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11.12
Concert Season
Baroque Orchestra and Chamber Choir
Jeanne Lamon, Music Director | Ivars Taurins, Director, Chamber Choir
House of Dreams
Directed by Jeanne Lamon
Conceived, scripted and programmed
by Alison Mackay
Stage Direction by Marshall Pynkoski
Production Design by Glenn Davidson
Projections Design by Raha Javanfar
Narrated by Blair Williams
Wed Feb 8 at 7pm
Thurs Feb 9, Fri Feb 10,
Sat Feb 11 at 8pm
Sun Feb 12 at 3:30pm
Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre
From the creator of The Galileo Project:
a magical journey to the meeting places
of baroque art and music — five European
homes where exquisite works by Bach,
Handel, Vivaldi and Marais were played
against a backdrop of paintings by
Vermeer, Canaletto and Watteau.
Includes stage direction, narration,
and stunning projected images.
A Co-production with The Banff Centre
Jan Vermeer, The Music Lesson, c. 1662-1665. Photo Credit: HIP/Art Resource, NY
Virtuoso Vivaldi
with Marion Verbruggen, recorder
Directed by Jeanne Lamon
Thurs Feb 23, Fri Feb 24,
Sat Feb 25 at 8pm
Sun Feb 26 at 3:30pm
Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre
Tues Feb 21 at 8pm
George Weston Recital Hall
“Her artistry was nothing short
of breathtaking.” CHICAGO TRIBUNE
Spring comes early with brilliant music
by the world’s favourite Italian baroque
composer, featuring Marion Verbruggen –
the high-spirited Dutch recorder virtuoso
beloved by audiences around the world.
Viva Vivaldi!
Feb 23 & 25 Sponsored by
GWRH Concert Supported by:
Margaret and Jim Fleck
Trinity-St. Paul’s:
George Weston Recital Hall:
416.964.6337
tafelmusik.org
1.855.985.ARTS (2787)
ticketmaster.ca
Season Presenting Sponsor
RCM_WHOLENOTE_4c_fullpage_Feb_Layout 1 12-01-23 5:43 PM Page 1
“A Feast for the Ears
and the Eyes!”
- Classical 96.3FM
THE GGS CONCERTO
COMPETITION FINALS
HIROKO KUDO
AND TOBIAS BÄZ
Thurs., Feb. 9, 2012 2pm Koerner Hall
Hear the talented solo performers
of The Glenn Gould School compete
for the opportunity to perform a
concerto with the Royal Conservatory
Orchestra during the 2012-13 season.
Thurs., Feb. 9, 2012 7:30pm
Mazzoleni Concert Hall
GGS Fellowship Residents pianist
Hiroko Kudo and cellist Tobias Bäz
perform works by Brahms,
Martinů, and the solo piano
work Fantasia Baetica by
Manuel de Falla.
MALEK JANDALI
Sun., Feb. 12, 2012 3pm
Mazzoleni Concert Hall
Syrian composer and pianist
Malek Jandali blends Arabic and
Western music. “Dazzling and magical
performances of his piano compositions
[are] delivered with precision and
passion." (Forward Magazine) ELIOT FISK
Fri., Feb. 24, 2012 8pm Koerner Hall
Guitar virtuoso Eliot Fisk has transformed
the repertoire of the classical guitar and
will give a mesmerizing performance of
Paganini, Kurt Schwertsik’s Eine kleines
Requiem (dedicated to Eliot Fisk), and more.
Supported by the Aaron Brock Foundation
in memory of Aaron Brock. Presented in
association with The Toronto Guitar Society.
ROYAL CONSERVATORY
ORCHESTRA WITH
LEON FLEISHER AND URI MAYER
Fri., Feb. 17, 2012 8pm Koerner Hall
Legendary pianist Leon Fleisher leads
the RCO in Ravel’s Le tombeau de Couperin,
Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7, and will
perform Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 4
with Uri Mayer conducting.
BEETHOVEN AND YOUR BRAIN
WITH DANIEL LEVITIN
Sat., Feb. 25, 2012 8pm Koerner Hall
Daniel Levitin (This Is Your Brain on Music)
and Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Music
Director Edwin Outwater take us to the
next level in their exploration of what
happens to your brain when you hear
Beethoven's Fifth Symphony.
JORDI SAVALL
IAN BOSTRIDGE
WITH JULIUS DRAKE
Thurs., March 1, 2012 8pm
Koerner Hall
Renowned for his work on the
soundtrack to the film Tous les matins
du monde, The New York Times has
called Jordi Savall “the Catalan string
virtuoso”, a “virtuoso viol player and
inventive ensemble director,” and one
of the “Best of 2010."
Sun., March 4, 2012 3pm
Koerner Hall
“Voices just don’t get much more
distinctive than that of Ian Bostridge.”
(The Baltimore Sun) Acclaimed English
tenor Ian Bostridge and pianist
Julius Drake perform works by Robert
Schumann and Johannes Brahms.
TICKETS ON SALE NOW! rcmusic.ca 416.408.0208
Mohammad and
Najla Al Zaibak
273 Bloor St. W. (Bloor & Avenue Road) Toronto
BACH
JOHANNES-PASSION
Les Voix Baroques
Arion Baroque Orchestra
Volume 17 No 5 | February 1 – March 7, 2012
FOR OPENERS
6. When Is a Festival … Not? | DAVID PERLMAN
FEATURES
8. Adamantly Off-Centre: Music Theatre | ROBERT WALLACE
11. Aldeburgh in the Vocal Spotlight | DAVID PERLMAN
14. Getting to Know … Henri-Paul Sicsic | ALLAN PULKER
15. Classical & Beyond | SHARNA SEARLE
18. On Opera | CHRISTOPHER HOILE
20. In With the New | DAVID PERLMAN
21. Early Music | SIMONE DESILETS
23. World View | ANDREW TIMAR
25. Choral Scene | BENJAMIN STEIN
26. Jazz Notes | JIM GALLOWAY
28. Bandstand | JACK MacQUARRIE
51. Jazz in the Clubs | ORI DAGAN
LISTINGS
30. A | Concerts in the GTA
48. B | Beyond the GTA
51. C | In the Clubs (Mostly Jazz)
54. D | The ETCeteras
ACD2 2611
BEAT BY BEAT
Les Voix Baroques and
Arion Baroque Orchestra combine their
outstanding talents for this new ATMA
recording of the St. John Passion by
Bach, under the direction of organist and
conductor Alexander Weimann.
DOWLAND IN DUBLIN
MUSICAL LIFE
57. We Are All Music’s Children | MJ BUELL
58. Bookshelf | PAMELA MARGLES
La Nef • Michael Slattery
TENOR
59. Editor’s Corner | DAVID OLDS
59. Vocal
60. Early & Period Performance
61. Classical & Beyond
63. Modern & Contemporary
62. Strings Attached | TERRY ROBBINS
65. Jazz & Improvised
65. It’s Our Jazz | GEOFF CHAPMAN
66. Something in the Air | KEN WAXMAN
66. Pot Pourri
67. Old Wine, New Bottles | BRUCE SURTEES
MORE
6. Contact Information & Deadlines
29. Index of Advertisers
56. Classified Ads
In This Issue
ACD2 2650
DISCOVERIES: RECORDINGS REVIEWED
In putting together this project,
La Nef chose to concentrate on the
more light-hearted side of Dowland and
stripped down some of Dowland’s Ayres
of their complex, contrapuntal
accompaniments to give them a simple,
Celtic flavor.
DOWNLOAD DIRECTLY AT
ATMACLASSIQUE.COM
Select ATMA titles now on sale
A LD EBURGH SP OTLIGHT
page 11
SIM PLY STEGER
page 21
FEBRUA RY ’S CHILD
page 57
FOR OPENERS / DAVID PERLMAN
A
When is a Festival … Not?
few weeks back an announcement appeared on the Capital One
BlackCreek Summer Festival website, suspending operations
for the coming summer in order to “ensure the execution of a new
financing strategy that would provide long-term financial stability and
near-term cash flow for the festival.” BlackCreek’s “staff, crew, suppliers, media partners, sponsors, chorus and musicians” (i.e. its creditors,
The WholeNote among them) are “congratulated for their achievements
in launching the festival,” and “thanked for their patience during this
trying financial period.” We are informed that a further announcement
will be forthcoming by March 31.
If the above had been the full text of the BlackCreek apologia, I’d
probably have kept my mouth shut, at least until March 31. But the
next bit got my goat. I quote:
“The BlackCreek Summer Music Festival is Canada’s only summerlong music festival. BlackCreek was conceived on the similar premise
that provided the foundation of the wonderful summer music festivals
in the US, such as Tanglewood in Massachusetts, Ravinia, north of
Chicago and Wolf Trap near Washington, DC. There are over 100
summer music festivals in the US, but before BlackCreek, not one in
Canada. Unlike these major summer music festivals, BlackCreek is
not a not-for-profit organization, and unlike every major arts festival
in Ontario, did not receive government funding which certainly accelerated the financial challenges.”
I’ll leave it to you to parse the differences in what “summer” means
each of the four times it is used in the above paragraph, differences that
point to gaps in logic large enough to drive a monster truck through.
The word in the above paragraph that gets me yapping away at this
point is “Festival.” Because whatever else it might have been, 17, um
15, er, make that 12, concerts, spread out over three and a half months
The WholeNote™
The Toronto Concert-Goer’s Guide
VOLUME 17 NO 5 | FEB 1 – MAR 7, 2012
720 Bathurst St, Suite 503,
Toronto ON M5S 2R4
MAIN TELEPHONE 416-323-2232
FAX 416-603-4791
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[email protected]
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Bryson Winchester | [email protected]
Circulation, Display Stands & Subscriptions
Chris Malcolm | [email protected]
Patrick Slimmon | [email protected]
(i.e. with gaps between them large enough to drive a monster truck
through) may well constitute a summer series, but, baby, a festival it
ain’t. Understanding the difference might just make the difference if
the Capital One BlackCreek Summer Something shows its eyes above
the water after March 31.
And that’s enough of that.
VOCAL MUSIC ACADEMY ANNOUNCED
It’s rather fitting, I think (albeit in a somewhat meandering way), that the
Toronto District School Board should choose February, Black History
Month, to make the announcement that two Vocal Music Academies
(one out of Ryerson Community School at Bathurst and Dundas, one
out of Heather Heights Junior Public School in Scarborough) are to be
launched in fall 2012. The two are among nine “special focus” academies to be launched, all housed within existing schools, with focuses
ranging from “Boys’ Leadership” and “Girls’ Leadership” to “Sports
and Wellness” and “Health and Wellness.”
“When you have 550 schools, they don’t all have to be the same,” said
TDSB Director Chris Spence to the National Post’s Peter Kuitenbrouwer.
“Sameness is not equal to excellence. I believe the biggest issue isn’t
underachievement. It’s disengagement. It is our hope that engagement
will increase now.”
It’s a comment reflective of the reasoning Spence brought to bear
in response to criticism of the TDSB’s establishment of its Africentric
Alternative School, out of Sheppard Public School, last fall. I can’t
think of a better focus than vocal music to affirm distinctiveness and
aspiration, across the human family, all in one breath. Let the singing
begin. —David Perlman, [email protected]
THANKS TO THIS MONTH’S CONTRIBUTORS
Cover Photo
SN Bianca
Beat Columns
BANDSTAND | Jack MacQuarrie
BOOKSHELF | Pamela Margles
CLASSICAL & BEYOND | Sharna Searle
CHORAL SCENE | Benjamin Stein
DISCOVERIES | David Olds
EARLY MUSIC | Simone Desilets
IN THE CLUBS | Ori Dagan
IN WITH THE NEW | David Perlman
JAZZ NOTES| Jim Galloway
MUSICAL LIFE | mJ buell
MUSICAL THEATRE | Robert Wallace
OPERA | Christopher Hoile
WORLD MUSIC | Andrew Timar
Features
Robert Wallace, Allan Pulker, David Perlman
CD Reviewers
Alex Baran, Larry Beckwith, Geoff Chapman,
Daniel Foley, Janos Gardonyi, Richard Haskell,
J. Scott Irvine, Tiina Kiik, Roger Knox,
John Larocque, Lesley Mitchell-Clarke,
Christina Petrowska Quilico, Ivana Popovich,
Allan Pulker, Cathy Riches, Terry Robbins,
Michael Schwartz, Sharna Searle, Bruce Surtees,
Andrew Timar, Robert Tomas, Dianne Wells,
Ken Waxman
Proofreading
Karen Ages, Ori Dagan, Sharna Searle
Listings
Ori Dagan, Sharna Searle
Layout & Design
Brian Cartwright (cover), Uno Ramat
OMDC AND THE ONTARIO ARTS COUNCIL
ARE AGENCIES OF THE GOVERNMENT OF ONTARIO
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Next issue, Volume 17 No 6
covers March 1 to April 7, 2012
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February 1 – March 7, 2012
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Artistic Directors: Stephen Ralls and Bruce Ubukata
Years Celebrating the Art of Song
The 30th Anniversary Gala
Sunday, February 19, 2:30 pm
Koerner Hall, TELUS Centre for
Performance and Learning,
273 Bloor Street West, Toronto
Sponsored by:
Sixteen of our starriest singers join
us to celebrate:
Colin Ainsworth, Benjamin Butterfield,
Michael Colvin, Tyler Duncan,
Gerald Finley, Gillian Keith,
Shannon Mercer, Nathalie Paulin,
Susan Platts, Brett Polegato,
Catherine Robbin, Lauren Segal,
Krisztina Szabó, Giles Tomkins,
Monica Whicher, Lawrence Wiliford
Visit rcmusic.ca or call 416.408.0208
The 30th Anniversary Sunday Series
October 16:
Clair de lune (songs of Gabriel Fauré)
November 27: The Great Comet (Franz Liszt at 200)
March 18:
Schubert and the Esterházys
April 29:
A Country House Weekend (an English idyll)
All concerts at 2:30 pm in Walter Hall, Edward Johnson Building,
80 Queen’s Park
Visit aldeburghconnection.org or call 416.735.7982
~E TO|oNTO
CºNSO|t
presents
ª MUSICAL
BESTIARY
March 23 & 24 at 8 pm
A program in honour of the world of animals,
including some magnificent mythical beasts.
Recorder virtuosa Alison Melville curates this
program of music from Renaissance Europe,
including “The Ape, the Monkey, and Baboon”,
“The Counterpoint of the Animals”,
“Le chant des oyseaux” and much more!
For Tickets call 416-964-6337 or order online
torontoconsort.org
Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre, 427 Bloor St. West
February 1 – March 7, 2012
thewholenote.com
7
MUSIC THEATRE
Adamantly Off-Centre­
Obeah Opera and Dani Girl
// ROBERT WALLACE
ntil the last few years,
Brooks uses to structure the endmusical theatre buffs in
ing of her show.
Toronto and the GTA had to rely
In transforming the witches
on commercial theatres to satisfy
of Salem to healers with various
their tastes, looking to companspiritual beliefs, Brooks tackles
ies like Mirvish Productions
the taboo of obeah with the
to keep them up-to-date with
steadiness of vision she brings
Broadway and West End hits.
to her project in general. Neither
Today, things have changed to
condemning nor celebrating the
controversial practice, she aims
the point where musical theatre
regularly appears in the city’s
to create “a tribute to all those
not-for-profit (NFP) theatres
spiritual practices that had to go
in forms new and old. And
underground to survive: they do
performers who cut their teeth
live today, but you have to look
in shows produced by Mirvish,
to see them. And that’s their true
Dancap and (the now-defunct)
triumph — that they didn’t die
Saidah Baba Talibah and Nicole Brooks;
Livent Corp. are achieving marwith the people they represent ...”
at b current’s Wychwood Barns studio.
quee status with new and differNevertheless, she worries
ent audiences.
about her own mother’s reaction
Nowhere is this more evident than in a big show co-produced by two of the to the show, a fear she confesses with laughter. “When I told
city’s smallest theatres that opens on February 22 at the 918 Bathurst Centre her I was working on the piece, she said ‘so, you’re an obeah
for Culture, just north of Bloor St. Loosely based on historical texts of the woman now, practising witchcraft …?’”
infamous witch-hunts in 17th century Salem, Massachusetts, Obeah Opera
Brooks shakes her head: “Mercy, what have I done?”
Obeah Opera may not practise witchcraft, but it promises
views the trials through a Caribbean filter. “Producing this piece solidifies our
mandate to present works from the [Black] Diaspora inspired by a Caribbean magic nonetheless. Requiring a cast of 15, the show would
understanding,” says Rhoma Spencer, artistic director of Theatre Archipelago, tax the resources of Toronto’s largest theatres, let alone two
one of the producing companies. Co-producer ahdri zhina mandiela, founder of its smallest. To meet the challenge, Spencer and mandiand artistic director of b current Performing Arts, and the show’s director, is ela have gathered a stellar group of women to perform all
even more emphatic with her endorsement: “Obeah Opera renews creative the roles, male and female. To play the five arrested slaves,
and cultural pride for both companies, our artists, and much of the audience.” Brooks is teamed with Ella Andell from Trinidad and Tobago,
Nicole Brooks, who wrote the book, libretto and music for Obeah Opera, and Canadians Joni NehRita, Saphire Demitro, and Saidah
echoed mandiela’s sentiments in a chat we shared in early January. “The story Baba Talibah, who also can be seen (and heard!) this month
that interests me takes place at the beginning of the witch trials, when the women in Honey Jam — Then and Now, an all-female showcase at
are accused, because, of course, there’s very little known about them. I mean, Harbourfront’s Brigantine Room on February 3. Joining them
they were slaves, so they barely figure in historical records.” She pauses, as if in the ten-member chorus are Kanika Ambrose, Sheila Boyd
recognizing the contradiction implicit in her statement. “These women were and Jessica Brown, all well-known singers in their own right.
silenced. Very little of what they said, if they were allowed to speak at all, has
For Brooks, mandiela supplied a dramaturge as well as a
been documented. I have taken the liberty of giving them voices to tell their musical director, and guidb current’s ahdri zhina
stories in their own way …”
ed her through a process
mandiela.
Ironically, this led Brooks to opera, a form rarely connected with Black of development that the
music. Rather that retreat from the challenge, she embraced it, but added a neophyte writer couldn’t
twist: “I adhere to the definition of ‘opera’ in its true terms, as ‘a play that is expect to find at many
sung’; but I don’t feel that restricts me to classical music. What each character theatres, which she is first
has to say leads me to a different genre of music, which also becomes part of to acknowledge. “What’s
that character’s voice …” Ultimately, she suggests, “the music in the piece is as good about b current, and
contemporary as it is historical … the references are all over the place.”
small theatre in general, is
Director mandiela agrees: “The music is the spine of Obeah Opera … mixing the opportunity to spread
traditions of jazz, blues and spirituals from a myriad of Black cultures … ‘in the your wings and explore.
manner of the chapel,’ otherwise known as a cappella style. It’s like a game of The [usual] problem is
musical telephone played cross centuries into now …”
you don’t have the luxury
Obeah Opera is a huge undertaking for Brooks: her first play, her first score, of four or five months to
her first opera. And she performs one of the five leads — Candy, a Salem slave rehearse …” She reflects
with oratorical skills and the ability to read. After Tituba, another slave, is ac- for a moment. “And, you
cused of practising the outlawed rituals of obeah on and with young white girls, know, this is why I appreshe and Candy, along with three other women, are confined by the town’s elders ciate the [production] into a cell where each shares her personal account of the events that led to her ar- crements that ahdri made
rest. Through the telling of their stories, the women form a bond strong enough me go though. If, from
to initiate a ceremony that conjures up a powerful presence — freedom — which the beginning, she had
8
thewholenote.com
February 1 – March 7, 2012
SN BIANCA
U
Dani Girl’s Gabi Epstein and Jonathan Logan.
Music TORONTO
WALLIS GIUNTA, mezzo soprano
February 1 – March 7, 2012
PHOTO: TOBIN GRIMSHAW
Wallis sings English song –
and Rufus Wainwright’s
Songs for Lulu
Tickets just
$21.50
Thursday, March 1 at 8 pm
The inimitable pianist
RICHARD GOODE
plays Schumann and Chopin
Tuesday,
March 6
at 8 pm
ED GASS-DONNELLY
said ‘Write the whole thing,’ I don’t think we would be here.
Instead, she said ‘Start with ten minutes’; then she got us into
[Buddies in Bad Times] Rhubarb! Festival, where we had 20
minutes; then she asked me for 30 minutes. Finally she said,
“Nicole, write the whole damn thing; you can do it.”
