Beat Columns (Live Music)

Queen of Puddings Music Theatre announced on February 8 that it would conclude operations at the end of August of this year. For many it comes as a shock that Toronto should be losing a company that for the past 20 years has brought an uncompromising vision to the development and production of new Canadian chamber opera. Their legacy is a series of works, acclaimed by critics and audiences alike, which have redefined not only what a Canadian opera can be but also what opera itself can be. Beatrice Chancy (1998–1999) by James Rolfe and George Elliott Clarke was the first opera about black slavery in Canada and launched the career of soprano Measha Brueggergosman. The Midnight Court (2005–2007) by Ana Sokolović and Paul Bentley was the first Canadian opera — and QoP the first Canadian company — invited to the Linbury Studio at England’s Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

In contrast to these narrative-based works, QoP also explored the boundaries of opera. Love Songs (2008–2011) by Ana Sokolović, a solo opera that set various love poems and the words “I love you” in more than 100 languages, was declared the best production at the Zagreb Biennale and was subsequently presented at the prestigious Holland Festival. Beauty Dissolves in a Brief Hour (2010) by Pierre Klanac, John Rea and Fuhong Shi, presented three poems in medieval French, English and Mandarin in the form of a ritual that was hailed by EYE Weekly as “an exquisite piece of music theatre.” In 2012, co-founder and co-artistic director Dáirine Ní Mheadhra was awarded the Canada Council Molson Prize in the arts in recognition of her lifetime achievements and ongoing contributions to the cultural and intellectual life of Canada.

Why should Ní Mheadhra and co-founder and co-artistic director John Hess choose to end such an enterprise when it has reached the peak of its success? In some ways the question answers itself. The co-founders have decided that Queen of Puddings should end on a high note.

In an email interview near the end of last month, Ní Mheadhra agreed that she and Hess would answer a number of questions about QoP, its legacy and the future. Here it is:

Why did you decide that QoP should cease operations? Do you feel that QoP has achieved all the goals it was set up to achieve?

We decided that QoP should cease operations because after nearly 20 years we feel we’ve achieved what we set out to do, which was to commission and produce original Canadian opera to a high artistic standard and to develop an international profile for this work. In this current season the company is thriving, with the great success and critical acclaim for our production of Ana Sokolović’s opera Svadba-Wedding, now touring nationally and internationally. Coming up on April 30thwe are presenting the premiere of a new vocal chamber work, Inspired by Lorca, by composer Chris Paul Harman, sung by Krisztina Szabó with our ensemble at the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre.

We’ve been considering our decision for some months, and while we realize that it’s unusual to cease operations when an organization is extremely healthy, it felt like the right decision for us both in this phase of our lives and in the life cycle of QoP. The end of our season in August 2013 feels like a very natural artistic ebbing point, and it also coincides with the end of our current three-year operational funding, and thus feels like the right moment to close the company. We want to conclude in a year like this, which is full of artistic highlights and the fulfilment of our goals — with continued financial stability due to a deficit-free track record.

What do you feel are QoP’s greatest achievements over its existence?

Probably our greatest achievement has been never to accept “received wisdom” about the state of new music/opera in Canada, but to have furrowed our own path with our individual beliefs. Just one example: when Dáirine arrived in Toronto from Ireland in 1994 we were told that there were only two singers in Toronto who could possibly sing new opera. We thought that was a load of old rubbish. It would never have occurred to us to segregate new opera from middle opera or old opera. For us it’s all a continuum — Monteverdi, Mozart, Puccini, Strauss, Shostakovich, Andriessen, Sokolović, Rolfe ... and the singers who sing those operas also sing contemporary Canadian opera — there’s no difference.

We think another very important achievement has been the international touring we’ve done of new Canadian opera, which hardly existed before QoP. That was hugely important to us. Before Dáirine came to Canada, she had no real impression of what new Canadian music was like as it didn’t have a strong profile internationally. But we’ve discovered that the best singers in the world live in Canada and that there’s huge composer talent here too. It has been our mission to deliver this news to the world!

For example, we’ve wanted to bring Ana Sokolović’s music back to her Serbian homeland for ten years, and last October we felt such inordinate pleasure walking down a main street in Belgrade with a big poster of Ana and Queen of Puddings outside the Atelje 212 Theatre announcing a performance of Svadba that night. In the performance the singers sang Serbian so well that we were asked how we ever managed to find six Serbian-Canadian singers! Shortly afterwards, we brought Svadba to Dublin (Dáirine’s hometown) and the audience could not believe the virtuosity of the singers and the sheer imagination and verve of the music. But all of this we knew all along, and knew that audiences outside of Canada just needed to hear these Canadian singers and music, and they would be bowled over. And they certainly were.

Are you worried that the gap left by the departure of QoP
will leave a gap in the creation of new opera in Canada,
or are you confident that QoP’s success as a deficit-free arts organization has left a model that others can build on?

We’d never have the hubris to think that we’d left a gap in new opera in Canada! People are very resilient and if there is a gap, it would be filled sooner or later. Now the deficit-free business, well that’s another story! That was a personal aesthetic — we would have been mortified to ever show up at a board meeting announcing that we’d gone into deficit. So along with our producer Nathalie Bonjour, we just made sure we never spent more than what we thought we could fundraise.

What will happen to the many works that QoP created? Will other companies have permission to perform them, or will they disappear along with the company?

QoP has an excellent track record of repeat performances of new operas. When we commission a new opera, we have exclusive rights for a few years after, but that being said we’ve never turned anyone away who wanted to do their own production of a QoP work. That’s what we all want — more productions of new operas! Just last week, the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore presented their own production of Svadba and in fall 2013 there will be another US production of Svadba. Our 2009 production, Love Songs, has already had three other versions performed in Canada with a fourth coming up in a few months. And so on. We consider the new operas we have commissioned as living organisms which will continue to be performed well into the future and form a vital part of the emerging canon of Canadian opera.

What plans do you have for the future?

John has a recital with soprano Erin Wall on March 7 at the St. Lawrence Centre in Toronto and then a BC recital tour with Ben Heppner. For Dáirine, she’s been approached about a few projects, but in the short term she’ll probably take a break after August 31st and fuel the imagination with walks in the mountains in County Kerry and long coffees on the Avenida da Liberdade in Lisbon. Then she’ll start having ideas for new projects and be back knocking on someone else’s door!

Let me give you my deepest thanks for truly enlivening the world of opera in Canada.

We’ve had a marvellous run of 20 years and experienced huge generosity, support and warmth from our friends and colleagues in Canada. They’ve all been integral to our work and we couldn’t have given the best of ourselves without their belief that we would do no less. 

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

Surveying the concert scene this month, I can’t help noticing that there are several in which the central figure happens to be female — that’s a good theme, I’m thinking! So here’s my praise to the Power of Woman.

Tafelmusik’s featured guest soloist and director this month is the eminent baroque violinist Elizabeth Wallfisch, an artist with a vivacious personality and a sparkling approach to the music she plays. Born in Australia into a very musical family — wind players, string players, singers — she is married to the British cellist Raphael Wallfisch. She’s long been a respected and sought-after leader and performer in the period performance movement, though she did not enter into this world until her late 20s, when she was handed a baroque instrument and bow and asked to play them in a concert in two weeks — “and I never looked back,” she says. “Suddenly I found myself in the thick of a ‘movement’ that was strong and vibrant and had a ‘truth’ to teach me. I am still learning — more and more to tell the truth.” Extremely committed to the nurturing of young artists, she’s been intensely involved with many groups such as the Carmel Bach Festival Orchestra and also has recently formed the Wallfisch Band, an international period-instrument orchestra in which young musicians play alongside mentors at the top of their profession.

