Fellows Newsletter March 2015 - Winters College

March 2015 Issue
121 Winters College
Winters Fellows
4700 Keele Street
Newsletter
Toronto, ON
M3J 1P3
416-650-8199
[email protected]
A message from John Mayberry...
Dear Winters Fellows,
In
In This
This Issue:
Issue:
It’s hard to believe that the year is flowing past so quickly.
Here we are, already well into the winter term and watching
the days getting longer, though it seems like just yesterday
that I stepped into the role of Interim Master.


Brigitte Bogar &
Christopher Innes
Pg. 2

Peter McKinnon
Pg. 3

Pastor Valle-Garay
Pg. 4

Homecoming
Pg. 5

New Fellows &
Contact us: pg. 6
It has certainly been a very full few months, and I have
been busy trying to learn about all the different aspects of
the job. Although we have had some staffing challenges in
the Master’s Office due to some excellent people moving on
to other wonderful positions, we are a lean but strong team
here at Winters and I couldn’t possibly manage without the
help of our College and Student Success Coordinator Emily
Fiorini, receptionist Angie Zannella, and Winters Academic Advisor Peter McKinnon,
as well as all of our wonderful work-study students. Master Emerita, Marie Rickard,
has been gracious and generous whenever I have asked her advice, although I have
noticed that when she comes by the office for a visit she is always wearing what I call
the “sabbatical smile”. I am hoping Marie will share photos of some of her adventures
in a later newsletter.
I have been delighted by the number of Fellows who have dropped me notes or have
visited me in the office to wish me well this year as Master, and I thank you all for
your support. As you may know, I was appointed Interim Master until July, and there
is a search now for the new Master, who will take the reins at that point.
I was also pleased to see some of you at the Winters Holiday Concert last term when
we were entertained by our own WIBI, singer-songwriter Ian Bell, the samba sizzle of
Dance Migration, and music by Payadora Tango Ensemble.
INTERIM MASTER
John Mayberry
NEWSLETTER EDITOR
Kleanthi Markakis
Please feel free to come by the Master’s Office anytime for a cuppa and a chat, but
it’s best to call first since I am still teaching in the Department of Theatre and seem to
be on a thousand committees, so I am sometimes out of the office.
I wish you all a healthy and invigorating winter, and hope to see you soon.
Cheers,
John
Page 2
Winters Fellows Newsletter
Brigitte Bogar and Christopher Innes
Two fellows of Winters, Brigitte Bogar, together with
Christopher Innes, have just issued a CD on
“Shaw’s Musical Universe” with the help of Michael
Coghlan, and Raisa Nakhmanovich from York’s Music Department.
Extensive research at the British Library, New York
Public Library, and Humanities Research Centre in
Austin, Texas, revealed music composed by the
world-renowned playwright Bernard Shaw, and by
his mother. None of this music has ever been recorded before, and indeed the music by Shaw has
never even been published, while the compositions
by Lucinda Carr Shaw, his mother, only exist in
sheet music from the 1860s and 1870s. As a result, all this music is completely unknown today; and the recording is something totally original, so that the CD contains strikingly new and
insightful material.
Putting it out in this form – with the actual sound of the music available to listeners – will have
a significant impact on the way Bernard Shaw is perceived, both by Shaw-scholars as well as
the wider literary community. The CD will be sold at the Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-theLake, and also through the National Trust at Shaw’s house in Ayot St. Lawrence, UK, although
CDs can be acquired through [email protected] or [email protected].
In addition to being the leading British dramatist over the first half of the twentieth century, in
the 1880s Shaw was also a music critic – and indeed is still counted as one of the leading music critics of the English-speaking world – but hardly anyone is even aware that he composed
music. He also wrote the music for several of his own plays; but with the exception of three
bars of a vocal line in the epilogue to Saint Joan,
in other plays there is no indication that music is
even present. So this vocal/piano rendition will
contribute significantly to his reputation as a music
critic, as well as to the interpretation of these
plays. In addition to Shaw and his mother’s own
compositions, the CD presents some of the songs
by other people that he included in his plays, some
of which we know were also sung by his mother,
who was not only a pianist but an opera singer. As a result the CD is an original and important
contribution on all levels.
March 2015 Issue Page 3
Peter McKinnon
