Big Groove Rhythm Section and
special guests.
Featuring:
Burdock
1184 Bloor St. W. 416-546-4033
burdockto.com
February 15 7:30pm Love Hangover 2016
with Abigail Lapell, Heather Luckhart, Isabel
Fryszberg, Shelby Lamb (voices) Tony Quarrington (guitar) $10(adv)/$12(door).
Joel Haynes - Drums
Rob Fekete - Piano
Mike Pelletier - Bass
FEBRUARY 23, 2016 7:00PM
$10 at the door
Castro’s Lounge
2116e Queen St. E. 416-699-8272
castroslounge.com (full schedule)
or visit
www.averyraquel.com
The Jazz Bistro
251 Victoria St. Toronto, ON
jazzbistro.ca • 416.363.5299
Call for reservations
February 1, 2016 - March 7, 2016 | 43
D. In the Clubs (Mostly Jazz)
February 4 9pm John-Wayne Swingtet:
Wayne Nakamura (guitar), Abbey Sholzberg (bass), John Farrell (guitar). February 7
6pm The Rob Lee (bass) Session with Bobby
Shaw (sax), Aidan Funston (guitar), Harold
Camacho (drums); 8:30pm Nick Scott (guitar) Trio with Julian Anderson-Bowes (bass),
Eric West (drums). February 8 7pm Julian
Nalli (sax) Quintet with Leland Whitty (sax),
Tyler Emond (bass), James Hill (piano), Santino De Villa; 9:30 New York City’s Adam
Smale (guitar) Trio with Kieran Overs (bass),
Vito Rezza (drums). February 11 9pm Bossa
Tres: Victor Monsivais (guitar), Abbey Sholzberg (bass). February 18 9pm Vokurka’s Vicarious Virtuoso Violin: Ed Vokurka (violin),
John Fletcher (guitar), Abbey Scholzberg
(bass). February 22 7pm Sean Cronin (bass)
with Morgan Childs (drums), lineup TBA.
Fat City Blues
890 College St. 647-345-8282
Every Sun 8:30pm Fraser/Melvin Band.
Every Wed 8:30pm The Mercenaries. Every
Thurs 8:30pm Tyler Yarema & The Fat Boys.
February 2 8:30pm Bucketeer. February
5, 19 9:30pm Big Rude Jake. February 6, 27
9:30pm Pudding Band. February 9 9:30pm
Turbo Street Funk. February 12 9:30pm
Raoul & The Big Time. February 13 9:30pm
Paul Reddick. February 20 9:30pm Andria
Simone. February 26 9:30pm Paul Reddick.
Gate 403
403 Roncesvalles Ave. 416-588-2930
gate403.com
All shows: PWYC.
February 1 5pm Mike and Jill Daley Jazz Duo;
9pm Donghwan Moon Jazz Band. February
2 5pm Evan Desaulnier Jazz Trio; 9pm Peter
Kauffman Jazz Trio. February 3 5pm Jazzforia feat. Claire Riley; 9pm Julian Fauth Blues
Night. February 4 5pm Bruce Chapman Blues
Duo with feature guests; 9pm Darcy Windover Band. February 5 5pm Angie Gunn:
Western Swing; 9pm “The Pearl Motel”. February 6 5pm Bill Heffernan and His Friends;
9pm Danny Marks and Alec Fraser Duo. February 7 5pm Grateful Sunday feat. Trevor
Cape and The Field; 9pm Jonathan Billings
Blues Trio. February 8 5pm Grant Lyle Blues
Music; 9pm Chris Staig Trio. February 9 5pm
Conrad Gayle Jazz Band. February 10 5pm
Michelle Rumball with friend; 9pm Julian
Fauth Blues Night. February 11 5pm Kristin
Lindell Jazz Band; 9pm Kevin Laliberté Jazz
& Flamenco Trio. February 12 5pm Amber
Leigh Jazz Trio. February 13 5pm Bill Heffernan and His Friends; 9pm Julian Fauth Blues
Quartet. February 14 5pm Hello Darlings;
9pm The Ault Sisters. February 15 9pm Linda
Carone Jazz Band. February 16 5pm Sarah
Kennedy and Matt Pines Jazz Duo; 9pm Thom
Mason Jazz Trio. February 17 5pm Rick Maltese: Rick’s Three in One; 9pm Julian Fauth
Blues Night. February 18 5pm Concord Jazz
Quintet; 9pm Tiffany Hanus Jazz Band. February 19 5pm Carter Brodkorb Jazz Quintet; 9pm Heather Luckhart: blues/roots/jazz
band. February 20 5pm Bill Heffernan and
His Friends; 9pm Sweet Derrick Blues Band.
February 21 5pm Jeff Taylor and the SLT;
9pm L.A. Turcotte: Sultants of Soul. February 22 9pm Steven “N” Tyler Quartet. February 23 5pm Andy Malette Piano Solo; 9pm
Kalya Ramu Jazz Band. February 24 9pm
44 | February 1, 2016 - March 7, 2016
Lawless $25(adv)/$30(door). February 28
2pm Ken Whiteley’s Sunday Gospel Matinee
$20(adv)/$22.50(door); 8:30pm The Duhks
$32.50(adv)/$35(door). February 29 Simon
Townshend $20(adv)/$22.50(door).
Julian Fauth Blues Night. February 25 5pm G
Street Jazz Trio; 9pm Annie Bonsignore Jazz
Duo or Trio. February 26 5pm Shae Calhoun
and Lorne Duo; 9pm Fraser Melvin Blues
Band. February 27 5pm Bill Heffernan and His
Friends; 9pm Donné Roberts Band. February
28 5pm Six Points Jazz Orchestra. February
29 5pm Mark Rainey Jazz Band; 9pm Robert
Chapman Jazz Band.
Jazz Bistro, The
251 Victoria St. 416-363-5299
jazzbistro.ca
February 4, 11, 18 9pm Laila Biali Previews at Toronto Jazz Bistro – 3 night residency: Laila Biali (piano, voice), George Koller
(bass), Ben Wittman (drums on Feb 4), Larnell Lewis (drums on Feb 11, 18) $25. February 5 9pm Hisaka $20. February 6, 7
9pm(Sat)/8pm(Sun) Tyramid: Adam Smale
(guitar), Kieran Overs (bass), Mark Kelso
(drums on Feb 6), Vito Rezza (drums on Feb 7)
$20(Sat)/$15(Sun). February 12, 13 9pm The
John Alcorn (voice) Quartet with Mark Eisenman (piano), Steve Wallace (bass), Perry
White (sax) $20. February 14 9pm Valentine’s
Day with June Garber (voice) and the Mark
Kieswetter (piano) Trio with George Koller
(bass), Ben Riley (drums) $250 (includes dinner, drinks, and flowers). February 19, 20
9pm Rich Brown (bass) & The Abeng with
James Hill (keyboards), Luis Deniz (sax),
Kevin Turcotte (trumpet), Ian Wright (drums)
$20. February 21 7pm Daniela Nardi’s (voice)
Espresso Manifesto with special guest Colleen Allen (sax) with Ron Davis (piano), Mike
Downes (bass), Steve Heathcoate (drums/
percussion) $20. February 22 7pm Sounds of
Italy – Jazz FM Piano Series with Rita Marcotulli. February 25, 26, 27 9pm Warren Vache
(cornet) with the Mark Eisenman (piano)
Trio with Steve Wallace (bass), Terry Clarke
(drums) $20(Thurs)/$25(Fri, Sat).
Grossman’s Tavern
379 Spadina Ave. 416-977-7000
grossmanstavern.com (full schedule)
All shows: No cover (unless otherwise noted).
Every Sat The Happy Pals Dixieland jazz jam.
Harlem Restaurant
67 Richmond St. E. 416-368-1920
harlemrestaurant.com (full schedule)
All shows: 7:30-11pm (unless otherwise
noted). Call for cover charge info.
February 5, 13 Gyles. February 6 Danica
Bucci. February 12, 13 “It’s a Jazz Thing”
All Star Weekend with Neil Brathwaite
and guests $10(adv)/$20(door). February
26 Madette. February 27 Simone Morris Trio.
Hirut Cafe and Restaurant
2050 Danforth Ave. 416-551-7560
Every Sun 3pm Open Mic with Nicola
Vaughan PWYC. Every Thurs 8pm Mark
Sepic & Friends (guitar). February 2, 16 8pm
Finger Style Guitar Association PWYC. February 6 7:30pm Open Mic Brigade w/ Robbie
Patterson PWYC. February 12 8pm Latin Jazz
with Don Naduriak (piano) Quintet: Alexander Brown (trumpet), Luis Deniz (sax), Paco
Luviano (bass), Daniel Barnes (drums) $10.
February 19 Arlene Paculan PWYC ($10 suggested). February 26 9pm Hirut Hoot Cabaret $5. February 27 8pm Lizzie Violet Cabaret
Music and Poetry PWYC.
Jazz Room, The
Located in the Huether Hotel, 59 King St. N.,
Waterloo. 226-476-1565
kwjazzroom.com (full schedule)
All shows: 8:30pm-11:30pm unless otherwise
indicated. Attendees must be 19+.
February 5 Ted Gibbons Quartet $15. February 6 Vaughan Misener Trio $16. February 12 Big Band Theory $20. February
13 Maureen Kennedy $18. February 19 Winter
Jazz Festival – Yotam Silberstein Quartet
(New York City) $20. February 21 4pm Winter
Jazz Festival – Special Sunday Matinee – The
Bernie Carroll Project $15. February 26 Ori
Dagan Quartet: Tribute to Nat King Cole $18.
February 27 Mike Murley/Jerry Granelli
Quartet $20.
Home Smith Bar – See Old Mill, The
Hugh’s Room
2261 Dundas St. W. 416-531-6604
hughsroom.com
All shows: 8:30pm (unless otherwise noted).
February 2, 3 10am (Monday only) Toronto
Ravel $15; 8:30pm (both days) Midge Ure
(of Ultravox) $35(adv)/$40(door). February 5 A Tribute to the Queen of the Blues
Etta James $30(adv)/$35(door). February 6 Elizabeth Shepherd with Kevin
Breit $29.50(adv)/$32.50(door). February 7 The 16th Annual Banjo Special $22.50(adv)/$25(door). February
9 Stompin’ Tom’s 80th Birthday Celebration $32.50(adv)/$35(door). February 10 8pm The JAZZ.FM91 Songwriter
Series – Tribute to Steely Dan $40. February 11, 12 Alfie Zappacosta – DVD &
CD Release $44(adv)/$49(door). February 13, 14 Micah and Jackie’s Valentine’s
Concert $28(adv)/$32(door). February 16 Jane Harbury presents Discoveries
$15(adv)/$17(door). February 18 Almeta
Speaks $27(adv)/$30(door). February
19 Jane Siberry $35(adv)/$40(door). February 20 “The Way to San Jose” – The Music
of Burt Bacharach $27.50(adv)/$30(door).
February 21 A Celebration of the Life of Ron
Hynes and CD Release $28(adv)/$32(door).
February 25, 26 David Francey – CD Release
$30(adv)/$35(door). February 27 Gregg
Joe Mama’s
317 King St. W. 416-340-6469
joemamas.ca
Every Tue 6pm Jeff Eager. Every Wed 6pm
Thomas Reynolds. Every Thurs 9pm Blackburn. Every Fri 10pm The Grind. Every
Sat 10pm Shugga. Every Sun 6:30pm
Organic: Nathan Hiltz (guitar); Bernie
Senensky (organ); Ryan Oliver (sax), Morgan
Childs (drums).
KAMA
214 King St. W. 416-599-5262
kamaindia.com (full schedule)
Every Wed 5:30pm Jazz with the Kama
House Band.
La Revolucion
2848 Dundas St. W. 416-766-0746
restaurantlarevolucion.com (full schedule)
Local Gest, The
424 Parliament St. 416-961-9425
Lula Lounge
1585 Dundas St. W. 416-588-0307
lula.ca (full schedule)
February 4 7pm Ron Davis’ (piano) Pocket
Symphronica with Aline Homzy (violin), Kevin
Barrett (guitar), Mike Downes (bass), Roger
Travassos (drums) $20(adv)/$25(door).
Manhattans Pizza Bistro & Music Club
951 Gordon St., Guelph 519-767-2440
manhattans.ca (full schedule)
All shows: PWYC.
February 2, 28 Stan Chang & Erick Bruck.
February 3, 17 Jamie ‘Giggles’ Mitges. February 4 John Zadro. February 5 Gary
Beck & Sideways. February 6 The Cha Cha
Unit. February 7, 21 Grace Peters. February 9, 23, 27 Brad Halls (27th with Laura
Harp). February 10, 24 Paul Taylor. February 11, 25 Carmen Spada. February 12 David
Hollingshead & Isaiah Farahbakhsh. February 13, 16 Thomas Hammerton. February
14 Ambre Mclean. February 18 Foster/Daniels/Wagler. February 20 Parker Abbott Trio.
February 26 Eclectic Vinyl Orchestra.
Mezzetta Restaurant
681 St. Clair Ave. W. 416-658-5687
mezzettarestaurant.com (full schedule)
All shows: 9pm, $8 (unless otherwise noted).
February 3 Lorne Lofsky & Neil Swainson
$10.
Monarch Tavern
12 Clinton St. 416-531-5833
themonarchtavern.com (full schedule)
February 8 7:30pm Martin Loomer & His
Orange Devils Orchestra $10.
Monarchs Pub
At the Eaton Chelsea Hotel
33 Gerrard St. W. 416-585-4352
monarchspub.ca (full schedule)
Wednesday shows: 7pm. Thursday shows:
8pm. All shows: No cover.
Morgans on the Danforth
1282 Danforth Ave. 416-461-3020
morgansonthedanforth.com (full schedule)
All shows: 2pm-5pm. No cover.
February 28 Lisa Particelli’s Girls Night Out
Jazz Jam.
Musideum
401 Richmond St. W., Main Floor
416-599-7323
musideum.com (full schedule)
Nawlins Jazz Bar & Dining
299 King St. W. 416-595-1958
nawlins.ca
All shows: No cover/PWYC.
Every Tue 6:30pm Stacie McGregor. Every
Wed 7pm Jim Heineman Trio. Every Thurs
8pm Nothin’ But the Blues w/ Joe Bowden
(drums) and featured vocalists. Every Fri,
Sat 8:30pm N’awlins All Star Band. Every
Sun 7pm Brooke Blackburn.
Nice Bistro, The
117 Brock St. N., Whitby. 905-668-8839
nicebistro.com (full schedule)
Old Mill, The
thewholenote.com
21 Old Mill Rd. 416-236-2641
oldmilltoronto.com
The Home Smith Bar: No reservations. No
cover. $20 food/drink minimum. All shows:
7:30pm-10:30pm
February 4 Juliann Kuchocki (voice) Trio with
David Restivo (piano), Dave Young (bass).
February 5 Canadian Jazz Quartet & Friends:
Frank Wright (vibes), Ted Quinlan (guitar),
Pat Collins (bass), Don Vickery (drums), feat.
Chase Sanborn (trumpet). February 6 Artie
Roth (bass) Trio with Mike Filice (sax), Geoff
Young (guitar). February 11 Alex Pangman &
The Alleycats: Alex Pangman (voice), Peter
Hill (piano), John MacLeod (cornet), Glenn
Anderson (drums). February 12 Ron Westray
(trombone) Trio with Chris Banks (bass),
Daniel Barnes (drums). February 13 Mike
Allen (guitar) Quartet with Dave Young (bass),
Don Vickery (drums), Mary Panacci (voice).
February 18 Joe Sealy (piano) / Paul Novotny
(bass) Duo. February 19 Alexis Baro (trumpet) Quartet with Stan Fomin (piano), Paco
Luviano (bass), Amhed Mitchell (drums). February 20 Bonnie Brett (voice) Trio with David
Braid (piano), Steve Wallace (bass). February
25 Don Thompson (piano) / Reg Schwager
(guitar) Duo. February 26 Sam Broverman
(voice) Trio with Mark Kieswetter (piano),
Jordan O’Connor (bass). February 27 Kevin
Dempsey (drums) Trio with Reg Schwager
(guitar), Pat Collins (bass).
Only Café, The
972 Danforth Ave. 416-463-7843
theonlycafe.com (full schedule)
All shows: 8pm unless otherwise indicated.
February 22 Lazersuzan.
Paintbox Bistro
555 Dundas St. E. 647-748-0555
paintboxbistro.ca (Full schedule)
Palais Royale
1601 Lake Shore Blvd. W. 416-533-3553
palaisroyale.ca
February 13 7pm Valentine’s Big Band
Dance feat. Glenn Chipkar and the 18
piece Swing Shift Big Band Orchestra
$50(gen)/$100(VIP).
Pauper’s Pub
539 Bloor St. W. 416-530-1331
pauperspub.com
February 13, 14 7pm A Jazzy Valentine’s
with Steve Wallace (bass), Chris Gale (sax
on Feb 13), Perry White (sax on Feb 14) Matt
Newton (piano), Julie McGregor (voice).
Pilot Tavern, The
22 Cumberland Ave. 416-923-5716
thepilot.ca
9:30pm Vaughan Misener. February 12 4pm
Hogtown Syncopators; 6:30pm Victor Bateman Trio; 9:45pm Marito Marques. February
13 12pm The Sinners Choir; 3:30pm Paul Reddick; 7:30pm Nick Teehan Group; 9:45pm Bob
Brough Quartet. February 14 12pm Excelsior Dixieland Jazz; 3:30pm Red Hot Ramble; 7pm Marilyn Lerner Trio; 9:30pm Hannah
Barstow. February 15 6:30pm University of
Toronto Student Jazz Ensembles; 9:30pm
Mike Malone & The Writers Jazz Orchestra.
February 16 6:30pm Chris Wallace’s Many
Names; 9:30pm Classic Rex Jam hosted by
Scotland’s Graeme Stephen. February 17
6:30pm Richard Whiteman Four; 9:30pm
Julie Mahendran. February 18 6:30pm Yuka;
9:30pm Soul Stew. February 19 4pm Hogtown Syncopators; 6:30pm Victor Bateman
Trio; 9:45pm Raoul & the Bigger Time. February 20 12pm The Sinners Choir; 3:30pm
Socialist Night School; 7:30pm Nick Teehan
Group; 9:45pm Michael Occhipinti’s Creation
Dream Reunion. February 21 12pm Excelsior
Dixieland Jazz; 3:30pm Dr. Nick & The Rollercoasters; 7pm Marilyn Lerner Trio; 9:30pm
Ronda Stakich Group. February 22 6:30pm
University of Toronto Student Jazz Ensembles; 9:30pm Humber College Student Jazz
Ensembles. February 23 6:30pm Chris Wallace’s Many Names; 9:30pm Classic Rex Jam
hosted by Chris Gale. February 24 6:30pm
Richard Whiteman Four; 9:30pm Josh Grossman’s The TJO - Toronto Jazz Orchestra.
February 25 6:30pm Yuka; 9:45pm Halifax’s Jerry Granelli Quartet w/ Mike Murley. February 26 4pm Hogtown Syncopators;
6:30pm Victor Bateman Trio; 9:45pm Halifax’s Jerry Granelli Quartet w/ Mike Murley.
February 27 12pm The Sinners Choir; 3:30pm
Laura Hubert Band; 7:30pm Nick Teehan
Group; 9:45pm Steve Koven’s Project Rex.
February 28 12pm Excelsior Dixieland Jazz;
3:30pm Freeway Dixieland; 7pm Marilyn Lerner Trio; 9:30pm Three Blind Mice. February 29 6:30pm University of Toronto Student
Jazz Ensembles; 8:30pm John MacLeod’s Rex
Hotel Orchestra.
All shows: 3:30pm. No cover.
February 6 Norman Marshall Villeneuve’s
Jazz Message: Norman Marshall Villeneuve
(drums), Eric Boucher (piano), Artie Roth
(bass), Shawn Nykwist (alto sax), Alexis Baro
(trumpet). February 13 Frank Botos Quartet.
February 20 Alex Dean Quartet. February
27 Kirk MacDonald Quartet.
Poetry Jazz Café
224 Augusta Ave. 416-599-5299
poetryjazzcafe.com (full schedule)
Reposado Bar & Lounge
136 Ossington Ave. 416-532-6474
reposadobar.com (full schedule)
Every Wed Spy vs. Sly vs. Spy. Every Thurs,
Fri 10pm Reposadists Quartet: Tim Hamel
(trumpet), Jon Meyer (bass), Jeff Halischuck
(drums), Roberto Rosenman (guitar).
Reservoir Lounge, The
52 Wellington St. E. 416-955-0887
reservoirlounge.com (full schedule).
All shows: 9:45
Every Tue, Sat Tyler Yarema and his Rhythm.
Every Wed The Digs. Every Thurs Stacey
Kaniuk. Every Fri Dee Dee and the Dirty Martinis. February 4 Alex Pangman.
Rex Hotel Jazz & Blues Bar, The
194 Queen St. W. 416-598-2475
therex.ca (full schedule)
Call for cover charge info.
February 1 6:30pm University of Toronto
Student Jazz Ensembles; 9:30pm Humber
College Student Jazz Ensembles. February 2 6:30pm Chris Wallace’s Many Names;
9:30pm Israel’s Amos Hoffman with Noah
Lemish Quartet. February 3 6:30pm Richard
Whiteman Four; 9:30pm New York’s Gary
Versace & Mark Feldman with Darren Sigesmund Quintet - CD Release. February 4
6:30pm Yuka; 9:30pm New York’s Gary Versace & Mark Feldman with Darren Sigesmund Quintet - CD Release. February 5 4pm
Hogtown Syncopators; 6:30pm Victor Bateman Trio; 9:45pm Norman M. Villeneuve. February 6 12pm The Sinners Choir; 3:30pm
Composers Collective; 7:30pm Nick Teehan
Group; 9:45pm New York’s Jacey Falk Quartet. February 7 12pm Excelsior Dixieland
Jazz; 3:30pm Club Django; 7pm Marilyn Lerner Trio; 9:45pm New York’s Jacey Falk Quartet. February 8 6:30pm University of Toronto
Student Jazz Ensembles; 9:30pm Humber
College Student Jazz Ensembles. February 9 6:30pm Chris Wallace’s Many Names;
9:30pm Classic Rex Jam hosted by Brooklyn’s Tyramid w/ Adam Smale. February 10
6:30pm Richard Whiteman Four; 9:30pm
Buddy Aquilina. February 11 6:30pm Yuka;
Salty Dog Bar & Grill, The
Seven44
(Formerly Chick n’ Deli/The People’s Chicken)
744 Mount Pleasant Rd. 416-489-7931
seven44.com (full schedule)
All shows: 7:30pm
February 1 Advocats Big Band. February
15 George Lake Big Band. February 22 Mega
City Swing Band.
Stori Aperitivo
95 King St. E. 416-361-0404
stori.ca (full schedule)
Toni Bulloni
156 Cumberland St. 416-967-7676
tonibulloni.com (full schedule)
No cover. Saturday shows: 9pm. $30 food/
drink minimum. Sunday shows: 6pm. $25
food/drink minimum.
