Beat Columns (Live Music)

The sad news that Billy Bryans, musician and champion of world music in Toronto, has died too early at 63 reached me as I was writing this month’s column. Suddenly, his passing at the Kensington Hospice in Toronto seems to mark the end of a chapter in the evolution of the Canadian “world music scene.” This ever-expanding, ever-evolving basket of often vague and variously labeled commercial categories comprises mostly previously unconnected music genres. By those who like genres with capital letters, they have been diversely dubbed Folk, Ethnic, Traditional, Worldbeat, World Music, Global, Roots, Alternative World, Local, and Diaspora.

Billy Bryans’ four-decade career successfully connected with many facets of the Canadian popular and world music business. But it also reflects the evolution of musical diversity in Toronto and the hybrid processes at work in our nation’s multicultural musical landscape. The health of the current world music scene in turn owes much to the dedication of gifted artists such as Bryans, widely known to local musicians as Billy.

Billy first came to my attention in the 1970s as a drummer active on Toronto’s Queen Street scene with groups such as the new wave punk, the Government. A few years later he co-founded, with Lorraine Segato, the four-time JUNO winning pop group the Parachute Club. He also made his mark as producer, working for a time at Daniel Lanois’ Grant Avenue Studios in Hamilton. His production credits include the Downchild Blues Band, the rockabilly Bop Cats, jazz revivalists the Original Sloth Band, and Raffi.

But it’s Billy’s career as a world music drummer, producer and promoter, to which he segued over the last two decades, that most touch us here at World View. The Globe and Mail was not alone in calling him a “world music pioneer.” What is clear is that he brought to bear his considerable musical passion, driving drumming grooves, and production and promotional savvy to Toronto’s emerging global music scene. Many acts including the South African jive group Siyakha used him as their drummer.

Billy produced several significant albums in the genre including the prescient 1992 CD The Gathering, a song compilation of Toronto-based musicians from a variety of cultures that won the first JUNO Award in the “Worldbeat” category. (The category was renamed “Global” and changed yet again in 2002 to “World Music”). His CDs for the Shego Band, Diego Marulanda, AfroNubians, and Punjabi by Nature helped set the bar for the genre. Both of his productions for reggae dub poet Lillian Allen won JUNOs. In 1994, Billy saw a chance to connect directly with international artists and the emerging industry. He traveled to Berlin to be among the few North Americans to attend the first world music expo, WOMEX, which has since become “the principal market for world music” (Le Monde). He also established Mundial Music, Canada’s first world music record “pool” for journalists and radio DJs.

Long a fan of African-American and African musics, Billy grew to love Latin music in its many incarnations. In the last decade he took to the dance floor to polish his salsa moves (especially Cuban rueda de casino) as well as spinning Cuban dance tracks for club goers as a popular Toronto DJ. When the Lula Lounge opened its doors at Dufferin and Dundas as a live music dancehall showcasing Toronto’s growing Latin music scene, Billy was there, directly engaged. And the feeling was mutual. When his health faltered, his musician friends and fans rallied. Lula held a recent benefit “Rumbon Para Billy Bryans” to raise funds for his palliative care on April 19, 2012, featuring an all-star cast including Jane Bunnett, Alex Cuba, Son Ache and Samba Squad.

The use of the term “world” when referring to a kind of music or a musician has a contested history. It often seems a strained, an incorrectly placed, or even a derogatory tag. When used to describe the whole of Billy’s career however, embracing as many musical genres as he did, “World Musician,” in capitals, feels right.

LULAWORLD 2012 concerts

Another Canadian pioneer, Alexander Graham Bell, is reputed to have written, “When one door closes another opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us.” It seems hardly possible that the Lula Lounge is a decade old, yet here it is celebrating this remarkable anniversary during May with a series of concerts, looking forward all the way.

Originally a Latin dance club, in the ten years it has been open this venue has broadened its mandate, distinguishing itself as a home for world music of many persuasions. Now called the Lula Music and Arts Centre, it is programming a series of collaborative concerts called LULAWORLD 2012, bringing together artists from around the globe. Here are just a few highlights.

The series kicks off May 9, in collaboration with Small World Music, with the celebrated local Autorickshaw shaking up contemporary jazz, funk and the classical and popular music of India into a bubbly brew. In keeping with LULAWORLD’s theme Autorickshaw (Suba Sankaran, voice; Justin Abedin, guitars; Collin Barrett, bass; Dylan Bell, keys; Ed Hanley, table; Ben Riley, drum kit) has invited illustrious local guests including jazz specialists pianist Gordon Sheard, bassist George Koller and mallet percussion maestro Mark Duggan.

On May 11, Café Con Pan, Toronto’s exponents of son jarocho, the traditional music of Veracruz, Mexico, mix it up with guests La Marisoul (LA) plus musicians from Canada, Mexico, Chile and Iran. The concert will also launch Nuevos Caminos a Santiago (New Roads to Santiago) their “genre defying” second CD. In the second set this evening Lady Son y Articulo Viente hosts Montreal’s tropical urban scenester Boogat in what is billed as a “hip hop son cubano mashup!” Canadian born and raised Yeti Ajasin, aka Lady Son, is the lead vocalist/director of the Latin fusion band Artículo Veinte. It sounds like dancing is required.

Two outstanding, award-winning local ensembles join forces May 16: the classical Gryphon Trio and the Afro-Cuban and Latin jazz specialists, Hilario Durán Trio. They will perform “Cuban, Brazilian, Sicilian and Argentine charts” celebrating music that has resounded at Lula.

You can find more LULAWORLD 2012 concerts listed in The WholeNote’s “In the Clubs” section.

World Music Picks

This is one of those months where no amount of space seems enough to cover the myriad concerts of interest in the GTA. I have selected a few to highlight and apologize for having to leave out so many others.

Yoga and music have long been intimately linked. On Friday, May 4, 8pm at the Casa Loma campus of the George Brown University, the Institute of Classical Yoga and Therapy presents “Music in harmony with Yoga,” a free Hindustani classical vocal concert featuring Ramneek Singh. Ms Singh will be accompanied by an esraj player and by Yashodhan Navathe on tabla.

May 5 the Aradia Ensemble hosts Toronto’s leading Georgian choir Darbazi in a fascinating concert contrasting the two groups’ choral approaches at the Glenn Gould Studio. Titled “The Grain of the Voice,” the concert features two new works by Andrew Agar and Kevin Mallon which will unite these two very different vocal “grains.” Aradia’s Kevin Mallon, conducts.

Another concert that marries Western and Eastern (here specifically Southeast Asian) classical music forms will be presented at the Glenn Gould Studio on May 22. The Evergreen Club Contemporary Gamelan an eight-member pioneering world music ensemble, of which I’ve been a member for some 29 years, is playing host to the Bozzini String Quartet, Montreal’s contemporary and experimental music specialists. The two groups will present five commissioned works by leading Canadian composers for their joint forces, repertoire they performed recently at a well-received Montreal concert.