Unlike Obeah Opera, which is totally Canadian, Dani Girl
was created by Christopher Dimond (book and lyrics) and
Michael Kooman (music), a creative dynamo at the vanguard of
American musical theatre. The show, which opens at Theatre
Passe Muraille on February 16, has “a very lengthy and solid
book,” explains Richard Ouzounian, its director, with “musical
numbers used to elaborate feelings, or to create the mood of
the fantasy sequences” that it employs throughout. “The show
largely follows conventional traditions of musical theatre (songs,
reprises, etc.) but uses pastiche in the fantasy sequences. The
more realistic songs are presented in a style that, while not
‘old-fashioned,’ avoids the clichés of rock, etc.” Like Obeah
Opera, Dani Girl was first produced in Canada by a small
theatre with minimal resources — Talk is Free Theatre, in
Barrie. Arkady Spivak, TIFT’s enterprising producer, hired
Ouzounian, best known as a theatre critic for the Toronto
Star, to direct the piece last January. For this month’s Toronto
remount, Ouzounian replaces Jake Epstein from the original
cast, with Jeff Madden, who won a DORA award in 2009
for playing Frankie Valli in the Dancap production of Jersey
Boys. Joining him and Amanda LeBlanc are the two stars of
the original cast, Jonathan Logan and Gaby Epstein who won
a DORA nomination for her performance in To Life (a musical
revue by Avery Saltzman and Tim French that the Harold
Green Jewish Theatre, another NFP company, premiered in
Toronto last year). And the calibre of the production team for
Dani Girl matches the pedigree of its cast.
Like Caroline, or Change, the ambitious musical that
Acting Up Stage Company and Obsidian Theatres opened at
the Berkeley St. Theatre last month, Dani Girl is noteworthy
for the ways it uses the conventions of musical theatre to
communicate a socially relevant plot that potentially is as depressing as it is odd. After losing her hair to leukemia, Dani,
a precocious nine-year-old girl, embarks on a magical journey
to try to get it back. Writing for a cast of four, Dimond and
Kooman structure her quest as a dramatic comedy, going so
far as to allow the two leads to be played by adults or children.
The roles Dimond has written, like Kooman’s music, appeal
to performers who want to act as well as sing, to step outside
the box of musical theatre as it traditionally is figured to
participate in an experience that is, in the words of Arkady
Spivak, “off-centre.”
Spivak uses the term “off-centre music theatre” to describe
“musicals that are not initially or obviously intended for commercial production, that offer a higher proportion of artistic
ambition over commerce, or are simply under-produced.” For
him, “these range from things like Ride the Cyclone [the
musical/cabaret by Victoria’s Atomic Vaudeville that Acting
Up co-produced with TPM last November] to failed musicals by major writers — something like Dear World by Jerry
Herman — shows that were done on Broadway but didn’t suc-
SUSAN BENOIT
STEVEN PHILCOX, pianist
Canadian Patrimoine
Heritage canadien
at
www.music-toronto.com
thewholenote.com
416-366-7723 1-800-708-6754
order online at www.stlc.com
9
Based in Toronto, Robert Wallace writes about theatre and performance. He can be contacted at [email protected].
Looking for more “off-centre” music theatre
this month? Check out any of the following,
and you won’t be disappointed.
Since its founding in 1995, Queen
of Puddings Music Theatre has been
acknowledged as “boundary-bursting” for its innovative creations, “an
exciting artistic force within the community of Toronto theatre companies,”
as Matthew Jocelyn, the artistic and
general director of Canadian Stage
Theatre, recently put it. No wonder,
then, that Canadian Stage is co-producing Beckett: Feck-it, the Puddings’
new project that Jocelyn calls “a feisty,
original exploration … anchored by the
work of an incomparable playwright.”
He’s referring, of course, to Samuel
Beckett, the prolific Irish writer who Beckett: Feck-it in rehearsal:
borrowed techniques from music com- director, Jennifer Tarver,
position to structure some of the most with a model of the set.
provocative novels and plays of the 20th century, works whose
mordant wit revels in ridiculous irreverence even as it mines a
deep reservoir of melancholia. This new production, opening at
the Berkeley St. Theatre on February 17, reunites Jennifer Tarver,
a Canadian director renowned for her Beckett productions, with
Dáirine Ní Mheadhra and John Hess (music direction), to showcase a dynamic Canadian cast: Laura Condlln, Michal Grzejszczak,
Sofia Tomic, and the marvellous Tom Rooney whose multi-layered
performance of Malvolio in Twelfth Night won accolades this past
continued on page 70
season at Stratford.
PLAYING FOR CHANGE
February 16, 2012 8 PM
Presented by
March 23, 2012 7:30 PM
March 23, 2012 8 PM
April 5, 2012 8 PM
www.livingartscentre.ca
905.306.6000
or
1.888.805.8888
4141 LIVING ARTS DRIVE, MISSISSAUGA, ON L5B 4B8 ◆ HWYS 403 & 10, WEST OF SQUARE ONE
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thewholenote.com
February 1 – March 7, 2012
SHAWNA CASPI
ceed. In other words, material you wouldn’t expect a large regional
theatre to program with an eye to increasing its ticket revenues …”
Certainly, a musical about childhood cancer would seem to qualify.
More to the point, a musical that allows the audience to view the subject
without succumbing to tears — maybe, even to laugh about it — seems
doubly appropriate. This is not to say that Dani Girl treats its subject
lightly. Indeed, for Richard Ouzounian, Dimond and Kooman’s “inventive and honest” approach is what sustains his interest in the remount.
“I am deeply touched by the theme,” he points out, “which, ultimately,
is about how we all have to deal with the issue of death, whether it
comes early or late.”
Ultimately, Dani Girl does what musicals do best: provide joy in
the face of unhappiness. This is one of the reasons Spivak was able
to attract Show One Productions to co-produce the project. “What’s
unique here,” he tells me, “is that we’re a not-for-profit theatre and
they’re a commercial promoter, so this venture is new to both of us.”
Another reason he won Show One’s involvement is the runaway success
of TIFT’s production of Assassins by Stephen Sondheim — an example
of “off-centre music theatre” par excellence: “We produced Assassins
with Toronto’s Birdland Theatre, both in its original run in 2010 and
its remount in Toronto in 2011. I am certain that the Dani Girl transfer,
while solid on its own merits, is an extension of the success of Assassins.”
Spivak might just as well cite the success of Parade (Jason Robert
Brown and Alfred Uhry) that Studio 180 produced last season, or The
Light in the Piazza (book by Craig Lucas, music and lyrics by Adam
Guettel) that Acting Up mounted in January 2010: both shows are
adamantly “off-centre” in their aesthetics and history, and each has
contributed to the flurry of activity in Toronto’s NFP theatres that now
is so wide-spread it attracts the attention of independent producers.
You can do it. These days, the attitude inspires the creation of musical
theatre all across the GTA. VOCAL SPOTLIGHTS
The Aldeburgh Connection at 30
Ralls and Ubukata, Aldeburgh, 1977.
// DAVID PERL M A N
I
n october 1995, in the second ever issue of this magazine (then
known as Pulse), we ran as a cover image, not a photograph but
a kind of abecedarius — a stylized alphabetical list consisting for
the most part of presenters, performers or composers featured
in the issue’s concert listings. The Penderecki Quartet came to
our rescue for both P and Q. For Z we resorted to jazZ (where
were you that month, Winona?), which was a bit lame. And A was as
problematic as Z, but for the opposite reason — too many candidates
rather than too few.
Aradia Ensemble, Academy Concert Series, Amadeus Ensemble,
Autumn Leaf Performance and the Amadeus Choir (worthy
candidates, all) had concerts, but were the five we didn’t choose.
Stephen Ralls’ and Bruce Ubukata’s Aldeburgh Connection was the
one we did.
When I sat and chatted with pianists Ralls and Ubukata, in
preparation for this story, it’s not surprising that they could not
remember who their guests had been on October 10, 1995. After
all, the Aldeburgh Connection had already been going strong for 13
years before this magazine came into existence. In those 13 years
prior and the 17 since, an astonishing 187 singers have appeared in
their series, many of them more than once. “A starry constellation”
as Ubukata describes them. Even more astonishing is that Ralls and
Ubukata over and over again spotted these stars while they were still
in the making.
Now, on February 19, 2012, 16 “starry” Aldeburgh vocal alumnae will join Ubukata and Ralls at Koerner Hall for a gala concert
celebrating the series’ 30th anniversary. It’s a bigger venue than
their norm, as befits
what promises to be
a fittingly grand and
heartfelt occasion.
Don’t be surprised
though if tickets
turn out to be in
short supply. No two
individuals in this
city have played a
more important role
in ensuring the place
of art song in the
country’s musical
life, and the audience can expect the
hosts for the evening,
mezzo Catherine Robbin and actor/director Christopher Newton, to
weave a significant and personal storyline through the event.
Robbin, for one, can trace her own Aldeburgh connection almost
all the way back to the time of Ralls’ and Ubukata’s own first meeting — at Benjamin Britten’s and Peter Pears’ Aldeburgh Festival in
Suffolk, England, in 1977. And Newton, best known as the artistic
director of the Shaw Festival, has been a long-time Aldeburgh
collaborator, repeatedly helping to give voice to the meticulously
crafted, always evocative storylines that are one hallmark of an
Aldeburgh Connection event.






BEETHOVEN, BEVAN
AND THE BARD
          
        

        
          
          

    
February 1 – March 7, 2012





 
 

 

 
thewholenote.com
11
The best news is that after February 19’s
Koerner Hall fireworks, there will still be
two, more typical Aldeburgh events this
season, in the somewhat cosier confines
of Walter Hall, their usual venue. March
18’s programme is titled “Schubert and the
Esterhazys”; April 29 brings “A Country
House Weekend.”
The first of these carries forward what
has been an Aldeburgh Connection tradition
since January 1997 (the 200th anniversary
of Schubert’s birth) — namely some kind
of Schubertiad. That first Aldeburgh
Schubertiad honoured harpsichordist/
pianist Greta Krause, a great champion of
Schubert’s work and peerless art song collaborator and teacher. This year’s event, as
always, will be rededicated to her memory.
As for the April 29 “Country House”
concert, it points two ways. For one thing,
it harkens back to the bucolic Suffolk surrounds of Ralls’ and Ubukata’s own first
“Aldeburgh connection.” For another, it
also, perhaps, gives a little nod to the future,
namely Ralls’ and Ubukatas’s now annual
June Bayfield festival near their country
home on the shores of Lake Huron. But that,
as the saying goes, is a story for another day.
For now, readers interested in hearing (and
viewing) more of my recent visit with Ralls
and Ubukata will find the full 20 minute
conversation at www.thewholenote.com.
(And, for the record, that particular
concert in October 1995, almost 17 years
ago, featured a couple of relative young ’uns,
Michael Schade and Norine Burgess, in a
recital of songs and duets by Mendelssohn,
Brahms, Schubert, Debussy and Chabrier.)
Wallis Giunta
12
thewholenote.com
February 1 – March 7, 2012
MIV PHOTOGRAPHY (GIUNTA), 2010 LUMINATO FESTIVAL
S
ince i have just spoken about our video
series, Conversations@TheWholenote,
I will mention that there’s also an interview in the series that I did last December 29
with rising, Ottawa-born mezzo, Wallis
Giunta, who
has yet to grace
the Aldeburgh
Rufus Wainwright’s
stage, but
Toronto premiere of Songs for Lulu.
whom some of
announcement that Giunta will,
you will have
as half of the recital, present
heard recently
Songs for Lulu, a song cycle
in Attila Glatz
by pop icon Rufus Wainwright
Productions’
which he himself presented
“Bravissimo”
here at the Winter Garden
opera gala at
Theatre two summers ago in
Roy Thomson
the lead-up to the Luminato
Hall this past
premiere of his opera Prima
New Year’s
Donna, the same summer.
Eve. It was her
How and why Wainwright has
first appearance
passed the torch to Giunta for
on that stage
this cycle is a long story (it’s
(well, first offiin the video interview), and it
cial appearance,
adds an extra cachet to what
anyway, as
was already promising to be an
she confides in
event to look forward to.
the interview).
Last, an opportunity to call
An alumna
Wallis Giunta.
attention to yet another vocal
of the COC
series now well and truly
Ensemble
sprouted in fertile Toronto ground. (And at
Studio, Giunta is now ensconced in the
the same time to call attention to an error in
Metropolitan Opera’s counterpart of the
our listings.) The series is called Canadian
COC Ensemble, namely the Lindemann
Voices, and it takes place at the Glenn Gould
Young Artist Development Program, which
means fewer chances to hear her in Toronto. Studio, now a member of the Massey Hall/
Roy Thomson Hall stable of venues. The
All the more reason, therefore, not to miss
300-seat acoustically perfect Gould is an
her upcoming March 1 recital for Music
opportunity for MH/RTH to test the Toronto
Toronto, with pianist Stephen Philcox, part
waters for performers who are edge-ofof that presenter’s Discoveries series, and
career or simply not well-enough known
proof that Ralls and Ubukata aren’t the
yet in this town. French Canadian mezzoonly good eyes for talent on the town’s
soprano Julie Boulianne, who appears in the
vocal front!
series February 26, is clearly one to watch
Originally billed as a programme of
(and hear). The concert is, however, at 2pm,
English language song, the March 1 recital
takes on an additional edge with the recent
not 8pm as stated in our listings. Show One Productions presents
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ThuRSDAy, FEbRuARy 23, 2012 • 8 pm
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music by John Beckwith , libretto by JAMeS ReAney
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Allison Angelo, todd Delaney, Robert Longo,
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thewholenote.com
13
Getting to Know … Henri-Paul Sicsic
// A L L A N PUL K ER
“At a very young age I felt that Schumann’s emotional musical
language really spoke to me and became very personal to me.
The feeling of connection with Schumann’s music was also
encouraged by my teacher, Juliette Audibert-Lambert, whose
teacher, Alfred Cortot, was a renowned interpreter of Schumann’s
and Chopin’s music. Schumann’s music was so special to her that
she would assign it as a treat, almost as a reward, for good work,
as something for which a student had proven himself worthy!”
I
n mid-january I chatted with pianist and University of Toronto
music professor, Henri-Paul Sicsic about, among other things, his
2007 recording of Robert Schumann’s Kreisleriana and Fantasie.
I was impressed by the CD: no matter how busy the music, and
Schumann’s can be very busy, the narrative could always be heard.
“I don’t consider Schumann’s music to be particularly difficult to
play, but one needs to open emotionally to it. It is not predominantly
aesthetic, unlike, for example, Chopin, whose music is much more
focused on the beauty of the sound and the culture of the piano. For
Schumann, the piano is a vehicle, a means to an end, through which
his interior voice and poetry can speak.”
It’s an interesting observation. “We think of Chopin’s music as
romantic because it is so beautiful and poetic, but it is more abstract
than Schumann’s.”
So if Schumann’s music comes easily to him, whose music
does not?
“For me, Beethoven is at the opposite end of the spectrum to
Schumann. I feel nurtured by Schumann’s music but challenged
by Beethoven’s. Many people have said that
Beethoven struggled as a composer whereas
Mozart composed effortlessly and even had
the music already conceived before he wrote it
down. Mozart was playing with already established forms to which he brought a wizardry
that no one else could even come close to.
Beethoven was always working at redefining
those forms, so he was always working from
the ground up, not because he was not capable
of writing effortlessly — I’m sure he could
have if he had chosen to — but through music
he was facing his own challenges, questions
and struggles.”
So Beethoven’s music, Sicsic says, “always
gives me something new, something of a
revelation, to find or to overcome, to go
empathetically through the same struggle that
I feel he was going through as he composed it,
meeting forces somehow opposed to the human
condition, not going for the obvious.”
Tension, Sicsic says, is a key to Beethoven’s
music, persisting through moments of conventional musical resolution. “As for example
the chord on which a cadence resolves will be
marked ‘subito piano,’ producing a sense of a
sudden and unforeseen change in the tension
and the direction of the music. Even if we hear
his music over and over, it will always feel as
if it is rubbing the wrong way. As we move
through the development of his music we are
gradually reaching a state or a way of being
that elevates us beyond our daily struggles.”
Sicsic is not yet well known in Toronto,
but there is a chance that after his upcoming,
February 27 recital (the first all-Beethoven pro14
gramme of his career), we will know him a bit better. The
programme will consist of the Bagatelles Op.29 and Op.119,
the Eroica Variations and the Sonata Op.110. Speaking of
the last three piano sonatas, of which Op.110 is the second,
he said “The music has become almost dissolved to the
point that the texture has been reduced to transparency, like
being able to see the stars when there is no light.”
The recital takes place at Walter Hall, increasingly
familiar surroundings for Sicsic who was appointed to a
full-time teaching position at the U of T’s Faculty of Music
in 2007, leaving the University of British Columbia, where
he had taught since 1994. Before that he had studied with John Perry
at Rice University in Texas and had also been Perry’s assistant.
In 2007, he told me, a new full-time position in piano was created
at the U of T Faculty of Music. At the time it was the only full-time
position other than what had been William Aide’s position, which is
now occupied by Jamie Parker. “I really feel blessed to have been
selected for this new position, both because of the strong cultural
life of Toronto and to be part of the strong programme we have at
U of T and the high standards, which, I think, make it one of the
leading programmes in North America.”
Certainly the piano department’s staff bring a wide range of interest and focus to the task. “Jamie Parker is an extraordinary pianist,
not only as a member of the Gryphon Trio but also as a soloist.
Marietta Orlov, who brings such knowledge, experience and a depth
of culture, devotes herself completely to teaching. I focus on performance. Stephen Philcox, who focuses on collaboration with singers, is an incredible talent, and not only as a collaborative pianist but
thewholenote.com
February 1 – March 7, 2012
ALLAN PULKER
also as a soloist … I remember his wonderful
playing and phenomenal sight-reading
when he was an undergraduate at UBC …”
He continues, describing the particular
strengths of all department members, Boris
Lysenko, Midori Koga, Lydia Wong … His
enthusiasm is manifest. “We may be the
only pedagogy programme which is complementing and not undermining the performance side of things … Probably the only
comparable programme on the continent is
at Michigan State University, where Midori
was on the faculty before coming here.”
Sicsic’s pedagogical approach has evolved
over time. Born in Algeria of French
parents, they moved to Nice, France, in
1962, at the time of Algerian independence.
In Nice, as already mentioned, he studied with Juliette AudibertLambert. But for a number of years after that he studied on his
own. “I tried to contain all that I could remember and experience of
my former teachers. This was a very important part of my training,
because it enabled me to stand on my own feet, as it were.”
He talks about how important it is for students to “come to their
own way,” to learn an entire composition completely on their own,
to break “the need, almost an addiction to always asking ‘Am I
doing this right?’, to always wanting validation or confirmation that
things are ok.”
It’s an ethos built on rising to challenges rather than counting
on classical contexts, not dissimilar to the all-Beethoven challenge
Sicsic has set for himself February 27 at Walter Hall. Allan Pulker is a flautist and a founder of The WholeNote,
who currently serves as chairman of the company’s board of
directors. He can be contacted at [email protected].
Beat by Beat / Classical & Beyond
The ABC of It
SHARNA SEARLE
W
hen writing a monthly column that involves regularly
working your way through over 500 detailed listings, you
look for ways to inject a little bit of silliness into a task that,
at times can be, shall we say, a tad dryish. So, I keep my eyes open
for quirks and curiosities. This month, for example, I noticed that
several of Canada’s finest pianists performing “classical and beyond”
repertoire have first names starting with the letter “A.” Granted,
there are also many (close to 30) whose names do not. Nonetheless,
the “A list” struck me as, well, quirky; as good a place as any to start.
Another quirky thing: the proliferation of concerts (22 to be
exact) featuring works by Brahms: orchestral, chamber, piano solo,
piano and orchestra, violin and orchestra, piano and violin duo, solo
singers, full choirs (with and without orchestra). Was there a special
Brahms birthday or anniversary? Let’s see. Born May 1833, died
April 1897. Nope, that’s not it. Must simply be a case of wanting to
“Beat the February Blahs with Brahms.” So let’s begin.
A IS FOR ANDRÉ, ARTHUR (X2), ANTON, ANGELA AND AARON
André Laplante, Arthur Ozolins, Arthur Rowe, Anton Kuerti (performing three concerts), Angela Park and Aaron Chow (performing
in the same concert) will all be gracing stages, both in and beyond
the GTA, in February. (So will Adam Sherkin, Feb 19, and Angus
Sinclair, March 6, but their repertoire falls outside my beat.)
Anton Kuerti is synonymous with great Beethoven playing, so it
comes as no surprise that he will be performing works by Beethoven
in all three of his concerts. First up is the majestic Piano Concerto
Angèle Dubeau et La Pietà
March 8 at 8PM
Michael
Kaeshammer
March 7 at 8PM
Canada’s boogie woogie king presents
his singular brand of pop-tinged jazz,
with a set of original songs that are as
playful as they are contagious.
Tickets from $37
and a dazzling all-female string ensemble
play the works of Gershwin, Williams,
Bernstein and more,
along with some of the best scores
from 20th century cinema.