Tranzac
292 Brunswick Ave. 416-923-8137
tranzac.org
3-4 shows daily, various styles. Mostly PWYC.
Every Mon 10pm Open Mic Mondays. Every
Thurs 7:30pm Bluegrass Thursdays: Houndstooth. Every Fri 5pm The Foolish Things
(folk). This month’s shows include: February
2 7:30pm Ali Berkok; 10pm Peripheral Vision.
February 7, 21 5pm Monk’s Music. February
9 7:30pm Aurochs; 10pm Bedroom. February 14 10pm The Lina Allemano Four. February 16 10pm The Ken McDonald Quartet.
February 17 7:30pm Graeme Stephen Trio,
with Dan Fortin & Chris Wallace. February 21
7:30pm Diane Roblin. February 23 10pm Nick
Fraser Presents. January 26 10pm The Ryan
Driver Sextet.
1980 Queen St. E. 416-849-5064
(full schedule)
St. Philip’s Anglican Church
●
Sunday, February 7, 10:30 AM | Mardi Gras Mass
Bob DeAngelis Dixieland Band
Sunday, February 14, 4:00 PM | Valentine Vespers
Carol McCartney
Quartet with Kieran Overs (bass),
St. Philip’s
Anglican Church
Robinson
(saxophone) Church
and Nancy Walker
(piano)
| Etobicoke
St.Chris
Philip’s
Anglican
25
St. Phillips
Road
Royal
York
+ Vespers
Dixon)
February
28,(near
4:00 PM
| Steel
Pan
● Sunday,
Joy Lapps-Lewis
Quartet with Joy
(steelwill
pan),
416-247-5181
• stphilips.net
• free
offering
Andrew Stewart (bass), Larnell Lewis (drums) and
Jeremy Ledbetter (keyboard)
Sunday, March 6, 4:00 PM | Jazz Vespers
Barbra Lica Trio
Featuring some of Toronto’s best jazz musicians
with a brief reflection by Jazz Vespers Clergy
Sunday, February 21 at 4:30 pm
Joe Sealy, piano
Paul Novotny, bass
Sunday, March 6 at 4:30 pm
RUSS LITTLE QUINTET
St. Philip’s Anglican Church | Etobicoke
Christ Church Deer Park, 1570 Yonge St.
416-920-5211
(north of St. Clair at Heath St.)
Admission is free; donations are welcome.
www.thereslifehere.org
thewholenote.com
Sauce on the Danforth
1376 Danforth Ave. 647-748-1376
sauceondanforth.com
All shows: no cover.
Every Mon 9pm The Out Of Towners: Dirty
Organ Jazz. Every Tue 6pm Julian Fauth. February 6 Steve Stanley. February 13 Michelle
Rumball & Mr. Rick. February 20 Catfish.
February 27 Matt Morgan.
25 St. Phillips Road (near Royal York + Dixon)
416-247-5181 • stphilips.net • free will offering
February 1, 2016 - March 7, 2016 | 45
E. The ETCeteras
Galas and Fundraisers
United Church. Oakville Public Library Central Branch, 120 Navy St. Oakville. 905-8275678; Oakville. Opera.Guild@outlook.com $10
(Proceeds go towards our scholarship fund,
to be awarded to a student attending the Faculty of Music at the U of Toronto, and support
our annual donation to the Canadian Opera
Company.) ●●Feb 09 7:00: North York Central Library.
Learning to Love in Wagner’s Siegfried. The
comic scherzo in Wagner’s epic Ring cycle
is also opera’s strangest coming of age
story. What’s a boy to do when he knows little about his background – and nothing about
the opposite sex? Join Opera Canada editor
Wayne Gooding as he introduces the Canadian Opera Company’s production of Wagner’s Siegfried. Auditorium, 5120 Yonge St. To
register: 416-395-5639. Free.
●●Feb 09 7:00: University of Toronto Faculty
of Music. Lecture by composer Lawrence
Shragge, Louis Applebaum Distinguished Visitor in Film Composition. Shragge has written music for over 160 movies and television
series as well as for theatre, dance, art installations and advertising. Walter Hall, Edward
Johnson Bldg, 80 Queen’s Park. 416-9783744. Free.
●●Feb 10 – Apr 06 10am-12 noon: Royal Conservatory of Music. The Great Conductors.
Explore the lives, careers, talents and musicmaking of eight great conductors through
recordings, film footage of rehearsals and
performances, and comparisons of the same
works presented by different conductors.
Instructor: Rick Phillips. 273 Bloor St. W. 416408-2825. $395.
●●Feb 20 9:00am-2:00: Royal School of
Church Music. A Quiet Day for Church Musicians. An opportunity for those who work in
the ministry to reflect and focus on our lenten
mission, renewing us mentally and spiritually
for the busy times ahead; includes a brief talk
by Bishop Michael Bedford-Jones on the subject of making music in a church setting. St.
John’s Convent, 233 Cummer Ave. 416-6941260. Members free; non-members $15.
●●Feb 23 7:00: North York Central Library.
Crossover Dreams: Motown Records in the
60s. In this fascinating and music-filled talk,
Dr. Mike Daley, York University, reveals the
secrets of the Motown formula, and explains
Festivals
●●Feb 06 7:30: Queen’s University School of
Drama and Music. A Night in Vienna. Join the
Queen’s Orchestra and talented students, faculty and alumni from Queen’s Music as we
take a musical journey to Vienna. Concertgoers will have the opportunity to waltz the
night away, or sit back and watch the professional ballroom dancers float across the
floor while listening to the wonderful music
of Vienna. Produced by Bruce Kelly; directed
by Gordon Craig. Grant Hall, Queen’s Campus,
43 University Ave. Kingston. 613-533-2424;
www.theisabel.ca $70 (floor with food); $490
(table of eight); $30 (balcony seating).
●●Feb 11 7:00: Music Gallery. Music Gallery
Fundraiser: 1976. Performances by Brigitte
Bardon’t and Prince Nifty, a silent auction,
50/50s, new music trivia, and more. We’re
going to party like it’s 1976, new music-style.
197 John St. 416-204-1080. $20. ●●Feb 13 6:30: Mississauga Big Band Jazz
Ensemble. Valentine Dinner/Dance. 6:30:
dinner; 8:00-10:00pm: dancing. Cooksville
United Church, 2500 Mimosa Row. Mississauga. 905-277-2338. $25 (advance tickets
only – no tickets at door). Booking deadline:
February 8.
Competitions
●●Feb 02 10:00am: Royal Conservatory of
Music. Glenn Gould School Concerto Competition Finals. Hear talented solo performers compete for the opportunity to
perform a concerto with the Royal Conservatory Orchestra during the 2016-17 season.
Koerner Hall, Telus Centre, 273 Bloor St. W.
416-408-0208. Free (ticket required).
●●Orchestra Toronto. Marta Hidy Concerto
Competition 2016. This year’s prize awarded
to a percussionist. For Canadian virtuosos
aged 23 and younger. Prize includes a scholarship of $1,000 and an opportunity to perform as a soloist with Orchestra Toronto at
its December 2016 youth-oriented concert at
the Toronto Centre for the Arts. For full history and registration form: www.orchestratoronto.ca Deadline for mailing the application
form and registration fee: February 1 2016.
●●Feb 12 – 14 (Friday 7pm-1:30am; Saturday
1pm-1:30am; Sunday 1pm-11pm): Winterfolk. Fourteenth Annual Blues and Roots Festival. The best of urban, blues, rock, jazz,
country, folk and roots music, emulating a
multi-stage rural summer festival. More than
150 artists will be performing at four venues
and five stages; included are special tribute events, an awards ceremony, community
stages and various themed musical workshops. The Danforth: Black Swan Tavern,
154 Danforth Ave., 416-469-0537; Dora Keogh
Irish Pub, 141 Danforth Ave., 416-778-1804;
Terri O’s, 185 Danforth Ave., 416-462-0038;
Mambo Lounge, 120 Danforth Ave., 416-7787004; www.winterfolk.com Paid and free
concert stages.
Lectures, Salons, Symposia
●●Feb 01 - Mar 07 7:00-9:00. Royal Con-
servatory of Music. Joyful Noise: Exploring
Sacred Masterworks. Delve into the history,
composition and lasting legacy of five cornerstone masterworks: J.S. Bach’s B Minor
Mass, the Requiems of Mozart and Dvořák,
Lassus’ Lagrime di San Pietro, and Handel’s
oratorio, Messiah. Instructor: John Holland.
273 Bloor St. W. 416-408-2825. $250. ●●Feb 02 12:10: University of Toronto Faculty
of Music. Composers’ Forum. With Allan Gordon Bell. Walter Hall, Edward Johnson Bldg.,
80 Queen’s Park. 416-978-3744. Free.
●●Feb 04 - Mar 10 10am-12 noon. Royal Conservatory of Music. All About the Piano:
Estampes (Postcards). Explore music involving the piano from Buenos Aires, New York
City, Paris, Vienna, Prague, Riga, St. Petersburg, Tallinn and Helsinki. Instructor: Peteris
Zarins. 273 Bloor St. W. 416-408-2825. $295.
●●Feb 05 7:00: Soundstreams. Salon 21:
Accorditorium. An exploration of the accordion family of instruments, as well as performance demonstrations by Joseph
Macerollo and Michael Bridge. Gardiner
Museum, 111 Queen’s Park. 416-504-1282.
Free, PWYC preferred seating available.
●●Feb 09 1:30: Oakville Opera Guild. My Life
with Opera – a Personal Journey. Don Gillies,
musician and former minister of Bloor Street
Opera
for
Jeanne Lamon | Chief Artistic Advisor
Ivars Taurins | Director, Chamber Choir
All
Baroque
Summer
Institute
TBSI SPONSOR
For advanced students
and professional musicians
Sing and perform opera
choruses in a community
setting with Maestro
Alvaro Lozano Gutiérrez.
$50/7 wks starts Feb 24
June 5–18, 2016
Faculty of Music, University of Toronto
Application Deadline: March 11, 2016
www.mnjcc.org
416-924-6211 x0
tafelmusik.org/tbsi
46 | February 1, 2016 - March 7, 2016
why its classic hits still resonate today. Auditorium, 5120 Yonge St. To register: 416-3955639. Free.
●●Feb 28 2:00: Toronto Opera Club. The
Omnipresence of Eros in The Marriage of
Figaro. Guest speaker: Leonard Rosmarin,
author, lecturer and self-confessed opera
addict. Room 330, Edward Johnson Bldg.,
Faculty of Music, 80 Queen’s Park. 416-9243940. $10.
●●Feb 29 7:30: Toronto Masque Theatre. A
Passage to India. A behind the scenes look at
TMT’s latest commission, The man who married himself, exploring the dance, music and
poetry of India that inspired composer Juliet
Palmer, librettist Anna Chatterton and choreographer Hari Krishnan; features live performances, wine and refreshments. The
Atrium, 21 Shaftesbury Ave. 416-410-4561;
torontomasquetheatre.com $20 (regular);
$15 (under 30 and TMT season subscribers).
Master Classes
●●Feb 02 11:30am: York University Depart-
ment of Music. Vocal Master Class. Nathalie
Paulin, soprano, works with young singers from the studios of Catherine Robbin,
Stephanie Bogle, Norma Burrowes, Michael
Donovan and Karen Rymal. Tribute Communities Recital Hall, Accolade East Building, YU,
4700 Keele St. 416-736-5888. Free. Observers welcome. Screenings
●●Feb 16 6:30: Istituto Italiano di Cultura.
Screening of Verdi’s Otello (2001). Directed by
Graham Vick; music director: Riccardo Muti;
starring: Placido Domingo (Otello); Leo Nucci
(Iago); Barbara Frittoli (Desdemona); orchestra and chorus of Teatro alla Scala. Alliance
Française Theatre, 24 Spadina Rd. http://
www.iictoronto.esteri.it/IIC_Toronto/Menu/
Istituto/ Free.
Tours
●●Feb 07 10:30am: Canadian Opera Com-
pany. Tour the Four Seasons Centre.
90-minute tour for the general public led
by trained docents; backstage access. Four
Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts,
145 Queen St. W. 416-363-8231. $20; $15(sr/
st). Also Feb 21. Tickets will be available on
the morning of the tour starting at 10:00am.
Workshops
●●Feb 05 & 06 10:00am-5:00: Musikay. Pro-
fessional Conducting Workshop. Grace
Lutheran Church, 304 Spruce St. Oakville. To
reserve: 905-825-9740; musikay.ca
$50 – $150.
●●Feb 13 10:00am-12:30: Musikay. Vocal Technique Workshop. For choral singers of all
levels and singers at large. Grace Lutheran
Church, 1107 Main St. W. Hamilton. To
reserve: 905-825-9740; musikay.ca $30.
●●Feb 13 2:00-4:30: Musikay. Singing in Tune
Workshop. For choral singers with prior singing experience who want to improve their
intonation as an individual and in a group
setting. Grace Lutheran Church, 1107 Main
St. W. Hamilton. To reserve: 905-825-9740;
musikay.ca $30.
●●Feb 19 7:30: CAMMAC Recorder Players’ Society. Amateur recorder players are
invited to join in the playing of early music.
Guest coach: Frank Nakashima. Mount Pleasant Road Baptist Church, 527 Mount Pleasant
thewholenote.com
St. W. Hamilton. To reserve: 905-825-9740;
musikay.ca $200 (active participant); $75
(observer).
●●Mar 05 10:30am-1:00: Toronto Mendels-
sohn Choir. Singsation Saturday: Choral
Workshop with Guest Conductor Caron
Daley. Join members of the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, conductor Caron Daley and an
enthusiastic community of singers to read
through Karl Jenkins’ The Armed Man. Yorkminster Park Baptist Church, 1585 Yonge St.
416-598-0422 x223; http://www.tmchoir.org/
singsation-saturdays/ $10.
Singing
for Justice
a congregational
song workshop
Dan
Damon
Region. Sight-Singing Workshop. Led by Art
Levine. Northern District Library, 40 Orchard
View Blvd. 416-386-0258. Please register
before Feb 28. $30; $25(members). June 26–July 5, 2016
Saturday,
February 27
Southern Ontario Chapter
●●Mar 05 2:00-4:30: CAMMAC Toronto
Your summer music
experience of a lifetime!
with
Whistler, BC
sochs.org
BRAMWELL TOVEY
Artistic Advisor
Whistler Institute Orchestra
& VSO Music Director
Emmanuel College
OF VICTORIA UNIVERSITY IN
THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
●●Feb 27 9:30am-3:30: Hymn Society, South-
ern Ontario Chapter. Singing for Justice in
Congregational Song. Workshop led by jazz
musician, composer and writer Dan Damon.
Emmanuel College Chapel, Victoria University, 75 Queen’s Park Cres. Register by Feb 22
at 416-342-6034; www.sochs.org.
Mike Crane Photography
Rd. 416-597-0485 or cammac.ca $20 (nonmembers). Refreshments included.
●●Feb 19: Arraymusic. Deadline for Submissions to this season’s Young Composers’
Workshop and Concert. All emerging composers wishing to submit a request to participate, please submit by this date. http://www.
arraymusic.com/ycw.pdf
●●Feb 21 1:00: Arraymusic/Evergreen Club
Contemporary Gamelan (ECCG). Workshop For All. Come one, come all and play
with us! Whether new to music or a pro,
you will immediately join in the music-making at this fun, hands-on Meet-Up that brings
people together to play a treasure trove
of percussion instruments (gongs, bowls,
vibes, marimba, drums, djembe, congas,
bells, chimes, shells and more). Array Space,
155 Walnut Ave. 416-532-3019. $10.
●●Feb 21 2:00-4:30: CAMMAC Toronto
Region. Reading of Mozart’s Requiem
for singers and instrumentalists. Brad
Ratzlaff, conductor. Christ Church Deer
Park, 1570 Yonge St. 416-551-5183. $10;
$6(members).
●●Feb 24 – Apr 13 1:00-2:30; Feb 25 – Apr 14
7:30-9:00pm: Miles Nadal JCC. Opera for
All! Sing opera choruses with visiting Spanish maestro and baritone Alvaro Lozano.
750 Spadina Ave. To register: 416-924-6211
x0.
$75.
●●Feb 26 & 27 10:00am-5:00: Musikay. Professional Conducting Workshop. For conductors with prior choral experience who want to
improve their technical and rehearsal techniques. Grace Lutheran Church, 1107 Main
PASQUALE B
PASQUALE
BROTHERS
ROTHERS
2016 Whistler Institute Orchestra:
Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring
The Vancouver Symphony’s
orchestral institute in
beautiful Whistler resort!
PURVEYORS OF FINE FOOD
(416) 364-7397
vsoinstitute.ca
CATERING
WWW.PASQUALEBROS.COM
Executive Director (50-60 hrs/month)
– has overall responsibility for operations
management, leading and supervising others
in accomplishing the vision of the RCCO.
FOUNDED IN 1909
RCCO, Canada’s oldest musicians’
association, is a nationwide non-profit
organization of professional and
amateur organists, church musicians,
choral conductors and others sharing an
interest in the organ and its music. RCCO
headquarters are located in midtown
Toronto. Two salaried opportunities
are currently available, to work with
RCCO’s board of directors, staff and a
membership base of 1,200 members.
thewholenote.com
Administrative Assistant (20 hrs/wk)
– provides administrative and clerical services,
supporting efficient day-to-day operations.
Both positions require
•experience with non-profit and/or
business management;
•current technology skills;
•strong communication, organization and
executive abilities;
•sound judgment, independent work
habits and an eye for detail.
A background in or appreciation for the
organ and/or organ music is desirable.
APPLICATIONS TO:
Search Committee,
Royal Canadian College
of Organists,
204 St. George Street,
Suite 202,
Toronto, ON M5R 2N5
or by email to
info@rcco.ca
DEADLINE:
Midnight, March 31, 2016.
Full job descriptions
available at
www.rcco.ca
February 1, 2016 - March 7, 2016 | 47
Classified Advertising | classad@thewholenote.com
WholeNote CLASSIFIEDS can help you
recruit new members for your choir or
band / orchestra or find a new music
director! Advertise your help wanted needs
or promote your services starting at only
$24/issue. Inquire now for the March issue.
classad@thewholenote.com
AUDITIONS & OPPORTUNITIES
Available pro bono positions with the
KINDRED SPIRITS ORCHESTRA: 1st Horn;
2nd Trumpet; 1st, 2nd and 3rd Trombones;
Principal Pianist; sectional Violins, Violas,
Cellos and Contrabasses. The KSO is
an auditioned-based civic orchestra in
residence at Flato Markham Theatre.
Weekly rehearsals are held on Tuesday
evening at Cornell Recital Hall. For more
information visit
ksorchestra.ca/about/auditions.html or
e-mail Jobert Sevilleno at
GM@KSOrchestra.ca
Bel Canto Singers is a 50 voice SATB
choir, under the direction of Linda Meyer.
Repertoire includes classical, music theatre,
folk, jazz and pop tunes. Rehearsals are
Tuesdays at St. Nicholas Anglican Church
in Scarborough. We are currently looking
to strengthen our tenor and bass sections.
If you have ever wanted to participate in a
group that values music, fun and fellowship
please consider joining us. Auditions will
take place in the first two weeks of January
2016, during our regular Tuesday night
practice. Website:
www.belcantosingers.ca.
Contact Elaine at 416-699-4585.
The Celtic Fiddle Orchestra of Southern
Ontario is looking for additional musicians:
violin, viola, cello, bass and flute. We practice
twice a month on Sunday afternoons from
1:30 to 4:00 at the QEPCCC in Oakville. Please
contact Jill Yokoyama at 905-635-8079 or
email cfoso.exec@gmail.com
Introducing
BUSINESS
CLASSIFIEDS!
Ideal for ongoing promotion
of your services and products
to the WholeNote’s musically
engaged readership, in print and on-line.
Book by Feb. 19, 2016 for our March edition!
PRIVATE VIOLIN LESSONS: All ages
welcome! Beginner to professional. Lessons
in English and French, music studio in the
Annex. info@andreatyniec.ca
COUNTERPOINT COMMUNITY ORCHESTRA
(www.ccorchestra.org) welcomes volunteer
musicians for Monday evening rehearsals
at the 519 Church Street Community Centre
in downtown Toronto. No audition. We’re
especially looking for harp, trombone and
strings players. Email info@ccorchestra.org.
PRIVATE VOICE/PIANO/THEORY/
EAR-TRAINING LESSONS/GROUP
MASTERCLASSES: Voices of Colour Music.
Classical to contemporary styles. Preparation
for RCM exams, festivals, auditions.
info@voicesofcolourmusic.com,
www.voicesofcolourmusic.com
DO YOU LOVE TO SING? Are you looking for
a choir that performs every type of sacred
music, from Byrd to Britten, Howells to
Hogan? The Anglican Church of St. John the
Baptist seeks all voice types to enhance their
Mass Choir. Services take place on Sundays
at 10:30 AM in the Beaches, one of Toronto’s
most active and artistic neighbourhoods.
For more information, contact music@
stjohnsnorway.com or (647) 302-2074
PRIVATE VOICE/PIANO/THEORY
LESSONS: Experienced, BFA Certified
Teacher located at Christ Church Deer
Park (Yonge & St. Clair). Prepares you or
your child for RCM exams, competitions &
auditions. Contact Jessika: jwithakmusic@gmail.com (647) 214-2827.
NORTH YORK CONCERT ORCHESTRA is
interested in welcoming new players. We
are a community orchestra which rehearses
throughout the year on Weds. nights, York
Mills Collegiate in Don Mills. There are four
subscription concerts and several outreach
opportunities. Especially interested in
hearing from first violinists and string bass
players. Please contact personnel@nyco.
on.ca for further information
WARMHEARTED PIANO TEACHER with
sterling credentials, unfailing good humor,
and buckets of patience. Royal Conservatory
washouts and nervous learners especially
welcome. Lovely Cabbagetown studio. “Best
teacher ever!” - Beaches tween. “Beats
studying with those Quebec nuns!” - Rosedale
senior. Peter Kristian Mose, 416.923.3060.
www.MoseMusicalArts.com. My students
have never won any prizes, except for love of
music. (And loyalty.)
INSTRUCTION & COURSES
FOR SALE / WANTED
FLUTE LESSONS. Classical flute lessons for
all ages and levels. Located near DavenportLansdowne. Contact Meghan at 647-2265488, meghan@meghancornett.com www.
meghancornett.com
ACCORDION GATHERING DUST? Are your
band days just a hazy memory? Someone out
there would love to give your nice old guitar,
flute, tuba (etc) a new life. Advertise your
unused instruments or find one for sale with
a WholeNote classified ad! Contact
classad@thewholenote.com.
FLUTE, PIANO, THEORY LESSONS. RCM
exam preparation. RCM certified advanced
specialist. Samantha Chang, FTCL,
FLCM, Royal Academy of Music PGDip,
LRAM, ARCT. Toronto, Scarborough 416-2931302, samantha.studio@gmail. com
www.samanthaflute.com
CLASSICAL RECORD AND CD COLLECTIONS
WANTED. Minimum 350 units. Call, text or
e-mail Aaron 416-471-8169 or A@A31.CA.