In the spring, I organized a conference called "Wood and Canvas (and rabbit glue) in the Modern World" in Antwerp, Belgium, the theme of which was to see if 18th and 19th century
wooden stage machinery could be used profitably in the 21st
century. There were over 100 experts in this rather arcane
field from all over the world that gathered for three excellent
days of papers, hands on demonstrations, and really good food
and company.
I have recently launched the second volume of my book series
examining stage designs of importance throughout the world
from 1975 until now. The first volume covered the period 1975
-1990, and it was given the US Institute for Theatre Technology's Golden Pen Award. The new volume covers the period
1990-2005.
I am also embarking on research into the relationship between ships and stages, to be
called "Sailors and Stagehands". Much of the terminology backstage is nautical in origin,
since many of the first stage hands were bosuns, as well as many backstage superstitions
being nautical. I will be looking at two new areas: seeing if the machinery backstage is
nautical; and discussing the similarities in personality and temperament of hands at sea
and hands on stage.
World Scenography 1990-2005
Sample Page from World Scenography
Page 4
Winters Fellows Newsletter
Pastor Valle-Garay
The Hispanic Canadian Heritage Council is
proud to announce that York University's Senior Scholar Pastor Valle-Garay, Department of
Languages, Literatures and Linguistics, is the
recipient of this year's Pioneer in Education
2014 Award.
The prestigious recognition was presented to
Mr. Valle-Garay during the official opening
ceremonies marking the beginning of the Hispanic Heritage 2014 Month. The presentation
was held at the Toronto City Hall's Rotonda on
October 1, 2014 at 6 PM. The award highlights Mr. Valle-Garay's valuable and extensive contributions in the educational field.
In the 1960's Mr. Valle-Garay worked with the Federal Government teaching English
to New Canadians as well as advising the newcomers on Canadian culture, work
placement and housing in Toronto.
A former diplomat, a Fellow at Winters College, political analyst and writer for numerous newspapers and cultural magazines in Canada, Cuba, Latin America and
the United States as well as regular appearances on Canadian and US television,
Mr. Valle-Garay has taught Spanish language and culture at York University for the
last 45 years. While teaching at York Mr. Valle-Garay also lectured on Spanish Business Language and Cultural Communication in the International Master of Business
Administration (IMBA) program at the Schulich School of Business for 23 years.
"It is wonderful to be recognized for something I have always loved doing. It's certainly
a great honour that I must share with my colleagues at York, with my students and with
my sons and daughters," said Mr. ValleGaray.
HOMECOMING
I am so proud to say that homecoming this year was a blast. Even though we
sadly lost to our opponents we still know how to celebrate and have a good time.
Following the game myself and a bunch of Winters alumni made our way over to
The Absinthe Pub and Coffee Shop to sit down relax and catch up on some old
times. After sharing some nachos and a couple of beers we raffled off a lovely
basket full of AB goodies.
I hope everyone had as good of a time as I did! Can’t wait to do it all again next
Homecoming!
Page 6
Winters Fellows Newsletter
Contact Us!
Fellows:
We want to hear from
you!
What have you been up
to since leaving Winters
College and York?
We want to know!
Send accomplishments,
updates and pictures to
[email protected]
416-650-8199
Welcome to New Winters Fellows!
We would love to give a warm welcome to new fellows and
not-so-new fellows who have not yet had the chance to be
properly welcomed into the Winters Fellowship! Welcome!
Fellows
Ian Garrett
Michael Greyeyes
James McKernan
Rochelle Grandmont
121 Winters College
4700 Keele Street
Toronto, ON
M3J 1P3
The College Banner, with its bold angles of ruby, scarlet, green, blue and white, is
displayed in the Master’s Office and at college events and ceremonies. It was
designed in 1968 by Kenneth Lochhead, a noted Canadian painter who was most
recognized for his experimentation with abstract expressionism. The hard-edged
colour-field design of the Winters College Banner was influenced by Lochhead’s
attendance at a summer workshop with Clement Greenburg in 1962. Lochhead
received the Governor General’s Award in visual and media art forms from
Governor General Michaelle Jean in 2006.
Kenneth Campbell Lochhead died under the care of his loving family in his Ottawa
home on July 15, 2006 at the age of 80. He left us whispering, “I’ve gotta go. Enjoy
every second.”
Comments? Opinions? We want to hear from you! We welcome thoughts and opinions from all Fellows and Alumni.
Please send your comments to: [email protected]