Tickets from $43
CONTACT THE BOX OFFICE AT
Follow us on Twitter @RoseTheatreBram
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February 1 – March 7, 2012
Rose Theatre WU Ad Jan12.indd 1
Angèle Dubeau
905.874.2800
www.rosetheatre.ca
thewholenote.com
15
12-01-24 2:05 PM
‘‘’
C IS FOR CLASSICAL COLUMN CONCLUDING WITH CONCISE
QUICK PICKS (DETAILS ARE IN OUR CONCERT LISTINGS):
• February 9, 7:30: Royal Conservatory. Discovery Series: Hiroko
Kudo, piano and Tobias Bäz, cello. Works by De Falla, Brahms and
Martinů. Mazzoleni Concert Hall.
• February 19, 2:00: Royal Conservatory. Mazzoleni Masters Series.
All-Brahms programme. Members of the Arc Ensemble.
• February 21, 12:00 noon: Canadian Opera Company. Passion and
Poetry. Works by Schubert, Brahms and Chopin. Mehdi Ghazi,
piano. Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre.
• February 22 and 23, 8:00: Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Brahms
Symphony 4. Also works by Fauré and Britten. Karina Gauvin,
soprano; Jean-Marie Zeitouni, conductor. Roy Thomson Hall.
• February 23, 1:30: Women’s Musical Club of Toronto. Music in the
Afternoon: Roger Chase, viola and Michiko Otaki, piano. Works by
Ireland, Bowen, Delius, Bach and Brahms. Walter Hall.
• February 25, 8:00: Canadian Sinfonietta. Wine and Cheese. Works
by Brahms, Schnittke and Ravel. Michael Esch, piano; Joyce Lai,
violin; Olivia Brayley Quackenbush, horn. Heliconian Hall.
• February 28, 4:30: Guelph Connection Concerts. Doug Miller and
Friends. Works by Bach and Brahms. Doug Miller, flute; Darius
Bagli, piano. St. George’s Anglican Church, Guelph.
• March 6, 8:00: Music Toronto. Piano Series: Richard Goode.
Brahms: Eight Pieces Op.76; Chopin: short works tba; Sonata No.3
in b Op.58. Jane Mallett Theatre.
This month’s column was brought to you by the letters A, B and C.
Avail yourself of all the listings, beat those blahs, catch a concert or
two and enjoy! UNIVERSITY AUDITIONS ARE
UPON US!! CHECK IN WITH
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16
Sharna Searle trained as a musician and lawyer, practised a
lot more piano than law and is listings editor at The WholeNote.
She can be contacted at [email protected].
thewholenote.com
February 1 – March 7, 2012
CHRISTIAN STEINER (KERN)
and Mozart’s Clarinet Trio — both in E-flat major, both arranged
No.5, the “Emperor,” with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, on
February 2 and 4 at 8pm. Also on the programme is Symphony
for violin, viola and piano — played by John Corban, Pemi Paull
No.10 by Shostakovich. The great Günther Herbig conducts. Next,
and Katelyn Clark, respectively. And another winner in the concert
Kuerti entertains the young ones in Mooredale Concerts’ Music
title category, given that they’re performing sextets by Brahms and
and Truffles series with “Beethoven – Immortal Musical Genius”
Dvořák, is Via Salzburg’s “Six Degrees of Separation.” Catch all
at 1:15pm, Walter Hall, February 12. Last, Kuerti will perform an
degrees of fun at Rosedale United Church, February 10, 8pm.
all-Beethoven recital for Barrie’s Georgian Music on February 19.
Show One Productions
Cathedral Bluffs Symphony Orchestra conducted by Norman
is presenting a very
Reintamm features the acclaimed Arthur Ozolins February 4, in a
special event on February
performance of Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No.2, along with
23 at Koerner Hall.
Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony at the P.C. Ho Theatre.
Legendary violinist
The New Orford String Quartet will perform Brahms’ Piano
Vladimir Spivakov and
Quintet in F Minor, with Arthur Rowe, for the Kitchener-Waterloo
outstanding pianist Olga
Chamber Music Society on Feb 10, at the KWCMS Music Room
Kern will perform as a
in Waterloo, and again the next day in London’s Wolf Performance
duo — a first for Toronto!
Hall, as part of the Jeffrey Concerts; Rowe is the artistic director for And their programme is
Olga Kern and Vladimir Spivakov.
that series.
absolutely sumptuous:
Back in the GTA, the Aurora Cultural Centre has landed the
Brahms’ Sonata No.3 in D Minor Op.108; Franck’s Sonata in A;
always electrifying André Laplante for its Great Artist Piano Series! Stravinsky’s Suite Italienne (based on his ballet music for Pulcinella);
Laplante will perform works by Liszt (his specialty) and Schubert
and Spiegel im Spiegel by Pärt. As an added attraction, in this case
at the Centre on February 17, 8pm. And speaking of Liszt, all you
“B” is also for Bösendorfer. At her request, Kern will perform on a
die-hard romantics looking for a post-Valentine’s Day fix can hear
nine-and-a-half foot, 97-key Imperial Bösendorfer grand (courtesy
Angela Park and Aaron Chow, along with soprano Eve Rachel
Robert Lowrey Piano Experts), apparently the only piano that could
McLeod and Rachel Mercer, cello, in “A Romantic Music Tryst with withstand Liszt’s powerful touch. Not only is it Kern’s preference, it
Liszt,” presented by the Neapolitan Connection, in a matinee on
was also the choice of jazz great Oscar Peterson. The magic begins
February 19, at the Toronto Centre for the Arts.
at 8pm.
And last, Ontario Philharmonic Orchestra, under the baton of
Marco Parisotto, has programmed a magnificent all-Brahms concert,
B IS FOR BRAHMS
which it will perform twice. “A Journey Into Brahms” plays on
Space limitations won’t permit me to delve into detail on all 22
Brahms concerts I mentioned in the introduction. I’ll focus on a few February 25, at the Regent Theatre in Oshawa, and then “journeys
into Toronto” on February 28, for a concert jointly presented with
(and you can check out others in Part C at the end of the column).
Mooredale Concerts, at Koerner Hall. The exciting soloist featured
“Warhol Dervish” is a pretty intriguing concert title. February 3
in the compelling Violin Concerto in D Major is young Korean
at 8pm, at Gallery 345, the concert should prove equally intriguing,
violinist, Ye-Eun Choi, in her Toronto debut. A protégée of Annafeaturing, among other more twisty repertoire, Brahms’ Horn Trio
Sophie Mutter, Choi debuted with the New York Philharmonic
Orchestra under Alan Gilbert in 2009. Also on the programme is
Brahms’ Symphony No.2. It promises to be a fine evening.
Mahler’s First Symphony
Wind Symphony
Wind Ensemble
Thurs, Feb 2, 7:30 pm. MacMillan Theatre
David Briskin conducts the UTSO in Mahler’s First
Symphony and its original second movement
“Blumine” as well as Anders Hillborg’s King Tide.
Fri, Feb 3, 7:30 pm. MacMillan Theatre
Featuring De Meij’s Lord of the Rings, Horovitz’s
Concerto for Euphonium (student soloist Kohei
Kamikawa) and works by Janáček, Graham & Sparke.
Sat, Feb 4, 7:30 pm. MacMillan Theatre
Guest conductor Alain Cazes leads the ensemble
in Dvořák’s Serenade, and works by Karel Husa,
Morley Calvert and Vaclav Nelhybel.
The Opera Exchange
Cathedral Classics I & II
St. Lawrence String Quartet
Sat, Feb 4, 9:30 am. Walter Hall
Long Distant Loving: Saariaho’s Love from Afar
Presented in partnership with the COC, and the
Munk School of Global Affairs. Tickets: 416-363-8231
Feb 5 & 12, 2:30 pm. Church of the Redeemer
Two glorious Sundays of sacred music performed
by U of T choirs. Works by David Willcocks, Benjamin Britten, Bach, Handel, and Frank Martin.
Mon, Feb 13, 7:30 pm. Walter Hall
The awesome foursome return to Walter Hall in
Haydn’s Quartet Op. 76 No. 2, Martinů’s Quartet
No. 5 and Dvořák’s Quartet No. 105.
Toronto & the War of 1812
Gary Tomlinson
Henri-Paul Sicsic
Tues, Feb 14, 1:00 pm. Walter Hall. Free
Composer John Beckwith introduces the documentary
ballad opera, Taptoo!, presented by Toronto Operetta
Theatre to mark the bicentenary of the War of 1812.
Thurs, Feb 16, 3:30 pm. Room 130. Free
The Graduate Colloquia Series presents the Yale
musicologist in Paleolithic Formalism and The
Emergence of Music. Open to the public.
Mon, Feb 27, 7:30 pm. Walter Hall
The Killam Prize-winning faculty pianist performs
an all-Beethoven program, including the “Eroica”
Variations, Sonata No. 31 and selected Bagatelles.
The new COC production is conducted by COC music director
Johannes Debus and directed by Daniele Finzi Pasca, known for
his work with Cirque du Soleil. It features an all-Canadian cast.
Baritone Russell Braun is Jaufré Rudel, soprano Erin Wall is his
beloved Clémence and mezzo Krisztina Szabó sings the role of the
mysterious Pilgrim. Sung in the original French of Lebanese librettist Amin Maaloof, L’Amour de loin (which, unlike other companies,
CHRISTOPHER HOILE
the COC insists on calling Love from Afar) runs for eight performances from February 2 to 22. For more, visit www.coc.ca.
his february has become a month for new opera. Toronto
will see a world premiere of a Canadian work, the professional
Taptoo! is the opera receiving its professional world premiere,
world premiere of another Canadian work and the Canadian
with music by John Beckwith and libretto by James Reaney. The
premiere of an acclaimed 21st century opera. In the depths of winter opera written in 1995 was given its world premiere by Opera
we already see the new growth of spring. The world premiere is
McGill in 1999 and was later staged by the University of Toronto
Obeah Opera by Nicole Brooks running February 16 to March 4.
Opera Division in 2003. Toronto Operetta Theatre is presenting its
For more on that work, see Robert Wallace’s interview with Brooks
professional premiere as part of the national commemorations of the
in this issue.
bicentennial of the War
of 1812. The title refers
First to appear is the Canadian
to the last drum-andpremiere of L’Amour de loin (Love
bugle signal of the day
from Afar or more accurately
that would later expand
“The Far-Away Love”) by Finnish
into what is now known
composer Kaija Saariaho at the
as a military tattoo.
Canadian Opera Company. Not
The work was
only will this be the first time the
conceived as a prequel
COC has staged an opera by a
to Harry Somers’
Finnish composer, it will also mark
opera Serinette which
the first time it has staged an opera
had had a highly
by a female composer.
successful premiere
This opera that premiered in
in 1990 at the Elora
2000 at the Salzburg Festival tells
Festival. As Beckwith
the story of a world-weary 12th
writes in Unheard
century troubadour from France
Of: Memoirs of a
who carries on a long-distance love
Canadian
Composer,
affair with a beautiful woman living
Love from Afar: Rachel Harnisch as Clémence in the Vlaamse Opera
to be published
in Tripoli, Lebanon, whom he called
production of Love from Afar, 2010.
in February 2012,
in Languedoc his “amor de lonh.”
“Where Serinette was set in York and Sharon during
Although they never see or speak to
each other, their feelings develop and grow through the efforts of an the 1830s, the new piece deals with the founding of York by John
Graves Simcoe in 1783 and covers a time period from the American
enigmatic Pilgrim, who carries messages of love and yearning beWar of Independence to just before the War of 1812.” Beckwith
tween the two. Saariaho drew her inspiration for the work from the
life and song texts of Jaufré Rudel (died c.1147), a French prince and says that the opera features a number of Reaneyesque devices:
“Cast members assume a variety of roles, changing age or gender
troubadour who wrote of his obsessive love for an ideal, unattainable woman. This is the well-known theme known as “courtly love” rapidly, functioning solo for one scene and in the next, as part of a
chorus; the orchestral players are sometimes required to join in the
that swept Europe during this period. The yearning expressed has
action.” In the TOT production, he says, a cast of 18 singers will
a religious component, due to the rise of Mariolatry, that leads the
cover 26 characters including historical figures, like Simcoe and
poet to ask whether such a love is best preserved from afar.
Colonel “Mad Anthony” Wayne, and other imaginary ones like
Reviewing the opera in 2000, New York Times critic Anthony
boy soldiers Ebenezer and Seth, the aboriginal Atahentsic, settlers
Tommasini wrote that Saariaho’s music “combines vivid orchestraand adventurers.
tion, the subtle use of electronic instruments and imaginative,
TOT lays claim to the work because Beckwith himself says he was
sometimes unearthly writing for chorus ... The vocal writing is by
turns elegiac and conversational. Her harmonic language is tonally
grounded, with frequent use of sustained low pedal tones, but not
tonal. Bits of dissonance, piercing overtones and gently jarring
electronic sound spike the undulant harmonies, but so subtly that the
overall aural impression is of beguiling consonance … Her evocations of the troubadour songs, with medieval modal harmony and
fragments of elegiac tunes, are marvelous.”
SUSAN WALLACE
A New Two On Tap
ORGANized
Sunday, February 12
8 pm
The Music Gallery
416 924 4945
continuummusic.org
18
thewholenote.com
Works by:
Brian Current
Petar Klanac
Györgi Ligeti
Richard
Marsella
Michael
Oesterle
$25/15
February 1 – March 7, 2012
ANNEMIE AUGUSTIJNS
T
inspired by ballad operas, the earliest examples of
what would later become operetta. As Beckwith
says, “Two period productions of early music theatre affected me around this time [of composing].
John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera and Thomas Arne’s
Love in a Village were the most-often-performed
ballad operas of 18th century England … I saw
Taptoo! as the modern equivalent of a ballad opera,
in which scraps of familiar songs and dances would
now and then drift into the musical score. I included about 20 such
musical references — hymn tunes, popular sentimental or patriotic
songs, dances, marches and, of course, historical military music.”
The TOT cast includes Michael Barrett as Seth, Robert Longo as
Wayne, Todd Delaney as Simcoe, Allison Angelo as Atahentsic, with
Mark Petracchi and Sarah Hicks as Mr. and Mrs. Harple, Eugenia
Dermentzis as Mrs. Simcoe and boy sopranos Daniel Bedrossian
and Teddy Perdikoulias. The composer’s son, Larry Beckwith,
conducts and TOT general director Guillermo Silva-Marin directs.
Taptoo! runs only February 24 to 26. For more information see
www.torontooperetta.com.
Beckwith says of his collaborations with James Reaney, “Without
articulating our objectives further, I believe we wanted to affect our
audiences in two ways — to move them and to cheer them.” We must
thank TOT for giving Taptoo! a chance to achieve these goals. John Beckwith and
James Reaney.
Toronto Symphon y Orchestra
new
creations
festival
Christopher Hoile is a Toronto-based writer on opera and theatre.
He can be contacted at [email protected].
Hear the hottest works in
contemporary orchestral
music at the eighth annual
New Creations Festival,
with Peter Oundjian as
conductor and host, and
Peter Eötvös as conductor
and curator.
Con Brio
This Isn’t Silence
Orion
Thu, March 1 at 8:00pm
Barbara Hannigan, soprano
Akiko Suwanai, violin
Brian Current:
This Isn't Silence
Vivier: Lonely Child
Peter Eötvös: Seven for
Violin and Orchestra
György Kurtág: Messages
Sat, March 3 at 7:30pm
Teng Li, viola
Kronos Quartet, string quartet
Jörg Widmann: Con Brio
Peter Eötvös: Replica for
Viola and Orchestra
Derek Charke: Concerto for
String Quartet and Orchestra
Wed, March 7 at 8:00pm
Jörg Widmann, clarinet
Joseph Johnson, cello
Vivier: Orion
Peter Eötvös: Cello
Concerto Grosso
Jörg Widmann: Elegy for
Clarinet and Orchestra
Peter Eötvös: zeroPoints
newcreationsfestival.com
416.593.4828
February 1 – March 7, 2012
thewholenote.com
19
Beat by Beat / In With the New
Choir, Elmer Iseler Singers and ProArteDanza dance company. And
then, book-ending the current listings period, Soundstreams is, as
far as I can tell, the first of the aforementioned major presenters out
of the blocks with a concert celebrating the 100th anniversary of
composer John Cage’s birth. Titled “So Percussion: Cage @100” the
concert will feature works by Cage and turntablist Nicole Lizée.
DAVID PERLMAN
With the 100th anniversary of Cage’s birth not till September,
pianist Kate Boyd is also fast off the mark, with back to back perhe lack of space for a full-out “In With The New” column
formances Thursday, February 16: first a noon hour lecture/recital
this month is more than somewhat offset by the fact that
on Cage’s Sonatas and Interludes at University of Waterloo; then a
several of our other columnists in the issue have stolen my
concert the same evening of the complete Sonatas and
thunder anyway!
Interludes, for the Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music
Robert Wallace, page 8, talks about Obeah
Cage match
Society. Not to be outdone, the Music Gallery, a week
Opera, Nicole Brooks’ new work, as well as
coming!
earlier, on February 10, presents a programme titled
about Queen of Puddings’ Beckett Feck-it, at
Canadian Stage. Chris Hoile, pages 18 and 19,
“Post-Classical Series: The Cold War Songbook – Pilgrims
talks about two works I would otherwise have
and Progress” which also features Cage’s Sonatas and
drawn attention to: the COC production of Kaija
Interludes (1948) performed by Vicky Chow, piano. The
Saariaho’s opera, L’Amour de loin, playing at the
“Cold War Songbook” then continues February 11 with a
Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts;
programme of piano works by Ustvolskaya, Carter and
and Toronto Operetta Theatre’s first professional
Feldman, featuring the pianistic post-classical virtuosity
rollout of the John Beckwith/James Reaney
of Stephen Clarke and Simon Docking.
opus Taptoo!
The next day, February 12, at the Music Gallery, it’s
And there’s more. Pamela Margles, in the
Continuum Contemporary Music back in action with a a
concert notes to her review of Kaija Saariaho:
programme featuring music by Ligeti, Oesterle, Current,
Visions, Narratives, Dialogues (“BookShelf,”
Klanac and Richard Marsella, who also guests on the barpage 58) draws attention to four other concerts
rel organ. And it’s busy busy as usual all month at upstart
that will feature Saariaho’s music during the
Gallery 345, with concerts worth noting on February
composer’s visit. (Three of these, by the way,
19 (pianist Adam Sherkin), 20 (soprano Xin Wang), 25
(mezzo Marta Herman), and 28 (Les Amis Concerts); and
are under Soundstreams’s auspices — and I will
on March 7 (Norman Adams, cello; Lee Pui Ming, piano;
return to a discussion of Soundstreams.) Even our
Erin Donovan, percussion).
CD reviewers get into the act. Andrew Timar’s
It’s a bit ironic to be giving the city’s largest ensembles the shortreview of a Finnish Radio Symphony recording of Saariaho’s music,
est shrift in this column, but that’s sometimes the way things fall
page 62, references L’Amour de loin. And a Leslie Mitchell-Clarke
out. First, Esprit Orchestra continues the season’s torrid pace with
review, on the same page, of two + two, a new release by TorQ
their third, full-scale Koerner Hall concert, on February 26. Titled
Percussion Quartet, is followed by a note pointing out TorQ’s
“Gripped By Passion,” it features works by Vivier, Scelsi, Rea and
appearance in the final concert of the U of T New Music Festival
Schnittke, the vocal magic of mezzo, Krisztina Szabó and dazzling
(February 5).
TSO violist Teng Li.
Of Toronto’s major presenters of new music (Array, Contact!,
And March 1, 3 and 7, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra presents
Continuum, Esprit, Gallery 345, Music Gallery, New Music
its eighth annual New Creations Festival of which we will have
Concerts, Queen of Puddings, Soundstreams and Tapestry New
much more to say in the coming issue. Opera), Soundstreams is the one to which we have, so far this season, devoted the least ink in this column. This month is as good as
any to redress that, because the company has an extraordinary diversity of material on offer. In addition to the three Saariaho contributions referred to earlier, Soundstreams also presents two full-fledged
Koerner Hall productions. The first of these, The Sealed Angel,
billed as a music drama, is the work of Rodion Shchedrin, a Russian
composer born in 1932. In typical Soundstreams fashion, this
concert is an intensely collaborative project, involving the Amadeus
Beaten to the Punch
T
20
thewholenote.com
February 1 – March 7, 2012
SIMONE DESILETS
“It’s such an incredibly simple instrument. You can hold
philosophical, physical or constructional arguments against this
view, but it still won’t change the fact that it is, in its very heart
of hearts, an incredibly simple instrument. And yet it is so hard
to make it sound beautiful. That is what makes it so fascinating.
You start practising and it sounds ridiculous. It is the most
amazing challenge to create a small, but personal musical
universe with this instrument.”
