Editor's Opener

Canaries of Capistrano

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

For Openers - Variations on a Festive Theme

Our olympic coverage got off to a good start last month, with WholeNote publisher David Perlman’s personal musings on the subject. Now the Winter Olympics are over – but it seems they were an inspiration to some of our columnists this month. Three of our regular writers have referred to the Vancouver games, in various ways. Lest anyone think this represents some kind of intentional “theme” in this issue of The WholeNote, rest assured that nothing could be further from the truth. Our writers make no attempts to coordinate their columns – in fact, we’ve never even had them all in same room at the same time.

Similarly, I’m sure there was no co-ordinated attempt, by various musical presenters around town, to transform the spring into a season of festivals. Yet that’s what seems to have happened.

First out of the gate is the Hannaford Street Silver Band’s 7th annual “Festival of Brass,” from April 9 to 11, at the St. Lawrence Centre. This three-day event features youth and community bands from Canada and the USA, competing for the highly coveted Hannaford Cup. And the following week, from April 14 to 22, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra mounts a Sibelius Festival: five concerts featuring all seven of this composer’s symphonies, conducted by Thomas Dausgaard. Soundstreams also gets into a festive spirit, with the return of “Cool Drummings” from April 27 to 29. This year’s featured guest is American composer Steve Reich, with Nexus percussion ensemble playing a full programme of his music.

The Toronto Silent Film Festival isn’t a musical event per se, but from April 11 to 15, there will be screenings of such films as The Black Pirate and The Adventures of Prince Achmed, with live music by various local musicians, including organists William O’Meara and Andrei Streliaev. Speaking of organists, the Organix Festival opens on May 3, with a fundraising concert. (The festival runs for all of May, so most of the listings will be in next month’s magazine.) Also beginning in May, the Classical Music Consort presents Handel @ St. James, a week of (mostly) free concerts at St. James’s Cathedral.

Easter falls in April this year, and in Benjamin Stein’s choral column, you’ll find information on Easter music from April 2 to 4. But there’s another commemoration happening this month, just a few days later. From April 7 to 11, Tafelmusik anticipates the 40th anniversary of Earth Day with “Forces of Nature,” a planet-themed audio-visual programme.

As well, April is usually a busy time for opera, and this year is no exception. There are plenty of big productions on the boards: the COC’s Flying Dutchman and Maria Stuarda, Opera Atelier’s Marriage of Figaro and Opera Hamilton’s La Bohème.

But one smaller show that has especially caught our eye – and is featured on the front cover of the magazine this month – is Giiwedin (“North Wind”) by composer/librettist Spy Dénommé-Welch and composer Catherine Magowan. The production, staged at Theatre Passe Muraille, from April 8 to 24, is a collaboration between two companies that specialize in the work of native peoples: An Indie(n) Rights Reserve and Native Earth Performing Arts. Appearing in the leading role of Noodin-Kwe, a 150-year-old native woman fighting for her land in Northern Ontario, is mezzo-soprano Marion Newman (herself of native ancestry). It looks like a unique operatic experience.

Colin Eatock, managing editor

March Winds

March has blown in – and with it a full slate of concert events in and around Toronto. There are almost 500 concert listings in The WholeNote, which is not unusual for one of the busier months of the year. But what is unusual is the way the concerts are distributed throughout the month. (We notice things like this at The WholeNote office.)

The week of the 15th to the 19th is a little thin: that’s the week of the schools’ March Break, so I suppose it’s understandable that many groups have chosen not to perform at this time. But, as a result, the following weekend – March 26, 27 and 28 – constitutes a “perfect storm” of performances, with 76 concerts over three days.

For concert-goers, I suppose this is a good thing, although the sheer abundance of choices could be a tad overwhelming. But when things like this happen, as they occasionally do, I always wonder if concert presenters shouldn’t perhaps be a little more prudent in their scheduling – lest they find themselves up against too much competition. Still, if each and every one of these 76 concerts attracts a large and enthusiastic audience, there’s no harm done.

As well, two other aspects of the month’s offerings stand out as noteworthy. For one thing, March is the busiest month for University music departments. Students who have been preparing all year are ready to show the world what they can do, in campus concerts in around Toronto. As many of these events are either free, or open to the public for a modest ticket-price, March is a month of good musical value.

Also, this month’s WholeNote shows that the benefit concert is still very much a part of our musical life. In Ori Dagan’s column, on page 47, you can read about some remarkable efforts to raise money for Haiti that have taken place in the jazz community. And on the opposite page, you’ll see an advertisment for a particlarly impressive fundraising event. “Sing for Haiti,” on March 7 at Metropolitan United Church, brings together six of the top choirs in Toronto, plus CBC announcer Tom Allen and singer-songwriter Melanie Doane. Met United has a seating capacity of about 800 – so with tickets priced at $20, this concert could raise $16,000 for Doctors Without Borders and Free the Children. Given the desperate situation in Haiti, let’s hope that every ticket is sold.

In The WholeNote’s Listings Section, you’ll also find a benefit concert for University Settlement Music and Arts School on March 20, performed by soprano Anne Yardley, and mezzo Michelle Simmons, at St. George the Martyr Church. But this is just a prelude to a much bigger benefit concert the following month. On April 18, the piano duo team of Anagnoson and Kinton will appear at Glenn Gould Studio, to raise funds for University Settlement’s programme for families in need.

Last but not least, the Three Cantors will take to the stage at St. Anne’s Anglican on March 26 for a good cause. You can read more about this trio of singing Anglican clergymen, and their ongoing efforts to raise money for the Primates World Relief and Development Fund in Allan Pulker’s column on page 20.