The quote above is taken from an interview with Tafelmusik, published on their website (you can read the whole interview there). Here’s another Wallfisch quote, from a 2010 interview with Jesse Hamlin of the San Francisco Chronicle: “Making music defines us. It’s not a job, it’s what makes us tick.”

Wallfisch’s Tafelmusik program takes you to Madrid, with music by composers active in or having some connection to Spain — particularly Boccherini, who lived in Madrid and whose music is often highly inflected with Spanish rhythm and charm. You’ll hear his La musica notturna delle strade di Madrid, whichevokes the hustle and bustle of the Spanish capital, and his sizzling Fandango. Wallfisch and Tafelmusik are joined by flamenco dancers Esmeralda Enrique and Paloma Cortés from the Esmeralda Enrique Spanish Dance Company — a group described on their website as “passionate and driven,” whose “expressive, powerful dancers perform finely wrought pieces that hold in perfect balance tradition and classicism with a modern, contemporary aesthetic.”

“A Night in Madrid” is presented five times, March 20 to 24 at Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre.

English soprano Emma Kirkby has been described as “the artist who almost single-handedly changed the way we listen to voices in early music.” Now an icon in the world of period performance, a renowned early music specialist known for her impeccable style and purity of voice, Kirkby initially spent her musical life singing in choirs and madrigal groups with no thought of making singing a career. In a world where the big operatic voice reigned supreme, she didn’t fit in, either with vocal equipment or by temperament. Her immense gifts couldn’t be hidden though, and inevitably she was “discovered” by such people as lutenist/director Anthony Rooley. Once she had found her own way as a singer, she, like Wallfisch, never looked back. She’s known as an artist of high technical skill, refinement and depth, one who conveys the meaning of the text in a powerfully poignant way.

On her website is a very telling remark, prompted by a 2007 survey of “the greatest sopranos” in which she placed at number ten: “While such things are inevitably parochial, partial, controversial and outdated as soon as they appear, (Kirkby) is pleased at the recognition this implies for an approach to singing that values ensemble, clarity and stillness alongside the more obvious factors of volume and display.”

She is joined by Swedish lutenist Jakob Lindberg for the Toronto Consort production of “Orpheus in England,” a program which pays particular homage to the 450th anniversary of John Dowland’s birth. Performances take place on April 5 and 6 at Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre.

And there’s more. As part of their residency at St. Michael’s College and in keeping with our theme, the Musicians In Ordinary present their own tribute to “Ladies that are Most Rare” on March 19, in a program of songs to poems by Lady Mary Sidney, Lady Mary Wroth and the Egerton Sisters, and music from the lute books of Mary Burwell and Margaret Board.

One of the busiest harpsichordists around, Sara-Anne Churchill is a woman on a mission to bring an awareness of her instrument to the general public. “People don’t realize how often they are exposed to the harpsichord and its music, and I want to show how ubiquitous it is, and how versatile (and amusing!) the harpsichord can be,” she says. So to draw in all those not yet seduced by the charms of the harpsichord she’s devised a program of familiar pieces (such as Handel’s Harmonious Blacksmith variations), arrangements (such as Dowland’s Flow my Tears arranged by Byrd) and some unlikely surprises too, such as the theme from The Addams Family! “The Cliché Harpsichord” is a TEMC presentation that takes place on March 24 at St. David’s Church.

Fifteenth-century French martyr and saint, Joan of Arc, has inspired countless works of art throughout the ages. Not the least of these is Carl Theodor Dreyer’s 1928 silent film, The Passion of Joan of Arc, depicting her trial and execution, for which Renée Jeanne Falconetti’s performance is described as one of the finest in cinematic history. In a co-presentation by the Toronto Silent Film Festival and Scaramella Concerts, this film is screened at Innis Town Hall on April 4 to an adventurous accompaniment: a newly composed score by Los Angeles composer Tom Peters, featuring the composer playing electric stick violone and Joëlle Morton playing amplified viola da gamba.

Others

March 9: Music at Metropolitan presents “Baroque and Beyond III: Music from the French Baroque” including Couperin’s Leçons des Ténèbres and other works. Performers are soprano Ariel Harwood-Jones, mezzo Christina Stelmacovich, theorbist/lutenist Benjamin Stein, the Elixir Baroque Ensemble and others.

March 15: “Distres’d Innocency: The Community Baroque Orchestra of Toronto Mixes with Elixir” is the title of the next CBOT concert held at Victoria College. Their guests, Elixir Baroque Ensemble, are a vibrant new group consisting of gambist Justin Haynes, harpsichordist Sara-Anne Churchill, violinists Elyssa Lefurgey-Smith and Valerie Gordon. Together the two groups play music by Purcell, Vivaldi, Telemann and Bach; Elixir is featured on its own in music by Castello and Buxtehude.

March 16 in Hamilton, March 16 and 17 in Toronto: Capella Intima presents the anonymous oratorio Giuseppe, dating from around 1650 and discovered in the Vatican Library, for five voices and instruments. Sopranos Lesley Bouza and Emily Klassen, alto Laura McAlpine, tenor Bud Roach, and bass James Baldwin are joined by organ and gamba.

March 23: Bach’s B Minor Mass is presented at Toronto’s Metropolitan United Church by the Elmer Iseler Singers and the Amadeus Choir, soloists and orchestra, under the baton of Lydia Adams.

March 30: Ever probing life’s profound issues, I FURIOSI explores the deep, hidden things in life with music by Dowland, Scarlatti, Handel and Buxtehude. “The Down-Low” features guest Alison Mackay playing both double bass and viol, and takes place at a new venue, Windermere United Church.

March 31: At U of T’s Trinity College Chapel, the Schola Cantorum and Theatre of Early Music under director Daniel Taylor present “Jesu meines lebens leben,” with works by Buxtehude, Bruhns and Kuhnau.

April 5: Handel’s Concerti Grossi Op.6 are 12 of the finest and most attractive examples in this genre. Aradia Ensemble and the Kingsway Conservatory Strings sample from these works, in a CD release concert at Glenn Gould Studio.

For details of all these and others not mentioned here, please consult The WholeNote’s daily listings. 

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.

Reflecting on the nature of time and how we ultimately have no choice but to surrender to its rhythms is an activity that eternally captures the human imagination. One of the great gifts of Japanese culture to our understanding of time is found in the principle of Wabi-sabi, which finds beauty in the imperfect, impermanent and incomplete. Things in a state of transience, of coming and going — such as a flower coming into bloom or decaying — demonstrate this ideal. Wabi-sabi honours the process of change and those effects that the passage of time creates. Awareness at this level requires a quiet mind and cultivated human behaviour, which, in the Japanese worldview, can be instilled through the appreciation and practice of the arts.

Since January of 2013, the city of Toronto has been enjoying Spotlight Japan, a four-month, city-wide, multidisciplinary celebration of classic and contemporary Japanese culture in theatre, dance, film, visual arts and of course, music. On March 5 at Koerner Hall, Soundstreams will be presenting their contribution to this “spotlight” in their concert “Fujii Percussion and Voices.” Since the act of listening to music offers a very refined way of experiencing movement through time, this concert will present an opportunity to be transported into a deeper engagement with these ideals of transience and impermanence.

The concert features the virtuosic Fujii Trio from Japan performing on five-octave marimbas, vibraphone, glockenspiel and a variety of other percussion instruments along with Canadian performers Ryan Scott on percussion, Gregory Oh on piano and the Toronto Children’s Chorus. Because writing for percussion instruments is central to the work of many Japanese composers, this concert offers an extraordinary opportunity to experience the subtle workings of instrumental colour by four of that country’s outstanding composers: Tōru Takemitsu, Akira Miyoshi, Maki Ishii and Yasuo Sueyoshi. The concert will include the Canadian premiere of Miyoshi’s Yamagara Diary featuring the Toronto Children’s Chorus and a rare instrument called the sanukite, as well as a newly commissioned work from Canadian Michael Oesterle.