T
he subject of this description — the recorder — is an instrument
that I personally find very beautiful. I love the organ-like chuff
of its breath in consort, and the purity of its angelic voice in
solo repertoire. If you’re of like mind, you’ll be very pleased at the
prospects before you this month; if you are not, well, be prepared
to be converted, as not one, but two internationally famous virtuoso
recorder players are performing in Toronto, one at the beginning of
February and one near the end. The details:
The comment which begins this article was uttered by a truly
amazing musician, the Swiss virtuoso Maurice Steger, who appears
near the start of the month. Steger has been called “the Paganini of
the recorder”; one concert review states that he’s “unquestionably an
artist operating to the furthest boundaries of what is technically and
tonally possible on the recorder.” Several reviews about him mention
the spontaneity of his technique — arising, no doubt, from the challenge he gives himself to create a “personal musical universe” in the
music he plays. He’ll be displaying his uncanny abilities in music
by Telemann, Sammartini and Geminiani, in a concert which also
February 1 – March 7, 2012
thewholenote.com
21
MARCO BORGGREVE
Simplicity Itself
features the wonderful
Maurice Steger.
chamber orchestra Les
Violons du Roy. With
music director Bernard
Labadie, Les Violons
will contribute music by
Handel and Geminiani.
The performance takes
place on February 5 at
Koerner Hall.
When one considers
touring recorder players,
one can’t help thinking of
Marion Verbruggen, the
celebrated Dutch virtuoso
who has brought the
warmth of her personality
to audiences all over the
world for many years.
With her sheer good-natured presence and verve
as a performer, I think
she could win anyone over to the love of the recorder. She’s back
in Toronto to add a colourful presence to Tafelmusik’s “Virtuoso
Vivaldi” concerts, which feature a splash of concertos: mandolin,
viola d’amore and lute, cello, bassoon, and recorder played by
Verbruggen. Except for the Concerto for Recorder and Bassoon by
Telemann, the music is all by Vivaldi. These concerts will take place
on February 21 at George Weston Recital Hall, and February 23
to 26 at Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre.
So many musical treasures this month, with some of them
unfortunately occurring on the same evening:
• February 8 to 12: One of Tafelmusik’s biggest and most ambitious
artistic creations to date, “House of Dreams,” is the latest of Alison
Mackay’s multi-media programmes. The audience is taken to five
European cities where baroque music and art intersect. Stunning
images, paintings and a concert played from memory make this truly
a tour de force.
• February 17: “Anger Management,” in the hands of I Furiosi,
means subtle procedures such as calling up the spirits of the dead to
exact revenge on one’s enemies. With guest, mezzo Laura Pudwell,
this will be “a concert of anxiety and discord” — but
undoubtedly with some exquisitely performed and lovely music.
• February 18: “Fresh Baroque” are
almost the first words to appear in the
Aradia Ensemble’s website. Their February
concert is no exception, combining glorious
instrumental and vocal music from 17th- and
18th-century Venice with newly-composed
works by Rose Bolton and Chris Meyer
(winner of last season’s Baroque Idol competition). As well, the freshness of youth appears
in the participation of the Toronto Youth
Chamber Orchestra, led by violinist Elyssa
Lefurgey-Smith.
• February 18: Another of early music’s shining
lights is in town, for Scaramella’s concert “The
Angel and the Devil.” Gambist Liam Byrne
currently resides in England and is professor of
viola da gamba at London’s Guildhall School of
Music and Drama. He’s also in great demand
as soloist and ensemble musician. Scaramella’s
programme features music by rival viol players
from the French Baroque — Marin Marais (who played “like an
angel”) and Antoine Forqueray (possessing the virtuosity of “the
devil”). Liam’s collaborators are harpsichordist Sara-Anne Churchill
and gambist Joëlle Morton.
• February 18: Intriguing mini-dramas, stories of the interaction of
nymphs and shepherds, make for a delightful programme of duets
and dialogues from the 16th and 17th centuries as the Musicians In
Ordinary presents “When Tircis Met Chloris.” Soprano Hallie Fishel
and theorbist John Edwards are joined by guest tenor and baroque
guitarist, Bud Roach.
• February 19 in Kitchener: Spiritus Ensemble, dedicated to the
performance of great religious music, presents an “All-Bach
Concert” of two cantatas, the Magnificat in D, and the Sinfonia
from Cantata 29.
• February 19: In their programme “The Art of Conversation,” the
Windermere String Quartet, on period instruments, explores Goethe’s
comment on the string quartet: “One hears four rational people
conversing with one another.” They’ll illustrate this thought with
works by Haydn, Mozart and Boccherini.
• February 24: Two of the Canterbury Tales are
interspersed with lively English songs and instrumental
pieces, and also music by the Frenchman Machaut and
his contemporaries, in Sine Nomine Ensemble’s “The
Road to Canterbury: Music for Chaucer’s Pilgrims.”
• February 26: A programme of early 17th-century
German chamber music is presented by Toronto Early
Music Centre’s Musically Speaking series, featuring
violinists Elyssa Lefurgey-Smith and Christopher
Verrette, and harpsichordist Sara-Anne Churchill.
• March 1 in Toronto, March 2 in Kitchener: These
concerts, (at Koerner Hall and Perimeter Institute,
respectively), by world-renowned gambist/scholar/
conductor Jordi Savall and his group Hespèrion XXI
take place, in spite of the death of Savall’s partner
Liam Byrne,
in life and in music, soprano Montserrat Figueras.
Scaramella.
• March 3: Tallis Choir recreates the passion of Holy
Week in “Stabat Mater: Music for Passiontide.”
A brilliant six-voice Monteverdi mass, Missa in
Illo Tempore (“Mass In That Time”) interweaves
themes from an earlier motet by Gombert. Lotti’s
Crucifixus and settings of the Stabat Mater by Palestrina and
Scarlatti, along with plainsong for Holy Week, will also be heard.
• March 3: “God give you good morrow my masters, past three
o’clock and a fair morning …” The street cries of Gibbons’ London
contrast with his magnificent music for the cathedral, when the
Toronto Chamber Choir presents “Gibbons: Canticles and Cries.”
With organ, lute and the viols of the Cardinal Consort, they’ll
perform Renaissance canticles, anthems, madrigals and vendors’
cries by Gibbons, Byrd and others. Simone Desilets is a long-time contributor to The WholeNote
in several capacities who plays the viola da gamba.
She can be contacted at [email protected].
I Furiosi Baroque Ensemble presents
anger management
Jeanne Lamon | Music Director
Ivars Taurins | Director, Chamber Choir
Friday
February 17,
2012
Baroque Summer Institute
Angry Guest :
Laura Pudwell,
mezzo-soprano
Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute Sponsor
June 3-16, 2012
At the Faculty of Music
University of Toronto
Toronto, Canada
A 14-day residency in
instrumental and vocal
period performance.
22
For advanced students,
pre-professional and
professional musicians.
Calvin Presbyterian Church, 8pm
26 Delisle Avenue
(Yonge & St. Clair)
$20 / $10 Tickets only at the door.
Application Deadline:
March 21, 2012
tafelmusik.org/tbsi
thewholenote.com
ifuriosi.com
February 1 – March 7, 2012
African country of Guinea to Canada. Then at 3:30pm, join the
award-winning Pan Fantasy steelband in “Trinidad and Tobago’s
50th Anniversary of Independence Celebration.” Playing strong for
26 years, North York’s Pan Fantasy, directed by Wendy Jones, will
be performing a repertoire of “classic” and contemporary calypsos.
As T & T’s musical gift to the world, steel pan’s worth is possibly
matched only by the calypso musical tradition. Pan Fantasy will
feature homage to the patriarch calypsonian, The Mighty Sparrow,
justly dubbed “King of the Calypso World.”
ANDREW TIMAR
EMBERS: From February 9 to12, across the Harbourfront parking lot at the Fleck Dance Theatre, Toronto’s Arabesque Dance
he collective of black artists (COBA) kicks off Black
History Month with a concert titled “Les Rythmes de la Forêt,” Company and Orchestra presents its production of “Jamra,” Arabic
for “embers.” The live 12-piece Arabic orchestra features the rich
running from February 3 to 5, at the Fleck Dance Theatre,
voice of Bassam Bishara. It provides a lush musical underpinning
Harbourfront Centre. Founded 19 years ago, COBA has been at the
for Arabesque’s newest production that includes
local forefront of the creation and production of
over a dozen dancers. The company is led by the
stage works that reflect Africanist social themes
distinguished dancer, veteran choreographer and
and perspectives. Using storytelling, music and
artistic director, Yasmina Ramzy. Among our
drama interwoven with dance, the programme
city’s prime movers on the world dance scene,
presents a suite of dances from sub-Saharan
Ramzy has established what is arguably Canada’s
Africa accompanied by traditional drumming and
leading Middle Eastern dance and music ensinging. The production aims to represent social
semble. Critics have praised her for taking “belly
and ritual events in peoples’ lives including rites
dance to another level.”
of passage, initiations, harvest, and moments of
joy and celebration.
LATIN GUITAR: Playing the February Valentine
Harbourfront Centre itself joins in celebrating
card, Latin guitarist Johannes Linstead and
the African experience in its Kuumba festival by
his group join forces with flamenco guitarist
exploring “African roots through a 21st-century
Antonitas D’Havila in a concert titled “Valentine
perspective.” This year the festival highlights the
Fiesta Romantica.” The “romance and Latin
essential role women have played in shaping Black
passion” will be on display on February 8 at
culture. For three days, February 3 to 5, the festiCoconuts Restaurant & Lounge Night Club and
val offers storytelling, fashion, film, dance, round
again on February 10 at the Latin Fever Night
table discussions, food, exhibitions, workshops
Club. Johannes Linstead, awarded the title of
(some musical) and children’s activities. And, of
Canada’s Guitarist of the Year, has earned intercourse, concerts.
national recognition for his best selling albums in
A sampling: On the afternoon of February 4,
the instrumental and world music sales categories.
join instructor Lua Shayenne in a workshop of
His partner on the bill, Antonitas D’Havila, is a
traditional African and Afro-contemporary dance
renowned Romany flamenco guitarist, specializand music. Later that evening join Dr. Jay de
ing in an intense, bravura style. If you miss those
Rhythms of Guinea – learn
drumming with Alpha Rhythm
Soca Prince on the Centre’s rink for “DJ Skate
concerts you can still redeem your Valentine mojo
Night”— a novel Toronto combination of Trini and Roots, at Kuumba.
with your beloved a few days later when D’Havila
“skate culture.” If Ice T is more your speed than ice skating however, performs at the Trinity-St. Paul’s Church, on February 17.
check out Jamaican DJ and Dub pioneer Clive Chin’s “Celebration
YASMIN: On February 11, the Royal Conservatory presents a
of Jamaica’s 50th Anniversary of Independence Through Reggae”
concert by Yasmin Levy and Omar Faruk Tekbilek at Koerner Hall.
next door at Harbourfront’s Lakeside Terrace. Later, at 9:30pm, the The headliner is the Israeli Ladino (Judeo-Spanish) singer Yasmin
music gets “urban” with the Known (Un)Known, a showcase of
Levy who has won high praise for her vocalism that also engages
fresh local talent embracing various current African American music the fiery heart of flamenco. Songlines wrote, “every colour and
streams, including singer Rochelle Jordan. Vibe Magazine dubbed
pitch in her remarkable range and the resulting vocal pyrotechnics
her the “female version of Drake.”
are unforgettable.” The brilliant Turkish born multi-instrumentalist
Kuumba continues on Sunday, February 5. At 1pm you have a
Omar Faruk Tekbilek’s 40-year career has taken him on a global
rare opportunity to explore Guinean drum-playing techniques in
journey. His nonstop recording and touring activities place him
a workshop with Alpha Rhythm Roots, a Toronto-based company
among a small cohort of pioneer “world musicians.” I performed
introducing the music, dance, traditions and culture of the West
with Omar years ago, but distinctly recall the intimate bond he
COBA at Kuumba Gets
BHM Under Way
Valentine Fiesta Romantica
8-Feb Coconut Night Club
17-Feb - Antonitas D’Havila
N.E. Corner Steeles & Keele - Toronto
Solo Flamenco Guitar Recital
Trinity St. Paul’s Centre - Toronto
10-Feb Latin Fever Night Club
N.E. Corner Hwy#7 & Keele - Toronto
an d Antonitas D’Havila
Linstead
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N .1 World Latin Guitar
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23
HARBOURFRONT CENTRE
T
didgeridoo, and native flute, Kathryn Ladano on bass clarinet, and
wove with the audience in his solo spot.
pianist Sandro Manzon.
The RC’s Middle Eastern Music Series resumes the next day,
(February 12), 3pm, at the Mazzoleni Concert Hall, with composer
SOWETO GOSPEL: Back downtown at the Sony Centre for the
and pianist Malek Jandali in a programme inspired by the folk and
Performing Arts, the inspirational two-time Grammy and Emmy
ancient music of Syria, incorporating both Arabic and Western
Award-winning Soweto Gospel Choir returns on February 24 and
musical elements. The music on his new CD Echoes from Ugarit,
25. With a new show titled “African Grace,” the Choir’s 24 singers,
featured on this concert, is arguably the most ancient “world music” dancers and musicians will heat up the dreariness of late February
in my column this month. It is inspired by the oldest known music
with their joy-filled repertoire.
notation in the world, dating to the fourth century BCE, discovered
PAVLO: Also on February 24, multi-award winning Greek-Canain the ancient Syrian city of Ugarit.
dian musician and composer Pavlo performs at Roy Thomson Hall.
Billed as the local stop on the Six String Blvd World Tour, the eveBATUKI: On Saturday February 11, the Batuki Music Society
ning will appeal to the legions of fans who have made Pavlo the
continues this month’s Black History theme with its “Ethiopia: A
Musical Perspective” at the CBC’s Glenn Gould Studio, an ambitious “most successful independent artist to come out of Canada, performexpedition into Ethiopia’s musical culture starting from the music of ing 150+ shows per year,” according to his website. On his ninth album, Six String Blvd, Pavlo has gone global inviting “the world’s
the Azmaris, professional bards who recite stories and comment on
most exotic instruments into his classic Mediterranean sound.” Presocial issues through song, moving on to varied pentatonic regional
sumably the ney, erhu, bouzouki and sitar on his CD will be there.
musical genres, and ending with Ethio-jazz, an exciting modern hybrid. Ethiopia, the only country on the African continent never coloSEPHARDIC DIASPORA: March 1 the York University Department
nized by Europeans, has a long and illustrious history. What better
of Music’s World at Noon concert series features “Songs and ballads
place than Toronto, with the largest Ethiopian population in Canada, of the Sephardic Diaspora” by a leading specialist in that repertoire,
to showcase the various musical instruments and wealth of Ethiopian singer Judith Cohen. It’s at the casual Martin Family Lounge,
expression? The musicians taking the audience on this deep journey
219 Accolade East Building.
include Girma Wolde Michael, Fantahun Shewankochew, Henok
MUSIDEUM: The new Coffeehouse Concert Series at the lowAbebe, Martha Ashagari and Gezahegn Mamo.
keyed and intimate downtown venue/retail store Musideum keeps
surprising us. Its delightfully eclectic programming continues with
CONVERGENCE: Setting our sights beyond the GTA, on
February 16 the University of Guelph presents the culturally diverse a world music spin on March 3 with the group Medicine Wheel,
“bringing together a world fusion of music for the soul.” Leader
Convergence Ensemble with Gerard Yun playing shakuhachi,
David R. Maracle on native flutes and hang drum is joined by
Donald Quan on guzheng, keyboards and tabla, and guitarist Ron
Bankley. Percussionists Richard Best and Rakesh Tewari add the
metric frame, propulsive energy and accents. Andrew Timar is a Toronto musician and music writer. He
can be contacted at [email protected].
Vocal Music Academy @
Heather Heights Junior Public School
& Ryerson Community School
The Vocal Music Academy will engage students with a passion
for singing, creating and performing. Through a variety of
vocal performance opportunities, students will experience,
learn and perform music from around the world. Students will
develop musicianship, artistry, self-esteem and confidence as
they create and perform their own music and learn to think
critically about the music they produce.
www.tdsb.on.ca/academies
Where Amazing Happens
24
thewholenote.com
February 1 – March 7, 2012
builds on the nimble, inventive lines of genius Motown bassist James
Jamerson. Fletcher Henderson’s swing orchestra arrangements are
the Well-Tempered Clavier of jazz orchestra studies. In a musical
sense, every month is Black History Month, whether we consciously
perceive it or not.
Classical musical studies largely continue to ignore Africanderived musical techniques, leaving graduating students unequipped
BENJAMIN STEIN
to deal with large areas of musical endeavor and employment. It
is as if drama students were taught
f i had to pick one musical scale to take with me to a desert
to execute Shakespeare, Racine and
island, and the only choice was between an elegantly crafted
classical Greek drama, but were
Schoenbergian twelve-tone row and a plain old blues scale, I’d
sheltered from Beckett, television and
quickly grab the blues scale before they tossed me off the ship.
The noble musical experiments of Schoenberg and other modernist film. Classical vocal students grapple
composers were enormously influential within academic and concert with the demands of 20th century
circles. But while these august types were busy out-moderning each
vocal writing — often absurdly illother, blues and other African-derived musical styles — jazz, rhythm wrought for the voice — but are given
and blues, and hiphop, to name only several — colonized the world,
no thorough stylistic understanding of
jazz or blues.
holding sway in a manner akin to the complete cultural dominance
It is in this area that choirs have
of Italian music in Europe from the 16th to the 18th centuries.
been something of a vanguard. Choral
February is Black History Month, and this column is going to
groups often have to be stylistically
depart from its usual listings format to explore this phenomenon
diverse, and classical choirs have been
in some depth. Black History Month was originally conceived as
executing choral arrangements of
a week-long celebration encompassing the February birth dates of
spirituals since the beginning of the
American abolitionist Frederick Douglass and president Abraham
last century. Singing African-derived
Lincoln. In modern times it has become an occasion for the people
music with European technique and aesthetic remains a trap, but
of the African diaspora to celebrate their history of struggle and
choral directors are increasingly applying performance practice
triumph, and their formidable achievements.
One of these achievements is the degree to which African-derived techniques to this music, doing the listening, research and technical
techniques are part of the DNA of popular music. When yet another practice that leads to more authentic and appropriate performances.
Toronto’s Nathaniel Dett Chorale, founded in 1998 by Brainerd
well-scrubbed American Idol contestant launches into a showy
fusillade of vocal melismas, they are echoing (but rarely surpassing) Blyden-Taylor, has provided strong leadership in this area. Named
for an African-Canadian, Drummondville composer who made his
the vocal work of Stevie Wonder. (Also a notable composer,
career in the USA, the NDC has consistently programmed interestWonder’s work is so innovative that it has barely been picked up by
anyone, but that is another story). Any good professional bass player ing and unusual works. On February 14 they team up with writer
Let It Shine
I
PETER MAHON
Sales Representative
416-322-8000
[email protected]
www.petermahon.com
February 1 – March 7, 2012
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25
Lawrence Hill for “Voices of the Diaspora: The Book of Negroes.”
The concert is named for Hill’s book, which is named, in turn, for
an actual document created in 1783. The Book of Negroes was a list
of 3000 African slaves, evacuated by the British from the USA to
Nova Scotia, which was still a British dominion. Hill blends historical incident with a wrenching story of a slave family trying to stay
JIM G ALLOWAY
together in the midst of political tumult and violence.
The Book of Negroes has been an international success for Hill,
his month’s article is a bit more serious than most of my
who will read excerpts from the novel, interspersed with music from
contributions. The year began with the loss of a friend when
the NDC. Works by Dett himself will be featured, along with music
Ian Bargh died on January 1. And with him went a treasure
by Haitian composer Sydney Guillaume and Canadian composer
trove of musical know-how, a knowledge of the great standard song
Brian Tate. Jazz pianist Joe Sealy will also perform excerpts from
repertoire, including rarities that hardly anyone else knew, and the
his celebrated Africville Suite, that pays tribute to the African Nova
ability to interpret them, turning them into musical gems.
Scotians of Africville, who contended with prejudice and neglect
He also had that
until the final destruction of their community and forced eviction of
most desirable of
its residents in the mid-1960s.
qualities in a jazz
Hill’s and Sealy’s involvement in this concert highlights another
musician: a sound of
problematic issue, which is the degree to which Canadian art must
his own, a personal
fight for space in Canada. Sharing a common language and history,
stamp that he put on
our cultural landscape is swamped by our American neighbour, and
everything he played.
while most musicians (and film-goers and politicians) yield willingly
A Scot and, like myto the artistic tidal wave, it is always heartening to see Canadian
self, born in Ayrshire,
artists carve out a space for their own ideas and dreams.
Ian in many ways was
(A personal note: In grade 9 English, my daughter, along with too typical of the breed:
many other Ontario high school students, is currently being subcareful with money,
jected to Alabama-born writer Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird.
hard working, a bit of
a rough diamond, but
This book — the literary equivalent of warm milk and cookies for
under it all, generous
self-congratulating American progressives of a bygone era — should
and sentimental.
have been retired from our curriculum years ago. Lawrence Hill’s
In the last few years
trenchant thoughts on the subject can be read here: www.thestar.
Ian Bargh, left, and Jim Galloway at
he and I talked quite
com/article/684933.)