FRENCH HORN suitable for advanced student
or working musician. One owner since 1978,
excellent condition. mjbuell@gmail.com
PIANO LESSONS WITH CONCERT PIANIST
EVE EGOYAN eveegoyan.com All ages,
all levels welcome, at Earwitness Studio,
Artscape Youngplace (downtown Toronto).
Eve’s own exposure to exceptional teachers
during her developmental years makes
her a communicative, intuitive and creative
teacher with over 25 years teaching
experience (private lessons, masterclasses,
adjudication) Each student is an individual.
Email Eve to set up a free introductory
meeting at
eve.egoyan@bell.net
SAXOPHONE Bundy Selmer alto student
model; BASSOON Linton student
model; EUPHONIUM Besson four valve
compensating with laquer finish. Phone
416-964-3642.
STOLEN FROM CAR – Lorée OBOE
& ENGLISH HORN: $700 reward for
information leading to return. Serial #’s:
oboe TA 78, English horn HV 25. Please call
Karen 416-656-4312 or 416-323-2232 x.26
Recital and gig tapes | 78’s
& LPs | VHS and Hi8 | 35mm
Slides |News clippings | Photos
& more, transferred to
digital files: CD’s, DVD’s,
or Video slideshow
ArtsMediaProjects
416.910.1091
48 | February 1, 2016 - March 7, 2016
SWEETHEART PARTY BAND? If you provide
live music for wedding & wakes, roasts &
retirements, and all kinds of occasions, you
can advertise your ensemble right here for as
little as $24 plus tax!! Contact
classad@thewholenote.com by February
20th March edition!
SERVICES
ACCOUNTING AND INCOME TAX SERVICE
for small business and individuals, to save
you time and money, customized to meet
your needs. Norm Pulker, B. Math. CMA.
905-251-0309 or 905-830-2985
CD LINER NOTES, PROMO MATERIAL,
CONCERT PROGRAMS, LIBRETTI, WEB SITE
CONTENT AND MEMOIRS need proofreading
and editing for correct spelling and grammar,
clarity and consistency. Contact Vanessa
Wells, wellsread@editors.ca, for a copy editor
with a music background. Quick turnaround
and reasonable rates! wellsreadediting.ca
VENUES AVAILABLE / WANTED
ARE YOU PLANNING A CONCERT OR
RECITAL? Looking for a venue? Consider
Bloor Street United Church. Phone: 416-9247439 x22. Email: tina@bloorstreetunited.org.
PERFORMANCE / REHEARSAL / STUDIO /
OFFICE SPACE AVAILABLE: great acoustics,
reasonable rates, close to Green P Parking,
cafés & restaurants. Historic church at
College & Bellevue, near Spadina. Phone
416-921-6350. E-mail
ststepheninthefields@gmail.com.
Book your classified ad today!
The deadline for the March issue is February
20, 6pm. Send inquiries to
classad@thewholenote.com
DO YOU DRIVE?
Do you love
The WholeNote?
Share the love and earn a little
money! Join The WholeNote’s
circulation team: 9 times a year,
GTA and well beyond. Interested?
Contact:
classad@thewholenote.com
RESTORE & PRESERVE
YOUR MEMORIES
MUSICIANS AVAILABLE
circulation@thewholenote.com
NEED HELP WITH
YOUR TAXES?
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WE ARE ALL MUSIC’S CHILDREN
February’s Child
Teng Li
BO HUANG
T
NEW CONTEST
Who is March’s child?
MJ BUELL
major roles for foreign
eng Li lives in
leaders. Unfortunately,
Toronto’s King West
he was forced out of the
neighbourhood
company because of the
with her loving husband,
Cultural Revolution. He was
percussionist John Wong.
sent to a coal mine away
She loves tasting amazing
from home to work but
food, eating all sorts of
continued to be interested
dessert and drinking good
in the arts. He performed at
wine and beer. Having
the mine as a performance
learned to knit from
host, singer and bamboo
YouTube videos a few years
flute player, and at one of
ago, she knits baby booties,
Circa 1981, at home in Tempe, Arizona, this
early backline player already looks like he
these performances he met
scarves and hats. Her next
needs a longer instrument!
my mother. He was the
projects are sweaters for
host, and she, a schoolher hubby and a friend.
• Consorting in Canada since 2004
teacher reading a poem
She’s been working on
with as many as 16-20
that she had written for
those for a couple of years;
strings attached.
the event. How romantic
one of these days they will
• Sticks his neck out all over the
is that! My parents still live
be finished!
musical map.
in Nanjing, China. When I
When you look at your
performed in Beijing and
childhood photo today?
Know our Mystery Child’s
Shanghai last December
I don’t remember taking this
Teng Li plays a 1703 Amati viola
name? WIN PRIZES!
on generous loan from Dr. William
they came to see me
photo but it must have been in
Send your best guess by
Waters through the Toronto
perform. They have visited
the summer – my parents’ old
midnight on February 20.
Symphony Orchestra.
Toronto a couple of times
apartment in our hometown,
and came to many concerts
Nanjing, China. Nanjing is known as one of
musicschildren@thewholenote.com
China’s four “hotpots” because of its unbearable
while they were here.
heat and humidity in the summer. My family
Earliest memories of hearing music? My father used to play bamboo flute at home; I’m
didn’t own an air conditioner and I remember
sure he played for me a lot when I was an infant. To this day, I still like the sound of the
practising with streams of sweat going down my
bamboo flute a lot – I even brought one of his flutes to Toronto. I remember my father and
back and forehead. The fingerboard was often so
his brothers would get out instruments to play and sing together at the big Chinese New
wet, after a day of practising, my left fingers felt
Year family gathering.
as though they had been soaked in water for a
First recollections of making and hearing music? Maybe because all of our parents
long time.
went through the Cultural Revolution, and western music and traditional music were
If you could travel back through time and
banned during that time, parents put their musical desire in their children, and hoped
meet the young person in that childhood photo? their musical dreams would be continued. On my floor of the apartment building, every
I would tell young Teng, “All the hard work you
kid my age played a musical instrument. Classical recordings were not easy to find. Going
are doing now will pay off later. The time you
to a concert was the only way to learn what good playing was. I remember watching violin
spend on music makes you have better connecrecitals, concerts and prizewinner concerts at a very young age. My parents took me to see
tion with it. Don’t be too stressed, everything is
other kids perform and I remember thinking: I wish I could play like that. On some of my
going to work out.”
Shanghai trips, after lessons, my father would take me to the Shanghai Conservatory to
Other musicians in your childhood family?
hear a student recital.
My mother is a well-respected, retired schoolDo you remember when you began to think of yourself as a career musician? I knew
teacher, and my father is a tai chi master – among from a very young age that I was going to be a musician. My parents saw my talent very
his many other abilities. He was a Beijing Opera
early on – on my second birthday I received a violin as a present. I started taking violin
singer – so talented that he had a job with the
lessons at age five when I was big enough to hold that instrument ….
provincial company at 18 and performed many
Please visit thewholenote.com to read the rest of this remarkable interview.
CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR WINNERS!
Trio Arkel presents String Tapestry on February 19 (Trinity-St.Paul’s Centre, Jeanne Lamon Hall). They are joined by Scott St. John,
violin, and Sharon Wei, viola for music by Gubaidulina, Kodály and Beethoven. TICKETS! Abby Sears
The Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s March 2 concert (Roy Thomson Hall) features some of their own magnificent players as
soloists: Sarah Jeffrey, oboe; Michael Sweeney, bassoon; Steven Woomert, trumpet; James Gardiner, trumpet; Jonathan Crow, violin;
Joseph Johnson, cello; and Teng Li, viola. Tom Allen hosts and Peter Oundjian conducts. Teng Li will play Paganini’s Sonata per la
Gran Viola. TICKETS! Jialiang Zhu
Amici Chamber Ensemble is joined by Teng Li, viola, and Cho-Liang Lin, violin, on April 24 (Mazzoleni Concert
Hall, RCM) for “Illumination”: chamber music inspired by moonlight and stars by a world of composers. TICKETS!
George Fung
1939 is Teng Li’s debut CD. “This is a memorable disc. The recorded sound is clear and authentic, and Li’s own booklet notes, in
English, French and Chinese, are persuasive in presenting these works as direct responses to their fraught times.” Pamela Margles,
DISCoveries, September 2015.(Azica ACD-71301). A copy goes to Nancy Simpson
thewholenote.com
February 1, 2016 - March 7, 2016 | 49
DISCOVERIES | RECORDINGS REVIEWED
T
DAV I D O L D S
he column this month has been, even more than usual, a
personal journey for me. A week ago when I should have begun,
I found myself wondering what there was to write about. I had
assigned the discs that were of most interest to me to other writers
for a full treatment rather than glossing over them here. Of particular
note were the Dutilleux recordings, and I must say that Elliot Wright’s
appreciation of them later in these pages confirms that to have been
the right decision. But it left me nearly empty-handed and I warned
publisher David Perlman at The WholeNote’s early January gathering that there might not be an Editor’s Corner this month. So much
has happened since then that it is hard to imagine that just one week
has passed.
The first event was a kitchen party at my friends Michael and Mary’s
house, an annual affair to welcome in the New Year with a wealth
of pickin’ and grinnin’. In addition to the usual plethora of guitars
in various tunings, fiddles, mandolins and octave mandolins, there
were hand drums, harmonicas, a keyboard, an accordion and more
than a dozen voices lifted joyously in song. It was a magical evening,
as so often these gatherings can be. I took particular delight in the
opportunity to play with the accordionist, who was adding myriad
colours and rhythms to the mix. As I was leaving – earlier than was
my wont due to the tail end, or so I thought, of a lingering chest cold
– I mentioned my pleasure to Mary who told me to hang on and went
to grab me a copy of the accordionist’s new CD, “hot off the press.” It
seems she was the graphic designer of the package (altdesign.ca) and
had a box of discs on hand, and so I left the party knowing my journey
had begun.
Leighton Life is a wonderfully eclectic
recording that showcases the writing skills
and musical dexterity (piano, synths, accordion, organ, jaw harp, whistle, trombone,
percussion, bouzouki and bodhrán) of Tom
Leighton (tomleighton.ca). Not content to
rest on his own laurels (and the mixing skills
of producer Paul Mills), Leighton surrounds
himself with a marvellous array of musical friends too plentiful to
name, to create horn sections, string arrangements, cello solos and
string band accompaniments as required. The opening track All
Thumbs is a playful Penguin Café Orchestra-style minimalist moto
perpetuo with the ostinato provided by the ticking of a mechanical
clock and a triangle (at least that’s my guess). A Summer Jig features
the accordion in the lead role of a warm, lush instrumentation. A
Letter Found is a haunting ballad with violin and cello in unison and
harmony on the memorable melody over piano and accordion accompaniment. Hank Dances is a rhythmically propulsive swing tune
with horns, extrapolated from music Leighton wrote for a production of Hank Williams, The Show He Never Gave by Maynard Collins.
The 12 tracks included here – all instrumental – run the gamut from
old timey, to R&B, Scottish traditional to The Hurdy-Gurdy which
Leighton says was “written for the hurdy-gurdy … by a non-player.
Alas, it doesn’t play well on a hurdy-gurdy but conjures my image of
the player.” Quite convincingly I might add. The album comes with a
“Warning! Listening to instrumental music activates emotional, motor
and creative areas of the brain!” It also includes the notice that all
compositions are available as sheet music from the composer, so as
spontaneous as much of the music feels, it is obviously conceived in
its entirety by this wonderful musician. I look forward to having the
opportunity to play with him again.
The next steps on the journey began just a block from Michael and
Mary’s house, at the Dufferin bus stop at Davenport. A few minutes
after I arrived at the stop another man carrying a guitar case came
to wait alongside me. I asked if he was going out to play, or like me,
50 | February 1, 2016 - March 7, 2016
coming home from doing so. He said he was
coming from a friend’s house where they had
been playing bluegrass music all evening. Long
time readers of this column will know that I
am enamoured of the “new grass” band Joy
Kills Sorrow that was active from 2005 to 2014.
I asked this guitarist if he was familiar with
the band and he said no, but that he knew
“the song.” Not knowing the song myself, I
said “Oh?” “Yes,” he said, “it’s a great song by Béla Fleck.” And so my
next quest began. It turns out that When Joy Kills Sorrow appeared on
the 1999 CD The Bluegrass Sessions: Tales From The Acoustic Planet,
Volume 2 (Warner Bros. 9 47332-2), where Fleck’s cronies from the
1987 album Drive reunite and are joined by legends Earl Scruggs,
Vassar Clements and John Hartford and contemporary stars Vince
Gill, Tim O’Brien and Ricky Skaggs, for a number of Fleck originals
and several traditional and classic tunes. Since this CD is old news and
only new to me I won’t dwell on it other than to say it’s been in heavy
rotation on my player since it arrived last Wednesday from Amazon
(HMV couldn’t locate the one copy their superstore’s computer said
they had). Highlights of the disc are the above-mentioned Joy Kills
Sorrow, an old Flatt & Scruggs tune Polka on the Banjo and a twobanjo arrangement of the Clarinet Polka by Fleck and Hartford.
Having grown up with the George Barnes solo guitar take on the latter
as the theme to the Max Ferguson Show and now hearing this banjo
version, I found myself wondering why I hadn’t ever heard it played
on the clarinet. Hats off to YouTube, I didn’t have to look far ….
One disc that crossed my desk this month, an arrangement of
Brian Eno’s Discreet Music performed by Toronto’s Contact ensemble,
turned out to be a timely release, but not for the reasons one would
hope. The news of David Bowie’s death last week brought many
memories and realizations. Bowie’s chameleon-like career affected
audiences and artists across the spectrum, me among them. I was not
much aware of the glam rock era, but became drawn to Bowie at the
time he started collaborating with Eno. Already a fan of Eno’s ambient
approach to composition and sound, I was curious to see how he
would interact with the “space oddity” that was Bowie.
In Francis Whatley’s 2013 film David Bowie: Five Years, Eno says
that Bowie was drawn to his “longest, slowest,
quietest” work, Discreet Music, and that their
projects grew out of this interest. This was
at a time when Bowie was tired of the rockstar lifestyle that had brought him perilously
close to death by overdose and misadventure in L.A. His subsequent move to Paris and
then Berlin, where he undertook a Spartan
low-profile existence, ultimately resulted in
a trilogy of Bowie-Eno albums beginning with the 1977 Low (RCA LP
CPL1-2030). In 1991 Rykodisc would reissue Low on compact disc
(RCD 10142) with bonus tracks. Not being in the habit of replacing
my vinyl collection with CDs, I was unaware of the extra material
until I revisited the Low Symphony by Philip
Glass (POINT Music 438 150-2), which was
inspired by two tracks by Bowie and Eno and
one by Bowie alone. I was confused when I
was unable to find Some Are, one of the duo
compositions, on my LP and eventually ended
up downloading the missing title from iTunes
last week …. Three music platforms later I now
have the full picture!
But that picture was further enhanced by These Dreams of You
(Europa Editions ISBN 978-1-60945-063-2), a 2012 novel by Steve
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Erickson, which I found myself reading for the
third time over the past few days (which may
have set a record for frequency of rereading
for me). Erickson, whose eight previous novels
number among my favourites – a shout out
to Jowi Taylor for turning me on to Arc d’X
all those years ago! – frequently incorporates
pop culture, particularly music and film, into
his novels. Although These Dreams of You is
nominally speculative and surreal, as are most
of his books, the narrative strands are fairly
linear, albeit many layered. The protagonists are a family of four in contemporary L.A.
in danger of losing their house as a result of the economic crisis and
the nefarious machinations of the banks. The father, Zan, has recently
been let go from his position as professor of literature at the local
university and is the sole DJ on a low-wattage radio station broadcasting without a license from a local Mexican restaurant in the Valley.
His wife, Viv, is a freelance photographer whose work is drying up
and whose one claim to fame, stained glass butterfly art, has been
co-opted by an infamous commercial artist. Their children are Parker,
a 12-year-old whose namesake is Charlie Parker but whose musical
interests favour gangsta rap, and Sheba, a precocious four-year-old
orphan adopted from Ethiopia, who is seeming wired internally to a
certain unnamed “red-headed British alien who wears dresses.” The
not-so-veiled references to David Bowie continue as he permeates the
story, in particular with tales of his time in Berlin with roommates The
Professor (Eno?) and Jim (Iggy Pop?), which lead to the album Low.
Erickson cleverly weaves his tales – another one including presidential
hopeful Bobby Kennedy in the months leading up to his assassination,
and a third, an aspiring 1970s author, who after being beaten and left
for dead by German skinheads, wakes to find himself in 1919 Berlin
with a paperback copy of a novel that will shape the literature of the
coming century but won’t be published until 1922 – through three
eras and three continents. The convolutions are eventually resolved,
and although there are no particularly happy endings, it does make
for a very compelling read. Part of the fun is identifying the myriad
historical characters that are never actually named. A great read
indeed, and a great tribute to David Bowie.
But back to Contact’s rendition of Discreet
Music (Cantaloupe Music CA21114 cantaloupemusic.com). Eno’s original LP side
was an electronic intertwining of some very
simple melodic material according to some
basic programming in Eno’s synthesizers.
Four decades later Toronto percussionist and
founding member of Contact Contemporary
Music, Jerry Pergolesi, set out to make a live
performance version of the iconic work. In the booklet notes he says:
“In keeping with the spirit of the original, my ‘arrangement’ consists
of seven mutually compatible melodies (the result of Eno’s original
two melodies being occasionally altered) and instructions that render
the band itself into the looping apparatus that Eno describes as the
‘score’ for the original. The ‘arrangement’ sets parameters for the
musicians to follow, while giving them some leeway to make decisions with regard to what they play and when. Once the performance
starts, however, the resulting sound is out of anyone’s hands.” The
members of Contact – Mary-Katherine Finch, cello; Sarah Fraser Raff,
violin; Wallace Halladay, soprano sax; Rob MacDonald, guitar; Peter
Pavlovsky, bass; Jerry Pergolesi, vibraphone; Allison Wiebe Benstead,
piano; complemented here by Emma Zoe Elkinson, flute and Dean
Kurtis-Pomeroy, gongs – perform with real conviction – tone and
intonation are warm and consistent – and they manage to hold our
attention throughout the hour-long take in which “nothing happens.”
I can’t imagine what it is like to take part in such a static performance,
but congratulations are due to all concerned for realizing a viable live
presentation of an electronic classic.
It has been a month of losses in the musical arts. Canadian-born
jazz icon, Paul Bley, and French father of avant-garde concert music,
Pierre Boulez, are honoured elsewhere
in these pages, although their passing
garnered little attention in Toronto’s mainstream media. In contrast, much has been
said about the death of David Bowie across
all media and all platforms – including 24
continuous hours of programming on Much
Music as I write this column – so I will not
say much more here. He was a unique artist
who constantly reinvented himself and touched more lives than most.
His final offering Blackstar (ISO Records 88875173862) was released
on his 69th birthday, two days before his death, and once again we
are presented with a new man, seemingly from beyond the grave.
Indeed one of the songs and videos is called Lazarus. I was lucky
enough to purchase a copy of Blackstar before they all disappeared
from the shelves (and online catalogues) but it will take me some time
before I’m able to assimilate it. It’s a journey I am convinced is worth
undertaking.
We welcome your feedback and invite submissions. CDs and
comments should be sent to: DISCoveries, WholeNote Media Inc., The
Centre for Social Innovation, 503 – 720 Bathurst St. Toronto ON M5S
2R4. We also encourage you to visit our website
thewholenote.com where you can find added features including direct
links to performers, composers and record labels, “buy buttons” for
on-line shopping and additional, expanded and archival reviews.
David Olds, DISCoveries Editor
discoveries@thewholenote.com
You can find enhanced reviews of all discs below the yellow line in The WholeNote listening room.
Pianist Réa Beaumont’s CD ‘A
Conversation Piece’
“Beaumont’s touch is well-suited to
the delicate textures and the intricate
passages”
Beaumont’s “compositional prowess”
Beethoven's piano sonatas form
an unparalleled canon. These 3
represent his Early, Middle and Late
periods and are united in the key of
C-minor.
See Daniela at Jazz Bistro Feb 21st,
Mar 20th & Apr 17th.
www.reabeaumont.com
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Vivaldi's legacy is steadily achieving
greater and richly deserved
recognition today with the help of
collections such as this one abetted
by the Aradia Ensemble.
February 1, 2016 - March 7, 2016 | 51
G
TERRY ROBBINS
oodness only knows how many attempts at string quartets
Johannes Brahms destroyed before he finally felt able to present
a completed work to the world in 1873 – there may have been as
many as 20 – but at least the three quartets we do have are real gems.
The two quartets Op.51, in C Minor and
A Minor, were followed by the B-flat Major
Op.67 in 1876, but with each of the three
works being about 35 minutes in length it’s
simply not possible to include more than two
on a single CD. Still, as the song says, two
out of three ain’t bad, especially when the
performances are as beautiful as those on
Brahms String Quartets Op.51, Nos.1&2 by the
New Orford String Quartet (Bridge 9464).
Just about all of the Brahmsian qualities you would want to hear are
present: these are warm, passionate, nuanced, beautifully judged and
balanced performances, full of that almost autumnal, nostalgic introspection so typical of the composer and with a lovely dynamic range.
Jonathan Crow and Andrew Wan play first and second violin respectively in the Op.51 No.1, changing places for the second quartet.
The warm and resonant recording quality should come as no
surprise, given that the location was the Multimedia Room at McGill
University’s Schulich School of Music in Montreal.
The outstanding Armenian brother and
sister duo Sergey and Lusine Khachatryan
are back with another superb violin and
piano recital on My Armenia (naïve V5414),
dedicated to the 100th Commemoration of
the Armenian Genocide.
The program of works by Komitas
Vardapet, Eduard Bagdasaryan, Edvard
Mirzoyan, Aram Khachaturian and Arno
Babadjanian gives both performers ample opportunity to shine.
Lusine Khachatryan is excellent in the piano solos that account for
almost half of the very generous running time of the CD – close to
80 minutes – but the disc really takes off in the duos, with Sergey’s
impassioned, brilliant playing taking the music to new heights and
emotional depths.
There’s a lovely recorded sound and balance right from the opening
two short-but-lovely duo pieces by Vardapet before Lusine features
in his Seven Folk Dances for Piano Solo. The three duo pieces at
the centre of the CD – Bagdasaryan’s Rhapsody and Nocturne and
Mirzoyan’s Introduction & Perpetuum mobile – are also the heart of
the recital. The Rhapsody is a truly rhapsodic and beautiful piece,
and the short Nocturne an absolute gem. The Mirzoyan work is a real
showstopper, with a simply dazzling second half.
Khachaturian, probably the best-known of the composers on the
disc, is represented by three short pieces, including the familiar Sabre
Dance in a typically showy transcription by Jascha Heifetz.
The CD ends with Babadjanian’s Six Pictures for Solo Piano, a challenging work both technically and harmonically, with a brilliant
Toccatina movement straight out of the same drawer as Prokofiev’s
Seventh Piano Sonata. It’s another dazzler.
