10_vinko_globokar_-_kolo_1992Like many in the global village, I have become a fan of the Metropolitan Opera’s LIVE from the Met in movie houses, combining as it does all the lazy pleasures of movie going (a director telling you where to look, a soundtrack telling you what to feel) with an almost voyeuristic immediacy. I am behind the scenes of one of the world’s great opera houses, or face to face with the four feet tall tonsils of the world’s greatest bass-baritone, as the case may be. Add to this usual movie stuff the additional thrill, usually reserved for NASCAR or other such blood sports, of knowing that the whole thing might crash and burn right before my eyes, but almost never does, and I am hooked. Why? Because it’s LIVE!

Except that it isn’t. It’s “live from,” but not live at. At, in this case, is the Queensway Cineplex Odeon, TimBits, mint tea and all. Even the Met’s celebrity greeters acknowledge as much. One of them always comes on screen during one or the other intermission, backstage, to remind us, the TimBits audience, that watching this way isn’t the real thing, and that to fully experience the magic of opera we should pop down to New York, or [tiny pause] go out and support our local opera company. My most recent foray to the Odeon was for an enormously satisfying production of Phillip Glass’s Satyagraha, during which bass baritone Eric Owens (Alberich in the Met’s current Ring Cycle) appeared during the intermission to do the mandatory “live opera is real magic” speech. Even in his sonorous tones it came off stilted and, dare we say it, just a titch insincere.

More’s the pity, because it’s the absolute bottom-line truth. There is an innate, unmatchable theatricality in congregating live for music. It cannot be matched or emulated in other media, no matter how grand. And nowhere is this more evident than in the performance of new music.

Ironically, the first performance I want to draw to your attention, as an example of theatrical spectatorship, seems to negate that principle, because, to a significant extent, it takes place in the pitch dark. I heard about it from composer Brian Current, director of the New Music Ensemble of the Glenn Gould School. The work is Austrian spectral composer Georg Haas’ monumental In Vain, for 24 musicians and lighting (2000) Thursday December 8, 7:30pm and Friday December 9, 2:30pm, in the Conservatory Theatre of the Royal Conservatory.

“It’s a 70 minute piece, really a spectral wonder, a beautiful and substantial work, based almost entirely on musical colour,” Current says. “Sometimes they play in the pitch black, other times there are ghostly flashes of light.” They will be blocking the windows out on the Conservatory Theatre to get complete darkness. “The ensemble is all graduate students and they have been working hard on this difficult material, even memorizing the portions in the dark. We are also very fortunate that GF Haas is also coming in for these shows from Austria, just to work with us and to deliver a talk at 6pm before the Saturday performance.”

As it happens, the two In Vain performances fall slap bang right in the middle of what is undoubtedly December’s new music main event (the Vinko Globokar invasion, November 29 to December 11) so here’s hoping it won’t be overlooked. After all, somewhere in the tranformation of noises in the night to sounds in the dark, the truly theatrical nature of music has its beginnings.

By contrast, Queen of Puddings Music Theatre’s presentation of Galgenlieder à 3 (Gallows Songs) by Sofia Gubaidulina affirms its theatricality quite explicitly, billing itself as “a concert drama.” Queen of Puddings has always had an aesthetic of physical, singing theatre, going all the way back to their first production, “Mad for All Reasons” in 1996, which was built around Peter Maxwell Davies’ Eight Songs for a Mad King. Part of that aesthetic is curatorial, latching onto music that has an intrinsic theatricality rather than adding visual cheap tricks to jazz up the musically ordinary.

Gubaidulina’s Galgenlieder fits the bill. “It’s a 15-song cycle — sung in the original German — featuring the text of German poet Christian Morgenstern (1871–1914)” says Dáirine Ní Mheadra, QoP co-founder and director. “Gubaidulina’s stature in the world of contemporary music is enormous — she is one of the pre-eminent composers alive today. Her music is dramatic and intense.”

Born in Christopol in the Tatar Republic of the Soviet Union in 1931, Gubaidulina’s music was an escape from the terrifying socio-political atmosphere of Soviet Russia, Ní Mheadra says. “For this reason, she associated music with human transcendence and mystical spiritualism. Bringing these qualities plus a wicked sense of humour to her settings of Morgenstern is a knockout combination. And to have a star singer like Betty Allison singing this Galgenlieder is sumptuous. Betty’s sound has voluptuousness and an emotional depth to it that is profoundly moving.”

From Ladysmith, BC, by way of the Canadian Opera Company ensemble, Allison has been exercising her new music “chops,” coming to town hot off the title role in the Pacific Opera premiere of Mary’s Wedding (music Andrew P. MacDonald, libretto Stephen Massicotte.) In Galgenlieder she shares the stage with Ryan Scott, percussion, and Joseph Phillips, double bass, both accustomed to swimming outside of the mainstream as well as in.

Phillips, a former student of “tune ’em in fifths” bass virtuoso Joel Quarrington, has made frequent appearances with Art of Time Ensemble and is a member of Hotland Trio, a moody Balkan/Canadian trio (with violinist Aleksandar Gajic and accordionist Milos Popovic) that brings serious classical muscle to moody, driven, strongly rhythmic repertoire.

12_percussionists_kitchen_ryan_scottAnd Ryan Scott is one of the most versatile, accomplished (and busy) percussionists in this or any other town. Case in point, he will take the stage for Galgenlieder a week after a scorching performance of 20th century Japanese percussion titan Maki Ishii’s South-Fire-Summer for Esprit Orchestra at Koerner Hall November 30 — a work of extraordinary complexity requiring a percussion array the size of (and better stocked than) the average kitchen. And just one day later, December 9, it will be out of the proverbial frying pan into the improvational fire for Scott, as he anchors the second half of the first of the two Vingko Globokar concerts to which I referred briefly at the beginning of this column and to which I now return.

Vinko Globokar, French avant-garde composer and trombonist, returns to Toronto at the invitation of New Music Concerts’ artistic director Robert Aitken, almost forty years (1972) after Aitken brought him here in the first place.

He’s been back in between, but this is a 12-day Vinko-fest, culminating Sunday December 11, at Betty Oliphant Theatre, 8pm, in an NMC presentation of works spanning four decades, ranging from Fluide (1967) for brass and (very extended) percussion through Eppure si Muove (2003) for solo trombone (Globokar) and an ensemble of 11 disparate instruments including cimbalom, accordion, saxophone, synthesizer and electric guitar, without conductor. In between are Discours VII (1987) for brass quintet, which “attacks problems posed by spatialisation of sound, mobility of sound sources and different degrees of communication between five people,” and Eisenberg (1990) for four groups of four: brass instruments ad libitum (such as Tibetan horn, Moroccan nafir, conch), melodic instruments, harmony instruments and musicians who work with noises (unspecified percussion).

Even this mere recitation of ideas and instrumentation gives a tiny taste of the infinite variety, and jest, of this pioneer of modern trombone technique. Quite simply this is an individual who never repeats himself compositionally or artistically, challenging audiences and players (be warned, they are not always entirely distinct!) anew with every new outing and every new work.

Events in his visit will already be under way by the time this issue hits the street: at the University of Toronto, where Globokar is the Michael and Sonja Koerner Distinguished Visitor in Composition — improvisation workshops, forums, lecture, and a Globokar Colloquium at the Robert Gill Theatre. The following week Globokar will work extensively with the musicians of the New Music Concerts Ensemble and give masterclasses and improvisation workshops through the auspices of the Music Gallery. Some of the results of all this activity will be on display at the Music Gallery, Friday December 9, in the first half of the concert, titled “Back to Back.” The second half of that concert is an extended music/theatre piece Terres brulées, ensuite co-presented by Toronto New Music Projects and Continuum, which bring me back to percussionist Ryan Scott.

Earlier, you may recall, I mentioned that, for Scott, going from Galgenlieder on December 8 to Globokar at the Music Gallery the next day would be like going from frying pan to fire. Here’s how he described it (in the Continuum Contemporary Music November newsletter).

“After intermission is the epic Terres brulées, ensuite (Burned Lands, Then). Prepare for global annihilation! This trio for saxophone, piano and percussion featuring Wallace Halladay, Stephen Clarke (piano) and myself, is of legendary proportions and is rather difficult to describe: 6 saxophones, a prepared (and lightly abused) piano, over 70 percussion instruments (e.g. #43 “plank”) spread around the stage in 7 stations, 115 performance instructions (e.g. #21 Saw the plank and hammer in a nail), … live electronics … What else? Hmmm … a motet … a foghorn … oh, and explosions with fire (well, we’re working on that).”

There’s a wonderful interview with Globokar by British composer John Palmer available on the website of the Canadian Electroacoustic Community. For the curious it’s a great place to start.

What I got from it was the sense of energetic decades of musical inquiry, endlessly parsing and reparsing the relationships between music and speech, and rendering into music the theatricality of relationship. Part of his secret, I suspect, is a thick skin, the ability not to judge his own work in terms of success or failure. As he puts it:

“What is sure is that a musical work is a document which will remain. It’s a document that testifies certain things that happened at a certain time in society. This is an historical truth which cannot be denied. In one hundred years people will say, ‘This music reflects certain events that happened in those years.’ … L’art pour l’art as such does not interest me, at all.”

