In december 2012 a photo essay appeared in the New York Times showing the destruction of a piano abandoned on a New York sidewalk. A series of successive photos told a putatively moving story, accompanied by music sombre and dramatic by turns, in which the piano was stared at, played idly by passersby and ultimately destroyed and carted away.

choralscene  schola magdalenaWhat was more illuminating than the photos themselves were the comments posted online as the essay travelled over the internet. A number could be paraphrased as “What a sad comment on the current state of the arts, as the piano is trashed just like the culture.” The mixture of ruefulness and self-satisfaction was galling.

In art and everywhere else, the good old days were never good, folks. Culture is always in flux, and time alters our view of art that is initially considered trashy or meretricious — like Shakespeare, Delta blues or cable television — into something elevated and timeless. Anyone nostalgic for an Elysian epoch in which classical culture was ascendant throughout the West and there was a piano, a violin and a Beethoven score in every humble home, simply hasn’t read any history.

In 2009 American music historian Elijah Wald published How the Beatles Destroyed Rock ‘n’ Roll: An Alternative History of American Popular Music. Once you get past the misleadingly quarrel-picking title (good for generating a bit of buzz, anyhow), this book has many excellent insights about how we listen to music, and how our perception of it evolves over time.

Wald makes the point that the ability to record music irrevocably changed our experience of it. John Phillip Sousa coined the term “canned music,” and felt that recorded music would degrade people’s ability to create it themselves. In many ways he was correct. Wald states: “virtually all dancing is now commonly done to recordings.” Singing of lullabies at home and at religious services, two areas in which live music still functions, can easily be replaced with recorded music.

At the same time, Wald observes that we now have instant access to “the finest artists, alive or dead, who have ever been recorded anywhere in the world, and we can hear it whenever we want, wherever we go, in whatever order and whatever volume we please.” This has given modern musicians “a breadth of experience and created a wealth of fusions that would have been unimaginable” in the past. From the point of view of cross-cultural awareness and opportunity, you could argue that the good old days are right now. Let us look at the stylistic mixture of several concerts coming up in the next few weeks.

TCC on the move: Perhaps I am not especially sympathetic to pianos, abandoned or otherwise, because I regard them as such a poor instrument on which to introduce young children to music. When asked by parents about the advisability of beginner piano lessons, I usually start ranting about the dangers of subjecting children’s formative musical experiences to the piano’s complicated key mechanism and rigid tuning system. If the parents are still listening after an hour, I finish with a diatribe about singing and movement’s centrality to the development of musical skill.

My apologies, piano teachers. But what better support can I offer for these heretical notions than the excellent Toronto Children’s Chorus, which is helping raise the next generation of singers and choral conductors. They combine music and movement as they perform “Dance All Around the World” on February 23.

Sondheim Vivace: American musical theatre icon Stephen Sondheim’s brilliant scores are a resource that more choirs should explore. Choral versions of musical theatre songs lean towards the classic composers or the mid-20th century, or the juggernaut mega-musicals of the 1980s. Sondheim’s work is searching and complex, witty and sardonic, and a good choral performance of it can be rewarding for both audience and singers. Conductor and singer Linda Eyman is responsible for a busy pocket of Toronto music making — she conducts four separate choirs and maintains a private singing studio as well. One of her ensembles, Vivace Vox performsSondheim! Sondheim!”on February 24, including selections from Company, Into the Woods, Follies and Sweeney Todd, among others.

Bell’Arte’s 25th: Toronto’s Bell’Arte Singershas drawn many excellent Toronto singers into its ranks. They celebrate a quarter century of work with their “25th Anniversary Concert: Memories and Reflections” on March 2.

Gesualdo Sinister: In an art form that does not lack for odd characters, Italian Renaissance composer Carlo Gesualdo is one of the oddest and most sinister figures in history. The title of the Tallis Choir’s March 2 concert, “Gesualdo: Murderer & Musician,” states the case straightforwardly. I won’t relate the shocking story here. Instead, attend the concert to find out more, and don’t cheat by resorting to an online check. Gesualdo’s music is always worth hearing live — its anarchic harmonic shifts and haunting word painting are a high point of Renaissance madrigal writing. Some of his work sounds uncannily like some of the choral compositions of 20th century Austrian composer Ernst Krenek, and many modernist composers were drawn to his madrigals .

Rossini Solenelle (times two): Toronto audiences have a rare opportunity to hear Rossini’s Petite Messe Solenelle not once, but twice. The Toronto Mendelssohn Choir performs the work on February 9, and the Toronto Classical Singers sing it on March 3. The work was written in 1864, four years before the famed opera composer’s death. It is an engaging piece, first performed with a quirky piano and harmonium accompaniment. Rossini orchestrated it later on. Fans of bel cantoItalian vocal style will find much to love, especially the tenor solo showstopper, “Domine Deus.”

Magdalena goes modern: Schola Magdalena is a chamber ensemble of women’s voices, conducted by choral multi-tasker Stephanie Martin. Usually focused on early music , they make a foray into modern works in a concert sponsored by NUMUS, a very good contemporary music organization based out of Waterloo. This concert takes place on February 7 in Waterloo and again at the Church of St. Mary Magdalene in Toronto.

These are only a few of the excellent concert choices available in the coming weeks — please check out the listings and find out about the many other excellent choirs around. 

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

As I sit here, on the coldest January day in Toronto on record since 2009, it’s almost comforting to have to turn my thoughts to the romantic, warmth-inducing, Valentine’s Day-inspired concerts that February brings. And, indeed, there is much to tempt us, an array of delightful performances to warm the “cockles of your heart” — metaphorical or otherwise, whatever they are — and, hopefully, the rest of your body, too.

classical-feb2013Chopin, obviously: Think fast. Most romantic composer? Answer: Chopin. Yes, there are others, and he may not be your first choice (or not your choice at all), but, let’s face it: it’s not really possible to get through a column about concerts in the “season of romance” without mentioning those featuring the works of Chopin. Besides, who would want to? For so many, myself included, it’s gorgeous, seductive, romantic music.

Chopin’s oeuvre consists mostly of solo piano works — nocturnes, waltzes, préludes, études, ballades, impromptus, polonaises and mazurkas, to name some of the most familiar and beloved. In addition, he also wrote two piano concertos, some songs set to Polish texts and a few chamber pieces. This month, we are treated to at least one ballade, waltz and polonaise, two sets of études (12 in each), his set of 24 préludes, a sonata, two scherzos, a chamber work and a concerto. So much Chopin, so little time ... or space.

So let’s get right to it; and don’t forget to check the Quick Picks at the end.

Chopin, not so obviously: Chopin is not the first composer to spring to mind when considering repertoire for a chamber choir known for its historically accurate performances of music from the Baroque and Classical periods. Then again, the Georgetown Bach Chorale is not your average chamber choir. In addition to its innovative choral programming, as part of its season it also offers concerts of orchestral, chamber and solo performances, often involving creative collaborations with guest artists, in unique venues.

Its February 10 and March 3 concerts are a case in point: the first is a 4pm house concert titled “Winter Moods,” and features guest cellist Mary-Katherine Finch and the Chorale’s artistic director/conductor, Ron Greidanus, at the piano, in chamber works by Debussy, Chopin and Prokofiev. Regarding the Chopin “mystery music” (“works by” is all we were told), it’s a safe bet to expect either — or possibly both (there are only two Chopin works for cello and piano) — the Cello Sonata in G Minor, Op.65 and/or the Grand Duo concertant in E Major B70, (written, jointly, with Chopin’s friend, cellist Auguste Franchomme). If that isn’t filling enough, for the $45 in-advance-only ticket, you also get a choice of hot stews, cheeses and homemade bread after the concert. If music — and stews — be the food of love, indeed!

“Relics of the Romantic Era,” on March 3, 8pm, in the quaint Norval United Church, will feature solo works by Chopin performed by guest pianist Matthew Pope, in addition to choral works by Reger, Brahms and Tavener. As stated in its brochure, it has always been a mission of the Chorale “to expand the musical experiences of its listeners.” Judging by these two concerts, clearly it’s “mission accomplished.”

And with that interesting detour out of the way, on to the solo piano music!

Formidable Fialkowska: Celebrated Canadian pianist Janina Fialkowska is a musical force to be reckoned with and a distinguished interpreter of Chopin’s piano works. Along the way, she received some excellent mentoring: after her prize-winning performance at the inaugural Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition, held in Tel Aviv in 1974. Rubinstein, himself, took her under his wing and helped launch her international career. The rest, as they say ... 

But it wasn’t all smooth sailing. In 2002, Fialkowska’s hugely successful career was sidetracked by the discovery of a cancerous tumour in her left arm. However, her heroic recovery and successful “two-handed” return to the stage in 2004 — for 18 months, prior, she performed the “left hand” concertos of Ravel and Prokofiev which she adapted for the right hand — is, by now, the stuff of legend and widely documented, so I won’t go on. Besides, as she told the Financial Times’ Andrew Clark in a January 11, 2013 interview, she “hates“ talking about that hiatus in her career, though she recognizes that it “makes a good story” and that it inspires others. Clark adds: “That sense of life regained has transformed her music-making: her playing now has a spirit-of-the-moment freshness and spontaneity that many musicians strive for but few attain.”