Hill’s The Book of Negroes — fiction informed by ground-breaking often about death and the 2010 Toronto Jazz Festival.
we always agreed that we would not want a lingering end to life.
research — puts him in the fine Canadian tradition of Pierre
Well, the end did come quickly for Ian. We came home at the beginBerton, who wrote history with the sweep and dash of good fiction.
ning of last December from a cruise on which my band, the Echoes
As Berton did, Hill is “shining a little light” to help his fellow
Of Swing, was playing. Ian, as they say, played his buns off and the
Canadians understand more about themselves.
smile on his face told us all just how much he was enjoying himself.
Other concerts of interest on the horizon:
A month later and he was gone from us, but not in spirit, for a
On February 23, the Orpheus Choir of Toronto performs a free
part of him will always be there for those of us who knew him, and
noontime concert at Roy Thomson Hall in a concert series that is
his music will live on through his recordings.
one of the hidden gems of the Toronto choral scene.
Like the rest of us, Ian did have his idiosyncrasies and he
On February 24 and 25, the Soweto Gospel Choir visits the city.
certainly could have his grumpy moments when he saw the world
Check out this clip: www.youtube.com/watch?v=zd6sy5DKpxk.
through dark coloured glasses. I remember one occasion when, for a
On February 25, the Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra teams
joke, I gave him a bottle of Famous Grouse scotch whisky. Somehow
up with the Toronto Choral Society to perform Brahms’ Requiem
it seemed more appropriate than a sweet sherry!
and Schubert’s Eighth Symphony, the “Unfinished.”
I mentioned that Ian had “a sound.”
On March 3, the Jubilate Singers perform an all-Argentinian
No single musical element identifies jazz musicians more than
programme: tango composer Astor Piazzolla, Carlos Guastavino
and others. The concert will also feature tango dancers from Club
their personal sound — a sound that represents the individual. In the
Milonga, accompanied by the Tango Fresco ensemble.
Also on March 3, the Toronto Chamber Choir performs “Gibbons:
Canticles & Cries.” Orlando Gibbons was one of the greatest composers of the English Renaissance. Not to be missed! Remembering Ian Bargh
T
Ben Stein is a Toronto tenor and theorbist.
He can be contacted at [email protected].
Visit his website at benjaminstein.ca.
• St. Philip’s Anglican Church
A casual, relaxing hour of prayer + great music
with the city’s finest musicians
February 12, 4pm
•Sunday,
Diana Panton with
Reg Schwager + Don Thompson
Sunday, February 26, 4pm
Ralph Peter Trio
Sunday, March 11, 4pm
Carolyn McCartney Quartet
•
•
Anglican Church | Etobicoke
•25St.St. Philip’s
Phillips Road (near Royal York + Dixon)
416-247-5181
26
thewholenote.com
• www.stphilips.net
February 1 – March 7, 2012
TED O’REILLY
arts, a personal identity is something that any artist should strive
for whether it be in the visual arts, literature, theatre or, of course,
music. In jazz, Armstrong, Bechet, Lester Young, Bud Freeman,
Miles Davis, Clifford Brown, Jack Teagarden, Pee Wee Russell and
“Red” Allen are only a few who had a personal sound that makes
them instantly recognizable.
The American composer, author, historian and musician, Gunther
Schuller, had this to say on the subject: “It is up to the individual to
create his sound, if it is within his creative capacities to do so — one
that will best serve his musical concepts and style. In any case, in
jazz, the sound, timbre, and sonority are much more at the service
of individual self-expression, interlocked intimately with articulation, phrasing, tonguing, slurring, and other such stylistic modifiers
and definers.”
In simpler terms, be your own person.
The late veteran trumpet player Sweets Edison also had his views
on the subject when speaking about the early jazz greats. In his
opinion, most of the musicians in those days were artists. They
were individualists and had a sound of their own. If Billie Holiday
sang on a record you’d know it was nobody but Billie. Louis
Armstrong could hit one note on a record, and you’d know it was
Louis Armstrong. Nobody sounded like Lester Young, like Coleman
Hawkins, like Bunny Berigan, like Benny Goodman, Chu Berry,
Dizzy Gillespie. They all had a recognizable sound.
More recently, Gary Smulyan, winner of the Downbeat critics’
poll in 2009 and 2011 for baritone sax, said that sound comes
before everything ... If you listen to just the tenor saxophone — John
Coltrane, Johnny Griffin, Joe Lovano, Chris Potter, Don Byas,
Ben Webster, Coleman Hawkins — they all play tenor saxophone
but you know who they are immediately. And to Gary, that’s the
defining thing. “I’ve given a lot of thought and a lot of practice to
try to really develop a sound that’s personal and unique to me” he
says. “I mean you could be a great technician but if you don’t have a
good sound no one’s going to want to hear you … And it’s really the
CANADIAN TOUR
Yves Léveillé Quartet
Alain Bastien • Yves Léveillé • Roberto Murray • Adrian Vedady
PHOTO MATHIEU RIVARD
Live in Toronto
2 Nights Only!
February 15 & 16
The Rex Hotel, 9:30pm, $10
February 1 – March 7, 2012
THE TOUR
Feb 9............. West End Cultural Centre, WINNIPEG
Feb 10........... Beatniq Jazz Club, CALGARY
Feb 11...........Yardbird Suite, EDMONTON
Feb 12........... Black Box Theatre, MEDICINE HAT
Feb 15-16 .....The Rex Hotel, TORONTO • www.the rex.ca
Feb 17......... Masterclass, U of T, TORONTO 3:15pm
Feb 18........... Dièse Onze, MONTREAL
Feb 25-26 .... Hôtel Clarendon, QUEBEC CITY
thewholenote.com
more info: www.yvesleveille.ca
27
identifying characteristic of who you are as a musician. And your
sound is not in the instrument … The sound is something that you
carry within your very being and that’s what comes out. So take
someone like Sonny Rollins. I think that if you gave Sonny Rollins
50 different tenor saxes, 50 different reeds and 50 different ligatures,
he’s going to sound like Sonny Rollins, with some variation because
maybe the instruments aren’t comfortable … But essentially what’s
going to come out is Sonny Rollins … and I tell that to my students.
I say, ‘Don’t look for the magic instrument, because there’s no
magic instrument.’”
I don’t mean to suggest that one should slavishly imitate one
musician. As the saying goes, when you copy from one person that’s
plagiarism, but if you copy from everybody it’s called research and
every jazz musician is a product of what he or she has listened to
and absorbed. Some musicians say they get ideas about their sound
from players who don’t even play the same instrument as they do.
It’s more about concept, phrasing and note choices.
It’s the same magic that makes a melody stick in our head, and the
same magic that makes a particular improvised solo a classic.
And that takes us back to Ian Bargh and the very elusive personal
touch he brought to his music.
Finally, if we look ahead to the beginning of next month, on
March 7 at 5:30pm in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre, Four
Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, one of our great Canadian
musicians who has the magic in his music will be performing. His
name? Guido Basso. He, along with another master musician, Don
Thompson, will present a free concert of jazz classics and originals.
If you are lucky enough to be there you will hear what the words in
this month’s column have tried to describe.
Meanwhile, happy listening and try to make some of it live music. Jim Galloway is a saxophonist, band leader and
former artistic director of Toronto Downtown Jazz. He
can be contacted at [email protected].
28
New Year Awakening
JACK MACQUARRIE
W
ell, the holiday season, with all of its almost overlapping
rehearsals and concerts, is past history. Then, like mother
nature (with the exception of her one or two nasty outbursts),
the community ensemble scene lapsed into a tranquil, semi comatose
state of inactivity. We have not heard of a single event scheduled
for January or early February. Then, well after Groundhog Day
and Family Day have past into history, we see the awakenings of a
new season.
The first musical events for the season brought to our attention are
not concerts, but are still events of considerable interest to members
of community ensembles. Long and McQuade will be presenting
no fewer than five free clinics on successive Saturday afternoons
starting February 4. If you play clarinet, saxophone, trumpet or
trombone, check for details at [email protected]. The
two which particularly caught my attention were sax and trumpet. If
you have never seen or heard contrabass, sopranino or soprillo saxophones, here’s your chance. The AllSax4tet will be performing on
eight different sizes of saxes. As for the trumpet session, it will feature none other than the incomparable Doc Severinsen, leader of the
Tonight Show Band for 30 years. Yes, he’s still actively performing.
The other noteworthy event is “International Horn Day 2012”
presented by the York University Department of Music on February
10 at 7:30pm. This will feature Jacquelyn Adams with Clifton Hyde,
guitar and Jeff Butterfield, drums, plus horn ensembles of all levels
from across southern Ontario, including the Toronto Symphony
horn section, Tafelmusik horns and more. See the listing section
for details.
Two concert offerings which have come to our attention break
with tradition in quite different ways. The first of these will be
The City of Brampton Concert Band’s “Heroes and Villains” on
Saturday, February 25. The concert will focus on the theme of
heroes and villains in the broad sense of its many manifestations in
life, history, nature, literature and art. Director Darryl Eaton has
assembled a fantastic range of guest artists to help explore these
concepts in musical terms. Perhaps the quirkiest will be William
Snodgrass performing a whimsical version of The Flight of the
Bumblebee as a percussion solo. For more details check their website
at www.bramptonconcertband.com.
The second of these concerts with a different approach will be that
of the Markham Concert Band. In a departure from more traditional
programming, conductor Doug Manning decided to focus on works
composed and/or arranged by Canadians. As an added feature, no
fewer than four of these composers and arrangers will be in attendance. In the audience, to hear their compositions performed, will be
renowned trumpeter Johnny Cowell and saxophonist Eddie Graf. As
for the other two composers, they are band members Sean Breen
and Vern Kennedy.
A long time member of the Toronto Symphony, Cowell also made
his mark as a composer in the popular field. In fact, in the early
1960s Cowell had more compositions on the Hit Parade than anyone
else. Two of his compositions were number one on the charts world
wide. Walk Hand in Hand, now a wedding standard, and Our Winter
Love are still popular today, almost 50 years later.
Graf was a band leader in Canadian Army shows in England and
Europe during World War II. On his return to Canada, he led his
own big band and was responsible for writing, arranging and conducting for many CBC shows. Now in his 90s, Graf is still playing
and turning out fine compositions and arrangements.
Kennedy, composer and singer, had a long history with such
CBC shows as the Juliette Show, Wayne and Shuster and the
Tommy Hunter Show. In addition to playing trumpet in the band,
Kennedy is a founding member of the Canadian Singers who will
also be appearing in this concert. Originally an octet and now a
thewholenote.com
February 1 – March 7, 2012
vocal quartet, this group was
established in 1994 with the goal
of singing music by Canadian
composers. They will sing works
by both Cowell and Kennedy in
this concert.
The fourth of the composers
featured, and the youngest, is
Breen. Still in his early 20s,
Breen has been composing since
his early days in high school. He
plays baritone saxophone in the
band, and will conduct his own
Symphonic Overture for Winds.
Featured soloist for this
concert will be trumpet showman John Edward Liddle. An honours
graduate of the acclaimed Humber College music programme, for
the past 30 years Liddle has pursued a varied musical career. From
principal trumpet and soloist with many orchestras and concert
bands in the GTA to smaller chamber groups as well as latin, jazz
and dance bands, he has explored all facets of the trumpet repertoire.
In his spare time Liddle conducts the Etobicoke Community Concert
Band, the North York Concert Band and the Encore Symphonic
Concert Band.
Among other works, Liddle will perform Graf’s three movement
Trumpet Rhapsody and Cowell’s arrangement of La Virgin de la
Macarena by legendary trumpeter Raphael Menez. In Cowell’s
original composition Roller Coaster, a work for trumpet trio, he will
be joined by band members Kennedy and Gord Neill.
We usually don’t receive much news about the concerts or other
activities of the reserve military bands in Toronto, but one event has
come to my attention that warrants mention. It’s a special “Veterans
Appreciation Concert” by the naval reserve band of HMCS York.
My career in the navy, which spanned a good many years in a variety of roles at sea and ashore, had its origins in music. It so happens
that, while still in high school, I was enticed into a naval reserve
band with the exalted rank of “Probationary Boy Bandsman.” While
my time in the navy after high school did not involve music, I have
always had a soft spot for naval and marine bands. This concert by
the HMCS York Band will take place on Saturday, March 3 in Ajax.
Finally, I would be remiss
if I didn’t give an update on
New Horizons Band activities.
Locally, the Long and McQuade
bands have now grown to four.
Starting with one beginners
group in September 2010, they
have grown to two daytime
and two evening groups for
beginners and intermediate
players now numbering 100
John Liddle
members. Now, under the
headlines with
the Markham
umbrella of the University of
Concert Band.
Western Ontario New Horizons
Band, a New Horizons Band
Camp is scheduled for July at Brock University in St. Catharines.
The intent is to bring together musicians from Canada and the U.S.
as a way of celebrating the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812.
I’m sure that we’ll have more details in future issues, or visit
www.newhorizonsmusic.org.
On a more serious note, it is with great sadness that we note the
passing of Bette Eubank, a long time member of the Northdale
Concert Band. In addition to playing as a regular member of the
band’s flute section, Bette was always there when someone was
needed to perform the many thankless non-musical jobs in the
band. Bette also devoted much of her time to entertaining in seniors’
homes where she developed a special rapport with the residents. She
departed much too early.
DEFINITION DEPARTMENT
For the past couple of years we have featured a variety of wacky
musical terms in this spot. For a change, this month’s is one that I
encountered recently during a rehearsal. It is: Passissimo. I got no
help from Grove’s Dictionary of Music and Musicians, the Oxford
Companion to Music or such websites as www.MusicTheory.org.uk
or www.thefreedictionary.com. Can anyone help? Jack MacQuarrie plays several brass instruments and
has performed in many community ensembles. He can
be contacted at [email protected].
INDEX OF ADVERTISERS
Aldeburgh Connection 7
Alexander Kats 55
Amadeus Choir 45
Amoroso 58
Aradia Ensemble 21
Art of Time 12
Associates of the TSO 43
ATMA 5
Aurora Cultural Centre 37
Aurora Performing Arts 35
b current / Theatre Archipelago 24
Brock University Centre for the Arts 14
Canadian Opera Company 31
Canadian Sinfonietta 41
Cathedral Bluffs Symphony Orchestra 33
Chamber Music Society of Mississauga 41
Christ Church Deer Park Jazz Vespers 27
Civic Light Opera 30
Classical 96 69
Continuum Contemporary Music 18, 36
Cosmo Music 28
Counterpoint Community Orchestra 45
Counterpoint Musical Services 54
ESPRIT Orchestra 3
Gallery 345 31
George Heinl 18
Grand Salon Orchestra 45
Heliconian Hall 51
February 1 – March 7, 2012
Hymn Society, Southern Ontario Opera in Concert 47
Opera York 42
Chapter 55
Orchestra Toronto 42
I Furiosi Baroque Ensemble 22
Jazz Performance and Education Centre Orpheus Choir of Toronto 11, 26
Our Lady of Sorrows 34
37
Pasquale Bros 54
John Laing Singers 49
Pattie Kelly 56
Jubilate Singers 46
Pax Christi Chorale 25
junctQin keyboard Collective 37
Peter Mahon 25
Kids 4 Peace 47
Pilares Presents 40
Kindred Spirits Orchestra 20, 38
Queensmen of Toronto 56
Larkin Singers 32
Ray Isaacs 23
Leon Belov 56
RCCO / Fridays@8 41
Living Arts Centre 10
Rose Theatre 15
Liz Parker 54
Royal Conservatory 4
LIZPR 53
Scarborough Philharmonic 41
Lockwood ARS 56
Sheila McCoy 55
Long & McQuade 27
Show One Productions 13
Miles Nadal JCC 44, 55
Silverthorn Symphonic Winds 43
Mississauga Symphony 36
Sine Nomine 40
Mooredale Concerts 36
Sinfonia Toronto 13
Music at Metropolitan 32
Sony Centre 70
Music Gallery 35
Soundstreams 48
Music Toronto 9, 44, 47
St Philip’s Jazz Vespers 26
Musicians in Ordinary 38
St. Olaves Church 42
National Academy Orchestra 55
Neapolitan Connection 38
St. Stephen in-the-Fields Anglican Nocturnes in the City 39
Church 51
Norm Pulker 56
Steve’s Music Store 16
Off Centre 33
Sue Crowe Connolly 56
Ontario Philharmonic 19
Syrinx Sunday Salons 33, 46
Opera By Request 47
Tafelmusik 2
thewholenote.com
Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute 22
Tallis Choir 45
TDSB Vocal Arts School 24
The Singing Voice Studio 55
The Sound Post 20
Tokai String Quartet 33
Toronto All-Star Big Band 39
Toronto Beach Chorale 36
Toronto Centre for the Arts 31
Toronto Chamber Choir 46
Toronto Classical Singers 46
Toronto Consort 7
Toronto Operetta Theatre 13
Toronto Philharmonia Orchestra 40
Toronto School of Music 54
Toronto Sinfonietta 38
Toronto Summer Music 34
Toronto Symphony Orchestra
19, 71, 72
University of Toronto Faculty of Music 17
Visual and Performing Arts Newmarket 46
VIVA! Youth Singers 25
Windermere String Quartet 39
Women’s Musical Club of Toronto 40
Yamaha Music School 56
York University 44
Yorkminster Park Baptist Church 42
Yves Léveillé Quartet 27
29
The WholeNote Listings
MUSICAL THEATRE:
EXTENDED RUNS NOT LISTED DAILY
The WholeNote listings are arranged in four sections:
A.
B.
GTA (GREATER TORONTO AREA) covers all of Toronto
plus Halton, Peel, York and Durham regions.
BEYOND THE GTA covers many areas of Southern
Ontario outside Toronto and the GTA. In the
current issue, there are listings for events in Barrie,
Brantford, Dundas, Guelph, Hamilton, Huntsville, Jordan,
Kingston, Kitchener, London, Orillia, Owen Sound, Peterborough,
Port Hope, St. Catharines, Waterloo. Starts on page 48.
C.
D.
IN THE CLUBS (MOSTLY JAZZ)
Mainstage musical theatre productions with runs of more than 15
performances appear only once in our daily concert listings, on the date
of the first performance falling within the date range covered in the issue.
Details for such shows are provided below:
• February 07 7:30: Dancap Productions. In the Heights. L-M.
Miranda. Toronto Centre for the Arts, 5040 Yonge St. 416-644-3665 or
1-866-950-7469. $51–$165. Runs to February 19. No performances
on Mondays. Tuesday to Saturday at 7:30pm. Wednesday, Saturday and
Sunday matinees at 2pm.
• February 10 7:30: Mirvish Productions. War Horse. Based on novel by
M. Morpurgo; adapted by N. Stafford; music by A. Sutton. Featuring lifesized puppets created by Handspring Puppet Company of South Africa.
Princess of Wales Theatre, 300 King St. W. 416-872-1212. $35–$175.
Extended run to at least June 10. No performances on Mondays.
Tuesday to Saturday at 7:30pm. Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday
matinees at 2pm. No matinees on Wed Feb 15 and 29; Sat Feb 11; Sun
Feb 12 and 26. Added evening performance Mon Feb 27 at 7:30pm.
is organized alphabetically by club.
Starts on page 51.
THE ETCETERAS is for galas, fundraisers,
competitions, screenings, lectures, symposia,
masterclasses, workshops, singalongs, and
other music-related events (except performances) which
may be of interest to our readers. Starts on page 54.
A GENERAL WORD OF CAUTION A phone number is provided with
every listing in The WholeNote — in fact, we won’t publish a listing
without one. Concerts are sometimes cancelled or postponed; and
artists or venues may change after listings are published. Please
check before you go out to a concert.
HOW TO LIST Listings in The WholeNote in the four sections above
are a free service available, at our discretion, to eligible presenters.
Readers interested in listings for one specific genre, such as, for
example, Music Theatre, Early Music, New Music or Choral Music,
may be interested in using our listings search engine online at
www.thewholenote.com/listings.
If you have an event, send us your information no later than the
15th of the month prior to the issue or issues in which your listing is
eligible to appear.

TORONTO’S PREMIERE MUSICAL THEATRE
LISTINGS DEADLINE The next issue covers the period from
March 1, 2012, to April 7, 2012. All listings must be received by
6pm Wednesday February 15.
proudly presents
LISTINGS can be sent by e-mail to [email protected] or by
fax to 416-603-4791 or by regular mail to the address on page 6. We
do not receive listings by phone, but you can call 416-323-2232 x27
for further information.
LISTINGS ZONE MAP Visit our website to see a detailed version
of this map: www.thewholenote.com.
Georgian
Bay
Lake
Huron
8
7
6
2
5
1City of Toronto

A hilarious tribute to all your favorite musicals...
3 4
Lake Erie
30
The Tony Award-winning musical revue that ran in
New York for 30 years!
Lake Ontario
* THE MUSIC MAN * THE SOUND OF MUSIC * CATS *
* HELLO, DOLLY! * GUYS & DOLLS * ANNIE *
* LES MISERABLES * JOSEPH... * THE LION KING *
* PHANTOM OF THE OPERA * WICKED *
and many more!
