On The Road

LAURIE EVAN FRASER, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, UPPER CANADA CHORISTERS

Laurie Evan Fraser is a freelance musician living in Toronto. She is the founding artistic director of the Upper Canada Choristers and its Latin ensemble, Cantemos. Laurie is a collaborative pianist, teacher, adjudicator and workshop clinician. 

1. What are we interrupting (i.e. what music-related activity are we taking you away from to write this)?

Today (Thursday, May 23) I am in the midst of finalizing plans for the 20th anniversary concert of the Upper Canada Choristers in May 2014. The theme of our concert is “Turn the World Around, a Celebration of Music's Influence on Social Action.” We have commissioned Stephen Hatfield to write a cross-cultural composition for us to sing with the main choir and Cantemos, our Latin chamber ensemble. I am getting in touch with choir alumni to work on a surprise addition to the concert. We are also focused on preparing for a Cantemos recording date in early June.

2. What, if anything, are you most looking forward to as an audience member between now and September 7?

I'm looking forward to attending events at the Toronto Summer Music Festival. I am especially drawn to chamber music, and one of my favourite chamber ensembles, the Gryphon Trio, will be performing at Koerner Hall on July 18. Also, this year the fabulous Dutch soprano Elly Ameling is a mentor in the Art of Song.

3. How about as a music maker/player?

I enjoy reading through new scores and exploring new possibilities. There doesn't seem to be time to do much of this during the season. I do minimal teaching during the summer, so I have more freedom to sing and play my own music. Cantemos is planning to perform at two outdoor summer events: Kensington Market Pedestrian Sundays and the Marleeville Street Festival.

4. What are you already preparing for musically beyond the summer? And (how) do your summer plans tie in with these longer term plans?

I am working on preparations for a Holocaust Education Week concert on November 6 of the Upper Canada Choristers in collaboration with the Toronto Jewish Folk Choir and the Choir of Temple Sinai. The concert will be reprised at Temple Sinai on November 15. I am also working on details for our holiday concert on December 6, “Laudamus Te,” and of course, our anniversary concert on May 9. In addition, I will be doing some long range planning for the next five years culminating in a choir trip to Japan in 2019. Summer is also my time to compose, and I am looking forward to setting a poem written by one of our Cantemos members.

Brian Current is active internationally as a composer and conductor. He lives in Toronto and is on the faculty of the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory.

 1. What are we interrupting (i.e. what music-related activity are we taking you away from to write this)?

Excited to be composing a new piece for the Toronto Symphony for their 2014 New Creations Festival. It’s a big, deep-dark work for full orchestral forces with tons of forceful gestures and detailed texture. Other activities like conducting calm down in the summer so it’s nice to focus on just the writing for a while (Wednesday, May 22).

2. What, if anything, are you most looking forward to as an audience member between now and September 7?

Luminato is always inspiring…

3. How about as a music maker/player? (answered in question one) 

4. What are you already preparing for musically beyond the summer? And (how) do your summer plans tie in with these longer term plans?

I’m compiling the audio for a disc of Airline Icarus to be released by Naxos Canadian Classics. We really got some great takes when we did the recording this past season so I’m very excited about this release.

Also planning next year’s new music season at The Royal Conservatory, where there will be a brand new festival of contemporary music in May, plus a concert called “Beyond the Sound of Music” which explores music accompanied by video, including a world premiere by Nicole Lizée. Mark your calendars for April 10!

Links:

WEBSITES

soundstreams.ca/airline-icarus

tso.ca/Concerts-And-Tickets/Events/2013-2014-Season/Absolute-Jest.aspx

briancurrent.com

Juno award-winning and Grammy-nominated Canadian pianist and composer Serouj Kradjian is the artistic director of the Amici Chamber Ensemble and has appeared as soloist with the Vancouver, Edmonton, Madrid and Göttingen Symphonies, the Russian National Orchestra and the Armenian Philharmonic.

1. What are we interrupting (i.e. what music-related activity are we taking you away from to write this)?

Right now (Thursday, May 23), the new recital program I’m preparing, which is made up of piano transcriptions. Now working on J.S. Bach’s Chaconne as transcribed by Johannes Brahms for left hand only, so technically I can use my right hand to type this, while practising.