The sanukite is a uniquely Japanese instrument made from black volcanic stones that originate from the Kagawa Prefecture area. Known locally as kankanishi or “cling-clang rocks,” they produce a unique ethereal tone when struck, which, in the words of Japanese drummer Masashi Tomikawa “reveal the spirit of time itself.”

Oesterle’s piece Carrousel references the spiral motion of time and is scored as a quartet for glockenspiel, vibraphone, marimba and piano. The three percussion instruments will surround the piano and function as a way of preparing the piano as they reflect back the piano’s gestures, creating a type of “blurred vision.” This is similar to how “as we pivot around the sun, all bodies acquire a natural rhythm or pulse, tuned to the return of sunshine and darkness, becoming captives of a solar carrousel.” The other Canadian work is Claude Vivier’s Pulau Dewata (Island of the Gods) for percussion ensemble of varying instrumentation dedicated to the people of Bali.

The ending of a legacy: In spite of the virtue of embracing impermanence, it is still an unfortunate turn of events that the immensely successful series run by the Canadian Music Centre — New Music in New Places — will be coming to an end. This nation-wide series has forever changed the landscape of how contemporary music is perceived and received in this country, and even though it is being terminated due to federal funding changes, it’s absolutely essential that this innovation of placing new music listening experiences within community venues be taken up in different ways in the future. This month offers three opportunities in southern Ontario to experience music in the places where people gather — from eateries, to breweries, to retail stores.

The first such event will happen March 1 at the Academy of Lions General Store featuring the Music in the Barns Chamber Ensemble performing works by Richard Reed Parry, Rose Bolton and Scott Godin. The venue is part café, part gallery and part fitness store. Post-concert events include a performance by baroque folk duo Tasseomancy, and a chance to party with DJ Adam Terejko.

Not in our concert listings but of interest, Guelph and Kitchener-Waterloo residents can visit the Happy Traveller Bistro, 40 Garden St., Guelph, 519-265-0844, on March 8 to hear performances by the Kitchener-Waterloo Guelph New Music Collective. The Bistro offers a welcoming environment for local artists, musicians and community projects while serving up vegetarian and vegan food.

And on March 21 and 22 it’s off to the recently opened Junction Craft Brewery tap room and retail store for “Junction the Dry,” to hear music by Derek Johnson, Emilie LeBel, James Rolfe, Caitlin Smith and Healey Willan.

As these events demonstrate, New Music in New Places has made the experience part of our evolving consciousness.

The emerging collectives: There’s much talk these days about “emerging artists.” It’s become a buzz phrase and even the arts councils have categories for such creatures. But beyond the labels, one characteristic I’m noticing amongst younger composers and musicians is the movement towards the creation of collectives. Not that this is necessarily a new strategy, but it’s a healthy sign of creating space not only for new voices and artistic visions, but also for new ways of collaborating. This form of partnership is another reflection of changes in the creative process that I spoke of in February’s column in the context of the upcoming New Creations Festival running March 2 to 9. More about that festival below, but first, here’s a look at opportunities to see what’s happening in three of these local collectives.

The Thin Edge New Music Collective is inspired by how new music can impact contemporary life. Their March 13 concert at the Canadian Music Centre will feature works using innovative instrumentation: melodica, thumb piano, toy piano, autoharp and auxiliary instruments alongside violin, piano and cello.

The second collective is Vox Novus that gathers together composers, musicians and music enthusiasts. In their March 10event at the Al Green Theatre, they will be presenting electroacoustic compositions from 60 Canadian composers with 60 one-minute dance works.

The Spectrum Music collective is a group of jazz-trained musicians and young contemporary classical composers. Their upcoming concert “What Is Toronto?” on April 5 will focus on intimate snapshots of the history, languages, people and places of the city. The concert will include a panel discussion on the subject of Toronto’s identity and history featuring local writers, politicians and thinkers.

Words and music: In their concert entitled “Time & Tide” on March 5 and 6, the Talisker Players will perform compositions by Canadians Walter Buczynski and Scott Good alongside readings of texts from various English authors. At Gallery 345 on March 14, the words of poets Roger Greenwald, Sheniz Janmohamed and Jacob Scheier will provide inspiration for the musical improvisations of Kousha Nakhaei on violin and Casey Sokol on piano.

Music in story is as old as humanity itself. At the Toronto Storytelling Festival, which runs from March 16 to 24, a composition I wrote eight years ago, The Handless Maiden, for soprano, storyteller, vocalizations and electroacoustics will be performed March 24. Another storytelling-focused concert will be happening at Kingston Road United Church on March 24. “The Storied Harp” will feature works by Marjan Mozetich (Songs of the Nymph) and Murray Schafer (The Crown of Ariadne).

Celebrating anniversaries: Since anniversaries are a way of marking time, there are a few important ones to note this month. Esprit Orchestra is presenting their 30th anniversary season finale concert March 28 with two newly commissioned works by Torontonian Erik Ross and Montrealer Denis Gougeon. These new works will serve to bring attention to Esprit’s ongoing tradition of presenting and commissioning Canadian music.As a special audience treat, the orchestra will also be presenting repeat performances of two audience favourites: Purple Haze and the theme from The Twilight Zone.

Two unique events complete the anniversary motif. Six different composers, all born in 1912/13, will be toasted in a fundraiser for New Music Concerts at Gallery 345 on April 6 to honour their 100th birthdays. Included are small works by Weinzweig, Pentland, Cage, Nancarrow, Brant and Lutoslawski. And to further celebrate the legendary Weinzweig, Soundstreams will be presenting a concert of his works March 11 at Walter Hall, followed by the unveiling of a plaque to be placed at Weinzweig’s family home.

The New Creations Festival: As mentioned above, I wrote at length about the Toronto Symphony’s New Creations Festival in February’s issue of The WholeNote, so I won’t repeat myself here, other than to say don’t miss out on this, and in particular the premiere on March 9of A Toronto Symphony: Concerto for Composer and City. The two other concerts in the festival are on March 2 and 7. Given that the Spectrum collective is also featuring Toronto’s sounds and places in their April 5 concert, our ears should be primed for engaging in new ways with the place in which we live. Who knows where this might lead as a follow-up to the ending of the New Music in New Places series?

Additional quick picks

Music Toronto. Discovery Series: Trio Fibonacci. Works by Radford, Onslow and Sokolović. Jane Mallett Theatre, St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts, March 14.

Toy Piano Composers. Threshold/Le Seuil. Works by Pearce, Thornborrow, Denburg, Tam, Correia and Ryan. Artword Artbar, Hamilton, March 21. Repeat performance March 23 in Toronto at the Heliconian Hall.

Canadian Sinfonietta. A Visit from Lviv. Works by Vasks, Paderewski, Royer, Pepa and Laniuk. Glenn Gould Studio, March 23.

Diana McIntosh. In Concert. Featuring a retrospective of works composed and performed by McIntosh. Heliconian Hall, April 4. 

Wendalyn Bartley is a Toronto-based composer and electro-vocal sound artist. She can be contacted at sounddreaming@gmail.com.

What a difference a month makes! It seems that after weeks of intimate, romantic, light-hearted, sweet and sexy Valentine offerings, mighty, majestic and weighty Russian fare is to be the antidote to all that sweetness, judging by the proliferation of programs focusing on Russian music this month. (Not that Russian music can’t be romantic — think Rachmaninoff’s Second piano concerto.) With titles like “Russian Masters” and “Kiev to St. Petersburg,” works by Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky and Rachmaninoff abound, with Prokofiev, Mussorgsky, Shostakovich, Rimsky-Korsakov and Rubinstein also represented. It all promises to be rather thrilling!