AND ALL TOO BRIEFLY

“Beyond Sound,” the 2012 iteration of the annual New Music Festival at the University of Toronto Faculty of Music, coordinated by composer Norbert Palej, features Swedish composer Anders Hillborg as the Roger D. Moore Distinguished Visitor in Composition and runs from January 22 to February 5. It’s billed as an exploration of “the diverse scientific and artistic interests that form the musical landscape of the 21st century,” with a focus on Hillborg’s work. It’s an event warranting much more of a mention than this. Happily, it’s well covered in our concert listings, and in “The ETCeteras” (page 67), our regular compilation of musical workshops, forums, lectures, etc. It is also very well described on the Faculty’s own website under “Events.”

ERNESTO Cervini

53_jazzintheclubs_ernesto1Deeply musical and infectiously energetic drummer and composer Ernesto Cervini is keeping very busy these days: leading his own quartet, playing in the Myriad Trio with pianist Chris Donnelly and bassist Dan Fortin, as well as playing frequently as a sideman. Cervini only recently relocated to Toronto after attending the graduate performance program at the Manhattan School of Music.

“Manhattan was kinda perfect for me in terms of timing. I went there straight after U of T; I was pretty young and very immature. When I got out of U of T I felt that I was a pretty good drummer. Then I got to New York and realized that I really wasn’t! At Manhattan School, I learned how to practise and realized that I had a lot of work to do. That’s where I learned how to make music my life and my career, where I took it to the next level … I realized that this has to be a part of everything in my life.”

In the last issue of The WholeNote, Geoff Chapman reviewed Cervini’s new recording, There, calling it “an album that has to be one of 2011’s best.” In support of the recording, Cervini’s quartet recently came back from a ten-city European tour. The quartet features two New York City-based players: Dan Loomis on bass and Joel Frahm on tenor saxophone, rounded out by fellow Torontonian and recent JUNO nominee Adrean Farrugia on piano. I asked Cervini about playing with this particular band and what the highlight of the tour was for him.

“This band has now gone on three tours together, they are all such good people, which makes it easy and so much fun to tour. No attitude, no divas, they are amazing musicians and amazing people … the tour was really, really great — the audiences were pretty packed and very receptive — we got an encore at every show … 
The highlight? Hmmm. The first gig was very memorable because it was surprising. It was in this artist woodworking workshop, with big tables and saws on them, it was a bit weird, I have to say. In the corner of the room there was a piano and a sketchy-looking drumset, so we were just like ‘whatever, we’ll see how it goes,’ [laughs] we weren’t expecting it to be a great gig. So we went out to dinner with the owner of the place and when we got back it was completely packed and the audience was really into it. It was a really nice surprise.”

The quartet will be touring Canada this month, including three stops in Toronto: at the Rex on November 6 and 7, and at a new jazz venue that Ernesto himself has recently started booking, the Cherry Street Restaurant (275 Cherry St.) on November 24, presenting live jazz every Thursday night.

“It’s tricky in the sense that it’s not on a main street the way the Rex is … but at the same time, it’s a good room, and I am hoping that people will check it out. I think it’s important as musicians that we support it. We all cry that there aren’t more clubs, but we really need to be a part of the promotion, because there isn’t really a huge amount of money in it for the clubs.”

Specializing in pulled pork, smoked brisket and baby back ribs, here’s hoping that Cherry Street’s Thursday night live music series will also attract some listeners hungry for great jazz.

Victor Lewis

54_jazzintheclubs_victorlewisLike Cervini, meaty-toned saxophonist Ryan Oliver also got his masters south of the border, graduating from New Jersey’s Rutgers University in 2009. While there, he met and studied with a variety of jazz legends, including drummer Victor Lewis.

“Getting to know Victor Lewis was certainly a highlight,” says Oliver. “Victor is the drum teacher at Rutgers, and I was already very familiar with his work as he’s the drummer on a lot of my favourite records — Stan Getz’s Anniversary, Dexter Gordon’s Sophisticated Giant, just to name a few.” In addition to his stints with Getz and Gordon, Lewis, a professional since his teens, has appeared on dozens of notable jazz recordings, including ones by Chet Baker, Kenny Barron, J.J. Johnson, Carla Bley and Mike Stern. As an educator, his generosity of spirit had a profound influence on Oliver’s music.

“I was fortunate to get the opportunity to play drum/sax duets with Victor at his rehearsal space in New York on a weekly basis for about a year. It was an amazing experience. We would play through tunes, and I learned so much about phrasing, time and making musical statements, just from being around Victor and hearing him play and talk. He’s also a gifted composer, and we would play through some of his originals during the sessions … one thing that struck me the most was that Victor’s drumming would be so rhythmically strong and melodically clear that you wouldn’t need bass or chords to make these tunes sound. You can hear this depth every time he plays. When I left New York to return to Toronto, one of my goals was to bring Victor up here to play. I’m very excited to bring a musician of his stature to the city. These days it’s not happening as much, and I hope folks will take advantage of the opportunity to hear a real jazz legend. We’ll be playing some standards, some of my original compositions and some of Victor’s tunes as well.”

Catch the Ryan Oliver Trio with special guest Victor Lewis on drums, November 18 at the Trane Studio and November 19 and 20 at the Rex.

Ori Dagan is a Toronto-based jazz vocalist,

Ori Dagan is a Toronto-based jazz vocalist, voice actor and entertainment journalist. He can be contacted at jazz@thewholenote.com.

When contemplating this month’s column I had intended to dive right into reporting on the gathering storm of performances by community musical groups for the coming fall and winter season. However, four random recent events, each with some form of musical connection, have conspired to remind me just how pervasive musical influences are in my life, and to derail me from my appointed task.

The first of these was a paper recently published in the Journal of The American Psychological Association which compared the performance of a variety of tasks by musicians and non-musicians. Having been a volunteer subject over the past few years for this study at the Rotman Research Institute of the Baycrest Centre and the Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, I waded through the academic jargon. One phrase stood out:Despite the scant data on aging and musicianship, the picture emerging is that lifelong musicianship mitigates age-related decline in cognitive tasks …” In short, making music is good for you.

I could have told them that: One year ago, I wrote about how the New Horizons Band established at Long and McQuade had grown to 24 members by its third week. It’s now a daytime group and an evening group with total memberships of 42, and a new beginners’ daytime group of 22 is under way with another slated to begin in January.

In these startup groups the social rewards of playing in some form of musical ensemble have quickly come to the fore. As we see from the academic studies, making music with friends has many rewards beyond the pleasure of creating music. If you are not musically involved now, get on the bandwagon; it’s never too late.

Second sidetrack, the ultimate in serendipity, happened a couple of weeks ago on my way home from a rehearsal. Like so many Toronto streets at this time of year, my route was undergoing major repairs. To cut a long story somewhat shorter, as I stepped out of the car to locate the source of the clanking, a gentleman walking a dog called out “it’s your tailpipe.” Soon, in his driveway around the corner, he had supplied wire and tools and had my tailpipe secured for my trip home. At some point during his mission of mercy he spotted my instrument case and said “do you play trombone?” I asked how he had recognized the case, he informed me that he played guitar and cello, and naturally the conversation shifted to music. He is from Gore Bay on Manitoulin Island, where he also sings and his wife directs a local choir. When I pulled out my wallet to buy a CD of his wife’s choir singing some of her original compositions, we had another jolt. On seeing the name Jack MacQuarrie, my name, he asked “How do you know him?” It just so happens that another Jack MacQuarrie (a distant relative whom I met many years ago) is a friend and publisher of the local Gore Bay newspaper. The beginnings of another musical friendship?

Third distraction along the way this month was hearing about a musical study by two meteorologists at Oxford and Reading Universities who traced prevailing weather phenomena in different parts of the world over the years and concluded that the content and style of many works of the classical repertoire could be directly linked to the prevailing weather in the region where the composers lived. With the help of my research assistant Mr. Google, I located not only that study, but an extensive, if less scholarly, article titled Weather in Classical Music by Richard Nilsen in the Arizona Republic. It is an extensive compendium of compositions catalogued by composer and title according to the seasons and various weather phenomena. Gives a whole new spin to the excuse of “being under the weather.”

Fourth and final digression? I was presented with an unusual opportunity to make music — the grand opening of a new municipal parking lot in a community north of Toronto. My musical zenith had arrived, I thought, and I would wait to tell you about it. I arrived in the area only to find an array of “Do Not Enter” and “No Parking” signs. You guessed it — there was no place to park. I arrived too late to play for this great event.

So, what is happening in the local music scene?

27_bandstand_christophergongosFor starters, Silverthorn Symphonic Winds (SSW) kicks off their 2011/2012 season with a free public music clinic, presented in conjunction with the Westmount Music Department and Arts Westmount Music. Led by 2010/2011 artist-in-residence Peter Stoll, clarinetist, “From Practice Room to Concert Hall” will provide tips on how to practise effectively and how to improve your ensemble playing. Not just for clarinetists, the clinic is geared toward high school instrumentalists and adult amateur musicians. For details, see this month’s Etcetera listings under “lectures.”(For the coming season, SSW has announced that its 2011/2012 artist-in-residence will be one of Canada’s most respected horn players, Christopher Gongos. In 1998, Gongos joined the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, where he holds the position of associate principal horn.)