That freshness and spontaneity will be on display when Fialkowska graces the stage at two concerts in February: one on Chopin’s birthday, February 22 (yes, March 1 is also often cited), at London’s Aeolian Hall, and the second a day later, on the 23rd, in Waterloo, for the Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music Society. Both concerts offer works by Chopin, Grieg and Schubert; the Aeolian concert, however, is another “works by” situation; the “fleshed-out” repertoire provided by the KWCMS suggests what Fialkowska might also play in London (but no guarantees): Schubert’s Four Impromptus D935, Op.posth.142, four Lyric Pieces by Grieg, and the following works by Chopin: Polonaise in E-Flat Minor, Op.26 No.2, Scherzo No.4 in E Major Op.54, Scherzo No.1 in B Minor Op.20, Waltz in A-Flat Major, Op.64 No.3, Mazurka in C Major, Op.56 No.2 and Mazurka in C Minor, Op.56 No.3. If I had my druthers, I’d go to both concerts!

Chopin at noon: While Chopin’s sublime, sensuous music may be tailor-made for late-night listening, who says you can’t enjoy it during daylight hours? This month, as part of its popular free, noon hour Piano Virtuoso Series, the Canadian Opera Company offers two concerts featuring piano works by Chopin. For the first one, “Reflections,” on February 26, pianist Connie Kim-Sheng, a 2010/11 Glenn Gould School Concerto Competition winner, performs Ballade No.3 in A-Flat Major, Op.47; the program also includes the first movement of Beethoven’s Sonata No.31 in A-Flat Major, Op.110, Miroirs by Ravel and Rachmaninoff’s Études-Tableaux Op.39 No.5. “Shades of Chopin,” the second concert on February 28, features a young Saskatoon-born pianist, Justin Min, in an all-Chopin program, including the Sonata No.3 in B Minor, Op.58, his final piano sonata. Perfect lunchtime fare!

Études vs. Préludes: One might call it an embarrassment of riches, when two extraordinary pianists are scheduled to perform in recital, on the same day, at basically the same time, with Chopin on both programs, no less. Here’s what’s happening on March 3: at 3pm, Jan Lisiecki, the prodigiously gifted, 17-year-old pianist is performing Chopin’s two sets of 12 Études, Op. 10 and Op. 25, at the Royal Conservatory’s Koerner Hall. And over at Walter Hall, at 3:15pm, the brilliant (and clearly more seasoned) Hung-Kuan Chen is making his Toronto debut in a performance of the 24 Préludes Op.28, for Mooredale Concerts; Chen’s program also includes Mozart’s A Little Gigue in G Major KV574, a fragment from his Suite in C Major KV399, and Schubert’s Sonata in C Minor D958.

Jan Lisiecki is known to, and has dazzled, Toronto audiences; he’s also been featured in the pages of The WholeNote and in video interview at Conversations@TheWholeNote. Hung-Kuan Chen, on the other hand, is new to The WholeNote, so a few more words are warranted.

Taipei-born and raised in Germany, Chen shares more than one thing in common with Janina Fialkowska: both were prize winners of the Rubinstein Piano Master Competition (he in 1983) and both, curiously, experienced serious damage to the tools of their trade and a remarkable recovery from the damage. Chen suffered an injury to his right hand in 1992, that caused neurological damage, resulting, eventually, in focal dystonia, a disorder consisting of confused motor commands. In an article Chen penned, he describes the disorder: “When the brain is sending overly complex and conflicting messages, the commands are conflicting and the fingers become stiff in the process. A fitting visual analogy would be the old style telephone switchboard with tangled-up wires.” Read more about Chen’s journey at focaldystonia.co.uk/#/piano/4563030880.

Like Fialkowska’s, Chen’s return to the stage, in 1998, was met with rave reviews and he has gone on to a celebrated career. A reviewer for the Boston Globe had this to say in 2006: “Hung-Kuan Chen is back in prime technical form ... This man plays music with uncommon understanding and the instrument with uncommon imagination.”

And it is our uncommon good fortune to have the choice between Lisiecki and Chen. Perhaps it will all come down toétudes vs. préludes.

A Little More Love and Romance:
Some Heart-Warming Quick Picks

Feb 01 8:00: Aurora Culture Centre. Great Artist Piano Series:
Chu-Fang Huang, piano
. Haydn, Chopin, Wanghua Chu and others.

Feb 07 8:00: Toronto Masque Theatre. Les Roses de la Vie: A Parisian Soirée. Music by Marais, Couperin, Chopin, Fauré, Debussy, Poulenc, Aznavour and others. Also Feb 8 and 9.

Feb 12 8:00: Music Toronto. Piano Series: Gabriela Montero, piano. Brahms: Three Intermezzos Op.117; Schumann: Fantasie in C Op.17; Montero: improvisations.

Feb 14 8:00: Hart House Orchestra. Violins and Valentine’s Day: A Perfect Match. Schumann: Second Symphony; Beethoven: King Stephen Overture; Copland: Clarinet Concerto.

Feb 14 8:00: LUSH Cello Quartet. An Evening with LUSH Cello Quartet. Love-themed songs and classical works.

Feb 14 8:00: Toronto Concert Orchestra. Love Notes. Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto; Saint Saëns: Suite in D; Gray: Introduction and Autumn Prelude. Christoph Seybold, violin; Kerry Stratton, conductor.

Feb 16 8:00: Kindred Spirits Orchestra. Beethoven, Schumann, Mendelssohn. Beethoven: Overture to Fidelio Op.72c; Schumann: Piano Concerto Op.54; Mendelssohn: Symphony No.3 Op.56 “Scottish.”

Feb 16 8:00: York Symphony Orchestra. Romantic Legends. Tchaikovsky: Polonaise from Eugene Onegin; Romeo and Juliet Overture; Capriccio Italien; Chopin: Piano Concerto No.1; also Feb 17.

Feb 19 8:00: Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Love Will Keep Us Together. Songs by Porter, Berlin, Mancini and others. Betsy Wolfe, soprano; Mike Eldred, tenor; Steven Reineke, conductor. Also Feb 20 (mat and eve).

Feb 24 5:00: Nocturnes in the City. Anna Betka, Piano. Works by Beethoven, Bach, Schumann, Prokofiev and Smetana.

May your hearts be warmed and your senses seduced. Enjoy! 

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

Here we are just past the top of the year, and it seems to this writer to be snowing composers — so many are represented in this month’s concerts. Some are not generally well known, so here’s a bit about five of them that I hope may whet your appetite to hear their music.

Pérotin: A man whose life is almost totally obscured by time, Pérotin is believed to have composed for the newly constructed Notre-Dame Cathedral in the late 12th and early 13th centuries. He must have been hugely affected by the spiritual power of this magnificent edifice, for he wrote monumental works in three- and four-part polyphony the likes of which had never been heard before. One of these, the complex and luminous Sederunt principes, is on Schola Magdalena’s upcoming program on February 8 at Toronto’s Church of Saint Mary Magdalene, along with music by Hildegard, plainchant, and newly-composed pieces. This six-voice women’s ensemble will also be performing at Waterloo’s NUMUS Concerts on February 7.

Cavalli: Think of a little boy with a good soprano voice, mentored by a Venetian nobleman who took him to Venice to sing in the cappella at St. Mark’s Basilica. His life was forever shaped by this early turn of events. He worked under the direction of the great Monteverdi, eventually became organist at St. Mark’s, composed sacred music and also branched out to write for the stage — 41 operas in all — becoming the most influential composer in the genre of opera in mid-17th century Venice. This was Francesco Cavalli, and his music is featured in two presentations this month: February 15 and 16, the Toronto Consort performs as an opera in concert The Loves of Apollo and Daphne; February 24, tenor Bud Roach and guests perform sacred motets by Cavalli and others as part of TEMC’s Musically Speaking series.

Taverner: Scaramella’s “Hartes Ease” (February 9) and Cantemus Singers’ “The Virgin Queen” (March 2 and 3) don’t appear at first glance to have much similarity, but they do have common elements. One of these is the 16th century composer John Taverner. Lincolnshire-born-and -buried, not much else is known about his life except that he held the position of organist and Master of the Choristers at Christ Church, Oxford; also he is alleged to have been an agent of Cromwell, assisting in Henry VIII’s suppression of the monasteries. But he is forever revered as the one who brought English choral polyphony of the period to its pinnacle. Viol players also regard him as rather notorious, for a particular sequence of notes on the words “In Nomine Domini” (excerpted from his mass Gloria Tibi Trinitas) that has forever installed itself in viol consort repertoire. You can hear one “In Nomine” by him in Scaramella’s showcasing of four antique English viols, which brings together four marvellous musicians to play them, in a diversity of music both early and modern. Taverner’s Sanctus and Benedictus from the Missa “Westron Wynde” is featured in the 16-voice Cantemus Singers’ performance, along with many madrigals and church motets.

earlymusic-feb2013Vincenzo Galilei was the father of the astronomer Galileo. In his own right he was an important musical figure of the late Renaissance, a lutenist, theorist and composer. He seems to have displayed an interesting mix of progressive thought and backward-looking sentiments: On the one hand, he made substantial discoveries in acoustics, reportedly involving his son in his experiments and encouraging him to approach scientific research in a practical as well as a theoretical way (who knows how the invention of the telescope would have played out without the counsel of Galileo the father?). On the other hand though, Vincenzo condemned modern music and championed the revival of the monodic (single melody) singing style of ancient Greece. He is one of several composers featured in the Musicians In Ordinary’s concert “You Who Hear In These Scattered Rhymes.” Soprano Hallie Fishel and lutenist John Edwards perform baroque settings of great Italian renaissance poetry on March 2.

