Beat Columns (Live Music)

Probably the most melancholy production of The Marriage of Figaro around, the Claus Guth-conceived Salzburg production first seen in Toronto in 2016, is back at the Canadian Opera Company for another run from January 27 - February 18, with a different set of principals, other than its Cherubino, Emily Fons, an American mezzo-soprano best known for Handel and Mozart trouser roles.

New Canadian plays, musicals and music theatre works are popping up everywhere across the country this season. Three shows coming up this spring caught my eye in particular for how they are using music to explore and highlight various facets  of our multicultural Canadian identity. 

Fall On Your Knees

In Toronto the world premiere of the theatrical adaptation of Fall on Your Knees, the internationally acclaimed 1996 novel by Canadian author and playwright Ann-Marie MacDonald, which I previewed in my previous column, has just opened to standing ovations at the Bluma Appel Theatre and will travel after an all-too-short Toronto run to Neptune Theatre in Halifax, the National Arts Centre in Ottawa and the Grand Theatre in London. 

One of the most exciting things about this new adaptation is how it uses music not just as an element of the production, nor even just as a character in the story, but as the essential material weaving together the many disparate elements of a multigenerational tale, compared by some watchers to the House of Atreus plays in classic Greek drama. 

Beginning in the early 20th century and ending in the 1960s, FoYK traces the emotional saga of the Piper family in Cape Breton Island, a location famously characterized by its Celtic heritage and lilting folk music. This is just the first note, as it were, in a kaleidoscope of musical styles. One of the first characters we meet, the eventual patriarch of the Piper clan, James Piper, is a young piano tuner whom we know from the novel has been taught piano by his mother as part of a strategy to keep him out of the coal mine. As he tunes the piano in the home of the Mahmoud family in Sydney, he meets and soon falls in love with their 13-year-old daughter, Materia. His musical theme will be early piano exercise phrases marked by the single plangent note of tuning, while hers will develop from traditional Lebanese vocals and dance music to the rollicking sound of the music hall where she will work later to help support the family. 

When their first daughter, Kathleen, shows an early aptitude for singing and is encouraged to study seriously, opera is introduced as a significant leitmotif that will grow in importance as the play progresses. Interwoven is a minor theme of religious music, the leitmotif for the middle sister, Mercedes, whose twisted religiosity is symbolically caught at one point by a disturbing plot placement of Ave Maria. An even more rebellious strand in the weave is made up of such World War One-era songs as Mademoiselle from Armentières and My Heart Belongs to Daddy sung by younger sister Frances in her Lebanese uncle’s speakeasy. Finally and notably in the second half of the six-hour show is the wonderfully smoky and contrasting exotic sound of the blues, sung by Janelle Cooper as Harlem star Sweet Jessie Hogan. 

In Part Two where the story focuses primarily on Kathleen’s sojourn studying opera in New York, the Harlem music scene is contrasted brilliantly with the strictly classical arias she sings in the studio – and yet, the richness of the interwoven opera and blues also comes to symbolise Kathleen’s growing artistry as her friendship with her accompanist Rose ripens into a deeper relationship. Samantha Hill as Kathleen has a clear classically trained voice which is a joy to listen to and a wonderful contrast to the jazzy richness of Janelle Cooper’s club turns. All the musicians, though usually hidden away upstage, do a superb job, easily trading instruments and contributing vocals – Maryem Toller’s vocals were a standout in Part One. 

One thing that I had expected from early rehearsal photos of the production and missed seeing onstage was a more experimental or expressionistic movement style – except in one instance when a line of uniformed soldiers tumbles up to, over and around the upright piano as Materia plays a song of the period, giving us an unforgettable image of James at war in the trenches of World War One. 

Under the symbolic giant piano strings strung above the stage from the flies to the wings like the sails of a ship, and under the careful music direction of Sean Mayes, music weaves together the acting and physical elements of this production making a whole that is deeper, richer, more evocative of the colours, depths, dark secrets and eventual redemption within the story of this family and all those who touch their lives. 

Check out the event page for Fall On Your Knees! In Toronto until February 5; Halifax February 10-March 5, Ottawa March 8-25, and London March 29-April 2.

RUBABOO

A second world premiere at the Grand Theatre in London, with the intriguing name of Rubaboo, explores and celebrates another facet of our Canadian mosaic, the Métis heritage of the prairies. Commissioned by the Grand from the well-known Métis actor, singer and activist, Andrea Menard, Rubaboo promises to be a delightful evening of song and story combined, according to the Manitoba-born Menard, into a truly theatrical whole that she prefers to term a “cabaret,” but a cabaret with a purpose. 