To start their season this year, the Hannaford Street Silver Band once again joins forces with the Amadeus Choir under the baton of Lydia Adams for a performance of The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace by the Welsh composer Karl Jenkins. The work is a reflection on war and peace in a multi-cultural, global society. It draws its text from classical poets, biblical verses and traditional mass, as well as from Muslim, Hindu and Japanese sources. In the other portion of the programme on November 12, the band will be under the direction of Gillian MacKay. The HSSB will perform Kevin Lau’s Great North Overture and Barbara Croall’s remarkable Gi-Giiwe Na?, an allegory for brass and percussion inspired by Native soldiers. The men of the Amadeus Choir will join the HSSB to perform Harry Somers’ A Thousand Ages and Stephen Chatman’s hauntingly beautiful Reconciliation.

Definition Department

This month’s lesser known musical term is Articulosis: a chronic disability leading to fuzzy attempts at staccato playing.

We invite submissions from readers. Let’s hear your daffynitions.

Coming Events

Please see the listings for full details.

Jack MacQuarrie plays several brass instruments and has performed in many community ensembles. He can be contacted at bandstand@thewholenote.com.

A topic i haven’t touched on in this column is the relationship between jazz and ships. As I write this, Guido Basso is about to take a band for an eleven day cruise on the “Seven Seas Navigator.” I’ll be doing the same later this month with my Echoes Of Swing band on Holland America’s “Noordam.” And we are certainly not the only ones sailing off into the sunset; there are jazz cruises galore all over the world taking jazz fans and musicians out on the deep blue sea.

25This led me to doing some research into the early days of jazz and the riverboats which cruised the Mississippi. The first steamboat to cruise the entire length of the lower Mississippi was theNew Orleans” in December 1811 and steamboats, as a feasible means of transportation, lasted until the early part of the 20th century.

So where does jazz come into the picture? Enter a pianist named Fate Marable, because the story of jazz on the Mississippi steamboats can’t be told without him. Many of the bands had been integrated, but not the passengers, and Marable, hired by the Streckfus Line had led a mixed band in 1916. He subsequently organised a band of black musicians to play on one of the excursion boats–not ragtime players, but jazz musicians. The year was 1919 and the band included drummer Baby Dodds and an 18 years old Louis Armstrong! Other musicians who were, at one time or another, members of Marable’s band included Henry “Red” Allen, saxophonist Tab Smith, who subsequently played with Count Basie, Gene Sedric, who later joined “Fats” Waller and bass player Jimmy Blanton who was destined to find fame with Duke Ellington. According to trumpeter Bill Coleman, Jelly Roll Morton was hired for a short time by Marable and it is perhaps worth noting that one of Morton’s compositions was called Steamboat Stomp.

Marable was not always easy to get along with and was a stern taskmaster, demanding a high level of professional conduct from his musicians. Woe betide any player who screwed up on the bandstand and if it happened too often he was fired. Sometimes Fate delivered the bad news by placing a fire axe on the offender’s bunk!

But there is no doubt that Fate Marable was an important figure in the spread of jazz from New Orleans, and river boats helped to float the careers of many a musician.

On a smaller scale I can remember the “Jazz On The Lake” cruises in the 60s right here in Toronto when hundreds of fans would descend on the waterfront and crowd onto one of the Toronto Island ferries for an evening of jazz when more than the water was flowing.

Many of the cruises in Toronto were presented by a promoter called Ron Arnold and in the course of digging for some information, I came across the following, from Pro Tem, then the student weekly of York University, and dated October l5, 1965:

“JAZZ CANADIANA with the Nimmons ‘n’ Nine orchestra has begun its 1965-66 season on CBC radio. One of the few jazz programmes broadcast on the AM band, Nimmons ‘n’ Nine welcomes an audience at the CBC studio, 509 Parliament Street. Doors open at 8:00pm and the performance goes from 8:30 to 9:30pm.

“NO TICKETS ARE REQUIRED — all you do is walk in. As a bonus, the management offers door prizes of Phil Nimmons’ latest LP. Concert dates for the next two months are October 15 and 29, November 12 and 26.

“Ron Arnold, Toronto jazz entrepreneur is bringing the second annual Canadian Jazz Festival back to Casa Loma, much to the delight and interest of this writer. Once again seven bands will be playing in the medieval cloisters of the dungeon, library and great hall of the castle, and the concert masters will be Dave Caplan, Toronto Star’s Man About Jazz, and CKFH announcer Phil Mackellar.

“The feature attraction is going to be a panel discussion at seven o’clock. This should be of particular significance since it will set traditional against mainstream when Pat Scott of the Globe is met in public by his archrival, Phil Mackellar. Frank Kennedy of the Star and John Norris of CODA magazine round out the panel which will be augmented by guest composer and teacher Gord Delamont.”

Note: The featured bands at the 1965 Casa Loma event mentioned here were Moe Koffman, Rob McConnell (big band), Rob McConnell (sextet), Don Thompson, Paul Hoffert, Jim McHarg and Jim Scott. I find it interesting that the writer of the article described a panel discussion as being the feature attraction of a jazz evening that featured so many important musicians!

Back to the present: the November meeting of the Duke Ellington Society will be held on Friday November 18 at the Toronto Reference Library, 789 Yonge St. The evening will be titled “The Duke in Canada” and I’ll be there with a quartet playing the music of Ellington and Strayhorn. You don’t have to be a member to attend and admission is free.

Earlier the same week on Tuesday, November 15, from 6pm to 9pm, there will be a “Jazz Party” at Quotes Bar & Grill, 220 King St. W., Toronto, with an all-star line-up of musicians and it is sure to be a memorable evening. Regular readers may remember that three months ago I wrote about Kate Weich who passed away June 16 of this year. The event is a celebration of her life and there will be a $20 cover charge at the door, all of which will go towards a bursary to be established in her name at York University

As always, happy listening.

Jim Galloway is a saxophonist, band leader and former artistic director of Toronto Downtown Jazz. He can be contacted at jazznotes@thewholenote.com.

Let us take a moment to celebrate, or perhaps curse, the memory of misheard lyrics, the finding of which is great fun, and is one of the great time-wasting joys of the internet. Mishearing “breaking rocks in the hot sun” as “a grape skin rots in the hot sun” in the Clash’s I fought the Law’s is a good one. But the serene phrase from Psalm 23, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,” heard as “Surely good Mrs Murphy shall follow me all the days of my life,” is my long-time personal favourite.

23_choral_kingjamesbibleIselers at the Distillery: The latter quote — the correct one, I mean — is from the King James Bible, a translation of various Christian and Hebrew scriptures, and was for centuries the central document through which these texts were disseminated in the English-speaking world. Truly beautiful though it is, it contains many inaccuracies and misreadings, particularly of Hebrew scripture, which have been corrected or re-translated by later scholars. But for those who grew up with the King James version, these reinterpretations often seem to lack richness and resonance. Never mind that any western translation of a several thousand year-old text from the Middle East is likely to miss the original point by a wide, almost unbridgeable inter-cultural gap; our fallible memories create orthodoxies that lead us to strongly resist the unfamiliar and new, especially when the old is so much more singable.

While one can challenge its accuracy, no one can deny the poetic majesty of the King James Bible, which has been a source of inspiration to many great composers. Various musical settings of King James-derived material can be enjoyed at a concert on 25 November by the Elmer Iseler Singers, titled “King James and Shakespeare.” (The birth of the King James Bible 400 years ago coincides with Shakespeare’s latter years.) The concert takes place in an unusual venue for the Iselers — the Young Centre for the Performing Arts in the Distillery District. Jazzmen Gene DiNovi and Dave Young guest and Soulpepper Theatre’s Albert Schulz narrates.

The Mendelssohn’s Brahms: Johannes Brahms was a composer with an acute sense of cultural memory. Conscious of his place in musical history, and highly respectful of his mentor Robert Schumann, he had a sense of responsibility towards understanding and furthering the musical traditions to which he was heir.

His famous feud with Wagner — or rather, the feud between fans and advocates of the two composers — centred around the question of memory. Wagner’s aesthetic demanded a sweeping away of the old, including old musical forms. Brahms felt that older forms could be imbued with new ideas.

Nowadays it is possible to hear elements of both innovation and musical tradition in Brahms. The Toronto Mendelssohn Choir presents an all-Brahms programme on November 9. The Alto Rhapsody and Deutsches Requiem are among Brahms’ greatest choral works, but the evening is notable for two lesser known works as well, Nänie and the Gesang der Parzen (Song of the Fates). Brahms’ choral works are imbued with his knowledge of baroque contrapuntal part-writing, and are consistently innovative in terms of timbres and techniques. They are notably more interesting than Wagner’s choral writing. Oops, was that my outside voice?

Incidentally, the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir is programming some intriguing choral read-throughs and conducting workshops in the weeks and months ahead. These are excellent resources for choral singers and conductors, and are well worth checking out. Go to the TMC’s website and look under “education and outreach.”

25th solstice: A choir’s own past can also be the occasion for celebration. On December 3, Jenny Crober’s East York Choir celebrates its 25th year of existence with “Winter Solstice,” a concert that includes a premiere of a work by veteran Canadian composer Stephen Hatfield. The EYC has always been open to folk and popular elements in choral music, and has consistently programmed works both substantive and entertaining.

And speaking of the solstice, the Christmas choral celebration, fast upon us, can be a particularly contentious arena. Often one hears the seasonal plea, in part a reaction to the commercialization of the holiday, to “keep Christ in Christmas.” And yet many of the most familiar tropes of Christmas — holly, trees, gifts, the midwinter date of the celebration — are borrowed and appropriated from pre-Christian pantheistic worship, popularly known as paganism.