“The greatest composer you’ve never heard of” is the Windermere String Quartet’s description of Georges Onslow, whose string quintet they’ll be presenting. Onslow was a contemporary of Beethoven and Schubert, coming from an aristocratic British family but actually born in France. He “did not mean to become an artist, even less a composer” states a website devoted to him — but obviously he was meant to be one, writing operas, symphonies and much chamber music and becoming a highly regarded composer in his time. His music is extremely beautiful and full of inspiration but, alas, has virtually disappeared from modern view. On March 3 you can hear a lovely example of his work in the Windermere String Quartet’s “The Power of Five.” Played on period instruments, with guest violist Emily Eng, this is a concert of early 19th century viola quintets — a special, dark sound that only two violas can bring.

Others

February 7 to 9: Feeling lately that you’d like to forsake the Canadian cold for a delightful evening in Paris? Well just around the corner, there’s a cabaret happening with the gaity and sophistication of Parisian life from medieval times right to the present day. Toronto Masque Theatre presents “Les Roses de la Vie: A Parisian Soirée,” with music by Marais, Couperin and more recent composers, also poetry, movement and film. Among the featured performers is acclaimed corporeal mime artist Giuseppe Condello.

February 9: The Academy Concert Seriespresents “Bach’s Blessings,” in the form of music for solo cello and solo harpsichord, a violin sonata, cantata arias and the complete Wedding Cantata. This concert features four artists well versed in the art of historically informed interpretations: soprano Nathalie Paulin, violinist Emily Eng, cellist Kerri McGonigle and harpsichordist Lysiane Boulva.

February 9, 12 and 16: The Velvet Curtain Ensemble with director Douglas Rice, orchestra and guest artists presents Purcell’s opera Dido and Aeneas. Among the stated values of this group is “to believe in our potential to shape the future of our diverse cultures and civilization by bringing strength and confidence to future generations who will endeavor to define humanity through the arts.”

February 10: In Kitchener, a celebration of food — for the ear and for the palate, as Nota Bene Baroque presents “If Music Be the Food of Love...” with food-related music by Schmelzer, Legrenzi, Bernier and others, and guest soprano Stephanie Kramer.

February 12: The Musicians In Ordinary are busy people — not only do they present their regular concert series at Heliconian Hall (March 2, mentioned above) but they are also ensemble-in-residence at U of T’s St. Michael’s College. In this capacity they present “Hail Bishop Valentine!” performing love songs from the time of the wedding of Princess Elizabeth, daughter of James I, to Frederick, Elector Palatine. Guest reader is David Klausner.

February 21 to 24: “Shrouded in mystery and speculation since Mozart’s death, the Requiem is a masterpiece for all time ...” begins Tafelmusik’s press release for their next concerts. Mozart’s Requiem features four wonderful soloists: soprano Nathalie Paulin, mezzo Laura Pudwell, tenor Lawrence Wiliford and baritone Nathaniel Watson; the Tafelmusik Orchestra and Chamber Choir are directed by Ivars Taurins.

February 22: Sine Nomine Ensemble takes you to medieval Iberia, whose musical culture was greatly influenced by that of both North Africa and neighbouring Europe. In “Musica Yspanica: Spanish music of pilgrimage and praise” you’ll hear how some of these colourful influences manifested themselves, in songs of courtly love, cantigas in praise of Mary, sacred music from the royal nunnery at Las Huelgas and songs of popular devotion from Spanish pilgrimage centres.

March 3: “Out of the depths have I called unto you, O Lord” begins Psalm 130, a stunning poem of entreaty that has inspired composers through the ages. In “Kaffeemusik,” a concert which seeks to inform and enlighten as well as entertain, the Toronto Chamber Choir presents several settings of this text by composers including Schein, Sweelinck, Schütz and Bach.

Please consult The WholeNote’s daily listings for details of all these, and others not mentioned. 

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

onopera-feb2013On january 23 Canadian Opera Company General Director Alexander Neef announced his 2013/14 season. Neef has assembled a particularly starry line-up of singers and directors, but what is immediately striking about this season, the COC’s 64th, is that three of the seven operas have never been presented by the COC before. This is only the fourth time since 1990 (1991/92, 2008/09 and 2011/12 were the others) that this has happened. Having their COC premieres, back to back in spring 2014, will be Handel’s Hercules, Donizetti’s Roberto Devereux andMassenet’s Don Quichotte. Adding spice to the season is that Hercules is also one of three COC-commissioned new productions.

The 2013/14 season opens, in fact, with one of these new productions: Puccini’s La Bohème. The opera was last seen here in 2009 and this will be its 15th appearance making it the COC’s most often staged opera. The new production, opening October 9, will be directed by Canadian-born British director John Caird, who directed Verdi’s Don Carlos for the company in 2007, and is probably most famous for the original production of Les Misérables, which has been running in London since 1985. Italian conductor Carlo Rizzi leads the COC Orchestra and Chorus. Alternating in the role of Mimì are Italian soprano Grazia Doronzio and Canadian soprano Joyce El-Khoury. The role of Rodolfo, Mimì’s lover, is shared by young tenors, Mexican David Lomelí (Rigoletto, 2011) and Romanian Teodor Ilincăi.

Alternating with La Bohème will be a production of Benjamin Britten’s Peter Grimes,  celebrating the centenary of the composer’s birth, and starring Ben Heppner in the title role. Last at the COC in 2003, this Grimes will be the company’s third. Australian director Neil Armfield, who directed Ariadne auf Naxos here in 2011, A Midsummer Night’s Dream in 2009 and Billy Budd in 2001, directs, and COC Music Director Johannes Debus makes his Britten debut. Three COC Ensemble Studio alumni appear — soprano Ileana Montalbetti, tenor Roger Honeywell, and baritone Peter Barrett. Alan Held, last year’s Gianni Schicchi, sings Captain Balstrode.

 The winter season opens on January 18, 2014, with Mozart’s Così fan tutte  running in repertory with Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera. Così will be a new COC production by Canadian film director Atom Egoyan, his third production for the COC (Salome, 1996 and Die Walküre, 2004). Debus conducts. Cast as the sisters are two Canadians — soprano Layla Claire in her COC debut as Fiordiligi and mezzo-soprano Wallis Giunta returning for a second season in a row, this time as Dorabella. The sisters’ two suitors are American tenor Paul Appleby (Ferrando) and COC Ensemble graduate bass-baritone Robert Gleadow (Guglielmo). Beloved Canadian soprano Tracy Dahl returns to the COC stage after a 19-year absence in the role of the wily servant Despina. Famed baritone Thomas Allen makes his COC debut as Don Alfonso.

For Un ballo in maschera Canadian soprano Adrianne Pieczonka and Greek-American tenor Dimitri Pittas make their role debuts as lovers Amelia and Riccardo. British baritone Roland Wood is Renato, Amelia’s husband; acclaimed Canadian mezzo-soprano Marie-Nicole Lemieux is the fortune teller Ulrica; and rising Ensemble Studio graduate, soprano Simone Osborne, is Oscar the page.

A question that always arises with Ballo is where it will be set — in 18th-century Stockholm, as Verdi intended, where King Gustav III was assassinated in 1792, or in Boston during the British colonial period, where censors forced him to move the action because of its incendiary plot. The directing duo Jossi Wieler and Sergio Morabito stir the pot again, by locating this production from the Berlin Staatsoper in the American South of the 1960s with its resonances of Kennedy-era tensions and assassinations.

Spring 2014 brings the three premieres. First up on April 5 is Handel’s Hercules (1745) in a new co-production with Lyric Opera of Chicago directed by the renowned Peter Sellars. Sellars’ production which moves the action from mythological Greece to the present day won universal acclaim when it premiered in Chicago in 2011. The COC presentation will use the Chicago cast, and what a cast. American bass-baritone Eric Owens makes his COC debut as Hercules; British mezzo-soprano Alice Coote is Hercules’s wife Dejanira; American countertenor David Daniels returns to the COC as Hercules’ trusted aide, Lichas; American tenor Richard Croft returns as Hercules’ son, Hyllus; and British soprano Lucy Crowe makes her COC debut as Iole, a princess Hercules has taken captive. Conducting is Baroque specialist and COC favourite Harry Bicket. In 2012 Tafelmusik presented a staged concert version of Hercules directed by Opera Atelier’s Marshall Pynkoski. Anyone who saw it will know that it is a powerful drama told in glorious music.