In a promotional video Menard says that when the Grand’s artistic director, Dennis Garnhum, asked her about possibly creating a show, she was not interested “unless I was using the platform to further reconciliation,” and that she “wanted to be somebody who was furthering education [about Indigenous people and their history] and expanding compassion.” While this sounds very serious the name of the cabaret indicates that the evening will also be a lot of fun. Derived from the Michif word for “leftovers stew” or “big pot” Rubaboo promises to be a feast of music and masterful storytelling with the sound of drums and guitar adding grace notes to stories and songs of reconciliation, unity, love, frustration and resilience, to “help people fall in love with the Métis people.”

Catch Rubaboo at the Grand Theatre from March 7-25.

RETOLD

From the East Coast to the Prairies and back east to Quebec...

Back in Toronto, also in March, the Musical Stage Company and Yonge Street Theatricals are joining forces for the second edition of Retold via Launch Pad, their musical development program that gives three teams of writers and composers in-depth support and mentoring while they create new 30-minute musicals. For the first edition of Retold in 2019 the new musicals were inspired by articles published in The Globe and Mail, and performed in that newspaper’s headquarters. This new edition is inspired by three short stories by lauded Canadian writer Mavis Gallant (1922-2014) and will be performed at the Toronto Reference Library. While much of her working life was spent abroad in Paris, Gallant is famous for her depiction of Acadian history and life in Quebec. One of the chosen stories, The Carrette Sisters, displays in particular what The New York Times called Gallant’s “Joycean evocations of a mundane haunting Montreal.”

All three shows will be directed by Kaylee Harwood and will feature a cast of four talented actor/singers: Eric Craig, Emily Lukasik, Tracy Michailidis and Starr Domingue. 

Retold March 21-26. Tickets are free but need to be booked ahead of time.

QUICK PICKS 

FEB 2-11, 7:30: The Magic of Assembly, Toronto Dance Theatre, Winchester Street Theatre. TDT Artistic Director Andrew Tay is making a strong imprint on the company, introducing new and raw influences to the repertoire, including this new creation by punk street dance artist Ashley “Colours” Perez and electronic music duo LAL who will play live. www.tdt.org/events/the-magic-of-assembly

FEB 4-11, 7:30: Okay, you can stop now, Theatre Passe Muraille. In an immersive landscape filled with newspapers, Shakeil Rollock’s new physical theatre piece explores the tangible impact of history and the news on the lives of four people navigating their relationship to privilege and power. www.passemuraille.ca

FEB 16-19, 7:30: Firewater Thunderbird Rising, Friday Creeations and Native Earth Performing Arts, Aki Sudio. A return engagement of Christine Friday’s Dora Award-nominated multi-disciplinary one-woman, contemporary dance show, deeply rooted in the spiritual beliefs and way of living of the Anishinabek. www.nativeearth.ca 

FEB 24-25 7:30: Les corps avalés. Compagnie Virginie Brunelle, Fleck Theatre, Harbourfront “Torque” series, The celebrated Quebec-based company presents a stunning exploration of power relations, inequality and social upheaval, performed to live classical music from the Molinari Quartet. www.harbourfrontcentre.com

Jennifer Parr is a Toronto-based director, dramaturge, fight director and acting coach, brought up from a young age on a rich mix of musicals, Shakespeare and new Canadian plays.

Trio Arkel – Marie Bérard (concertmaster of the COC Orchestra), Rémi Pelletier (associate principal violist of the TSO) and Winona Zelenka (assistant cello of the TSO) – are celebrating the tenth season of their concert series and we at The WholeNote were curious about how a string trio could thrive despite obstacles ranging from COVID-19 to the departure of founding member, violist Teng Li. The following email conversation with cellist Zelenka and violinist Bérard, took place in mid-January.

WN: What was the origin of Trio Arkel? What brought you two together originally with violist Teng Li? 

Winona Zelenka: It was a kind of synergy that was surprising when we played our first concert back in 2008 at the same venue we play in now – Trinity-St. Paul’s – before Jeanne Lamon Hall was built. Our combination was an experiment, but we found that our three points of musical expression combined in an interesting way, and I think we were intrigued.

Marie Bérard: Gradually we came to realize that we wanted to spend more time playing together but also collaborating with other musicians and the idea of having our own series was born. In 2013, ten years ago, we started out in the Church of the Holy Trinity next to the Eaton Centre, in the heart of the city, and we were there for a few years before switching to St. Paul’s Centre.

When did Teng Li leave the group? Please describe the search for her replacement.

MB: Teng won the extremely coveted position of principal viola in the Los Angeles Philharmonic and although she had such strong ties to the Toronto music community, she couldn’t pass on such an opportunity. 