Back firmly on our musical native land, on May 10 the Métis Fiddler Quartet launches its debut CD, North West Voyage Nord Ouest at the Lakeside Terrace, Harbourfront Centre. Currently based in Toronto, the four youthful sibling members of the quartet, Alyssa (viola), Conlin (guitar), Nicholas (violin) and Danton (cello) Delbaere-Sawchuk were born into a Métis family in Winnipeg. Their program highlights arrangements of originally rural Canadian Métis and Native fiddle music that they learned directly from the greatest living masters, and that the Métis Fiddler Quartet is eager to share with urban Canadians.

Finally, on June 1 at Koerner Hall, the Royal Conservatory presents Simon Shaheen on oud and violin in a concert fusing Arabic, jazz and Western classical music. Shaheen has been hailed as one of the most significant Arab musicians and composers of his generation. Based in New York, his two bands Qantara and the Near Eastern Music Ensemble tour internationally. Moreover, he has received numerous awards for his performing and educational contributions, including the National Heritage Award he received at the White House. His album Blue Flame has been nominated for an impressive 11 Grammy Awards.

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

In past columns you’ve read about many of the “big guns” come to town — major, professional orchestras, world-renowned soloists and quartets — and you’ve read about an array of gifted artists presented to us by local groups and organizations who don’t have the big bucks but have great taste and know a talented “up and comer” when they see one.

This month, I want to focus on two other categories: first, ensembles which don’t easily fall under neat labels such as “quartet,” “quintet” or “chamber orchestra,” because they are constantly morphing in size, depending on what’s on the program; and second, the community orchestras which provide the backbone of the musical life of their communities. Both attract dedicated bunches of musicians who play for the love of it in a variety of settings including seniors’ residences, hospitals, churches, intimate venues and large concert halls. Here’s what some of them are up to this month.

“Extra cello” with magic on the side, please: The ensemble called Alchemy offers the following irresistible blurb on its website: “Alchemy was a medieval chemical science and speculative philosophy which aimed to transform base metals into gold, and to discover a universal cure for disease and a means of indefinitely prolonging life. Notwithstanding its failure to succeed, some of its lofty aims have been inherited by a group of Toronto musicians who feels that if music cannot prolong life and cure disease — though who can tell — it is certainly known to transform an ordinary hour into something magical.”

Alchemy began “making magic” in 2003 and has since performed chamber music from the 17th to 21st centuries with about 50 musicians, selected from a pool of accomplished friends and colleagues. Meri Gec, pianist, founding “alchemist” and the group’s program coordinator, explains: “The mix continually changes, depending on which instruments are needed for a program idea and which musicians are available. Program and repertoire ideas come from anywhere — the musicians, the internet, radio, summer music camp, live concerts.”

Gec’s role is to organize the one-hour programs using those ideas. And while, more often than not, she’s the one “initiating the ideas and recruiting the right musicians” (most with busy lives and day jobs), she adds that “the musicians participate actively with researching ideas, finding extra musicians when needed, introducing pieces at concerts, suggesting venues, and so on.” As she says, “Alchemy has become an engaged and collaborative ensemble.” For Gec, Alchemy represents “all that is great about music, friendship, and community service.”

It’s a winning combination that has seen the ensemble perform for almost ten years and at over 20 venues — all of which have been predominantly retirement residences and hospitals, in keeping with the ensemble’s original — and unwavering — philosophy. Fittingly, Alchemy will perform at Baycrest Centre on May 23 at 7pm. On the program is Prokofiev’s Overture on Hebrew Themes, String Quartet Op.44 No.1 by Mendelssohn and Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet. Gec (on piano), will be joined by Kaye Royer on clarinet, violinists Catherine Sulem and John Bailey, violist Dorothy Pellerin and Susan Naccache on cello. Heal on, musical alchemists!

Did someone order an extra clarinet? Make that 18. That’s the number of members currently playing in the Wychwood Clarinet Choir. This lively group is now in its third season and they’re going strong, under the leadership of Michele Jacot, WCC’s artistic director and conductor. Founding member Roy Greaves, who plays bass clarinet with the group (as well as the “usual soprano in b-flat” that everyone in the ensemble plays), shared a few words with me, by e-mail, about the WCC, starting with its inception in 2009:

“Some adult clarinet students of Michele Jacot were looking for an alternative to playing in a community band at the same time as Michele was considering adding conducting to her teaching and performing schedule. I was about to retire from teaching music at Oakwood Collegiate (Michele is a former student of mine) and was also looking for a different musical challenge. (The teacher becomes the student; the student the teacher.) Thus began the start of the Wychwood Clarinet Choir.”

By fall of that year, a rehearsal space was found, as were several like-minded clarinetists, and in its first season the WCC gave two major concerts along with smaller performances, including one at the (then) new Wychwood Barns. They’ve since added school performances to the mix, along with opportunities for high school and university students to perform with them, in varying capacities, including that of conductor. While Greaves assists with artistic choices and occasionally conducts, and several members of the group arrange and compose for the choir, he credits Jacot with having the “vision that really makes the group work.” Jacot gets the last word (which I lifted from the WCC’s website): “The goal of the WCC is to both learn together as well as to play the best music possible to reflect the unique sound of our ensemble and it’s my job to ensure that we have fun doing it.”

Well, actually, I get the last word: the WCC’s “Spring Concert 2012” is on May 27, 3:30pm, at St. Michael and All Angels Church. On the wonderfully eclectic program will be works by Julius Fucik, Clare Grundman, Glenn Miller, Mozart and Mancini.

Putting the “commune” in community orchestra: There are well over a dozen concerts being performed by community orchestras (COs) this month. So, rather than scant words about each, I thought I’d ask one dedicated CO player to give you an idea of the many rewards of participating in this often unsung sector of the musical scene. (You will also find a number of CO concerts in the Quick Picks list at the end of this column.)

Adam Weinmann, a busy oboe player, accompanist, cabaret performer and teacher (and our Canary Pages editor) suggested I contact Laura Rosenfield, principal oboe with the NYCO Symphony Orchestra, someone he met when he sat in with NYCO a few times, about two years ago. Good call, Adam.

“Belonging to a community orchestra means playing the world’s most beautiful music with like-minded people who share a love of classical music,” Rosenfield wrote. “Community orchestras allow amateurs of all ages and from all walks of life to experience the joy of making music, as well as the opportunity to grow and improve as musicians. They also offer high school students and university music majors invaluable real-world experience with conductors, ensemble playing, and classical repertoire. While I frequently attend concerts by professional orchestras, I love the unique and thrilling challenge of playing the same repertoire in ‘my’ community orchestra.

“Perhaps the greatest reward of performing is bringing music to audiences that might not otherwise be able to hear live music, via outreach concerts in seniors’ homes and hospitals. School concerts, which help children to appreciate classical music and learn about the instruments of the orchestra, are heartwarming experiences, as well. I think that my own children learned early to appreciate classical music by hearing my daily practice, as well as recordings of pieces I was working on. Also, they were curious to attend mom’s concerts!

