Most calendars say that the year officially commences on January 1 – but in the musical world, September is the time for beginnings. Brochures are printed, tickets are sold, and a new season takes its first steps. With this in mind, some of The WholeNote’s regular “beat” columnists have examined what the 2009/10 season has to offer. In the following pages you’ll find their thoughts on what looks promising.
I’ve also done some perusing of the coming season, and I’ve come up with a few events that might not receive the attention they deserve. No doubt, the big events with big publicity budgets will take care of themselves – but every year there are a handful of worthy performances that could use a little help. Here are ten “bumps” for ten concerts in the next ten months.
September 14 8:00: Gallery 345. The Art of the Piano: Dan Tepfer. Tepfer is a jazz pianist who will interpret Bach’s Goldberg Variations. This sounds intriguing.
October 26 8:00: Glenn Gould Foundation. Simón Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela. This huge event, at the Four Seasons Centre, has received astonishingly little publicity so far. Let’s hope it gets some.
November 5 7:30: University of Toronto. Il Mondo della Luna. When was the last time you saw a Haydn opera?
December 4 8:00: Art of Time Ensemble. Brasil. This programme of Brazilian music by Villa Lobos and others, could easily get lost in the Christmas rush. But Brazilian music in December sounds like a good idea to me.
January 17 2:00: Royal Conservatory of Music. Bryan Epperson, cello, with Dianne Werner, piano. With so much attention focussed on the new Koerner Hall, let’s hope that concerts like this one, in the RCM’s smaller Mazzoleni Hall, aren’t forgotten.
February 4 12:10: University of Toronto. Brahms Piano Quintet. Pianist Henri-Paul Sicsic and a quartet of string teachers from U of T will give this performance. Again, this is the sort of concert that could easily be overlooked, but shouldn’t be.
March 20 8:00: I Furiosi Baroque Ensemble. The Noiseless Foot of Time. Furiosi’s guest on this occasion is Lucas Harris, who plays the lute and theorbo. Personally, I think the theorbo is a fascinating instrument.
April 29 8:00: Soundstreams Canada. Cool Drummings: Steve Reich. Maybe this concert, at Koerner Hall, doesn’t need a bump – but I’m giving it one anyway.
May 16 8:00: Esprit Orchestra. No Reason to Panic. I don’t know much about the works by Andriessen, Schmidt and Nas on this programme. What I do know is that the final work, R. Murray Schafer’s Gitanjali, is well worth the price of admission.
June 20 3:00: Hannaford Street Silver Band. Brass Belles. This concert is the grand finale of the International Women’s Brass Conference, and features an all-female cast of soloists and composers. Despite the silly title, this is an idea whose time has come.
Finally, I should note that The WholeNote’s publisher, David Perlman, got into the spirit of things as well. You’ll find his two cents worth on this topic in “Counterpoint – the Publisher’s Perch,” on page 29.
