There’s much more to new music in November than just the St. Lawrence String Quartet concert on November 16. (See my latest In with the New column for details.)
Here are a couple of other picks to fill your calendar:
The Gryphon Trio continues to champion Canadian composers and their works in two world premieres this month: Wave by Gary Kulesha, and Paul Frehner’s Berliner Konzert.
Wave is a 21-minute chamber symphony for soprano, violin, cello and piano by composer Gary Kulesha, based on excerpts from Virginia Woolf’s 1931 novel The Waves, which follows six main characters from birth to death through a series of inner monologues. Kulesha’s work focuses on the character Susan, for whom Woolf wrote in what some consider the most beautiful language of her career. The work will receive its world premiere on Thursday, November 5, when Music Toronto presents the Gryphon Trio with soprano Valdine Anderson at the Jane Mallett Theatre in the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts.
The commission of Wave has been made possible through the Esther Gelber Fund. Created by the daughters of the late Esther Gelber, a well-known Toronto arts supporter and philanthropist, this fund provides performers with the opportunity to select and commission a composer of their choice for a debut performance. Established in 2007, the fund is administered by the Canadian Music Centre. The Trio’s commission of Gary Kulesha’s Wave is the first to be awarded and premiered through the fund.
“The creation of a new piece of chamber music, and gaining insight into the creative process, is very rewarding;” said Gryphon Trio cellist Roman Borys. “However, the greatest satisfaction comes from witnessing the work’s evolution from performance to performance. We bring these pieces to life and share them with audiences everywhere we go.”
Later in November, the Gryphon Trio and Germany’s Württemberg Chamber Orchestra will perform the world premiere of Berliner Konzert by Canadian composer Paul Frehner to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. A co-commission with Soundstreams Canada, the work will be presented as part of their 2009-2010 season on November 24 at Jane Mallett Theatre in the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts. A repeat performance will be given for the Ottawa Chamber Music Society’s concert series at Dominion Chalmers Church in Ottawa on November 27.
The Esprit Orchestra makes its Koerner Hall debut on November 15 with Take the Dog Sled – the opening concert in its 2009-2010 concert season. Landscape and geography form the thematic link of the concert’s programme, starting with two evocative depictions of the Canadian northern frontier. Alexina Louie’s Take the Dog Sled combines Inuit throat singing with Western musical language, providing insight into Inuit life and its relationship to nature in the Arctic. R. Murray Schafer’s North/White for snowmobile and orchestra offers a highly personal statement on the impact of industrialization on Canada’s Northern mythology. Ligeti’s Atmosphères, made famous in the soundtrack of the film 2001 – A Space Odyssey, draws us into the listening environment of this concert, which also includes Takemitsu’s Green, a Debussyian dream evoking the opulence of a mountain forest and garden.
Jason van Eyk