“Amateur orchestras foster a feeling of community that is truly enriching and transformative. I have learned about the volunteer and non-profit sector, have benefited from taking on various volunteer administrative tasks in community music over the years, and have made lasting friends. I suspect that most of my fellow musicians would agree that the stresses of everyday life melt away when the baton drops and the orchestra begins to play … ”

The NYCO Symphony Orchestra, by the way, began as a reading orchestra under the auspices of the North York Symphony in 1975 and evolved into an independent, community-based orchestra around 1988. Rather than hold formal auditions, it invites new players to sit in for a couple of rehearsals to test the “compatibility factor.” Then, if you are offered a permanent position you are expected to pay a membership fee. (A wonderful twist to the typical professional musician’s fate of often not getting paid enough for their efforts.) In addition, NYCO members are obliged to purchase a subscription. Clearly, both these fees are critical in allowing this CO to provide its exceptional, community-enhancing, music-making opportunities, and you will find variations on the same theme among many other community orchestras.

You will find Rosenfield in her first oboist’s chair when NYCO performs Smetana’s The Moldau, Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations (with principal cellist, Sybil Herceg-Shanahan) and Dvořák’s Symphony No.8, under the baton of its music director and conductor, David Bowser, June 2, 8pm, at Centre for the Arts, St. Michael’s College School. There’s a pre-concert chat at 7:30pm.

Community Orchestra Quick Picks

May 6, 2:30: Orchestra Kingston. Works by Suppé, J. Strauss, Tchaikovsky, Copland and others.

May 6, 3:00: Symphony on the Bay. Works by Bach, Liszt and Rachmaninoff.

May 10, 8:00: Corktown Chamber Orchestra. Works by Beethoven, Bach and Dvořák.

May 12 and 13, 7:30: Huronia Symphony Orchestra. Works by Dvořák, Raum, Beethoven and Verdi. (Beyond the GTA).

May 12, 8:00: Counterpoint Community Orchestra. Works by Widor, Saint-Saëns, Bach-Stokowski, Bizet and others.

May 12 and 13, 8:00: Oakville Symphony Orchestra. Guest: Polovois Issariotis, guitar.

May 12, 8:00: Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra. Works by Vivaldi, Mozart and Magowan and Denomme-Welch. 7:15: Pre-concert chat.

May 26, 8:00: Cathedral Bluffs Symphony Orchestra. Works by R. and J. Strauss and Bizet.

May 26 and 27, 8:00: York Symphony Orchestra. Works by R. Strauss, Amram and Prokofiev.

May 27, 3:00: Orchestra Toronto. Beethoven’s Symphony No.9. 2:15: Pre-concert talk.

June 1, 8:00: Etobicoke Philharmonic Orchestra. Works by Debussy, Rodrigo and Berlioz. 7:30: Pre-concert chat.

Now go out and get yourself some of that community spirit!

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.

Rent, the iconic rock musical that stormed the bastions of musical theatre during the 1990s, returns to Toronto in a new incarnation mid-month at the Panasonic theatre. This time ’round, it arrives as a transfer from Sheridan College where, last December, it excited acclaim at the school’s Oakville campus when it was presented by Theatre Sheridan as a showcase for the graduating class of the advanced diploma program in music theatre performance. Remounting the high-octane show for a limited run is a no-brainer for theatre impresario, David Mirvish, who considers Rent “this generation’s best musical about the struggle young people face in finding their way in the world. Having a new generation of talent from Sheridan College … is perfect casting.”

The endorsement by Mirvish is more than just hype. For years, Sheridan graduates have helped build Toronto’s music theatre community. Read the cast notes for any musical produced recently in the GTA and you’ll find the bio of a Sheridan theatre grad. And if you’re lucky enough to get a ticket to Jesus Christ, Superstar, currently running on Broadway, check out the résumé of Chilina Kennedy who plays Mary Magdalene; she, along with two others in the cast, honed her skills at Sheridan. This is just one of the reasons that Jacob MacInnis, who plays the role of Tom Collins in Rent, was keen to enter the program which, he says, is “tops in Canada.”

Theatre Sheridan heralds the cast of Rent as “the stars of tomorrow” — a sobriquet justified by the school’s track record. The phrase also could apply to Rent’s characters, an eclectic mix of twenty-something artists who scramble to eke out careers in the mean streets of New York City. Written by Jonathan Larson, who died unexpectedly before the show’s off-Broadway premiere in 1996 (and its Pulitzer Prize-winning success), the libretto is based on Giacomo Puccini’s La Bohème. AIDS replaces tuberculosis, the scourge of Puccini’s opera; Paris in the late 1800s is reconfigured as New York’s Alphabet City in the early 1990s; poverty still prevails; and love, lust and lassitude suffuse the characters’ hopes with a paradoxical blend of energy and langour that lends “la vie bohème” an air of melancholic urgency.

Despite the angst and terrible odds, love survives in Rent — three varieties of it, no less. Roger, a jittery musician traumatized by AIDS, falls for Mimi, a night-club dancer with a habit for cocaine. Maureen, the ex-lover of Roger’s roommate, Mark (a film-maker), stakes out a love-hate relationship with her new amour, Joanne, an erstwhile lawyer. Tom Collins, a gay anarchist and sometime college professor, picks up with Angel, a flamboyant drag-queen, also living with AIDS, who teaches him to trust. More important than the characters’ individual lives is the community they help create — one where the incessant demand to “pay the rent” signifies the crises that threaten love and creativity. “Seasons of Love,” the song that opens Act Two (and the show’s one bone fide hit), is a paean to survival in a world that frequently condemns love as wrong, sex as dangerous, and art as frivolous, if not decadent. Rejecting the costs of social and artistic approbation, the characters forge their bonds without a belief in tomorrow. Together, they celebrate the present which, for some of them, is all they will ever know.

Jacob MacInnis tells me that Lezlie Wade, the director of Sheridan’s Rent, conceived the production to foreground community. “For her, the cast is a family,” he says — a large one, in that it numbers 32. “Everyone has a story-line with which to build their character. This isn’t a ‘leads plus ensemble’ production; everyone takes the final bow together.” The approach suits a show that offers “a snap-shot of an important moment in American history,” as MacInnis puts it, a time when artists “cried out for people to open their eyes to what was happening all around them.” He pauses, as if considering how to continue. “A group of young artists struggles to leave something behind. What will it be? At the end of the show, they know. It will be love.” He pauses again, then gets personal. “I found a lot of myself in Tom Collins …”

Also opening mid-month is From the House of Mirth, another adaptation of a famous work — in this case, a novel by celebrated American author, Edith Wharton, first published in 1905. Unlike Theatre Sheridan’s production of Rent, this show is created and performed by some of Canada’s best-known, senior artists, working under the auspices of Coleman Lemieux & Compagnie (CLC), one of the country’s most respected dance initiatives. Founded in 2000 by Bill Coleman and Laurence Lemieux, pre-eminent choreographers and dancers, CLC creates intimate, small-scale performances, as well as spectacular stage shows, that feature some of Canada’s greatest dancers. This new presentation qualifies as both.

From the House of Mirth is a music/dance/theatre collaboration with an original score by Rodney Sharman, libretto by Alex Poch-Goldin, and choreography by James Kudelka, the CLC’s resident choreographer and director of the show. Kudelka stresses that this version of Wharton’s story evolves “not as a ballet, not as an opera, and not as a sung play,” but as all three, with each form picking up the narrative according to the emotional and intellectual demands of the moment. Four male singers take the stage, along with four dancers, all female. Only the male characters use songs to tell the story. The female characters remain silent, danced by Victoria Bertram, Claudia Moore, Christianne Ullmark and Laurence Lemieux who plays the lead character, Lily Bart. The four singers — Scott Belluz (countertenor), Graham Thomson (tenor), Alex Dobson (bass-baritone) and Geoffrey Sirret (baritone) — like the dancers, are accompanied by a five-piece chamber orchestra of piano, harmonium, harp, violin and cello, under the direction of John Hess.