One might reasonably argue that many of the apparently non-religious aspects of Christmas that are often deplored — the saturnalia of gift-giving, decoration, parties and indulgence in food and drink — have actually returned Christmas to its pre-Christian roots, a mid-winter solstice celebration of companionship and warmth in the midst of cold and darkness. Muse on this when next you hear the great carol, The Holly and the Ivy, redolent with pagan imagery.

The above is only one of many great carols, and one of the delights of this time of year is the chance to indulge in many concerts and hear the many and varied approaches to carols, songs and extended Christmas-themed works. I am told that a measure of eggnog can add to this delight, though this column takes no responsibility for the health or safety of those who over-indulge in either carols or festive drinks.

Finally, some upcoming seasonal concerts of note

The Kyiv Chamber Choir, on tour of Canada from the Ukraine, sings in Waterloo, St. Catherines and Toronto between November 25 and 27.

The Mohawk College Community Choir includes Saint-Saëns’ Christmas Oratorio in a concert on December 3.

On the same night, Cantores Celestes performs Canadian choral icon Derek Holman’s Sir Christemas in a concert that benefits, in part, the Assaulted Women’s Helpline.

24_choral_paul_halleyIn Guelph on November 26, the Guelph Chamber Choir performsVoices of Light: An Advent Festival of Music and Poetry,” including English-born Canadian Paul Halley’s Voices of Light and works by American choral composers Daniel Pinkham and Eric Whitacre.

I am always advocating for Benjamin Britten’s St. Nicholas to evolve into a seasonal favourite on par with Messiah, Christmas Oratorio, etc. The Pax Christi Chorale performs this wonderful work on December 3 and 4.

Also on December 3, the Toronto Choral Society performs in a Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra concert with the intriguing title of “Howard Cable’s Cowboy Christmas.” Composer Cable, a genuine Canadian institution, hosts and conducts.

For those who are not quite ready to embrace the winter choral season in all its frosty exuberance, Isabel Bernaus’ Jubilate Singers performsMusic of the Mediterranean” on November 26. A concert that focuses on music from warmer climes might be just the thing to feed the spirit as the cold weather descends and the autumn recedes into memory?

Ben Stein is a Toronto tenor and theorbist. He can be contacted at choralscene@thewholenote.com. Visit his website at http://benjaminstein.ca.

What does Elvis Presley’s Can’t Help Falling in Love have in common with a song by 18th century composer Jean Paul Martini? Or the musical Kismet with Alexander Borodin? Or Gounod's Ave Maria with Bach? If you know the answers, you’ve already tapped into a musical phenomenon that stretches in a long continuum back to ancient times: out of existing music emerges new music — which is to say that throughout musical history, composers have seized upon a good tune when they’ve heard one and known how to capitalize on it in ways appropriate to their time and purpose. This is one of November’s themes.

21_early_diana_kolpak_as_the_clown_in_scaramella__photo_by_kathleen_finlayScaramella: Scaramella’s upcoming concert “Hit and Run” is built upon this well-known and widespread practice, taking some of the baroque era’s “good tunes,” beloved and popular in their day, and revealing how 16th century composers have transformed them into new pieces. Artistic director Joëlle Morton explains: “In some rare instances, the new pieces were spoofs — making fun of the original tunes. But in most situations, the new composers referenced the older pieces in a respectful way by quoting the text, resetting an old melody or bass line with completely new parts, composing additional lines that could be added to the older work or creating elaborate virtuosic showpieces out of one or more of the original lines.”

Thus you’ll be able to hear Diego Ortiz’s gamba-inspired flights of invention on the melancholy song Doulce Memoire, by earlier composer Pierre Sandrin, as well as how a ciacona (or chaconne) has been treated in three ways: the first two in 15th and 16th century settings, the third by contemporary composer (and recorder virtuoso) Matthias Maute — a recently completed tribute to the late wife of a dearly-respected man.

Running concurrently with the musical presentation is another delight: a clown, who will dramatize the texts involved, in the manner of the commedia dell’arte movement, which was so popular at the time.

“Hit and Run” takes place on November 26 at Scaramella’s usual gracious venue, Victoria College Chapel.

Ensemble Chaconne: A related theme, seen in several concerts this month, is that of the interrelationships between music, words and drama. In Shakespeare’s England these were well and flourishing, as popular tunes, both their melodies and text, were so familiar that musicians used them as the basis for sets of variations; also, poets set new verses to known tunes, often based on news of the day. The Bard himself assiduously incorporated well known songs into his plays and wrote poems for new songs. And many composers from Shakespeare’s own time — Thomas Morley, for example — and from every era since, have contributed music for specific use in his plays.

A group which is perhaps not well known to Southern Ontario audiences brings a colourful programme entitled “Measure for Measure — the Music of Shakespeare’s Plays” to our area this month. Ensemble Chaconne is dedicated to vivid, historically informed performance of renaissance and baroque music on period instruments. Based in the Boston area, it has a 25 year history and has concertized widely. Its core ensemble is a trio, whose distinguished members play renaissance/baroque flutes, viola da gamba and lutes/theorbo/early guitars; for the upcoming pair of concerts, so replete with song, they’ve added mezzo-soprano voice.

If you’re in the Kitchener-Waterloo area on November 17, you can hear them at the Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music Society concert; if you’re in Hamilton on November 18, you’ll find them performing at McMaster University.

Academy Concert Series: The Academy Concert Series’ season opener features interwoven themes of music and drama too. Its centrepiece is a love story, which unfolds in a trilogy of Vivaldi chamber cantatas (one having only recently been discovered in Vienna) collectively known as L‘Amore per Elvira. We witness the declaration of love, the lover’s sad news that he must go away, the return amid fears and hopes and finally, the lovers’ reuniting — all poignantly expressed in both words and music.

Along with this is another parallel but modern day love story, placed in Vienna, woven throughout the performance and enacted by actor Vanessa AvRuskin. And interspersed between the cantatas are chamber pieces by Vivaldi that highlight the violin — the instrument on which he was known for his excellent playing.

22_early_kerrimcgonigle_photo_by_raymond_coburnThe evolution of what might be called a musical love story is the story of the Academy Concert Series itself. Founded over 20 years ago, it has been constant in its mission to bring historically informed chamber performances to Toronto’s audiences. After a 16 year run as artistic director, multi-instrumentalist Nicolai Tarasov has now decided to largely hand over the reins to talented cellist/baroque cellist Kerri McGonigle — a passionate and accomplished musician, who I’ll bet will bring fresh life to an already lively series.

“Vivaldi Visits Vienna” takes place on November 12 at Eastminster Church.

A diversity of others

• November 13: In Kitchener, Classics At The Registry presents “Guitarra Barroca: A tour of baroque music for the guitar,” featuring a guitarist known for his musicianship and versatility, Kevin Ramessar, in collaboration with Larry Larson, trumpet and Graham Hargrove, percussion. (Note: This information arrived too late to make it into the printed listings; see the online listing at www.thewholenote.com. Click on “Just In,” and see New Listings–Beyond the GTA or go to the searchable Concert Listings and click “Concerts Beyond the GTA”);

• November 18: In Kingston, the Melos Choir and Chamber Orchestra presents a concert for St. Cecilia’s Day and celebrating the 300th anniversary of the birth of William Boyce. Programme includes Purcell’s Cecilian ode Welcome to all the Pleasures, Te Deum and Jubilate by Boyce, and other lovely music;

• November 19: “Glory – Sounds of Baroque Exultation” is the aptly-chosen title of a concert by the Larkin Singers, featuring Handel’s sacred motet Nisi Dominus as well as Vivaldi’s Gloria and Bach’s cantata Wachet Auf.

• November 19 and 20: In Toronto and Hamilton, Capella Intima presents “Venice and Beyond,” highlighting composers of the Venetian school who left Venice later in their careers: Grandi, Merula, Agostini, Sances, Valentini and Milanuzzi. Music for tenor and baritone voice, baroque guitar, organ, harpsichord and gamba.

• November 23: “In the Shadow of the Volcano,” traditional music of southern Italy including the villanelle, tarantella, fronna and tammurriata, is presented by the Vesuvius Ensemble as part of the Canadian Opera Company’s Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre series.

• November 25: In the first of four concerts honouring Bach, spread throughout the season, Music at Metropolitan presents “BachFest I: Christmas Oratorio, Parts 1–3.”

• November 26 and 27: The 16-voice a cappella choir Cantemus Singers presents their annual Christmas celebration, “Nowell Sing We,” with carols and motets from the renaissance and baroque periods, Giovanni Gabrieli’s Hodie Christus Natus Est for double choir, Telemann’s Deutsches Magnificat in G for choir, soloists and orchestra, and other works.

• November 27: In Kitchener, there’s a treat of two wonderful Bach cantatas (Wie schöen leuchtet der Morgenstern and Lobet den Herrn), in Spiritus Ensemble’s programme “Bach Vespers for Advent.”

• December 1 to 4: Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra is joined by guest director and oboist, Alfredo Bernardini, to present “Baroque Splendour – The Golden Age of Dresden,” with stunning and virtuosic music created for Dresden’s remarkable court orchestra by Zelenka, Fasch, Pisendel, Telemann and Vivaldi.

Simone Desilets is a long-time contributor to The WholeNote in several capacities who plays the viola da gamba.She can be contacted at earlymusic@thewholenote.com.

several capacities who plays the viola da gamba.