FAIRVIEW LIBRARY THEATRE
35 Fairview Mall Dr., Sheppard/Don Mills. TICKETS - $24.78 + HST
February 22 to March 10
Wed. – 7pm / Thurs. To Sat. – 8pm / Sun. – 2pm / March 10 – 2 & 8pm
thewholenote.com
February 1 – March 7, 2012
A. Concerts in the GTA
Wednesday February 01
• 12:15: Our Lady of Sorrows. Wednesday
Concert Series. Peter Bishop, organ. 3055
Bloor St. W. 416-231-6016. Free.
• 12:30: Yorkminster Park Baptist Church.
Andrew Adair, organ. 1585 Yonge St. 416-9221167. Free.
• 1:30 and 8:00: Acting Up Stage Company/
Obsidian Theatre. Caroline, or Change. Book
and lyrics by Kushner; music by Tesori. Canadian premiere. With Arlene Duncan (Caroline);
Neema Bickersteth (The Moon); Deborah Hay
(Rose Stopnick); Alana Hibbert (Dottie); Cameron MacDuffee (Stuart Gellman); and others.
Berkeley Street Theatre, 26 Berkeley St. 416368-3110. $15–$45. Also Feb 2–5, 8–12.
Start times vary.
• 5:30: Canadian Opera Company. Jazz Series: Lost Love Songs. Heather Bambrick, vocals;
Chase Sanborn, trumpet; Mark Kieswetter,
piano; Mike McClennan, bass. Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre, Four Seasons Centre for
the Performing Arts, 145 Queen St. W. 416363-8231. Free.
• 8:00: Humber School of Creative & Performing Arts. Latin Jazz Night. Hilario Durán,
piano/compositions/arrangements; Luis Mario
Ochoa, guitar/vocals/compositions/arrangements; Dominic Mancuso, percussion; students
on various instruments. Humber Lakeshore Auditorium, 3199 Lake Shore Blvd. W., Etobicoke.
416-675-6622 x3427. $10; $5(sr/st).
• 8:00: Lower Ossington Theatre. Avenue
Q. Puppet musical for adults. Amelia Hironaka, choreographer; Seanna Kennedy, director.
100A Ossington Ave. 416-915-6747. $45–
$60. Also Feb 2–3, Feb 4(mat).
• 8:00: Musideum. Mike Evin, singer-songwriter. 401 Richmond St. W. 416-419-2248. $10.
• 8:00: Talisker Players. Starry Night – of
Sleep and Dreams – the Wonder and Terror of
the Night. Britten: Serenade; Kaminsky: Nightpiece; Kuzmenko: Nocturne and Dance; Plant:
Bella Notte; Saint-Saëns: Les Violons dans le
soir; Schoeck: Notturno. Guests: Rufus Müller, tenor; Alexander Dobson, baritone; Stewart
Arnott, actor/reader. Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre,
427 Bloor St. W. 416-466-1800 or 416-9788849. $30; $20(sr); $10(st). 7:15: Pre-concert chat.
Thursday February 02
• 12:00 noon: Canadian Opera Company.
Vocal Series: From the Grammar of Dreams:
Vocal Music of Kaija Saariaho. Artists from the
COC Ensemble Studio perform vocal works of
Kaija Saariaho. Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre, Four Seasons Centre for the Performing
Arts, 145 Queen St. W. 416-363-8231. Free.
Programme to be introduced by the composer.
• 12:10: Nine Sparrows Arts Foundation/
Christ Church Deer Park. Lunchtime Chamber Music: Rising Stars Recital. Students from
the University of Toronto Faculty of Music.
1570 Yonge St. 416-241-1298. Free, donations
welcome.
• 12:10: University of Toronto Faculty of
Music. Thursdays at Noon: Beverly Johnston:
Percussion and the Spoken Word. Ung: Cinnabar
Heart; Spencer: Everybody Talking About Freedom (premiere); Ho: Woman Who Runs with
Wolves; Rzewski: To the Earth; Hatzis: In the
Fire of Conflict. Walter Hall, Edward Johnson
Bldg., 80 Queen’s Park. 416-978-0492. Free.
• 12:15: Metropolitan United Church. Noon
at Met. Bruce Kirkpatrick Hill, organ. 56 Queen
St. E. 416-363-0331 x26. Free.
• 7:30: Canadian Opera Company. Love from
Afar. Saariaho. Russell Braun, baritone (Jaufré
Rudel); Erin Wall, soprano (Clémence); Krisztina
Szabó, mezzo (The Pilgrim); Johannes Debus,
music director; Daniele Finze Pasca, stage director. Four Seasons Centre for the Performing
Arts, 145 Queen St. W. 416-363-8231. $12–
$318; $22(under 30). Also Feb 4, 8, 10, 12, 14,
18, 22. Start times vary.
• 7:30: Royal Conservatory. Discovery Series: Afiara String Quartet. Haydn: String
Quartet in F Op.74 No.2; Sibelius: String Quartet in d Op.56 “Voce intimae”; Mendelssohn:
String Quintet No.1 in A Op.18. Guests: Catherine Gray, Laurence Schaufele, viola. Mazzoleni Concert Hall, 273 Bloor St. W. 416-4080208. $14.50.
• 7:30: St. Anne’s Music and Drama Society. The Yeoman of the Guard. Gilbert & Sullivan. Daniel Norman, music director. St. Anne’s
Parish Hall, 651 Dufferin St. 16-922-4415.
$24; $19(sr/st). Also Feb 3-5.
• 7:30: University of Toronto Faculty of
Music. Mahler’s First. Hillborg: King Tide;
Mahler: Blumine; Symphony No.1. University
of Toronto Symphony Orchestra, David Briskin,
conductor. MacMillan Theatre, Edward Johnson Bldg., 80 Queen’s Park. 416-408-0208.
$20; $15(sr/st).
• 8:00: Acting Up Stage Company/Obsidian
Theatre. Caroline, or Change. See Feb 1.
• 8:00: Lower Ossington Theatre. Avenue
Q. See Feb 1.
• 8:00: Soundstreams. The Sealed Angel. Shchedrin. Music drama. Amadeus Choir; Elmer
Iseler Singers, Lydia Adams, conductor; ProArteDanza dance company, Lars Scheibner, choreographer. Koerner Hall, 273 Bloor St. W. 416408-0208. $42 and up; $28(under 35/arts
worker). 7:00: Pre-concert chat. Also Feb 3.
• 8:00: Stacie Dunlop/Gallery 345. Reve
Doux-Amer/Bittersweet Dream. Works by Debussy, J. Harvey, S. Silver, Carter; and new
works by Canadian composers C. Ross, S. Godin, T. Olson; featuring Baudelaire’s poems
from Les Fleurs du Mal (The Flowers of Evil).
Stacie Dunlop, soprano; Krista Vincent, piano.
345 Sorauren Ave. 416-822-9781. $20;
$15(sr); $10(st).
345 Sorauren Avenue
[Dundas/Roncesvalles]
■ Stacie Dunlop,
Krista Vincent, Pemi
Paull, John Corban,
Katelyn Clark,
Tokai String Quartet,
EDGES, Marianna
Humestka, Erika
Crino, Kaili Maimets,
Carla Hutanen,
Adam Sherkin, Marta
Herman, Ton Beau
String Quartet,
Maika'i Nash, Zagreb
Piano Trio, Norman
Adams, Lee Pui Ming,
Erin Donovan
■ for
monthly
performances go to
www.gallery345.com
/performances
■ 416.822.9781 for
reservations
Modern, Classical, Jazz,
Folk, World, Rentals
ElEctrifying ExpEriEncEs
Most Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays
at noon or 5:30 p.m.
coc.ca
416-363-8231
Media SponSorS
arabesque dance, photo: Chris Hutcheson
February 1 – March 7, 2012
thewholenote.com
31
A. Concerts in the GTA
• 8:00: Toronto Symphony Orchestra.
Beethoven Emperor Concerto. Beethoven: Piano
Concerto No.5; Shostakovich: Symphony
No.10. Anton Kuerti, piano; Günther Herbig,
conductor. Roy Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe St.
416-593-4828 or 416-593-0688(Chinese).
$35-$145. Also Feb 4.
• 8:00: UC Follies. The Who’s Tommy. Townshend and McAnuff. Hart House Theatre,
7 Hart House Circle. 416-978-8849. $25;
$15(sr/st); $50–$200(patron). Also Feb 3, 4,
8–11; Feb 4(mat) and Feb 11(mat).
• 8:00: Uptown Swing Band. Dancing at the
Gladstone Ballroom. Guests: June Garber, Ori
Dagan, vocals. Gladstone Hotel Ballroom, 1214
Queen St. W. 416-531-4635. $10.
Friday February 03
• 4:30: Canadian Opera Company. Tosca.
Puccini. Adrianne Pieczonka, soprano (Floria
Tosca – Feb 3, 7, 11, 13, 16 ); Julie Makerov,
soprano (Floria Tosca – Feb 5, 9, 21, 23, 25);
Carlo Ventre, tenor (Mario Cavaradossi – Feb
3, 7, 11, 13, 16); Thiago Arancam, tenor (Mario Cavaradossi – Feb 5, 9, 21, 23, 25); Mark
Delavan, baritone (Baron Scarpia); Paul Curran, stage director. Four Seasons Centre for
the Performing Arts, 145 Queen St. W. 416363-8231. $12–$318; $22(under 30). Also
Feb, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 21, 23 and 25. Start
times vary.
• 7:00: Harbourfront Centre. Kumbaa: Honey
Jam – Then and Now. All-female talent showcase with vocalists Kellylee Evans, Eternia,
Kim Davis, Saidah Baba Talibah, Natasha Waterman and others. Brigantine Room, 235
Queen’s Quay W. 416-973-4000. $10.
32
• 7:30: St. Anne’s Music and Drama Society. The Yeoman of the Guard. See Feb 2.
• 7:30: University of Toronto Faculty of
Music. Lord of the Rings. Janáček: Sokol Fanfare; Graham: The Red Machine; Sparke: Overture for Woodwinds; de Meij: Lord of the Rings;
Horovitz: Concerto for Euphonium and Wind
Ensemble. Kohei Kamikawa, euphonium. Jeffrey Reynolds, conductor. MacMillan Theatre,
Edward Johnson Bldg., 80 Queen’s Park. 416408-0208. $20; $15(sr/st).
• 8:00: Acting Up Stage Company/Obsidian
Theatre. Caroline, or Change. See Feb 1.
• 8:00: Collective of Black Artists: Les
Rythmes de la Forêt. Dances and rhythms from
Sub-Saharan Africa. Fleck Dance Theatre,
Harbourfront Centre, 231 Queen’s Quay W.
416-973-4000. $22-$30. Also Feb 4, 5(mat).
• 8:00: Gallery 345. Warhol Dervish. Brahms:
Horn trio in E-flat Op.40 (arr. for violin, viola
and piano); Mozart: Clarinet Trio in E-flat K498
“Kegelstat” (arr. for violin, viola and piano).
Also duos by Martinů, Bartók and Berio. Pemi
Paull, viola; John Corban, violin; Katelyn Clark,
piano. 345 Sorauren Ave. 416-822-9781. $20;
$15(sr); $10(st).
• 8:00: Lower Ossington Theatre. Avenue
Q. See Feb 1.
• 8:00: Markham Theatre for the Performing Arts. Simon Shaheen. Arabic music
for violin and oud. 171 Town Centre Blvd.,
Markham. 905-305-7469. $54-$59.
• 8:00: Soundstreams. The Sealed Angel. Shchedrin. See Feb 2.
• 8:00: Toronto Masque Theatre. Masques
of Love. Poetry and love songs, from renaissance madrigals and lute songs to 20th century
torch songs, including O. Daniel’s Neruda Canciones. Patricia O’Callaghan, soprano; Ken
Whiteley, guitar; Teri Dunn, soprano; Michiel
Schrey, tenor; Giles Tompkins, baritone; and
others. Enoch Turner School House, 106 Trinity St. 416-410-4561. $35; $30(sr); $15(under
30). 7:15: Pre-show chat with Larry Beckwith
and Omar Daniel. Also Feb 4.
• 8:00: UC Follies. The Who’s Tommy. See
Feb 2.
• 9:00: Hart House Music Committee. Jazz
at Oscar’s: Sultans of String. Fusion of Latin,
Gypsy-jazz, Middle Eastern and folk music
and rhythms. Arbor Room, Hart House, 7 Hart
House Circle. 416-978-2452. Free.
Saturday February 04
• 2:00: Lower Ossington Theatre. Avenue
Q. See Feb 1.
• 2:00: St. Anne’s Music and Drama Society. The Yeoman of the Guard. See Feb 2.
• 2:00 and 8:00: Acting Up Stage Company/
Obsidian Theatre. Caroline, or Change. See
Feb 1.
• 2:00 and 8:00: UC Follies. The Who’s Tommy. See Feb 2.
• 3:00: Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra. Young and Bold. Bloch: Concerto Grosso
No.1; Prokofiev: Concerto for Violin No.1 (first
movement); Stravinsky: Suite from The Firebird (1919). Christina Choi, violin; Alain Trudel,
conductor. George Weston Recital Hall, Toronto
Centre for the Arts, 5040 Yonge St. 416-7339388. $27.
• 4:00: Larkin Singers. Romance: Passions
on a Winter’s Night. Brahms: Liebeslieder Walzer; Mendelssohn: Psalm 42; choral works
by Bruckner, Reger and Rheinberger. Christ
Church Deer Park, 1570 Yonge St. 416-8950651. $25; $20(sr); $10(under 25). Post concert chat at Fox and Fiddle near venue.
• 4:30: Beach United Church. Beach Jazz
and Reflection – Music for the Soul. Joe Sealy,
piano; Paul Novotny, bass; Nathaniel Dett Chorale, Brainerd Blyden-Taylor, conductor. St. Aidan’s Anglican Church, 70 Silverbirch Ave. 416691-8082. Freewill offering.
thewholenote.com
• 4:30: Canadian Opera Company. Love from
Afar. See Feb 2.
• 7:30: Marion Singers. Benefit for the Organ Fund. Holy Family Church, 10446 Kennedy Rd. N., Brampton. 905-846-2347. $20;
$12(sr/child).
• 7:30: Metropolitan United Church. Metropolitan BachFest II: Jam Session with Bach.
Instrumental works by Bach and other German masters, featuring improvisations on baroque dance forms, Lutheran hymns and other
music of the baroque era. Benjamin Stein, theorbo; Sara-Anne Churchill, keyboard; Daniel
Rubinoff, saxophone; Elyssa Lefurgey-Smith,
violin. 56 Queen St. E. 416-363-0331 x26 or
x51. $20.
• 7:30: Sneak Peek Orchestra. Dreams of
Flying. Teehan: Dreams of Flying; Lau: Foundation for Cello and Orchestra; Beethoven: Symphony No.7. Rachel Mercer, cello. St. Gabriel’s
Passionist Parish, 670 Sheppard Ave. E. 416407-8713. $20; $10(st/child).
• 7:30: University of Toronto Faculty
of Music. Wind Ensemble. Husa: Music for
Prague, 1968; Dvořák: Serenade; Nelhybel:
Prelude and Chorale; Calvert: Romantic Variations. Guest: Alain Cazes, conductor. MacMillan Theatre, Edward Johnson Bldg., 80
Queen’s Park. 416-408-0208. $20; $15(sr/st).
• 8:00: Cathedral Bluffs Symphony Orchestra. Subscription Concert #3. Rachmaninov:
Piano Concerto No.2; Beethoven: Symphony
No.5. Arthur Ozolins, piano; Norman Reintamm,
conductor. P.C. Ho Theatre, 5183 Sheppard
Ave. E., Scarborough. 416-879-5566. $30$50; $25-$40(sr/st); free(under 12).
• 8:00: Collective of Black Artists: Les
Rythmes de la Forêt. See Feb 3.
• 8:00: Mississauga Festival Choir. Annual
Festival of Friends Concert. Featuring six area
choirs and over 200 voices in solo and massed
repertoire. Eden United Church, 3051 Battleford Rd., Mississauga. 905-403-8415. $20.
Proceeds to The Compass in Port Credit.
• 8:00: Oakville Symphony Orchestra. Romantic Legends. Fauré: Pelleas et Melisande
Suite; Suk: Scherzo Fantastique; Beethoven:
February 1 – March 7, 2012
Apfelstadt, Ana Alvarez and David Holler, conductors. Church of the Redeemer, 162 Bloor St.
W. 416-408-0208. $20; $15(sr/st).
• 3:00: Royal Conservatory. Early Music
Series: Les Violins du Roy with Maurice Steger, recorder. Handel: Concerto gross in B-flat
Op.6 No.7 “Hornpipe”; Telemann: Suite in a
for alto recorder, strings and basso continue;
Sammartini: Concerto in F for soprano recorder and strings; Geminiani: Concerto gross in d
“La follia”; Concerto per flauto No.10 in F. Koerner Hall, 273 Bloor St. W. 416-408-0208.
$39 and up.
• 3:00: Syrinx Sunday Salons. Hochelaga
Trio. Rachmaninoff: Trio Elégiaque; Hétu: AdaSunday February 05
gio from Triple Concerto; Schubert: Trio in Bflat D898. Anne Robert, violin; Paul Marleyn,
• 2:00: Canadian Opera Company. Tosca.
cello; Stéphane Lemelin, piano. Heliconian Hall,
See Feb 3.
35 Hazelton Ave. 416-654-0877. $25; $20(st).
• 2:00: Oakville Symphony Orchestra. RoReception to follow.
mantic Legends. See Feb 4.
• 3:30: Harbourfront Centre. Kumbaa: Trini• 2:00: Off Centre Music Salon. Schubertiad: The Composer Contemplates and Twitters.
dad and Tobago’s 50th Anniversary of IndeSchubert: Sonata in B-flat D960; also various
pendence Celebration. Classic calypso songs,
lieder. Charlene Santoni, soprano; Vasil Garvan- including an homage to Mighty Sparrow. Pan
liev, baritone; Jacques Israelievitch, violin; Inna Fantasy Steelband. Brigantine Room, 235
Perkis and Boris Zarankin, piano. Glenn Gould
Queen’s Quay W. 416-973-4000. Free.
Studio, 250 Front St. W. 416-466-1870. $50– • 4:00: Cathedral Church of St. James. Twi$60. Also CD launch of new recording of Schu- light Recitals. Andrew Adair, organ. 65 Church
bert piano sonatas by Zarankin.
St. 416-364-7865 x231. Freewill offering.
• 2:00: St. Anne’s Music and Drama Soci• 4:00: Collective of Black Artists: Les
ety. The Yeoman of the Guard. See Feb 2.
Rythmes de la Forêt. See Feb 3.
• 2:00: Trio Bravo. In Recital. Works by Moz• 4:00: Musideum. Sundays with Sierra. Covart, Fauré, Beethoven and Bruch. All Saints
ers and originals. Sierra Bacquie, piano and
Kingsway Anglican Church, 2850 Bloor St.
vocals. 401 Richmond St. W. 416-419-2248.
W. 416-242-2131. $20/$18(adv); $15(sr/
$15. Also Feb 12.
st)/$12.50(adv).
• 4:00: Toronto Singing Studio. Vivace Vox:
• 2:00: Visual and Performing Arts NewEmbroidered Voices. Vocal settings of poems
market. Young Artists’ Showcase. Charna
by Blake, Shelley, Rossetti, Stevenson, KipMastsushige, violin; Zach Wojitola, guitar;
ling and others. Linda Eyman, conductor; Earle
Aaron Qiu, tenor; Offbeat, instrumental ensem- Toppings, narrator. Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre,
ble. Newmarket Theatre, 505 Pickering Cres.,
427 Bloor St. W. 416-455-9238. $15; $10(sr/
Newmarket. 905-953-5122. $15; $10(st).
st); $35(fam).
• 2:30: University of Toronto Faculty of
• 4:30: Christ Church Deer Park. Jazz VesMusic. Cathedral Classics I: Choirs in Concert.
pers. Tribute to Eubie Blake. Gord Sheard,
Works by Willcocks, Britten and others. Unipiano. 1570 Yonge St. 416-920-5211. FreeCBSO_Ad_Jan2012
1/11/12
1:29 PM
Page 1
versity
of Toronto Women’s Chorus;
Women’s
will offering.
Chamber Ensemble; Men’s Chorus; Hilary
• 7:00: Acting Up Stage Company/Obsidian
Piano Concerto No.4. Guest: Elissa MillerKay, piano. Oakville Centre for the Performing
Arts, 130 Navy St., Oakville. 905-815-2021 or
1-888-489-7784. $51; $46(sr); $26(st/child).
Also Feb 5(mat).
• 8:00: Royal Conservatory. Year of Great
Sax Series: Ravi Coltrane Quartet and the Christine Jensen Quartet featuring Ingrid Jensen.
Koerner Hall, 273 Bloor St. W. 416-408-0208.
$39 and up.