Despite its substantial cast, From the House of Mirth recalls the salon evenings of Wharton’s time — genteel soirées staged in intimate venues, often private parlours. The approach fits the Citadel, the venue CLC now calls home. The performance space is housed in a three-storey building erected in 1912 at the base of Regent Park, formerly owned by The Salvation Army and renovated by CLC during the past few years. A state-of-the-art dance studio that seats an audience of 60, the Citadel’s intimacy fits Kudelka’s reimagining of New York salon culture in the early 20th century. Ironically, he uses the piece to expose the repressive manners and manipulations of the society that treasured the form — a “hot-house of traditions and conventions,” as Edith Wharton called it.

In the novel, Wharton charts the descent of Lily Bart from a glittering social circle in 1890s New York to poverty and a solitary death, her dreams of marriage — whether for wealth or for love — shattered by convention and her own conflicted desires. The challenge for Kudelka and his collaborators has been to create a vocabulary of music, movement, and theatre that evokes the novel’s moral issues while, simultaneously, it illustrates Lily’s inner life that evolves through her relationships with a number of men.

For composer Rodney Sharman, this challenge is tantamount to creating a structure that unites the disparate elements of the score. The music, he explains, “must set an atmosphere for the dance”; equally as crucial, it “must convey the most important moments in Lily’s story.” The songs sung by the men in From the House of Mirth use Poch-Godin’s libretto to convey much, but not all, of the exposition. “In the pivotal scene where Lily is disinherited,” Sharman notes, “there is no song whatsoever.” Moments like this lead him to remark, “it is a testament to the power of dance that the women in the piece can communicate so much, so fully, without using words.”

At the end of Wharton’s novel, when Lily dies from an overdose of a sleeping powder, her complicity in the event is left ambiguous. Not so Wharton’s attitude to the milieu she depicts with her cautionary tale. Summarizing its theme as “lost illusions and destructive melancholy” she pares her point-of-view to a succinct description that highlights the novel’s social critique. Coincidentally, one could apply her summary to the characters in Rent. At least for them, however, love survives, even as idealism fades.

Ah, New York, New York: “if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere …” Plus ça change …

And There’s More!

May is the month for musical adaptations (or so it appears this year), at least two of which deserve mention in addition to those above. Opening early in the month is West Side Story, one of the most famous adaptations in recent history, in a touring version presented by Dancap Productions. Inspired by William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, the book by Arthur Laurents updates the rivalry between the Capulets and Montagues to New York’s Upper West Side in the mid-1950s where the Jets and the Sharks, two teenage gangs, fight to control the streets. The Sharks and their Puerto Rican heritage are taunted by the Jets, a white working-class gang, even as Tony, a Jet, falls for Maria, the sister of Bernardo, leader of the Sharks. With a soaring score by Leonard Bernstein, poetic lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and the electric choreography of Jerome Robbins, the show is one of the great achievements of American musical theatre.

West Side Story premiered on Broadway in 1957. Fifty years later, Arthur Laurents undertook a major revival of the show by weaving Spanish lyrics and dialogue into the English libretto, arguing that “the musical theatre and cultural conventions of 1957 made it next to impossible for the characters to have authenticity. Every member of both gangs was always a potential killer even then. Now they actually will be. Only Tony and Maria try to live in a different world.” This new “edgy” production, even more successful than the original, is the one on tour to Toronto.

Opening late in the month, Dear World is possibly as obscure as West Side Story is well-known. Using music and lyrics by Jerry Herman to refashion Jean Giraudoux’s play, The Madwoman of Chaillot, the show was a flop when it opened in New York in 1969 for a brief, calamitous run. Despite negative reviews, it won Angela Lansbury a Tony Award for her performance as the Countess Aurelia, a woman driven mad by a lost love who spends her days reminiscing in the basement of a Parisian bistro — at least, until it is targeted for demolition by an multinational oil corporation. Conceived as a chamber piece, the show reputedly was overwhelmed by the grandiose design of its initial staging. A subsequent revision of the book by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee returned the script to its intimacy, and Herman added three new songs to expand his melodic and clever score. Presumably, this version is the one that the Civic Light Opera presents at the Fairview Library Theatre until June 9th. Check it out.

Based in Toronto, Robert Wallace writes about theatre and performance. He can be contacted at musictheatre@thewholenote.com.

May offers opera lovers productions on both a large and small scale. The Tales of Hoffmann and the double-bill of The Florentine Tragedy and Gianni Schicchi continue at the Canadian Opera Company and are joined in May by Handel’s Semele. Meanwhile, a new opera company also presents a Handel opera, but in a deliberately minimalist fashion, and Against the Grain Theatre moves its next production from the pub to a theatre.

The Canadian Opera Company’s first-ever production of Handel’s Semele runs May 9 to 26. Like Handel’s Hercules (1745), seen earlier this year in a staged concert performance by Tafelmusik directed by Opera Atelier’s Marshall Pynkoski, Semele (1744) was written as an oratorio. The audiences of the day found that Semele was so operatic in its conception and execution that they suspected Handel was presenting them an opera (inappropriate for the Lenten season) in the guise of an oratorio. Consequently, it, like the Hercules that followed, was a failure and fell into neglect until the 20th century — neither revived until 1925. Since then, it has become one of Handel’s more frequently-performed operas.

Handel chose for his libretto one written by famed English playwright William Congreve in 1707 for an opera by John Eccles. The story found in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Book III, is set at the Temple of Juno in Thebes, where King Cadmus is preparing for the marriage of his daughter Semele to Prince Athamas. Semele has been trying to postpone the marriage because she has a secret lover — none other than the god Jupiter himself who disguises himself as a mortal. Spurred on by Juno, enraged that her husband is yet again seeking pleasure elsewhere, Semele demands that Jupiter show himself to her in all his godlike splendour. Jupiter warns her of the consequences but she cannot be dissuaded and as a result is burned to ashes by the flames of his glory. The one positive outcome (which the COC production omits) is that Jupiter is able to rescue his son from Semele’s womb, who will become Bacchus (Dionysus in Greek), god of wine, epiphany and tragedy.

The COC production, designed and directed by Chinese artist Zhang Huan, was first presented at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels in 2009 and then in Beijing in 2010, where it became the first major production of a baroque opera in China. Zhang provides an Eastern take on Western subject matter, but it is worth bearing in mind that the story of Semele and Dionysus is not originally a Greek story. It is a myth that the Thracians assimilated when they were resident in Asia Minor before finally settling in Greece. The name “Semele” itself comes from a proto-Indo-European root meaning “earth” and Dionysus is one of numerous gods in world mythology who die and are resurrected and are related to primordial vegetation cults. James Frazer’s The Golden Bough (1890) is devoted to this subject and finds parallels for Dionysus in Osiris in Ancient Egypt, Tammuz in Ancient Babylon and Krishna in Hinduism, among many others.