Once upon a time, we regularly ran, alongside this column, a companion piece called New Music QuickPicks. The idea of QuickPicks was to give the new music aficionado a filtered list of all the concerts that might be of interest. But since these QuickPicks consisted of short form listings only (i.e. date, time, presenter name, concert title), one still had to go to the main listings for the details if something in the QuickPicks caught one’s eye. It was very handy, but also very irritating when the main listing in question turned out to be only of passing interest.

So we built in a rating system: NNN before a listing meant that new music was the main event (usually with a live composer or two in attendance). NN meant new music was not the main thrust but was of more than passing interest. And N meant, well … that was the problem. What did N mean? Did it mean there was a work of Britten’s on the programme, so you should come to pay homage to the pioneer? Or did it mean that the 10-minute contemporary work right before the intermission had actually been commissioned a few years back and/or had already been played more than twice?

That was the problem: the N’s started out as a time saving device; once they became viewed as a comment on the worth of events they lost their utility. It’s a pity, though, because at each of these three levels of intensity, N to NNN, so much is happening this month, and all of it plays its part: keeping composers busy, and enabling players and audiences to break new sonic ground.

19_estacioheadshot2010_colour900Starting with the Ns: Born in Newmarket, Ontario, John Estacio has single works on two different upcoming symphonic programmes: Friday November 4, the University of Western Ontario Symphony Orchestra plays his Variations on a Memory; Wednesday, November 9, Symphony on the Bay plays his Frenergy.

Frenergy’s highest profile performance in our catchment area was with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra September 26, 2009 —
the season opener with violinist Joshua Bell. “The concert opened with John Estacio’s Frenergy,”wrote The Globe and Mail, “a splashy short work full of propulsive rhythms and dramatic flourishes that should have tipped us off, when the piece was new in 2003, to Estacio’s future career as an opera composer. Somebody should use it for a film score.” And of Estacio as an opera composer (Filumena and Frobisher) arts writer Paula Citron, also in The Globe, wrote “If ever a contemporary opera deserved a shelf life, Filumena is the one.”

There are several other noteworthy single new works on upcoming programmes. Abigail Richardson-Schulte’s “Crossings” for cello and piano in four movements (2011) will be performed by Rachel Mercer and Angela Park at a Les Amis concert, Tuesday November 8 at the Toronto Heliconian Club, along with works by Mahler, Mozart and Brahms. Saturday December 3, East York Choir’s Winter Solstice: Seasonal 25th Anniversary Celebration features a world premiere by Stephen Hatfield. Sunday November 6, Antonín Kubálek Projects’ Music for Anton features a premiere — Daniel Foley’s Music for the Duke of York. Thursday November 17, at Music Toronto, The Gryphon Trio includes the Ontario premiere of Calgary-based William Jordan’s Owl Song in their programme, between Beethoven and under-performed late nineteenth century Russian composer Anton Arensky … The list goes on.

Moving up to NN on the intensity scale, a number of presenters this month provide main portions of new music in well rounded programmes. Saturday November 5, Vesnivka Choir/Toronto Ukrainian Male Chamber Choir present a concert titled 120th Anniversary of Ukrainians in Canada. Their guests will be Het Lysenko Koor (The Lysenko Choir) from Utrecht, a choir that focuses on Ukrainian folk and Byzantine sacred repertoire. The concert features two Canadian composers with strong Ukrainian ties — Laryssa Kuzmenko and Roman Hurko. Kuzmenko’s newest work Behold the Light helped to kick off both the 2011 TSO and Toronto Children’s Chorus seasons. And one of Hurko’s works, Panachyda/Requiem for the Victims of Chornobyl was performed in concert at Toronto’s Roy Thomson Hall on April 9, 2006, by the combined Elmer Iseler Singers, Orpheus Choir, Amadeus Choir, Vesnivka, and the Ukrainian Male Chamber Choir. It was then rebroadcast on CBC Radio 2 on April 26 that year (the 20th anniversary of the disaster).

There’s more: Friday November 18, Sinfonia Toronto gets into the NN act with Gems Old and New, including two premieres: Rob Teehan’s Zephyr (Toronto premiere) and a world premiere by Christos Hatzis, titled Extreme Unction (In Memoriam Gustav Ciamaga); Thursday November 24 the Royal Conservatory’s Discovery Series presents Véronique Mathieu, violin, in works by Donatoni, Dufour-Laperrière and Boulez; also on November 24 is a recital titled Fallen Realm by pianist/composer Adam Sherkin, that will include works by Brahms, Rihm, Froberger and Sherkin himself; and on Friday November 25, Alliance Français de Toronto, who seem to be getting into music programming in a serious way, present a programme with the self-explanatory title Maurice Ravel, Omar Daniel: One Century, One Ocean.

Also steadily climbing the ladder in terms of a commitment to new music programming are the COC’s regular lobby concerts in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre. Tuesday November 8 Array Ensemble present a programme titled Three. T(w)o. One, featuring music by Komorous, Kondo, Riley and Array director Rick Sacks himself. (And this is by no means the last you’ll hear of Array this month: they also have a concert at the Music Gallery, Saturday November 19, followed by an “improv concert,” in their own Atlantic Avenue space on Saturday November 26.)

But returning to the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre for a moment: make sure also to check out Thursday November 17, What to Do ’Til the Power Comes On, featuring the TorQ Percussion Quartet in works by Lansky, Ligeti, Southam and Morphy (premiere).

Top of the NNN ladder: the good news for true new music aficionados is that the higher up the ladder we go, the more crowded it gets. Friday November 4, York University Department of Music presents Improv Soiree. Thursday November 10, Music Gallery/Goethe Institut Toronto/Istituto Italiano di Cultura presents Pop Avant Series: Whitetree. Saturday November 12 Hannaford Street Silver Band/Amadeus Choir present The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace. Tuesday and Wednesday November 15 and 16, the Talisker Players Chamber Music Series has an intriguing programme called Rumours of Peace. And Tuesday November 29 and Wednesday November 30, Soundstreams and Esprit Orchestra respectively are back for the second concerts of what promise to be thoroughly compelling seasons.

20_eve_egoyan-david_rokeby_2To conclude, two NNN concerts that nicely bookend the month: Sunday November 6, at the Music Gallery, Continuum Contemporary Music kicks off their season with a programme titled Fuzzy Logic, which is also the name of one of the works, by Alex Eddington, premiered on the programme. “How would you make music that sounds like a sheep? And more importantly, why? It’s a cheeky start to what looks like a delightfully eclectic programme.

And last, Friday December 2 brings an eagerly awaited Earwitness Productions/Eve Egoyan CD release concert. The disc is called Returnings and consists of works by Ann Southam for solo piano, including Returnings II: A Meditation (world premiere). Count on this CD to add to a burgeoning appreciation of Southam as a composer, and to Egoyan’s reputation as a wholly truthful and compelling interpreter, not only of Southam’s work, but of new music in general.

November offers those in Toronto and vicinity a chance to see the Canadian premiere of a new Scottish opera with a Canadian connection, and the revivals of seldom-seen American and Canadian operas. This is a further demonstration, if anyone needed one, of how vital such companies are in maintaining the diversity of Toronto’s opera scene.

18_opera_sloans_inside18_opera_sloans_outsideFirst to appear, on November 10, 11 and 12, is Pub Operas by Scottish composer Gareth Williams, to a libretto by Canadian David Brock. The two met in 2009 at Tapestry New Opera’s LibLab, Tapestry’s composer/librettist incubator, and the project grew out of that meeting. The opera premiered earlier this year in July, at Sloan’s Bar in Glasgow as part of the Merchant City Festival. The venue was no quirk because Pub Operas was written specifically to celebrate the history of Sloan’s, which is Glasgow’s oldest pub, having been founded in 1797. The libretto, about life’s cycle of love, marriage, birth and death, is based on letters sent in by the public for whom Sloan’s played a real role at key points in their lives.

For the performance, the Ernest Balmer Studio in the Distillery District will substitute for Sloan’s. The singers will be Xin Wang, Heather Jewson, James McLean and Benjamin Covey with Wayne Strongman leading a six-piece band. Sue Miner directs. For more information about the opera, visit www.tapestrynewopera.com; and for the history of Sloan’s visit www.sloansglasgow.com.

18_john_beckwith_photo_andre_leducAlso playing on November 11 and 12 will be the Toronto premiere of the 1989 opera Crazy to Kill by John Beckwith to a libretto by James Reaney. Toronto Masque Theatre will mount this production of “Canada’s first detective opera” at the Enwave Theatre starring singers Kimberly Barber, Doug McNaughton and Shannon Mercer and actors Brendan Wall and Ingrid Doucet. The work, scored for piano and percussion, wiill feature Greg Oh as pianist and conductor and Ed Reifel as percussionist. David Ferry will direct.

18_opera_puppets_218_opera_puppets_3The story for the libretto comes from the 1941 novel of the same title by Ann Cardwell (pseudonym of Jean Makins Pawley) that is still in print. It concerns Detective Fry who, with the help of “model patient” Agatha Lawson, investigates a series of murders at Elmhurst, a private mental asylum for the wealthy in Southwestern Ontario. Reaney has stated that it was reading this novel that inspired him to become a writer. The commission (from the Edward John Music Foundation and Billie Bridgman for the Guelph Spring Festival) limited the cast to three singers and two actors. To get around these constraints Reaney had the idea of giving Agatha the habit of making life-sized doll puppets, eighteen in all, who, manipulated by the performers, also portray characters at Elmhurst. After a workshop at Banff in 1988, the one-act opera premiered at the Guelph Spring Festival on May 11, 1989, with Jean Stilwell as Agatha, Paul Massel as Fry and Sharon Crowther as Mme Dupont, an Elmhurst patient. For more information visit www.torontomasquetheatre.com. Also note that the fall edition of Opera Canada includes an article adapted from a chapter from Unheard Of: Memoirs of a Canadian Composer by John Beckwith, to be published in 2012 that deals with the background of Crazy to Kill and other of his operas of the period.

