What does Elvis Presley’s Can’t Help Falling in Love have in common with a song by 18th century composer Jean Paul Martini? Or the musical Kismet with Alexander Borodin? Or Gounod's Ave Maria with Bach? If you know the answers, you’ve already tapped into a musical phenomenon that stretches in a long continuum back to ancient times: out of existing music emerges new music — which is to say that throughout musical history, composers have seized upon a good tune when they’ve heard one and known how to capitalize on it in ways appropriate to their time and purpose. This is one of November’s themes.

21_early_diana_kolpak_as_the_clown_in_scaramella__photo_by_kathleen_finlayScaramella: Scaramella’s upcoming concert “Hit and Run” is built upon this well-known and widespread practice, taking some of the baroque era’s “good tunes,” beloved and popular in their day, and revealing how 16th century composers have transformed them into new pieces. Artistic director Joëlle Morton explains: “In some rare instances, the new pieces were spoofs — making fun of the original tunes. But in most situations, the new composers referenced the older pieces in a respectful way by quoting the text, resetting an old melody or bass line with completely new parts, composing additional lines that could be added to the older work or creating elaborate virtuosic showpieces out of one or more of the original lines.”

Thus you’ll be able to hear Diego Ortiz’s gamba-inspired flights of invention on the melancholy song Doulce Memoire, by earlier composer Pierre Sandrin, as well as how a ciacona (or chaconne) has been treated in three ways: the first two in 15th and 16th century settings, the third by contemporary composer (and recorder virtuoso) Matthias Maute — a recently completed tribute to the late wife of a dearly-respected man.

Running concurrently with the musical presentation is another delight: a clown, who will dramatize the texts involved, in the manner of the commedia dell’arte movement, which was so popular at the time.

“Hit and Run” takes place on November 26 at Scaramella’s usual gracious venue, Victoria College Chapel.

Ensemble Chaconne: A related theme, seen in several concerts this month, is that of the interrelationships between music, words and drama. In Shakespeare’s England these were well and flourishing, as popular tunes, both their melodies and text, were so familiar that musicians used them as the basis for sets of variations; also, poets set new verses to known tunes, often based on news of the day. The Bard himself assiduously incorporated well known songs into his plays and wrote poems for new songs. And many composers from Shakespeare’s own time — Thomas Morley, for example — and from every era since, have contributed music for specific use in his plays.

A group which is perhaps not well known to Southern Ontario audiences brings a colourful programme entitled “Measure for Measure — the Music of Shakespeare’s Plays” to our area this month. Ensemble Chaconne is dedicated to vivid, historically informed performance of renaissance and baroque music on period instruments. Based in the Boston area, it has a 25 year history and has concertized widely. Its core ensemble is a trio, whose distinguished members play renaissance/baroque flutes, viola da gamba and lutes/theorbo/early guitars; for the upcoming pair of concerts, so replete with song, they’ve added mezzo-soprano voice.

If you’re in the Kitchener-Waterloo area on November 17, you can hear them at the Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music Society concert; if you’re in Hamilton on November 18, you’ll find them performing at McMaster University.

Academy Concert Series: The Academy Concert Series’ season opener features interwoven themes of music and drama too. Its centrepiece is a love story, which unfolds in a trilogy of Vivaldi chamber cantatas (one having only recently been discovered in Vienna) collectively known as L‘Amore per Elvira. We witness the declaration of love, the lover’s sad news that he must go away, the return amid fears and hopes and finally, the lovers’ reuniting — all poignantly expressed in both words and music.

Along with this is another parallel but modern day love story, placed in Vienna, woven throughout the performance and enacted by actor Vanessa AvRuskin. And interspersed between the cantatas are chamber pieces by Vivaldi that highlight the violin — the instrument on which he was known for his excellent playing.

22_early_kerrimcgonigle_photo_by_raymond_coburnThe evolution of what might be called a musical love story is the story of the Academy Concert Series itself. Founded over 20 years ago, it has been constant in its mission to bring historically informed chamber performances to Toronto’s audiences. After a 16 year run as artistic director, multi-instrumentalist Nicolai Tarasov has now decided to largely hand over the reins to talented cellist/baroque cellist Kerri McGonigle — a passionate and accomplished musician, who I’ll bet will bring fresh life to an already lively series.

“Vivaldi Visits Vienna” takes place on November 12 at Eastminster Church.

A diversity of others

• November 13: In Kitchener, Classics At The Registry presents “Guitarra Barroca: A tour of baroque music for the guitar,” featuring a guitarist known for his musicianship and versatility, Kevin Ramessar, in collaboration with Larry Larson, trumpet and Graham Hargrove, percussion. (Note: This information arrived too late to make it into the printed listings; see the online listing at www.thewholenote.com. Click on “Just In,” and see New Listings–Beyond the GTA or go to the searchable Concert Listings and click “Concerts Beyond the GTA”);

• November 18: In Kingston, the Melos Choir and Chamber Orchestra presents a concert for St. Cecilia’s Day and celebrating the 300th anniversary of the birth of William Boyce. Programme includes Purcell’s Cecilian ode Welcome to all the Pleasures, Te Deum and Jubilate by Boyce, and other lovely music;

• November 19: “Glory – Sounds of Baroque Exultation” is the aptly-chosen title of a concert by the Larkin Singers, featuring Handel’s sacred motet Nisi Dominus as well as Vivaldi’s Gloria and Bach’s cantata Wachet Auf.

• November 19 and 20: In Toronto and Hamilton, Capella Intima presents “Venice and Beyond,” highlighting composers of the Venetian school who left Venice later in their careers: Grandi, Merula, Agostini, Sances, Valentini and Milanuzzi. Music for tenor and baritone voice, baroque guitar, organ, harpsichord and gamba.

• November 23: “In the Shadow of the Volcano,” traditional music of southern Italy including the villanelle, tarantella, fronna and tammurriata, is presented by the Vesuvius Ensemble as part of the Canadian Opera Company’s Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre series.

• November 25: In the first of four concerts honouring Bach, spread throughout the season, Music at Metropolitan presents “BachFest I: Christmas Oratorio, Parts 1–3.”

• November 26 and 27: The 16-voice a cappella choir Cantemus Singers presents their annual Christmas celebration, “Nowell Sing We,” with carols and motets from the renaissance and baroque periods, Giovanni Gabrieli’s Hodie Christus Natus Est for double choir, Telemann’s Deutsches Magnificat in G for choir, soloists and orchestra, and other works.

• November 27: In Kitchener, there’s a treat of two wonderful Bach cantatas (Wie schöen leuchtet der Morgenstern and Lobet den Herrn), in Spiritus Ensemble’s programme “Bach Vespers for Advent.”

• December 1 to 4: Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra is joined by guest director and oboist, Alfredo Bernardini, to present “Baroque Splendour – The Golden Age of Dresden,” with stunning and virtuosic music created for Dresden’s remarkable court orchestra by Zelenka, Fasch, Pisendel, Telemann and Vivaldi.

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.

several capacities who plays the viola da gamba.

Once upon a time, we regularly ran, alongside this column, a companion piece called New Music QuickPicks. The idea of QuickPicks was to give the new music aficionado a filtered list of all the concerts that might be of interest. But since these QuickPicks consisted of short form listings only (i.e. date, time, presenter name, concert title), one still had to go to the main listings for the details if something in the QuickPicks caught one’s eye. It was very handy, but also very irritating when the main listing in question turned out to be only of passing interest.

So we built in a rating system: NNN before a listing meant that new music was the main event (usually with a live composer or two in attendance). NN meant new music was not the main thrust but was of more than passing interest. And N meant, well … that was the problem. What did N mean? Did it mean there was a work of Britten’s on the programme, so you should come to pay homage to the pioneer? Or did it mean that the 10-minute contemporary work right before the intermission had actually been commissioned a few years back and/or had already been played more than twice?

That was the problem: the N’s started out as a time saving device; once they became viewed as a comment on the worth of events they lost their utility. It’s a pity, though, because at each of these three levels of intensity, N to NNN, so much is happening this month, and all of it plays its part: keeping composers busy, and enabling players and audiences to break new sonic ground.

19_estacioheadshot2010_colour900Starting with the Ns: Born in Newmarket, Ontario, John Estacio has single works on two different upcoming symphonic programmes: Friday November 4, the University of Western Ontario Symphony Orchestra plays his Variations on a Memory; Wednesday, November 9, Symphony on the Bay plays his Frenergy.

Frenergy’s highest profile performance in our catchment area was with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra September 26, 2009 —
the season opener with violinist Joshua Bell. “The concert opened with John Estacio’s Frenergy,”wrote The Globe and Mail, “a splashy short work full of propulsive rhythms and dramatic flourishes that should have tipped us off, when the piece was new in 2003, to Estacio’s future career as an opera composer. Somebody should use it for a film score.” And of Estacio as an opera composer (Filumena and Frobisher) arts writer Paula Citron, also in The Globe, wrote “If ever a contemporary opera deserved a shelf life, Filumena is the one.”