All in all, it’s wonderful playing and musicianship from a wonderfully gifted duo. This is music that is clearly deeply ingrained in their
hearts and souls as well as in their fingers.
Regular readers will know how I feel about reviewing complete
sets of the Bach unaccompanied solo works, be it the Sonatas &
Partitas for violin or the Cello Suites: the sheer size, scope, depth and
complexity of the music, together with the wide range of versions
available, makes any in-depth review almost impossible. All you can
really do is note the arrival and try to give some idea of the stylistic
approach and overall effect.
52 | February 1, 2016 - March 7, 2016
The latest addition to the already lengthy
list of available versions of the Bach Sonatas
& Partitas for Solo Violin is a beautiful 2-CD
set by Midori (Onyx 4123). Again, as with the
recent Gil Shaham release, there is a clear
sense of these wonderful works having been a
constant in the performer’s life, together with
a reluctance to create a permanent record of
what is essentially only one in a continually
developing and changing series of interpretations. “After thirty years
on stage,” says Midori, “the time felt right for me to fully embrace
these most daunting and invaluable compositions.”
The recordings were made in Cologne in August 2013 as a result of
Midori’s Bach Project that marked the 30th anniversary of her 1982
debut with Zubin Mehta and the New York Philharmonic. Presumably
made for broadcast on German radio – the booklet cover has WDR The
Cologne Broadcasts as a sub-heading – the recorded sound is clean
and clear, with a natural presence.
There is much to comment on here: the compactness of the chords
in the G Minor Fugue; the brightness, speed and sense of pulse in the
uptempo dance movements in the Partitas; the lightness and ease of
the multiple-stopping, without ever obscuring the line; the light and
warmth in the tone, combined with a strength and richness.
It’s easy to see why violinists hesitate to commit performances of
these works to disc: the more you play them and live with them, the
more the challenges and possibilities, both technical and emotional,
continue to grow and not diminish.
All we can do is sit back and enjoy the journey, albeit a different one
each time, and feel grateful for the privilege.
Many of the same problems for a reviewer
are presented by the Mystery Sonatas
(also known as the Rosary Sonatas) of
Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber, now available in a beautifully judged 2CD set by the
outstanding period-performance violinist
Rachel Podger (Channel Classics CCS SA
37315). David Miller, Marcin Świątkiewicz
and Jonathan Manson supply the excellent continuo.
The sonatas depict the mysteries in the life of Jesus and the Virgin
Mary. Anyone familiar with Biber’s descriptive piece Battalia will
know how startlingly inventive he can be, but nothing prepares you
for what he does in these 16 sonatas.
Scordatura (from the Italian word that gives us “discordant”) is a
technique in which the strings of a string instrument are tuned differently from the usual arrangement. It’s not that uncommon, but in
these sonatas Biber takes it to simply astonishing lengths, radically
altering the violin’s normal GDAE tuning in all but the outer movements by retuning anything from one to all four of the strings by
intervals as large as a fifth. Every tuning is different, and some –
GGDD, DFB-flatD and BF-sharpBD, for instance – are simply eyepopping. The result is essentially a different instrument for each
movement, with enormous possibilities for radically different chordal
work and multiple-stopping.
These astonishing sonatas have long been a favourite with baroque
specialists – a quick online search produced almost two dozen CD sets
currently available – and while Podger is up against some stiff competition (including an outstanding set by Tafelmusik’s Julia Wedman)
these are performances of works that stretch both the violin and the
violinist to the limit that will hold their own against any.
When Hyperion released the Russian violinist Alina Ibragimova’s
recording of the Bach Sonatas & Partitas in 2009, Gramophone magazine noted that “… her Bach comes as something of a revelation … all
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musical thought process of a mature composer then in his late 70s.
Kirkman and Erickson started performing the original No.1 in
2011, and gave a few concert performances of the unpublished No.4
before recording it for this release. There are times when Erickson
seems to be playing with more emotional commitment and dynamic
range than Kirkman, but overall these are fine performances of two
works that fully deserve to be added to the standard repertoire of
20th-century violin sonatas.
There are two outstanding CDs this month
featuring the works of American women
composers. Patagón (Foghorn Classics
CD2015) features the Alexander String
Quartet in three works by Cindy Cox, now
in her mid-50s and very active as a pianist as
well as a composer.
Cox’s music here is quite fascinating,
quite varied and not easy to describe.The
composer Robert Carl, writing in Fanfare Magazine, said that “Cox
writes music that demonstrates an extremely refined and imaginative sense of instrumental colour and texture … this is well wrought,
imaginative, and not easily classifiable music.” It’s exactly that.
The Alexander String Quartet was formed in 1981, and performed
and recorded Cox’s first string quartet, Columba aspexit, after
Hildegard von Bingen, some 20 years ago. It’s performed here along
with the title work, Patagón, a five-movement work written in 2011
on commission from the Alexanders to celebrate their 30th anniversary and dedicated to them. Inspired by a trip to the Valdes peninsula
nature preserve in southern Argentina, it employs some quite remarkable effects, including sliding harmonics, col legno (playing with the
wood of the bow), sul ponticello (playing near the bridge), sul tasto
(playing above the fingerboard) and overbowing, where the bow is
pressed hard but slowly against the strings. Imagine these sounds and
then look at the title of the third movement – Southern right whales
and Magellanic penguins – and you will have some idea why these
effects seem so perfectly suited to the music.
The quartet’s first violinist Zakarias Grafilo opens the CD with the
short but lovely 1990 solo violin work Elegy, dedicated to the memory
of Cox’s fellow compositional student Eric Heckard, who died in 1989
at the young age of 26.
The ASQ and Cox have been collaborating ever since that early
recording of the Columba quartet, and it’s hard to imagine more satisfying or better-informed performances of these lovely works.
All of the works on Strum: Music for Strings, the first album dedicated solely to the music of the young African-American composer
and violinist Jessie Montgomery (Azica ACD-71302) were written in
the past three years, and they display a remarkable self-assurance
and confidence together with a striking musical inventiveness and
imagination.
her stylishness and technical refinement is
at the service of an ingrained understanding
of the music.” Add another six years, and it
should come as no surprise that in her latest
Hyperion release, Bach Violin Concertos
with the string ensemble Arcangelo under
their founder Jonathan Cohen (CDA 68068),
Ibragimova delivers terrific performances of
consummate skill and style.
Arcangelo plays with a lute and harpsichord continuo, but it’s the
lute that predominates in the balance here, giving the performances a
soft, warm background that provides a perfect setting for Ibragimova’s
sensitive interpretations. The booklet notes point out that this music
comes from an age when the distinction between star soloist and
ensemble player was more blurred than it is today, and Ibragimova
really seems to have taken that to heart. Her imaginative playing is full
of sensitive phrasing and dynamics, but is quite laid back, sounding
more like a thread running through a tapestry than an out-front
solo performance. Everything is light and spacious, and never heavy
or routine.
The two standard solo concertos – in A Minor BWV1041 and E Major
BWV1042, both of which were transcribed for keyboard by Bach – are
here, but not the D Minor Double Concerto. Instead, we have three
solo concertos that are described as “back-transcriptions,” being
reconstructed solo versions of keyboard concertos that were themselves transcriptions of solo works. The Concerto in A Major BWV1055
is from Keyboard Concerto No.4; the Concerto in G Minor BWV1056
is from the transposed Keyboard Concerto No.5 in F Minor; and the
Concerto in D Minor BWV1052 is from the Keyboard Concerto No.1.
The original A Major concerto may have been for oboe d’amore, and
the original G Minor for violin or oboe; the D Minor, however, was
described by no less an authority as Donald Tovey as “the greatest and
most difficult violin concerto before the time of Beethoven.”
It makes a fine ending to an immensely satisfying CD.
However much you may know about
the music of the English composer Cyril
Scott, whose Lotus Land was transcribed
and recorded several times by Heifetz in the
1920s and 1930s, you’re almost certainly
not going to know either of the works on
the CD Dawn and Twilight – The First and
Last Violin Sonatas of Cyril Scott (Affetto
AF1504) unless you’ve already heard the CD:
both works are world premiere recordings.
Scott, who died in 1970 at the age of 91, wrote close to 400 works
in a wide range of genres but his music was largely neglected at his
death, although there has been a resurgence of both interest and
recordings since the turn of the century. He wrote four numbered
violin sonatas, only the first of which is a youthful work: written
in 1908, it was heavily revised and shortened in 1956. The revised
version, along with the second and third sonatas from 1950 and 1955
respectively, was featured on a 2010 Naxos release, but Dawn and
Twilight pairs the original version with the unpublished Sonata No.4,
written in 1956, the same year as the revision of No.1, and provided
in a photocopy of the original manuscript by the composer’s son
Desmond Scott.
Violinist Andrew Kirkman and pianist Clipper Erickson are the
performers here in works that are difficult to compare because, as
Desmond Scott notes, there is a world of stylistic and other differences between them. Certainly the 1908 version of the First Sonata,
almost a third longer than the revised version, shows a composer
already leaving behind the influences of Debussy and Strauss and
moving away from tonality and regular rhythm, and not surprisingly
attracting a fair amount of uncomprehending attention from contemporary reviewers. To our ears it’s a stylish and finely crafted rhapsodic
four-movement work, with a simply beautiful slow movement, and
what the booklet notes call “a bravura disregard for the kind of formal
control that informed its later revision.”
The Fourth Sonata, the direct contemporary of that revision, is
another fine work that also shows the formal control and precise
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Visit TheWholeNote.com/Listening
Turandot is the tenth and last
of Puccini’s operas. It took the
composer about four years to write,
from the beginning of 1921 to 1924.
LAS CIUDADES DE ORO
L'Harmonie des saisons
Available at
atmaclassique.com,
amazon.ca & iTunes
February 1, 2016 - March 7, 2016 | 53
The Rhapsody No.1 for solo violin gives Montgomery the chance
to display her outstanding violin playing, and Banner for solo string
quartet and string orchestra, with the Catalyst Quartet and the String
Orchestra conducted by Julian Wachner, is a rhapsodic tribute to the
200th Anniversary of The Star-Spangled Banner.
Strum, the title track of the album, is the final version of a work
started in 2006, but revised and partially rewritten in 2012 for the
Catalyst Quartet, whose performance rounds out an impressive debut
disc of Montgomery’s compositions.
This is clearly a significant talent, and definitely someone to watch.
Expect to hear a lot more from this artist.
Starburst is a short work for string orchestra
that plays on rapidly changing musical colours.
Source Code for string quartet began life as
sketched transcriptions of various sources from
African American artists prominent during
the peak of the Civil Rights era; it’s played
here by the Catalyst Quartet. Break Away, a
five-movement work for string quartet, was
written for the PUBLIQuartet, who perform it
here; born out of a series of improvisations the ensemble was working
on while in residence at the Banff Centre, it requires the players to
literally break away from the score and improvise, especially in the
final movement.
KeyedIn
S
the pianists obviously enjoy the contrast to the rest of the piece. The
third movement is a long slow build to a truly blazing finish. On any
decent sound system, this recording makes you tingle with the pianists’ energy. You can only imagine the effect Mercier and Lortie have in
live performance.
We are given to appropriate wonder when we encounter child
prodigies whose keyboard skills and musical maturity seem demonstrably beyond their years. Rarer still are those musicians who have
lived into old age with their gift still largely undiminished by the
decades. Their experience and insights give them a freedom not
entirely available to the younger. I recall the documentary film of
Vladimir Horowitz making his long-awaited return to Moscow to
perform at the conservatory, watching him hunched over the piano
and gliding through a Chopin valse as if he were only 20.
Another such elder pianist is David Wilde,
who at age 80 is still performing, recording
and teaching, as he has done all his life.
On listening to Wilde plays Chopin Vol. III
(Delphian DCD34159) one is immediately
struck by the dexterity and power of this
pianist. He is definitely in command, not only
of the music’s demands but also of its content.
It’s as if Chopin has surrendered licence to
Wilde to reshape his phrases, alter his tempi and dynamics to reflect
who this pianistic sage is.
Wilde’s performance of the Valse in D flat Major, Op.64 No.1
“Minute Waltz” is amazing for its speed. The Scherzo No.2 in B-flat
Minor, Op.31 is a monumental and powerful statement as is the
“Military” Polonaise. All through this CD one is struck by the enormous expressive freedom that Wilde has at his disposal. It’s an
inspiring recording.
Listening to Adolfo Barabino – Chopin
Volume 4; London Symphony Orchestra; Lee
Reynolds (Claudio CR 6021-2) it’s tempting to
believe that this pianist has found that secret,
internal place from which only Chopin can
come. It’s a place of great fragility. Barabino’s
own liner notes speak of delicacy, elegance,
nuances and slender sound. His performance
of the Berceuse Op.57 gives the impression that
some of the notes are actually too shy to be played. The six Mazurkas
are far more meditative than they are dancelike. Even with the
London Symphony Orchestra his performance of the Piano Concerto
No.2 is never very large and always seems ready to become reclusive
at the next pianissimo. While the second movement is particularly
beautiful for Barabino’s treatment of the main theme, the outer movements sparkle more like an aurora than fireworks. It’s altogether a
remarkable interpretation. The Steinway he plays surrenders the loveliest of colours in the many passages of light touch.
This is his fourth volume in what is to be a complete recording of all
of Chopin’s piano works. It’s a set worth collecting.
Another Bach Goldberg Variations BWV 988 (TwoPianists Records
TP1039244) is competing for attention and its performance by Lori
Sims offers good reasons for making this a valued addition to those
ALEX BARAN
teven Osborne has no fear of intimacy.
In his latest recording, Franz Schubert
(Hyperion CDA68107) Osborne plays the
Impromptus D935 and Three Piano Pieces
D946, as if he were the composer. He adopts
a modest posture, lingers in the shadows of
the music and emerges only when Schubert
coaxes him out. He is never rushed. Assured
and playing at a relaxed pace, he maintains a strong sense of forward
motion especially in the slower sections. He also has a sense for
melodic lines and gives them wonderful clarity over Schubert’s
accompanying harmonic pulse. Osborne makes the well-known
Impromptus D935 seem new again. He seems to understand their true
scale and never overplays them.
He uses the same approach to the Three Piano Pieces D946, where
No.2 in E-flat Major is substantially longer than the others and
requires more attention to thematic development. He begins it softly
and finishes it even more so. Magical. The Hüttenbrenner Variations
D576 are playful and entertaining. Built on a short and simple idea,
Schubert’s 14 iterations find an affectionate and capable performer in
this pianist. The Steinway used in this recording is beautifully voiced
and has the perfect colours for this repertoire.
Concert note: Osborne performs the Schubert Impromptus Nos.1
& 4 D935 in Toronto on Tuesday, March 1 as part of Music Toronto’s
Piano Series, in the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts.
Hélène Mercier and Louis Lortie are longtime piano partners who’ve played and
recorded together since the 1980s. Whether
playing four hands or two pianos, they always
impress with a profoundly unified approach to
the music. One simply can’t imagine a significant difference of interpretive opinion between
them. Their newest CD, Rachmaninoff Piano
Duets (Chandos CHAN 10882) is another
example of this mature musical relationship where one cannot distinguish either of them from the other. Their keyboard techniques are
identically matched and their sensibilities deeply shared.
Here the wide sweeps of Rachmaninoff’s musical imagination find
their voice on the keyboards of two Fazioli grand pianos. The vocabulary is unmistakable and even surprisingly whole quotes from works
like the Piano Concerto No.3 appear in the Suite No.2 Op.17 for Two
Pianos. The Fantaisie (Tableaux), Op.5 opens the recording in a very
dramatic way with Mercier and Lortie pulling the listener right to the
edge of the seat with some very edgy playing.
This music is written to be big. While the first two repertoire items
have plenty of familiar orchestral allusions, the real showstopper
is Rachmaninoff’s transcription for two pianos of his Symphonic
Dances Op.45. The versatility required here is remarkable. The first
movement contains a musically threadbare middle section where
54 | February 1, 2016 - March 7, 2016
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“Pathétique,” No.21 “Waldstein” and No.32
(Naxos 8.573400). Whether he aspires to
recording all 32 sonatas remains to be seen.
Still, his first Beethoven disc gives us a good
sampling of the early, middle and late periods
and of Giltburg’s understanding of how
Beethoven’s expression in this form evolved.
His overall approach is one of rather intense
carefulness. Giltburg is patient. Never rushing unnecessarily, he takes
his time, pausing and hesitating to highlight the intimacy of the
music. Speed and power are, however, no obstacle to him and he shies
away from nothing.
The opening of the Pathétique is quite deliberative and in considerable contrast to the speed of the final movement. He begins the
Waldstein with barely contained energy that spills out quickly over
the rhythmic pulse of the left hand. The second movement seems
wonderfully expanded in time as if he wants us to find something new
in the open spaces between the notes. Giltburg then crafts some lovely
sounds around the final movement’s bell-like main idea.
The Sonata No.32 Op.111 is Beethoven in completely new territory. Giltburg delights in the moments that appear unstructured and
so modern for the period but he also plunges with feverish delight
into the passages with fugal elements that Beethoven wrote for
effective contrast. The jewel in this crown is unquestionably Giltburg’s
performance of the final movement. The long opening arietta is
memorably tender and the movement’s close, even more so.
An enlightening quote by the performer
opens the notes of Scriabin – Janáček, Sonatas
& Poems (Hyperion CDA67895). In it Stephen
Hough explains his reason for alternating these
two eccentric Slavic composers throughout
the program of the CD. Describing Scriabin’s
music as horizontal and Janáček’s as vertical,
and further explaining how the two are essentially dissimilar, we have the rationale for the
contrasting placement of all the music on this recording. Hough’s
argument is that too much of either detracts from itself. But he also
calls their voices contrasting and compelling, and this view is borne
out in his playing.
Scriabin’s two sonatas, Nos.4 and 5, as well as the two Poèmes have
that distinctive French impressionistic drift that is as seductive as it is
hypnotic. Hough understands this form well and blends his lines with
superb fluidness.
His approach to Janáček is, by necessity, very different. While somewhat programmatic the music is a demanding mix of romanticism,
occasional moments of minimalism and plenty of modern form.
Hough reflects the imagery beautifully in On the overgrown path –
Book I. He captures the darkness of the Piano Sonata 1.X.1905, From
the street, recalling the grim political events it marked as well as the
who collect Goldbergs.
Most importantly, Sims understands the
architecture of the work and how Bach
proceeds through his canons with everwidening intervals. She addresses this and
other structural complexities in her brief but
very well-written liner notes. Also, Sims has
committed to observing all the repeats and
using the baroque practice of more elaborate ornamentation in them.
Finally, she has made this recording in live performance with an
audience that, after a few initial coughs, quickly settles into an astonishingly silent awe at the feat unfolding before them, all 80 minutes
of it. This changes the pace of things, because the performer needs to
keep the harmonic core of the variations alive in the listener’s ear as
the idea evolves through its often challenging forms.
Sims does a terrific job at holding Bach’s many threads together
while still applying her own nuances to phrases, individualizing her ornaments, playing with a light clear touch and avoiding
the sustain pedal altogether. The better you know the Goldberg
Variations, the more you’ll appreciate this live performance. It’s an
exciting document.
Another pianist who has recorded the
Goldberg Variations live, albeit as a video,
is Chinese-born Zhu Xiao Mei. She has also
recorded Bach’s The Art of Fugue, but most
recently the J. S. Bach Inventions and Sinfonias
(Accentus Music ACC30350).
It’s familiar music to most keyboard players.
The 15 Inventions and as many Sinfonias have
been, as Bach intended, a staple in the keyboard study repertoire for
centuries. Zhu is a performer, teacher and frequent jurist at major
piano competitions. She offers a passionate argument in her liner
notes for the higher regard that these pieces deserve. While dealing
mostly with just two and three polyphonic voices, she nevertheless
believes they contain an “extraordinary density of music.”
Zhu’s playing is sensitive, articulate and precise. It’s obvious she
takes this music very seriously. She argues that Bach wanted players
to learn how to play polyphonically and so, be able to highlight the
dialogues between voices. She also believes Bach wanted young
players to experiment with different approaches by varying tempos
and phrasings. Her interpretations reflect this as they move gently and
fluidly through what many students deliver as merely dutiful finger
exercises. It’s a very satisfying performance and convincingly raises
this collection of Bach keyboard works to a significantly higher level.
This recording is a timely reminder about the reverence we
need to nurture around the act of making music, even with the
simplest of works.
Little more than a year into his exclusive contract with Naxos, Boris
Giltburg has recorded his second CD, Beethoven Piano Sonatas No.8
You can find enhanced reviews of all discs below the yellow line in The WholeNote listening room.
The complete piano works of
African-descent composer
Nathaniel Dett recorded for the
first time. Enjoy Dett’s wonderful
melodies, harmonic colors, and
narratives.
thewholenote.com
A LOVE SUPREME: DELUXE
EDITION
John Coltrane
This CD offers the rarely performed
1st symphony, the nearly unknown
orchestral songs by poems of
Jean Cassou, and finally the better
known Métaboles.
Available on amazon.ca,
grigorian.com & iTunes
This magnificent CD of Leo
Brouwer's music brings the guitar
into consort with the bandurria and
covers a kaleidoscopic range of
techniques and emotions.
February 1, 2016 - March 7, 2016 | 55
What has emerged is a body of works playable on a digitally
conceived model that uses software to reconfigure a traditional digital
keyboard to meet these requirements. The eight composers are mostly
professional musicians and academics with a strong inclination for
technology in their music writing.
It’s surprising to hear how much of this music has a strong tonal
centre and uses familiar rhythmic patterns to drive it forward. Also
intriguing is the way the ear quickly adjusts to the very small differences of pitch between adjacent notes. It’s as if the brain resets and
quickly begins to make melodic and harmonic sense out of this
unconventional music model. This is a truly fascinating disc and
worth hearing for both pleasure and debate.
American harpsichordist Elaine Funaro has
made a career of championing new music for
the harpsichord. In 1996 she recorded Into
The Millennium – The Harpsichord in the
20th Century (Gasparo GSCD-331). Twenty
years later the recording is as exciting as it was
when first committed to DAT in the beautiful
and cavernous Duke University Chapel (North
Carolina).
Two tracks deserve special mention. The Postlude of Dan Locklair’s
dance suite The Breakers Pound will lift you right out of your seat. The
raw energy coming from such a traditionally non-dynamic instrument
is indescribable. It has the feel of Khachaturian’s Sabre Dance. Also,
Tom Harris’ Jubilate Deo is extraordinary for the way it builds tension
with increasing stacks of harmonies. It’s wonderful to see this older
recording reissued.
Also among Elaine Funaro’s recently reissued
recordings is Giovanni Benedetto Platti “il
grande” Sonatas for Clavicembalo (Wildboar
WLBR 9901). Here, the repertoire is material
from the early 18th century. Funaro plays two
modern instruments, a harpsichord and a fortepiano, copies of originals from that period.
The fortepiano in particular, produces an
unusual and pleasant timbre not often heard in
recordings.
Funaro has audio and video samples of her work at
funaroharpsichord.com.
composer’s deep personal struggles.
This recording is a mature and challenging project and is extraordinarily well done.