On November 23 and 26, Opera by Request (OBR) and Ensemble TrypTych (ET) co-produce the first Canadian performance of The Saint of Bleecker Street by Gian Carlo Menotti. The 1954 opera had its Canadian premiere at the University of British Columbia in the 1980s, but as far as OBR artistic director William Shookhoff can determine, has not had a full performance in Canada since then. OBR and ET chose the opera in consultation with the performers to celebrate the centenary of the birth of the composer. OBR traditionally does one choral opera per season with the University of Toronto Scarborough Concert Choir, and as this is Menotti’s only choral opera it fit the bill. Besides, this seldom-heard opera provides something more out of the way than The Medium (1946) or The Consul (1950).

Bleecker Street, which won the 1955 Pulitzer Prize for Music and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Musical, is set in New York City’s Little Italy, where a young woman named Anina manifests the stigmata and begins to see angels. A conflict develops between her atheist brother Michele, who thinks she needs medical attention, and the neighbourhood which regards her as a saint. Shookhoff says, “As with The Consul, there is a timelessness to it which resonates particularly with younger participants, as it does with all of us: the conflict between tradition and new surroundings; between faith and rationale; and the stigma of relationships which go against the norm.”

The work will be performed in concert with Shookhoff as pianist on November 23 at the University of Toronto Scarborough Campus and on November 26 at Trinity Presbyterian York Mills. Deena Nicklefork will sing Anina and Avery Krisman will sing Michele with six other soloists rounding out the cast. For more visit www.operabyrequest.ca.

Christopher Hoile is a Toronto-based writer on opera and theatre. He can be contacted at opera@thewholenote.com.

It is said that there’s no such thing as a “free lunch.” Well, for the most part, it’s probably true; and if lunch is free, there’s usually a catch. But there’s a whole lot of free music being served up at lunchtime, on this month’s classical and beyond menu. The only strings attached will be the ones being plucked and bowed as you discreetly munch on your tuna wrap (where permitted).

And where might one find these free, noonish, musical escapes from the daily grind? Mostly in universities (the music faculty or fine arts/music department), often in churches, sometimes in traditional concert halls and in libraries — in downtown Toronto, the GTA and beyond.

Here’s a look at several presenters offering regular, free series over the noon hour (or shortly thereafter):

Noon: Brock University Department of Music, in St. Catharines, presents “Music@Noon” on Tuesdays, featuring both faculty and student recitals. You can hear faculty flutist, Patricia Dydnansky, with Erika Reiman on piano, November 1. Piano, voice and instrumental students perform on November 8.

Wilfrid Laurier University’s less snazzy looking (without the “@”) “Music at Noon” — though, musically, just as inviting — offers four concerts this month, bookended by Trio Laurier on November 3 and the Ton Beau String Quartet on the 24th.

On most Tuesdays and Thursdays, and the odd Wednesday, in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre, the Canadian Opera Company hosts several noontime series, including chamber music, world music, vocal, jazz, dance and piano virtuosos. They feature emerging artists as well as established ones such as soprano Adrianne Pieczonka, who performed last season. Concerts start right on the nose at noon and they’re almost always packed. The tickets are distributed on a first come, first-served basis, so get there early if you don’t want to stand. On November 22, pianist Ricker Choi will perform Chopin’s Ballade No.1 and works by Brahms and Scriabin in the “Piano Virtuoso Series” concert titled “Atmospheres.” And on the 29th, “Postcards from Paris,” part of the “Chamber Music Series,” features works by Debussy, Satie, Ravel and Raum, played by Carson Becke, piano and Nathaniel Anderson-Frank, violin.

14University of Waterloo Department of Music has Wednesday “Noon Hour Concerts,” and noon is, indeed, the start time. In what is likely an inadvertent nod to the two guys on our front cover, the November 9 concert is titled “One Piano – Two Players,” and features the Bergmann Piano Duo. “Honkyoku Duet” is the name of the November 16 concert and it features shakuhachi master Gerard Yun and bass clarinetist Kathryn Ladano performing traditional Japanese shakuhachi solos and contemporary duets.

15_rolston_shauna_c12:10pm: And just in case you were still of the mind that “free lunchtime music” meant “not world class lunchtime music” — though knowing that artists of the stature of Adrianne Pieczonka perform at these concerts should have disabused you of such thoughts — the University of Toronto Faculty of Music presents cellist Shauna Rolston and violinist Jacques Israelievitch on November 3, in its “Thursdays at Noon” series. Beginning at 12:10pm, the acclaimed Rolston and Israelievitch will perform Honneger’s Sonatina for Violin and Cello and duos for violin and cello by Schulhoff and Kodály. Not what I would call a light(weight) lunch!

Sticking with the 12:10pm start time, Nine Sparrows Arts Foundation, in collaboration with Christ Church Deer Park, provides a weekly series, “Lunchtime Chamber Music,” with recitals held on Thursdays. In a delightful show of further collaboration (and interconnection), on November 10, in the aptly titled “Rising Stars Recital,” students from the U of T’s Faculty of Music will perform.

12:15pm and 12:30pm: Starting five minutes later, also every Thursday, are Music at Metropolitan’s “Noon at Met” recitals, at 12:15pm, often showcasing the organ and at times other instrumentalists and vocalists, in downtown Toronto’s Metropolitan United Church. Organists Mark Toews and Sarah Svendsen are featured this month on November 17 and 24, respectively.

McMaster School of the Arts serves up a “Lunchtime Concert Series” at 12:30pm, Tuesdays. On November 8, pianist Antoine Joubert, who finishes his doctoral studies this year, performs works by Fauré, Scriabin, Janáček and Liszt. And on November 29, soprano Lita Classen, a voice teacher at both McMaster and Mohawk College, will perform a tribute to Gustav Mahler, to mark the 100th anniversary of his death.

Somewhat similar to the COC, York University Department of Music offers a multi-themed series of concerts, commencing at 12:30pm. From “Music at Midday,” to “Jazz at Noon,” “World at Noon” and “R&B Ensemble,” there’s much to drink in. You can catch the spirited Cuban Rhapsody Duo of saxophonist Jane Bunnett and pianist extraordinaire, Hilario Durán, on November 17. York U Chamber Strings, Jacques Israelievitch, director, performs on November 22. And there’s a generically titled “Classical Instrumental Recital” on November 14 and 28, featuring student soloists in the classical performance program. Emerging-stars-in-the-making, perhaps?

The start time for Yorkminster Park Baptist Church’s Wednesday organ series, “Noonhour Recitals,” is also 12:30pm. You’d be forgiven for thinking that the concerts are at noon, as the series’ title might suggest; we did, and we were. A few issues back, we mistakenly listed them at noon and then were very politely informed that we goofed. Now we’re back with the programme. Speaking of which, the organists for November are, in order, William Maddox, Simon Walker, Imre Olah, Stephen Boda and Maddox once again.

At the University of Western Ontario Don Wright Faculty of Music, in London, you can catch the UWO Chamber Orchestra, at 12:30pm, on November 10, performing Strauss’ Serenade for Winds Op.7, Mozart’s Adagio and Rondo for Violin and Orchestra, Barber’s Adagio for Strings and Siegfried Idyll by Wagner. Zachary Peterson is the violinist and Geoffrey Moull conducts. You can hear the orchestra, again, on December 7, this time with soprano Jackalyn Short, in works by Britten and Respighi.

Top of the next hour: “Music at Midday” organ recitals can be heard every Tuesday at 1pm, throughout the year, at Toronto’s Cathedral Church of St. James, on Church St. CCSJ organist and interim director of music, Andrew Adair, performs the ongoing “Bach Series” with “Bach Series X” on November 1 and “Bach Series XI” on December 6. In between, you can hear organists Thomas van der Luit, Simon Walker and William Maddox, on November 8, 15 and 22.

Late (but fashionable): Finally, for those of you who like to lunch fashionably late, here are three suggestions: Toronto Public Library (Northern District) offers “Orchardviewers: Classic Music Performance,” at 2pm on Thursdays. The University Settlement Music and Arts School offers a Saturday concert on November 12, at 2pm and a 2:30pm concert on Sunday November 27. And, lastly, for a very late lunch, bordering on high tea, Hart House presents the 648th concert of its “Sunday Concert Series” at 3pm on November 13, featuring mezzo Erica Iris Huang and Emily Hamper at the piano. The concert takes place in the Great (and most grand) Hall of Hart House.

So, you may not get a free lunch anytime soon but you can gorge on all of the free and wonderfully varied lunchtime musical fare available in November and early December.