There are several other noteworthy single new works on upcoming programmes. Abigail Richardson-Schulte’s “Crossings” for cello and piano in four movements (2011) will be performed by Rachel Mercer and Angela Park at a Les Amis concert, Tuesday November 8 at the Toronto Heliconian Club, along with works by Mahler, Mozart and Brahms. Saturday December 3, East York Choir’s Winter Solstice: Seasonal 25th Anniversary Celebration features a world premiere by Stephen Hatfield. Sunday November 6, Antonín Kubálek Projects’ Music for Anton features a premiere — Daniel Foley’s Music for the Duke of York. Thursday November 17, at Music Toronto, The Gryphon Trio includes the Ontario premiere of Calgary-based William Jordan’s Owl Song in their programme, between Beethoven and under-performed late nineteenth century Russian composer Anton Arensky … The list goes on.

Moving up to NN on the intensity scale, a number of presenters this month provide main portions of new music in well rounded programmes. Saturday November 5, Vesnivka Choir/Toronto Ukrainian Male Chamber Choir present a concert titled 120th Anniversary of Ukrainians in Canada. Their guests will be Het Lysenko Koor (The Lysenko Choir) from Utrecht, a choir that focuses on Ukrainian folk and Byzantine sacred repertoire. The concert features two Canadian composers with strong Ukrainian ties — Laryssa Kuzmenko and Roman Hurko. Kuzmenko’s newest work Behold the Light helped to kick off both the 2011 TSO and Toronto Children’s Chorus seasons. And one of Hurko’s works, Panachyda/Requiem for the Victims of Chornobyl was performed in concert at Toronto’s Roy Thomson Hall on April 9, 2006, by the combined Elmer Iseler Singers, Orpheus Choir, Amadeus Choir, Vesnivka, and the Ukrainian Male Chamber Choir. It was then rebroadcast on CBC Radio 2 on April 26 that year (the 20th anniversary of the disaster).

There’s more: Friday November 18, Sinfonia Toronto gets into the NN act with Gems Old and New, including two premieres: Rob Teehan’s Zephyr (Toronto premiere) and a world premiere by Christos Hatzis, titled Extreme Unction (In Memoriam Gustav Ciamaga); Thursday November 24 the Royal Conservatory’s Discovery Series presents Véronique Mathieu, violin, in works by Donatoni, Dufour-Laperrière and Boulez; also on November 24 is a recital titled Fallen Realm by pianist/composer Adam Sherkin, that will include works by Brahms, Rihm, Froberger and Sherkin himself; and on Friday November 25, Alliance Français de Toronto, who seem to be getting into music programming in a serious way, present a programme with the self-explanatory title Maurice Ravel, Omar Daniel: One Century, One Ocean.

Also steadily climbing the ladder in terms of a commitment to new music programming are the COC’s regular lobby concerts in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre. Tuesday November 8 Array Ensemble present a programme titled Three. T(w)o. One, featuring music by Komorous, Kondo, Riley and Array director Rick Sacks himself. (And this is by no means the last you’ll hear of Array this month: they also have a concert at the Music Gallery, Saturday November 19, followed by an “improv concert,” in their own Atlantic Avenue space on Saturday November 26.)

But returning to the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre for a moment: make sure also to check out Thursday November 17, What to Do ’Til the Power Comes On, featuring the TorQ Percussion Quartet in works by Lansky, Ligeti, Southam and Morphy (premiere).

Top of the NNN ladder: the good news for true new music aficionados is that the higher up the ladder we go, the more crowded it gets. Friday November 4, York University Department of Music presents Improv Soiree. Thursday November 10, Music Gallery/Goethe Institut Toronto/Istituto Italiano di Cultura presents Pop Avant Series: Whitetree. Saturday November 12 Hannaford Street Silver Band/Amadeus Choir present The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace. Tuesday and Wednesday November 15 and 16, the Talisker Players Chamber Music Series has an intriguing programme called Rumours of Peace. And Tuesday November 29 and Wednesday November 30, Soundstreams and Esprit Orchestra respectively are back for the second concerts of what promise to be thoroughly compelling seasons.

20_eve_egoyan-david_rokeby_2To conclude, two NNN concerts that nicely bookend the month: Sunday November 6, at the Music Gallery, Continuum Contemporary Music kicks off their season with a programme titled Fuzzy Logic, which is also the name of one of the works, by Alex Eddington, premiered on the programme. “How would you make music that sounds like a sheep? And more importantly, why? It’s a cheeky start to what looks like a delightfully eclectic programme.

And last, Friday December 2 brings an eagerly awaited Earwitness Productions/Eve Egoyan CD release concert. The disc is called Returnings and consists of works by Ann Southam for solo piano, including Returnings II: A Meditation (world premiere). Count on this CD to add to a burgeoning appreciation of Southam as a composer, and to Egoyan’s reputation as a wholly truthful and compelling interpreter, not only of Southam’s work, but of new music in general.

November offers those in Toronto and vicinity a chance to see the Canadian premiere of a new Scottish opera with a Canadian connection, and the revivals of seldom-seen American and Canadian operas. This is a further demonstration, if anyone needed one, of how vital such companies are in maintaining the diversity of Toronto’s opera scene.

18_opera_sloans_inside18_opera_sloans_outsideFirst to appear, on November 10, 11 and 12, is Pub Operas by Scottish composer Gareth Williams, to a libretto by Canadian David Brock. The two met in 2009 at Tapestry New Opera’s LibLab, Tapestry’s composer/librettist incubator, and the project grew out of that meeting. The opera premiered earlier this year in July, at Sloan’s Bar in Glasgow as part of the Merchant City Festival. The venue was no quirk because Pub Operas was written specifically to celebrate the history of Sloan’s, which is Glasgow’s oldest pub, having been founded in 1797. The libretto, about life’s cycle of love, marriage, birth and death, is based on letters sent in by the public for whom Sloan’s played a real role at key points in their lives.

For the performance, the Ernest Balmer Studio in the Distillery District will substitute for Sloan’s. The singers will be Xin Wang, Heather Jewson, James McLean and Benjamin Covey with Wayne Strongman leading a six-piece band. Sue Miner directs. For more information about the opera, visit www.tapestrynewopera.com; and for the history of Sloan’s visit www.sloansglasgow.com.

18_john_beckwith_photo_andre_leducAlso playing on November 11 and 12 will be the Toronto premiere of the 1989 opera Crazy to Kill by John Beckwith to a libretto by James Reaney. Toronto Masque Theatre will mount this production of “Canada’s first detective opera” at the Enwave Theatre starring singers Kimberly Barber, Doug McNaughton and Shannon Mercer and actors Brendan Wall and Ingrid Doucet. The work, scored for piano and percussion, wiill feature Greg Oh as pianist and conductor and Ed Reifel as percussionist. David Ferry will direct.

18_opera_puppets_218_opera_puppets_3The story for the libretto comes from the 1941 novel of the same title by Ann Cardwell (pseudonym of Jean Makins Pawley) that is still in print. It concerns Detective Fry who, with the help of “model patient” Agatha Lawson, investigates a series of murders at Elmhurst, a private mental asylum for the wealthy in Southwestern Ontario. Reaney has stated that it was reading this novel that inspired him to become a writer. The commission (from the Edward John Music Foundation and Billie Bridgman for the Guelph Spring Festival) limited the cast to three singers and two actors. To get around these constraints Reaney had the idea of giving Agatha the habit of making life-sized doll puppets, eighteen in all, who, manipulated by the performers, also portray characters at Elmhurst. After a workshop at Banff in 1988, the one-act opera premiered at the Guelph Spring Festival on May 11, 1989, with Jean Stilwell as Agatha, Paul Massel as Fry and Sharon Crowther as Mme Dupont, an Elmhurst patient. For more information visit www.torontomasquetheatre.com. Also note that the fall edition of Opera Canada includes an article adapted from a chapter from Unheard Of: Memoirs of a Canadian Composer by John Beckwith, to be published in 2012 that deals with the background of Crazy to Kill and other of his operas of the period.

On November 23 and 26, Opera by Request (OBR) and Ensemble TrypTych (ET) co-produce the first Canadian performance of The Saint of Bleecker Street by Gian Carlo Menotti. The 1954 opera had its Canadian premiere at the University of British Columbia in the 1980s, but as far as OBR artistic director William Shookhoff can determine, has not had a full performance in Canada since then. OBR and ET chose the opera in consultation with the performers to celebrate the centenary of the birth of the composer. OBR traditionally does one choral opera per season with the University of Toronto Scarborough Concert Choir, and as this is Menotti’s only choral opera it fit the bill. Besides, this seldom-heard opera provides something more out of the way than The Medium (1946) or The Consul (1950).

Bleecker Street, which won the 1955 Pulitzer Prize for Music and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Musical, is set in New York City’s Little Italy, where a young woman named Anina manifests the stigmata and begins to see angels. A conflict develops between her atheist brother Michele, who thinks she needs medical attention, and the neighbourhood which regards her as a saint. Shookhoff says, “As with The Consul, there is a timelessness to it which resonates particularly with younger participants, as it does with all of us: the conflict between tradition and new surroundings; between faith and rationale; and the stigma of relationships which go against the norm.”

The work will be performed in concert with Shookhoff as pianist on November 23 at the University of Toronto Scarborough Campus and on November 26 at Trinity Presbyterian York Mills. Deena Nicklefork will sing Anina and Avery Krisman will sing Michele with six other soloists rounding out the cast. For more visit www.operabyrequest.ca.

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

It is said that there’s no such thing as a “free lunch.” Well, for the most part, it’s probably true; and if lunch is free, there’s usually a catch. But there’s a whole lot of free music being served up at lunchtime, on this month’s classical and beyond menu. The only strings attached will be the ones being plucked and bowed as you discreetly munch on your tuna wrap (where permitted).