Beginning April 25, 2014, is a real rarity, Donizetti’s Roberto Devereux (1837). This opera, along with Maria Stuarda (1835) and Anna Bolena (1830), comprises what is sometimes called Donizetti’s “Three Queens” trilogy. It was first presented as a trilogy in 1972, with Beverly Sills as the slighted British monarch in each production. From 2007 to 2010 Dallas Opera mounted all three directed by Stephen Lawless and using a set inspired by Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. The COC’s Maria Stuarda was part of the Dallas Opera series and so is this Roberto Devereux. Is there an Anna Bolena in the wings?

American soprano Sondra Radvanovsky, our Aida in 2010, makes her role debut as the central character Elisabetta, in love with the courtier Devereux. Making his COC and role debut as Devereux is Italian lyric tenor Giuseppe Filianoti. Also making role debuts are COC favourites, Canadian baritone Russell Braun and mezzo-soprano Allyson McHardy as the Duke and Duchess of Nottingham. Italian conductor Corrado Rovaris makes his COC debut.

The final presentation of the 2013/14 season is another rarity, Don Quichotte (1910), one of the last operas by French composer Jules Massenet (1842–1912). The last time the COC presented an opera by Massenet was Werther in 1992. Don Quichotte has become a showcase work for great basses with Samuel Ramey, José van Dam and John Relyea recently essaying the role. Italian Ferruccio Furlanetto makes his COC debut in the title role of the iconic idealistic dreamer. Metropolitan Opera star, Russian mezzo-soprano Ekaterina Gubanova, makes her COC debut as Quichotte’s beloved Dulcinée. American baritone Quinn Kelsey, acclaimed here for his Rigoletto in 2011, returns to makes his role debut as Don Quichotte’s realistic sidekick, Sancho Panza. American Linda Brovsky, who helmed this production at the Seattle Opera, makes her COC debut as director. Johannes Debus conducts. Many see this opera not only as Massenet’s loving study of Cervantes’ hero but as the composer’s farewell to the age of romanticism that had inspired him throughout his life and that he saw fading with the dawn of the 20th century. The opera runs May 9 to 24, 2014. Visit coc.ca to inquire about subscriptions. 

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

For the adventurously minded, the act of music making can be all about paving the way for the future of music to unfold. If you were to think 50 years ahead or even 25, what would your prediction be for how music will be created, experienced and listened to?

new music photo - feb 2013This year’s New Creations Festival presented by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra from March 2 to 9 will be an opportunity to catch a glimpse of what may be in store for the music lovers of 2050. When the TSO invited American composer and technology wizard Tod Machover to both curate the 2013 festival and compose a new work for it, Machover began dreaming big.

He started with the question — what does the city of Toronto sound like? He added to that question the vision of opening up the creative process to anyone who wanted to participate. This new symphonic work was to be a collaboration on a massive scale with the citizens of Toronto, resulting in something that could not have been done by any one individual. And with this mandate before him, Machover stepped onto the road of future music making where he envisions collaboration at the core of each piece, and professional musicians moving beyond teaching and mentoring people to the act of “making things with them.”

Read more: Musical Futures

February on toronto’s cultural and educational landscape has been for years associated with Black History Month (BHM). I don’t however recall commemorating it during my student years at Clinton St. Public School — which by the way is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year — so what’s the scoop here? I decided to snoop into the history of BHM to score some answers.

worldview  joel rubin  left  and uri caineThe seed for what is now widely known as BHM began in the USA in 1926 through the advocacy of the African-American historian, author and journalist Carter G. Woodson (1875-1950), one of the first scholars to study African-American history. It was initially called “Negro History Week.” Designated for the second week in February, it was meant to coincide with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. Woodson aimed to increase awareness and understanding of the African experience in school curricula, as well as to foster self-reliance and racial respect. By the 1960s communities, as well as various school boards, in the USA began to formally observe BHM, their primary goal being to present a more balanced and accurate history of Africans throughout history.

Toronto, far from being a place exclusively populated by Europeans, has had an African population from its earliest period as a settlement. One early record shows that in July 1843 Toronto Council refused to let a circus perform “without assurances that it would not sing songs or perform acts that would be insulting to ‘the gentlemen of colour’ of the city.” Toronto native William Hubbard (1842–1935), the city’s first elected official of African descent, cut through the raw prejudice of his day to fashion an admirable career of public service over 20 years. His official portrait hangs in the mayor’s office, a tribute to his personal courage and public achievement.

Through the efforts of many, including the Ontario Black History Society, in 1979 Toronto became the first municipality in Canada to proclaim BHM. The act recognized past and present contributions African Canadians made and make to the life of Toronto in many areas including education, medicine, human rights and business, politics, public service and the arts.

Public and private institutions here participate in observing BHM. The Toronto Public Library for example is programming ten such events this year. These include “Drumming with Muhtadi” on Tuesday February 5 at 10am at the York Woods branch where you can “hear the rhythms and learn the history of traditional Caribbean and African drums” in a live performance by the master drummer Muhtadi. The next day at the same branch you can “dance to the beat of your own drum! Make your ... drum to keep and participate in an interactive story” at 4:30pm. Fittingly, the TPL’s logo for Black History Month is a hand on a drum skin, illustrating just how closely the drum is associated with African culture. Keeping with that theme, on February 9 “the king of kalimba,” Toronto’s Njacko Backo, performs at the TPL’s Morningside Branch (no time posted).

The Gladstone Hotel is also marking Black History Month with four concerts; the last on February 22 featuring a significant milestone, the release of Njacko Backo’s tenth album. It includes Mohamad Diaby’s djembe, two different banjos played by Ken Whiteley, Jane Bunnett’s soprano sax, trumpet by Larry Cramer plus support from Kalimba Kalimba.

Perhaps Toronto’s main BHM course is Harbourfront Centre’s “Kuumba Festival.” Swahili for “creativity,” Kuumba has over the years showcased leading local, national and international artists of African heritage. This year for three days, February 1 to 3, the festival offers a smorgasbord of hair fashion, storytelling, oware games, film, dance, food, exhibitions, children’s activities, drum circles and, of course, music concerts. Here are a few picks.

The “10th Anniversary Celebration of The Trane Studio,” the first African-Canadian-owned jazz venue in Toronto for generations, takes place February 2. Owned and managed by writer and programmer Frank Francis, and named after legendary saxophonist John Coltrane, the Bathurst Street jazz club would have turned ten years in February. Sadly for musicians and live music fans it closed last summer; the Harbourfront lineup of local and international acts showcases performers who have supported The Trane Studio including the powerful spoken word artist Ursula Rucker, trumpet player Alexander Brown, multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Waleed Abdulhamid and saxophonist Ernest Dawkins.

February 3 at 4pm one of the treasures of African-American music — gospel — will be featured at the “Kuumba Gospel Lounge.” Billed as “a gospel extravaganza,” the Mount Zion Fellowship Choir, a 30-voice choir with a four-piece band, will share the stage with smaller vocal ensembles and four soloists including singer Karen Jewels and Jermaine Shakespeare, a “recognized worship leader, songwriter and minister of the gospel.” At the same time, unfortunately, Kuumba has scheduled the interesting “Hiplife Showcase.” Kobè from Ghana and Canadian Radio Music Award winner Stevano UGO put faces and voices to hiplife music, the latter a West African fusion of highlife and hip-hop with touches of reggaeton, dancehall and reggae.

One of last year’s Kuumba highlights was Dr. Jay De Soca Prince DJing at Harbourfront’s ice skating rink, a novel Toronto combination of Trini and “skate culture.” Judging from the dense crowd on the rink last year, evidently I was not the only one who thought the idea fun, so Harbourfront is holding it again, on February 2, promising it will be “this winter’s hottest night on ice.” I won’t disagree.

And last on the BHM front, February 15 at the intimate Musideum, Kobe Aquaa-Harrison presents “The Golden Tale of Jungle Bouti,” a program of storytelling and music. Video evidence found on the internet shows Aquaa-Harrison to be a formidable Ghanaian dagaarti gyil (marimba) player; hopefully some of his tasty playing will be on the Musideum menu. All that the slim but enticing online notes say is that the seprewa, a Ghanaian guitar-harp, is featured. Clearly, venturing into the unknown is at the heart of the enterprise, reminding me of the apt subtitle of an 1980s world music cassette: “no risk no fun.”

Elsewhere on the cultural map: The Sony Centre for the Performing Arts re-stakes its claim as the go-to house for national and transnational culturally themed extravaganzas for yet another year. February 9 and 10 “Bharati: The Wonder That Is India” returns for its annual visit filling the hall with spectacle armed with its large cast of acrobats, dancers, musicians and singers, all in glittering costumes. The show has been touring since 2006 doing for the subcontinent what “Riverdance” did for Ireland (and several other shows did for their own nations), managing to reduce a richly varied and perhaps unwieldy cultural landscape down to a manageable masala feast for the ears and eyes. Affirming the mega concept, “Celtic Woman: 2013 North American Tour” graces the Sony Centre stage again on February 23 and 24. This year’s headliners are Chloe Agnew, Lisa Lambe, Susan McFadden and Máiréad Nesbitt. It’s an all-female Irish musical ensemble show conceived and assembled by Sharon Browne and David Downes, a former musical director of the successful Riverdancefranchise. “Celtic Woman”has proven very successful itself since 2004 spinning off 13 themed CDs and seven DVDs as well as continuous international touring. Their PBS HD television special concert taped in 2009 included a 27-member orchestra, the Discovery Gospel choir, 12-member Aontas Choir, ten-member Extreme Rhythm Drummers plus an 11-piece bagpipe ensemble, intimating that sometimes bigger may just be better.