ONE PIANO TWO HANDS

16_lang-lang_philip_glaserBefore signing off, another brief — and this time intentional — nod to our two guys on the front cover. Unlike Two Pianos Four Hands’ Ted Dykstra and Richard Greenblatt, who eventually gave up on the dream of becoming concert pianists (and have gone on, mind you, to do great, virtuosic stuff in theatre), here are a few who stayed, and are staying, the course. Oh, and these concerts will cost you a buck or two:

• November 6, 3pm: Angela Hewitt performs works by Bach, Ravel, Fauré and Debussy at Koerner Hall;

• November 12, 7pm: Mississauga Pops Concert Band plays something “Old, New, Borrowed & Blue” at the Meadowvale Theatre in Mississauga, featuring works by Holst, Mozart and Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue performed by pianist David Atkinson;

• November 18, 8pm: Staying with the “old and new” theme, Sinfonia Toronto presents “Gems Old and New” with works by Beethoven, Teehan and Hatzis and pianist Ratimir Martinovic performing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No.12 K414 at the Glenn Gould Studio;

• November 9 to 19: Lang Lang will be “in residence” with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra over those ten days, during which he’ll perform all five of Beethoven’s piano concerti. See the listings for details;

• November 11, 23, 25, 8pm: Gallery 345 continues with its “The Art of the Piano” series, featuring Beatriz Boizan and Mauro Bertoli on the 11th and 23rd, respectively; on the 25th, the Gallery presents pianist Ilya Poletaev, performing the music of George Enescu, with Axel Strauss, violin;

• November 27, 5pm: Nocturnes in the City presents pianist Jan Novotný in works by Mozart, Dvořak and Janáček at St. Wenceslas Church, 496 Gladstone Ave.

Whether or not you pull out your wallet, I hope you will take the opportunity to savour several of this month’s tempting musical offerings. Enjoy!

Sharna Searle trained as a musician and lawyer, practised a lot more piano than law and is listings editor at The WholeNote. She can be contacted at classicalbeyond@thewholenote.com.

12_taf_awardsBefore wading into the teeming waters of this month’s events, a moment’s reflection on the recognition of world music and of the general stature accorded to the arts in this town: The occasion that brought both together for me was the 2011 Mayor’s Arts Awards lunch. Presented by the Toronto Arts Foundation on Thursday October 20 at the Bay’s Arcadian Court, While this was the sixth such awards event, it was to have been Rob Ford’s first — that is, if he had chosen to attend the ceremony named after his office. But that would have meant delegating his high school football coaching duties (final game of the season you know). The mayor’s choice was not lost on the media covering the event or on the arts insiders who did attend. But his absence did surprisingly little to sour the mood, thanks in no small part to the deft emceeing of playwright, novelist and actor Ann-Marie MacDonald and a brace of earthy and soulful songs from blues singer and songwriter extraordinaire Rita Chiarelli led the proceeding with a brace of earthy and soulful songs, the second tapping her Italian roots. Then the awards rolled out.

More than 300 guests had cleared their busy agendas. The enthusiastic crowd consisted of seasoned artists, politicians, business leaders, arts patrons, bureaucrats and arts media. They gathered to celebrate artists, arts administrators and supporters who have helped build Toronto’s vibrant civic and cultural life. Five awards, with cash prizes totalling more than $40,000, were presented.

The Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre (previously widely known as Canadian Childrens Dance Theatre) won the Arts for Youth Award. In her acceptance speech artistic director Deborah Lundmark praised not only the key choreographers, teachers and dancers in her company, but also composers like the late Michael Baker who contributed significantly to the company’s success.

The Muriel Sherrin Award for international achievement in music went to the mrdangam and kanjira drummer, composer and York University music professor Trichy Sankaran. Indian born Sankaran has been an active fixture on the Toronto, and indeed on the global world music scene, for 40 years. He has tirelessly taught music, performed his native Carnatic classical music of South India, and has collaborated with a vast array of leading musicians from many genres. I see this award as a milestone, recognizing a lifetime of achievement. It’s also a recognition that world music has come of age in our town.

As for Sankaran’s contribution to the Toronto scene, it’s no exaggeration that he has taught and inspired dozens of musicians who have gone on to notable careers. One of them, ’80s Sankaran student, saxophonist Richard Underhill (best known as the leader of the bop rap jazz combo Shuffle Demons), was sitting to his former teacher’s left. (On a personal note, Trichy Sankaran is one of the reasons I’ve pursued a career in inter-cultural music.)

Echo: spotted among the “seasoned artists” at the aforementioned Arts Awards luncheon were Allan Gasser and Becca Whitla, the organizational glue of many a true community arts venture, among them Toronto’s Echo Women’s Choir. At the beating heart of most cultures around the world is the practice of community music and dance. These are too often sidelined in the public and media gaze, however, in favour of polished staged professional presentations, the kind that appear in large venues in cities. For 20 years the Echo Women’s Choir has been “keeping it real” by cultivating songs from many places — including our own — with passion, musicianship and a small-town activist community spirit.

So there’s no need to get out of town to celebrate the harvest season because on Saturday, November 5 you can do it at the heart of downtown. The Echo Women’s Choir is serving up an old-fashioned community square dance at the Church of the Holy Trinity, beside the Eaton Centre. I’ll be getting in touch with my inner square dancer as caller Lorraine Sutton guides dancers through the steps and Cape Breton fiddler Dan Macdonald and keyboardist Kate Murphy provide the essential live musical incentive. In true Echo Women’s Choir tradition, there’s more: craft activities for children, homemade preserves for sale and a gourmet home-baked pie raffle. I’m holding out for a tart and, hopefully, heritage apple pie.

And there’s so much more!

From November 1 through 6, Mirvish Productions presents Fela! at the Canon Theatre. Fela! is a dramatization of the story of Nigerian Afro-beat pioneer, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, whose powerful music ignited a generation; it is directed and choreographed by the Tony Award winning Bill T. Jones. Fela Kuti dedicated his life and music to the struggle for freedom and human dignity. The Broadway buzz is that this triumphant and athletic production chock full of Kuti’s propulsive music, Jones’ book and explosive choreography ends up as an inspirational evening.

The Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre, Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, continues its series of free noon concerts. On November 3, Nova Bhattacharya, dancer and Ed Hanley, tabla, present a programme titled “Bharatanatyam Beat.” On November 23, “In the Shadow of the Volcano,” featuring the traditional music of southern Italy, is performed by the Vesuvius Ensemble with tenor Francesco Pellegrino. Indigenous music genres include the villanelle, tarantella, fronna and tammurriata.

On November 4 at Koerner Hall, the Royal Conservatory presents star Spanish flamenco and tango singer Diego El Cigala. The show titled “Cigala & Tango” serves up an “evening when tango and flamenco join hands.” El Cigala is joined by leading Spanish and Argentine musicians. The same night at the Music Gallery, Minor Empire performs a concert co-produced by Small World Music. Minor Empire is a band with unabashed Turkish roots yet embracing the language of electro jazz. The group is manned by local musicians including Orgu Ozman, vocals; Ozan Boz and Michael Occhipinti, guitar; Chris Gartner, bass; Debashis Sinha, percussion; Ismail Hakki Fencioglu, oud; and Didem Basar, kanun.

Beyond the GTA, the University of Waterloo Department of Music hosts a free noon concert on November 16 called “Honkyoku Duet.” Traditional Japanese shakuhachi solos and contemporary duets are rendered by shakuhachi master Gerard Yun and Kathryn Ladano, bass clarinet, at the peaceful Conrad Grebel University College Chapel.

13_world_nagata_shachuNovember 18 to 20 will be auspicious days for Nagata Shachu. The Japanese taiko group performs at the Fleck Dance Theatre, Harbourfront Centre. John Terauds noted in the Toronto Star, “It’s another credit to this cosmopolitan city that one of the world’s most interesting Japanese taiko drumming ensembles hails from Toronto.” Not only will it unveil its second DVD video, but Nagata Shachu is also premiering a new show, Hana. Rooted in the folk drumming traditions of Japan, Nagata Shachu’s principal aim is to rejuvenate this performance art by producing innovative and exciting music that speaks to today’s audiences. Its production of Hana strives to strip away the superficiality of typical concert performances and to reveal the essence of each performer to the audience through the use of many kinds of taiko, flutes, shamisen, voice, and movement.

Over the past few years Gallery 345 has proven itself to be a modest venue with an ambitious programming policy. On November 18, multi-instrumentalist, singer and oud virtuoso Mel M’rabet pairs up in concert with the illustrious Cuban-Canadian pianist Hilario Duran. Mel has performed internationally with musicians such as Cesaria Evora, Steve Potts, Omar Sosa and Cheb Mami. Still at Gallery 345, the November 20 concert at 3:30pm is titled “David Lidov. Recital Number Six.” The world music aspect of the evening is in the form of the premiere of Lidov’s Obedient Ears for sulings (Indonesian bamboo ring flutes) and piano. Performers include David Lidov and William Wescott on piano, the Annex String Quartet and yours truly on sulings.

On November 25, Small World Music presents Naseer Shamma & the Magnificent Strings at the Toronto Centre for the Arts, 5040 Yonge St. And plucked strings are undoubtedly what you will hear. Naseer Shamma, a renowned Iraqi oud player, is joined on stage by Pakistani sitarist Ashraf Sharif Khan and Andalusian flamenco guitarist Romero Iglesias.

Judging from the next concert, it seems we’re already ramping up to the holiday season. On November 26 at 1 pm Small World Music presentsCelebrate! Holidays of the Global Village with Chris McKhool & Friends” at Trinity-St Paul’s Centre. This free multi-cultural musical mosaic includes musical guests Ernie and Maryem Tollar, Suba Sankaran, Shannon Thunderbird, Jordan Klapman, Aviva Chernick and the members of Sultans of String.