And where might one find these free, noonish, musical escapes from the daily grind? Mostly in universities (the music faculty or fine arts/music department), often in churches, sometimes in traditional concert halls and in libraries — in downtown Toronto, the GTA and beyond.

Here’s a look at several presenters offering regular, free series over the noon hour (or shortly thereafter):

Noon: Brock University Department of Music, in St. Catharines, presents “Music@Noon” on Tuesdays, featuring both faculty and student recitals. You can hear faculty flutist, Patricia Dydnansky, with Erika Reiman on piano, November 1. Piano, voice and instrumental students perform on November 8.

Wilfrid Laurier University’s less snazzy looking (without the “@”) “Music at Noon” — though, musically, just as inviting — offers four concerts this month, bookended by Trio Laurier on November 3 and the Ton Beau String Quartet on the 24th.

On most Tuesdays and Thursdays, and the odd Wednesday, in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre, the Canadian Opera Company hosts several noontime series, including chamber music, world music, vocal, jazz, dance and piano virtuosos. They feature emerging artists as well as established ones such as soprano Adrianne Pieczonka, who performed last season. Concerts start right on the nose at noon and they’re almost always packed. The tickets are distributed on a first come, first-served basis, so get there early if you don’t want to stand. On November 22, pianist Ricker Choi will perform Chopin’s Ballade No.1 and works by Brahms and Scriabin in the “Piano Virtuoso Series” concert titled “Atmospheres.” And on the 29th, “Postcards from Paris,” part of the “Chamber Music Series,” features works by Debussy, Satie, Ravel and Raum, played by Carson Becke, piano and Nathaniel Anderson-Frank, violin.

14University of Waterloo Department of Music has Wednesday “Noon Hour Concerts,” and noon is, indeed, the start time. In what is likely an inadvertent nod to the two guys on our front cover, the November 9 concert is titled “One Piano – Two Players,” and features the Bergmann Piano Duo. “Honkyoku Duet” is the name of the November 16 concert and it features shakuhachi master Gerard Yun and bass clarinetist Kathryn Ladano performing traditional Japanese shakuhachi solos and contemporary duets.

15_rolston_shauna_c12:10pm: And just in case you were still of the mind that “free lunchtime music” meant “not world class lunchtime music” — though knowing that artists of the stature of Adrianne Pieczonka perform at these concerts should have disabused you of such thoughts — the University of Toronto Faculty of Music presents cellist Shauna Rolston and violinist Jacques Israelievitch on November 3, in its “Thursdays at Noon” series. Beginning at 12:10pm, the acclaimed Rolston and Israelievitch will perform Honneger’s Sonatina for Violin and Cello and duos for violin and cello by Schulhoff and Kodály. Not what I would call a light(weight) lunch!

Sticking with the 12:10pm start time, Nine Sparrows Arts Foundation, in collaboration with Christ Church Deer Park, provides a weekly series, “Lunchtime Chamber Music,” with recitals held on Thursdays. In a delightful show of further collaboration (and interconnection), on November 10, in the aptly titled “Rising Stars Recital,” students from the U of T’s Faculty of Music will perform.

12:15pm and 12:30pm: Starting five minutes later, also every Thursday, are Music at Metropolitan’s “Noon at Met” recitals, at 12:15pm, often showcasing the organ and at times other instrumentalists and vocalists, in downtown Toronto’s Metropolitan United Church. Organists Mark Toews and Sarah Svendsen are featured this month on November 17 and 24, respectively.

McMaster School of the Arts serves up a “Lunchtime Concert Series” at 12:30pm, Tuesdays. On November 8, pianist Antoine Joubert, who finishes his doctoral studies this year, performs works by Fauré, Scriabin, Janáček and Liszt. And on November 29, soprano Lita Classen, a voice teacher at both McMaster and Mohawk College, will perform a tribute to Gustav Mahler, to mark the 100th anniversary of his death.

Somewhat similar to the COC, York University Department of Music offers a multi-themed series of concerts, commencing at 12:30pm. From “Music at Midday,” to “Jazz at Noon,” “World at Noon” and “R&B Ensemble,” there’s much to drink in. You can catch the spirited Cuban Rhapsody Duo of saxophonist Jane Bunnett and pianist extraordinaire, Hilario Durán, on November 17. York U Chamber Strings, Jacques Israelievitch, director, performs on November 22. And there’s a generically titled “Classical Instrumental Recital” on November 14 and 28, featuring student soloists in the classical performance program. Emerging-stars-in-the-making, perhaps?

The start time for Yorkminster Park Baptist Church’s Wednesday organ series, “Noonhour Recitals,” is also 12:30pm. You’d be forgiven for thinking that the concerts are at noon, as the series’ title might suggest; we did, and we were. A few issues back, we mistakenly listed them at noon and then were very politely informed that we goofed. Now we’re back with the programme. Speaking of which, the organists for November are, in order, William Maddox, Simon Walker, Imre Olah, Stephen Boda and Maddox once again.

At the University of Western Ontario Don Wright Faculty of Music, in London, you can catch the UWO Chamber Orchestra, at 12:30pm, on November 10, performing Strauss’ Serenade for Winds Op.7, Mozart’s Adagio and Rondo for Violin and Orchestra, Barber’s Adagio for Strings and Siegfried Idyll by Wagner. Zachary Peterson is the violinist and Geoffrey Moull conducts. You can hear the orchestra, again, on December 7, this time with soprano Jackalyn Short, in works by Britten and Respighi.

Top of the next hour: “Music at Midday” organ recitals can be heard every Tuesday at 1pm, throughout the year, at Toronto’s Cathedral Church of St. James, on Church St. CCSJ organist and interim director of music, Andrew Adair, performs the ongoing “Bach Series” with “Bach Series X” on November 1 and “Bach Series XI” on December 6. In between, you can hear organists Thomas van der Luit, Simon Walker and William Maddox, on November 8, 15 and 22.

Late (but fashionable): Finally, for those of you who like to lunch fashionably late, here are three suggestions: Toronto Public Library (Northern District) offers “Orchardviewers: Classic Music Performance,” at 2pm on Thursdays. The University Settlement Music and Arts School offers a Saturday concert on November 12, at 2pm and a 2:30pm concert on Sunday November 27. And, lastly, for a very late lunch, bordering on high tea, Hart House presents the 648th concert of its “Sunday Concert Series” at 3pm on November 13, featuring mezzo Erica Iris Huang and Emily Hamper at the piano. The concert takes place in the Great (and most grand) Hall of Hart House.

So, you may not get a free lunch anytime soon but you can gorge on all of the free and wonderfully varied lunchtime musical fare available in November and early December.

ONE PIANO TWO HANDS

16_lang-lang_philip_glaserBefore signing off, another brief — and this time intentional — nod to our two guys on the front cover. Unlike Two Pianos Four Hands’ Ted Dykstra and Richard Greenblatt, who eventually gave up on the dream of becoming concert pianists (and have gone on, mind you, to do great, virtuosic stuff in theatre), here are a few who stayed, and are staying, the course. Oh, and these concerts will cost you a buck or two:

• November 6, 3pm: Angela Hewitt performs works by Bach, Ravel, Fauré and Debussy at Koerner Hall;

• November 12, 7pm: Mississauga Pops Concert Band plays something “Old, New, Borrowed & Blue” at the Meadowvale Theatre in Mississauga, featuring works by Holst, Mozart and Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue performed by pianist David Atkinson;

• November 18, 8pm: Staying with the “old and new” theme, Sinfonia Toronto presents “Gems Old and New” with works by Beethoven, Teehan and Hatzis and pianist Ratimir Martinovic performing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No.12 K414 at the Glenn Gould Studio;

• November 9 to 19: Lang Lang will be “in residence” with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra over those ten days, during which he’ll perform all five of Beethoven’s piano concerti. See the listings for details;

• November 11, 23, 25, 8pm: Gallery 345 continues with its “The Art of the Piano” series, featuring Beatriz Boizan and Mauro Bertoli on the 11th and 23rd, respectively; on the 25th, the Gallery presents pianist Ilya Poletaev, performing the music of George Enescu, with Axel Strauss, violin;

• November 27, 5pm: Nocturnes in the City presents pianist Jan Novotný in works by Mozart, Dvořak and Janáček at St. Wenceslas Church, 496 Gladstone Ave.

Whether or not you pull out your wallet, I hope you will take the opportunity to savour several of this month’s tempting musical offerings. 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.

12_taf_awardsBefore wading into the teeming waters of this month’s events, a moment’s reflection on the recognition of world music and of the general stature accorded to the arts in this town: The occasion that brought both together for me was the 2011 Mayor’s Arts Awards lunch. Presented by the Toronto Arts Foundation on Thursday October 20 at the Bay’s Arcadian Court, While this was the sixth such awards event, it was to have been Rob Ford’s first — that is, if he had chosen to attend the ceremony named after his office. But that would have meant delegating his high school football coaching duties (final game of the season you know). The mayor’s choice was not lost on the media covering the event or on the arts insiders who did attend. But his absence did surprisingly little to sour the mood, thanks in no small part to the deft emceeing of playwright, novelist and actor Ann-Marie MacDonald and a brace of earthy and soulful songs from blues singer and songwriter extraordinaire Rita Chiarelli led the proceeding with a brace of earthy and soulful songs, the second tapping her Italian roots. Then the awards rolled out.