On a much more modest scale Jorge Miguel Flamenco presents “Una Vez, Cada Mes” on February 20 at the Lula Arts Centre. Toronto- based, Spanish Canadian guitarist and composer Jorge Miguel stars in a program of traditional and contemporary flamenco instrumental and vocal music plus dance. Continuing the Latin theme, February 23 the Jubilate Singers choir collaborates with Proyecto Altiplano in a concert called “Vida, Amor y Muerte” at the Grace Church on-the-Hill. The repertoire from Latin America features Violeta Parra’s and Luis Advis’ “Canto Para Una Semilla” made famous via the 1972 album of that name by the renowned Chilean folk band Inti-Illimani, and other songs. Isabel Bernaus and Claudio Saldivia conduct.

February 28 the York University Department of Music presents a Korean program in their World at Noon series, with Jeng Yi, Korean percussion and dance, and Joo Jyumg Kim on kayagum, at theMartin Family Lounge, Accolade East Bldg.

Saturday March 2, the Music Gallery co-presents with the Ashkenaz Foundation a concert by Joel Rubin and Uri Caine dubbed an exploration of “Klezmer’s outer limits and inner space.” American clarinetist Joel Rubin has long been recognized as a leader among North American Jewish klezmorim, his playing hailed by klezmer great Dave Tarras, avant garde composer John Zorn and Nobel Laureate poet Roald Hoffmann. Pianist and composer Uri Caine has played jazz with the older generation masters, as well as gigging with a younger generation (Don Byron, John Zorn, Dave Douglas and Arto Lindsay), recording 22 CDs as a leader along the way. Their joint album “Azoy Tsu Tsveyt” (2011) evokes the sort of exciting fusion spirit that’s found in the best of jazz, as they journey through a repertoire of Old and New World sacred cantorial songs, nigunim and secular klezmer tunes. Combining Jewish musical eclecticism, sheer instrumental virtuosity and elements of improvised music, this concert is sure to appeal to several audiences.

Finally, on February 24, London, Ontario world music producer Sunfest presents Ladysmith Black Mambazo at the Aeolian Hall, London. The group has recorded 40 albums and sold over six million records since being internationally launched on Paul Simon’s Graceland recording in the mid 80s. Mambazo’s album Shaka Zulu (1987) won the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album. They continue to inspire international audiences with their core message of peace and reconciliation through the power of song. 

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

I know i’ve written on a number of occasions about the falling off of the jazz scene in Toronto and I still feel that the glory days have come and gone — but not all is lost.

jazz notes  del dakoJazz has, of course, died several times over the course of its history, but one way or another seems to survive. Writing this brought to mind an occasion when I was in high school: we were in the change room of the gymnasium and the teacher came to the door and announced “The King is dead. Long live the King.” In this case the new “king” was Queen Elizabeth, but the phrase means that the heir immediately succeeds to the throne upon the death of the preceding monarch.

Similarly one might have pronounced on sundry occasions “Jazz is dead, long live jazz.”

Since, with the exception of The Rex, jazz clubs operating six nights per week are, it would seem, a thing of the past, the focus has moved to concert halls and clubs presenting jazz one to three nights a week, and to special “one-off” or annual events.

JPEC: One such event is coming up this month. Jazz Performance and Education Centre (JPEC) will have their fourth annual Jazz Gala on Saturday February 23 at the Toronto Centre for the Arts, 5040 Yonge St. Joe Sealy will present “Africville Stories” — from his JUNO award-winning Africville Suite which was composed in memory of his father and is a homage to the history, people and activities of Africville in Nova Scotia. Canadian treasure Jackie Richardson will be featured along with bassist Paul Novotny, Mark Kelso, drums, and Nova Scotian born Mike Murley on saxophone. The second part of the concert will be “A Salute to Motown” with Roberto Occhipinti as musical director.

Ellington Society:It may seem a little early to mention an event which doesn’t take place until late April, but this is an annual concert presented by the Toronto Duke Ellington Society and it consistently sells out, so I figured it wasn’t too soon to bring it to your attention. The date is April 27 at Walter Hall in the Edward Johnson Building at U of T and this year the music will be performed by JUNO winner John MacLeod and The Rex Hotel Orchestra.

These concerts began on October 24, 1991, at Holy Trinity Church and audiences have been entertained over the years by a cross-section of Toronto’s leading jazz talents including Mark Eisenman, Barry Elmes, Al Henderson, Mike Murley, Kevin Turcotte, Ron Collier, Don Thompson, Jeff Healey’s Jazz Wizards, Brian Barlow’s Orchestra, Martin Loomer’s Orange Devils and my own Wee Big Band.

Proceeds will go to the Society’s Scholarship Fund and ticket prices are $35 if you purchase before March 1 after which they are $40.

Paintbox: One of the successes of downtown development, and Lord knows, there aren’t many of them in condominium-dominated Toronto, is the Regent Park Arts & Cultural Centre, a multi-tenant arts hub located on Dundas St. E. between Sumach and Sackville streets. Situated in this complex, but a separate entity, is the Paintbox Bistro, the brain child of owner Chris Klugman. Trained as a chef, he has recruited his kitchen staff from George Brown College where he teaches. A regular at the restaurant is Mitchell Cohen, president of the Daniels Corporation, builders of this Regent Park complex. He and bassist Henry Heillig are old friends and out of that friendship came the idea of a jazz series at the Paintbox. Result? A series of six concerts in a people-friendly space which can comfortably accommodate an audience of 150 and deliver good food, good wine and good jazz.

The series begins on February 1 with the Heillig Manoeuvre CD launch followed at intervals by the Elizabeth Shepherd Trio, Phil Dwyer with Don Thompson, Thompson Egbo-Egbo Trio, Jane Bunnett with Hilario Duran and the Joe Sealy Trio with Paul Novotny and Daniel Barnes. Tickets are $15. For more detailed information please call 647-748-0555 or go to paintboxbistro.ca.

Phoenix rising: The legendary phoenix bird obtains new life by rising from the ashes of its predecessor. Seven years ago the Toronto jazz venue Top o’ The Senator closed its doors but this year in phoenix-like fashion it will reopen with a new owner — and a new name.

The new owner is Colin Hunter, founder and chairman of Sunwing Airlines. Passionately fond of music and in the business himself as a crooner, his efforts and a considerable input of financial support mean that 251 Victoria St. will once more be home to live music with the opening of the Jazz Bistro.

The general manager is Sybil Walker, carrying on the role she had at Top o’ The Senator, booking artists and managing the operation.

The club will feature live performances Tuesday through Sunday with Thursday through Saturday being jazz, Wednesday for Latin, and “Take the Stage Tuesday” which will be a community outreach program with members of the jazz community, touring artists and students programming their own evenings in conjunction with Sybil’s input.

The jazz programming will be a mix of top local musicians and visiting stars. In the works are an Oscar Peterson tribute and welcome return bookings of Kenny Barron and Lew Tabackin.

I can’t resist saying it — “The Senator is dead. Long live the Jazz Bistro.”

Final note: With deep regret I have to make mention of the untimely death of Del Dako. He had impressive playing credentials as a jazz saxophonist, accomplished on both baritone and alto saxes, before a serious accident while riding his mountain bike in the autumn of 2001 rendered him unable to play the saxophone. Undaunted, he set about learning to play vibraphone on which instrument he was able to continue expressing himself through music. As a saxophone player he played with several name players including Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson, Big Nick Nicholas, Nick Brignola and Slim Gaillard, and held the baritone sax chair in my Wee Big Band for the years preceding his accident. He was dogged by ill health after the biking accident and more recently he was diagnosed with cancer. He was with fellow musicians on Friday January 18 and found at his home by a friend the next day, having taken his own life. But for those of us who knew him, he too will live on in our memories.

As usual I ask you to keep listening to jazz and do your best to make some of your listening live. 

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

Another year has arrived, and with it many happenings on the local musical scene. The information which has been tumbling in at an amazing rate is so diverse that this time the challenge of where to begin is more difficult than ever. Perhaps it’s best to simply pick up where I left off two months ago on the topic of programming. In the last issue I mentioned two out-of-town concerts I was looking forward to from groups with a reputation for excellent programming. I am happy to say they lived up to expectations.

The first was presented by London-based Plumbing Factory Brass Band. Skillfully crafted by its director Henry Meredith, this program, titled “Dance Music of Many Times and Places,” took us on a musical journey through ten countries spanning over four and a half centuries. We were even taken to outer space for a dance of “two heavenly bodies” to commemorate last summer’s transit of Venus, with Sousa’s march by that name. Polkas, waltzes, two steps, tarantellas and more were enhanced with demonstrations by dance historian Cathy Stephens. Even the printed program was a delight, containing a collection of photos and drawings which shed a light on the works.