(And for those of you still hankering for the sexy stuff, at the end of the column there’s a Quick Picks of Piazzolla, whose tempting tangos turn up the heat all over the place this month.)

Community bookends: Interestingly, two community orchestras are offering programs comprised of symphonies and concerti by Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky, at each end of this issue’s date range. Perhaps one reason for the focus on these two Russian giants is the significant birth and death anniversaries occurring this month and further down in 2013. This year marks the 120th anniversary of Tchaikovsky’s death. Rachmaninoff was born 140 years ago on April 1 and died 70 years ago on March 28.

Whatever the reason, we’ve got two evenings of great orchestral fare to consider. Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2, Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 and his Violin Concerto in D Major are featured in Counterpoint Community Orchestra’s “Kiev to St. Petersburg,” March 2, 8pm, at Saint Luke’s United Church. Erica Williamson is the violin soloist and the CCO’s Terry Kowalczuk conducts.

About a month later, on April 5 at 8pm, it’s the Etobicoke Philharmonic Orchestra’s turn at Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony, when they present “Russian Masters” at Martingrove Collegiate. The program also includes Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3. Reputed to be one of the most technically challenging in the repertoire, it will be in the most capable hands of Canada’s Arthur Ozolins, who recorded the Rachmaninoff Third, as well as the First, Second and Fourth, for CBC Records, with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, under Mario Bernardi, between 1985 and 1993.

Speaking of pianists and Russian repertoire, in between the CCO and the EPO, the TSO presents “From Mozart to Sibelius” on March 23 at 7:30. In between Wagner’s “Prelude to Act III” of Lohengrin and Mozart’s “Overture”to Don Giovanni, pianist Charles Richard-Hamelin will perform a personal favourite of mine, Rachmaninoff’s beautiful (and remember, romantic) Piano Concerto No.2, the piece he played when he won the 2011 TSO National Piano Competition. The guest conductor is Mélanie Léonard who is in her first season as associate conductor of the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra. And the Sibelius? The program, which repeats on the 24th, ends with his Finlandia.

Stravinsky on Sorauren: Sorauren Avenue, that is, number 345 — home of Gallery 345. Created in 2005 by Edward Epstein, the gallery has evolved into a wonderfully welcoming — and very busy — acoustically superb space for the performance of jazz and contemporary classical music, as well as standard, classical repertoire. Typically, you’ll find 12 to 15 Gallery 345 listings in any given issue and this one is no different. This round, there’s a kind of “mini Stravinsky festival” and, interestingly, a “mini Piazzolla festival” happening between March 1 and 26 — three concerts in each mini-fest.

There’s even one concert offering a work by both Stravinsky and Piazzolla: March 1, in a concert of music exploring dance, rhythm and movement, aptly titled “Pas de Deux,” cellist Kathleen Long and pianist H.W. Cecilia Lee perform Stravinsky’s Suite italienne, a very popular work based on several movements from his 1920 neoclassical ballet Pulcinella. For this arrangement, Stravinsky collaborated in 1932/33 with legendary cellist Gregor Piatigorsky, who later teamed up with fellow living legend Jascha Heifetz on an arrangement for violin and cello. (The most-often-performed arrangement, though, is the one for violin and piano, a 1933 collaboration between Stravinsky and violinist Samuel Dushkin.)

The other works on the program include Bartok’s Romanian Folk Dances, two pieces by Kapustin, Poulenc’s Sonate pour violoncelle et piano, Op. 143 and, as promised, Le Grand Tango by Piazzolla, all ensuring an exciting musical study of dance, rhythm and movement.

The other two concerts in Gallery 345’s unofficial Stravinsky fest occur at 8pm on March 11 and 20. The first, with the Pivot Chamber Soloists (Minghuan Xu, violin; Soo Bae, cello; Romi deGuist-Langlois, clarinet; Winston Choi, piano), features two Brahms trios (A Minor, Op. 114 and B Major, Op.8)in addition to Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du Soldat for clarinet, violin and piano. Originally scored for septet, Stravinsky later arranged his work for the condensed trio version being performed here. Incidentally, the PCS plays the same program the next day in Waterloo, for the indefatigable Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music Society, which presents two other March concerts (3 and 10) featuring works by Russian composers; cellist Bae and pianist Choi perform as a duo in the latter. These KWCMS concerts are noted below in a selection of Russian picks.

The March 20 concert features Ensemble Paramirabo, a versatile and innovative quintet from Montreal. Dedicated to “reserving the lion’s share of their programming to new works,” the ensemble will perform The Rite of Spring, arranged by emerging, Canadian composer Kevin Lau. Lau’s Gates of Light , M.Y. Ha’s Fairy Tale and the eponymous Paramirabo, composed by Claude Vivier in 1978, complete the program.

More Stravinsky: While it might normally fall under the “In With the New” banner, in this case it only makes sense for me to include Arraymusic’s “Stravinsky’s Sphere: The Influence of Igor Stravinsky.” On the March 10 program: a new work by Oesterle, the Canadian premiere of Andriessen’s Life, L’Histoire du Soldat and a player piano version of The Rite of Spring by plunderphonics (google it) guru John Oswald. The Arraymusic Ensemble, with guest violinist Marie Bérard, perform at the Enwave Theatre, Harbourfront Centre, at 3pm.

A final hot tip: “Doing Rite by Stravinsky” is the title of piano great, Jon Kimura Parker’s April 2 solo piano recital at Flato Markham Theatre. Starting at 8pm, Parker will no doubt dazzle as he performs his arrangement of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, along with Prokofiev’s Sonata No.3, Op.28, Rachmaninoff’s Prelude in G Minor, Op.23 No.5 and the stirring Pictures at an Exhibition, by Mussorgsky. Miss it and weep!

RESIDUAL RUSSIANS PICKS

March 3 8:00: Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music Society. Toronto Serenade String Sextet. Rimsky-Korsakov: String Sextet in A; Rubinstein: String Sextet in D Op.97. Waterloo.

March 7 7:30: Iron Strings Quartet. Iron Strings Plays Tchaikovsky. Smetana: String Quartet No. 1 “From My Life”; Tchaikovsky: String Quartet No.3 Op.30.

March 10 8:00: Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music Society. Soo Bae, cello, and Winston Choi, piano. Rachmaninoff: Sonata for Cello and Piano; and works by Chan Ka Nin, Piatti and Messiaen.

March 14 7:30: Trinity College, University of Toronto. Music That Speaks To You: Shostakovich – Rumours, Lies, Enigmas and Music. . Shostakovich: Second Trio. Gryphon Trio; Gary Kulesha, commentator.

April 5 8:00: Gallery 345. Art of the Piano: Alejandro Vela. Works by Prokofiev and Granados.

April 6 7:30: University of Toronto Faculty of Music. University of Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Weinzweig: Symphonic Ode; Tchaikovsky: Serenade for Strings Op.48; Dvořák: Symphony No.8 in G Op.88. Victor Feldbrill, conductor.

QUICK PIAZZOLLA PICKS

March 3 2:00: Gallery Players of Niagara. Let’s Tango. Works by Villa-Lobos, Piazzolla and Jobim. St. Catharines.

March 3 3:00: Georgian Bay Symphony. Dance Forms. Byrd: Fantasias; Moulinié: Fantasias; and works by Haydn and Piazzolla.

March 8 8:00: Aurora Cultural Centre. Great Artist Piano Series: Seiler Piano Trio. Works by Mozart, Schubert and Piazzolla.

March 8 8:00: Flato Markham Theatre. Tangos: From Gardel to Piazzolla. Romulo Larrea Tango Ensemble; Romulo Larrea, bandoneon/compositions/conductor. Markham.

March 22 8:00: Gallery 345. Tango Café: An Evening of Music and Dance. Contemporary and traditional tangos by Piazzolla, Canaro, DiSarli and others.

