Every year, swallows return to San Juan de Capistrano. The event, which occurs punctually on March 19, is cause for local celebration, and has made the California town famous throughout the world.
Similarly, we in Southern Ontario have cause to celebrate the annual return of a special flock. For eight years, The WholeNote’s “canaries” – the choirs that populate our Canary Pages – have made an appearance in our May issue. But unlike Capistrano’s swallows, which depart every year on October 23, we’re pleased to say that most of our canaries make Toronto and environs their home year round, contributing to the musical life of our communities.
This year our Canary Pages contain more than 130 choirs. We’ve redesigned the layout, and we like the new look. In the directory, you’ll find a wealth of information about choirs of every description.
It’s fitting, we think, that we’ve chosen the month of May to publish our Canary Pages, as it’s an especially busy time for choirs. After honing their skills and polishing their repertoire during the dark days of winter, spring is the time of year when choirs are at their musical peak. Large and small, professional and amateur, you’ll find choirs, choruses, and vocal ensembles of every description in our listings. A quick tally reveals nearly 100 choral events happening this month.
With the Canary Pages as your guide, it’s easy to learn more about a choir you might be interested in joining – and with so many choral concerts happening this month, you’ll probably be able to hear that choir in concert some time in the next 30 days.
While there’s much to celebrate on the choral scene this month, we also have cause to mourn. Our Choral Scene columnist, Benjamin Stein, pays tribute to the late Deral Johnson, for two decades the driving force behind choral music at the University of Western Ontario, in London. Stein points out that Johnson educated several generations of singers and conductors, including some of the most active professionals in the province. (I too sang under “DJ” at Western – and I can personally attest to the fact that no student, however modestly endowed with talent, was beneath his concern or beyond his ability to instruct.)
Also on the subject of vocal music, Christopher Hoile, who writes our On Opera column, points out that there’s been a curious shift in the operatic calendar. While April has traditionally been the biggest month for opera in Toronto, May now wears the crown, with no less than ten staged and semi-staged operas on the boards this month.
What else does May have to offer? As you’ll have no doubt noticed, both early music and world music are represented in our cover story. David Perlman’s interview with Terry McKenna (lute), Bassam Bishara (oud) and Wen Zhao (pipa), sheds light on these related instruments, and the musicians who play them.
Last but not least, tucked away in Allan Pulker’s Classical & Beyond column is something that shouldn’t pass without comment: a free mini-concert at the Royal Conservatory on May 6, to which all WholeNote readers have been specially invited. We hope that many of our chamber-music enthusiasts take advantage of this opportunity to hear the Conservatory’s ARC Ensemble.
Colin Eatock, Managing Editor
