Tiff Tips 2015
Welcome to The WholeNote’s fourth annual guide to the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), shining a light on films in which music plays an intriguing role. This year’s selection includes a film version of one of the most compelling musicals of the new century, several titles documenting musicians and their work – from two biopics and movies whose characters revolve around music – to those featuring soundtracks integral to their films’ artistic success. With 289 feature films from 71 countries, the following 27 choices are not the product of an exact science, only a loose guide for music-loving readers with a cinematic appetite.
How I met my teacher
To The WholeNote magazine, ..
How I met my teacher
As I sat thinking what I had accomplished on my clarinet, I realized I was just spinning my wheels – not going anywhere. I was playing in my comfort zone and in my tempo zone. I was 81 years of age and wanted to improve. But how? I had no idea”
One day as I was reading The WholeNote magazine – the best source of what’s happening in the local music scene - I spotted an advertisement for music lessons on clarinet, saxophone and flute. The teacher’s name is Michele Jacot. “Well,” I said to myself, “why not - let’s talk” and we did. I have had other teachers over the many years, but none – and I mean none – were more knowledgeable than Michele Jacot.
The Future of Canadian Music, Back Then
Forty years ago, in late 1975, John Peter Lee Roberts, who had been in charge of CBC Radio Music since 1964, left that position, leaving behind an impressive legacy of programming leadership. In his 11 years as Radio Music head, Roberts had commissioned 160 new works by Canadian composers. Among these was R. Murray Schafer’s Apocalypsis, now well known from its revival in this year’s Luminato Festival. Originally commissioned as a 60-minute choral work for the Elmer Iseler Singers, the work that Schafer delivered was twice that length and much more complex and ambitious, incorporating 12 choirs, soloists, sound poets, orchestra, electronics and even mime artists.
Partnership Bears Fruit
Christina Petrowska Quilico is no stranger to launch events. Fancies and Interludes – violin/piano duos by Gary Kulesha, Raymond Luedecke, Oskar Morawetz and James Rolfe – to be released by the CMC’s venerable label Centrediscs on June 11 is her 12th recording on the Centrediscs label and her 37th overall.
Bethlehem and Beyond: In conversation with Daniel Taylor
“And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?” W.B Yeats
With apologies to W.B. Yeats, “slouching towards Bethlehem” is a perfect description of me as I walk the 15 minutes down Bathurst Street from home to the Toronto Island Airport. I am Newark bound, with my one overstuffed carry-on bag on my shoulder. It’s 6:30am on a Friday, and I have to be on the bus to Bethlehem at 10am. So I have not had time for shower, shave or coffee this balmy May 8 morning.
But I make my Porter flight to Newark with time to spare and find my bus; my little spring adventure is underway.