What makes this production so unusual is that it features an actual 450-year-old Ming Dynasty ancestral temple on stage. Zhang salvaged the temple from destruction after its owner was executed for murdering his wife’s lover. As Zhang says in his Director’s Note, “This old temple is the chapel where Semele is to get married, the heaven where she creates love, the crematory where she is destroyed, and the holy land that she is reborn in.”

At the podium is Rinaldo Alessandrini, who has recorded baroque repertoire extensively with Concerto Italiano and is considered one of the world’s leading specialists in baroque opera. The cast includes Jane Archibald as Semele, Allyson McHardy as both Semele’s sister Ino and as Juno, William Burden as Jupiter, Anthony Roth Costanzo as Athamas and Steven Hunes as both Cadmus and Somnus, god of sleep. On May 23, members of the COC Ensemble Studio take over the roles at a special performance. For tickets or more information, visit www.coc.ca.

Lovers of Handel’s operas should consider performances of Alcina (1735) presented in concert by a new arrival on the opera scene, Essential Opera, founded by sopranos Erin Bardua and Maureen Batt. Though Alcina is one of Handel’s most popular operas, it has never been staged by the COC. Essential Opera presents the work accompanied by period instruments at the Trinity-
St. Paul’s Centre on May 25 and as part of the New Hamburg Live! festival in New Hamburg, near Stratford, on May 31. The cast includes Bardua and Batt as the sorceresses Alcina and Morgana; Vilma Vitols as the knight Ruggiero entrapped by Alcina’s love-spells; and Vicki St. Pierre as both conductor and the heroine Bradamante, who disguises herself as a knight, to rescue her betrothed Ruggiero. Alcina is sung in Italian with English surtitles. For tickets and more information, see www.essentialopera.com.

Switching to the 20th century, Against the Grain Theatre, known for its popular pub presentations of Puccini’s La Bohème, moves to the 112-seat Helen Gardiner Phelan Playhouse on the U of T campus, for an intimate production of Benjamin Britten’s The Turn of the Screw (1954).

This is only the second fully-staged production by AtG, whose goal is to make opera a cozier, more relaxed experience. The show will have sets by Camellia Koo and costumes by Erika Connor. AtG founder Joel Ivany directs with Christopher Mokrzewski at the piano. Miriam Khalil will sing the role of the troubled Governess, COC favourite Michael Barrett will be the mysterious Peter Quint, Megan Latham will be Mrs. Grose and Johane Ansell and Sebastian Gayowsky will be Flora and Miles, the two children who fall under Quint’s malign influence. For tickets and more information, visit againstthegraintheatre.com.

Editor’s Note: Information about this AtG production arrived too late for our concert listings deadline: performances are May 24, 25, 26 and 27, at 7:30pm.

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

What is the definition of a successful musician? I thought about this last month after learning that local organist and singer Bruce Kirkpatrick Hill had passed away suddenly and unexpectedly. Word of Bruce’s passing spread very quickly throughout the Toronto choral community, and the shock that people felt had to do with his young age — he was only 49 — as well as with its suddenness. But at the funeral service, it was clear that the mixture of grief and respect that defined the event extended well beyond shock. As I walked home, I pondered why Bruce’s death — or rather, his life — had touched so many people.

Public recognition is the most obvious indication of success — a reputation draws people to attend a concert, purchase a recording, sign up for lessons. It’s usually (but not always) an indication of a standard of artistic achievement for audiences and musicians alike. Another category, less obvious but often more long-lasting, is the behind-the-scenes or just-out-of-the-spotlight professional who works steadily, but has little or no public profile. The majority of musicians fall into this group. A lot of the music that you love the most has been created by artists whose names you have never known.

A third category might be “community musician,” a term that can encompass both professionals and amateurs. A community musician can be defined as someone who loves their chosen art form, and devotes their talents and abilities to it with the best of their ability. Sometimes they are known outside their home region, but often they are not. Choral music is in great part driven by the work of talented and dedicated amateurs. This is, in part, because professional choral singing pays very badly — a subject for a future column — but just as significantly, because most choral singers are amateurs in the traditional sense of the word, lovers of the art from who have the drive to foster and maintain it.

Of course, these three categories of success intersect and divide into subsets and levels, and Bruce Kirkpatrick Hill certainly acquitted himself well in the first two areas described above. But at his funeral, and during the week leading up to it, it became clear that Bruce was a community musician of unusual success and achievement.

Some musicians seem to have a particular talent for simply being present. Without any fanfare, they make an impression, and you never forget them. Their assurance and professionalism thread through a musical community and help define that community in people’s minds. When they are gone, we feel their absence as a loss beyond their physical presence. Even for those of us who didn’t know him well, Bruce made this kind of impression. He was part of the bone and sinew of the Toronto choral scene. In a sense, his very presence seemed to evoke the solidity of the choral traditions that he loved.

Bruce’s funeral was held at the Anglican Church of St. Mary Magdalene. Every seat was full, and the rest of the overflow crowd stood at the back for the entire two hour service. When hymns were sung, the church reverberated with the sound of hundreds of trained singers falling naturally into four-part harmony. It was a choral sound unprecedented in the city, one that Bruce would have appreciated.

Ottawa conductor Matthew Larkin (leader of the Toronto-based Larkin Singers) led the St. Mary Magdalene church choir in a selection of anthems. After the final benediction, a mixture of the singers from the Exultate Choir, the church choir, and various choral colleagues and friends of Bruce’s, joined together to sing a beautiful setting of the Kontakion, a Byzantine liturgical text from the Eastern Orthordox Christian tradition, composed by Bruce’s wife, fellow choral director and composer Stephanie Martin.

If the above reads somewhat like a concert review, it is not because Bruce’s funeral was primarily an aesthetic event. Rather, it is that choral concerts are experiences rooted in community, and choral concert repertoire has its roots in these communal experiences — worship of a deity, celebration of the bounty of the earth, tribute to a beloved friend. To be a community musician within the choral tradition is to take part in an ancient activity that is as relevant and necessary to our lives now as it was hundreds, possibly thousands, of years ago.

Moving to this month’s choral lineup: at this time of year, almost every choir in the region is presenting its final concert of the season, and there are many musical choices in the coming weeks. My recommendation: make sure you go to two or more concerts — one by your favourite group, and one or more given by a group that you have not yet heard. Travel to a part of the city or region that you haven’t visited, and get to know a group that comes from that community.

Another community musician of note was Ben Shek, an expert in Yiddish culture, and one of the driving forces of the venerable Toronto Jewish Folk Choir. The TJFC will be giving a concert in honour of Ben, and other members of Toronto’s Jewish choral community, on June 3.

On the same night, the Penthelia Singers celebrate their 15th anniversary with a gala concert program of all-Canadian music, and a guest conducting appearance from Mary Legge, another great Toronto choral community musician.

The Tallis Choir performs “The Glory of the English Anthem” on May 5. This concert includes two genuine masterworks, Harris’s eight-part setting of Faire is the Hevene, and renaissance composer Thomas Tallis’s setting of the Lamentations of Jeremiah.

The Toronto Mendelssohn Choir’s final concert of the season (May 23) is a feast of choral riches: the Poulenc Gloria, Leonard Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms and William Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast.