More than 300 guests had cleared their busy agendas. The enthusiastic crowd consisted of seasoned artists, politicians, business leaders, arts patrons, bureaucrats and arts media. They gathered to celebrate artists, arts administrators and supporters who have helped build Toronto’s vibrant civic and cultural life. Five awards, with cash prizes totalling more than $40,000, were presented.

The Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre (previously widely known as Canadian Childrens Dance Theatre) won the Arts for Youth Award. In her acceptance speech artistic director Deborah Lundmark praised not only the key choreographers, teachers and dancers in her company, but also composers like the late Michael Baker who contributed significantly to the company’s success.

The Muriel Sherrin Award for international achievement in music went to the mrdangam and kanjira drummer, composer and York University music professor Trichy Sankaran. Indian born Sankaran has been an active fixture on the Toronto, and indeed on the global world music scene, for 40 years. He has tirelessly taught music, performed his native Carnatic classical music of South India, and has collaborated with a vast array of leading musicians from many genres. I see this award as a milestone, recognizing a lifetime of achievement. It’s also a recognition that world music has come of age in our town.

As for Sankaran’s contribution to the Toronto scene, it’s no exaggeration that he has taught and inspired dozens of musicians who have gone on to notable careers. One of them, ’80s Sankaran student, saxophonist Richard Underhill (best known as the leader of the bop rap jazz combo Shuffle Demons), was sitting to his former teacher’s left. (On a personal note, Trichy Sankaran is one of the reasons I’ve pursued a career in inter-cultural music.)

Echo: spotted among the “seasoned artists” at the aforementioned Arts Awards luncheon were Allan Gasser and Becca Whitla, the organizational glue of many a true community arts venture, among them Toronto’s Echo Women’s Choir. At the beating heart of most cultures around the world is the practice of community music and dance. These are too often sidelined in the public and media gaze, however, in favour of polished staged professional presentations, the kind that appear in large venues in cities. For 20 years the Echo Women’s Choir has been “keeping it real” by cultivating songs from many places — including our own — with passion, musicianship and a small-town activist community spirit.

So there’s no need to get out of town to celebrate the harvest season because on Saturday, November 5 you can do it at the heart of downtown. The Echo Women’s Choir is serving up an old-fashioned community square dance at the Church of the Holy Trinity, beside the Eaton Centre. I’ll be getting in touch with my inner square dancer as caller Lorraine Sutton guides dancers through the steps and Cape Breton fiddler Dan Macdonald and keyboardist Kate Murphy provide the essential live musical incentive. In true Echo Women’s Choir tradition, there’s more: craft activities for children, homemade preserves for sale and a gourmet home-baked pie raffle. I’m holding out for a tart and, hopefully, heritage apple pie.

And there’s so much more!

From November 1 through 6, Mirvish Productions presents Fela! at the Canon Theatre. Fela! is a dramatization of the story of Nigerian Afro-beat pioneer, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, whose powerful music ignited a generation; it is directed and choreographed by the Tony Award winning Bill T. Jones. Fela Kuti dedicated his life and music to the struggle for freedom and human dignity. The Broadway buzz is that this triumphant and athletic production chock full of Kuti’s propulsive music, Jones’ book and explosive choreography ends up as an inspirational evening.

The Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre, Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, continues its series of free noon concerts. On November 3, Nova Bhattacharya, dancer and Ed Hanley, tabla, present a programme titled “Bharatanatyam Beat.” On November 23, “In the Shadow of the Volcano,” featuring the traditional music of southern Italy, is performed by the Vesuvius Ensemble with tenor Francesco Pellegrino. Indigenous music genres include the villanelle, tarantella, fronna and tammurriata.

On November 4 at Koerner Hall, the Royal Conservatory presents star Spanish flamenco and tango singer Diego El Cigala. The show titled “Cigala & Tango” serves up an “evening when tango and flamenco join hands.” El Cigala is joined by leading Spanish and Argentine musicians. The same night at the Music Gallery, Minor Empire performs a concert co-produced by Small World Music. Minor Empire is a band with unabashed Turkish roots yet embracing the language of electro jazz. The group is manned by local musicians including Orgu Ozman, vocals; Ozan Boz and Michael Occhipinti, guitar; Chris Gartner, bass; Debashis Sinha, percussion; Ismail Hakki Fencioglu, oud; and Didem Basar, kanun.

Beyond the GTA, the University of Waterloo Department of Music hosts a free noon concert on November 16 called “Honkyoku Duet.” Traditional Japanese shakuhachi solos and contemporary duets are rendered by shakuhachi master Gerard Yun and Kathryn Ladano, bass clarinet, at the peaceful Conrad Grebel University College Chapel.

13_world_nagata_shachuNovember 18 to 20 will be auspicious days for Nagata Shachu. The Japanese taiko group performs at the Fleck Dance Theatre, Harbourfront Centre. John Terauds noted in the Toronto Star, “It’s another credit to this cosmopolitan city that one of the world’s most interesting Japanese taiko drumming ensembles hails from Toronto.” Not only will it unveil its second DVD video, but Nagata Shachu is also premiering a new show, Hana. Rooted in the folk drumming traditions of Japan, Nagata Shachu’s principal aim is to rejuvenate this performance art by producing innovative and exciting music that speaks to today’s audiences. Its production of Hana strives to strip away the superficiality of typical concert performances and to reveal the essence of each performer to the audience through the use of many kinds of taiko, flutes, shamisen, voice, and movement.

Over the past few years Gallery 345 has proven itself to be a modest venue with an ambitious programming policy. On November 18, multi-instrumentalist, singer and oud virtuoso Mel M’rabet pairs up in concert with the illustrious Cuban-Canadian pianist Hilario Duran. Mel has performed internationally with musicians such as Cesaria Evora, Steve Potts, Omar Sosa and Cheb Mami. Still at Gallery 345, the November 20 concert at 3:30pm is titled “David Lidov. Recital Number Six.” The world music aspect of the evening is in the form of the premiere of Lidov’s Obedient Ears for sulings (Indonesian bamboo ring flutes) and piano. Performers include David Lidov and William Wescott on piano, the Annex String Quartet and yours truly on sulings.

On November 25, Small World Music presents Naseer Shamma & the Magnificent Strings at the Toronto Centre for the Arts, 5040 Yonge St. And plucked strings are undoubtedly what you will hear. Naseer Shamma, a renowned Iraqi oud player, is joined on stage by Pakistani sitarist Ashraf Sharif Khan and Andalusian flamenco guitarist Romero Iglesias.

Judging from the next concert, it seems we’re already ramping up to the holiday season. On November 26 at 1 pm Small World Music presentsCelebrate! Holidays of the Global Village with Chris McKhool & Friends” at Trinity-St Paul’s Centre. This free multi-cultural musical mosaic includes musical guests Ernie and Maryem Tollar, Suba Sankaran, Shannon Thunderbird, Jordan Klapman, Aviva Chernick and the members of Sultans of String.

My world music also includes the music of the First Nations. The University of Toronto Faculty of Music presents “World Music Visitor: Pura Fé,” in a concert of First Nations contemporary music on November 26, 7:30pm, at Walter Hall, Edward Johnson Building. The award-winning vocalist Pura Fé is a founding member of the native woman’s a capella trio, Ulali, and is recognized for bringing Native contemporary music into the mainstream.

November 27, the Batuki Music Society presents Bassekou Kouyate and Ngoni Ba at the Great Hall; 1087 Queen St. W. Bassekou Kouyaté is a virtuoso musician and singer whose work overlaps West African and American roots music. The ngoni, his instrument, is a “spike lute” and considered one of the ancestors of the banjo. Deeply anchored in the griot tradition, Kouyaté has collaborated with many musicians in and outside of Mali. He was part of Taj Mahal and Toumani Diabaté’s “Kulanjan” project, as well as serving as one of the key musicians on Ali Farka Toure’s posthumous album Savane (2006). He also toured and recorded with master banjoist Bela Fleck on the Grammy winning Throw Down Your Heart. I saw them in Toronto last summer and was duly mesmerized by their music.

14_world_chavaalbersteinFinally, on December 3, the Royal Conservatory’s Koerner Hall showcases famed Israeli folk singer-songwriter Chava Alberstein, acclaimed as “the most important female folk singer in Israeli history,” with over 50 albums to her credit, in a double bill with extraordinary Egyptian-Canadian vocalist Maryem Tollar. Their large band includes Oved Efrat, acoustic guitar; Eran Weitz, guitars; Avi Agababa, percussion; Waleed Abdulhamid, bass; Naghmeh Farahmand, tombak; and Michael Ibrahim, nay. Local musicians include Ernie Tollar, saxophone and flutes; Hugh Marsh, electric violin; Ian De Souza, bass; and Levon Ichkhanian, guitar. I’m expecting the Israeli-Egyptian musical forecast in Koerner Hall to be convivial and warm, even though the temperature on Bloor St. might prove rather frigid that December Saturday night.

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

world_trichysankaran2Over the past 30 years, as world music has emerged as a commercial music category, the general audience interest in it has continued to grow and morph. As a meta-genre, it has long jumped the boundaries of its component musics’ roots in their ethnic communities of origin. The various kinds of music included in the sea of world music, when observed at close hand, really consist of multiple interconnected pools. And here in Toronto there are many such pools teeming with life. This is the “scene” I try to get a feel for and share with you, dear reader, in each WholeNote issue.