2. What, if anything, are you most looking forward to as an audience member between now and September 7? 

I am looking forward to seeing and hearing my wife Isabel Bayrakdarian perform my new work Trobairitz Ysabella (inspired by medieval woman troubadours) with the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Anne Manson, on July 9 at the Music and Beyond Festival in Ottawa.

3. How about as a music maker/player?

A recital on June 15 in Lindsay, Ontario where I will play Levante by Osvaldo Golijov, which is the last track of Amici Ensemble’s ATMA-produced CD Levant, awarded the Juno for Best Classical Album of the Year (2013).

4. What are you already preparing for musically beyond the summer? And (how) do your summer plans tie in with these longer term plans?

Looking forward to Amici’s exciting 26th season, composing my first movie score for a feature length Suspense/Drama, starting work on a new commission from the Fresno Philharmonic, and of course preparing my new piano recital program. This summer will be a lesson in multi-tasking, especially when I add to the above mix the pleasures of keeping up with our very active five-year old son and our beautiful six-month old daughter.

WEBSITE

amiciensemble.com 

Eve is a pianist whose performance interests encompass extremely contrasting sensibilities, from rigorous interpretation of a score to free improvisation. She also explores other art forms and technologies in relation to the piano. Her disc Simple Lines of Enquiry, music by Ann Southam, was selected as one of “Ten Top” classical discs by Alex Ross of The New Yorker magazine (2009).

1. What are we interrupting (i.e. what music-related activity are we taking you away from to write this)?

I have woken up early, before my family rises, full of the day’s thoughts of things to do (Thursday, May 23).

2. What, if anything, are you most looking forward to as an audience member between now and September 7?

I most look forward to Luminato's production of Feng Yi Ting by composer Guo Wenjing, directed by my brother.

3. How about as a music maker/player?

Exploring my own creative work/composition – this path shifting away from but complementing my artistic practice as an interpreter of new works is funded by a Chalmers Arts Fellowship I received this year.

4. What are you already preparing for musically beyond the summer? And (how) do your summer plans tie in with these longer term plans?

My most exciting summer project is a residency at ArtSpring on Salt Spring Island, working together with composer Linda C. Smith on a new work for solo piano which will be premiered on tour in the spring of 2014.

Award-winning piano virtuoso Christina Petrowska Quilico is one of Canada’s leading interpreters of new music. Besides numerous premieres ranging from solo works to concerti, she performs a wide range of repertoire and has recorded 30 CD titles.

1. What are we interrupting (i.e. what music-related activity are we taking you away from to write this)?

I am reading a student’s doctoral thesis and learning a lot of new repertoire. Also, trying to relax after an extremely busy year (Wednesday, May 22).

2. What, if anything, are you most looking forward to as an audience member between now and September 7?

I hope to get to the National Ballet and any jazz during the summer. I also plan to attend some rehearsals of Shrek The Musical in St. John’s, Newfoundland. It doesn’t open until the fall, but I have to see my granddaughter, who has one of the leads, as the Young Fiona.

3. How about as a music maker/player?/4. What are you already preparing for musically beyond the summer? And (how) do your summer plans tie in with these longer term plans?

I have many new pieces to learn. I have two tours in January and February 2014. The first is with the Toronto Dance Theatre, with whom I will play Rivers by Ann Southam for several performances in Halifax, then in Fredericton and Saint John. In February, I have at least seven concerts in Greece – including Athens and Crete – where I will play Visions by Constantine Caravassilis. I will also perform Visions in St. John’s, Newfoundland this September 28at Memorial University. Besides a November solo recital for a faculty concert at York University, I will perform two piano concertos by Violet Archer and Heather Schmidt with the Koffler Strings and Jacques Israelievitch, conductor, on November 24. Jacques and I are also performing all the Mozart violin and piano sonatas on May 4, 2014, in Toronto and May 25 at the Primavera Concerts in St. Catharines. In addition I am working with dancer Terrill Maguire on a project for this October. Then there are several new CD projects. Among them are the completion of Ann Southam’s Glass Houses, a Canadian program with violinist Jacques Israelievitch, and a Brazilian Tangos two-CD set.