On June 9, just beyond the scope of this issue’s concert listings, Jenny Crober’s East York chorus re-christens itself the Voca Chorus of Toronto, with a performance of Paul Winter’s crowd-pleasing Missa Gaia. This work combines the sound of recorded animal voices with energetic gospel-derived music, and has been a hit since its premiere in 1982.

On May 4, the Upper Canada Choristers combine the famous Fauré Requiem with works by Venezuelan composer César Alejandro Carrillo. Interestingly, the choir has recently instituted a support program for boys with changing voices, to foster continued choral involvement for nascent baritones and tenors, and to promote to teenage boys a positive message for choral singing as an ongoing activity through adolescence and adulthood.

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

It was back in the late fall that we decided, here at The WholeNote, that a case could be made for a regular beat column covering the art of song, focussing not on choirs but on voice as a solo instrument. This column has been the result, and judging by the amount of material that leaps to hand each month, the decision was the right one. So count on it being a regular feature of the magazine, although likely under some other columnist’s tender loving care. (And if that sounds to you like an invitation to apply for the job, you may contact me at the email address listed at the end of the column and argue your case.)

Were jazz baseball, vocalist June Garber would be an all-star slugger. Vocally she’s got chops aplenty, but what keeps the bandleaders calling and the audiences hollering is more than just her voice. It’s a smile that can melt melancholy, and sincerity that makes every lyric sparkle. Born in South Africa and a Torontonian since 1975, her rich and varied performance career has taken the singer/actress across the globe. Since 2004, she has been focused on jazz, starting off with Bill King’s diva showcases and eventually singing with a handful of local big bands. Now the hot Floridian sun calls, permanently, as of July. Luckily for the sunshine state, she plans on singing for many years to come.

You sing with many big bands — is this very different from singing with a trio? Oh yes. It’s a lot more structured. If you’re working with a trio you can follow them or they can follow you. But with a big band you can’t make a mistake. If you lose your way, you’re gone! The horns will keep playing so you have to have a really good ear and know where you are.

You went for 15 years without singing or acting, returning to the stage in 2004. What prompted you to return to the stage? Well, I started going nuts (laughs). I was finding all sorts of creative outlets: gardening, cooking, and then painting  oils, acrylics, you name it. But it was never enough. The husband of the woman running a hospice I was volunteering for in Markham  played bass and she invited me to check out his band. And I got into jazz.

How did you work on being such a great entertainer? I think the generosity of spirit in which you wish to include people and make them feel at ease, that’s the most important thing. And then the connection, I really look into people’s eyes when I’m singing. I think I actually need to connect and get feedback, so that if there is warmth coming back, that’s like heaven to me …

Studying theatre growing up and doing a lot of plays at university — and also when I came to Toronto I did a lot of theatre — you learn to inhabit and take ownership of your space.

What or who inspired you to become a singer? Thank you so much for asking that (wipes tear) … you can see me welling up. That’s all I ever wanted to do is sing. When I was a kid, I would sing all the time. And I didn’t know where this came from — it certainly wasn’t at home. In fact, I was discouraged. It was not to happen. Every time I had a musical thing, unless it was attached to a school, it was not to happen. My father — my real father — was killed in a plane crash when I was three. My mother married the stepfather three months after he was killed. I was not allowed to even mention my father — never saw a photograph, nothing. I could never sing when my stepfather was alive. After he died, we were in dire financial straits. My mother said, when you finish school, you cannot sing, you have to do secretarial work or be a teacher. So I became a teacher. Years later when we came to Canada, and I had a website, we got an email from someone that said, “If you’re June Garber, the daughter of Eric Garber, I want you to know that he was the best jazz drummer in South Africa.” It was so painful to have all those years wasted … and I didn’t even know that my father was such a fabulous musician. It’s crazy ... but I do think I was born with it.”

On May 6, June Garber will narrate and sing with the Kindred Spirits Orchestra at the Markham Theatre. Catch her while you can.

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

As i sit down and stare at the blank screen, we have had our four beautiful days of summer complete with crocuses in the garden and it’s now back to the reality of spring. It’s time to come out from under the rocks and see what is happening in the band world. For many, it’s transition time from the more formal concert format of the fall and winter programming before the summer events begin. For others there is probably still a final spring concert looming first. Unfortunately, Murphy’s Law seems to be working in our band world this spring. We have two significant major concerts the same date and time in downtown Toronto.

This leads us to the one big spring event in our band world. It’s the Hannaford Street Silver Band’s annual Festival of Brass 2012 version from Friday April 13 through Sunday April 15. It’s bigger than ever this year. As in past years, on the Friday evening there will be “Rising Stars” at the Church of the Redeemer where members of the Hannaford Youth Program will perform under the direction of Anita McAlister. This concert will also include the final round of their annual Solo competition. The winner of this will perform with the HSSB on the Sunday concert.

On Saturday afternoon it will again be “Community Showcase” where community bands from across Ontario and beyond will perform a wide range of repertoire. Some bands will also vie for the Hannaford Cup, the HSSB’s annual award for excellence. Individual members of some of these groups will compete in the band’s annual Slow Melody contest. The winner of this competition will perform with the HSSB on Sunday. On Saturday evening, the Canadian Staff Band of the Salvation Army, under the direction of bandmaster John Lam returns to the festival. As soloist, tuba showman extraordinaire, Patrick Sheridan, will dazzle the audience with his virtuosity .

As in past seasons, the grand finale will be the Sunday afternoon concert, “Dreaming of the Master.” Here, Sheridan will switch roles from soloist, and make his debut as guest conductor of HSSB. In this concert there will be two soloists. Canadian trumpet virtuoso, Jens Lindemann, will return to the Hannaford stage in a performance of Canadian composer, Allan Gilliland’s Dream of the Master for Trumpet and Brass Band. The other soloist will, of course, be the winner of the Youth Band’s Solo competition.

As if this were not enough, this year HSSB has added some new features. On Thursday April 12 there will be “Education Concerts” for students at 11am and 1pm at the Toronto Centre for the Arts. We have heard rumours that the morning event is already sold out. The other new event will be a masterclass on Saturday April 14 at 9:30am at the Jane Mallett Theatre. This will be a free public event where Lindemann and Sheridan join forces to impart their wealth of musical performance expertise to all in attendance.

The Hannaford Street Silver Band is to be congratulated for its efforts in bringing the unique sounds of the brass band to a wider audience, and for its outstanding contribution to the enrichment of the musical lives of the participants in their junior bands.

For a very different kind of band music we have the Silverthorn Symphonic Winds and their concert offering of “Ballet, Broadway, and the Big Screen.” This concert will feature the world premiere of a new transcription of Sherwood Legend, for solo French horn and wind ensemble, by Canadian composer and oboist Elizabeth Raum. This transcription, commissioned by Silverthorn Symphonic Winds, will feature artist-in-residence Christopher Gongos on French horn. The concert takes place at 2pm, Sunday April 22 at the Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts. A free pre-concert talk with composer Raum and Gongos will begin at 1:15pm.

Another event of interest to band musicians offered by Silverthorn Symphonic Winds is a free public music clinic, in conjunction with the Westmount Collegiate Music Department and Arts Westmount Music. Led by Gongos, “Brass Boot Camp and Beyond” will provide tips on musicianship, technique and ensemble playing. The clinic takes place on Thursday April 12, 7pm, at Westmount Collegiate Institute, 1000 New Westminster Dr., Thornhill.