As important as various groups and communities are to the overall vibrancy of the local world music scene, the significance of the contributions of certain individuals pops out occasionally. These individuals are the performers, teachers, producers and programmers without whose imagination, skill and dedication the scene would be a very still pool indeed.

Small World Music is a case in point. This production company is the lovechild of Alan Davis who cut his programming teeth at Toronto’s Music Gallery in the 1980s and 1990s. In the ten years since he founded his production company, Small World Music has become, arguably, Toronto’s most active and consistent presenter of music from many corners of the globe. It is also a supporter of music that mixes all sorts of genres. I attended the launch of the tenth annual Small World Music Festival on September 22, and got the scoop on this year’s lineup.

Having begun in September, the Small World Music Festival continues on October 2 at the Enwave Theatre, Harbourfront, with the Karevan Ensemble performing a concert titled “Homeland Variations.” Composed by Reza Moghaddas, the score received a 2011 Dora Mavor Moore Award nomination. Called “multimedia Persian fusion,” the music combines gypsy songs accompanied by kamancheh (Persian fiddle), punctuated by saxophone, keyboards and electric bass. Further sections feature R&B rhythms blended with industrial and electronic sounds, dovetailing with melancholy duduk (Armenian reed) melodies and the spirited upbeat juxtaposition of African percussion, kamancheh and tanbour (Kurdish lute). I’m guessing the dancer Bahareh Yaraghi will provide the “multimedia” aspect of the show.

The same Sunday night at the Royal Conservatory, Small World Music, in association with the RC, presents the Bollywood diva Asha Bhosle with Nilandri Kumar on sitar. Bhosle, one of the queens of playback singing, has performed an astounding 20,000+ songs in over 1,000 movies in her epic career. In fact she has the distinction of receiving the “most recorded artist” laurel from the Academy of World Records. Kumar, much the junior of Bhosle in age and experience, is an emerging Indian fusion sitarist with roots in the classical tradition. He has worked in Bollywood as a musician, and recorded with guitarist John McLaughlin on his album Floating Point, as well as on 13 of his own albums. We can expect that popular film songs and ghazals, songs sometimes included among the “light classical” side of North Indian music, will dominate the evening at Koerner Hall.

Another example of an individual who has made a significant contribution to Toronto’s world music scene is the mrdangam (South Indian hand drum) master and music professor Trichy Sankaran. It is hard to recall a time when Indian music–classical and otherwise–was not a feature of Toronto’s concert and university music education landscape, but there actually was such a time not that long ago.

A noted mrdangam player in India when still quite young, Sankaran came to York University 40 years ago to help build its newly hatched South Indian classical music (Karnatak music) programme. He’s still teaching at York, inspiring by example yet another generation of students to study this highly developed percussion art form. He has also inspired some of his two generations of students, myself included, to infuse Karnatak music’s language and discipline into their own music and scholarly research.

Sankaran’s 40th anniversary at York will be marked on October 4, 7:30pm, at a concert at the Tribute Communities Recital Hall, part of the York University Department of Music’s “Faculty Concert Series.” In addition to Sankaran’s brilliant mrdangam playing, guest musicians will include members of Autorickshaw (Suba Sankaran, piano and vocals; Ed Hanley, tabla; and Dylan Bell, bass guitar), as well as Mohan Kumar, ghatam, and Desi Narayanan, kanjira. Trichy Sankaran’s considerable contributions to his field are increasingly being acknowledged. He has recently been short listed for the Toronto Arts Foundation’s Muriel Sherrin Award for International Achievement in Music. He will be receiving the prestigious “Sangita Kalanidhi” title from the Music Academy in Chennai, India, in January 2012.

A commemoration of another sort takes place on October 21 and 22 at the Betty Oliphant Theatre. The works of the late Toronto composer and percussionist Ahmed Hassan were imbued with Afro-Caribbean and Middle Eastern influences. Written primarily in conjunction with Canadian theatrical dance, Hassan’s works will receive performances in their original staged dance context at the Abilities Arts Festival, produced by Peggy Baker Dance Projects. Renowned dancer Peggy Baker, the curator of this show, is Ahmed Hassan’s widow. Titled “The Neat Strange Music of Ahmed Hassan, his music will be performed along with the original dances, by important Toronto choreographers, for which his music was commissioned. The performers include senior students of the School of Toronto Dance Theatre; Hassan’s sister, Maryem Tollar, vocals and Mother Tongue, a “world beat” band.

version_1_peter_ahmedFrom October 15 to 23 the Music Gallery presents its annual X AVANT New Music Festival VI. The festival typically programmes avant-garde music in its many guises, however on Friday October 21 there is a world music element. That night, three acts represent various shades of contemporary music. The Montreal based sound artist Tim Hecker will play St. George the Martyr Church’s pipe organ plugged into a computer, the sound looped, altered and played back through the PA system, while the German pioneer of “glitch” music, Markus Popp, explores modern electronica. (Opening the evening, is a new cross-cultural Toronto music collective Global Cities Ensemble of which, as I mentioned in the June issue, I am a member, playing suling — Indonesian ring flute, and kacapi — Indonesian zither along with Araz Salek (tar — Persian lute); Abdominal (songs and rap) and Professor Fingers (live electronics), and blending instruments, intonation, and modes from Iran, Indonesia, India and Western musics.)

World music also makes several appearances this month further downtown on Front Street at the splashy, renovated Sony Centre For The Performing Arts. On October 21 “Goran Bregovic And His Wedding and Funeral Orchestra” features music from the mixed ethnic centre of Sarajevo, combining a Serbian gypsy band, a classical string ensemble, an Orthodox male choir and two Bulgarian female vocalists. On the 22nd, the Salsa Kings perform music from Cuba including the dance-infused music of the mambo, rumba and the cha cha cha.

Opening its run on October 26 also at the Sony Centre, David Mirvish presents “Bharati: The Wonder That Is India.” Judging from the promotions touting a “music and dance spectacle from India, featuring 70 dancers, actors, singers, acrobats and musicians,” this production appears to be a big-stage nationalistic extravaganza along the lines of recent Chinese productions and predated by the long-running Irish themed mega-shows “Riverdance” and “Celtic Woman.”

Bharati’s storyline, on the other hand, sounds compellingly contemporary. A modern day Siddharth raised in the U.S. and cynical of all things Indian returns home to cleanse the Ganges river of its pollution. Despite his contempt, Siddharth is attracted to a mysterious and elusive Indian woman, Bharati, who reintroduces him to the many wonders of India. As the story goes, in the end, Siddharth, appearing to be a sort of diasporic Everyman, discovers a new sense of self in this journey of homecoming, identity and redemptive love.

These are big, ambitious themes. I hope the production delivers them with more than simplistic bombast since I plan to attend.

I especially wish for a nuanced presentation of a sampling of the multitude of Indian traditional performing arts, among the treasures of the music of our world.

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

Interesting personalities: the world of music is full of them. I’d like to tell you about a few who will be gracing our stages and charming our senses during the coming month.

early__harry_bicket_and_the_english_concertTake, for example, Jan Dismas Zelenka, one of those talented people whom history might well have completely forgotten, had it not been for the determination of some who “discovered” and sought to revive his music long after his death in 1745. This Bohemian composer, whose lifetime spanned more or less the same years as that of J.S. Bach, spent most of his career at the Dresden court (a flourishing centre of music and the arts in 17th- and 18th-century Germany) where he played double bass, conducted the Dresden Court Orchestra and became Court Composer of Church Music. His music is acknowledged as being extraordinarily creative, with unexpected turns of harmony and a freshly expressive outlook.

Of course, as part of his duties he wrote masses. One of these, the Missa votiva, has quite a touching genesis: Zelenka wrote it to give thanks after recovering from a long illness, dedicating it as follows: “J.D.Z. composed this Mass ad majorem Dei gloriam to the greater glory of God in fulfillment of a vow, after having recovered his health through God’s favour”.

You can hear it, along with a beloved motet by one of his acquaintances and admirers, in Tafelmusik’s “Glorious Bach and Zelenka” performances, which take place on various days, and at various times, between October 14 and 20.

And consider Johann Rosenmüller, 17th century German composer and virtuoso trombonist, who is credited with being an instrumental figure in the transmission of Italian musical styles to Germany. He had a promising career as teacher and organist in Leipzig, and was in line for the position of cantor at the Church of St. Thomas, but his career was abruptly halted in 1655 when he and several schoolboys were arrested and imprisoned on suspicion of homosexuality. Aha; he escaped, fled Germany and next turned up in Italy, where by 1658 he had established himself at St. Mark’s in Venice as a trombonist and composer. Years later he also held the post of composer at the Ospedale della Pietà (the girls’ orphanage soon afterward to become famous as fertile ground for Vivaldi’s prolific creative output).

Rosenmüller’s music was clearly inspired by the brilliant acoustic of the Cathedral of St. Mark’s. You’ll be able to hear the effect of this magnificent space when, on October 21 and 22, the Toronto Consort brings together voices, strings, cornetti, sackbuts, lutes and keyboards to present “Venetian Splendour: The Music of Johann Rosenmüller.”

A towering figure of the 15th century, the Franco-Flemish composer Johannes Ockeghem led a life that is somewhat obscured to us now, some five or six centuries later. We know that he was employed as a bass singer in the chapels of various royal courts, most notably the French courts of Charles VII, Louis XI and Charles VIII; that his life was very long; that though his surviving output of compositions is not large, it reveals a highly innovative style; also that he was admired throughout Europe for his expressive music and his technical prowess.

