merry meetings iii
Olivier Fortin: Continuo motion
E-mail
interview by Masha Buell
Hello
Olivier!
Where
are you now? And what does your summer look like?
Thanks for your email! I’m on the road in northern Ontario, but I am happy to
let you know what my “crazy” schedule will be in the next few months! May
23rd: a three-harpsichord concert with Skip Sempé and Pierre Hantaï in
Brest, France; June 3-10: teaching at the Tafelmusik Baroque Summer
Institute; June 22-29: concerts - Montreal Baroque Festival and Domaine
Forget; July 10: concert in St-Michel-en-Thierarche (France) with
Capriccio Stravagante; July 16: concert in Madrid (Spain) with Capriccio
Stravagante; July 28-31: 4 concerts at Stratford Summer Music Festival
with Masques Ensemble and soprano Cassie Webster; August 2- 4: Christmas
recording in Montreal with Masques for Analekta; August 13- 22: US tour
with Tafelmusik; August 31- September 5: Germany (Irsee) with
Tafelmusik. I think that’s most of it. Have to find some time to practice here
and there and also enjoy the sun!
Home
is… ?
Home is
Montréal, in our beautiful Little Italy area. But my partner lives in Paris,
where I spend lots of time during the year, especially in summer.
Who
are you expecting to encounter over the summer?
In Europe
I’ll be working with Skip Sempé’s ensemble, Capriccio Stravagante.
It’s more or less always the same people, some of whom I met when I studied in
Amsterdam 6 years ago. I also work with a fantastic young ensemble, Opera
Quarta, which specializes in trio sonata repertoire. They are based in
London/Amsterdam. The first violinist of this ensemble, Sophie Gent,
also works with my Montreal ensemble, Masques; I work with Sophie on
both sides of the Atlantic.
The
Christmas CD and the Stratford concert, Masques with Cassie Webster, will
include musicians I work with in Toronto, like violinist Geneviève Gilardeau
(we made our “debut” together more than 10 years ago), luthenist Lucas
Harris, and violinist Aisslinn
Nosky. I also work with Aisslinn occasionally and her ensemble I Furiosi.
Compare
summer to the rest of the year?
Summer is
a great time for musicians. For those like me who teach – I teach in Quebec’s
Conservatory of Music – it’s a time you don’t have to worry about being home
every week or so for your students. I
don’t want to be misunderstood – I love teaching! But in the summer so many
great festivals happen all around and we get fantastic opportunities to travel.
I play 70 percent of my concerts during the summer season. The best thing is
that you get to know people over the years and then you keep working with the
ones you like the most, wherever they live!
How is
it, travelling as a harpsichordist?
Sometimes
you have great surprises, like sometimes an instrument that can barely be
called a harpsichord. You usually don’t have time to explore the instrument and
anyways, in the case of a bad instrument, it is better not to fight with it for
too long....You take a deep breath and make the best you can out of it. I am
very, very difficult with the choice of instruments and sometimes I get quite
unhappy. And tuning – tuning is just
part of the job. All this is part of a harpsichordist’s life: if you travel,
you have to accept it.
So
what’s your idea of a holiday?
One great
thing is that I sometimes use the opportunity of summer concerts to stay where
work brings me. For instance, after the concert that I have in Madrid this
summer, I will probably go for a few days in the Sevilla region and enjoy a few
days off.
merry meetings iv
Guy Few: Have
trumpet, will travel
interview by Masha Buell
Where are you now? And what does your summer look like?
Home, practising – preparing for the first two festivals. This
involves about 8 or 9 hours a day, trumpet and piano… then May
27-June 13: Halifax. Nova Scotia Summer Music Festival
(“Scotiafest”) piano and trumpet; June 16-20: Moose Jaw,
Saskatchewan Provincial Music Festival - Brass Judge; June 24-July 12:
Eugene, Oregon Bach Festival – 10th year as principal trumpet with Helmut
Rilling; July 13: Toronto - recording with Nadina Mackie Jackson and
Caliban; July 23: ORMTA Provincial Young Artist Competition - Judge; through
to August 6: Ottawa Chamber Festival
Home is…?
Lovely Elora; conservation area, artistic community, and a
tourist town. Today I’m practising Bach on piccolo trumpet, “entertaining” the
patrons on the Desert Rose Café patio. But every summer festival becomes home.