March 26 8:00: Gallery 345. Duo Les Amis – Love: Innocence, Passion, Obsession. Piazzolla: Milonga en re; and works by Yanyuk, Franck, Rota, Frolov and Pepa.

Prepare to be amazed! 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.

Last month I argued that classical music’s shift, from cultural pinnacle to just one of many multicultural entertainment options, was a good thing. But classical musicians who love, believe in and make a living from playing music that has to fight with increasing difficulty for listeners’ ears and market share, may feel differently. What are the challenges for these musicians in a new century?

One advocate for this tradition is veteran Canadian conductor Robert Cooper. And one possible solution to the question above is exemplified by Cooper’s work with the Orpheus Choir of Toronto.

A tireless musical dynamo, Cooper conducts Chorus Niagara and the Opera in Concert Chorus as well as the Orpheus Choir. A personal aside: he was the first conductor I sang for, in the Toronto Mendelssohn Youth Choir, the youth wing of Canada’s Toronto Mendelssohn Choir.

My prior experience of music centred around folk guitar and the Beatles, and my first encounter with choral music, from the Renaissance to the modern era, was both exciting and disorienting. But Cooper was an excellent choral ambassador for me and other young musicians. I remember being struck at the energy of this diminutive but authoritative figure who insisted on precision, focus and depth of engagement.

Cooper was also for many years the producer of CBC’s Choral Concert, along with host and fellow conductor Howard Dyck. Between them these musicians introduced the country to the world’s excellent choirs and promoted the work of Canada’s best ensembles.

Cooper celebrates his tenth anniversary as conductor or the Orpheus Choir this year. Asked about his work with Orpheus, he points out that the group is for hire as a recording ensemble and can handle pops and carol concerts — the meat and potatoes of any working ensemble. But Cooper has led the choir towards repertoire that he finds the most interesting — the lesser-known works of great composers and works by contemporary composers who are a modern extension of that tradition.

Modern choral composers have, for the most part, left behind the modernist experiments of the early to mid-20th century and are writing in idioms that extend the possibilities of tonal music, rather than eschew it. On March 22 the Orpheus Choir performs a double bill of two substantial but approachable modern works, English composer Howard Goodall’s Every Purpose Under the Heaven and young Latvian Ēriks Ešenvalds’ Passion and Resurrection.

Goodall has enjoyed a very successful career and is a well-known choral personality in Britain. His television lectures on music carry on the Bernsteinian tradition of using modern technology to educate new generations on music history. His music is instantly accessible, but challenging to execute well and stylishly.

This concert is the Canadian premiere of Every Purpose Under the Heaven, which was first performed in 2011 at Westminster Abbey. It was commissioned to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible, likely the most renowned translation of this text yet written. While later versions drew on more accurate scholarship, the King James is a cultural touchstone that has drawn and inspired musicians and writers for centuries.

The Ešenvalds  composition, Passion and Resurrection, is an intense work that blends tonal elements with turbulent rhythms and harmonies. Compared sometimes to the choral works of Arvo Pärt, it seems to sidestep elements of romantic and modernist musical gesture and combine instead elements of folk music, Northern European liturgical chant and an individual spiritual vision. The composer has often worked with the Latvian State Choir, considered to be one of the best choral ensembles in the world.

In a nod to the increasingly important role of theatre in choral presentation, and a welcome change from the dry-as-dust concert hall paradigm that we all endured last century, the Orpheus Choir’s rendition of Passion and Resurrection will use sound and lighting design to heighten and enhance the music making. And as an added bonus, the composer himself will also be travelling to Toronto to attend the event and give a lecture about his work.

Concerts to note: This is the time of year that concerts often take place on Good Friday and include requiems and masses. Church choirs often marshall their forces for appealing and interesting concerts, many of which have free admission or very reasonable ticket prices. Please have a look in the listings to see what is being offered. Some unusual concerts of note:

The Hart House Singers perform Dvořák’s Mass in D on March 17. Admission is free and food donations to the U of T Foodbank are welcome.

On March 19, the touring Grinnell Singers, from Ohio’s Grinnell College, presents a concert that includes A Bluegrass Mass. I’ve never heard this work, but I love it already. This concert is also free, and takes place at the Franciscan Church of St. Bonaventure in Toronto.

Does Toronto hold special appeal to Ohioans? Ohio’s Avon Lake High School Chorale also performs a free concert at Kingston Road United Church on March 22.

On March 23 the Mohawk College Community Choir performs works by two late 19th century European organist/composers: Maurice Duruflé’s very appealing Requiem and Josef Rheinberger’s setting of the Stabat Mater. The Metropolitan Festival Choir also performs the Duruflé work on Good Friday, March 29.

For those who would like to further explore French choral repertoire, the Victoria Scholars Men’s Choral Ensemble performs “The French Connection”on March 3, with music by Caplet, Debussy, Fauré, and Poulenc.

On March 5 the Toronto Children’s Chorus takes part in “Fujii Percussion and Voices,” an event presented by Soundstreams. This concert sounds fascinating. Canadian musicians team up with the virtuoso Fujii family of Japan to perform modern works by Canadian and Japanese composers. The Fujii family are percussionists who specialize in the sanukite, a mallet instrument fabricated from an unusual volcanic stone located in the Sanuki region of Japan. 

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

By this time in late winter, I long for signs of lengthening days and gentle warm breezes. Snowy cold snaps alternating with warm thaws, the weather in the GTA has been a tease this season. Hoping for an early spring, I looked to the shadowy results of Groundhog Day, among our more lighthearted commercial calendric customs. The two celebrity rodent prognosticators on both sides of the border, Wiarton Willie in Bruce County, Ontario, and Punxsutawney Phil in Pennsylvania, have forecast an early spring. Given that cold, slate-grey skies and frozen white ground continue to dominate our winter landscape, however, I remain unconvinced.

One cheery and as yet un-commercialized signal of the promise of longer, warmer days is the striking sight of our resident northern cardinals. Often seen flittering in and out of protected backyard hedgerows and under dense parkland tangles, the imposing 22cm male birds brighten up our urban winter drabness with their crested crimson coats. But it’s the repeated brief whistling late winter call that has caught my attention today. Often transcribed as a high-pitched “whoit ... whoit,” the brief ascending glissando has about an octave range, twice sung per call. Later in the season cardinals add other melodic motifs (slow trills, chuffs, chirps and churrs) to their repertoire of 16 or more sounds. Both the cardinal male and the mixed olive-persimmon feathered female begin to call around Valentine’s Day, a clear signal of the approach of the vernal equinox, this year falling on March 20.

Fiddling around (not literally) on the internet I found some interesting jazz birthday items for March. For instance, saxophonists James Moody, Brew Moore, Flip Phillips and Lew Tabackin all share March 26 as their birth dates and the very next day is shared by Harold Ashby, Pee Wee Russell and Ben Webster. Different years of course, but the same date.

Likewise, pianists Frankie Carle, Pete Johnson, Cecil Taylor share the 25th.

(Speaking of Cecil Taylor, the avant-garde pianist is one of the pioneers of free jazz and his playing uses a very physical approach, at times attacking the piano with his fists and forearms. There is a story which may be apocryphal but makes for a good yarn. A truck was transporting a Bösendorfer grand piano, Taylor’s piano of choice, through city streets when the following small disaster occurred — the Bösendorfer fell off the truck and was smashed to pieces. Someone told the story to Taylor who paused for a few seconds before saying, “I wish I’d heard that!” Now you know what his playing can sound like.)

Jimmy McPartland, jazz trumpeter and husband of Marian, who incidentally was born on March 20, was born on March 15, 1907, and died on March 13, 1991.

Drummer Barrett Deems was born on March 1. So, for that matter, was Glenn Miller, but I’m not in the mood to write about Miller, although he shows up on quite a number of early jazz recordings long before he became James Stewart.

