by Allan Pulker
Overview
Welcome to our seventh season.
Peter
Sandor
It is a problem as old as music, the relationship
of music to money.
At
times the church has paid the bills, at times an aristocracy. Sometimes
philanthropy shines, or government, or arts councils. At the best of times
these various means of paying the bills have worked well enough to maintain
access to live music for those who can't afford expensive concert
tickets, and to keep musical education in the lives of all children.
These are no longer, I think, the very best of times. Not the best time to lose, as Toronto music has, an inspiring friend.
Peter Sandor, who died this past April, was founder and president of the Mozart Society of Toronto and benefactor of numerous musical events and artists. He clearly understood the relationship of music to the society of which he felt privileged to be a part. His influence will, of course, continue to be felt because of the money he has left to arts organizations, but the vital, personal interest and commitment that were part of who he was will be missed.
Sept 25, the
Mozart
Society hosts a celebration of his life and his contribution to
the musical life of the city. Among the performers will be two singers
to whom the Mozart Society
gave opportunities before they were as celebrated as they are now - Monica
Whicher and Isabel Bayrakdarian.
York
University's Dacary Hall is catapulted to the forefront of concert
venues this month with the appearance there on Sept 30 of the illustrious
pianist, Naum Shtarkman, in recital. Not so well known here, probably because
he was "grounded" for many years by the Soviet government, Shtarkman was
the last student of the legendary Moscow Conservatory teacher, K. Igumnov
and a prize winner at the Fifth International Chopin Competition in Warsaw
in 1955 and the First Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1958 (the one
in which Van Cliburn won first prize). This is a unique opportunity.
Speaking of competition winners, on Saturday, September 22, there will be a recital at the Glenn Gould Studio by Estonian pianist, Marko Martin, the second prize winner of last year's Esther Honens International Piano Competition and Ukrainian violinist, Andrei Bielov, second prize winner of the Hannover International Violin Competition. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to hear these young "stars" early in their careers.
TSO mysteries.
The Toronto
Symphony Orchestra begins its regular season on September 20 under
the baton of guest conductor and former TSO Music Director, Gunther Herbig.
There are some who say that under the leadership of Maestro Herbig the
TS musicians played more like virtuosi than ever before or since. Can Herbig
do it as a guest conductor? Head down to Roy
Thomson Hall on Sept 20 or 22 to find out. There's another mystery
associated with that performance too -- a mystery work. No name or composer
will be announced till after the run of performances, when the TSO will
reveal the answer on their website. Sounds like fun for all us wannabe
musicologists. And, who knows, maybe the daily press's three distinguished
critics will risk their scholarly reputations and add to the fun by putting
their guesses in print!
Armenian.
Sept 16 Toronto's own stratospheric soprano,
Isabel Bayrakdarian will be part of a performance at the Toronto Centre
for the Arts of Armenian liturgical music under the direction of Raffi
Armenian. Maestro Armenian's own words probably tell us all we need to
know about this performance: "Isabel is very involved in the Armenian Church
[and]...very much in the religious world. ... for Armenians the church
has been somehow the root of our survival....such a concert tells people
that this faith is still alive." Tickets are going fast.
My colleagues' contributions to the WholeNote show, as always, the scope of the music scene, even in the season's quiet first month.
And so, another chapter begins. Dive in and enjoy.
Next month's WholeNote offers you a much more panoramic view of the musical riches that await us in 2001-2002, in our special "PROFILES" supplement, in which all of Toronto's concert producers, large and small, have the opportunity to tell the story of their upcoming season in their own words.
For more Concert Notes see Bandstand, Choral Scene, Early Music, Hear and Now (New Music), Jazz Notes, and Music Theatre
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