Brass musicians should bring their instruments to participate in an ensemble led by Gongos. Other musicians will also benefit from the clinic and are encouraged to attend as audience members. The content of the clinic will be geared toward high school instrumentalists and adult amateur musicians. It is free and open to the public. For more information, contact pr@silverthornsymphonicwinds.ca. This is the kind of effort which could, and should, be undertaken by more community musical groups. It is the sort of initiative that will frequently qualify for funds from granting agencies and will endear the band to the community at large.

The Royal Regiment of Canada, the biggest Reserve regiment in the Canadian Army, is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year (which they didn’t tell our listings department about, alas). In any case, on Sunday, April 15, 2pm, the Regimental Band will present its “150th Anniversary Gala Concert” at Koerner Hall at the Royal Conservatory. The concert will feature the Band of The Royal Regiment of Canada, emcee Jacquie Perrin of the CBC, and special guests the Pipes and Drums of the 48th Highlanders of Canada, singer-songwriter Jon Patterson, vocalist Danielle Bourré, and a specially-formed Regimental Chorus composed of Afghanistan veterans and other serving infanteers. To dovetail with the concert, the Band of The Royal Regiment of Canada will be releasing a new double-CD, Saeculum Aureum (Golden Age), their sixth recording in the last 15 years. And there will be a pre-concert luncheon in Hart House on the University of Toronto campus.

Who said that community bands were dead? Last month I reported on the formation of the new Aurora Concert Band, and hope to visit them some Sunday evening soon. Now, a few days ago, I heard from a band that has been operating for over a year, but has just contacted us. The Columbus Centre Concert Band, under the direction of Livio Leonardelli was formed in November 2010 and has grown to more than 40 regular musicians. They performed five concerts in 2011 and have currently booked for five in 2012. Their diverse repertoire ranges from Verdi and Puccini through Count Basie and Sinatra, to Broadway musicals. They rehearse every Tuesday evening from 7:30pm to 9:30pm at the Columbus Centre and are particularly interested in attracting a few more low brass players. For information contact Fred Cassano at fred.cassano@ca.pwc.com or at 416-828-3733.

Definition Department

This month’s lesser known musical term is The Right of Strings: The Manifesto of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Violists.

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

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

I’m not sure why, but when April rolls around I find myself thinking about songs. (Of course, I think of songs every day of every month, but there is something about April that triggers a reaction within me. Maybe it’s the promise of spring.

And there is quite a clutch of songs out there to sing about this month — April Showers, April In Paris, I’ll Remember April, April Love — an integral part of each being the lyric, which brings us to the topic of singers: Bessie Smith, Alberta Hunter, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and Blossom Dearie were all born in April (as were some very significant musicians — Lionel Hampton, Charles Mingus, Joe Henderson, Count Basie and Duke Ellington to name only a few).

By the way, one of my favourite April songs is April In My Heart from 1937, composed by Hoagy Carmichael and with lyrics by Helen Meinardi who was Hoagy’s sister-in-law at the time. There is a great recording of it by Billie Holiday. If you don’t know the song you should check it out.

I regularly have spoken about the importance of melody. Add to that the significance of a song’s lyric. Most of the great standard songs had a verse, chorus and lyric. Great players like Lester Young and Sonny Rollins are on record as stating that it is important to know what the lyric is about. Without that understanding, the interpretation of the song will be less than it might be. Rollins would even sometimes recite the lyrics to a song for his musicians.

If you look at this month’s concert listings you will find a strong presence of the vocal art, with jazz and jazz-based music more than pulling its weight.

On April 15, as part of SING! Toronto Vocal Arts Festival, two a cappella groups, the Swingle Singers and Countermeasure, a Toronto group in the same mould, will be at Harbourfront Centre’s Enwave Theatre at 8pm. Also on the 15th, at Koerner Hall, Adi Braun and her trio present “Noir,” a concert of music from the era of film noir, with Jordan Klapman, piano, George Koller, bass and Daniel Barnes, drums. Then on the 16th, Bobby McFerrin will bring his vocal pyrotechnics to Roy Thomson Hall. Nikki Yanofsky will be at Massey Hall on April 21 and on the 27th Kellylee Evans will be at Glenn Gould Studio.

And we are not finished yet. On April 28 at Walter Hall, it is time for the Toronto Duke Ellington Society’s 15th Annual Scholarship Concert featuring the Brian Barlow Orchestra with Robi Botos, piano, Heather Bambrick, vocals and tap dancer David Cox.

So, you see, quite the month for pipes — no, Jock, not that kind, I mean vocal pipes!

But let’s not forget instrumental jazz. On Apr 14 at 8pm Joshua Redman and Brad Mehldau will be at Koerner Hall; and looking ahead on May 5, also at Koerner Hall, the Hilario Durán Latin Big Band, with guest saxophonist Paquito D’Rivera, will perform.

If I may, while I’m still on my “trumpeters should know the lyrics” soapbox, let me add one more element, and that is tempo. I learned a huge amount from some of the great swing veterans with whom I was lucky enough to work. Choosing the correct tempo for a piece was so important to them and could make all the difference in finding just the right “slot” for a tune. Too slow or too fast and something was lost. For example, in my opinion, All The Things You Are is a beautiful ballad. The words say it all :

“You are the promised kiss of springtime

That makes the lonely winter seem long.

You are the breathless hush of evening

That trembles on the brink of a lovely song.”

It begs to be played as a ballad, and yet so many musicians play it at the speed of light. It might be a wonderful exhibition of technique, but it sure as hell loses the meaning of the song. Please don’t misunderstand me — technique is important; it’s just that it isn’t all-important. I am not laying down a hard and fast rule. For example, Indiana is a song that lends itself to a bright tempo, but I also love to play it as a ballad. If you are a player, try it some time.

I’ll stick my tongue firmly in my cheek and tell the story about the music teacher who says to a student who has just played a long solo containing many notes but no substance: “I’ve got some good news and some bad news. The good news is you’ve got a lot of technique. The bad news is you’ve got a lot of technique.”

To end with, here’s a quote from Paul Desmond: “I tried practising for a few weeks and ended up playing too fast.”

Happy listening and please try to take in some live jazz. Our club listings starting on page 56 are the best around. So no excuses.

Jim Galloway is a saxophonist, band leader andformer artistic director of Toronto Downtown Jazz. Hecan be contacted at jazznotes@thewholenote.com.

World music concerts this month launch with the culmination of the Toronto association Bharathi Kala Manram’s 40th Annual Thyagaraja Music Festival at the SVBF Auditorium in Etobicoke. Thyagaraja (1767–1847) was a singer and prolific composer and remains among the most influential figures in the Carnatic (South Indian classical) music canon. On Sunday April 1 at 4pm, Thyagaraja’s musical legacy is marked in a concert featuring the Indian vocalist P. Unnikrishnan, accompanied by Embar Kannan, violin and Anand Anathakrishnan, mridangam (hand drum). As well as being considered one of India’s great composers, often compared to Beethoven, he dedicated his life to the devotion of the divine. Many South Indians thus consider him the patron saint of Carnatic music and his widespread diasporic legacy is celebrated every year in presentations of his songs.