It’s obvious that he revelled in creating musical problems and working out solutions — for example, his motet Deo Gratias is a magnificent, pulsating canon for four nine-part choruses (36 parts in total). His Missa Cuiusvis Toni is a mass that may be sung in any one of four different modes, at the performers’ choosing. Enormous technical feats of composition, these — yet (to quote one account) “music of contemplative vastness and inward rapture”.

Both these works will be performed this month — the Deo Gratias in “surround sound,” the Missa Cuiusvis Toni in — well, you’ll have to attend the concert to find out which mode. They’ll be heard in the Toronto Chamber Choir’s first concert of the season, “Ockeghem: Medieval Polyphony,” on October 23.

A much-admired musician of the 21st century, the acclaimed English conductor and keyboard player, Harry Bicket, will be bringing his ensemble, the English Concert, to town — alas on one of the same nights as the Toronto Consort performs. Bicket is renowned for his interpretations of the baroque and classical repertoire and for his work in opera, though his biography is chock-full of music making in wide-ranging styles and periods, all over the world. It’s especially telling that he was chosen in 2007 to succeed Trevor Pinnock as artistic director of the English Concert, one of the finest of the U.K.’s period orchestras.

The concert takes place in an ideal venue for this group, the Royal Conservatory’s Koerner Hall, on October 21. The music is ideal too, a true representation of their art: suites from semi-operas by Purcell, solo and orchestral concertos by Vivaldi and Telemann.

early_philippe_jaroussky2_by_simon_fowlerA compelling musical personality whose star is definitely on the rise is the French countertenor Philippe Jaroussky. He’s been described as a “young singer with the tone of an angel and the virtuosity of the devil.” Perhaps because he began his musical life as a violinist, his singing displays a very pure sound quality and high, sweet timbre; this combined with his dazzling vocal feats, expressive phrasing and handsome stage presence have catapulted him into an international career in a relatively short time.

Jaroussky’s art is ideally suited to the virtuosic coloratura of the baroque; this will be evident when, on November 1 at the RC’s Koerner Hall, he’ll be joined by the acclaimed baroque orchestra from Cleveland, Apollo’s Fire, in a programme of fiery operatic arias and orchestral music, entitled “Handel and Vivaldi Fireworks.”

Others in a nutshell

• October 8: “Apt for Voices, Viols or Violons”: For its first concert of the season, the Musicians In Ordinary presents a programme of consort songs, dances, lute songs and solos from the Elizabethan and Jacobean courts, by Holborne, Byrd and Dowland. Soprano Hallie Fishel and lutenist John Edwards are joined by a renaissance violin band of five parts, led by violinist Christopher Verrette.

• October 8: Cardinal Consort of Viols presents “Oktoberfest!”:

Beautiful German music from the 16th and 17th centuries, with refreshments included, in a relaxed, friendly atmosphere at Royal St. George’s College Chapel.

 

• October 15 and 16: “Best of Baroque”: Andrew Davis conducts the TSO, and plays harpsichord and organ in a rich tapestry of music by Bach, including Brandenburg Concerto No. 5, Concerto for Oboe and Violin and Davis’ own orchestrations of Bach organ works.

• October 16: Windermere String Quartet on period instruments presents the fourth in their six-concert survey of “The Golden Age of String Quartets,” juxtaposing three great works by Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven.

• October 22: “A Celebration of Victoria: 1611–2011”: Tallis Choir commemorates the 400th anniversary of the death of Victoria, presenting some of his greatest works and those of his contemporaries, Guerrero, Lobo and Esquivel.

• October 29: Our ever-energetic friends in Kingston, Trillio, present their third annual “Baroquetoberfest” with music on period instruments by Telemann, Bach, Matthes and others — not to mention home-prepared German food including choucroute garnie and a German beer sampling!

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.

Yes, toronto brims with many breeds of live music, as this magazine makes crystal clear. But truth be told, this question bears reflection: Can our city, recently named the planet’s ninth most expensive city to live in, sustain a venue devoted exclusively to cabaret? And is it really the ticket price, usually comparable to catching a flick, that keeps audiences away? Or, is it that listening rooms require listening patrons? Whatever the reasons, thankfully, presenters keep trying. The brand new Green Door Cabaret at the Lower Ossington Theatre is hoping to be around for a long time. Robert Missen, artistic director, is working hard to preserve, celebrate and cultivate an audience for this unique art form.

“Cabaret has an intimacy,” says Missen, “and there’s an element of story-telling to the singing which is different from a regular concert. And of course, if you look at the various historical forms of cabaret, you can make the argument that it can be a very interesting tool for political satire or the promotion of certain kinds of humour or music. Since my background training is as a classical singer, I liken it to singing lieder, which is another endangered species of live performance.”

On the challenges of this new venture, Missen is quick to acknowledge the financial limitations on all sides of the equation:

“This is a very bare bones operation … I am not getting paid any salary for this, I get a small slip of the door. The theatre also takes a share, but most of the money goes to the artists, so it behooves the artists to try to get people in. That is really the main challenge. I’ll tell you though, one area that doesn’t have any challenges whatsoever is in the quality of the talent we are presenting. We could be doing shows every night of the week from now until Christmas and we wouldn’t run out of talent worth showcasing.”

To readers who have yet to attend a cabaret performance, what can they expect to experience?

“Come with an open mind and an expectation that whatever you see and hear will be of the highest quality, whether it’s German-style or New York-style or musical theatre or jazz … open your ears and open your heart. From my perspective it’s all about trust. Audiences will have to take a leap of faith, but that leap should be tempered by the reality that what they will hear will be extraordinary. And another important thing: there is no talking during the performances. This is definitely a listening room. The focus is the stage, and artists will not be competing for your attention.”

While booking veterans such as Louise Pitre of Mamma Mia, Order of Canada recipient Joe Sealy and Jersey Boys star Jeff Madden, Missen is also extremely supportive of emerging artists. Last month, one of the first shows to grace the Green Door’s fall lineup was “Liza Live: a Tribute to Liza Minnelli & Friends.” The directorial debut by singer, actor, dancer and performance artist Ryan Graham Hinds featured musical direction by Mark Selby and starred a pair of greatly gifted 20-something comediennes: Jennifer Walls, who zestfully impersonated Liza with a Z and Gabi Epstein, who channelled Barbra Streisand to a tee. Visit our website to taste a video sample of this cabaret!

Performances of special note at the Green Door this month will include Bremner Duthie’s “33: A Weimar Kabarett” (October 15), which will feature songs by Kurt Weill and his contemporaries in the context of Germany’s being taken over by the Nazis, as well as Ray Jessel (October 29), a brilliant Welsh-born composer, lyricist and performer now in his 80s who saw his start in cabaret here in Toronto back in the mid-1950s as part of Dora Mavor Moore’s illustrious “Spring Thaw” revue.

Missen calls Koller Michels (October 22) “among the best jazzers in the country, frankly!” Bassist George Koller and vocalist Julie Michels “… share a unique rapport, like two peas in a pod. The synergy between them is very special. These two are unsung heroes in this country. I mean, a core group of people know them and how great they are, but I think they are deserving of a higher exposure.”

Tickets to all shows at the Green Door Cabaret (www.greendoorcabaret.com) are priced as follows: $30 for reserved seating, $25 at the door or $20 for students and industry people with appropriate identification.

In related cabaret news, Toronto’s jazz radio station JAZZ.FM91 presents the Kronenbourg 1664 Cabaret Series, starting with a performance by critically acclaimed American jazz vocalist, pianist and composer Ann Hampton Calloway on Tuesday October 11 at Hugh’s Room. “We are excited about this venture into cabaret, as it will allow us to expand our horizons and to engage and delight a diverse calibre of audiences,” says Ross Porter, President and CEO of the radio station. Between December and March of next year, three additional cabaret evenings will feature international guests at Hugh’s Room. Tickets are $45, $40 in advance or $135 for a series pass. Tickets can be purchased at www.hughsroom.com.

In even more related cabaret news, October 28–30 marks the fourth annual Global Cabaret Festival, this year featuring 150 musicians in 44 performances and taking place over three days. Returning this year will be festival favourites Jackie Richardson, Molly Johnson and Patricia O’Callaghan, as well as performances by a diverse array of artists. To name a mere few, these will include celebrated countertenor Daniel Taylor, eternal hipster Don Francks, enchanting jazz vocalist and broadcaster Heather Bambrick and one of this city’s most outrageously entertaining cabaret artists, Sharron Matthews. All performances take place at the Young Centre for the Performing Arts in the Distillery District. Tickets are $25, $20 in advance and $15 for students with valid ID. The full schedule is available at www.globalcabaret.ca.

If you have read to this point, perhaps you will consider putting down the knitting, the book and the broom! As Missen himself said after the Liza Minnelli tribute, “you are now a part of the Toronto underground cabaret movement. Please spread the word!” So by all means, invite your loved ones, your liked ones, your friends and your Facebook friends. But only if they will listen …

Ori Dagan is a Toronto-based jazz vocalist, voice actor and entertainment journalist. He can be contacted atjazz@thewholenote.com.

opera_opera_atelier_don_giovanni_photo_by_bruce_zinger._phillip_addis__curtis_sullivan_and_artists_of_atelier_balletFrom October 29 to November 5, Opera Atelier premieres its new production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni. Phillip Addis sings the title role with Carla Huhtanen as Zerlina, Vasil Garvanliev as Leporello, Peggy Kriha Dye as Donna Elvira and Meghan Lindsay as Donna Anna. Italian conductor Stefano Montanari leads the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Marshall Pynkoski directs.

