Features

It’s a Saturday night in August, and violinist Geoff Nuttall is on the phone from San Francisco. He’s just flown in from somewhere, and he’s jet-lagged – but not too tired to talk about the St. Lawrence String Quartet.

“We want to connect to the simple idea that music can be powerful,” he says, articulating the artistic vision of the ensemble. “Our goal is to try to make people gasp at the right moment, and feel sad at that right time. That’s a basic concept, but it keeps us going. We don’t want people to go away and say, ‘They were really in tune.’ That’s the kiss of death. We want people to talk about how the music made them feel.”

The St. Lawrence Quartet turns 21 this year – a “coming of age,” if you will. There have been a couple of personnel changes along the way (more on that later), and a few changes of location: from Toronto to New York, and finally to Stanford University, in California. And although the quartet is one of those groups that seems to have been blessed with a meteoric rise, from Nuttall’s perspective it’s been a long, slow struggle to get to where the St. Lawrences are now.

Saying nothing about Maureen Forrester’s passing felt unimaginable, but I worried that by the time July’s issue of The WholeNote hit the stands there'd be very little not already said.  And indeed, there have been some fine things written  already.  For example:

…Her embodiment of earth-mother, reigning queen and good sport made her the shining model of what Canadians want a diva to be. And her some 30 honorary degrees from Canadian universities (she was even chancellor Wilfrid Laurier University from 1986 to 1990) and her many other honours attested to her unique and powerful numen for Canadians. Her service from 1983 to 1988 as chair of the Canada Council left no doubt that her wisdom in the arts was valued. Her personal advocacy of Canadian music went well beyond lip service: she premiered and championed major vocal pieces by a wide range of Canadian composers. An authentic celebrity, she touched the Canadian nerve as no other singer of her time had done…

Courage, strength and wonder: three little words that merely scratch the surface of Alex Pangman’s inspirational story. But before going into details concerning her health and heroism, here’s a prelude to her music.

Seated on her grandpa’s knee some 30 years ago, “Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue” was the first jazz song Pangman recalls hearing. Today the five-foot four-inch turquoise-eyed singer is known as “Canada’s Sweetheart of Swing,” a title the Mississauga native has earned by remaining unflinchingly faithful to American popular music of the 1920s, 30s and 40s.

The WholeNote’s website, www.thewholenote.com, continues to develop a life of its own. Thanks to the wonders of the internet, we’re able to do things online that we can’t in print.
For instance, our Green Pages, which grace this magazine, offer an abundance of information on many of the best music festivals taking place this summer. You can read these pages on our website too: we have a “click through” version online, with live links; and in the “Directories” section of our website, we’ll be adding more Green Pages profiles as we receive them.

Another feature we’re currently building into our website is “WholeNote On the Road,” a series of online updates on the various movements of musicians in and around Toronto. We’re inviting them to let us know what they’ve been doing lately, and where they’ll be performing during June, July and August. This will allow readers to follow the schedules of some of our busiest performers this summer. Profiles will be posted throughout the summer – check our website for updates.

Click here for the "On The Road" Profiles

To some people, Winona Zelenka is the cellist who sits at the head of her section in the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Perhaps to others, she’s the cellist whose performances of Bach’s cello suites have become annual events at Toronto’s Music Garden. These activities are all part of a delicate balancing act, combining her orchestral playing with her love of chamber and solo repertoire. And as far as she’s concerned, that’s as it should be.

“I think it’s essential for an orchestral string player to do other things: solo or chamber music,” observes the 43-year-old musician over lunch. “In an orchestra you don’t always hear yourself well enough, and things get out of place. If orchestral playing was all that I did, I don’t think my playing would be in great shape.” She pauses, and then adds, “It’s different for the winds and brass – maybe they’re just louder!”

Yet like all balancing acts, Zelenka’s musical life is never quite in perfect equilibrium: due to a mix of external forces and her own shifting interests, she’ll lean a little bit, sometimes in one direction, sometimes in another. Currently, she’s realigning her musical balance once again, thanks to some significant developments in her career.