Our remarkably early and pleasant spring weather this year is certainly a cause for celebration of another, more secular kind. (The weather’s distractions might also explain the fact that this next concert, by the Sarv Ensemble, as well as that of the Baarbad Ensemble on April 15, discussed below, came to my attention too late to convey to The WholeNote listings department.)

On April 5 the Sarv Ensemble presents a concert marking the arrival of spring and the Persian New Year at Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre. Comprised of young musicians playing Persian instruments this ensemble was formed two years ago in Toronto. Its music draws inspiration from diverse classical and folk music traditions from across Iran, freely incorporating new compositions, yet striving to remain faithful to the tradition of the radif, the primary tonal organizational principle of Persian music. The eight-member Sarv Ensemble is joined by the York University ethnomusicologist Irene Markoff as vocalist and baglama player.

That same April 5 night, around the nose of Lake Ontario in St. Catharines, three top Canadian guitarists share the stage at the Centre for the Arts, Brock University. P.R.O. is pan-Mediterranean specialist Pavlo, Canadian Rock Hall of Famer Rik Emmett and multi JUNO Award winner Oscar Lopez. Each musician has carved out a career specializing in a particular guitar-centric niche mixing his passion for pan-Mediterranean, rock, Latin, “nouveau flamenco” and fusion music genres. Another passion — one they share with their many fans — is an abiding love for the six-string, fretted instrument they’ve built their careers on.

On April 12, Small World Music/Batuki Music Society present the trio called Bombino, whose music is billed as “blues from the Saharan desert” at Toronto’s Lula Lounge. Born in 1980 at a nomadic camp near the North African desert town of Agadez, the guitarist and songwriter Omara “Bombino” Moctar grew up during an era of armed struggle for Tuareg independence. His electric guitar riffs, once considered a symbol of Tuareg rebellion, draw on the guitarism of fellow North Africans Tinariwen and Ali Farka Touré, as well as the American rock and blues of Jimi Hendrix and John Lee Hooker. Bombino, with his intense guitar virtuosity backed with driving drum kit and electric bass, is renowned throughout the Sahara. Not only are his bootleg tapes treasured and traded among fans in the region, but in recent years his guitar prowess has been increasingly noticed internationally. In 2006, Bombino recorded with the Rolling Stones’ Keith Richards and Charlie Watts.

On the same day, April 12, at the Harcourt Memorial United Church in Guelph, and with no guitars in sight, the Guelph Youth Singers headline a concert titled “United for Africa.” Joined by the Guelph Community Singers and Les Jeunes Chanteurs d’Acadie, the GYS program includes three African dances, the marching song Siyahamba, and songs from the traditional Acadian repertoire. The concert proceeds go to the Bracelet of Hope charity, providing medical care to HIV/AIDS patients in Africa.

The Irshad Khan World Ensemble performs on April 13 at the Living Arts Centre, Mississauga. Of impeccable North Indian musical lineage, Irshad Khan, a resident of Mississauga, is a formidable sitar and surbahar master whose career is rooted in classical Hindustani music. In this, his latest East-West fusion project, however, he has infused his sitar playing with the talents of local musicians John Brownell on drum set, Dave Ramkissoon on tabla, guitarist Brian Legere, Mark West on keyboards and bassist Dave Field. Together they explore the lighter side of world-beat, playing Irshad Khan’s compositions that will “be decided spontaneously on the stage.”

Also on April 13 the Perimeter Institute in Waterloo presents international pipa (Chinese lute) virtuoso Wu Man with the Shanghai String Quartet as part of their Classical World Artists Series. Wu Man is an eloquent advocate of traditional and avant-garde Chinese music who is best known to international audiences as a champion of the pipa in the works of contemporary composers. Performing for nearly three decades, the polished Shanghai Quartet has toured major music centres throughout the globe and collaborated with some of the world’s leading composers and musicians. Together they perform a mixed program of music by both European and Chinese composers.

April 15, the Persian music Baarbad Ensemble in collaboration with Sinfonia Toronto and Moussou Folila, stage an ambitious seven-part music program at the Glenn Gould Studio. Titled “The Wayfarers of This Long Pilgrimage,” the evening is intended to represent “the seven stages of ancient mysticism.” This multi-cultural performance showcases the premiere of compositions by Persian santur player Mehdi Rezania and kamanche master Saeed Kamjoo. New arrangements of the folk music of Iran and the Balkan region by Hossein Alizadeh and Hans Zimmer enrich the musical texture and ethno-historical resonance. Involving a large group of over 25 musicians the ensemble also features guest Toronto world music vocalist Brenna MacCrimmon, Hossein Behroozinia on barbat (Persian lute), and djembe player Anna Malnikoff.

Ritmo Flamenco Dance and Music Ensemble present “Vida Flamenco” at the Al Green Theatre on April 21. Directed by Roger Scannura who serves as lead flamenco guitarist and composer, the show features Anjelica Scannura as lead dancer and choreographer. The Scannura family has made flamenco a way of life and are among Canada’s foremost exponents of the art form.

This month intrepid Toronto world music fans can feast on music and dance: the multi-venue Bulgarian Arts Festival demonstrates the many faces of that country’s culture. Titled “Soul Journey to Bulgaria,” the festival’s events include not only visual arts exhibits, classical concerts, poetry, theatre and film screenings, but also several folklore dance and world music concerts. I can mention only a few concerts here; for a complete listing of the many scheduled events please visit the festival’s website. On Saturday April 21, the Eurovision-esque singing style of Bulgarian pop stars Rossitza Kirilova and Kaloyan Kalchev headline the concert along with the engaging folk based music of the Bulgarian Children’s group Bulgarche at the Great Hall of the Macedono-Bulgarian Eastern Orthodox Cathedral. The venue changes on April 27 to St. George’s Macedono Bulgarian Church. That concert showcases the folkloric music and dance of the Dimitrovche group, with Grammy winning kaval (end-blown Bulgarian flute) virtuoso and composer Teodosii Spassov.

On the following Saturday, April 28, from 3pm to 10pm, the Bulgarian Arts Festival takes over Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre. A few highlights rounding out the afternoon: the Bulgarche children’s group and Irene Markoff’s York University Balkan Music Ensemble. At 8pm the Teodosii Spassov Ethno Jazz Trio swings into the Brigantine room. The trio’s moniker couldn’t be more descriptive. Led by kaval maestro Spassov, a soloist at the Bulgarian National Radio and with ten solo albums to his credit, the trio explores his patent merger of traditional Bulgarian folk music with jazz, classical and popular genres. He has been hailed by the Chicago Tribune for making music “… like a jam session between Ian Anderson and Thelonius Monk.” With his brilliant and innovative playing, Spassov has taken what was originally a shepherd’s flute into 21st-century concert halls around the world.

Also on April 28, unfortunately, the Grammy Award winning Buena Vista Social Club’s guitarist Eliades Ochoa performs with his band at Toronto’s Opera House. The Toronto-based Latin singer Laura Fernandez guests. For Cuban song (and Wim Wenders’ film) aficionados like me it’s a rare opportunity to experience one of this music’s godfathers live on Queen St. E.

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