I stay in a house or university with other performers, perform as well as
socialize, spend positive time
together, go to the same gym, for example. Festivals have “families” – we drop
right back into friendships from the year before – like summer camp. At ’Scotiafest I often share a house with
Mark Fewer and Alain Trudel. I see Alain all the time (Kiosk, Bellows and
Brass) but not Mark, who’s the concert master for the Vancover Symphony. So we
spend time together, chat, drive to the grocery store at midnight.
At Ottawa Chamber Festival: I’ll be playing trumpet and piano,
also piano 4 hands with collaborative pianist Stephanie Mara. Any night after a
concert wherever the performers are going, I’ll see Julian Armour -
cellist and the artistic director.
Festivals have special events that connect students, soloists, and
other musicians – like the lobster party at ’Scotiafest or the Patrons Dinner
at the Bach Festival. An event might be called a “reception”, including
audience, but usually transcends this. Unsung festival heroes keep everybody
happy and organized: people like
amazing Chris Wilcox, co-director with Mark Fewer at ’Scotiafest, and all the
volunteers. These are maybe the people I most look forward to seeing again.
They are the spirit and the energy. Each festival’s different personality
reflects the core group. These people are my good friends.
Compare summer to the rest of the year?
I decided not to be so crazy this summer. It’s the first time I’ve
ever not done Festival of the Sound. Last summer I played 35 concerts,
this year 25. The regular season is
more a combination. I teach trumpet, piano, and conducting at Wilfred Laurier,
trumpet at Western. I play about 40 concerts September to May, around university schedules, travel and rehearsals.
Other people are busier!
How is it, travelling with a trumpet ?
Staying in a house with other performers you have to be aware of
their needs and schedules - make sure you don’t practice really late or early!
I usually travel with at least two trumpets. For Halifax I’ll need two trumpets. Oregon - I’ll have three trumpets and a
corno. Traveling with more than two I have a big rolling case that goes in
cargo. The corno da caccia - like a
modern hunting horn - is always my carry on. It’s very very fragile - built for
me, and has to be handled like a baby.
So what’s your idea of a holiday?
I may go back to Saskatchewan in August: I can’t really visit with
family when I’m working there. My parents are coming to celebrate their 50th
anniversary and enjoy some of the Bach Festival. You know, I work in such great
places with wonderful musicians and conductors that going somewhere doesn’t
feel like a holiday. For “time off” I really do like to come home. It’s more
restful. I have friends to dinner, go to the gym, watch the flowers grow.
Some Jazz With Your Festival?
by Eli Eisenberg
For those who just can’t get enough jazz during the
summertime, there are ample opportunities to attend festivals across Ontario
from early June right up to the Labour Day weekend.
But if you prefer your jazz in moderation, or if you like to mix
it in with other musical styles, notably classical music, there are many
chances during the warm months to enjoy a cross-section of Canadian jazz
artists throughout Ontario and Western Quebec.
The first such festival, Brass In The Grass, begins its
jazz programming on Saturday, June 11 at 2pm with a show by Canadian trumpet
icon and all-round gentleman Guido Basso. Basso will be followed at 6pm
by jazz-rock outfit Primal Therapy. And on Sunday, June 12, Cuban born
pianist Hilario Duran showcases his unique blend of salsa-tinged jazz at
2pm. Additional information is available on-line at www.brassinthegrass.ca, by phone at
416-201-7093, or by e-mail at info@brassinthegrass.ca.
Three weeks later, on Sunday, July 3, Canadian piano legend Oliver
Jones comes out of retirement to perform at Hamilton’s Art Deco Railway
Station as part of the renowned Brott Music Festival. Go to www.brottmusic.com, and you will find
that Brott is entering its 18th season as Canada’s largest orchestral music
festival.
Nearly three weeks after Oliver Jones, on Friday, August
12, young vocal sensation Dione Taylor will no doubt delight fans at
Hamilton’s Carnegie Gallery.
Further information is offered toll free at 1-888-475-9377, or by
e-mailing festival@brottmusic.com.
A three-hour drive north of Toronto will take you to the Huntsville
Festival of the Arts, which features two of Canada’s most prominent
jazz vocalists, Denzal Sinclaire on July 8, and Carol Welsman on
July 16. Both shows take place at Huntsville’s Algonquin Theatre.