WZ: Yes, it was in 2018, and it was a difficult thing for us, much as we were thrilled for her to win such an important post. The delicate balance and ease we had achieved was special, we felt. We played with many great musicians while we worried about finding that ease again. But then…

MB: Rémi came to the Toronto Symphony from the New York Philharmonic; for him it was a return to his Canadian roots. We read trios with him soon after, feeling an instant kinship, and we haven’t looked back. Our rehearsals are filled with good cheer and mutual support and we are all aware of how special a gift that is.

WZ: There is a unique warmth to our sound, we feel, and lots of joking around and talking about adventures, especially his. He has many interests – he’s a sushi chef and an enthusiastic traveller – he gives a lot as a person and as a musician.

How did you cope during COVID? What was the experience of pivoting to an online video format for two years like for you? 

MB: The first casualty of COVID was the cancellation of our May 2020 concert, which was such a disappointment. We quickly rallied and realized that since we had been recording all our concerts, streaming them on demand was a logical solution during the lockdown. At first, we found that playing with masks and without an audience was a strange experience but being able to play music at all was a blessing in those days so we just charged ahead and felt that recorded concerts were better than no concerts at all. 

WZ: We put on our bravest smiles; a concert I’ll never forget is the one in the spring of 2021 with Russell Braun, recorded with no audience and plexiglass shields separating him from us and us from Carolyn, his wife who is his pianist: but it was still amazing and I don’t really know how we all did it. Music is that powerful – but it was very strange.

MB: The return to live concerts was very emotional and we all realized how much energy we get from an audience, something the pandemic taught us never to take for granted.

How do you compensate for the fact that the string trio repertoire is less well known than the string quartet repertoire?

WZ: Marie is the programming genius, and she’s discovered many unknown and lesser-known gems in the repertoire.

MB: A lot of the trio repertoire has been wonderful to discover specifically because it is not as well known as the quartet repertoire. We found some lovely jewels, music that is very satisfying to explore and that our audiences seem to be excited to discover; some examples are Taneyev, Françaix, Gubaidulina, Schoenberg…

Please describe the eclectic and collaborative nature of your programming. You often begin a concert with a string trio before pivoting to larger chamber music works.

MB: There are a few different ways in which our programs come together. Sometimes it is our guests who propose a particular piece and we build around that, sometimes with a theme which could be music of a particular country or we find that sometimes a set of two very contrasting pieces can inform each other, providing a reflection for each other in a sense. On other occasions it is just a particular desire to play a much-loved piece that sends us looking for a guest who we feel would bring the right flavour to the piece.

WZ: Being such an expert on the operatic repertoire and knowing so many wonderful singers, Marie has found some amazing vocal works to showcase as well, such as Jake Heggie’s Into the Fire or Respighi’s Il Tramonto; I’ve also loved some of the crazy things like Black Angels by George Crumb where I got to hit a gong.

MB: That was a specific idea that came suggested by a colleague; one of the great things about the collaborative nature of chamber music is the excitement we can give each other in the planning of what journey to take on each program.

How were your upcoming concerts of March 12 and May 28 designed? The May 28 concert is filled with unusual repertoire. How did you select it?

MB: We’ve long wanted to perform Oliver Knussen’s Cantata as it has at its core a string trio and the composer was a dear friend. The Mozart Oboe Quartet, such a superb example of Mozart’s genius, was a natural companion. We then will complete our March 12 program with trios by Taneyev and Sibelius. 

The meat of the May 28 program, the Strauss Metamorphosen, is this great reduction for seven players and since we have a bass player among us we looked for a somewhat less-perennially played piece than the Dvořák or Trout quintets, introducing [composer George] Onslow to most of our audience. 

WZ: We want to always program from our own repertoire of course, so this seemed like a good occasion to include three wonderful smaller pieces that are almost more like encores, but with this program will showcase the eclectic nature of music for string trio.

Visit Trio Arkel’s website and YouTube channel for more of their content!

QUICK PICKS

FEB 12, 2PM: British-born pianist Valerie Tryon who has made Canada her home since 1971, has a fondness for the Hamilton Conservatory of the Arts’ Black Box Theatre, giving an annual recital around Valentine’s Day for several years: this year, Chopin in the first half, followed by John Ireland, Ernst von Dohnányi and Franz Liszt.

FEB 12, 3:15PM: Mooredale Concerts presents violinist Andrew Wan, concertmaster of the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal and pianist Charles Richard-Hamelin, silver medalist at the 2015 International Chopin Piano Competition. Expect warmth and intimacy in sonatas by Schumann, Medtner and Franck.

FEB 17, 7:30PM: The TSO and conductor Gustavo Gimeno return to Massey Hall with Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No.5 (which the orchestra played in 1923 at their first-ever concert). María Dueñas is the soloist in Bruch’s ever-popular Violin Concerto. The 20-year-old Dueñas, makes her Deutsche Grammophon recording debut in May with Beethoven’s Violin Concerto.