A new recording by young Italian pianist
Alessio Bax, Scriabin, Mussorgsky (Signum
Classics SIGCD426) brings yet another Scriabin
piano sonata to the marketplace. The Sonata
No.3 Op.23 is a considerably earlier work than
its successor, with 16 years between them.
The flowing impressionism of the 4th and 5th
sonatas is only moderately evident in the slow
movement of the 3rd sonata while the rest of
the work is fairly classical in structure. Alessio Bax plays this work
with a great deal of affection and his opening liner notes explain his
fondness for the piece.
Bax is young, powerful and a capable interpreter with a natural
instinct for drawing out the beauty of a melodic line. This is obvious
in the Etude in C sharp Minor Op.2 No.1. The Prelude for the left hand
alone, Op.9 No.1 is as beautiful as it is amazing to contemplate. One
should like to see it in performance.
If we needed to be more impressed, we might reserve judgement
until hearing Bax’s performance of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an
Exhibition, but the decision would be a foregone conclusion. Each
of these little vignettes is superbly played. Ballet of the Unhatched
Chicks and The Market Place sparkle with energy and the Great Gate
of Kiev towers over the Pictures in pianistic grandeur.
Contemporary music has long used unconventional sound sources,
among them the “prepared” piano. This usually involves some physical
change in the mechanism or tuning of the instrument. Digital technology has, however, opened new opportunities to take this approach
much further. The possibilities are limited only by imagination.
On Beyond 12 – Reinventing the Piano
(MicroFest Records MF3) pianist Aron Kallay
performs works commissioned from eight
American composers. They were given two
ground rules to follow in composing their
works. First, retune the 88-note keyboard to
represent just a single octave. Second, remap
the keyboard so that high/low or left/right can
be interchangeable and pitches can be in any order.
VOCAL
Baldassarre Galuppi – Il filosofo di
campagna
Zanetti; Baldan; Unsal; Cinciripi; Torriani;
Antonini; Mezzaro; Boschin; Ensemble
Barocco della Filarmonica del Veneto;
Fabrizio da Ros
Bongiovanni AB 20030
!!Opera buffa dates
from the beginning
of the 18th century.
It was essentially a
Neapolitan art form; it
was farcical and lightweight. By the late
1740s it had metamorphosed into the
dramma giocoso
which was still comic
but had more plausible situations with semi-serious parts and a
more realistic psychology. These works were
usually Venetian and they included librettos
by Carlo Goldoni, set to music by Baldassare
Galuppi – as is the case here. In this opera
56 | February 1, 2016 - March 7, 2016
Eugenia wants to marry the young nobleman
Rinaldo but her father, Don Tritemio, insists
that she marry the wealthy farmer Nardo,
the philosopher, instead. Things end happily,
of course: Eugenia marries Rinaldo and her
maid Lesbina marries Nardo, while Don
Tritemio makes do with Nardo’s niece Lena.
The DVD gives us a live performance from
the Teatro Comunale in Belluno, which took
place in October 2012. The director, Carlo
Torriani, makes a clear distinction between
the more rounded characters like the young
lovers and those who are conceived more
farcically: the crusty father and especially
the notary, who is affected by interminable bouts of sneezing. I suspect that it is
the latter which will prove most difficult to
take in subsequent rehearings or reviewings.
The conductor, Fabrizio da Ros, presents the
music with loving care and the work is well
sung. I especially enjoyed the soprano Giorgia
Cinciripi, who sings Lesbina.
Hans de Groot
Vivaldi – Sacred Music 4
Claire de Sévigné; Maria Soulis; Aradia
Ensemble; Kevin Mallon
Naxos 8.573324
!!Since 2004,
Toronto’s Aradia
Ensemble has returned
every few years
to record another
offering of Vivaldi’s
sacred music for voice
and instrumental
ensemble. With seven
years since the third volume was released,
this, the fourth, is most welcome. The
majority of Vivaldi’s vocal music was written
during his time as teacher and music director
at the Ospedale della Pietà, which accounts
for the wealth of repertoire for female soloists. And some of the young women there
must have been extraordinary singers, as
demonstrated in this recording by the gloriously dramatic performance of In turbato
mare irato by soprano Claire de Sévigné.
And though the motet Vestro principi divino
is somewhat more warm and sedate, it ends
with more demanding and athletic runs in
the Alleluia. In this, and the very operatic
motet Invicte, bellate, mezzo Maria Soulis
is alternately reflective and valiant, with
marvellous tonal quality. The crisp execution of In exitu Israel, Laudate Dominum
thewholenote.com
and Laetatus sum by the choral ensemble is
splendid. To contrast her earlier motet, de
Sévigné delivers O qui coeli terraeque serenitas in all its sweetness of calm repose. The
core of Aradia, its excellent instrumental
ensemble led by Kevin Mallon, is, as always,
impeccable in performance.
Dianne Wells
Puccini – Turandot
Khudoley; Massi; Yu; Ryssov; Wiener
Symphoniker; Paolo Carignani
C major 731408
Puccini – Turandot
Dessi; Malagnini; Canzian; Chikviladze; La
Guardia; Teatro Carlo Felice; Donato
Renzetti
Dynamic 33764
!!Puccini’s last,
unfinished opera is
arguably his greatest,
certainly the most
innovative, harmonically adventurous and a
score of genius. It is
also a grand opera well
suited for lavish,
extravagant productions. Fortunately, two
marvellous video
recordings have just
arrived and both fulfill their promise. I state
categorically that both are excellent in their
own way and I do not prefer one to the other.
The newest is from the Bregenz Festival,
July 2015 (bregenzerfestspiele.com). Not many
may have heard of Bregenz, a sleepy old town
at the Western end of Austria on the shores of
Lake Constance (Bodensee), but their festival
rivals Salzburg with the highest artistic standards. The giant open-air amphitheatre
includes an incredible stage set (designed by
M.A. Marelli) right in the lake with something
like the Great Wall of China towering 100 feet
forming the backdrop to a circular stage, a
revolving cylinder accessed by ramps snaking
around it like a Chinese dragon. Over this is
a huge circular disc
equipped with myriad
LED crystals forming
computer generated multi-coloured
images to suit the
mood of the moment.
It really has to be
seen to be believed
and I must say it’s a
lot more comfortable to see it on DVD
in home comfort than
being there freezing in the rain. (I’ve been in
Vorarlberg and even in summer the weather
is unpredictable.) The orchestra cannot be
seen and nor can the conductor, the dynamic
Paolo Carignani who gave Toronto a thrilling
Tosca some time ago. The overall, somewhat modernized show is a sound and light
extravaganza with dancers, pantomimes
and circus acts to dazzle the eye, but the
opera comes through musically superb with
spacious acoustics and some top singing
artists plus two choruses, not to mention
the Wiener Symphoniker giving it orchestral
support. Young Italian tenor Riccardo Massi
(Prince Kalaf) copes well with the power and
the high notes; he is best in show. Young,
up-and-coming Chinese soprano Guanqun
Yu gives a heartrending performance as Liu,
the little servant girl who sacrifices herself
for love. For the pinnacle role of the Ice
Princess expectations are high and Callas or
Sutherland both being gone, Mlada Khudoley,
Russian dramatic soprano from the Mariinsky
struggles heroically, suitably hateful most of
the time, but relaxes beautifully to a glorious
finale, an outburst of joy seldom witnessed in
opera theatres.
We now enter Puccini territory, because the
next production is from Genoa, the heart of
Liguria, the region where Puccini and most
of the cast comes from. The Opera House in
Genoa is a grandiose affair and the stage is
very large and very high in order to accommodate the monumental set, a multi-level
Chinese palace with staircases on either
side. Ingeniously the set can easily adapt,
alternately being grandiose or intimate, using
lighting effects giving it different moods and
gorgeous colours. Yet it remains entirely traditional, just as Puccini envisaged it. Being
an Italian production, it is done with the
emphasis on the music and the quality of
the singers, which is superb. The leading
lady Daniela Dessi, one of the top sopranos
in Italy today, is a sensitive, even anguished
and entirely believable Turandot. The primo
tenore Mario Malagnini, a compassionate and
tender Kalaf with tremendous vocal power
even in the high tessitura, makes a strong
impression. The young Roberta Canzian
steals some of Signora Dessi’s glory with her
brave and impassioned, beautiful performance as Liu. Right down to the lowliest choristers the singing is first class, but the three
Chinese ministers deserve a special mention
for their amusing, colourful and superbly
choreographed trios that comment on the
action with a rather cruel, even sadistic
humour. And the one who controls it all is
Donato Renzetti, an old hand in Italian opera
who, with oriental rhythms and shimmering
textures, makes everything come alive and
throb with excitement.
Janos Gardonyi
Verdi – Aida
Lewis; Sartori; Rachvelishvili; Gagnidze;
Salminen; Colombara; Coro e Orchestra del
Teatro alla Scala; Zubin Mehta
C major 732208
!!To revive Aida
in 2015 at that holy
temple of Italian opera,
La Scala of Milan, puts
much at stake. Times
are difficult economically yet expectations
are high, the audience sceptical, often
giving great artists a
rough time, (Carlos
Kleiber once was
booed in the pit!), but
success for a young singer in La Scala could
The Listening Room. Enhanced reviews. Click to listen. Click to buy.
Flying Without Wings
John Alcorn voice
Warren Vaché cornet
Mark Eisenman piano
Reg Schwager guitar
Steve Wallace bass
Mette Henriette interlaces form
and freedom in fresh ways,
combining classics and jazz.
Classical sacred music from the
Moravian tradition of northern
Labrador; Inuit soloists singing 18th
& 19th century arias.
Order from
mun.ca/mmap/back_on_track/
pillorikputinuit/
John Alcorn, Warren
Vaché, Mark Eisenman,
Reg Schwager and
Steve Wallace
jazzinthekitchen.ca
thewholenote.com
37CD lift off lid box set.
10 albums available on CD for the
first time.
February 1, 2016 - March 7, 2016 | 57
make a career. That dream came true for
young American soprano Kristin Lewis, who
simply enchanted the audience in a heartbreaking, gloriously sung performance as
Aida. She even burst into tears in the midst of
final applause. The other young lady, the lead
mezzo (Amneris), Anita Rachvelishvili (see
The WholeNote November 2015 for my review
of the Tsar’s Bride from Berlin), perhaps stole
the show with “the authority of her performance and warm, burnished tone and sheer
vocal power” (Kenneth Chalmers) and made
a big impression. Fabio Satori’s Radamès was
somewhat less convincing as a glorious hero
and lover than in his subsequent misfortune,
but he surely hit those high notes! George
Gagnidze was an energetic, rather youthful
Amonasro and Matti Salminen’s Ramfis, the
high priest, a stately figure. But the great
basso, nearly 70, was having serious difficulties with his voice. Conductor Zubin Mehta,
quite dapper and almost 80, conducted
without a score according to Italian tradition,
with minimal movements, and gave a sensitive, solid, well-detailed reading to impressive
sonic effect, his trademark.
The top credit however is for German
director Peter Stein, who contrary to the
usual grand-opera bombast, sees the opera
more intimately, as a set of confrontations
between a few individuals in unique settings,
turning every stage set into a stunning work
of art with glorious colours and strong geometry accentuated by backlighting and silhouettes. The designers Ferdinand Wögerbauer
(sets), Nanà Cecchi (costumes) and Joachim
Barth (lighting) created a thoroughly integrated, visually beautiful experience worthy
of Verdi’s masterpiece.
Janos Gardonyi
Shostakovich – Suite on Poems by
Michelangelo; Liszt – Petrarch Sonnets
Dmitri Hvorostovsky; Ivari Ilja
Ondine ODE 1277-2
!!Dmitri
Hvorostovsky is a
pure artist and a
natural-born talent.
Born and educated
in Krasnoyarsk,
Siberia, a place not
renowned for being
a fertile cultural
ground (despite having also been the birthplace of the French novelist Andreï Makine),
Hvorostovsky shot to international stardom
after defeating Bryn Terfel in the BBC Cardiff
Singer of the World competition in 1989.
This success came on the heels of triumphs
at the Toulouse Singing Competition in 1988
and the Glinka Competition in 1987. Since
then, he has been present on all major opera
and concert stages in the world – predominately in Verdi roles. He created an unforgettable portrayal of the Marquis de Posa in Don
Carlo, but was equally acclaimed for Simon
Boccanegra, Rigoletto, Un ballo in maschera
and La Traviata. When he appeared for the
58 | February 1, 2016 - March 7, 2016
first time in Tchaikovsky operas – The Queen
of Spades, and especially, Eugene Onegin –
critics proclaimed that he was born to sing
those roles.
This album shows a different side to
Hvorostovsky – that of a lieder singer. When
Shostakovich set the poems of Michelangelo
(in translation by Abram Efros) to music in
1974, he knew he was a dying man. A year
earlier, in addition to a serious heart condition that he had lived with for most of his life,
he was also diagnosed with terminal cancer.
The music he composed is full of anger and
resentment, expressing a battle he ultimately
lost a year later. Chillingly, Hvorostovsky had
himself been diagnosed with a brain tumour
early in 2015, but has since returned to the
stage. As you listen to the stark, ominous
music on this disc, spare a kind thought for
this great Russian baritone, whose struggle
may be ongoing.
Robert Tomas
Weinberg – The Passenger
Breedt; Saccà; Kelessidi; Rucinski; Doneva;
Wiener Symphoniker; Teodor Currentzis
ArtHaus Musik 109179
!!This DVD’s
booklet contains a
lengthy encomium by
Weinberg’s friend and
muse, Shostakovich,
calling The Passenger
“a masterpiece, both
in shape and style.”
Unsurprising, as
Shostakovich’s own
“shape and style”
pervade Weinberg’s
compositions, including this one.
Mieczyslaw Weinberg (1919-1996), a Polish
Jew who fled to the USSR in 1939, completed
The Passenger in 1968. His memorial to
Holocaust victims, among them his parents
and sister, was never staged until 2010 at
Austria’s Bregenz Festival, the production
preserved here. It has since been performed
many times in other countries.
The set is on two levels: above, a ship
deck in 1960, where Lisa and her husband
Walter are bound for Brazil; below, wartime
Auschwitz, where Lisa had been an SS guard.
On board, Lisa thinks she recognizes Martha,
supposedly killed in Auschwitz. Shaken, she
reveals her Nazi past to Walter – and to us,
the audience, in the Auschwitz scenes where
most of the opera unfolds. Here, extended
passages of poignant lyricism are punctuated
by brutal orchestral outbursts and the onstage
brutality of the guards.
Did Martha really survive, or is the veiled,
silent passenger an apparition of Lisa’s
haunted conscience? In the opera’s epilogue,
alone on stage, an unveiled Martha sings
“… never forgive … never forget …”
If not quite “a masterpiece,” with its wellsung, effective music and potent drama,
The Passenger will surely wrench guts and
jerk tears. A bonus documentary provides
details about Weinberg and this unforgettable
production.
Michael Schulman
Alice Ping Yee Ho – The Lesson of Da Ji
Toronto Masque Theatre; Larry Beckwith
Centrediscs CMCCD 22115
!!In her music theatre
work The Lesson of Da
Ji, Hong Kong-born
Toronto composer
Alice Ping Yee Ho has
struck a fine if not
always easy cultural
balance between
features of classical
Beijing (Peking) opera and the European
masque tradition, as interpreted in 21st
century Canada.
It is no mean feat to present eight Canadian
voices supported by the string tonalities
of the Chinese zhongruan, erhu, pipa and
zheng. It is even more complex when all
that is seamlessly meshed with the sonority
of the European baroque lute, harpsichord,
viola da gamba, violin and recorders, plus a
percussion battery. Ho does just that admirably, presenting along the way a bracing new
hybrid soundscape to enjoy.
Her skillfully orchestrated score hangs
directly on Canadian playwright Marjorie
Chan’s libretto. It tells the chilling tale of the
famous concubine Da Ji of the Shang Dynasty
(c.1600 to 1046 BCE), homing in on her illicit
love affair with a musician and the bloody
revenge enacted by the jealous King Zhou.
It’s the sort of court drama common to both
Chinese and Eurocentric opera traditions.
The composer once noted that “colours
and tonality are two attractive resources to
me: they form certain mental images that
connect to audiences in a very basic way.”
The Lesson of Da Ji follows that dictum, and
her approach works to convey character,
place, mood and imagery, even via the audio
CD medium. My guess is that a video presentation – or better yet a live production
where the multiple visual and choreographic
elements are at work – would make for an
even more involving evening of theatre.
Commissioned by the Toronto Masque
Theatre in 2012, The Lesson of Da Ji immediately won critical acclaim, as well as the 2013
Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding
Original Opera. The release of the recording
of this hour-long opera in two acts within just
a couple of years of its premiere reflects the
work’s enthusiastic initial reception. It may
well also mark the beginning of its acceptance
by a wider public in Canada, as well as in the
composer’s country of birth.
Andrew Timar
EARLY MUSIC AND PERIOD PERFORMANCE
Chaconne – Voices of Eternity
Ensemble Caprice; Matthias Maute
Analekta AN 2 9132
thewholenote.com
!!There is a difference
between the chaconne
and the passacaglia
– or so textbooks tell
us. In the chaconne
a theme is repeated
over and over again
in the bass, while in
the passacaglia the repeated theme does not
need to be in the bass. Matthias Maute, in
the booklet that comes with his recording, is
inclined to play down the distinction, saying
that the repetition of a harmonic motif is
essential to both forms. One of the most
famous of all chaconnes is that written by J.
S. Bach for solo violin. Here it constitutes the
final item on the recording, arranged (not
altogether convincingly) for two recorders
and cello. Many of the other items are earlier
and they include works by Monteverdi, Landi
and Falconieri. Among the most famous of
chaconnes are the variations on the popular
tune, La Follia, and this recording gives us
two examples of such variations: by Falconieri
(again) and by Vivaldi. There are two other
kinds of music here: instrumental versions of
seven 16th-century Czech folksongs (arranged
by Maute) and seven very short, unaccompanied vocal chaconnes by Maute. The latter
are expressive and haunting. They are beautifully sung by the sopranos Dawn Bailey
and Jana Miller and alto Maude Brunet.
Elsewhere there are eight instrumentalists
and the playing is of a high order. Warmly
recommended.
Hans de Groot
Las Cuidades de Oro – Baroque Music from
the Spanish New World
L’Harmonie des Saisons; Eric Milnes
ATMA ACD2 2702
!!The importance of
Spanish music of the
17th and 18th century
has long been recognized, but it is only in
recent years that we
have been introduced
to the riches that have
been preserved in
Latin American archives, in Colombia and
Peru, in Chile and Guatemala, in Bolivia and
Mexico. It is clear from the music on this
recording that there were rich polyphonic
traditions in Peru (in the San Antonio Abad
Seminary in Cuzco, at the shrine dedicated to
Our Lady of Candelaria in Copacabana and in
the Cathedral at Lima) and in Bolivia (in the
Cathedral of La Plata, now Sucre). Some of the
composers featured were Spaniards whose
careers developed in the New World, others
were born in Latin America and one (Alonzo
Torices) never left Spain, although some of his
works have been preserved in the Guatemala
City Cathedral archives. Most of the texted
works on this recording are in Spanish but
one is in Latin and one in Quechua, the official language of the Inca Empire.
The recording is carefully planned: the
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musical language shows a great deal of variety
and the documentation is excellent. The
rhythms are incisive and the standards of
playing and singing are high. I particularly
enjoyed the two duets sung by the sopranos
Hélène Brunet and Elaine Lachica.
Hans de Groot
CLASSICAL AND BEYOND
Brahms – Double Concerto; Symphony No.4
Pinchas Zukerman; Amanda Forsyth;
National Arts Centre Orchestra
Analekta AN 2 8782
!!Pinchas Zukerman,
who retired after 16
years at the helm
of the NACO, has
certainly left his mark
on the Canadian
musical scene. His
promotion of musical
training for young
musicians surely will be his most lasting
legacy, alongside the hundreds of concerts
and live recordings he generated. A case in
point is a new Analekta disc recorded live.
The Double Concerto by Brahms is like one of
those amazing perfect recipes from The Joy of
Cooking. Get the right ingredients, follow the
recipe exactly and presto: it always works. You
need one virtuosic violinist (Zukerman fits
the bill perfectly), one cellist who can keep
up (Forsyth more than keeps up here!) and an
orchestra that knows not to overstep. It helps
that Zukerman and Forsyth pair up frequently
for this piece and have a definite rapport,
developed over their years of playing together.
So this Double Concerto hits all the right
buttons – it is unrestrained, powerful and
tsunami-like in delivery, while shimmering
with sans pareil melodic lines. There are
virtuosic passages the likes of which Heifetz
and Rostropovich made us expect from soloists. Real aural pleasure, if not breaking any
new ground.
Alas, it is in the Symphony No.4 that we
understand why Zukerman will be remembered as a solo virtuoso, rather than a team
player. His reading of the score seems muted
and slowed down, as if he expects the
orchestra will not to be able to keep up. The
result is still Brahms, majestic, but somewhat leaden and heavy-footed, as if the will
to live were slowly trickling out of the music.
After 40 years of virtuosity, it may be the most
honest pronouncement from Zukerman – he
is a solo act.
Robert Tomas
My Cup Runneth Over – Complete Piano
Works of R. Nathaniel Dett
Clipper Erickson
Navona Records NV6013
(navonarecords.com)
!!While we have enjoyed many opportunities to hear the choral music of Nathaniel
Dett (1882-1943),
this is the first ever
recording of the
prolific composer’s
complete piano works
which encompass
quite a range, both
in period and style.
Pianist Clipper Erickson, who completed his
DMA at Temple University researching Dett’s
work, raised funds for this recording project
through a Kickstarter campaign. Recorded in
Germany for Navona Records and distributed
by Naxos, the disc provides an enjoyable and
significant dose of music history for professional and layman alike.
Canadian-born Dett’s styles range here
from popular dance music and jazz to spirituals, romanticism and impressionism, with
rags and salon suites alongside works influenced by Liszt, Dvořák, Debussy and Grainger.
And like some of the aforementioned influences, Dett had both education and talent
to seamlessly incorporate folk idioms into
art music. His piano pieces explore diverse
themes: the love of nature (Magnolia), the
Deep South (In the Bottoms), Rosicrucian
philosophy (Enchantment), the poetry of
Rabindrath Tagore (Cinnamon Grove) and
scripture (Eight Bible Vignettes). Erickson,
an accomplished pianist, performs with great
sensitivity to these themes and an obvious
admiration for the great composer. Kudos to
Erickson for his initiative and to those who
BACH IN TIME:
Let There Be Beauty
Poetry by Patricia Orr
Bach’s organ music
played by Patricia Wright
CD and
poetry book
$25
(add $5
for mailing)
“thoughtful…
a fascinating meditation…
stylish…full of expressive intimacy”
– Organ Canada, November, 2015
Available from metunited.org Estore
or through Metropolitan United Church
416-363-0331 ext. 26
February 1, 2016 - March 7, 2016 | 59
chose to support this endeavour. A welcome
release, just in time for Black History Month.