For more information, log on to www.huntsvillefestival.on.ca,
phone 1-800-663-ARTS, or e-mail info@huntsvillefestival.on.ca.
Two more festivals that take place in mid-July are The Great
Canadian Town Band Festival in Orono, Ontario, and the Elora Music
Festival in Elora, Ontario.
As the name implies, The Town Band Festival specializes in
band music with a jazz appearance by a band called The Dixieland Jazz Cats on
Saturday, July 9. Information is accessible on the internet at www.townbandfestival.com, by
calling the toll-free number 1-800-294-1032, or emailing townbandfestival@rogers.com.
The Elora Festival has a generous supply of classical,
choral, and baroque performers along with five shows by Starlight Jazz and
Blues on July 15, 16, 22, and 23. For more information, go to their
website at www.elorafestival.com,
telephone 1-519-846-0331, or e-mail info@elorafestival.com.
Domaine Forget is a Quebec music festival that ‘has re-united world-renowned
musicians… and has earned an enviable reputation …’ From mid-July to early
August, various Quebec jazz artists will be performing, including Trio Daniel
Marcoux, David Jacques, Carmen Genest and Sylvain Neault. Domaine
Forget’s website is www.domaineforget.com
and their toll-free number is 1-888-336-7438.
Also in Quebec, at Festival de Lanaudière, legendary
Montreal bassist Michel Donato will be playing with Fortin Leveille, a
‘gypsy jazz’ quintet on Sunday, July 17 at 2pm. This festival takes place in
Joliette, Quebec, approximately 90 minutes north-east of Montreal. Lanaudière’s
website is www.lanaudiere.org, and
their telephone number is 1-800-561-4343.
Back in Ontario, a quintet led by Toronto saxophonist Paul
Pacanowski will play at the Collingwood Music Festival on Friday,
July 15 at 2pm. Further information is available at www.collingwoodmusicfestival.com,
by calling 1-888-283-1712, or emailing info@collingwoodmusicfestival.com.
Parry Sound’s Festival of the Sound celebrated its 25th
anniversary in 2004, and will begin its jazz programming with a concert by
trombonist Alistair Kay on July 15. The mid-summer long weekend hosts
the Jazz Canada Weekend in Parry Sound, and jazz concerts will take place
from July 29-31. Performances will include Dave Young, Ranee Lee,
Phil Nimmons, Peter Appleyard, and Jane Bunnett. For more
information, go to www.festivalofthesound.on.ca
, call toll-free 1-866-364-0061, or e-mail info@festivalofthesound.ca.
The event that could be the highlight of the summer is the Kincardine
Summer Music Festival, which combines classical and jazz concerts as well
as a series of workshops and educational events designed for students of all
ages and levels. This vacation destination on Lake Huron will feature jazz
vocalist Lisa Martinelli on Monday, August 1, Malone, McMurdo, and
Dean on August 2, guitar great Lorne Lofsky on August 3, pianist Renee
Rosnes on August 4, and a jazz student concert on August 5.
Kincardine’s toll-free number is 1-866-453-9716, their website is www.ksmf.ca, and the festival’s email address is
info@ksmf.ca.
Many, if not all of these festivals have something to offer fans
from a variety of musical backgrounds, including jazz. The towns are rural,
picturesque, and the music will no doubt be sweet and swinging. A definite
consideration for summer leisure activities.
Yankee gold?
Exploring the other
horseshoe
by Phil Ehrensaft
Greater Toronto’s Golden Horseshoe is spilling across the Canada-U.S.
border and joining forces with a corridor that runs from Buffalo through
Syracuse along the southern shore of Lake Ontario.
Music
lovers in Canada’s economic capital are well advised to keep abreast of the
rich opportunities that await us in the Horseshoe’s southern wing, particularly
during the summer music festival season.
On the western tip of the corridor, there’s the venerable Chautauqua
Institute, an hour’s drive from Buffalo.
The landmark Glimmerglass Opera in Cooperstown, N.Y., located in
Syracuse’s eastern hinterland, anchors the other tip.
To
put the driving time into perspective, the distance from WholeNote’s offices at
Bathurst and Bloor to Montreal’s Place des Arts is actually a bit longer than
the distance to the farthest point of the Horseshoe, Cooperstown (542 km vs.
517 km).