During an extensive telephone interview with Pynkoski, I raised the question, “What can be called ‘new’ in a period production?” In answer, he had much to say about Opera Atelier’s goals and what a period production is:

“By period production we’re not talking about a museum. We’re not talking about reproducing something someone did at an earlier time. We could do that if we wanted to, and at times we do, but when we say ‘period production’ we mean we are taking elements of every discipline involved in the production — the acting style, the singing style, the dancing style, the orchestral playing — all of those things, not so that we can copy what they did in the 18th century, but to see if there is anything that we’ve missed in the past and anything that we’ve lost that will challenge us as artists in the 21st century.”

“Our goal is to be more linear. We want to be storytellers. We’re going to follow the text and we’re going to try to figure out how to make it make sense. For example, we’re taking a look at what happened in the early productions of Don Giovanni so that we can challenge ourselves in a new way. Of course, we’ve done Don Giovanni before, but I think we’ve learned a great deal about it over the years. Initially, we were unable to build the production we wanted and had to cobble it together from what we had in stock. This is our first complete statement of what we’d like Don Giovanni to be.”

“The most important thing I want to get across is that it is a comedy. That doesn’t mean that there are no tragic or dark moments. All great comedy has moments that are poignant. But what I have right in front of me is a letter Andrew Parrott gave me, where Mozart refers to Don Giovanni as an opera buffa. I don’t care if everyone else called it a dramma giocoso with an emphasis on the drama. Mozart called it an opera buffa and I’m following what he said, because I think it makes the opera absolutely make sense.”

“I’m sick of seeing a Don Giovanni about a middle-aged Lothario who hates woman and can’t achieve intimacy. It never makes sense because it means every woman on stage is insane. How exactly can a horrible, dirty old man be irresistible? On the other hand, we find things amusing, even charming, in young people that we would find reprehensible in middle age. Just think, the first Don was under 20. The second Don was under 25. Therefore I have to find someone like Phillip [Addis] who registers young, innocent, fresh, irresistible.”

“Basically, Don Giovanni is Cherubino at age 25. He says all the same things. He falls in love with every woman he sees. He doesn’t hate women — he loves them. And women adore him. There has to be something adorable about him, but I have yet to see a Don Giovanni where I understand why women love him. To my mind Don Giovanni is the most innocent and the most honest man on stage. He’s a comic character and everything on stage revolves around him.”

“Anyone in the 18th century would have known from the first scene that we’re in the world of the Italian commedia dell’arte with the servant, like a Harlequin, outside a tavern who wants a drink but has no money while his master is inside drinking. The design will not be as strongly commedia as it was last time. I think we made our point. Martha [Mann]’s costumes will be more Spanish but will still retain very clear commedia touches.”

“What makes it ‘new’ when talking about period is to say it’s a comedy and to discover what that means. It means we have to re-examine every character and fight the stereotypes that have been built up over the past hundred years or so. It’s a big challenge for everyone, especially the singers, because they come in with so much baggage from other productions that we have to strip away.”

“We’ve recently learned that in the original production the Commendatore and Mazetto were played by the same person with little time for a costume change at the finale. This immediately tells us something about the opening. The Commendatore is not some doddering old man who staggers around the stage before Don Giovanni kills him. He has a daughter, after all, who is probably 17. Therefore he’s a vital, strong, dangerous middle-aged man. Of course, the Don calls him ‘old’ as any young person would. As soon as you see that the duel at the beginning is thus more on an equal footing, itchanges everything. It’s no longer the brutal murder of a senile old fool. Once we learned this we thought, ‘Let’s do it. Curtis [Sullivan] will play both roles. It’s a challenge, but we’re just doing what Mozart did.’”

For tickets and more information visit www.operaatelier.com.

THERE’S MORE!

For devotees of Music Theatre in its many forms, Atelier’s “Don Giovanni” won’t be the only event of interest this month.

On the afternoon of Sunday October 2, Opera in Concert presents a concert titled L’accordéoniste: Latin Heat with Kimberly Barber, mezzo; Peter Tiefenbach, piano; Carol Bauman, percussion; and Mary-Lou Vetere, accordion. The same day, at 7:30pm, Solomon Tencer Productions presents An Evening at the Opera at the Studio Theatre, Toronto Centre for the Arts.

Monday October 10, 8pm, sees the opening of an extended run of Art of Time Ensemble’s “I Send You This Cadmium Red,” an evening of theatre, dance and music, exploring correspondence between artist John Berger and filmmaker John Christie.

Wednesday October 12 at noon Canadian Opera Company/ Queen of Puddings Music Theatre showcase Ana Sokolovic’s new a cappella opera “Svadba — The Wedding.”

Wednesday October 19 at 7:30pm Opera Belcanto’s “Cav/ Pag” double bill kicks off a two-night stand at the Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts.

Friday October 21 at 7:30pm, Opera By Request presents Handel’s “Orlando” at College Street United Church; Markham Theatre for Performing Arts has Isabel Bayrakdarian in recital at 8pm; and also at 8pm at St. John’sYork Mills Anglican Church is What They Did For Love, the debut concert of a newly formed opera ensemble, Opera Rouge.

Sunday October 23 brings Zarzuela Gold from Toronto Operetta Theatre, an opening gala concert; the same day, the University of Toronto Faculty of Music’s perennially popular Opera Tea features a Menotti Double Bill in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the composer’s birth.

Saturday October 29 sees not only the start of the aforementioned Atelier “Don Giovanni,” but also what might be described as the “final return” of “Two Pianos Four Hands,” Ted Dykstra and Richard Greenblatt’s musical comedy. about, what else, music.

Thursday November 3 and Saturday November 5 Opera York’s Madama Butterfly is on the boards at Richmond Hill Centre for the Arts. Friday November 4 Opera By Request presents Massenet’s “Herodiade.”

Details on all these, and more can be found in the listings.

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

jazznotes_gershwinjazznotes_herbiehancockA legend is a person, extremely well known, whose fame and achievements make him a source of sometimes glamourized tales or exploits. Well, this article is about two musical legends, the late George Gershwin and, still with us and going strong, Herbie Hancock.

On October 22, at Massey Hall, Hancock will perform Gershwin’s Rhapsody In Blue with the Massey Hall Orchestra, led by Alain Trudel, Canadian musician, composer and conductor who began his career playing the trombone, but has more recently turned to conducting. He is currently artistic director and principal conductor of the National Broadcast Orchestra and Orchestre Symphonique de Laval. He is also conductor of the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra.

Rhapsody In Blue has an interesting history. In 1923 Paul Whiteman, leader of the most popular orchestra of the day, approached George Gershwin about composing an orchestral jazz work. Gershwin sketched out some themes but took it no further than that. He was, to say the least, somewhat surprised when the New York Tribune of January 4, 1928, contained an article announcing that a jazz concerto by George Gershwin would be premiered by Paul Whiteman at the Aeolian Hall on February 12.

The evening was billed as “An Experiment in Modern Music.” Although at the time he had Broadway commitments, and a jazz concerto was farthest from his thoughts, he rose to the occasion, once more demonstrating that very often the deadline is the ultimate inspiration. And so, on February 12, 1934, towards the end of the programme, George Gershwin’s first large-scale work was performed with the composer himself playing the piano solo. The audience included Jascha Heifetz, Fritz Kreisler, Leopold Stokowski, Serge Rachmaninov and Igor Stravinsky.

It was a huge success; over the next ten years it earned Gershwin over $250,000, and this was during the Great Depression! Gershwin later said that the inspiration for Rhapsody’s title was James McNeill Whistler’s painting Nocturne in Black and Gold.

Fast forward to Massey Hall, Toronto, on January 19, 1934.

It was indeed a gala evening with Gershwin at the piano and Charles Previn, yes, the father of André, conducting the Reisman Symphonic Orchestra. The programme included Catfish Row, Symphonic Suite from Porgy and Bess and, of course, Rhapsody in Blue for piano and orchestra.

Gershwin signed a programme that evening as a memento for a fortunate member of the audience. Through the Independent Online Booksellers Association, I found a programme for that evening boldly signed by the composer over his printed name. You can have it for a mere $2866.18.

Like many musicians, Gershwin was something of a wit, but probably no match for his good friend, fellow composer and pianist Oscar Levant. At a Manhattan party in the 30s Levant said, “George if you had to do it all over, would you fall in love with yourself again?” Gershwin’s barbed response was, “Oscar, why don’t you play us a medley of your hit?”

After Gershwin’s, death an admirer with musical aspirations wrote an elegy for him and took it to Oscar Levant. Levant reluctantly agreed to hear the piece. After the man had finished playing it, he turned to Levant, looking for his approval. “I think,” said Levant, “it would have been better if you had died and Gershwin had written the elegy.”

Herbie Hancock, the principal performer on October 22, hardly needs any introduction. He started with a classical music education and was regarded as something of a child prodigy. When he was 11 years old, at a young people’s concert with the Chicago Symphony, he played the first movement of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 5.