Dianne Wells
MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY
Dutilleux – Symphony No.1; Deux Sonnets
de Jean Cassou; Métaboles
Paul Armin Edelmann; Deutsche
Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz;
Karl-Heinz Steffens
Capriccio C5242
Dutilleux – Métaboles; L’arbre des songes;
Symphony No.2 «Le double»
Augustin Hadelich; Seattle Symphony;
Ludovic Morlot
Seattle Symphony SSM1007
Dutilleux – Tout un monde lointain
Emmanuelle Bertrand; Pascal Amoyel;
Luzerner Sinfonieorchester; James
Gaffigan
harmonia mundi HMC 902209
!!Last month was
French composer
Henri Dutilleux’s
centennial, and
commemorative recordings of
his meticulously
crafted works began
appearing in the
middle of last year. Despite the premature
arrival of these particular discs, however,
a reappraisal of his music has long been
overdue. A relatively small oeuvre, combined
with a high-placed enemy in the form of
a young Pierre Boulez, worked to consign
Dutilleux to relative obscurity for nearly all
but the last two decades of his 97-year life.
What’s more, the music which he did
permit, after years of revision, to pass through
the pinpoint mesh of his self-criticism never
had pretensions of epoch-making in the first
place. There is no avant-garde formalistic
demagoguery, no school of thought behind
his work (though the long shadows of Ravel
and Berg loom). Instead, Dutilleux commandeers entire orchestras, as Proust commandeered thousands and thousands of pages, to
convey nothing more than a deeply personal
– though phantasmagorical – inner world.
Comparisons to artists in other mediums
always abound when one speaks of Dutilleux,
likely because he makes no secret of his debts
to the Belle Époque; he has also cited
Baudelaire and Van Gogh as inspirations. And
yet his music is rarely programmatic, or even
narrativistic. If anything, it is architectural;
his pieces often feel like they occupy
considerable space, like musical edifices
composed of forces held in perfect
equilibrium.
His first major work to embody this
panoramic style is his most performed.
Written in 1964 for the Cleveland Orchestra,
Métaboles is a précis of Dutilleux’s work.
60 | February 1, 2016 - March 7, 2016
Tired with the thesisantithesis of theme
A versus theme B,
Dutilleux looked to
nature in search of
a more malleable
symphonic form. There
he saw that, given
enough transformations, evolution could bridge unimaginable
gaps between organisms (as that between,
say, a primordial bacteria and a human
being). Adapting this model to Métaboles, he
steadily modifies his thematic material until
it becomes unrecognizable – yet still inextricably linked through a kind of musical metabolism to the material which germinated it.
Two fine recordings of this piece appeared
last year. The first, recorded by Karl-Heinz
Steffens and the Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie
Rheinland-Pfalz, is expansive, smoothing the
kaleidoscope turn of Métaboles’ transformations. The next, recorded by Ludovic Morlot
with the Seattle Symphony, is notable for its
excellent mastering, which enhances the
work’s already galactic compass. Taken
together, these CDs present a kind of
“métaboles” of Dutilleux’ entire career: the
Rheinland-Pfalz disc contains his early works,
including a rare vocal setting, while the
Seattle recording features a brilliant performance of Dutilleux’s late violin concerto by
Augustin Hadelich (entitled L’arbre des
songes, it too draws inspiration from nature
and has structural similarities with
Métaboles).
Filling in the
gaps is Emmanuelle
Bertrand’s performance of the
Baudelaire-inspired
cello concerto, “Tout
un monde lointain…”
with the Luzerner
Sinfonieorchester. The concerto is worth the
price of admission alone – it is perhaps his
greatest work, ably performed here – but the
CD also includes some historical context with
a recording of Debussy’s cello sonata. Sensibly
enough, for though Dutilleux was scorned
by the Paris establishment, he was one of its
rightful heirs. The recordings appearing now
on this important anniversary are the definitive proof.
Elliot Wright
Poulenc – Piano Concertos; Aubade
Louis Lortie; Hélène Mercier; BBC
Philharmonic; Edward Gardner
Chandos CHAN 10875
!!This sparkling
CD includes Francis
Poulenc’s works for
piano and orchestra
plus music for two
pianists. I’ve loved
Poulenc’s cheeky
brews of popular and
classical elements
since a lighthearted teenage attempt at his
Sextet for Piano and Winds, when we had
a mock waiter serve drinks during my first
piano solo! Compositionally, Poulenc invites
us to loosen up and accept new things, but
performance is not easy. In the Concerto
(1949) Lortie’s ensemble with orchestra is
precise without compromising rhythmic
life, and he dashes off the first movement’s
lounge-piano flourishes without belabouring
them. Originally written for a ballet, Aubade
(1929) is quintessential Poulenc. It is evocative
of 1920s Paris, for piano with an orchestra
stripped down to 18 instruments emphasizing winds and brass. Lortie plays the
opening toccata with its challenging repeated
chords immaculately, and manages the juxtaposed contrasting phrases well. The BBC
Philharmonic’s winds shine in wonderfully
bittersweet double-reed instrument passages
and in several fine clarinet solos.
Lortie’s long-time duo-piano partner
Hélène Mercier joins him in the two-piano
Concerto in D Minor. They play the opening
movement’s quasi-Balinese passages seamlessly. The Larghetto’s classical nostalgia
and more modern sentiments come through
effectively. In the dissonant final movement,
double notes are crisp and chords balanced.
Works for two pianists alone close the disc;
in Poulenc’s four-hand Sonata and two short
duo-piano pieces, Mercier and Lortie find
opportunities for free dialogue and joyous
music-making.
Roger Knox
Leo Brouwer – Music for Bandurria and
Guitar
Pedro Chamorro; Pedro Mateo González
Naxos 8.573363
!!Cuban composer
Leo Brouwer (b.1939)
is an astonishing
sound creator in this
new release featuring
music for bandurria
and guitar. Brower’s
masterful use of
music of divergent
musical styles like Cuban rhythms, changing
metres, contemporary new music atonal
references, simple folk music and South
American references from other composers
are, when combined and layered, surprisingly
atheistically pleasing and challenging, yet
never jolting.
Performers Pedro Mateo González on
guitar and Pedro Chamorro on bandurria (a
popular South American small lute dating
from the 16th century) are stars both as soloists and as a duo. There is so much respect
for the composer in their spirited performances. González is especially outstanding
in capturing both the soul-wrenching slow
lyricism in Variation 3, and the toe-tapping
energetic and contrasting slower emotions
in Variation 7 of Variaciones sobre un tema
de Víctor Jara, a work drawn from Chilean
thewholenote.com
musician/activist Victor Jara’s popular song
Lo unico que tengo. Likewise, Chamorro
easily conquers the fiery rapid lines and
contrasting rhythms in both his solo performances which include a world premiere
recording of Sonata para Bandurria. The 1957
duet Micropiezas para Bandurria y Guitarra
is dedicated to Darius Milhaud. A theme and
variation of the French children’s song Frère
Jacques, Brouwer creates an unmatched
spellbinding piece for the two musicians to
shine in subtlety and simplicity.
Kudos too to the fine, clear work of the
producers, Canadians Norbert Kraft and
Bonnie Silver. This is beautiful music played
beautifully.
Tiina Kiik
all spring – Chamber Music of Emily
Doolittle
Seattle Chamber Players and friends
Composers Concordance Records
comcon0025 (emilydoolittle.com)
!!Behind Canadian
composer Emily
Doolittle’s music lies
a passion for the relationship between
music and nature,
and specifically, bird
and animal songs. Her
recent album of chamber music, all spring,
is a superb example of how she navigates this
fundamental connection that has inspired
generations of composers. This interest
has led her to conduct research into birdsong and explore the aesthetics of whether
animal songs can be considered music. As our
world faces critical environmental choices,
the question of how we relate to the forces of
nature and all beings who live here is increasingly becoming a focus for many composers.
How these concerns translate into music for
acoustic instruments was uppermost in my
awareness as I listened to Doolittle’s CD.
Her approach is to offer a distillation of the
qualities of natural phenomena or personal
experiences. In four pieces about water
essential qualities of water are revealed,
whereas in all spring the focus is on the
characteristics of specific birds. Some of the
ways Doolittle herself engages with nature
– listening and hiking – are highlighted in
her pieces falling still and col. The choices
Doolittle makes to bring the listener into
closer connection with nature works at subtle
levels. It is less about recreating a sense of
place or imitation of the soundscape, but
rather creating a sonic experience to guide
the listener into connection with the deeper
layers of natural phenomena, an entry into
the heart of nature.
Wendalyn Bartley
Sally Beamish – The Singing
James Crabb; Håkan Hardenberger;
Branford Marsalis; Royal Scottish National
Orchestra; National Youth Orchestra of
thewholenote.com
Scotland; Martyn Brabbins
BIS 2156
!!British composer
Sally Beamish has
called Scotland
home since 1990 and
describes her love of
Scottish traditional
music, landscape and
history, along with
an interest in jazz, as
her inspirations. There are many, many styles
and traditions that Beamish draws upon in
her compositions, making this release of
her works written between 2003 and 2012
intriguing, accessible and exciting listening.
Accordionist James Crabb is spectacular
in the concerto, The Singing. From long
mournful singing lines, bagpipe imitations
and breathing bellows and winds, the accordion and orchestra create lush soundscapes.
Saxophonist Branford Marsalis is equally
lyrical and moving in Under the Wing of
the Rock, a piece originally scored for solo
viola and strings, and inspired by Celtic
song and psalms. It’s back to downtown city
living in the exciting Concerto for Trumpet
and Orchestra featuring soloist Håkan
Hardenberger. The use of parts of scrapped
cars and scaffolding pipes in the percussion section against the wailing trumpet in
the third movement, creates a dramatic edgy,
hard sound. Reckless for chamber orchestra is
witty and light while the orchestra emulates
atmospheric washes of land and sea in A Cage
of Doves. Conducted by Martyn Brabbins,
both the Royal Scottish National Orchestra
and the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland,
on the trumpet concerto, play with energetic
precision and flair.
Beamish’s love and respect for her inspirations resonate throughout these intelligent works. Perfect music to warm up a cold
winter’s day!
Tiina Kiik
Bill Alves – Mystic Canyon; Music for Violin
and Gamelan
Susan Jensen; HMC American Gamelan
MicroFest Records MF4
(microfestrecords.com)
!!East-West crossover
combining gamelan
and Western orchestral instruments is,
of course, nothing
new, and composer
Bill Alves continues
in the tradition established by the late American composer, Lou
Harrison, who wrote more than 50 compositions in this genre. Like Harrison, Alves has
composed many musical works for gamelan
– specifically his “American gamelan,” the
Harvey Mudd College American Gamelan
(HMC), an ensemble of Javanese instruments
whose tunings have been modified according
to just intonation, and which is dedicated
to performing new music rather than traditional gamelan repertoire. This CD showcases two such compositions for violin and
gamelan: Mystic Canyon and Concerto for
Violin and Gamelan.
This music is mesmerizing and quite
beautiful. Susan Jensen’s superb violin
playing, with its rich and languorous musical
lines, overlays the soft, delicate and glimmering sounds of the bronze gamelan instruments. They provide a range of mellifluous
musical patterns with their polyrhythms,
sometimes static, and at other times gently
shifting. The ambience of Mystic Canyon is
ethereal and diaphanous, with contrasting
sections where the violin is prominent,
followed by occasional breaks with just
gamelan, all fading away gently at the end of
the piece. The six movements of the concerto
display a variety of moods and techniques
ranging from energetic and percussive, to
changing textures and gentle interlocking
rhythms, to more inert ostinati backing the
violin’s soaring melodies. This is music that
will appeal to gamelan and non-gamelan
specialists alike.
Annette Sanger
Just Strings – Compositions of Lou
Harrison and John Luther Adams
Just Strings; Alison Bjorkedal; John
Schneider; T.J. Troy; HMC American
Gamelan
MicroFest Records MF7
(microfestrecords.com)
!!This sparkling
album weaves together
six works variously
scored for harp, guitar
and percussion by
Pulitzer Prize- and
Grammy-winning
American composer
John Luther Adams (b.1953), and his mentor
Lou Harrison (1917-2003).
The liner notes call Harrison “the Godfather
of World Music,” and not without justification. His compositions from mid-career on
are marked by the incorporation of elements
of the musics of non-Western cultures,
particularly those of South, Southeast and
East Asia. For example, from the 1970s to the
end of his life Harrison composed dozens of
works for Sundanese, North and Southcentral
Javanese types of gamelan (orchestra). Along
the way he influenced several generations of
musicians including Toronto’s Evergreen Club
Contemporary Gamelan.
Calling it “American gamelan” Harrison
also constructed several of his own DIY
versions of gamelan prototypes with his
partner William Colvig. They chose to
tune each gamelan set in just intonation,
eschewing both mainstream equal temperament and the Javanese/Sundanese indigenous
theoretical tuning systems (of which he was
also well aware). We hear a work Harrison
February 1, 2016 - March 7, 2016 | 61
wrote for one of his American gamelans
in the finale of this album. In Honor of the
Divine Mr. Handel (1991), for concert harp
and small Javanese gamelan in just intonation, is stylishly directed by composer and
Harrison scholar Bill Alves. It manages a difficult and deft dual musical trick: it is not only
a delightfully tuneful tribute to the baroque
composer but also to the music of the
Javanese gamelan.
Among today’s leading composers in
the Western classical lineage, John Luther
Adams is represented here by two suites, Five
Athabascan Dances and Five Yup’ik Dances,
both from 1995. Like Harrison before him,
Adams, in these works, pays respect to indigenous music-making. Commissioned for the
Just Strings trio, the works drew on traditional songs of the Athabascan people for
the first set and on the songs of the Yup’ik of
the Yukon-Kuskokwim delta for the second.
Those songs were extensively reworked
and rendered in the Pythagorean tuning by
the composer, who remarked that he had
“extended and transformed these … melodies in many ways. In the process, they
have become something else, somewhat far
removed from Alaska Native music in sound
and in context.”
In the skillful musical hands of the three
Grammy Award-winning musicians of Just
Strings, this melody-forward music of Adams
and Harrison rings true clear across boundaries marked by culture, musical performance
practice and genre.
Andrew Timar
Elliott Sharp – The Boreal
Various Artists
Starkland ST-222 (starkland.com)
!!There is a sense
of beautiful, orderly
turmoil on Elliott
Sharp’s The Boreal.
Speaking first of the
piece and then the
whole album, the
fullest appreciation of the music is, of course,
to be had by following its schematics from
Sharp’s score, which is exquisite in all its
minimalistic glory. This, as the composer
points out, includes “hocketed grooves, difference tones and non-pitched materials generated by the use of alternate bows made from
ballchain and metal springs.” The effect is
quite masterful, pleasing to the ear, mostly
due to the clarity of the gestures, and of
course, the JACK Quartet’s brilliant interpretation of this written/improvised score.
You learn immediately to appreciate, the
combustible spontaneity, the treasurable fire,
communicative flair and consummate craft of
Sharp’s indelible inspiration.
Headlined by The Boreal, the recording also
features some of Elliott Sharp’s other remarkable pieces – Oligosono from 2004, Proof Of
Erdős from 2006, performed by Orchestra
Carbon, with David Bloom as conductor, and
62 | February 1, 2016 - March 7, 2016
On Corlear’s Hook from 2007 performed by
the Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra with
Peter Rundel conducting. The selection
provides a peep into Sharp’s polymath-like
artistry. The noteworthy Oligosono is a reference to the world of “little sounds” and what
is even more remarkable is its transposition
from the stringed instrument for which it was
written, to the piano, and performed with
wit and intuition by pianist Jenny Lin. Two
hands here and a new generation of rhythm
and harmonic overtones make this piece
quite memorable. Proof Of Erdős is an erudite
homage to the mathematician Pál Erdős.
The tonal colours of On Corlear’s Hook are
culled from Sharp’s ethereal palette and flawless artistry.
Raul da Gama
JAZZ AND IMPROVISED
A Love Supreme
John Coltrane
Impulse/Verve 80023727-02
!!Few jazz recordings
have the significance
of A Love Supreme,
the four-part suite that
Coltrane recorded on
December 9, 1964,
with his classic quartet
of pianist McCoy
Tyner, bassist Jimmy
Garrison and drummer Elvin Jones. With
Miles Davis’ 1959 Kind of Blue, it virtually
defines the concept LP in jazz. Inspired by a
transformative experience that freed Coltrane
of his addictions and turned his music into
a spiritual mission, A Love Supreme is his
most structured work, describing the progress through Acknowledgement, Resolution,
and Pursuance to an ultimate Psalm. A definitive statement of the quartet, it was also a
watershed between some of Coltrane’s most
orderly work and the tumultuous free jazz
that marked his last years.
For the 50th anniversary of its release,
Verve has expanded on the previous deluxe
edition of 2002 with two- and three-CD
versions. For serious Coltrane listeners, the
three-CD set, with extensive commentary and
more new material, is the one to get. Some
material seems superfluous, the mono dubs to
which Coltrane listened adding nothing new,
but the alternate takes and other versions
(virtually the complete recordings) demonstrate the extent to which the released version
is an image of order amidst rough seas. The
day after the quartet recording, Coltrane set
about recording the suite with a sextet that
added tenor saxophonist Archie Shepp and
bassist Art Davis. The set adds two sextet
versions of Acknowledgement to those previously released. The music initially seems less
successful, with Shepp adding a raucous,
almost R & B flavour, but as one listens to
the four takes, one appreciates the spirit
of collective improvisation that Coltrane
was exploring, with each version radically
different than the one before, each growing in
freedom and intensity.
Also included is Coltrane’s sole live
performance of the work, recorded six
months later at the Antibes jazz festival. This,
too, is raw, more exploratory work, with the
up-tempo Pursuance stretched from ten to
21 minutes in length. Listening to Coltrane’s
further elaborations on A Love Supreme,
reinforces the idea that the quartet studio
recording captured a uniquely reflective (and
structuralist) moment in Coltrane’s art, a
gathering of one’s secure knowledge before
launching again into the unknown.
Stuart Broomer
Spring
Susie Arioli
Spectra Musique SPECD-7854
(susiearioli.com)
!!For this, her
eighth studio album,
Montreal-based singer
Susie Arioli looked to
Toronto and its roster
of heavy-hitters in the
jazz realm for support.
Produced by Grammy
Award-winner John Snyder and arranged by
the legendary Don Thompson, Spring is about
renewal and fresh starts. In other words, it’s
a break-up album. A glance through the list
of songs – Those Lonely, Lonely Nights, Me
Myself and I, After You’ve Gone – tells the
story. The clever illustrations by Arioli that
accompanying each song title on the CD
cover, literally paint a picture.
So, while lyrically this is an unhappy
album, the music is anything but. There’s
nary a ballad to be found. It’s upbeat and
swingy with a bouncy horn section and
Arioli’s deep, warm voice casually cataloguing
a list of hurts. With Thompson’s vibraphone
doubling Reg Schwager’s guitar, the cool 60s
are evoked on a number of tunes including
Mean to Me and I’m the Caring Kind. Arioli’s
own compositions, of which there are four
on the album, range in style from a country
and western homage to the lure of the bottle
on Can’t Say No, to a breezy bossa nova-style
indictment of infidelity on Someone Else.
Ariloi has a number of tour dates in 2016
in Quebec, with more to come. Check susiearioli.com.
Cathy Riches
Flying Without Wings
John Alcorn
Loach Engineering LE1001
(jazzinthekitchen.ca/product/flyingwithout-wings)
!!This project was conceived and recorded
by trumpeter/engineer/producer John
Loach, and came about as a result of his
thewholenote.com
being inspired by a performance by leading
Canadian jazz vocalist
John Alcorn. During
his show, Alcorn
not only rendered
gems from the Great
American Songbook,
but also deftly
included anecdotes
and fascinating factoids about each composer
and composition. This idea of creating a total,
composer-focused experience propelled
Loach to produce this fine CD – which
features talented musicians Mark Eisenman
on piano, Reg Schwager on guitar, Steve
Wallace on bass and the world-renowned
cornetist Warren Vaché.
Throughout the 12 tracks (which include
contributions from Irving Berlin, Cole Porter,
the Gershwins and more), Alcorn’s rich baritone is expressive and infused with life
experience. His intuitive understanding of a
witty, ironic or devastatingly emotional lyric
coupled with his intuitive communications
with the other players are part and parcel of
the contagious appeal of this charismatic and
thoroughly gifted musical artist.
Standouts include Porter’s Just One of
Those Things, which cooks along with an irresistible percolation from the rhythm section
and features a masterful solo from Eisenman.
Also of note is It’s Like Reaching for the Moon
(Marqusee/Sherman/Lewis), featuring an
intimate guitar/voice intro, which segues
into trio perfection, as well as a stunner of a
solo from Warren Vaché, who embraces the
era of the composition while adding his own
contemporized sensibilities.
Also of special note is an evocative arrangement of the rarely performed You’re My Thrill
(Clare/Gorney), which conjures up a languid,
sensual garden of delight. The CD closes with
Harry Warren’s I Wish I Knew – a track filled
with almost unbearable beauty and longing.
This exceptional CD – so full of heart – is
aptly dedicated to the memory of the lovely
Diane Alcorn.
Lesley Mitchell-Clarke
Pocket Symphronica
Ron Davis
Really Records REA-ED-5886
(rondavismusic.com)
!!With the release of
his tenth recording,
eclectic and skilled
pianist/composer/
producer Ron Davis
has reaffirmed his
position as one of the
most tenacious and
engaging musical artists in Canada. Pocket
Symphronica embraces the wide range of
Davis’ skills and taste (which includes explorations into the milieus of jazz, world, pop/
dance and classical musics). Comprised of
11 original compositions (and with Davis
performing brilliantly on piano, Fender
Rhodes and Hammond B3), this new project
thewholenote.com
is a fresh distillation of his previous, innovative CD, Symphronica – a clever symphonic
jazz recording which in turn led to the
current chamber-sized, more portable version
of the larger ensemble.
Davis has surrounded himself here with
a stalwart group of collaborators, including
arrangers Mike Downes, Jason Nett and Tania
Gill and co-producers Dennis Patterson, Mike
Downes, Roger Travassos and Kevin Barrett.
A breathtaking string quartet (including
genius Andrew Downing on cello) and a firstcall core band comprised of guitarist Barrett,
bassist Downes and drummer/percussionist
Travassos fully manifest Davis’ creative and
stylistically diverse visions.
Included in the recording are Davis’
impressions of such far-flung motifs and
artists as Lady Gaga (the ambitious Fugue and
Variations on Gaga and Poker Face), funk
(Gruvmuv – featuring a few face-melters
from Barrett), Middle Eastern/Sephardic
elements (the exciting and rhythmic D’hora)
and a beautifully string-laden and evocative
take on the traditional Jewish Passover song,
Chassal Siddur Pesach (featuring sumptuous
cello work from George Meanwell).
Additional memorable tracks include the
uptempo string/piano feature, Presto and the
gentle, bossa-infused beauty of Jeanamora.
This is a deeply satisfying CD, as well as a
portrait of an artist at the peak of his creativity and technical facility.