The concert in Waterloo four days later by the Wellington Winds was equally imaginative, mixing traditional Christmas music, including gems like Holst’s In the Bleak Midwinter, with transcriptions of stellar orchestral works including a five-movement concerto grosso by Arcangelo Corelli, a concerto for clarinet by Carl Maria von Weber and a concerto for guitar by Antonio Vivaldi.

At intermission the Wellington Winds introduced their “Appassionato” initiative with presentations by local dignitaries. The centerpiece of this project is a two hour-DVD “illustrating the life of a concert band.” I will have more to say about that extraordinary project in a later column. However, since our last issue, news of local band happenings has been pouring in, so it is time to move on to new topics.

bandstand  1Markham: Of great personal interest to me is the completion of the Cornell Community Centre and Library in Markham. A few years ago I had the privilege of arranging visits by members of the Markham Town Council and other interested parties to the band rehearsal facilities in Cobourg and Oshawa in the hopes of persuading local officials to incorporate musical rehearsal facilities into a community centre under consideration. That dream of the Markham Concert Band has now come to fruition. The band played their last rehearsal in their old rehearsal hall just before Christmas. The first rehearsal in January was in the spacious new hall with shadow-free lighting, storage rooms and two small practice rooms. Included in this room is a bleacher-type seating arrangement which folds out into the room to provide accommodation for a modest-sized audience when required. The official opening of the centre is tentatively scheduled for February 9.

While on the subject of the Markham Band, they will be presenting their first concert of the year on Sunday afternoon, March 3, in the Flato Markham Theatre. “Stories and Legends” will feature excerpts from Disney’s Fantasia, Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf and Copland’s Lincoln Portrait. One regular feature that the Markham Band includes in every concert program is a profile of a band member. Over the years these profiles have provided audience members with an insight into the diversity of the people behind the instruments. They learn of the occupations, hobbies and perhaps even eccentricities of the music makers on stage. As was pointed out to me recently, they also serve another very useful purpose. They help band members get to know each other. Most rehearsals leave little time for socializing, and these profiles help to shed a bit of light on the person behind that familiar face in a section on the far side of the band.

Brampton: On Saturday, February 23 at 8pm, the Brampton Concert Band under the direction of new music director, Vince Gassi, will be presenting “A World of Music” in a special tribute to retiring music director Darryl Eaton in the Rose Theatre. Darryl has been at the helm since 1999.

CAMMAC: Would you like to improve your sight-reading and performance skills? CAMMAC’s Wind Band Workshop might be for you. The workshop will focus on key performance skills such as dynamics, articulation, balance and blend in a hands-on learning experience. This tips and tools session will be conducted by Fran Harvey, a music educator and conductor who holds degrees in music and education. Since 2003, Fran has been the conductor of the Metropolitan Silver Band. The workshop will take place on February 23 at 2pm at the Northern District Library, 40 Orchard View Blvd., Toronto. For more information, contact Gerald Martindale, 416-551-5183, bellman@rogers.com.

York University:While on the subject of workshops, York University has recently announced that they will be conducting another band workshop similar to the very successful inaugural one last year. We don’t have many details yet. However, this isn’t taking place until early May. As soon as more details are received, they will be posted in this column.

CBA Award: We have just received word that Matthew Donnelly, 26, of New Hamburg, Ontario, has been named winner of the Canadian Band Association’s 2013 annual award for the best original score by a new Canadian composer. Donnelly, who plays clarinet, as well as acoustic and electric bass in the 60-member Kitchener Musical Society Band, was inspired by the beauty and history of the local Nith River when he started work more than a year ago on a composition titled River Valley Sketches. After trying out draft versions on fellow musicians at KMSB rehearsals, he entered his score in the competition. His composition topped a field of 27 submissions from musicians coast to coast. The first place honours also come with a $1,000 cash prize.

Resa’s Pieces:A little news item from Resa’s Pieces tells us that the band has added quite a few new members this year and is getting close to the 60 mark. They are gearing up now for their 14th gala on June 11 in the George Weston Recital Hall. More details will follow in a later issue.

Honours: Just in, here’s an item of interest to brass players. Former Tonight Show bandleader Doc Severinsen was recently surprised with an unexpected honour. Minutes before Severinsen’s second-half appearance in a recent Koerner Hall concert, Peter Simon, president of the Royal Conservatory, named the trumpet virtuoso an Honourary Fellow of the Royal Conservatory.

While on the subject of honours, we have just learned that Christopher Lee, principal flute of the Toronto Philharmonia, has been invited to be the guest of the Los Angeles Flute Guild for their Flute Festival 2013. In addition to giving a masterclass, he will participate in a recital with other luminaries of the flute world. Congratulations Chris.

Roy Schatz:Their final performance will have passed by the time this issue is published and its not even a band event, but I would be remiss if I failed to mention the 50th anniversary season of the St. Anne’s Music and Drama Society, at the forefront of Gilbert and Sullivan productions in Toronto since its inception. My parents met in a G & S production where my mother sang the role of Buttercup in HMS Pinafore. As a child I was brought up on G & S. As an adult, I played in the St. Anne’s Orchestra for many years and got to know its director, Roy Schatz. In recent years Roy has turned the directing reins over to daughter Laura, but he will be on stage singing in his 50th consecutive year in this year’s production of The Gondoliers in the role of His Grace, The Duke of Plaza-Toro. How many performers can match that? Performing in same group’s annual presentation for 50 years without a break must be a record for Guinness to consider. Congratulations Roy. 

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

48 jazz in the clubs ottawas renee yoxonBorn in the United Kingdom’s county of Sussex, Jane Harbury came to Canada in 1966, thinking it would be for just a year.

“I had no goal or clear path when I came here, it just seemed like a good idea at the time,” she recalls. “Actually, my debating partner in the Young Conservatives in the UK, Janice Hunt, had been living and working in San Diego and said, “you should go, there’s ten men for each girl!” So I said okay, but it was easier to get to Canada in those days, so I just arrived, knew no one, stayed at the YWCA for a couple weeks and then found a room and began my life in Canada.”

In the late 1960s, Harbury started working as a dishwasher at the famous Riverboat coffee house in Yorkville. As fate would have it, within a few years she ended up being the club’s manager, becoming known affectionately as “Riverboat Jane.” Harbury’s next chapter was as personal assistant to record producer Brian Ahern (Anne Murray, Emmylou Harris, Johnny Cash, to name a few) and in 1988 she founded her own publicity company, passionately promoting numerous Canadian artists across a wide spectrum of musical genres. Her clients have included artists such as Lhasa, Ian Tyson and Ben Heppner, and she has also publicized many events, from the North By Northeast festival to the JUNO Awards. Nine years ago, Harbury began presenting a successful series at Hugh’s Room called Jane Harbury’s Discoveries, a showcase of emerging artists. How did the idea come about?

“This series began as me repeatedly asking Hugh’s Room’s booker, Holmes Hooke, for opening spots for some of my ‘baby band’ artists — not necessarily bands, but those not yet known,” says Harbury. “He repeatedly replied that he didn’t have many opening act spots. Finally, probably out of sheer frustration, Holmes said “Why don’t you do your own night? We’ll give you the room!” and so I put together five artists — at 25 minutes each. It turned out to be one artist too many, so fairly quickly I adapted and refined it to four per show with 30 minutes each. Each artist is expected to bring at least twenty people, but the more the merrier, of course.”

Discoveries has been presented three times annually, and as one can imagine, there have been a lot of highlights over the years.

“We’ve had some amazing nights,” she recalls. “Bora Kim on violin at 14 playing Paganini. Eric Tan amazing the audience with his talent, playing classical on the old electric keyboard! Jazz vocalists Barbra Lica and Jordana Talsky, both shone.”

What has Jane Harbury discovered by presenting Discoveries?

“So much, but perhaps one of the most wonderful aspects is that you bring four diverse types of music into one show, the audience members are wonderfully open to appreciating this and are so supportive of all four. It is nerve-wracking for the artists, most of whom have always wanted to play a venue like Hugh’s Room where they are treated with so much respect ... it might sound as though it’s a kind of Ed Sullivan variety show, but it’s SO much more. Most of the artists are those who find me and not usually clients of mine. Something magical seems to happen at every Discoveries. I want to stress that it’s nothing like an open stage event. The artists support each other. I love it!”

The next edition of Discoveries takes place on Tuesday, February 5, featuring country/bluegrass/folk duo The Schotts, recent Etobicoke School of the Arts graduate Jessica Chase, Vancouver-based singer-songwriter Tom Taylor and Ottawa-based jazz vocalist Renée Yoxon. Being already familiar with the gorgeous voice of Yoxon, I am looking forward to discovering the other three acts. Hope to see you there! 

Ori Dagan is a Toronto-based jazz musician, writer and educator who can be reached at oridagan.com.

handriganSometimes second chances take a long time in coming. Fortunately, if you’re only 10 or 11 years old, you don’t spend a lot of time regretting lost opportunities. You just put it behind you, grow up and get on with the rest of your life — or so you think.

It’s been four decades, but the winsome little boy who sang “O Holy Night” to a packed cathedral in St. John’s, Newfoundland, has never forgotten what it felt like. Especially since the cathedral in question was the Basilica Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, which, when it was consecrated in 1855, was the largest Irish cathedral outside of Ireland and the largest church in North America — and a full house meant more than 3,000 seats filled.