(By the way, did you know that one of Miller’s early compositions, for the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra, was a ditty called Cousin Annie’s Fanny and was reportedly banned by a number of radio stations because of double entendres in the lyrics?!)

But I digress. It’s Barrett Deems who is the focal point of this little story.

Deems is probably best remembered for years spent as a member of the Louis Armstrong All-Stars. He had a formidable driving technique and was sometimes referred to as “the world’s fastest drummer.”

Armstrong, who used to refer to him as “The Kid” was quoted as having said about Deems’ playing that “he makes coffee nervous.”

Deems  always was a bit of a character but the older he got the more eccentric he became; by this time he had grown a beard and, truth to tell, had a pretty wild appearance. He was never at a loss for words and described himself as the oldest teenager in the business. The words weren’t always, shall we say, acceptable in polite circles and he ruined more than one recorded interview. He certainly was justification for the practice of broadcast delay. It was around this time that Mr. Deems entered my life.

We were both appearing at the Bern International Jazz Festival which in those days used the five-star Hotel Schweizerhof as its headquarters. The festival musicians stayed at the hotel and each evening we ate like kings in its very elegant restaurant. Enter, literally, Barrett Deems who in a typically loud voice asked why they wouldn’t serve him a hamburger!

But the straw that broke the camel’s back requires a little explanation. Deems was in the habit of carrying a duck call in his pocket — a very piercing duck call — and yes, came the evening when he paraded through the restaurant blowing the duck call to the obvious dismay of all and sundry. The very next day we were all advised that in future we would be served dinner at a nearby restaurant.

It was a very nice restaurant, but it wasn’t the Schweizerhof.

For the last few years of his life in Chicago, Deems  had a successful big band and could still drive it along with energy and enthusiasm.

In September of 1998 the oldest teenager in the business died of pneumonia, leaving many of us with a trail of memories of an era when jazz had more than its share of real characters.

Speaking of characters, March 24 is a date that has been set aside from 4pm to 8pm as a celebration of the life of Geoff Chapman, longtime writer for the Toronto Star and later a contributor to The WholeNote, reviewing CDs of Canadian jazz artists.

After Chapman’s death last September, former Star editor Vian Ewart suggested having a celebration of Geoff’s life. Chapman’s wife Bilgi supported the idea and David Stimpson, founder of University Press Group, avid reader and jazz enthusiast, suggested The Pilot as a suitable venue.We met with Michelle Elliott, The Pilot’s events co-ordinator, who helped to organize the event.

There will be nibbles available and a cash bar. Geoff’s interests were wide-ranging and we are hoping that not only his jazz fans will come out and join in the party.

There will, of course, be music, provided by Don Thompson, piano, Neil Swainson, bass, and Terry Clarke, drums, with other musicians invited to sit in (and don’t be surprised if they do).

I like to imagine that Geoff will be looking down on us quaffing his drink of choice, a good English beer.

Marchons, marchons!

Happy listening and please make some of it live. 

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

How does one get started in banding? Nowadays, the most common way is through school music programs. Almost every secondary school in this part of the world has a music program, and many elementary schools do as well. It hasn’t always been that way though. When I went to school in Windsor, Ontario, we had no formal music program, nor did any other school in the city. The school had an excellent fully equipped auditorium with a balcony. It was the best auditorium in the city. When world renowned groups like the Russian Don Cossack Chorus came to town, that is where they performed. It was also home to many amateur productions like the Gilbert and Sullivan operettas where my parents first met.

Things have changed. Most secondary schools have bands as well as choirs, and many have large string ensembles as well. As for my old school, it is now the major school for the performing arts in the region. How did young people get introduced to music performance back then? For boys there were a few boys’ bands, and girls were more or less left out. A recent short excerpt on CBC Radio triggered my thoughts on this subject. In the program B is for Brass Dave Pell, bass trombonist with the Hannaford Street Silver Band, related how he started. As a boy, Pell’s introduction began when he was given a euphonium in the Salvation Army band. He was soon in love with the instrument and its sound. However, it’s only used in bands. So when it was time to buy his own instrument, he wanted an instrument which would be found in a broader spectrum of ensembles. He chose the trombone.

My own case was very similar. My two best friends, Keith and Jimmy, played in a boys’ band sponsored by a local service club. I decided to try to join the band with them. I thought that I would like to play drums. There were no “openings” for drummers, so I was handed a euphonium and shown how to made a semi-musical sound. When that band ceased to operate, I was without an instrument. I liked the euphonium, but realized that there were many kinds of musical groups where the euphonium was not used. I wanted the option of being able to play in dance orchestras or symphony orchestras. Would it be trumpet with the same fingering or trombone with the same mouthpiece? Like Pell, I chose trombone. Also like Pell, I have retained my love affair with the sound of the euphonium and the counter melodies often written for it. When I meet young people who have embraced their particular instruments, a frequent question which I ask is: “Did you choose the instrument or did the instrument choose you”? In Dave Pell’s case and mine the euphonium chose us, then we chose the trombone.

Bands, their repertoire, their audiences and their performance venues have certainly evolved over the years. From the works bands of Britain and Europe to the early town bands in North America, much of the programming was military music or transcriptions of classical works. Prior to and throughout WWII the major events for bands were tattoos, with most groups parading before a reviewing stand. On the platform would be one featured band playing such works as concert overtures between various parts of the marching groups. But gradually, over the years the perception of bands and band music has evolved. The concert band has finally gained the respectability of performing in concert halls. The concert band that also participates in parades is a rarity today.

Not so splendid isolation: Before looking at what the bands in this area are offering this spring and summer, there is another evolving trend in the band world which is receiving mixed reactions in the banding community. I’m referring to the use of mp3 files for learning new works. Many bands are now posting recordings of their current repertoire on their bands’ websites or asking their members to sign on to their internet groups, to listen to a recording and follow it on their printed music. In some cases it is suggested that the members should play along with this at home. Is this a good idea?

Proponents are all in favour of using any means to achieve a better performance. But the first flaw is the assumption that all band members have ready access to a high speed internet connection with suitable sound reproduction capabilities. It also assumes that members are comfortable using all of this technology. Even if this unlikely situation were possible, and that there were no distractions in the home, is this the best way to learn a new work? There certainly would be no interaction with other band members. Those opposed to the idea consider it to be the community band equivalent of “paint by numbers” games for children. There is an output. But is it art? What will happen to the all important sight reading skills which are so valued? We would love to hear from readers on this subject. Have you tried it? Did it work for you and/or your band, or was it more of a distraction? Are there other aspects of modern technology having an influence in your band experience?

Upcoming: As for programming, so far we have heard from two bands with details of what they will be performing in the coming months. In both cases, in keeping with a popular trend, they are “theme” programs. The first is that of Henry Meredith’s Plumbing Factory Brass Band in London, Ontario, which always has imaginative programs. Titled “Our Home and Native Land – A Celebration of Canada,” the April 17 program will open and close with two different marches both called Bravura, a word which conjures up our national spirit of energy, pride and glory. Included will be Handel’s Coronation Anthem “Zadok the Priest” which was performed 60 years ago at our Queen’s coronation in 1953. The band will then take the audience on a musical tour of Canada with such numbers as Howard Cable’s The Banks of Newfoundland, an arrangement of several folk songs from our oldest, yet newest, province. Canada’s waterways will be portrayed by Herbert L. Clarke’s cornet solo The Maid of the Mist, named for the famous Niagara Falls tour boat.