March winds are chilly in this part of the world – but there’s plenty of music in the air, to help us all get through what’s left of
the winter.

Colin Eatock, Managing Editor

Hearts and Tigers

February is the shortest month of the year – but you wouldn’t know it from perusing The WholeNote. There are over 500 concert listings in this issue of the magazine.

And February is also the month of Valentine’s Day. This annual celebration, falling on the 14th of the month, can be credited as a source of musical, as well as amorous, inspiration. Unlike Christmas, Easter or even St. Cecilia’s Day, not much repertoire has been written specifically for the occasion. Yet although there are no “Valentine’s Day cantatas” (Are there?), musicians have come up with various ways to honour the day.

For instance, down at Roy Thomson Hall, soprano Karina Gauvin will sing a recital of love songs by Scarlatti, Chausson, Bizet, Ravel and Weill. And up at the Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts, you can hear the Richmond Hill Philharmonic play a concert called “Dressed in Love”: a programme of classics, opera and jazz. Soprano Leslie Fagan is the guest vocalist.

A little further afield, the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony is jumping the gun, with “Music of Love” on February 11, 12 and 13. They must be keeners – or maybe they all have something better do to on Valentine’s Day. On the 14th, the Guelph Symphony Orchesta offers “Music of Love and Romance,” with soprano Mary DuQuesnay. And on the same day there’s also Orchestra London’s “Valentine’s Pops” show, featuring jazz, Broadway, light opera, and popular love songs. Soprano Sonja Gustafson will sing – it seems you can’t do a Valentine’s Day concert with a contralto – violinist Mary-Elizabeth Brown will perform, and the London Youth Symphony will also make an appearance.

As well, The WholeNote will mark the day, with a surprise on our website. Go to www.thewholenote.com on February 14, to see a special Valentine’s Day posting.

This year, however, there’s an added twist to the celebration of February 14: it’s also Chinese New Year. The City of Toronto is saluting the Year of the Tiger with a free New Year’s Celebration at Scarborough Civic Centre. And in the spirit of international diplomacy, Toronto’s New Music Concerts has decided to present a contemporary programme (works by Christos Hatzis, Chinary Ung, Chan Ka Nin, and Alice Ho) that pays homage to both special days.

Speaking of contemporary music, I’d like to mention something you won’t find in this magazine – but rather on our website. The well-known broadcaster and contemporary-music expert Larry Lake has written an in-depth article on the foreign composers who are visiting Toronto this winter. Already, Zygmunt Krauze has been to town. (You can read about his concerts in Andrew Timar’s blogs, also on our website). Still to come are Krzysztof Penderecki, Osvaldo Golijov, Gerald Barry, Steve Reich and Jonathan Harvey. As Lake says, it’s “A Perfect Storm” of famous composers.

One of those composers, the Argentinean Osvaldo Golijov, is featured in the Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s New Creations Festival this year. His works can be heard at Roy Thomson Hall on February 25, 27 and March 3. Soundstreams also has a Golijov concert, on February 24, and there’s a Soundstreams “Salon 21” on February 22. Finally, Golijov will speak at the University of Toronto on February 26. For more details on these events, see the the Listings section. And for blogs on Golijov’s visit, keep an eye on our website, www.thewholenote.com.

Colin Eatock,

Managing Editor

Moving On to 2010

As 2009 turns over to 2010 we wish bon voyage to two long-time pillars of the musical communities of Southern Ontario.

At the end of the 2009/10 season, conductor Howard Dyck will lay down the baton of Kitchener-Waterloo’s Grand Philharmonic Choir, after an astonishing 37 years as its conductor. Last year he moved on from his other career, as a CBC broadcaster, for such programmes as “Saturday Afternoon at the Opera” and “Choral Concert.” His remarkable achievements are the subject of an insightful interview with WholeNote columnist Benjamin Stein.

As well, it was recently announced that, after 23 hot, sticky summers running the Toronto Downtown Jazz Festival, saxophonist and band-leader Jim Galloway has stepped down as the festival’s artistic director. Jim is also a regular WholeNote contributor, and this month he looks back on the joys and challenges of steering this major festival for more than two decades.

I chose my words carefully when I used the phrase bon voyage in my opening sentence. This is because neither of these two musicians will be “retiring” in any ordinary sense of the word – but, rather, will embark on new journeys. To liberally paraphrase a line from the play Rosenkranz and Guildenstern are Dead – their exits from their current positions are simply entries into new possibilities. While both men are discreet about what, exactly, they intend to do in the future, I have no doubt that we’ll be hearing from them.

Both Dyck and Galloway appear on the cover of this month’s magazine – arising from Lake Ontario, like characters out of the Canadian Opera Company’s recent production of Le Rossignol. And on this map, you’ll also see a forest of little orange pins. Each one represents a location where copies of The WholeNote can be picked up. (The big red pin in the centre of Toronto is The WholeNote’s office, at 720 Bathurst St.)

At this time of the year, it seemed fitting to come up with a cover design that illustrates our commitment to our communities – and our communities’ commitment to us. There are in fact close to 1,000 places throughout the province where readers obtain our magazine, and thanks to this extensive network, 30,000 copies of The WholeNote are distributed every month.

Perhaps I should say almost every month. Twice a year we publish a double issue – and this is one of them, with listings for the months of December and January (up to February 7). For this reason, there are almost 700 concert listings in the magazine. That, as my Scottish grandmother would have said, is more than you can shake a stick at – and it’s proof of the rich and diverse musical life of the province.

We wish all our readers a musical holiday season, and an event-full 2010!