• 8:00: Toronto Masque Theatre. Masques
of Love. See Feb 3.
• 8:00: Toronto Symphony Orchestra.
Beethoven Emperor Concerto. See Feb 2.
Syrinx Sunday Salons
Hochelaga Trio
CATHEDRAL BLUFFS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Sunday February 5, 2012 3pm
Heliconian Hall, 35 Hazelton Ave
2011–2012
NORMAN REINTAMM artistic director
Rachmaninoff:
Trio Elegiaque #1
SATURDAY at 8 pm
February 4, 2012*
P.C. Ho Theatre
SATURDAY at 8 pm
March 10, 2012*
P.C. Ho Theatre
RACHMANINOV
Piano Concerto no. 2
GOUNOD
Solemn Mass (St. Cecilia)
with internationally-acclaimed
Arturs Ozolins piano
performed by the
5183 Sheppard Ave E, Scarborough
BEETHOVEN
Symphony no. 5
Regular $30 adult, $25 st/sr
(under 12 free)
Premium $50 adult, $40 st/sr
(under 12 free)
* Subscription Concerts 3 & 4
Jacques Hetu:
Adagio from Triple Concerto
Schubert:
Trio in B--at major, D. 898
5183 Sheppard Ave E, Scarborough
University of Toronto
Scarborough Campus
Concert Choir
Tickets $25 Students $20
info: 416-654-0877 www.syrinxconcerts.org
tokai STRING QUARTET
RACHMANINOV
Symphony no. 1
in Concert
Works by Mozart, Shostakovich
and Mendelssohn
6 February 2012, 8pm
Gallery 345
345 Sorauren Ave, Toronto
Tickets $20
cathedralbluffs.com | 416.879.5566
February 1 – March 7, 2012
thewholenote.com
www.tokaiquartet.com
33
A. Concerts in the GTA
Theatre. Caroline, or Change. See Feb 1.
• 7:30: University of Toronto Faculty of
Music. New Music Festival: TorQ Percussion Ensemble. A concert of world premieres.
Hatzis: Three Pieces for Eight Mallets; and
other works. Walter Hall, Edward Johnson
Bldg., 80 Queen’s Park. 416-408-0208. Free
admission.
• 8:00: Musideum. Coffeehouse Concert Series. Jason Fowler, singer-songwriter. 401 Richmond St. W. 416-419-2248. $20.
Monday February 06
• 8:00: Gallery 345. Tokai String Quartet.
Mozart: String Quartet in F K590 “Prussian”;
Shostakovich: Quartet No.7 in f-sharp; Mendelssohn: String Quartet in f Op.80. 345 Sorauren Ave. 416-822-9781. $25.
• 8:00: Musideum. Mark Kieswetter, piano
and Ross MacIntyre, bass. 401 Richmond St.
W. 416-419-2248. $15.
Tuesday February 07
• 12:00 noon: Canadian Opera Company.
Vocal Series: Collaborations. Various opera
arias and ensembles. Singers from the COC Ensemble Studio and Opéra de Montréal. Richard
Bradshaw Amphitheatre, Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, 145 Queen St. W.
416-363-8231. Free.
• 12:30: York University Department of
Music. Music at Midday: New Music by Young
Composers. Original compositions by young
composers from the studios of David Lidov.
Tribute Communities Recital Hall, Rm.112, Accolade East Bldg., 4700 Keele St. 416-7362100 x22926. Free.
• 1:00: Cathedral Church of St. James. Music at Midday. Simon Walker, organ. 65 Church
St. 416-364-7865 x231. Freewill offering.
• 2:30: York University Department of Music. Vocal Recital in French Song. Singers from
the studios of Catherine Robbin and Norma
Burrowes. Tribute Communities Recital Hall,
Rm.112, Accolade East Bldg., 4700 Keele St.
416-736-2100 x22926. Free.
• 7:30: Canadian Opera Company. Tosca.
See Feb 3.
• 7:30: Dancap Productions. In the Heights.
See Extended Runs on page 30.
• 7:30: University of Toronto Faculty of
Music. Student Composers Concert. Walter
Hall, Edward Johnson Bldg., 80 Queen’s Park.
416-978-0492. Free.
Wednesday February 08
• 12:15: Our Lady of Sorrows. Wednesday
Concert Series. Mark Himmelman, organ. 3055
In the Winter!
Bloor St. W. 416-231-6016. Free.
• 12:30: Yorkminster Park Baptist Church.
Noonday Organ Recitals. Claudia Lemcke, mezzo; Chris Dawes, organ. 1585 Yonge St. 416922-1167. Free.
• 7:00: Johannes Linstead & Antonitas
D’Havila. Valentine Fiesta Romantica.
Johannes Linstead, Latin guitar; Antonitas
D’Havila, gypsy and flamenco guitar. Coconuts
Restaurant and Lounge, 2180 Steeles Ave. W.
416-978-8849. $20; $15(sr/st). Also Feb 10
(Latin Fever Night Club).
• 7:00: Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra.
House of Dreams. Multi-media concert featuring works by Bach, Handel, Vivaldi, Purcell and
Marais, performed against a backdrop of paintings by Vermeer, Canaletto and Watteau. Alison Mackay, concept/script/programme; Marshall Pynkoski, stage director; Blair Williams,
narrator; Jeanne Lamon, director. Trinity-St.
Paul’s Centre, 427 Bloor St. W. 416-964-6337.
$39–$89; $35–$79(sr); $20–$79(30 and under). Also Feb 9–11; Feb 12(mat).
• 7:30: Canadian Opera Company. Love from
Afar. See Feb 4.
• 7:30: Toronto Summer Music. In the Winter! – Benefit concert with New Orford String
Quartet and Shauna Rolston, cello. Beethoven:
String Quartet Op.135; Schubert: String Quintet Op.163 for two cellos. Walter Hall, Edward
Johnson Building, 80 Queen’s Park. 416-4080208. $78. In support of 2012 Toronto Summer Music Festival and Academy; reception
to follow.
• 8:00: UC Follies. The Who’s Tommy. See
Feb 2.
• 8:00: Velvet Curtain. Valentine’s Chocolate
Cabaret. Music from across the world. Velvet
Curtain Ensemble and guests. Metropolitan
United Church, 56 Queen St. E. 416-792-4742.
$25/$20(adv). Also Feb 11.
Thursday February 09
• 12:00 noon: Canadian Opera Company.
Chamber Music Series: Darkness and Light:
Schubert’s Final Quartet. String Quartet No.15
in G. New Orford String Quartet. Richard
Please join us for a benefit concert and
reception in support of the
2012 TORONTO SUMMER MUSIC
FESTIVAL & ACADEMY
Listings in The WholeNote are searchable by genre
and by geographic zone at thewholenote.com
Pastor:
Rev. Fr. Nino Cavoto
3055 Bloor Street West, just
west of Royal York Road
www.sorrows.ca
416-231-6016
Free Lunchtime Organ
Concert Series
BEETHOVEN String Quartet Op. 135
SCHUBERT String Quintet Op. 165
featuring
Wednesdays 12:15 – 1:00
Music and Artistic Director
Gordon D. Mansell
The New Orford String Quartet
Shauna Rolston, cello
February 8, 2012 – 7:30pm
Walter Hall, University of Toronto
February 8
Mark Himmelman
For tickets call 416-408-0208 or visit rcmusic.ca
34
Bradshaw Amphitheatre, Four Seasons Centre
for the Performing Arts, 145 Queen St. W. 416363-8231. Free.
• 12:10: Nine Sparrows Arts Foundation/
Christ Church Deer Park. Lunchtime Chamber
Music: Ragtime. Angus Sinclair, piano. Christ
Church Deer Park, 1570 Yonge St. 416-2411298. Free, donations welcome.
• 12:10: University of Toronto Faculty of
Music. Thursdays at Noon: AACH! American
Composers. Albright: Pit Band; Sonata for Alto
Saxophone and Piano; Carter: Gra; Hyla: We
Speak Etruscan for baritone saxophone and
bass clarinet. Max Christie, clarinet; Wallace
Halladay, saxophone; Midori Koga, piano. Walter Hall, Edward Johnson Building, 80 Queen’s
Park. 416-978-0492. Free.
• 12:15: Metropolitan United Church.
Noon at Met. Trevor Wilson, recorder; William
Wright, organ. 56 Queen St. E. 416-363-0331
x26. Free.
• 12:30: York University Department of
Music. Jazz at Noon: Barry Elmes Quintet. Original compositions and jazz standards. Barry
Elmes, drums; Mike Murley, tenor sax; Kevin
Turcotte, trumpet/flugelhorn; Reg Schwager,
guitar; Steve Wallace, bass. Martin Family
Lounge, Rm.219, Accolade East Bldg., 4700
Keele St. 416-736-2100 x22926. Free.
• 2:00: Royal Conservatory. Discovery Series: Glenn Gould School Concerto Competition
Finals. Koerner Hall, 273 Bloor St. W. 416-4080208. Free.
• 7:30: Canadian Opera Company. Tosca.
See Feb 3.
• 7:30: Royal Conservatory. Discovery Series: Hiroko Kudo, piano and Tobias Bäz, cello. De Falla: Fantasia Baetica; and works by
Brahms and Martinů. Mazzoleni Concert Hall,
273 Bloor St. W. 416-408-0208. $14.50.
• 7:30: University of Toronto Faculty Music. Small Jazz Ensembles. Upper Jazz Studio,
90 Wellesley St. W. 416-978-0492. Free.
• 8:00: Harbourfront Centre/Arabesque/
Small World Music. JAMRA. Contemporary production inspired by dance forms from
Egypt, Turkey, North Africa, Iran and Lebanon.
thewholenote.com
February 15
Paul Jessen
February 29
Philip Fournier
February 22
Ash Wednesday
No Concert
March 7
Mark Toews
One of the most stunning Baroque
instruments in the world
February 1 – March 7, 2012
Featuring 11-piece Arabian orchestra; Bassam
Bishara, vocals; Ferda Bayazit, choreographer;
Sashar Zarif, choreographer; Khairiiyya Mazen, choreographer; Yasmina Ramzy, choreographer and director. Fleck Dance Theatre, 207
Queen’s Quay W. 416-973-4000. $30–$40.
Also Feb 10–12; Feb 11 and 12(mat and eve).
• 8:00: Sony Centre for the Performing
Arts. Classical Mystery Tour. Tribute to the
Beatles accompanied by the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony. 1 Front St. E. 1-855-872-7669.
$45 and up.
• 8:00: Spectrum Composers Collective.
Elements: Exploring our relationship with nature
in the 21st century. Contemporary and classical jazz. Al Green Theatre, Miles Nadal jcc, 750
Spadina Ave. 416-924-6211 x0. $20; $15(sr/
st/underemployed).
• 8:00: Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra.
House of Dreams. See Feb 8.
• 8:00: UC Follies. The Who’s Tommy. See
Feb 2.
Friday February 10
• 7:00: Aurora Performing Arts Group. Parade. J.R.Brown. Sarah Kyle, director. Newmarket Theatre, 505 Pickering Cres., Newmarket. 905-953-5122. $25; $20(sr/st). Also Feb
11(mat and eve) and Feb 12.
• 7:00: Johannes Linstead & Antonitas D’Havila. Valentine Fiesta Romantica.
Johannes Linstead, latin guitar; Antonitas
D’Havila, gypsy and flamenco guitar. Latin Fever Night Club, 7777 Keele St. 416-978-8849.
$30–$50. Also Feb 8 (Coconuts Restaurant).
• 7:30: Canadian Opera Company. Love from
Afar. See Feb 4.
• 7:30: Mirvish Productions. War Horse. See
Extended Runs on page 30.
• 7:30: Newman Centre. Newman Jazz
Group: Valentine Jazz! Instrumental and vocal
jazz. Barbara Forbes, piano; Josh Brecka, guitar; JD Considine, bass; DonHoon Lee, drums;
guest: Katie Young, vocals; Bruno Cormier and
members of the Newman Sunday Choirs. Newman Centre, 89 St. George St. 416-963-5137.
$20; $15(sr/st). Fundraising event in support of
the Newman Centre Music Ministry.
• 7:30: Opera by Request. Fidelio. Beethoven.
Dolores Catherine Tjart, soprano (Leonora);
Lenard Whiting, tenor (Florestan); Frank de
Jong, bass (Rocco); Michael Robert-Broder,
baritone (Pizarro); Jennifer Razor, soprano
(Marzellina); and others; William Shookhoff,
piano and music director. College Street United
Church, 452 College St. 416-455-2365. $20.
• 7:30: Timothy Eaton Memorial Church.
Songs of Love and Passion. Opera arias, duets and chorus. Allison Arends, soprano; Mark
Daboll, baritone; Jennifer Griffith, soprano;
Joanne Leatch, alto; Rocco Rupolo, tenor; and
others; Marilyn Preston, flamenco dancer;
Elaine Choi, piano. Flora McCrea Auditorium,
230 St. Clair Ave. W. 416-925-5977. $20;
$15(sr/st).
• 7:30: York University Department of Music. International Horn Day 2012. Jacquelyn
Adams, horn; Clifton Hyde, guitar; Jeff Butterfield, drums; guests: Toronto Symphony Horn
Section; Tafelmusik Horns; and others. Tribute Communities Recital Hall, Rm.112, Accolade East Bldg., 4700 Keele St. 416-736-2100
x22926. $10.
• 8:00: Art of Time Ensemble. Cantabile: An
Evening of Italian Music from Opera to Paolo
Conte. Arias by Verdi, Leoncavallo and Puccini;
popular songs by Battisti, Conte and others.
Michael Ciufo, tenor; Dominic Mancuso, vocals; Benjamin Bowman, violin; Rachel Mercer,
February 1 – March 7, 2012
cello; John Johnson, saxophone; Andrew
Downing, bass; Andrew Burashko, conductor
and piano; and others. Enwave Theatre, 231
Queen’s Quay W. 416-973-4000. $25-$59.
Also Feb 11.
• 8:00: Green Door Cabaret at the Lower
Ossington Theatre. Michael Hughes. 100A
Ossington Ave. 416-915-6747. $30(reserved);
$25; $20(st/industry with ID).
• 8:00: Harbourfront Centre/Arabesque/
Small World Music. JAMRA. See Feb 9.
• 8:00: Living Arts Centre. Relaxed Series:
Love Train Revue with George St. Kitts. Motown
hits. RBC Theatre, Living Arts Centre, 4141
Livings Arts Dr., Mississauga. 905-306-6000
or 1-888-805-8888. $28 and up.
• 8:00: Massey Hall and Roy Thomson Hall.
Laila Biali, vocals and piano. With George Koller,
bass; Larnell Lewis, drums; Ben Wittman, percussion. Glenn Gould Studio, 250 Front St. W.
416-872-4255. $29.50.
• 8:00: Music Gallery. Post-Classical Series:
The Cold War Songbook – Pilgrims and Progress. Cage: Sonatas and Interludes (1948).
Vicky Chow, piano. 197 John St. 416-2041080. $20/$15(adv).
• 8:00: Musideum. Alex Samaras, singersongwriter. 401 Richmond St. W. 416-4192248. $15.
• 8:00: O’Hara House Concerts. An Evening
of the Blues with Nighthowls. Manitoba Hal,
ukulele and vocals; Mo’Kauffey, guitar and
vocals. 28 O’Hara Ave. 416-516-4703. $15.
6:30: Ukulele workshop and dinner with Manitoba Hal, see Section D, “The ETCeteras.”
• 8:00: Royal Conservatory. Soul/R&B Series: Sweet Honey in the Rock. Female a cappella ensemble. Koerner Hall, 273 Bloor St. W.
416-408-0208. $33.50 and up.
• 8:00: St. Petersburg Choir. Rozhdestvo.
George Weston Recital Hall, Toronto Centre
for the Arts, 5040 Yonge St. 416-733-9388.
$30-$70.
• 8:00: Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra.
House of Dreams. See Feb 8. PWYC(30 and under, for this performance only).
• 8:00: UC Follies. The Who’s Tommy. See
Feb 2.
• 8:00: Via Salzburg. Six Degrees of Separation. Brahms: Sextet No.1 in G; Dvořák: Sextet
in A Op.48; L.C. Smith: commission for string
quartet. Rosedale United Church, 159 Roxborough Dr. 416-972-9193. $35; $30(sr); $20(under 30); $10(st).
• 8:00: York University Department of Music. Improv Soiree. An evening of improvisation
in a participatory “open mic” setup, hosted by
the improve studios of Casey Sokol. Sterling
Beckwith Studio, 235 Accolade East Bldg.,
4700 Keele St. 416-736-2100 x22926. Free.
• 9:00: Hart House Music Committee. Jazz
at Oscar’s: Hat and Beard. Unconventional interpretations of the music of Thelonious Monk.
Ken Aldcroft, guitar; Dave Clark, drums. Arbor
Room, Hart House, 7 Hart House Circle. 416978-2452. Free.
Saturday February 11
• 2:00: Hannaford Street Silver Band/ Hannaford Youth Education Program. Hearts of
Brass. Junior Band, Youth Band and Community Band, Anita McAlister, director. Church of
the Redeemer, 162 Bloor St. W. 416-366-7723
or 1-800-708-6754. $15; $10(sr); $5(st).
• 2:00 and 7:00: Aurora Performing Arts
Group. Parade. See Feb 10.
• 2:00 and 8:00: Harbourfront Centre/Arabesque/Small World Music. JAMRA. See
Feb 9.
• 2:00 and 8:00: UC Follies. The Who’s Tommy. See Feb 2.
• 7:00: Music Gallery. Post-Classical Series:
The Cold War Songbook. Part one, “The Density of Solitude” at 7pm; part two, “Formalizing a Disorientation of Memory” at 9pm.
Ustvolskaya: Twelve Preludes (1953); Sonata
No.4 (1957); Sonata No.5 (1986); Sonata No.6
(1988); Carter: Night Fantasies (1980); Feldman: Triadic Memories (1981). Stephen Clarke,
piano; Simon Docking, piano. 197 John St. 416204-1080. $30/$25(adv).
• 7:30: Burlington Civic Chorale. Valentine
Cabaret of Song: A Fundraiser. Selections from
Wicked, The Wiz and jazz repertoire. Gary Fisher, director; guest: Children’s Choir of Burlington. St. Christopher’s Anglican Church, 662
Guelph Line, Burlington. 289-337-6777. $25.
• 7:30: Canadian Opera Company. Tosca.
See Feb 3.
• 7:30: Church of St. Simon-the-Apostle.
Jazz Vespers. John Sheard, piano. 525 Bloor
St. E. 416-923-8714. $15 suggested donation;
$10(sr). Proceeds to support St. James Town
Reaching Out Through Music Program.
• 7:30: Oakville Ensemble. Heart to
Heart. Works by Dowland, Möhlich and
Austin. St. John’s United Church, 262
Randall St., Oakville. 905-825-9740.
$35/$25(adv); $25(sr)/$15(adv); $15(st);
$70(family)/$50(adv).
• 7:30: Scarborough Bluffs Music. Stars of
Tomorrow. Artists from the Royal Conservatory’s Young Artists Performance Academy
in voice, piano and violin. Scarborough Bluffs
United Church, 3739 Kingston Rd., Scarborough. 416-267-8265. $15. Proceeds to Scarborough Bluffs Music, a community school for
ages 6-12.
• 8:00: Art of Time Ensemble. Cantabile: An
Evening of Italian Music from Opera to Paolo
Conte. See Feb 10.
• 8:00: Batuki Music Society. Ethiopia: A
Musical Perspective. Traditional and modern
Ethiopian music. Girma Wolde Michael; Fantahun Shewankochew; Henok Abebe; Martha
Ashagari; Gezahegn Mamo; and others. Glenn
Gould Studio, 250 Front St. W. 416-948-4132.
$25/$20(adv).
• 8:00: Gallery 345. Edges: COMPROVISED.
Featuring music composed using unconventional methods of notation; includes two premieres. Works by Southam, A. Cameron,
The Cold War
Songbook
Essential mid-20th century works for piano
featuring Vicky Chow, Stephen Clarke + Simon Docking
with works by John Cage, Elliott Carter,
Morton Feldman + Galina Ustvolskaya
Feb 10 & 11 | $40 Two-Night Pass at Ticketweb.ca
Rufus Cappadocia
with guests Mutamba Rainos and Pasi Gunguwo
Globally informed cello and mbira trance from Zimbabwe
Mar 2 |8pm| $30/$15 | $25 adv at ticketweb.ca
St George the Martyr Church • 197 John St. • Toronto
416-204-1080 • www.musicgallery.org
thewholenote.com
35
A. Concerts in the GTA
Wiegold, Manzon and others; includes. 345
Sorauren Ave. 416-822-9781. $25.
• 8:00: Green Door Cabaret at the Lower
Ossington Theatre. Alana Bridgewater. 100A
Ossington Ave. 416-915-6747. $30(reserved);
$25; $20(st/industry with ID).
• 8:00: Guitar Society of Toronto. Jorge
Caballero, classical guitar. Heliconian Hall, 35
Hazelton Ave. 416-964-8298. $25; $20(sr);
$15(st).