Log
in another 130 km beyond the Golden Horseshoe South and you’re in Tanglewood,
the Boston Symphony’s resplendent summer home.
Make that 160 km and you’ve arrived at the Bard Music Festival, a
highlight of New York’s musical season.
Its concerts and seminars focus on the works and larger cultural context
of a specific composer. Last year
featured Shostakovich. This year it’s
Aaron Copland.
The
closest gem is the 25th anniversary of the University at Buffalo’s eminent new
music festival (June 6-11). Morton
Feldman created this concert/workshop festival during his 15-year stint at the
university. Now called June in
Buffalo, the 2005 edition features a most impressive roster of
composers: Simon Bainbridge, David
Felder, Brian Ferneyhough, Alvin Lucier, Philippe Manoury, and Christopher
Rouse. The university also hosts an
international flute festival and training institute, Pantasmagoria (July
7-15).
Chautauqua was, and is, an
important force in creating an American passion for continuing education and
the democratization of high culture.
Founded in 1874, the Institute provided a bucolic setting where vacation
time was devoted to a heady mixture of literature, music, art, religion and
physical exercise. On an average summer
day, 7,500 people attend an event or a class.
The musical component includes a resident symphony orchestra, opera, and
chamber music. I especially recommend
Robert Ward’s Pulitzer Prize-winning opera, The Crucible, based on the
Arthur Miller play (July 22 and 25).
Rochester
hosts the Eastman School, the serious contender to Julliard as America’s
premier conservatory. That crown jewel
is the nucleus of a musical life which could not be imagined in any other city
of equivalent size, or even larger.
Watch their web site, listed below, for summer concert listings.
Jazz,
however, is the big news in Rochester’s summer season. First there’s a benefit, Swing ‘n Jazz,
for The Composer Project, a wonderful foundation that brings
professional musician/composers into high schools and colleges (June 3-5). That’s followed by Rochester’s new jazz
festival, founded by Canadian jazz saxophonist John Nugent. It has achieved
heavy-hitter status in just four years, featuring the likes of Sonny Rollins,
Bill Frisell, Chick Corea and John Scofield (June 10-18).
My
personal favourite in the Golden Horseshoe South corridor is Glimmerglass,
the king of summer opera in the U.S.
The Cooperstown High School auditorium was the humble site of the first
Glimmerglass productions in 1975. Since
1987, home base is an acoustic and visual jewel, the Alice Busch Theater,
featuring sliding side walls that permit the hall to open up to the great
outdoors.
The
rise of Glimmerglass from a community event to national prominence is
inextricably linked to the unusual career path of its brilliant artistic director,
Paul Kellogg. Originally a French
teacher in Manhattan, Kellogg resigned in 1975 to write and manage his farm in
Cooperstown. Glimmerglass asked him to
become its general manager in 1978, and the rest is history. Kellogg’s innovations at Glimmerglass led to
an appointment as both general and artistic director of a floundering New York
City Opera in 1996. The City Opera is
very much revived and enjoys close links with Glimmerglass, where Kellogg
continues to work his wonders.
The
aesthetic emphasis at Glimmerglass is a delightful reversal of the usual
priorities in opera house programming: 1) modern; 2) lesser known; and 3)
familiar operas. The modern works this
year are Britten’s Death in Venice and Poulenc’s La Voix Humaine. The lesser known are Lucie de Lammermoor,
the revised Paris version of Donizetti’s Lucia, and Massenet’s Le
Portrait de Manon. The familiar is Cosi
Fan Tutti.
Lead
roles are typically allocated to excellent vocal talents on their way up, but
not yet marquee names.
Glimmerglass
is also a mentoring experience for over 200 young professionals in every
dimension of activity that makes opera tick.
The atmosphere is permeated by the wonderful optimism of young talent
about to tackle the world.
Golden Horseshoe South web sites:
June in Buffalo www.music.buffalo.edu/juneinbuffalo/2005
Pantasmagoria (Buffalo) www.pantasmagoria.com
Chautauqua www.ciweb.org
Rochester www.rochester.edu/Eastman/concerts/calendar.php
www.rochesterjazz.com
www.swingnjazz.org/index.html
Glimmerglass Opera
(Cooperstown) www.glimmerglass.org
Tanglewood (Lennox, MA) www.bso.org
Bard Music Festival
(Annandale-on-Hudson) www.bard.edu/bmf/2005