“I grew up in a large Irish Catholic family with four sisters and three brothers — we were a bit like the von Trapps of St. John’s — after supper, we’d get around a piano and sing,” reminisces Stephen Handrigan, the new director of the St. Michael’s Choir School. “And, of course,” he points out, “there’s a huge choral tradition in Newfoundland.”

The legendary musicologist Sister Kathrine Bellamy was the organist and music director at the Basilica of St. John the Baptist for almost a quarter of a century, but she also worked with several school choirs in St. John’s. Handrigan still remembers the many chants she taught, and her favourite Schubert lieder.

For the young boy introduced to sacred music by Sister Kathrine, the highlight of his young life was the prospect of being sent to the St. Michael’s Choir School in Toronto, which seemed like light years away from St. John’s at the time. But, in the end, the funding fell through and the boarding school experience never materialized.

Handrigan went on to study music and music education at Memorial University in St. John’s and eventually pursued a Master’s Degree in Music Education from the University of Victoria in British Columbia. After trying out both coasts of the country, he finally made it to Toronto.

All in all, he’s been teaching music in schools for nigh on 30 years, including at Upper Canada College and the Country Day School in King City. Between 2003 and 2005, he directed the Conference of Independent Schools’ Music Festival. He’s accustomed both to seeing the big picture and to being front and centre, because he’s also a singer. As a baritone, he put in a stint with the Canadian Opera Company and he continues to be active in his church choir.

Before St. Michael’s callled, he had a pretty full life, as a husband and father of two sons and as an administrator with the Toronto Catholic District School Board. To be honest, he hadn’t given St. Michael’s Choir School much thought. So he was completely gobsmacked when the invitation to be its new director came. That’s why he ended up replaying his voice mail message 20 times before it finally sank in.

Upon accepting the position, he found himself immersed in a surreal flurry of meet and greet as he was introduced to the various faculty, staff, committees, students and members of the community he would get to know. He was learning about the rubrics of his job, as he says, “one conversation at a time, with students, parents”— in short, with everyone who could help him piece together the big picture.

It wasn’t until he walked into the Founder’s Day concert in the middle of October, when he heard the boys singing the descants from Monsignor John Ronan’s timeless compositions, that he thought to himself, “I’m in heaven. The hair was standing at the back of my neck, listening to those 300 voices, so poignant and profound.”

(Ronan, who founded the St. Michael’s Choir School in 1937 and was its principal until his death in 1962, was also a composer of sacred music. While his work has continued to be sung as part of the repertoire of the choir, Ronan’s accomplishment as a composer has been sadly overlooked, Handrigan says, pointing to the fact that many of Ronan’s 400 compositions sat in the school’s archives, unpublished for 50 years. As part of a busy year ahead, Handrigan will be discussing with doctoral candidate Robin Williams, who is cataloguing Ronan’s work, how to bring this sacred music to a wider audience.)

For the choir school, things are already busy! First up, and continuing its Christmas tradition, in its 73rd annual concert, the St. Michael’s Choir School will be featured in two performances, on Saturday, December 15, 2012 and Sunday, December 16, 2012 at Massey Hall. Conducted by Dr. Jerzy Cichocki, the 270-strong choir will be joined by Teri Dunn, Charissa Bagan and Jakub Martinec, and special guests the True North Brass quintet.

Then, on January 2, 2013, to mark its 75th year, the St. Michael’s Choir School will perform a benefit concert, called simply, “A Gift of Music,” at Roy Thomson Hall. The proceeds from the benefit concert will be used to support bursaries and scholarships so that no student has to be turned away solely for financial reasons.

Directed by alumnus Andrew Craig, “A Gift of Music” will feature a dazzling cast of alumni that includes, among others, jazz vocalist Matt Dusk, Kevin Hearn of the Barenaked Ladies, bass baritone Stephen Hegedus, Celtic musician James McKie and operatic superstar Michael Schade. The two co-hosts that evening will be actor and alumnus Jim Codrington and jazz vocalist Heather Bambrick. (Bambrick never went to the choir school, but has a Newfoundland connection. Handrigan remembers teaching the young Bambrick, who played the clarinet in school, years before she launched both her singing career and her morning radio program.)

But the busy times don’t stop there: As one of only six choir schools in the world affiliated with the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music in Rome, St. Michael’s Choir School provides sacred music for St. Michael’s Cathedral of such a calibre that the choir has performed for prime ministers, monarchs and popes. The first time the choir school went to Rome for a papal audience was 42 years ago, and it’s been 16 years since it last appeared at the Vatican. That’s why their upcoming tour to Italy in April 2013 is such a momentous undertaking.

“I never dreamt I’d be sitting in Cardinal Collins’s office talking about a tour to Italy,” says Handrigan, who will be leading an entourage of 350, including 180 choir boys. They will sing high mass at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome with his Eminence, Thomas Cardinal Collins, the Archbishop of Toronto, on April 7, 2013. Then, to mark the 25th anniversary of the Canadian Pontifical College, where Canadian Catholic priests go to study in Rome, there will also be a command performance the next day.

This is the time of the year when we all stop both to take stock and to celebrate. December 15, when he hears again the first unforgettable bars of “O Holy Night,” Stephen Handrigan will not be the first — and certainly not the last — to marvel at the many twists and turns it has taken for him to finally join the choir. 

Rebecca Chua is a Toronto-based journalist who writes on culture and the arts.

In December, if inclined, one has the option of attending a concert of seasonal music just about every day; and twice on some days. What’s more, each concert offers its own twist on a title (there are no repeats among them), from “Home for the Holidays” and “Joy to the World” to “Yuletide Spectacular” and “Glissandi Christmas,” with several variations on the theme in between. While I’ve chosen to focus on a few, you’ll find a longer list of them in this month’s Quick Picks at the end of the column (not including Messiah; that’s for my Early Music and Choral Scene compadres).

And once we’ve covered December’s festive fare, we’ll have a look at some wonderful concerts with which to begin 2013 in style!

beyondclassical glissandi  left to right  douglas miller  flute  deborah braun  harp  david braun  violin.Home for the Holidays: Its motto, “Music for Life!” says it all. For 14 years, La Jeunesse Youth Orchestra (LJYO) has provided an enriching and stimulating environment for young musicians to be exposed to and perform symphonic repertoire, instilling in these young people an enduring appreciation for music. This careful nurturing — through regular full and sectional rehearsals, a three-concert season, workshops, benefit concerts and educational field trips — will be readily apparent when LJYO presents its 14th annual “Home for the Holidays” concert on Sunday December 2 at 3pm in Port Hope. And, judging by the program, the group has given any number of reasons to “come home” for the holidays: one in particular is special guest, Canadian mezzo extraordinaire, Jean Stilwell, who, in a first for the orchestra, will perform “Ging heut Morgen übers Feld,” from Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (Songs of a Wayfarer). Stilwell will also sing Carol of the Drum and narrate ’Twas the Night Before Christmas.

Working with world-class musicians like Stilwell is another aspect of the LJYO experience. And having just seen Stilwell’s dazzling performance at this year’s Global Cabaret Festival (with pianist Patti Loach), I’ve no doubt these young orchestra members will remember Stilwell’s Mahler long after the last of the Christmas pudding’s been eaten.

They will also, no doubt, enjoy performing the rest of their holiday program for you, which will include, among several carols, “Carol of the Bells,” Warlock’s Capriol Suite, “Nocturne” from Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and “two musical evocations of sleigh rides, by Mozart and Leroy Anderson,” as it was so nicely put in LJYO’s press release. LJYO music director, Michael Lyons, will conduct the orchestra for the evening as it brings it all home.

Joy and a Yuletide Spectacular: Aside from being a favourite Christmas carol, “Joy to the World” is also the title of the Greater Toronto Philharmonic Orchestra’s December 8 concert at Calvin Presbyterian Church. The evening’s program is an interesting one: curiously, the eponymous carol is not listed (though it might turn up in Canadian composer Andrew Ager’s Merry-making: an English Carol-medley —which is). Also featured are Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy Op.80, for piano, chorus and orchestra, with pianist Brett Kingsbury, Harlan’s Christmas Canticles and “Winter” from Glazunov’s music for the ballet The Seasons Op.67. Into its sixth year of innovative programming, the GTPO has invited two guest choirs to join in the joy: Ensemble TrypTych Chamber Choir and the UTSC Concert Choir, both conducted by Lenard Whiting. This eclectic evening of piano, choral and orchestral music gets underway at 8pm.

The Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony is presenting its “Yuletide Spectacular” for the fourth year in a row, becoming a newish tradition — a variation on the holiday concerts the KWS featured for many years on its Pops series. And speaking of the Pops, leading the evening is multi-talented Pops conductor Matt Catingub. Saxophonist, pianist, vocalist, arranger, conductor and composer, Catingub has also arranged all the music that will be performed at the three KWS Yuletide concerts. There’s one on December 14 at 8pm and a matinee and an evening show on the 15th; all three concerts are held at Kitchener’s Centre in the Square.