FEB 18, 2PM: Five at the First’s latest presentation features music scored for an unusual combination of instruments – Susan Hoeppner, flute; Rachel Mercer, cello; and Angela Park, piano.

FEB 22, 6:45PM: Louis Lortie will play Berg’s Piano Sonata Op.1 as his contribution to the TSO Chamber Soloists’ pre-concert performance - free to ticket holders for that evening’s 8PM main event. The 8PM program, FEB 22, 24 and 25, features conductor Sir Andrew Davis’ arrangement of the Berg sonata, and Lortie in Mozart’s heavenly Piano Concerto No.23 K488.

MAR 5, 3PM: Imogen Cooper’s marvellous Koerner Hall program includes Beethoven’s Sonatas Op.109 and 111 and a handful of Liszt from a pianist Sir Simon Rattle calls “one of the greatest musicians England has produced. Mozart, Schumann, and Schubert could have been written for her.”

MAR 22, 23 & 25, 8PM; MAR 26, 3PM: Gustavo Gimeno conducts the TSO in Beethoven’s eternal Symphony No.5 but not before the orchestra joins with Montreal-born cellist Jean-Guihan Queyras in concertos by Schumann and Ligeti.

MAR 31, 8PM: The Benedetti Elschenbroich Grynyuk Trio – a “trio of true stars” (Daily Telegraph) – violinist Nicola Benedetti; cellist Leonard Elschenbroich; and pianist Alexei Grynyuk – perform two landmarks of the piano trio canon: Schubert’s Piano Trio No. 2 in E-flat Major, and Tchaikovsky’s Piano Trio in A Minor, Op. 50. At Koerner Hall.

Paul Ennis is the managing editor of The WholeNote.

In case you’ve forgotten, at the beginning of December of last year, as a tumultuous 2021 came to a close, the season was looking tentatively merry and bright: indoor gatherings were once again possible, venues seemed to have definitively reopened, and life was returning to, dare we say it, some semblance of normalcy. And then, of course, we were back in lockdown, first in the ten-people-or-fewer, please-don’t-sneeze-on-Santa version of mid-to-late December, and then, come January, in the full dress-shirt-and-sweatpants version.

Ten years ago, I was inspired to adapt Fall on Your Knees as a piece of music-driven theatre,” says director Alisa Palmer. On January 20, at the Bluma Appel Theatre in Toronto, that initial seed of inspiration will have its first public performance as a fully fledged two-part epic piece of theatre. 

“History told with a thumping, complex narrative, a host of colourful characters and a great big bow to psychology” is how the Chicago Tribune described Fall on Your Knees, the multi-award winning 1996 novel by Canadian writer, playwright, and actor Ann-Marie Macdonald, that has been acclaimed around the world and translated into 23 languages.

As the calendar crawls through November en route to the December holidays and the sun has not even begun its long trek back to seasonal dominance, it’s a ray of hope to peruse the listings and discover how, throughout the community, live music by large ensembles is reasserting its presence after being completely uprooted by the pandemic. Take, for example, the orchestral explosion on December 10, when seven orchestras brighten up the evening in concerts beginning between 7 and 8pm.

On a cold snowy night last November 19, I was happy to be in the warmth of the Music Gallery at 918 Bathurst Street, listening to the bright pulsating music of an inspiring collaboration between Toronto’s Evergreen Club Contemporary Gamelan and the Spindle Ensemble from Bristol, UK  (a collaboration that arose from a chance meeting in Bali between Evergreen member Christopher Hull and Spindle member Harriet Riley, we had been informed). I was curious.

Koerner Hall is, most assuredly, not a club. Completed in 2009 as the centrepiece of the Royal Conservatory’s massive mid-2000s renovation, the venue’s plush seating, acoustic clarity and ligneous splendour have made it a major destination for all manner of art music. Unlike the venues normally covered in this column, typical club activities – hooting at the stage, drinking in one’s seat, posting shaky Instagram clips of instrumental solos with fire emojis in the middle of a song – are frowned upon, though still possible (other than drinking in one’s seat), with a little determination and disregard for concert-hall decorum.

Here’s some good news for a change: there’s a new professional chamber choir in Toronto, the city that barely has any, and none independent from larger arts organizations. Meet the Toronto Mendelssohn Singers, the new 24-member chamber choir within the larger Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, now forging its own path, mostly by way of contemporary music and commissions. 

When is a play with music just that, and at what point does it cross some threshold into becoming “music theatre?” This is a question I grapple with all the time but it came up prominently in a conversation about an eagerly anticipated show about to open, and then was brought into sharp relief by two other productions already happening, almost simultaneously, this fall in Toronto.