Lesley Mitchell-Clarke
Discern
Artie Roth Quartet
Independent (artieroth.com)
!!Bassist Artie Roth’s
latest offering, Discern,
is a highly textured
and interactive affair,
combining a loose,
open feel with remarkably precise and
detailed arrangements.
The mix of electronic
sounds with acoustic instrumentation lends
itself to approaches that are both highly
varied and coherent. His writing is steeped
in the harmonic and rhythmic language of
contemporary jazz while retaining a strong
melodicism.
The Compromise Blues establishes the tone
of the recording with its majestic soundscape and drummer Anthony Michelli’s
Elvin Jones-inspired groove. Roth opens the
soloing, elaborating on the lyricism of the
melody and paving the way for Mike Filice’s
tenor sax. Filice’s understated opening lines
and relaxed style gathers momentum as he
fluidly weaves his way in and out of the tune’s
harmony. Guitarist Geoff Young, equally adept
in the language of modern jazz, makes use of
a rich overdriven tone to build into inspired
double time lines. As well, Young’s sonic
palette orchestrates the proceedings in ways
that become increasingly apparent as the
album unfolds.
The textural aspect of the CD comes into
full fruition in Still Hear, dedicated to the late
drummer Archie Alleyne, a long time cohort
of Roth’s. Tenor saxophone and bass clarinet
are overdubbed, meshing with Young’s
atmospheric guitar colours. Frontline instruments converse and Michelli lets loose over
Roth’s ostinato bass figure. This is a beautifully played and produced recording that is a
pleasure to listen to.
Ted Quinlan
Wait, There’s More
Heillig Manoeuvre
Independent HM 6015 (heilligmanoeuvre.
com)
!!The latest incarnation of bassist and
composer Henry
Heillig’s Heillig
Manoeuvre continues
the shift from the
group’s earlier more
electric sound to the
decidedly mainstream bent of Wait, There’s
More. The constant in the band’s evolution
has been Heillig’s accessible, groove-oriented
compositional style. The current group,
including longtime Manteca cohort Charlie
Cooley on drums, pianist Stacie McGregor
and saxophonist Alison Young may be its
most compelling lineup to date. Young, who
has established herself as an important new
player on the scene, brings a confident, fresh
voice to the quartet’s blend of bebop, blues
and funk. McGregor embraces a similar sensibility, occupying both frontline and rhythm
section roles with aplomb.
Wait, There’s More, the opening tune, highlights Heillig’s and Cooley’s ease with classic
Latin and swing feels. The drum/sax duet
off the top of Young’s solo is a perfect setup
for her soulful, swinging style. McGregor
follows suit, complementing the sax solo with
her own well-rooted sense of the tradition.
Arrangements are the key here and solos are
concise and to the point without feeling truncated. Wonky Rhomboid features bass and
baritone saxophone over a seven-beat figure
that slips momentarily into a fast swing,
reminiscent of Mingus’ Fables Of Faubus.
Young’s composition Waltz For Harriet showcases the composer’s command of nuance
with a nod to Cannonball Adderley’s funky
exuberance. Groove and fun are the order of
the day in this highly satisfying outing.
Ted Quinlan
Paul Newman – Duo Compositions
Paul Newman; Karen Ng; Heather Segger
Independent (paulnewman1.bandcamp.
com)
!!Paul Newman has
already proved his
credentials at the existential end of the saxophone. Now he turns
that angst and all of
February 1, 2016 - March 7, 2016 | 63
his utterly brilliant compositional prowess to
a pair of daring works for a set of duets – the
first featuring his tenor saxophone with the
alto of Karen Ng, entitled Strange Customs.
The second piece (with Heather Segger’s
trombone replacing Ng’s alto) is a furiously
innovative one, its title taken from a poem by
the quintessential artist, Dianne Korchynski.
The music is as arresting as the title: When I
Die, Who Will Be There to Count the Rings?
While experimental music such as this can
be more concerned with process than result,
the fruits of Paul Newman’s experiments –
especially on Duo Compositions – are brave,
gutsy and aurally fascinating. These duets
could have been limited by the timbre of
each instrument – a tenor and an alto saxophone and a trombone. But Newman’s scores
expand the consciousness of the improvising musicians. And you experience this
throughout the recording.
These are endlessly fascinating pieces, their
broad glissandos and darting arpeggios, products of the fertile imaginations of the improvising musicians, Ng and Segger. The language
of Cage might seem to be spoken and sung;
that and the gleeful dancing of Cecil Taylor,
whose gymnastically inclined pianism appear
to inform the improvisations. The scores
suggest something equally original, both in
the suggested “vocalastics” and instrumental
mischief of saxophones and human smears of
the trombone. These admirable performances
make a worthwhile addition to any collection of music.
Raul da Gama
modulator-like reverberations which bring
out the mellow underpinning of Rose’s backand-forth snuffling on Bird Sommersaults.
Additionally, harpsichord-like string stopping gets a tougher interface that vibrates
the soundboard strings when sympathetically matched with low-pitched reed vibrations on Unstabled. Rose’s split tones allow
him to play reed strategies that are simultaneously mellow and rickety or skyscraper high
and copper mine low at the same time; while
Schultze’s strategies create equivalent concurrent textures inside and outside the piano.
Leviathan Blues is a fine demonstration of
this. The pianist’s stretching the strings while
percussively key slapping creates a rhythmic
backbeat which expands to meet the saxophonist’s theme variations that likewise
widen and become more dissonant as Rose
plays. Altissimo reed agitation brings out
equivalent kinetic key pummeling, until a
simple pedal-push counter-theme calms the
woodwind cyclone enough to move Rose to
singular honks that finally meld with solidifying key vibrations.
By the time the last note sounds at the end
of this CD’s 11th and final track, if the two
haven’t exposed the sound textures from
10,000 things they’ve certainly come close
to doing so.
Ken Waxman
The Ten Thousand Things
Simon Rose; Stefan Schultze
Red Toucan RT 9350
(www3.sympatico.ca/cactus.red/toucan)
a young Norwegian
saxophonist and
composer and this
eponymous two-CD
debut is a remarkable
statement, whether
considered for its skill,
beauty or sheer reach.
Recorded during 2013 and 2014, the music
possesses sufficient breadth to escape any
immediate classification, with materials and
textures drawn from contemporary composed
music, jazz and free improvisation. The two
CDs are distinguished by their resources: the
first features a trio with pianist Johan Lindvall
and cellist Katrine Schiøtt; the second adds
11 musicians including a jazz rhythm section
and five more strings.
Henriette does not immediately reveal
herself on the first CD as Lindvall and Schiiøtt
develop elongated textures that are at once
rich and spare, aloof and full of suggestion.
There’s a profound state of attentiveness in
this music: neither specifically contemplative
nor serene, it seems poised to accept revelation. The opening track, So, may suggest
something of Arvo Pärt, while later episodes
are at times more evanescent still, touching
on the whispers and transparency of George
Crumb’s Night Music. Henriette’s tenor saxophone is often limited here to long tones and
brief phrases, her interest focused on sonority,
overtones and the literal sound of air and
!!Joining forces to
extract as many undiscovered textures
from their instruments as humanly
possible, British alto
and baritone saxophonist Simon Rose
and German-prepared
piano specialist Stefan Schultze come across
less like mad scientists and more like dedicated epistemologists. Like researchers
confronted with unexpected by-products
from their experiments, they assiduously
dissect the results for further trials. And like
the Lone Ranger and Tonto riding in tandem,
for every extended technique exposed by
Rose, from tongue slapping to atonal smears,
Schultze has an appropriate response or goad,
plucking, stopping, pushing and sliding along
his strings, and with implements such as
bowls, bells and mashers vibrating atop them.
A track like Magua for instance starts with
gargantuan baritone sax textures exposed
via bone-dry multiphonics, soon pleasantly
liquefying to a jerky slap-tongue rhythm to
affiliate with bell-like clangs from the piano’s
speaking length. Or consider Schultze’s ring
64 | February 1, 2016 - March 7, 2016
Mette Henriette
Mette Henriette
ECM 2460/2461 (ecmrecords.com)
!!Mette Henriette is
moisture in the horn.
That role expands, along with the range
of compositions, on the second CD, with
Henriette’s wellspring of lyricism coming
immediately to the fore on the beautiful
passé, before the music moves on to darker
realms, including the foreboding circus of
late à la carte. As a saxophonist, she has a
tremendous expressive range. Her timbral
focus can suggest tenor sounds as distinct as
Stan Getz, Jan Garbarek and Gato Barbieri
(the latter in wildheart, a brooding noisefest that invokes the early Jazz Composers
Orchestra), while a willingness to explore
multiphonics and sheer air suggests affinities
with free improvisers. Mette Henriette’s reach
is impressive, her grasp even more so.
Stuart Broomer
Ask The Ages
Sonny Sharrock
M.O.D. Technologies MOD0016 (modtechnologies.com)
!!Many creative
musicians have
struggled to find a
supportive audience,
and that was certainly
the case with guitarist
Sonny Sharrock. He
emerged in the late
1960s as a school of one, playing free jazz
with the raw power of electric blues and the
sonic edge of rock guitar, bringing a signal
force to recordings like Pharoah Sanders’
Tauhid and Miles Davis’ Jack Johnson.
Over the following years Sharrock was in
and out of music, until forming an association with bassist/producer Bill Laswell. The
fruits of that association included the explosive band Last Exit and this CD from 1991,
Sharrock’s last recording as a leader before
his death in 1994.
Sharrock has ideal partners here, including
saxophonist Sanders, drummer Elvin Jones
and the younger bassist Charnett Moffett, all
of them sharing a vision of music possessing
palpable spiritual power. The music is often
anthemic with a sonic density rare in jazz
(thanks to Laswell’s production) and an
emotional power seldom approached in jazz
fusion. There’s a perfect balance between
Sanders’ apocalyptic rant and Sharrock’s own
wild inventiveness, from the skittering electric chatter of Promises Kept to the illuminated eloquence of Who Does She Hope to
Be?, his ringing, sustained sound the closest
a guitarist will likely ever get to the spirit of
John Coltrane.
The match of the four musicians on each
of Sharrock’s six compositions is uncanny,
achieving its greatest power on Many
Mansions, Sanders wailing above Jones’ thunderous drumming while Sharrock and Moffett
generate a pulsing wall of sound.
Stuart Broomer
thewholenote.com
POT POURRI
Pillorikput Inuit – Inuktitut Arias for All
Seasons
Deantha Edmunds; Karrie Obed; Innismara
Vocal Ensemble; Suncor Energy String
Quartet; Tom Gordon
Memorial (mun.ca/mmap/back_on_track/
pillorikputinuit)
!!Musicologist and
pianist Tom Gordon,
professor emeritus of
the School of Music at
Memorial University
in St. John’s, NL has
long been fascinated
by the sacred music
performed by the Inuit Moravians of Northern
Labrador. Unlike other Christian denominations, Moravian missionaries not only placed
a high value on personal piety and missions,
but also particularly encouraged the place
of music in worship. Digging to understand
this music’s history, Gordon sifted through
hundreds of manuscripts in Moravian church
archives along the Labrador coast.
What emerged was a rich musical practice with roots back to the 1770s and 1780s
when European Moravian missionaries
founded settlements in Northern Labrador at
Nain, then Okak and Arvertok, the first (of
many more) Christian missions to the Inuit
in what is now Canada. They came to preach
Christianity and one of their prime tools –
and legacies – was music.
Quite rapidly the music imported from
Europe evolved, in the words of Gordon, as
an “expressive practice re-conceived to reflect
the spirituality and aesthetic preferences of
Inuit musicians.” It was music heard almost
exclusively within the modest clapboard
walls of Labrador Moravian churches. There
it remained, almost unknown to the outside
world, until now.
From these communities’ extensive repertoire of brass music, congregational singing
and choral music, Gordon has chosen 16
tracks of solo sacred arias and duets, reconstructing them from church manuscripts.
The result is the impressively documented
and performed CD Pillorikput Inuit (Behold,
the People), true not only to the letter of the
source manuscripts but also to the Inuit spirit
of its performers and tradition-keepers. The
music chosen celebrates key annual liturgical events like Christmas and Easter, as well
as the community celebrations of Married
People’s Day and Church Festival Day.
Featuring the classically trained Inuk
soprano Deantha Edmunds and Moravian
Inuit music expert Karrie Obed, both singing
in Inuktitut, the repertoire includes music
by two leading European composers of
their day, Handel and Haydn. As expected,
songs by lesser-tier yet fascinating Moravian
composers such as Johann Daniel Grimm
(1719–1760), the American John Antes (1740–
1811) and the English clergyman Christian
thewholenote.com
Ignatius Latrobe (1758–1836) are also well
represented. Organ, wind and string instrumental accompaniment, and the Innismara
Vocal Ensemble from St. John’s provide suitable period support throughout.
What is unique in these performances? It’s
not so much the repertoire or the conventional instrumental forces employed. It is
rather the deeply heartfelt renditions of these
European songs in Inuktitut representing
a hybrid Inuit performance practice dating
back over 225 years in Canada’s North that
I find so moving. It seems to me Pillorikput
Inuit represents the tip of the iceberg of the
rich Inuit musical heritage the rest of us in
the South are just beginning to discover,
and enjoy.
Andrew Timar
Rebirth of a Nation (DJ Spooky)
Kronos Quartet
Cantaloupe CA21110
!!If ever there was
a potent time to
release this masterfully crafted new
soundtrack to the
D.W. Griffith classic,
Birth of a Nation, it
would be now during
the tumultuous rebuilding of post-George W.
Bush America by its extraordinary protagonist
Barak Obama. Oblique parallel lines could
be drawn through the similarities of situation, except that the country is not fighting
a civil war to – among other things – end
slavery. However a sharply divided people
and flare-ups of discrimination along racial
lines, unpopular wars and a dramatic decline
in civility towards the presidency might be a
likely background for such a soundtrack to
what Spooky, the irreverent composer, aka
Paul D. Miller, calls Rebirth of a Nation.
The Kronos Quartet seem to be a perfect
fit for this musical adventure and the quartet
seems to come to terms with DJ Spooky’s
mindset as if they were one and the same
brain. Their transcendent musicianship, a
result of great empathy between the players,
provides not just memorable accompaniment
to the dramaturgy of Griffith’s visuals but also
discreet, seductive and eloquent continuo for
Spooky’s own musical instruments, which
remain stark and dominant throughout the
unfolding visuals. Yes, visuals! The soundtrack
is accompanied by a wonderfully produced
DVD so it is possible to hear the music work
in conjunction with the original silent moving
picture as well. I also like Spooky’s laserbright instrumentation.
Raul da Gama
Something in the Air
Advanced Jazz’s Fountain of Youth
KEN WAXMAN
One common shibboleth of mid-20th century creative music was that “jazz was a young
man’s art.” Putting aside the sexism implicit in the statement, the idea denied jazz musicians the sort of late career acclaim that notated music masters like Pablo Casals and Vladimir
Horowitz enjoyed. Times have more than changed. Expanded from the Baby Boomer cliché
that “50 is the new 30” and its upwards affiliations, career longevity is now taken for granted
in all serious music. These CDs recorded by improvised musicians in their 70s attest to that.
Take American pianist Ran Blake for example, now 80 and usually
found in a solo or duo context. But Ghost Tones (A side 0001 a-siderecords.com), created when he was a mere 75, is a more ambitious
project. The 17-track CD reconstitutes the compositions/arrangements
of jazz theorist George Russell (1923-2009) written for combos or big
bands. Blake plays solo acoustic or electric piano framed by interjections from horns, strings, electronics and even a second piano. Like a
curator who situates artifacts in modern settings, Blake’s conceptions
are both contemporary and faithful to the originals. The Ballad of Hix Blewitt for instance,
receives a tripartite setting with Rachel Massey’s violin sounding impressionistic sweetness; Dave “Knife” Fabris’ steel guitar reverberating with country music melancholy; and both
setting off Blake’s melody variations. A similar transformation affects You Are My Sunshine
which begins and ends with steel-guitar twanging, but is defined by a middle section of
dissonant improvisations between Fabris and Blake. Jack’s Blues, in contrast, features Ryan
Dugre’s tough guitar chording atop a brass choir, as blues-tinted piano lines weave in and out
of the narration like a taxi in heavy traffic, finally introducing blues sensibility in the penultimate moments. The futuristic Stratusphunk is a solo piano feature that invests the theme
with call-and-response patterning. yet retains the tune’s linear status. Still, the paramount
indication of Blake’s skill appears on the forbiddingly titled Vertical Form VI and the theatrical
Lonely Place. On the first, a sense of underlying swing is brought forward with tympani rat
tat tats, trombone blats and Blake trading riffs with electric pianist Eric Lane. Lonely Place’s
emotional lonesomeness is expressed as Aaron Hartley’s plunger trombone echoes and Doug
Pet’s free-flowing tenor saxophone lines are superseded by Blake’s precise and icy harmonies.
February 1, 2016 - March 7, 2016 | 65
King initially highlights Saft exposing so many keyboard colours that
he could be figuratively knitting a rainbow-dyed scarf. A subsequent
processional piano statement presages McPhee’s shift from snarky
stridency to gentle ballad variations, until the two swiftly reverse the
process like a car backing up, and construct a new garment out of
half-puckered sax blasts and half inside-piano plucks. Climatically
though, Morris’ background patterning
produces a pluck so dexterous and directional
that it soothes the others into moderato attachment and then silence.
More than 40 years separate South African
drummer Louis Moholo-Moholo, 75, and
Italian pianist Livio Minafra, 33. But during
Born Free (Incipit Records 203 egeamusic.
com) the South African-Italian duo produces enthralling episodes of
cinched improvisations and compositions. The CD attains its creative
zenith on Flying Flamingos. Operating like two halves of a single
entity, each man’s measured tones slip into place like the bolt in a
lock. Exhorted verbally and by Moholo-Moholo’s jouncing minimal
drum patterns, Minafra frames his narrative with rugged honky-tonklike keyboard splashes, only to emphasize a sparkling easy swing in
the tune’s centre. This responsive patterning is expressed throughout,
as the two move through episodes of almost-Disney-cartoon-like
tenderness on a tune such as Angel Nemali; to the repressed ferocity
of Foxtrot, where acute drum pummelling and choppy, high-pitched
key clattering up the piece’s Charlie Chaplin-like waddle to sprinter’s
speed. Like a racing car that accelerates to 160 mph from zero, the two
demonstrate similar control on the introductory and closing variations
on Canto General, with the pianist’s glissandi at warp speed on the
first, and the drummer’s literal collection of bells and whistles prominent on the second. This package also includes
a DVD with filmed episodes from the performances plus commentary from both players.
During his long career Moholo-Moholo
has played in many duo situations including
a memorable CD with Swiss pianist Irène
Schweizer. Like the other innovators here,
Schweizer, 74, divides her work between
playing with younger musicians and her
contemporaries. Welcome Back (Intakt 254 intaktrec.ch) is titled that
way since it’s the second duo CD the pianist and Dutch drummer
Han Bennink, 73, have recorded. The first was in 1995. Acting their
age, the two breeze through 14 tracks with élan, excitement and
empathy. Schweizer’s gracious variations on ditties like Meet Me
Tonight in Dreamland are mocked by bomb dropping and whistles from Bennink, but eventually overcome his disruption when she
adds a touch of stride. Meanwhile jazz classic Eronel is wrapped up in
fewer than two minutes, with the pianist’s pumping percussiveness
swinging the contorted line. Like a reveller trying on several masks at
a costume party, Schweizer’s original meld of (Thelonious) Monkish
angularity, South African highlife and earlier jazz forms are showcased on Kit 4, Ntyilo, Ntyilo and Rag, with the first shapeshifting to
staccato hardness abetted by the drummer’s clattering; the second
theatrical and respectful, plus ending with the sonic equivalent of
a multi-hued sunset; and the last narrative swelling to Willie “The
Lion” Smith-style finger-busting swing. She and Bennink confirm
their seasoned status on Free for All, gliding over different styles with
feather-light key pressure and brush strokes that sound like sand
rubbed on the snare, before intervallic leaps expose kinetic underpinnings. But the key track is Schweizer’s own Bleu Foncé. Like a detective series where the characters are known, but surprises appear in
every episode, Schweizer’s variations on a traditional blues are true
to the form, yet on top of Bennink’s condensed shuffle beat, she adds
feints and emphasis to express her creative individuality.
George Bernard Shaw once said that “youth is wasted on the
young.” In the case of these improvisers though, when it comes to
music at least, age is just a number.
Another session honouring a departed
improviser, but one who was around to participate in this, his final session, is Free Form
Improvisation Ensemble 2013 (Improvising
Beings ib 40 improvising-beings.com). To be
honest, while the hiccupping smears emanating from French-Moroccan tenor saxophonist
Abdelhaï Bennani (1950-2015) are interesting
as he meanders through these two CDs of linked abstract improvisations, (as is the low-key drumming of Chris Henderson), the focus lies
elsewhere. Like famous actors who make cameo appearances in small
films, Bennani’s timbral strategy is cushioned or enhanced due to the
contributions of American expatriates, pianist Burton Greene, now
78, and Alan Silva, now 76, who plays orchestral synthesizer. Some
of Silva’s electronic double-bass approximations give a few of the 13
live improvisations a percussive rhythm that they otherwise lack.
Elsewhere the oscillating sheets of sound the synthesizer produces
wash over the other players like a cyclone-induced rainstorm. Silva’s
blurry processes cascade in such a way to encourage the saxophonist’s harsh interface. But more often than not, whether in tandem with
Bennani or on his own, it’s Greene’s considered patterns which pierce
Silva’s murky enveloping sounds like a nail through wood. Almost
from the beginning, the pianist’s centipede-like reach sharpens the
program as he moves along the keys and symbolically within the
cracks between them. With oscillating ponderousness on one side
and hesitant reed puffs and percussion clatter on the other, it’s Greene
who emphasizes the rhythmic thrust at the end of CD1 to create a
groove. On the second disc, as Greene varies his attack from impressionistic classicism to Thelonious Monk-like angularity, he brings
out sympathetic low-pitched timbres from Silva which encourage
the saxophonist’s whinnying cries, and adds some levity via a lively
cadenced solo in the middle. By the concluding minutes, Silva’s mass
of processing retreats to bring the saxophonist into the foreground.
Reading too much into Bennani’s restrained buzzes and puffs may be
like those critics who portend the demise of writers by analyzing their
final prose, but Bennani’s leaky, brittle tone does appear to be that of
a man playing his own threnody. Luckily, the older but more nimble
Silva, and especially Greene, are on hand to add palliative empathy.
Another improviser whose broad-mindedness and experimentation are not affected
by age is saxophonist Joe McPhee, 76, who is
recording and playing as prolifically now as he
has since he started recording in the late 1960s.
Ticonderoga (Clean Feed 345 CD cleanfeedrecords.com) finds him sharing space with a
near-contemporary drummer, Charles Downs,
72, as well as pianist Jamie Saft and bassist Joe
Morris, who are two or three decades younger. In this classic formation, McPhee glides between tenor and soprano, extruding textures
weighty and coarse as lumber, but adding cunning aviary-pitched
trills from the smaller horn. Like the mortar that bonds bricks,
Downs’ collection of clunks and raps builds a strong foundation able
to support any embellished strategy. Similarly, tremolo pulses and
bow-sourced sprawls allow Morris to accompany and solo. Though
like a tugboat alongside the ocean liner which is McPhee, Saft never
abandons the background role. At the same time he uses calming
harp-like string plucks and stops as frequently as keyboard tropes.