The Uxbridge Community Concert Band has taken a different approach to its theme programming. Last year band members were asked to vote on a single number from previous years that they would like to perform again. Their choice of previously performed music was a suite from The Firebird. From that evolved the theme of “The Elements” for an upcoming concert. It will all be music about earth, wind, air and fire. From the fast-moving Dancing in the Wind, the power of the sacred volcano Mazama and the gospel stylings of Wade in the Water, through the tumultuous Ritual Fire Dance to the grand finale of The Firebird, it should be quite a musical journey.

Down the road: The University of Toronto, Scarborough (UTSC) and the Ontario Band Association (OBA), are inviting interested groups to participate in the 2013 UTSC & OBA Chamber Music Festival. This is a three-day music festival that will take place from April 16 to 18, 2013, at the UTSC campus. Further information will soon be available at onband.ca/cmf.

We have not heard any more on the York University band workshop in May, mentioned in last month’s column, but expect to have more details well before the date. 

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

Retraction: In the March 2010 issue of this publication I referred to a collection of early wax cylinder recordings in my possession (picked up at a sale in a barn in Prince Edward County, by the way). Amongst them, I said, there was, to the best of my recollection, a conversation reputed to be between Thomas Edison and Johannes Brahms. Challenged repeatedly by a reader to substantiate my claim or retract it (since there is no evidence that Brahms and Edison ever met), I have stalled on doing so, in the hope that I’d get round to rummaging through more than half a century of “stuff.” Since, three years later,
I seem to be no closer to getting around to doing so, I hereby retract any claims made in this column as to the existence of such a cylinder.

Those who think that Victoria, BC, is still the land of “the newly wed and the nearly dead” need to update their impressions — at least where the local music scene is concerned. Better yet, they might like to plan a late winter/early spring getaway from the frigid, grey-toned rigours of Toronto to sample the mild, evergreen delights of the West Coast — including some remarkably adventurous concert programming.

The Victoria Symphony: An institution not always renowned for breaking new musical ground — now does so regularly under the inspired and visionary leadership of Tania Miller. Currently celebrating her tenth anniversary as music director — the first Canadian woman to hold such a position — “Maestra” Miller (as she is known here) challenges and rewards orchestra members and audiences alike with fresh, revelatory readings of standard works, thematic mini-festivals and frequent forays into new and unusual repertoire.

Already this season, Miller and the VS have teamed up with the University of Victoria and the Victoria Art Gallery to celebrate John Cage’s 100th birthday, and presented the world premiere of a major new orchestral work, Figures in the Night Passing, by the dean of Canadian composers, R. Murray Schafer. Coming up on March 15: a very special concert designed to climax a two-month, city-wide celebration of Victoria’s Chinatown, the oldest in Canada and second-oldest in North America (after San Francisco’s). The project epitomizes the VS’s commitment both to new music and to connecting classical music with the broader context of community life — particularly its multicultural dimensions.

The highlight of the program is undoubtedly the world premiere of a 45-minute “symphonic theatre” creation, by Toronto-based composer Chan Ka Nin, called Harmonious Interest. The title is a reference to a striking and colourful structure called The Gate of Harmonious Interest that marks the entrance to Victoria’s Chinatown; the concert will take place just a few steps from that spot, in the McPherson Playhouse. A former Pantages vaudeville house, The Mac is about to celebrate its own centenary, along with its sister theatre, the Royal, which is the Symphony’s usual home base.

The seven-movement work is scored for orchestra, percussion soloist, hulusi (a Chinese reed instrument with drone pipes), plus two singer/actors and a dancer. Like Chan’s earlier opera, Iron Road, this new piece is a collaboration with librettist Mark Brownell and dramatizes the Chinese immigrant experience on the West Coast — and by extension across Canada. We follow a recently arrived labourer as he explores the city’s narrow, twisting Fan Tan Alley with its gambling rooms and opium dens, struggles to learn to be a Chinese cook, and dictates a letter home to his beloved wife.

The final movement of the work has already been heard once, at last summer’s Victoria Symphony Splash concert, where it was well received. Splash is an iconic annual outdoor event that attracts some 40,000 spectators to the Inner Harbour, where the orchestra performs on a barge, surrounded by enthusiastic listeners in kayaks. (The equivalent in terms of public impact would be if a quarter of a million people came to Harbourfront to hear the TSO.) Splash always takes place on the Sunday of BC Day weekend; next year will mark its 25th anniversary, and the year after that, the Victoria Symphony will celebrate its 75th anniversary.

But back to the March 15 concert: in addition to the world premiere of Chan’s Harmonious Interest, the program will also include Strange Air, by Dorothy Chang, a UBC associate professor. This piece was the inaugural commission from the Women’s Philharmonic Commissioning Project of Meet the Composer (now part of New Music USA), and was premiered at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in Santa Cruz, CA, under the baton of the festival’s music director, Marin Alsop, herself a trailblazer for women in leadership roles in classical music. As well, VS concertmaster Terence Tam will be featured as soloist in the Butterfly Lovers’ Concerto, the well-known and accessible work written in 1959 by Chinese composers Chen Gang and He Zhanhao.

Vox Humana: The mid-March weekend in Victoria that starts with Friday evening’s VS “Chinatown” concert continues with a true embarrassment of riches, musically speaking. On Saturday and Sunday, the focus shifts to choral music — a genre with which this city is particularly well blessed. Easter comes early this year, and March 17 is Passion Sunday, a fact which one of our pre-eminent chamber choirs, Vox Humana, is acknowledging with back-to-back offerings: an ambitious doubleheader on the subject of the Passion.

On Saturday evening, under the ethereal dome of St. Andrew’s Roman Catholic Cathedral, Vox Humana will present a program that includes Arvo Pärt’s Passio for chorus, soloists and chamber orchestra. The piece represents the culmination of the composer’s tintinnabuli style. On Sunday afternoon, at St. Barnabas Church, the featured work will be the British Columbia premiere of The Little Match Girl Passion, by the hot New York-based composer (and co-founder of the Bang on a Can collective) David Lang. Synthesized out of influences that range from Hans Christian Andersen to Johann Sebastian Bach, the work won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Music. It has received a wide variety of innovative stagings in productions around the world — including one in London for shadow puppets, no less! The Victoria version will incorporate original choreography for three dancers.

Both the Saturday and Sunday Vox Humana shows will also provide opportunities to hear the first performances of a short work by the young Victoria composer David Archer. Titled Compassio, it is described by its creator as a choral prelude; as its name suggests, it is a meditation on the theme of compassion, intended as a companion piece to Pärt’s Passio, and complementing the latter’s musical exploration of the theme of suffering. Archer works in fields ranging from church music to film scores, and also plays lounge piano at a local hotel–a not-atypical life for an aspiring young musician these days. One of his orchestral works was read during one of the Victoria Symphony’s annual composers’ workshops.

Vox Humana is a 24-voice ensemble led by Brian Wismath, a former Toronto Mendelssohn Youth Choir chorister and conducting protégé of Robert Cooper. Since moving to Victoria just three years ago, Wismath has made himself both indispensable and omnipresent on the city’s and the province’s choral scene. Among other things, he directs the Victoria Choral Society, a large choir that appears regularly with the Victoria Symphony, most recently in the Mozart Requiem, on the same bill as the Schafer premiere mentioned earlier. They will offer Haydn’s Nelson Mass on May 6. As for Vox Humana, on May 25, 26 and 27 they will appear on two different programs with the Victoria Children’s Choir, who took first place at the 2011 Summa Cum Laude International Youth Music Festival in Vienna.

