Beat Columns (Live Music)

One of my favourite things at Soulpepper is their concert series. Under the leadership originally of creator and music director Mike Ross and now under Frank Cox-O’Connell, each concert explores a new theme, artist or group of artists, interweaving words and music in a uniquely satisfying way particular to the story or stories that emerge.

Much like the word “jazz” itself, the origin of the term “jam session” is up for debate, but there’s no denying the multi-layered potential that jam sessions unleash: community building, essential education, artistic exploration and audience engagement. Before we dive in, though, for the uninitiated, what can you expect from such an evening?

February and March bring a vibrant array of new sounds, kicking off with an energetic start of multiple concerts in early February. And right in the middle, in early March, comes International Women’s Day on March 8 – a time to celebrate progress while acknowledging the challenges that persist. While one might hope such a day would no longer be necessary, recent developments south of the border highlight persistent threats to women’s rights and freedoms, underscoring the continued importance of IWD.

Many artists trace others’ footsteps, while certain standouts develop their own paths. Similarly, while many live music venues stick to a familiar formula, occasionally a space comes along with its own distinct vision, vibe and style. Jean Darlene in the Dundas & Ossington neighbourhood is one of the latter, offering a unique, memorable experience to its clientele. 

The first time you go, be warned: the entrance is not where you think it is, as is explained in the QR code on the door at 1203 Dundas West. Follow the instructions: walk west, turn left at the KFC, take the alley all the way to the end and take the stairs down; check your coat, pay your cover and take the stairs up and you’ll arrive at your destination: The Jean Darlene Piano Room. 

“Where am I?” you will wonder: the lighting is dim and mysterious; a disco ball illuminates the air; a golden grand piano sparkles in the corner; a bartender mixes a martini; you have never been here and yet it feels as warm and inviting as an old friend’s apartment.

The holiday season’s musical shows run a wonderful gamut: perennial holiday fare; more modern takes on the holiday; year-round family favourites; and, of course, pantomime. 

Among the perennials this year are such shows as the National Ballet’s Nutcracker, the Shaw Festival’s A Christmas Carol, and Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre’s Wintersong compilation of dance pieces celebrating the winter solstice, while the more modern takes include a musical version of the 1983 movie A Christmas Story about to take the stage at Theatre Aquarius directed by Artistic Director Mary Frances Moore. And headlining the year-round family favourites are My Fair Lady, also at the Shaw Festival, and The Sound of Music at The Grand Theatre London, both of which run right into the waning days of December.

Pantos soar on stage at theatres across the province at this time of year, usually combining contemporary comedy with songs in the telling of traditional fairy tales or equally well-known magical tales. This year’s crop includes Sleeping Beauty…A Fairy’s Tale at Theatre Orangeville and what seems to be a panto-oriented Christmas Carol at Tweed & Company’s stages in Bancroft and Tweed. Even Ross Petty’s madly modern yet traditional panto, The Wizard of Oz: The Toto-ly Awesome Family Musical, is back, at the Elgin Wintergarden Theatre Dec 6 to Jan 5. It is now under the banner of Canadian Stage but with many of the former creative team in place. Written by Matt Murray, it will be directed by Ted Dykstra with music directed by Mark Camilleri, and stars audience favourites Dan Chameroy (Plumbun) and Eddie Glen (The Scarecrow), along with multi-Dora-Award-wining Vanessa Sears as the Wicked Witch.

Chandeliers shone down on empty tables. A handful of other early-admitted guests chatted next to the cash-only bar as RESOUND Choir warmed up. Many of the 60 singers wore a gold pin with the choir’s symbol: a phoenix. Their dress for the evening was otherwise business casual.

The singers filed off their risers and front-of-house opened the doors. Within ten minutes, an audience of almost 300 packed the room.

I’d gone to LVIV Pavilion Banquet Hall in Oshawa mid-October for a concert called Sips & Shanties. RESOUND Choir was celebrating its fifth anniversary with a program of Canadian folk music and works by contemporary Indigenous composers. I was particularly curious to hear how they’d handle songs popularized by the Rankin Family, who formed a big part of the soundtrack of my childhood in Nova Scotia.

A lot has happened since 2018, the year I described the Happenstancers in these pages as part of the future of chamber music and song recital. A year later, two of the ensemble’s three founding musicians (mezzo-soprano Adanya Dunn and pianist Nahre Sol) departed Canada, which left Brad Cherwin in Toronto with room to invent from scratch and experiment – and experiment he did! The Happenstancers are now a large informal band of musicians with Cherwin as the artistic director, with several busy performance seasons under their belt each more ambitious than the last, an annual festival, a visiting guest conductor, a concert space in a Lutheran church out on Bloor West, a part-time production manager, a video artist, and a solid record of success with granting bodies. And most importantly, an audience which –  the Holy Grail of classical music – skews under 40 years old. 

Next step would be to have repeat performances and to take them outside Toronto, Cherwin tells me when we meet in a coffee shop to talk about yet another iteration of Happenstancers’ all-choral West End Micro Music Festival (WEMMF), Revelations, a contemporary music shindig pushing boundaries and rethinking the concert form, happening November 22-23 and Nov 29-30 at Redeemer Lutheran Church,1691 Bloor St. W. 

“We would love to tour, but it’s hard to make the finances work,” Cherwin says. They performed one year in New York (where pianist-composer and recurring Happenstancer Nahre Sol lives) and at a festival in PEI, but the logistics around performing even in places as close as Hamilton remain daunting. 

I was going to start this column with a joke about October being the scariest month of the year. “A time to contemplate death, devils, and diminished chords,” I wrote in an earlier draft, perhaps trusting that it would have been cut in editing. But then I was reminded that this is in fact a double issue, and that the U.S. election is happening in November, so I have changed my tune; nothing is scarier than a federal election or two (save perhaps going in for major surgery, or pursuing a career in music, depending on one’s tolerance for pain.)

Renowned neuroscientist Daniel J. Levitin paused as he sang the word “strings” and looked over the neck of his guitar to the audience in the University of Toronto’s Desautels Hall. The air felt charged. Instinctively, we knew what he wanted. For a brief moment, many of the two-hundred-plus gathered began singing along, some harmonizing at the end of a song we’d all just heard for the first time.

There is a particular joy to watching music theatre, arising from the story being told in both words and music: a natural exuberance, another level of emotion, music as an international language that can carry us further than words alone can do. The Grand Theatre in London understands and celebrates this, giving us a 2024/25 season, under the title “A Time for Play,” with even more music theatre content than usual, anchored by four major musical productions as well as the always sold out Jeans ‘n Classics concert series.