And it looks like things will indeed “pop” given the line-up of guests the KWS has assembled: drummer Steve Moretti (who toured with Catingub and the legendary Rosemary Clooney for six years and recorded two Grammy-nominated CDs with them); the Grand Philharmonic Choir and its Children’s Choir; the Classical Dance Conservatory, dancing to two Christmas medleys; the KWS Youth Orchestra, playing three piecesalongside its parent KWS; and — this just in — A.J. Bridel, the talented Kitchener-born singer who placed third in CBC TV’s recent Over the Rainbow “Dorothy” search. Here’s a mere sampling of what is on the program: selections from A Charlie Brown Christmas, All I Want for Christmas is You, Angelicus and Jingle Bell Rock. And there’s also a sing-along component which will include Joy to the World!

Snowmen: The animated film, The Snowman,which turns 30 on December 26, is a holiday classic beloved by families around the world. Howard Blake’s score, including the film’s one and only song, Walking in the Air, will be performed in two very different settings in December.

On December 9, 3pm, at Roy Thomson Hall, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra will accompany the film (which runs about 25 minutes) live, with Stuart Chafetz conducting. In addition to The Snowman, there’s a full program of seasonal music planned: Herman’s “We Need a Little Christmas,” (from Mame), Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Dance of the Tumblers” from Snegurochka (The Snow Maiden), A Charleston Christmas and Santa’s Smashing Medley are only some of the selections. The guests for the evening bringing it all to life, along with the TSO, are Joseph Pongonthara, treble, Gabriel Gilhula, treble, Michele Ragusa, soprano, Cawthra Park Chamber Choir and the Holiday Dancers. For even more family fun, there will be free art activities with the Avenue Road Arts School at intermission.

I did want to mention, briefly, that two days later, the TSO continues its seasonal celebrations with “A Merry TSO Christmas" (December 11 and 12) and “Barenaked Ladies: Hits & Holiday Songs” (December 14). Both programs include a nod to that other seasonal holiday, Chanukah. Will the “Ladies” sing If I Had A Million Latkes? Oy. See the Quick Picks for dates and times.

Moving from orchestra and concert hall to the intimacy of a chamber trio and a church, The Snowman will reappear on December 21 and 22 (details below), when the Gallery Players of Niagara presents “Glissandi Christmas,” with the trio of Douglas Miller, flute, Deborah Braun, harp, and David Braun, violin, otherwise known as Glissandi! Miller told me that the Niagara-based trio has been performing together for over 18 years and that its “popular Christmas concerts on the Gallery Players series have become an annual event.” Indeed, the Gallery Players and Glissandi have been collaborating at Christmastime since 2007.

Employing the theme “angels and snowmen,” “Glissandi Christmas” 2012 offers a “delightful evening of poems and short stories intertwined with seasonal music for flute, violin and harp.” Regular Glissandi/Gallery Players guest, actor Guy Bannerman, will, once again, be participating. Harpist Braun sketches out how the evening will unfold: “We will be performing traditional carols — Angels We Have Heard On High, Angelus ad Virginem ... Hark the Herald Angels Sing, with a reading or two by Guy Bannerman, then The Snowman score, narrated by Guy, and a few more traditional carols, including a final Frosty the Snowman sing-a-long!” Braun adds that St. Catharines’ Ian Middleton, a member of Chorus Niagara Children’s Choir, will sing Walking in the Air.

Both concerts begin at 7:30pm; on December 21, at Grace United Church, Niagara-on-the-Lake; on the 22nd, at the Fonthill United Church, Fonthill.

A peek at 2013: Some common threads run through a few of the late January and early February listings. So I’ve paired them up as an interesting (and economical) way to introduce them. But first, a quick mention of the Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music Society. The sheer number of concerts this indefatigable group produces each month is astonishing, and January is no exception, with five concerts. On January 12th it’s trios by Mozart, Brahms and Tchaikovsky, and on the 14th, sextets by the latter two, in a concert titled “Ménage à 6”; on the 16th it’s solo piano musicfeaturing four Haydn sonatas and three of the Etudes-Tableaux by Rachmaninoff. The Madawaska String Quartet performs works by Dvořák, Harley and Britten on the 27th, and the Bergmann Piano Duo celebrates Schubert’s birthday on the 31st. Phew! You’ll find the details in the Beyond the GTA concert listings.

Common threads: Brilliant Canadian pianist, Louis Lortie, and a work by Liszt, are what the concerts being presented by the Perimeter Institute and the Royal Conservatory have in common. On January 29, 7:30pm, at the Institute’s Mike Lazaridis Theatre of Ideas in Waterloo, Lortie appears in solo recital. Five days later, on February 3, the Royal Conservatory (in association with Alliance Française de Toronto and Bureau du Québec) presents Lortie with fellow French Canadian pianist, Hélène Mercier, in a program of music for one piano/four hands, and for two pianos. Here’s where it gets interesting: Lortie performs works by Wagner, and Liszt’s Réminiscences de Don Juan in Waterloo; for the RCM et al, (in addition to works by Mozart, Schubert — the sublime Fantasy in F Minor — Ravel and Rachmaninoff), Lortie and Mercier perform Liszt’s later, two-piano version of Réminiscences. Neat, eh? The duo pianists are at Koerner Hall, 8pm.

beyondclassical dali quartet  left to right  carlos rubio  second violin  adriana linares  viola  jesus morales  cello  simon gollo  first violin. photocredit vanessa briceno-scherzerMooredale Concerts and the aforementioned Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music Society (KWCMS) have a very special common thread running through their consecutive early February concerts: the Dali String Quartet. The members of this captivating quartet – violinists Simón Gollo and Carlos Rubio, violist Adriana Linares and cellist Jesús Morales — are all graduates of Venezuela’s renowned and highly respected El Sistema (referred to in past WholeNote issues), a revolutionary music education program founded in 1975 by economist and musician José Antonio Abreu; Abreu recognized music’s transformative powers and its use as an effective agent of social change. From its humble inception, with 11 students, the volunteer program has since delivered (and continues to deliver) free musical training (instruments included) to hundreds of thousands of impoverished children throughout Venezuela, and now overseas 125 youth orchestras and 31 symphony orchestras. El Sistema has inspired myriad programs around the world, including Sistema-Toronto.

Shining proof of the program’s unparalleled success, members of the Dali Quartet have been trained by world-renowned artists, studied at such esteemed institutions as Indiana University Bloomington, recorded for the likes of Dorian and Naxos and appeared at Carnegie Hall. The Quartet combines the best of both El Sistema and American classical conservatory traditions, offering an enchanting range of traditional string quartet and Latin American repertoire. Like the press release says, its performances “embrace the imagination, excellence and panache of the Quartet’s namesake, the Spanish surrealist artist Salvador Dali.”

It’s the Dali Quartet’s first time performing in Canada. Both Mooredale and KWCMS are to be commended for delivering them to Toronto and Waterloo audiences. Not surprisingly, both programs will include works by Latin American composers — Amaya, Gardel, Almarán, Villa-Lobos, Valdes — and standard quartet repertoire by Mendelssohn (Mooredale), Mozart and Haydn (KWCMS). Mooredale’s February 3 concert (for the adults) begins at 3:15pm at Walter Hall; earlier at 1:15pm, same venue, the Dali will also perform in Mooredale’s one-hour interactive program for young people ages 6 to 15, “Music & Truffles” (adults welcome). Next day, 8pm, the Dali Quartet performs in the KWCMS Music Room in Waterloo.

That should get you off to a healthy musical start in 2013!

The holiday season is here. The Quick Picks are below. The riches of the listings await you. Raise a glass to good health, to the new year, and enjoy!

CHRISTMAS QUICK PICKS

December 01 3:00: University of Toronto Scarborough. Sounds of the Season. Meeting Place, 1265 Military Trail, Scarborough.

December 08 3:00: Onstage Productions. Sounds of Christmas. Flato Markham Theatre, 171 Town Centre Blvd., Markham. Also at 8:00; also Dec 9(2:30).

December 09 3:00: Guelph Symphony Orchestra. Holiday Classics. River Run Centre, 35 Woolwich St., Guelph.

December 11 8:00: Toronto Symphony Orchestra. A Merry TSO Christmas. Roy Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe St. Also Dec 12
(mat and eve).

December 14 7:00: Passport Duo. ’Twas the Night Before Christmas. Array Music Studio, 155 Walnut Ave.

December 14 7:30: Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Barenaked Ladies: Hits & Holiday Songs. Roy Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe St.

December 15 3:30: York Symphony Orchestra. YSO Holiday Spectacular. Trinity Anglican Church, 79 Victoria St., Aurora. Also at 8:00.

December 16 1:30: Oakville Symphony Orchestra. Family Christmas Concert. Oakville Centre for the Performing Arts,
130 Navy St. Oakville. Also at 4:00.

December 16 7:00: Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony. Barenaked Ladies: Greatest Hits and Holiday Songs. Centre in the Square,
101 Queen St. N., Kitchener.

December 18 7:30: Kingston Symphony. Candlelight Christmas. St. George’s Cathedral, 270 King St. E., Kingston.
Also Dec 19.

December 23 3:00: Royal Conservatory. Canadian Brass Christmas. Koerner Hall,
273 Bloor St. W. 

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.

 

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