His early jazz work was with Donald Byrd and Coleman Hawkins and later with Oliver Nelson and Phil Woods.

In 1963 he joined Miles Davis’ “second great quintet” with Ron Carter on bass, a 17-year-old drummer named Tony Williams and, eventually, Wayne Shorter on tenor. From this point on his career blossomed and is still flowering five decades later. His Empyrean Isles (1964) and Maiden Voyage (1965) were two of the most influential jazz LPs of the 60s and throughout the intervening years he has remained a creative force, being recognized as one of today’s major voices in contemporary jazz. More recently The Imagine Project, released in 2010, was recorded in many locations throughout the world, features collaborations from various artists, was complemented by a documentary and was released in CD, digital download and vinyl.

In a career spanning five decades there are few artists in the music industry who have had more influence on acoustic and electronic jazz than Herbie Hancock. In his autobiography Miles Davis said, “Herbie was the step after Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk, and I haven’t heard anybody yet who has come after him.”

Given his classical background and his creative genius, he is an ideal choice for this very special evening of the music of George Gershwin.

It is worth remembering another Gershwin quotation: “Life is a lot like jazz … it’s best when you improvise.”

And the concert will, of course, be acoustic. Happy listening.

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

In last month’s column I decided to get retrospective. Now it’s time to shift gears and look at the year ahead. For most community musical groups, their year begins sometime in September when most vacations are over and the kids are back in school rather than at the beginning of the calendar year in January. For many groups, in addition to planning the musical content for the coming concert season, the fall may also mean electing a new executive, recruiting volunteers (conscripts) for the various non-musical chores and selecting music to add to and/or delete from the rehearsal folders. And for most groups it is also the time to welcome new members.

Take the plunge

What about you, dear reader? Are you actively involved in one or more ensembles, or are you a faithful concert attendee who has often wondered what it might be like to play regularly in a musical group? Perhaps you are a would be band member, but haven’t yet mustered up the courage to tackle a new challenge such as learning to play an instrument. Did a particular instrument attract your attention in a school band, or did you attend, as I did, a school with no music program? If you already play an instrument, perhaps you might like to try a different one.

If you have never played an instrument, now is the time to start. Both the New Horizons programs and groups like Resa’s Pieces are geared to such returnees and absolute beginners. Recent medical research studies have demonstrated some very clear benefits to playing a musical instrument. Interpreting all of those strange musical symbols on a piece of paper and manipulating the intricacies of your chosen instrument, in the company of like minded friends, keeps the brain functioning at its highest level.

Food for thought

Many years ago the York Regional Symphony, conducted by the late Clifford Poole, performed a series of “Wine and Cheese Concerts” in smaller communities throughout York Region. These provided an excellent means for people to learn more about orchestral music in an entertaining non-threatening way in their home community. The format was unlike any other concert series I have ever known. Audience members sat at large round tables which could accommodate ten people. Admission included wine of your choice with cheese and crackers on each table.

Two chairs at each table remained vacant while the orchestra performed. Rather than having a single intermission, these concerts had two or three breaks during which orchestra members would circulate and join audience members at their tables. During such breaks an audience member might meet with a bassoonist and a cellist, learn a bit about the instruments and then be more aware of their part in the music after each break. I enjoyed playing in those concerts and meeting the many people whose curiosity was aroused by them. I know of no such concerts now, but if you are involved in a band it’s a format worth considering.

Best laid plans

My personal gear-shifting resolution for this season was the same as in past years. I vowed to take on fewer concert band performances at outdoor venues on tuba or euphonium. To take up the “slack” in my musical activity I planned to get reacquainted with my trombone and the music of the big swing bands. Traditionally, these groups take an annual summer break. In both the concert band format and the smaller groups the shift would mean the opportunity to renew long standing friendships and perhaps meet a few new like minded souls.

Those were my plans, and I will still pursue them. However, a new venture suddenly loomed on my horizon. A re-enactment of a long past musical event suddenly took over and I found myself a hundred years in the past. The little hamlet of Goodwood, where I reside, is located in the Township of Uxbridge where there is an amazingly active and diverse arts community. Now, this year’s three week long annual “Celebration of the Arts” added one new musical component. It just so happens that the Uxbridge Music Hall is celebrating its 110th anniversary. What better way to celebrate such an event than to recreate as closely as possible the program performed on stage there in 1901? Local publisher, editor and sometime impresario, Conrad Boyce, dug through the archives of the local museum and obtained a copy of the program for that event. My gear shifting was put on hold!

The musical part of the program deviated only slightly from the original in that there was a band and choir, whereas the 1901 performance included an orchestra, band and choir. It included such chestnuts as Rossini’s Overture to Tancredi, Mascagni’s Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana and The Anvil Chorus from Verdi’s Il Trovatore. (For this number, local choral conductor Joan Andrews performed as guest anvilist.)

Costa and Bucalossi?

The interesting numbers in the Uxbridge program, for me, were works by Costa and Bucalossi, two composers that I had never heard of. The Oxford Companion to Music was little help, but Groves Dictionary of Music and Musicians and the MacMillan Encyclopedia of Music shed some light on them. Michaele Agniello Costa, son of a Spanish church composer, was born in Italy and settled for life in England. He wrote numerous operatic and ballet works and was much in demand as a conductor. He conducted the London Philharmonic, the orchestra at Covent Garden and, from 1848 to 1882, the Birmingham Festival. His second oratorio Naaman was written for the Birmingham Festival in 1864; With Sheathed Swords from Naaman was performed. He was knighted in 1869 and in 1871 “Sir Michael” was appointed “director of the music, composer and conductor” at Her Majesty’s Opera.

The life of Ernesto Bucalossi is not as well documented. The only information I could obtain about him was that he was an Italian composer who also settled in England until his death in 1933. He was, for a time, conductor of the famous D’Oyly Carte Opera Company. He is described as a “writer of popular dance and descriptive orchestral music such as La Gitana Waltz and Hunting Scene.” It was in that latter composition where we had the most fun. After a slow, somewhat sombre introduction, followed by a few call and answer trumpet sounds, members of the band and chorus join voices to sing “A hunting we will go, A hunting we will go,” etc. Then after several bars of a frantic gallop, the music has two bars rest with the note Bark: Arf Arf.”

At the final rehearsal, producer Boyce was accompanied by his almost constant canine companion, Lacey. It was suggested that Lacey could provide much more realistic barks than the band members. With suitable prompting she did in fact deliver beautiful sonorous barks. However, it was decided that if she were on stage in performance she might be excited and bark at inappropriate times. We were left to provide the barks ourselves.

Remembering Roland G. White

bandstand_roland_whiteIt is with a heavy heart that I report the passing of Roland G. (Roly) White, former Director of Music of the Concert Band of Cobourg. Roly served for many years in the Royal Marines Band Service in Britain, first as a musician and later as a conductor. On leaving the Marines in the late 1960s he moved to Canada and settled in Cobourg. He soon learned that, for many years, there had been a town band in Cobourg. Latterly known as the Cobourg Kiltie Band, the group had disbanded for lack of interest shortly before Roly’s arrival in town.

Roly soon took the initiative, and under his direction the band was revived in 1970 under the name the Concert Band of Cobourg. Drawing on his extensive experience he began moulding the band in the style of Royal Marines bands. In 1975, the band accepted the invitation to represent the Royal Marines Association of Ontario and donned the distinctive white pith helmets and red tunics of the Royal Marines for parades and tattoos. With the approval of the Town of Cobourg and the Royal Marines School of Music in the U.K., the band was honoured to add the distinction of The Band of Her Majesty’s Royal Marines Association, Ontario, to its name. Roland G. White retired in 2000 with the title director of music emeritus, after 30 years of dedicated service.

Of my many chats with him over the years, one story remains fresh in my memory. Roly conducted with his left hand. While working under Sir Vivian Dunn, then the senior band officer in the Royal Marines, he was chastised by Dunn and advised to switch to conducting right handed. Roly complied. Shortly after, when enrolled in his bandmaster’s course, his professor commented on his awkward conducting style. Roly explained that he was really left handed. His professor, Sir John Barbirolli, said I conduct left handed.” Roly switched. On his return from this course, Dunn immediately noticed and commented on his change back to his left hand. Roly’s reply: Sir John conducts left handed”. End of discussion; he never conducted right handed again.

A memorial service was held, Saturday, September 3, in Cobourg.

A Special Event

Too late to make it into the listings section, here’s an event worth noting: The Oshawa United Services Remembrance Committee will be presenting a Festival of Remembrance on Friday 28 October at 7pm at the Regent Theatre, 50 King Street East in Oshawa. The programme will feature the Oshawa Civic Band, the band of HMCS York, the Pipes and Drums of Branch 43 Royal Canadian Legion, the Durham Girls’ Choir and guest soloists. Honourary Colonel (Retd.) Dave Duvall C.D. (formerly CTV weather man) will act as master of ceremonies. Tickets are available from the theatre ticket office 905-721-3399 Ex. 2. All proceeds are destined for the “Poppy Appeal Fund”.

Definition Department

This month’s lesser known musical term is Schmalzando: a sudden burst of music from the Guy Lombardo Band. We invite submissions from readers.

Coming Events

• October 23 2:00pm: Markham Concert Band kicks off its theatre concert season with “October Pops,” an introduction to the world of light concert band music. Markham Theatre, 171 Town Centre Blvd., in Markham.

Please see the listings section for other concerts.

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

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