The “Big Three” music-presenting institutions in this city (apart from the University) are the Symphony, the Victoria Conservatory of Music and Pacific Opera Victoria. VCM appointed a new dean this year; he’s Stephen Green, formerly of the Royal Conservatory in Toronto. POV has just celebrated yet another composer’s centenary — that of Benjamin Britten — with yet another mini-festival, anchored by an excellent mainstage production of Albert Herring with a fine young Canadian cast, including the likes of Lawrence Wiliford, Sally Dibblee, Phillip Addis and Giles Tomkins, among others. Surprisingly, it’s Pacific Opera’s first-ever co-production with Vancouver Opera, which will remount it, with many of the same performers, this fall. The punningly named Festival of Britten also presented Noye’s Fludde with the aforementioned Victoria Children’s Choir and a double bill of Let’s Make an Opera and The Little Sweep, co-produced with the Conservatory and the Belfry Theatre respectively — typical of the kind of partnerships that are becoming increasingly common and necessary to make things like this happen.

Pacific Opera Victoria rounds out its current season in April with five performances of Tosca, starring Joni Henson, Luc Robert and David John Pike.

As for the Victoria Symphony, with which this whirlwind overview began, its main season runs through May 11 and 12 when Miller conducts a program marking the centenary of The Rite of Spring. The program includes the premiere of the second of four movements in a “new” New World Symphony (being created over two years by VS composer-in-residence Michael Oesterle) and welcomes, as soloist in the Sibelius Violin Concerto, Canadian fiddle superstar James Ehnes. The Brandon native, now Florida resident, recently took over as artistic director of the Seattle Chamber Music Festival, and there’s talk of future collaboration between him and pianist Arthur Rowe, who helms the Victoria Summer Music Festival. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves!

A single column can only hint at the richness of musical life out here on the Pacific Rim. As I write in late February, the ninth annual Pacific Baroque Festival is in full swing, with five concerts focusing on the music of Henry Purcell’s London. On March 12, Benjamin Butterfield will sing the Evangelist when the Victoria Baroque Players presents Bach’s Saint John Passion under the baton of POV artistic director Timothy Vernon. On June 8, Butterfield’s brother, Peter, leads his Victoria Philharmonic Choir in the Monteverdi Vespers. And so it goes. Hopefully, future missives from the West Coast can round out the picture, and — who knows? — we may even find space to talk about musical life in that “other” BC city on the eastern edge of the Salish Sea. 

Ian Alexander is a former CBC on-air host and executive, now a Victoria-based independent consultant, teacher and writer.

Clubs have folded, restaurants have closed and music programming has been cut, resulting in plenty of blues to be sung for the jazz community but hardly any venues to sing them in.

“If you want to make a million dollars from jazz, start with two million” is a saying that has been going around.

Enter Colin Hunter, founding president, CEO and owner of the airline carrier Sunwing Airlines and the all-inclusive package company, Sunwing Vacations. He’s also a part-time crooner. Now, with the help of wife Joan Hunter and general manager Sybil Walker, he is set to open the Jazz Bistro, the long-awaited, eagerly anticipated business venture that is finally ready to roll.

Sharing the same address as the famed jazz club Top O’ The Senator (1990–2005), the Jazz Bistro has been years in the making, but the wait is over, and it was well worth it.

“Toronto didn’t have an establishment of this calibre, so I sensed there was an opportunity,” says Colin Hunter. “I’ve done a few gigs with Joe Sealy in Montreal at the House of Jazz and wanted to give Toronto an establishment that was better than anything that was in Montreal. For starters, we are going to have better food, better service and better ambiance.”

Designed by Joan Hunter, the Bistro is a feast for the eyes, boasting a beautiful balcony, a ruby chandelier and a signature Steinway piano that even has a name: Red Pop.

As suggested by the name of the club itself, cuisine will be instrumental in complementing the musical experience: “We have hired a chef I have known and respected for some time, Matt Cowan,” says general manager Sybil Walker. “I have always been impressed with his respect for his ingredients, his passion for finding just the right food pairings and his insatiable interest in food on every level.”

Walker is also responsible for booking the club and has initiated a weekly jazz brunch featuring a different vocalist each month. The series debuts on March 17 with illustrious bass-baritone Marcus Nance; another sure highlight this month will be a three-night stint with veteran American flutist and saxophonist Lew Tabackin, booked with the Mark Eisenman Trio March 28 to 30.

Tuesday nights are going to feature a variety of special events including CD releases, the first one being Tuesday, March 26, when July/August 2010 cover girl for The WholeNote, Alex Pangman, will celebrate her newest release, Have a Little Fun. Notably, this Justin Time release features a guest appearance by legendary guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli, 87 years old as of this writing.

“I was actually saying to my husband that I’d love to record with Pizzarelli one day,” says Pangman. “Then I heard that Jazz.FM was bringing him to town for a concert and I just about had a heart attack. I learned that he had a little time off so I got up the gumption and asked him. You can’t win a lottery if you don’t buy a ticket!” she laughs. “The recording is essentially an ode to the human condition, and since I like to have a little fun, the title made sense! There are songs about love, loss, deception and forgiveness, mostly 1930s tunes but with four originals that I’ve written in this style.” While Pangman will be playing with Pizzarelli at a sold-out concert March 4 at the Old Mill, her great band, the Alleycats, will be backing her up at the Jazz Bistro March 26. Be sure to reserve!

Meanwhile in the west end Junction neighbourhood, this year Indira Nanavati Cadena will celebrate the third anniversary of her Mexican restaurant and music venue, La Revolución. Affectionately known as “La Rev,” this very inviting, unpretentious spot features reasonably priced traditional fare and service with a smile. In a dimly lit intimate back room, weekly events include a Saturday evening singer-songwriter night hosted by Jay Linden with guest headliners, as well as gypsy jazz happening every Sunday night with Mikko Hilden’s Les Petites Nouveaux and special guests.

“La Revolución was initially inspired by a trip to Mexico city, which sparked my interest in the local ingredients used in traditional cuisine, the varied genres of live music and the effect the Mexican revolution had on its society,” says Cadena. “Out of these three ideas was born a small but big-minded business, which is meant to be a revolution of mind, music and flavour!” Finding an acoustic piano which is kept in tune is not common these days, so it is unsurprising to learn that Cadena is herself a musician-turned-entrepreneuse.

“Whether it was composing, performing or as it turns out, running a music venue, music has always been my greatest passion. I studied classical piano up until university, at which point I took an interest in sound production and engineering. It’s really nice to be able to relate to the musicians outside of business terms, and it’s even nicer to be able to run the soundboard and focus on the quality of what’s being presented to the listeners. The local music in Toronto is so raw and full of talent. I’m just happy to be a part of it and help support it. ... While the Junction has been known more for blues and rock bands, the response to our songwriter series and the gypsy jazz has been very enthusiastic so far.”

Back to a familiar venue, The Rex, where our next singer can be found on a regular basis but has a very special CD release this month. The very talented and entertaining Terra Hazelton was first heard in a jazz context as the featured vocalist with Jeff Healey’s Jazz Wizards. Back then, her electrifying voice came across as the channelling of some wicked 1920s blues shouter. Now she can still do that, but in the five years since Healey’s passing, Hazelton has worked with many musicians — Brandi Disterheft, Sophia Perlman, the TurnArounds and the Jive Bombers to name a few — and stepped outside of her comfort zone.

Today Hazelton sings with even more range than ever before; her ballads have grown particularly arresting and genuinely sentimental. Teaming up with a pair of very spirited players — guitarist Nathan Hiltz and bassist Jordan O’Connor — is all sorts of brand new for Hazelton, as she has usually worked with far bigger ensembles. But when these three play together, nothing is missing; a wonderful musical chemistry exists, and if you’ll pardon an Ira Gershwin cliché, who could ask for anything more? Hazelton, Hiltz and O’Connor have decided to “go old school” on their new recording and do what’s considered bold these days: go into the studio, record live off the floor and release what comes out without doing any fixes. The only thing better than getting this record is seeing the smiles on their faces. Don’t miss the Terra Hazelton Trio’s CD Release Party for That’s All on Thursday March 7 at 9:30pm at The Rex Hotel. That’s all! 

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