With balladic tones transformed via altissimo screams into daggersharp notes as he plots an original path, the saxophonist’s skill is most
obvious on Leaves of Certain and A Backward King. Like a mathematician scrawling numerous formulae on a blackboard, McPhee treats
the first as a testing ground for exotic multiphonics, stretching out
an assembly line’s worth of reed textures to form variegated patterns.
Finally, alongside Saft’s yearning glissandi he settles on dual tones
created by shouting into his saxophone’s body tube as he masticates
the reed. The result is a finale that satisfies with no letdown in excitement. Cheerful, buoyed by Saft’s guileless patterning, A Backward
66 | February 1, 2016 - March 7, 2016
thewholenote.com
Old Wine, New Bottles | Fine Old Recordings Re-Released
S
BRUCE SURTEES
complete Beethoven cycle, all 16 quartets. From
the very first bars their security, their astonishing togetherness and sonorities announce
that they are not simply four musicians playing
but an entity: a perfect string quartet. The
group first met in Sienna in 1942 and in 1945
they came together as the Nuovo Quartetto
Italiano, later dropping the Nuovo. They
toured extensively and in 1951 they played in
Salzburg where they impressed Wilhelm Furtwängler. The conductor
convinced them to play with a greater freedom of expression by
running through a performance of the Brahms F Minor Quintet with
Furtwängler himself at the piano. This was a critical turning point
in their career following which they introduced new rhythmic freedoms to their innate classicism. In 1965 they began their long association with Philips recording the Debussy and Ravel quartets. Included
in this collection of superlative performances are the complete quartets by Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart, Schumann and Webern together
with quartets by Haydn, Schubert, Boccherini, Dvořák, etc. and the
Brahms F Minor Quintet with Pollini in 1980. The Quartetto Italiano
disbanded in 1987.
Find complete details of Quartetto Italiano – The Complete Decca,
Philips and DG Recordings (Decca 478884) at arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=2158595.
As the big-band era passed into history
through the 1950s, new schools of jazz had
already emerged, from bebop at one end of the
spectrum to the cool school. Cool was characterized by easy tempos in arrangements that
often had a “classical” feel as exemplified by
Dave Brubeck, the Modern Jazz Quartet, Gerry
Mulligan and others. Of interest were the various groups formed by
Chico Hamilton.
Drummer Foreststorn “Chico” Hamilton (1921-2013), in his early
musical career, had played with Charles Mingus, Illinois Jacquet,
Dexter Gordon and others. Engagements with Ellington, Lionel
Hampton, Nat King Cole, Billie Holiday and six years with Lena Horne
attest to his proficiency and the inevitability of him forming his
own groups.
After leaving the original Gerry Mulligan Quartet in 1953, Hamilton
made his first recordings for Pacific Jazz as the Chico Hamilton
Trio with bassist George Duvivier and guitarist Howard Roberts. So
successful was that disc that in 1955 the Chico Hamilton Quintet was
formed. “At the outset, I didn’t quite know what I wanted. I only knew
that I wanted something new, a different and, if possible, exciting
sound.” The quintet comprised cellist Fred Katz; Buddy Collette,
flute, clarinet, alto and tenor sax; Jim Hall, guitar and Carson Smith,
bass. In 1956 Paul Horn replaced Collette and John Pisano replaced
Hall. Their arrangements of original and standard repertoire were all
in-house and except for their ghastly versions of all the tunes from
South Pacific, the performers communicate a joie de vivre as fresh as
yesterday and totally satisfying
The1955 to 1959 Quintet recordings are
included in Chico Hamilton – The Complete
Recordings Volume 1 together with the earlier
trio sessions and others totaling 98 tracks
(Enlightenment ENSCD9057, 5 CDs). Volume
Two contains all 84 recordings by Hamilton’s
various groups on assorted labels issued on ten
LPs from 1959 to 1962 (Enlightenment ENSCD9058, 5 CDs). Fans of
West Coast jazz will get much pleasure from these two sets, as will all
those who derive pleasure from cool, chamber jazz. The transfers are
exemplary.
ome years ago during the intermission
feature on a recorded concert heard on
the car radio, the conductor, a prominent figure, spoke about his meeting with
Igor Stravinsky of whom he asked about interpreting Le Sacre du Printemps. “Do not interpret my music,” he was instructed, “just play
what I wrote.” Who better to do that than
the composer himself. Igor Stravinsky – The
Complete Columbia Album Collection (Sony 502616, 56 CDs, a DVD
and an informative 262-page hardbound book) contains every one
of his own and supervised recordings made by American Columbia
and RCA Victor. In 1991 Sony issued Igor Stravinsky: The Recorded
Legacy on 22 CDs and it seemed this was to be the final chapter on
the Columbia recordings. In the intervening years many changes have
enabled Sony to add 34 new CDs. Included now are all 19 monaural
recordings including the three RCA CDs with the RCA Symphony
Orchestra and all the pre-stereo recordings with the New York
Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Metropolitan Opera and
soloists including Joseph Szigeti, Vronsky and Babin, Jean Cocteau,
Peter Pears, Mitchell (later Mitch) Miller, Mary Simmons, Marilyn
Horne, Marni Nixon, Jennie Tourel, Bernard Greenhouse, Vera Zorina
and many, many others. Each of these recordings is a part of the
Stravinsky legacy.
Stravinsky’s recording of Le Sacre du Printemps from April 1940
with the Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra of New York was the
first Stravinsky work I owned. It became my reference performance
and is the first disc in this new box. Listening to the 1960 recording
of the 1947 version with the Columbia Symphony Orchestra (disc 22)
is a different experience. After the back-in-time opening, The Augurs
of Spring – The Dances of the Young Girls bursts forth unmistakably
as ballet music and not simply a concert piece. Stravinsky’s propulsive beat and accents are maintained through Part One, percussive, but not confrontational nor blatantly aggressive, yet very potent
and authoritative. Many, perhaps most, who acquire this new set will
enjoy comparing the early to the later performances of other works.
Several are of particular interest: the Symphony of Psalms (1946,
NYC) versus the 1963 recording with the Toronto Festival Singers and
the CBC Symphony Orchestra; also the suite from The Soldier’s Tale
(1954, NYC) versus the brilliant 1961 Hollywood complete recording,
abstracted as a Suite – later the complete score with narration by
Jeremy Irons was issued. The Ebony Concerto’s over-rehearsed,
uninspired performance from 1946 with the Woody Herman
Orchestra is brought to life in 1965 by Benny Goodman and a jazz
combo. Stravinsky is also heard in rehearsals, as pianist and in conversation and in a monologue, “Apropos of Le Sacre,” that clears up a few
events. All the monaural recordings, from original discs and tapes,
have been transferred employing 24/96 technology resulting in the
highest fidelity to the originals.
Audiophiles may remember when it was de rigueur to vehemently
denigrate Columbia for multi-miking that, they claimed, perverted
the real sound. Listening to these priceless, landmark performances
in such wide-range, you-are-there 3D realism, will certainly put a
lie to that. The accompanying DVD, Stravinsky in Hollywood, is the
film by Marco Capalbo that takes us from Stravinsky’s great expectations there in 1939 through to the composer’s last days in 1971 in
NYC where he, with his longtime friend Robert Craft, mused over the
scores and recordings of Beethoven’s late string quartets.
A most unexpected sequence of events occurred last week … I
opened the 37-CD reissue of the Quartetto Italiano intending to check
out the repertoire and listen to a piece or two for now, intending to
get into it later. My big mistake was that I started with the Beethoven
Op.132 and Grosse Fuge Op.133. Later became sooner, and sooner
became now, and immediately I found myself embarking on the
thewholenote.com
February 1, 2016 - March 7, 2016 | 67
REMEMBERING
Paul Bley:
A Modern Jazz Piano Master
P
KEN WAXMAN
aul Bley who died at 83 in early January was probably never
bothered that he was usually described as Canada’s secondbest-known jazz pianist; Oscar Peterson was the first. But Bley,
who shared a Montreal birth with Peterson, and who similarly was
honoured with induction into the Order of Canada in 2008 – albeit
30-plus years after Peterson – was for all intents and purposes a much
more radical pianist than O.P.
Peterson, seven years Bley’s senior, was a flamboyant stylist who
adapted Art Tatum’s all-encompassing swing era techniques to the
structure of modern jazz during an almost incalculable number of
performances from the late 1940s until his death in 2007. However
Bley, represented on more than 100 discs during his career, cycled
through a variety of keyboard strategies from the outgoing to the cerebral, eventually matching the atonality of off-centre techniques with
straightforward, melodically measured motion. He was also one of the
first serious improvisers to deal with the sonic possibilities that could
be extracted from the then brand-new portable Moog synthesizer.
Later, such better-known pianists as Keith Jarrett, The Bad Plus’ Ethan
Iverson and Satoko Fujii developed their playing following the examples of Bley’s breakthroughs.
As a teenaged boogie-woogie specialist “Buzzy” Bley, born in 1932,
was gigging locally at 13 and briefly took over Peterson’s regular gig at
Montreal’s Alberta Lounge in 1949, when the latter made his New York
debut. The next year Bley moved south to study at New York’s Juilliard
School of Music, and by the mid-1950s had not only recorded with
alto saxophonist Charlie Parker, be-bop’s avatar, but made his first
LP Introducing Paul Bley, on Debut records, in a trio with legendary
modernists, bassist Charles Mingus and drummer Art Blakey. Bley,
who had married pianist/composer Carla Bley – née Karen Borg –
was leading a conventional Modern Jazz Quartet-styled combo in Los
Angeles in 1958, when he let his bassist Charlie Haden’s friends, alto
saxophonist Ornette Coleman and pocket trumpeter Don Cherry, sit
in. Coleman’s revolutionary restructuring of the then-accepted jazz
basics – so that improvisations didn’t have to be based on the initial
structure and where every player was free to contribute his variants to
the tune – was a revelation to and influence on Bley.
Back in New York, Bley became a charter member of the so-called
New Thing and the Jazz Composers Guild, alongside certified avantgardists such as militant tenor saxophonist Archie Shepp, bandleader
Sun Ra and pianist Cecil Taylor, among others. He expressed his newfound polytonal keyboard freedom on two 1960s LPs for the ESP
label. One, Barrage, was with a quintet including drummer Milford
Graves and the Sun Ra Arkestra’s alto saxophonist Marshall Allen, and
included distinctive cover art work by Canadian visual artist Michael
Snow. Closer, a session with bassist Steve Swallow and drummer
Barry Altschul, was one of the multitude of trio discs Bley would make
with a succession of bassists and drummers during the 1960s and
1970s. On it, Bley redefined the idea of interplay in the jazz trio in a
method much different than Peterson’s traditional follow-the-leader
approach. It was this conception of bluesy yet cerebral intensity that
welcomed other players’ ideas at any time, which influenced Jarrett
and many other keyboardists. Earlier, Bley and Swallow had been part
of multi-reedist Jimmy Giuffre’s drummer-less trio, which played
hushed chamber jazz informed by folksy themes and European atonality. The band’s masterpiece was Free Fall (Columbia), and it and the
trio’s other discs are generally acknowledged as the initial influence
on ECM Records’ characteristic sound.
Meanwhile Closer could also describe Bley’s relationship with his
favourite composers of the era. Except for the odd original, standard
and Coleman covers, the majority of his repertoire – including certified jazz classics like Ida Lupino, And Now the Queen and Ictus – was
68 | February 1, 2016 - March 7, 2016
composed by Carla Bley. After they separated, his next companion,
singer/keyboardist Annette Peacock, composed much of the material
he played. As late as 1992 he recorded an entire disc consisting of
Peacock material simply entitled Annette (hatOLOGY). His associates were bassist Gary Peacock and Viennese flugelhornist Franz
Koglmann. Bley’s sparse piano ruminations that terminated when
he was satisfied, not according to conventional structures, plus his
low-key articulation also appealed to the growing European free
music experimenters. Besides work with Koglmann and Swiss reedist
Hans Koch, some of his best latter day sessions were with Europeans:
Time Will Tell and Sankt Gerold Variations 1-12 recorded for ECM in
the mid-1990s with British saxophonist Evan Parker and long-time
American-in-France, bassist Barre Phillps; Chaos (Soul Note) with
British drummer Tony Oxley and Italian bassist Furio di Castri; and
Florida with Danish drummer Kresten Osgood.
Bley’s association with Annette Peacock was around the same time
as he began experimenting with the Moog. Besides recording several
discs showing off its parameters, he was the first improviser to adapt
the analog keyboard synthesizer for live performances. After spending
a couple of years working out strategies for multi-keyboard and patch
chording, Bley abandoned the synth and returned to piano. After that
he was usually recorded in classic piano trio or solo piano formats. The
exquisite Play Blue (ECM), a meditative solo disc recorded in 2008 and
released in 2014, is his final session as of this time.
Although Bley left the synthesizer for others to explore he didn’t
give up on multimedia. With his wife, video artist Carol Goss who
survives him, for a decade starting in 1974 he co-founded and ran
Improvising Artists Inc. (IAI), which recorded 20 discs and some of
the first music videos. Besides his own work, Bley and IAI put out
discs by established improvisers such as Peacock, Giuffre, Ra and
saxophonist Sam Rivers as well as younger discoveries. Jaco, IAI’s
sixth release with Bley on electric piano and Bruce Ditmas on drums,
was the studio recording debut of future jazz superstars, guitarist Pat
Metheney and electric bassist Jaco Pastorius.
During the 1990s Bley also taught part-time at Boston’s New
England Conservatory. Among his many students was Japanese pianist
Satoko Fujii. Her first CD, Something about Water (Libra) from 1995,
is a duo date with Bley. Similarly, although he hadn’t lived in Canada
for about half a century, along with his other projects, Bley recorded a
series of albums with several Canadians during the 1990s and aughts.
They included such well-received efforts as Double Time with flutist
Jane Bunnett; Outside In with guitarist Sonny Greenwich; Know Time
with drummer Geordie McDonald and trumpeter Herbie Spanier;
Touché with fellow expatriate Canadian, flugelhornist Kenny Wheeler;
and Travelling Lights featuring saxophonist François Carrier and
drummer Michel Lambert, all on Justin Time records.
No matter whether he played in duo or larger formations, Bley’s offhanded mastery, which combined narrative delicacy with rhythmic
astringency, was always completely original and instantly identifiable. What better epitaph than that can there be for an improvising
musician?
Ken Waxman’s column Something in the Air is a regular
feature of The WholeNote’s CD review section, DISCoveries.
thewholenote.com
KOERNER HALL IS:
“A beautiful space for music“
THE GLOBE AND MAIL
Taylor Academy
Showcase Concerts
SAT., FEB. 6, 4:30PM
MAZZOLENI CONCERT HALL
FREE (TICKET REQUIRED)
The Phil and Eli Taylor
Performance Academy for
Young Artists presents a
concert by the leading young
classical musicians in Canada.
Hear the stars of tomorrow!
Gil Shaham and
The Knights
WED., FEB. 17, 8PM KOERNER HALL
American violin master Shaham was
named Musical America’s Instrumentalist
of the Year in 2012. The Knights, a 30-piece
orchestral collective from Brooklyn, NY,
have “become one of Brooklyn’s sterling
cultural products.” (The New Yorker)
Together they perform works by
Rebel, Prokofiev, Wagner, Dvořák,
and Sufjan Stevens
Generously supported by David G. Broadhurst
Vilde Frang &
Michail Lifits
WED., MAR. 2, 2016 8PM
KOERNER HALL
Norwegian violinist Vilde Frang
“is clearly a new star in the violin
firmament.” (The Guardian)
“The brilliant violinist is technically
of the highest level with fantastic
finger work and bow technique.”
(Main Post Wurzburg)
The program will feature works by
Schubert, Lutosławski, and Fauré.
Johannes Debus conducts
the Royal Conservatory
Orchestra and
Edward Zhou (piano)
FRI., FEB. 12, 8PM KOERNER HALL
PRELUDE RECITAL AT 6:45PM
The Canadian Opera Company’s Music
Director, Johannes Debus’s leads a program
of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1
with Edward Zhou and Rimsky-Korsakov’s
Scheherazade.
Generously supported by Leslie & Anna Dan
Christian Tetzlaff,
Tanja Tetzlaff
& Lars Vogt
FRI., FEB. 26, 8PM
KOERNER HALL
Pianist Lars Vogt joins
violinist Christian Tetzlaff
and his sister and cellist
Tanja Tetzlaff in a program
of works by Schumann,
Dvořák, and Brahms.
Generously supported by
David G. Broadhurst
Karen Gomyo,
Christian Poltéra
& Juho Pohjonen
FRI., MAR. 4, 2016 8PM
KOERNER HALL
This trio of spectacular new-generation
classical artists includes Canadian
violinist Karen Gomyo, Swiss cellist
Christian Poltéra, and Finnish pianist
Juho Pohjonen in a program of works
by Haydn, Janáček, and Dvořák.
Generously supported by
David G. Broadhurst
TICKETS START AT ONLY $25! 416.408.0208 www.performance.rcmusic.ca
273 BLOOR STREET WEST
(BLOOR ST. & AVENUE RD.)
TORONTO
CBC Radio Two: The Golden Years
A Point To
Prove: Pierre
Boulez
Boulez in rehearsal,
Glenn Gould
Studio, 2002
March 26 1925 - January 5 2016
I
DAV I D J A E G E R
70 | February 1, 2016 - March 7, 2016
ANDRÉ LEDUC
was in my teens, growing up in a small Wisconsin town,
when I first encountered the name Pierre Boulez. The
late composer was mentioned by no less a person than
Igor Stravinsky in his Conversations with Igor Stravinsky,
published in the late 1950s. Stravinsky felt that Boulez was
a promising emerging composer, and he was particularly impressed
with Boulez’s 1954 composition, Le marteau sans maître. Having
read this, I immediately visited my local record shop and ordered a
copy of a recording of it with Boulez conducting, a Vox Turnabout LP
(TV 34081S). It’s a record I still own, although it’s considerably worn
out from the thousands of times I listened. This work made a strong
impression on me then (I admit I tried to mimic the approach in my
own juvenile compositions), and it still does today.
My first person-to-person meeting with Boulez was in 1975, when
CBC Radio Music sent me to London to attend a BBC Radio symposium on the Broadcast Presentation of Contemporary Music. It seemed
as though the BBC was planning a new initiative in this area, much
like CBC, even if the resulting programs were still a few years away
from launching. I was, at the time, producer of the program Music of
Today on what was then called the CBC FM Network. Pierre Boulez
was in his final year as music director of the BBC Symphony Orchestra
and he was asked to give the keynote address at our symposium,
which was attended by contemporary music producers from many
national broadcasters around the world.
Boulez made many points about how he, having just served four
years as the BBC’s chief conductor, saw the role of public broadcasters
in developing contemporary music specifically, and classical music
generally. But his main point was this: producers who design music
broadcasts should always be didactic in making their programs. His
point was simple and sensible – it boiled down to, “Know what you
have to say and what point you have to prove, and then make your
programs for the sake of proving that point.” He further argued that
even if the focus of the broadcast were weak or ill-advised, a didactic
approach would at least be more interesting and engaging than
programs with no point at all.
For my own part, I was entirely in Boulez’s camp on this point.
Having just completed ten programs on the life and music of Arnold
Schoenberg with Glenn Gould the year before, I was already a
convinced and committed didactic broadcaster. The opportunity
to champion Schoenberg at the hands of Gould, perhaps his most
compelling advocate, was a memorable and entirely convincing
experience. Gould made no secret of his admiration of Schoenberg’s
music and our ten programs on the topic were nothing if not didactic.
Two years later we began planning CBC Radio’s signature network
contemporary music program, Two New Hours, and once we
launched in 1978, Boulez’s music was prominently featured among
our regular broadcasts of international concerts. And we also broadcast our own productions of his work from Canadian concerts.
In 1979, when New Music Concerts staged the North American
premiere of Messagesquisse for solo cello and cello sextet, we were
there to record and broadcast this superb new creation.
In fact, it’s likely that Robert Aitken’s New Music Concerts has
been the Canadian organization most associated with Boulez’s music,
having presented his work numerous times over the years. They were
the ensemble of choice in 2002 when Boulez received the Glenn
Gould Prize, performing a full program of his music in Glenn Gould
Studio for the presentation of the award. Flutist Robert Aitken, pianist
Christina Petrowska Quilico, soprano Patricia Green and cellist JeanGuihen Queyras were featured as soloists with the NMC ensemble, the
latter gentleman having been selected by Boulez to receive the City of
Toronto Glenn Gould Protégé Prize. Boulez had initially declined the
invitation to conduct the concert, but at the first rehearsal, realizing
he was in the presence of such an outstanding ensemble, he spontaneously changed his mind and took the reins.
The late Larry Lake (1943–2013), host of Two New Hours from 1995
to 2007, interviewed Boulez during that Toronto visit in 2002. Boulez
told Larry that while he had never met Glenn Gould, he respected him
for his single-minded devotion to his own principles and for exploring
new ways to apply electronic media for the dissemination of music.
Boulez made the observation that Gould, like himself, “… had a point
to prove.”
New Music Concerts will once again honour Pierre Boulez,
February 15, in their concert at Betty Oliphant Theatre at 8pm. They
will present two of his compositions with an organic connection:
the solo piano work, Incises (1994/2001) and its relative, the large
ensemble piece, Sur Incises (1996/2006).
With Boulez’s passing, we remember him as a brilliant yet complex
artist. His talents were so numerous and so exceptional, it’s difficult to
single out any one as his defining trait. Those of us who were with him
for the 2002 Glenn Gould Prize presentation saw him as a gracious,
warm and generous man, but there are just as many reported episodes
where he was the “Pierre-of-the-sharp-tongue.” In a public interview
I held for the International Music Council in Vienna with Austrian
composer Kurt Schwertsik in 2006, Schwertsik recalled the early
days at the Darmstadt Summer Courses in the 1950s and 1960s. He
said that Boulez would, “...arrive late and leave early, leaving behind
numerous cuts, bruises and other virtual injuries to the participants’
egos. It was then up to Bruno Maderna,” he continued, “to come after
him and soothe and mend all that Boulez had inflicted.”
Boulez’s goal was to aim high to achieve goals of significance, and
in so doing he left many behind. He was an artist who always had
a point to prove, and he had no lack of confidence in his creative
powers. Perhaps my most lasting memory of him is from an interview
on CBC’s Arts National with the late Terry Campbell (1946–2004) in
1991, when Boulez was in Halifax for Scotia Festival. He remarked
that “Once we come to recognize the brain as a muscle, the sooner
we’ll realize that in its regular exercise over time, we can accomplish
great things.”
Boulez was right, and he did achieve greatness, leaving us his
rich legacy.
David Jaeger is a composer, producer and
broadcaster based in Toronto.
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