When I was first contemplating applying to the University of Toronto’s Jazz Studies program, there were many factors that made the prospect appealing: the downtown location, the stellar faculty, the impressive (and at times intimidating) skill level of the student body. Nothing, however, quite captured the allure of the program as much as the promise of the weekly small-ensemble performances at The Rex.
Three remarkably dissimilar music theatre productions, all in one place and performed by one company, have been thrilling audiences since previews in the spring – at the Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake.
One day in the golden late ’80s in Hong Kong, almost past the reaches of Elaine Choi's memory, she balanced on her mother's piano bench. She was about three years old. Her mother helped one of her small fingers find middle C. The note resonated through the black upright Yamaha, as it did for the many piano students who filled Choi’s childhood home. Choi's own lessons with her mother turned out to be the beginning of an impressive international music career bridging East and West. But not as a performance soloist. Instead, Choi found success in one of music's most collaborative genres – as a conductor for choral music.
New Brunswick violinist Katya Poplyansky first participated as a fellow in the TSM emerging artist program in the summer of 2018 and returned the following summer.
If I were talking only to long-time readers of this magazine right now, I would suggest you do some online homework before carrying on with reading this story, by heading off to one particular spot on the Toronto Summer Music (TSM) website. Once you arrived, I’d ask you to scroll your way up through the two lists of musicians you’ll find there – the alumni of the TSM’s two Academy programs (chamber and vocal music) from 2012 to 2023. (The lists are easy to find even if you don’t have a link: just go to “Alumni” under the tab “Academy.”)
Every year in Toronto – at least for this west coast transplant – summer seems to arrive all at once. Parkas transform into t-shirts; boots to sandals; a pervasive dread that winter shall never end is replaced by a cautious optimism that a few brief moments of respite are at least theoretically possible. The summer has many of the same delights to offer as the regular season for the dedicated music patron, but festival season also offers the appealing prospect of being jolted out of one’s usual routines.
“It’s time” I rumble (fussing with the shirt studs and cufflinks) “once again” (muttering while untwisting the back strap on my white vest) “to carp and whine about this ridiculously outmoded uniform requirement!”
The occasion? Getting set to join my colleagues in the Hamilton Philharmonic, a fine regional orchestra where I am sometimes called as a substitute. We are to perform music by Mozart, who wrote his beloved Symphony No.40 in G Minor before white tie and tails were a thing, and Richard Strauss, who lived during their rise as formal evening wear.
Ah, awards season. That very special time of year when artists across a variety of fields experience the thrill of being nominated, grapple with existential issues of the validity of awards and rankings within the arts, eat a moderately expensive banquet salad, and rub shoulders with fellow Canadian music-industry colleagues. (When I attended the JUNOs, in 2016, Canadian hip-hop legend Kardinal Offishall came up behind me, patted me on the shoulder and said “keep doing what you’re doing, man.” When I turned around, he said “oh, sorry, thought you were, uhh…” and promptly left. It remains a proud moment.)
Lieder, or art song, might seem a tough sell at times. With just two performers on stage, singer and pianist, it does not offer the visual dazzle of opera with its scenery, orchestra and casts of thousands. Texts are usually by 19th-century poets such as Verlaine, Goethe, Rilke, Heine and Hesse, and in German or French which makes them less accessible to English-speaking listeners. To do justice to the texts, songs were often through-composed and so they lack choruses that might catch the audience’s ears.
For months there has been speculation, in “the business” and out, about what the unannounced “secret” seventh show of the upcoming 2024/25 Mirvish season might be. Possibilities mooted have included Beetlejuice and MJ: the musical, among others.
The real news is much more exciting.
Women from Space: In last month’s issue, I wrote about the Women from Space festival, which happened from March 8-10. I was delighted to attend some of the events, and came away feeling inspired and energized by what I heard. The festival opener was a spectacular improvisation by Bloop, the duo made up of trumpeter Lina Allemano and her performance partner Mike Smith, whose electronics wizardry was fully on display in the effects processing he conjured from the equipment at hand. At times Allemano also played various gong instruments, such as a large cow-bell with one of her hands, adding different sonorities to the mix.