My world music also includes the music of the First Nations. The University of Toronto Faculty of Music presents “World Music Visitor: Pura Fé,” in a concert of First Nations contemporary music on November 26, 7:30pm, at Walter Hall, Edward Johnson Building. The award-winning vocalist Pura Fé is a founding member of the native woman’s a capella trio, Ulali, and is recognized for bringing Native contemporary music into the mainstream.

November 27, the Batuki Music Society presents Bassekou Kouyate and Ngoni Ba at the Great Hall; 1087 Queen St. W. Bassekou Kouyaté is a virtuoso musician and singer whose work overlaps West African and American roots music. The ngoni, his instrument, is a “spike lute” and considered one of the ancestors of the banjo. Deeply anchored in the griot tradition, Kouyaté has collaborated with many musicians in and outside of Mali. He was part of Taj Mahal and Toumani Diabaté’s “Kulanjan” project, as well as serving as one of the key musicians on Ali Farka Toure’s posthumous album Savane (2006). He also toured and recorded with master banjoist Bela Fleck on the Grammy winning Throw Down Your Heart. I saw them in Toronto last summer and was duly mesmerized by their music.

14_world_chavaalbersteinFinally, on December 3, the Royal Conservatory’s Koerner Hall showcases famed Israeli folk singer-songwriter Chava Alberstein, acclaimed as “the most important female folk singer in Israeli history,” with over 50 albums to her credit, in a double bill with extraordinary Egyptian-Canadian vocalist Maryem Tollar. Their large band includes Oved Efrat, acoustic guitar; Eran Weitz, guitars; Avi Agababa, percussion; Waleed Abdulhamid, bass; Naghmeh Farahmand, tombak; and Michael Ibrahim, nay. Local musicians include Ernie Tollar, saxophone and flutes; Hugh Marsh, electric violin; Ian De Souza, bass; and Levon Ichkhanian, guitar. I’m expecting the Israeli-Egyptian musical forecast in Koerner Hall to be convivial and warm, even though the temperature on Bloor St. might prove rather frigid that December Saturday night.

Andrew Timar is a Toronto musician and music writer. He can be contacted at worldmusic@thewholenote.com.

world_trichysankaran2Over the past 30 years, as world music has emerged as a commercial music category, the general audience interest in it has continued to grow and morph. As a meta-genre, it has long jumped the boundaries of its component musics’ roots in their ethnic communities of origin. The various kinds of music included in the sea of world music, when observed at close hand, really consist of multiple interconnected pools. And here in Toronto there are many such pools teeming with life. This is the “scene” I try to get a feel for and share with you, dear reader, in each WholeNote issue.

As important as various groups and communities are to the overall vibrancy of the local world music scene, the significance of the contributions of certain individuals pops out occasionally. These individuals are the performers, teachers, producers and programmers without whose imagination, skill and dedication the scene would be a very still pool indeed.

Small World Music is a case in point. This production company is the lovechild of Alan Davis who cut his programming teeth at Toronto’s Music Gallery in the 1980s and 1990s. In the ten years since he founded his production company, Small World Music has become, arguably, Toronto’s most active and consistent presenter of music from many corners of the globe. It is also a supporter of music that mixes all sorts of genres. I attended the launch of the tenth annual Small World Music Festival on September 22, and got the scoop on this year’s lineup.

Having begun in September, the Small World Music Festival continues on October 2 at the Enwave Theatre, Harbourfront, with the Karevan Ensemble performing a concert titled “Homeland Variations.” Composed by Reza Moghaddas, the score received a 2011 Dora Mavor Moore Award nomination. Called “multimedia Persian fusion,” the music combines gypsy songs accompanied by kamancheh (Persian fiddle), punctuated by saxophone, keyboards and electric bass. Further sections feature R&B rhythms blended with industrial and electronic sounds, dovetailing with melancholy duduk (Armenian reed) melodies and the spirited upbeat juxtaposition of African percussion, kamancheh and tanbour (Kurdish lute). I’m guessing the dancer Bahareh Yaraghi will provide the “multimedia” aspect of the show.

The same Sunday night at the Royal Conservatory, Small World Music, in association with the RC, presents the Bollywood diva Asha Bhosle with Nilandri Kumar on sitar. Bhosle, one of the queens of playback singing, has performed an astounding 20,000+ songs in over 1,000 movies in her epic career. In fact she has the distinction of receiving the “most recorded artist” laurel from the Academy of World Records. Kumar, much the junior of Bhosle in age and experience, is an emerging Indian fusion sitarist with roots in the classical tradition. He has worked in Bollywood as a musician, and recorded with guitarist John McLaughlin on his album Floating Point, as well as on 13 of his own albums. We can expect that popular film songs and ghazals, songs sometimes included among the “light classical” side of North Indian music, will dominate the evening at Koerner Hall.

Another example of an individual who has made a significant contribution to Toronto’s world music scene is the mrdangam (South Indian hand drum) master and music professor Trichy Sankaran. It is hard to recall a time when Indian music–classical and otherwise–was not a feature of Toronto’s concert and university music education landscape, but there actually was such a time not that long ago.

A noted mrdangam player in India when still quite young, Sankaran came to York University 40 years ago to help build its newly hatched South Indian classical music (Karnatak music) programme. He’s still teaching at York, inspiring by example yet another generation of students to study this highly developed percussion art form. He has also inspired some of his two generations of students, myself included, to infuse Karnatak music’s language and discipline into their own music and scholarly research.

Sankaran’s 40th anniversary at York will be marked on October 4, 7:30pm, at a concert at the Tribute Communities Recital Hall, part of the York University Department of Music’s “Faculty Concert Series.” In addition to Sankaran’s brilliant mrdangam playing, guest musicians will include members of Autorickshaw (Suba Sankaran, piano and vocals; Ed Hanley, tabla; and Dylan Bell, bass guitar), as well as Mohan Kumar, ghatam, and Desi Narayanan, kanjira. Trichy Sankaran’s considerable contributions to his field are increasingly being acknowledged. He has recently been short listed for the Toronto Arts Foundation’s Muriel Sherrin Award for International Achievement in Music. He will be receiving the prestigious “Sangita Kalanidhi” title from the Music Academy in Chennai, India, in January 2012.

A commemoration of another sort takes place on October 21 and 22 at the Betty Oliphant Theatre. The works of the late Toronto composer and percussionist Ahmed Hassan were imbued with Afro-Caribbean and Middle Eastern influences. Written primarily in conjunction with Canadian theatrical dance, Hassan’s works will receive performances in their original staged dance context at the Abilities Arts Festival, produced by Peggy Baker Dance Projects. Renowned dancer Peggy Baker, the curator of this show, is Ahmed Hassan’s widow. Titled “The Neat Strange Music of Ahmed Hassan, his music will be performed along with the original dances, by important Toronto choreographers, for which his music was commissioned. The performers include senior students of the School of Toronto Dance Theatre; Hassan’s sister, Maryem Tollar, vocals and Mother Tongue, a “world beat” band.

version_1_peter_ahmedFrom October 15 to 23 the Music Gallery presents its annual X AVANT New Music Festival VI. The festival typically programmes avant-garde music in its many guises, however on Friday October 21 there is a world music element. That night, three acts represent various shades of contemporary music. The Montreal based sound artist Tim Hecker will play St. George the Martyr Church’s pipe organ plugged into a computer, the sound looped, altered and played back through the PA system, while the German pioneer of “glitch” music, Markus Popp, explores modern electronica. (Opening the evening, is a new cross-cultural Toronto music collective Global Cities Ensemble of which, as I mentioned in the June issue, I am a member, playing suling — Indonesian ring flute, and kacapi — Indonesian zither along with Araz Salek (tar — Persian lute); Abdominal (songs and rap) and Professor Fingers (live electronics), and blending instruments, intonation, and modes from Iran, Indonesia, India and Western musics.)

World music also makes several appearances this month further downtown on Front Street at the splashy, renovated Sony Centre For The Performing Arts. On October 21 “Goran Bregovic And His Wedding and Funeral Orchestra” features music from the mixed ethnic centre of Sarajevo, combining a Serbian gypsy band, a classical string ensemble, an Orthodox male choir and two Bulgarian female vocalists. On the 22nd, the Salsa Kings perform music from Cuba including the dance-infused music of the mambo, rumba and the cha cha cha.

Opening its run on October 26 also at the Sony Centre, David Mirvish presents “Bharati: The Wonder That Is India.” Judging from the promotions touting a “music and dance spectacle from India, featuring 70 dancers, actors, singers, acrobats and musicians,” this production appears to be a big-stage nationalistic extravaganza along the lines of recent Chinese productions and predated by the long-running Irish themed mega-shows “Riverdance” and “Celtic Woman.”

Bharati’s storyline, on the other hand, sounds compellingly contemporary. A modern day Siddharth raised in the U.S. and cynical of all things Indian returns home to cleanse the Ganges river of its pollution. Despite his contempt, Siddharth is attracted to a mysterious and elusive Indian woman, Bharati, who reintroduces him to the many wonders of India. As the story goes, in the end, Siddharth, appearing to be a sort of diasporic Everyman, discovers a new sense of self in this journey of homecoming, identity and redemptive love.

These are big, ambitious themes. I hope the production delivers them with more than simplistic bombast since I plan to attend.

I especially wish for a nuanced presentation of a sampling of the multitude of Indian traditional performing arts, among the treasures of the music of our world.

Andrew Timar is a Toronto musician and music writer. He can be contacted at worldmusic@thewholenote.com.

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