• 8:00: Mississauga Symphony. Bohemian
Voyage. Dvořák: Cello Concerto in b Op.104;
Smetana: Three Dances from The Bartered
Bride; Sarka from Ma Vlast; Borodin: In the
Steppes of Central Asia; and other works.
Guests: Adrian Fung, cello; Misha Roháč, conductor. Hammerson Hall, Living Arts Centre,
4141 Living Arts Dr., Mississauga. 905-3066000 or 1-888-805-8888. $15–$51.50.
• 8:00: Royal Conservatory. Middle Eastern
Music Series: Yasmin Levy and Omar Faruk Tekbilek. Israeli Ladino singer and Turkish multiinstrumentalist. Koerner Hall, 273 Bloor St. W.
416-408-0208. $33.50 and up.
• 8:00: Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra.
House of Dreams. See Feb 8.
• 8:00: Velvet Curtain. Valentine’s Chocolate
Cabaret. See Feb 8.
• 8:00: York Symphony Orchestra. The
Grand Tour. Mozart: Overture to Idomeno; Wagner: Die Meistersinger Overture;
Reinecke: Flute Concerto; Bartók: Romanian Folk Dances; Sibelius: Andante Festivo;
Saint-Saëns: Bacchanale; and other works.
Máté Szigeti, flute; Gregory Burton, music
director. Trinity Anglican Church, 79 Victoria St., Aurora. 416-410-0860. $28; $23(sr);
$12(st). Also Feb 12 (Richmond Hill).
Sunday February 12
• 1:15: Mooredale Concerts. Music & Truffles: Beethoven – Immortal Musical Genius.
Interactive concert for ages 5–15. Anton Kuerti, piano. Walter Hall, Edward Johnson Bldg.,
80 Queen’s Pk. 416-922-3714 x103. $12.
• 2:00: Canadian Opera Company. Love from
Afar. See Feb 4.
• 2:00: Neapolitan Connection. Musical
Matinees at Montgomery’s Inn Museum. Felicia
Mittica, soprano. Montgomery’s Inn Museum,
4709 Dundas St. W., Etobicoke. 226-2891830. $22; $12.50(child).
• 2:00 and 8:00: Harbourfront Centre/Arabesque/Small World Music. JAMRA. See
Feb 9
• 2:30: University of Toronto Faculty of
Music. Cathedral Classics II: Choirs in Concert.
Martin: Mass for double choir; Bach: Lobet den
Herrn; Handel: The King Shall Rejoice; other
a cappella works. MacMillan Singers; Chamber Choir from Cawthra Park High School; Hilary Apfelstadt, Robert Anderson, conductors.
Church of the Redeemer, 162 Bloor St. W. 416408-0208. $20; $15(sr/st).
• 3:00: Green Door Cabaret at the Lower
Ossington Theatre. Doug MacNoughton.
100A Ossington Ave. 416-915-6747. $30(reserved); $25; $20(st/industry with ID).
• 3:00: Oakville Ensemble. Heart to Heart.
Works by Dowland, Möhlich and Austin.
Mary Mother of God Catholic Church, 2745
North Ridge Trail, Oakville. 905-825-9740.
$35/$25(adv); $25(sr)/$15(adv); $15(st);
$70(family)/$50(adv).
• 3:00: Royal Conservatory. Middle Eastern
Music Series: Malek Jandali, piano: Echoes from
Ugarit. Program inspired by the folk and ancient
music of Syria. Mazzoleni Concert Hall, 273
Bloor St. W. 416-408-0208. $37 and up.
• 3:00: Toronto Beach Chorale. Beauty
Voiced: Love Is. Songs by Berlin, Porter, Lerner
& Lowe and Rodgers & Hammerstein. Mervin
Fick, conductor. Kingston Road United Church,
975 Kingston Rd. 416-778-0949 x2. $20;
$10(under 18).
• 3:30: Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra.
House of Dreams. See Feb 8.
• 4:00: Cathedral Church of St. James. Twilight Recitals. Andrew Adair, organ. 65 Church
St. 416-364-7865 x231. Freewill offering.
• 4:00: Georgetown Bach Chorale. Winter
Scenes. Medtner: Sonata Reminiscenza “Vergessene Weisen”; Rachmaninoff: Etudes Tableaux Op.39. Ron Greidanus, piano. 157 Main
St. S., Georgetown. 905-877-6569. $45.
Post-recital reception.
• 4:00: Musideum. Sundays with Sierra. See
Feb 5.
• 4:00: St. Philip’s Anglican Church. Jazz
Vespers. Diana Panton, vocals; Reg Schwager, guitar; Don Thompson, bass. 25 St. Phillips Rd., Etobicoke. 416-247-5181. Freewill
offering.
• 7:00: Aurora Performing Arts Group.
Parade. See Feb 10.
• 7:00: Bloom Restaurant. Valentine’s Dinner
Performance with the Luis Mario Ochoa Traditional Cuban Quartet. 2315 Bloor St. W. 416767-1315. $75 (includes dinner).
• 7:00: Church of God of Prophecy National Singles Ministry. Pep Rally Concert. Dave
Brown, trumpet; Christian jazz by Blue Soul;
Word Made Flesh and others. West End Worship Centre, 1344 Martin Grove Rd. 905-6251278 or 647-342-8990. $10/$7(adv).
• 7:30: York Symphony Orchestra. The
Grand Tour. Mozart: Overture to Idomeno; Wagner: Die Meistersinger Overture; Reinecke:
Flute Concerto; Bartók: Romanian Folk Dances;
Sibelius: Andante Festivo; Saint-Saëns: Bacchanale; and other works. Máté Szigeti, flute;
Gregory Burton, music director. Richmond
Hill Centre for the Performing Arts, 10268
Yonge St., Richmond Hill. 416-410-0860. $30;
$25(sr); $15(st). Also Feb 11 (Aurora).
ORGANized
Sunday
February 12
8 pm
The Music Gallery
$25/15
416 924 4945
continuummusic.org
Sunday, February 12
3:00 p.m.
975 Kingston Rd.
Tickets $20/$10 Under 18
More Information:
www.torontobeachchorale.com
36
thewholenote.com
• 8:00: Continuum Contemporary Music.
ORGANized. Ligeti: Continuum (for two
marimbas); Oesterle: Daydream Mechanics VI;
new works by Current, Klanac and Marsella.
Guests: Haruka Fujii, percussion; Richard
Marsella, barrel organ. Music Gallery, 197
John St. 416-924-4945. $25; $15(sr/st/arts
worker).
February 1 – March 7, 2012
Monday February 13
• 7:30: Canadian Opera Company. Tosca.
See Feb 3.
• 7:30: Unionville High School Arts York
Alumni. Is There Life After High School? Book
by J. Kindley. Music and lyrics by C. Carnelia.
With Salvatore Antonio, Adam Brazier, Rebecca Golden, Lisa Kisch, Tracy Michailidis, Zorana Sadiq and others. Markham Theatre, 171
Town Centre Blvd., Markham. 905-305-7469.
$30. All proceeds to Musical Works in Concert.
• 7:30: University of Toronto Faculty of
Music. Chamber Music Series: St. Lawrence
String Quartet. Haydn: Quartet Op.76; Martinů:
Quartet No.5; Dvořák: Quartet No.105. Walter Hall, Edward Johnson Building, 80 Queen’s
Park. 416-408-0208. $40; $30(sr/st).
• 8:00: Musideum. From Harlem to Hollywood:
Charles Cozens, piano and Michael Danso, vocals. 401 Richmond St. W. 416-419-2248.
$20.
Tuesday February 14
• 12:00 noon: Canadian Opera Company. Vocal Series: Amore. Songs of infatuation, obsession, heartbreak and ecstasy. Julie Makerov,
soprano; Anne Larlee, piano. Richard Bradshaw
Amphitheatre, Four Seasons Centre for the
Performing Arts, 145 Queen St. W. 416-3638231. Free.
• 12:30: York University Department of
Music. Music at Midday: Student Showcase.
Tribute Communities Recital Hall, Rm.112, Accolade East Bldg., 4700 Keele St. 416-7362100 x22926. Free.
• 1:00: Cathedral Church of St. James. Music at Midday. Wayne Carroll, organ. 65 Church
St. 416-364-7865 x231. Freewill offering.
• 7:30: Canadian Opera Company. Love from
Afar. See Feb 4.
• 8:00: Les Amis Concerts. Les Amis Piano
Duo and Guest. Works by Rotili, Stefanovic,
Manolache & Carneci, Runchak, K.N. Chan
and Pepa. Marianna Humetska and Erika Crino, pianos; guest: Kaili Maimets, flute. Gallery
345, 345 Sorauren Ave. 416-822-9781. $20;
$15(sr); $10(st).
• 8:00: Musideum. Special Valentine’s Show:
Sandra Taylor, singer-songwriter. 401 Richmond
St. W. 416-419-2248. $15 or PWYC.
• 8:00: Nathaniel Dett Chorale. Voices of
the Diaspora … The Book of Negros. Multimedia presentation based on novel by L. Hill, with
folk, classical, spirituals and jazz selections.
Featuring Lawrence Hill, writer and Joe Sealy
Quartet. Koerner Hall, 273 Bloor St. W. 416408-0208. $39 and up.
Wednesday February 15
• 12:15: Our Lady of Sorrows. Wednesday
Concert Series. Paul Jessen, organ. 3055 Bloor
St. W. 416-231-6016. Free.
• 12:30: Yorkminster Park Baptist Church.
Noonday Organ Recitals. Simon Walker, organ.
1585 Yonge St. 416-922-1167. Free.
• 5:30: Canadian Opera Company. Jazz Series: 2-Piano Jazz Fusion. Robi Botos and Hilario
Durán, pianos. Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre, Four Seasons Centre for the Performing
Arts, 145 Queen St. W. 416-363-8231. Free.
• 7:30: Toronto Opera Repertoire. Lucia di
Lammermoor. Donizetti. Carrie Gray, soprano
(Lucia – Feb 15, 26, Mar 3); Tammy Short, soprano (Lucia – Feb 18, 24, 29); Yevgeny Yablonovsky, baritone (Enrico); Jay Lambie, tenor
(Edgardo – Feb 15, 24, Mar 3); Pablo Benitez,
tenor (Edgardo – Feb 18, 26, 29); Anthony
Faure, tenor (Arturo); Frank de Jong, bass
(Raimondo); Christie Kidd, soprano (Alisa); Giuseppe Macina, director. Bickford Centre Theatre, 777 Bloor St. W. 416-978-8849. $25;
$15(sr/st). Also Feb 18, 24, 29 and Mar 3; Feb
26(mat). Italian with English surtitles.
Thursday February 16
• 12:00 noon: Canadian Opera Company.
Vocal Series: L’amour à 4. Brahms: Liebeslieder Walzer; Schumann: Spanisches Liederspiel;
Greer: All Around the Circle. Russell Braun,
baritone; Erin Wall, soprano; Krisztina Szabó,
mezzo; Christopher Enns, tenor; Carolyn Maule
and Johannes Debus, accompaniment. Richard
Bradshaw Amphitheatre, Four Seasons Centre
for the Performing Arts, 145 Queen St. W. 416363-8231. Free.
• 12:10: Nine Sparrows Arts Foundation/
Christ Church Deer Park. Lunchtime Chamber
Music: San Agustin Duo. Emma Banfield, violin;
Diana Dumlavwalla, piano. Christ Church Deer
Park, 1570 Yonge St. 416-241-1298. Free, donations welcome.
• 12:15: Metropolitan United Church. Noon
at Met. Gregg Redner, organ. 56 Queen St. E.
416-363-0331 x26. Free.
• 2:00 and 8:00: Markham Theatre for the
Performing Arts. Louise Pitre: Broadway to
Paris. 171 Town Centre Blvd., Markham. 905305-7469 or 1-866-768-8801. $26(mat);
$54–$59(eve).
• 7:30: Canadian Opera Company. Tosca.
See Feb 3.
• 7:30: Talk is Free Theatre/Show One
Productions. Dani Girl. Dimond and Kooman.
Musical comedy about a nine-year-old girl’s
battle with cancer. With Gabi Epstein, Amanda
LeBlanc, Jonathan Logan and Jeff Madden; Richard Ouzounian, stage director; Wayne Gwillim, music director. Theatre Passe Mureille,
Backspace, 16 Ryerson Ave. 416-504-7529.
$33. Also Feb 17, 18, 20, 22–27, 29; Mar 1–4.
No Tues performances; Sat and Sun matinees
at 2pm.
• 7:30: University of Toronto Faculty Music. Small Jazz Ensembles. Upper Jazz Studio,
90 Wellesley St. W. 416-978-0492. Free.
• 8:00: b current/Theatre Archipelago.
Obeah Opera. Book, libretto and music by N.
Brooks. With Ella Andall, Nicole Brooks, Joni
NehRita, Saphire Demitro, Saidah Baba Talibah
and others; ahdri zhina mandiela, director. 918
Bathurst Centre, 918 Bathurst St. 416-5331500. $30; $25(sr/st); $15(previews). Also Feb
17, 19, 22–25, 26(mat) 29, Mar 1–3; 4(mat).
• 8:00: Living Arts Centre. Playing for
Change. Multimedia project designed to inspire,
connect and bring peace to the world through
music. Hammerson Hall, Living Arts Centre,
4141 Livings Arts Dr., Mississauga. 905-3066000 or 1-888-805-8888. $25 and up.
• 8:00: Musideum. An Uncultured Pearl: Tod
Paul Dorozio, guitar. Guests: Samantha Chang,
flute; Anna Antropova, violin; Chelsea Säuer,
mezzo. 401 Richmond St. W. 416-419-2248.
$20.
• 8:00: Toronto Symphony Orchestra.
Beethoven Symphony 5. Sibelius: The Swan of
Tuonela; Shostakovich: Violin Concerto No.1;
Beethoven: Symphony No.5. Sarah Chang,
violin; John Storgaards, conductor. Roy Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe St. 416-593-4828 or
416-593-0688(Chinese). $35–$145. Also
Feb 18.
Great
Artist
Piano
Series
presents
André Laplante
Friday February 17
• 7:00: Antonitas D’Havila. In Concert.
Gypsy and flamenco guitar. Trinity-St. Paul’s
Church, 427 Bloor St. W. 416-978-8849.
$29.50.
• 7:30: Brampton Folk Club. Friday Folk
Night: Women’s Voices. Featuring Wendi Hunter, Gayle Ackroyd and Eve Goldberg. Sanderson
Hall,
St. Paul’s
United Church,
30 Main St. S., ad 1/20/12 10:08 AM Page 1
whole
notes
ad:Wholenotes
www.auroraculturalcentre.ca
Brampton. 647-233-3655 or 905-874-2800.
905 713-1818
$12; $10(sr/st).
Friday, February 17
8pm
JPEC Presents
LUCIAN BAN &
JOHN HEBERT
ENESCO
RE-IMAGINED
February 17, 2012
7:30 pm
Glenn Gould Studio
416-872-4255
www.jazzcentre.ca
February 1 – March 7, 2012
• 7:30: Jazz Performance and Education
Centre (JPEC). Enesco Re-Imagined: Lucian
Ban & John Hebert. Joyce Hammann, violin;
Mat Maneri, viola; Ralph Alessi, trumpet; Tony
Malaby, tenor saxophone; Lucian Ban, piano
and orchestration; John Hebert, bass and orchestration; and others; Peripheral Vision
(opening act). Glenn Gould Studio, 250 Front
St. W. 416-872-4255. $35; $15(sr/st).
• 7:30: Opera by Request. Abduction from the
Seraglio. Mozart. Alexandra LeBlanc, soprano
(Konstanza); Athina Babayan, soprano (Blondchen); Zach Finkelstein, tenor (Belmonte); Michael MacLean, tenor (Pedrillo); Raymond Accolas, bass (Osmin); guest: Brahm Goldhamer,
piano and music director. College Street United
Church, 452 College St. 416-455-2365. $20.
• 7:30: Talk is Free Theatre/Show One Productions. Dani Girl. See Feb 16.
• 7:30: Toronto Opera Repertoire. The Merry
Widow. Lehar. Jennifer Rasor, soprano (Anna);
Jay Lambie, tenor (Danilo); Gerald Hannon,
baritone (Baron); Christie Kidd, soprano (Valencienne - Feb 17, 22, Mar 4); Caroline Colantonio, soprano (Valencienne - Feb 19, 25, Mar
2); Pablo Benitez, tenor (Camille - Feb 17, 25,
Mar 4); William Parker, tenor (Camille - Feb 19,
22, Mar 2); Beatrice Carpino, director. Bickford
Centre Theatre, 777 Bloor St. W. 416-9788849. $25; $15(sr/st). Also Feb 22, 25 and
Mar 2; Feb 19(mat) and Mar 4(mat).
thewholenote.com
• 8:00: Aurora Cultural Centre. Great Artist Piano Series: André Laplante, piano. Works
by Liszt and Schubert. 22 Church St., Aurora.
905-713-1818. $30; $25(sr/st).
• 8:00: b current/Theatre Archipelago. Obeah Opera. See Feb 16.
• 8:00: Green Door Cabaret at the Lower
Ossington Theatre. Lawrence Cotton. 100A
Ossington Ave. 416-915-6747. $30(reserved);
$25; $20(st/industry with ID).
• 8:00: I Furiosi Baroque Ensemble. Anger
Management. Works by Caldara, Handel, Purcell and Corelli. Laura Pudwell, mezzo. Calvin
Presbyterian, 26 Delisle Ave. 416-910-8740.
$20; $10(sr/st).
• 8:00: Markham Theatre for the Performing Arts. Michael Kaeshammer, piano and vocals. 171 Town Centre Blvd., Markham. 905305-7469 or 1-866-768-8801. $54–$59.
• 8:00: Music Gallery/junctQin Keyboard
Collective. Karlheinz Essl: A Portrait. Essl:
Junctions (world premiere). 197 John St. 416204-1080. $20; $12(st).
37
Sixth Toronto Sinfonietta Concerto Competition for Young Musicians
GALA CONCERT OF THE WINNERS
Toronto Sinfonietta
Matthew Jaskiewicz, Music Director
Saturday, February 18, 2012, 7:00 p.m.
Isabel Bader Theatre,
93 Charles Street West, Toronto (Museum Subway)
For tickets call: 416 410 4379, 416 488 8057
Students - $15, Adults - $25
A. Concerts in the GTA
• 8:00: Queen of Puddings Music Theatre/
Canadian Stage. Beckett: Feck It! Beckett
plays juxtaposed with contemporary, classical
music. Shannon Mercer, soprano; Michael Fedyshyn, trumpet; Jennifer Tarver, stage director; Dáirine Ní Mheadhra and John Hess, music
directors. Berkeley Street Theatre, 26 Berkeley St. 416-368-3110. $22–$45. Also Feb 18,
20–25. Start times vary.
• 8:00: Royal Conservatory. Orchestra Series: Royal Conservatory Orchestra with Leon
Fleisher, piano. Ravel: Le tombeau de Couperin;
Beethoven: Symphony No.7; Prokofiev: Piano
Concerto No.4 for the Left Hand. Uri Mayer,
conductor; Leon Fleisher, piano and conductor.
Koerner Hall, 273 Bloor St. W. 416-408-0208.
$22 and up.
• 9:00: Hart House Music Committee. Jazz
at Oscar’s: Parker-Abbott Piano Duo. Arbor
Room, Hart House, 7 Hart House Circle. 416978-2452. Free.
Saturday February 18
• 2:00 and 7:30: Talk is Free Theatre/Show
One Productions. Dani Girl. See Feb 16.
• 2:00 and 8:00: Queen of Puddings Music
Theatre/Canadian Stage. Beckett: Feck It!
See Feb 17.
• 7:00: Harbourfront Centre World Stage/
Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery.
Everything Under the Moon. Shary Boyle, visual
artist; Christine Fellows, singer-songwriter.
416-973-4000. $15; $10(child). Also Feb 23;
matinees Feb 19, 20, 22.
• 7:00: StageToneScape. A Dream of Love.
Works by Schubert and Liszt; projection of new
classical paintings. Valentin Bogolubov, piano.
Richmond Hill United Church, 10201 Yonge St.,
Richmond Hill. 647-477-9712. $30; $20(sr/st).
• 7:00: Toronto Sinfonietta. Salute to the
Rising Stars. Winners of the sixth Toronto Sinfonietta Concerto Competition perform excerpts from concertos by Haydn, Mozart, Wieniewski, Dvořák, Chopin, Tchaikovsky and
Mendelssohn. Matthew Jaskiewicz, conductor.
Isabel Bader Theatre, 93 Charles St. W. 416410-4379 or 416-488-8057. $25; $15(st).
• 7:30: Canadian Opera Company. Love from
Afar. See Feb 4.
• 7:30: Toronto Opera Repertoire. Lucia di
Lammermoor. See Feb 15.
• 8:00: Aradia Ensemble. Capriccio Stravagante. Venetian baroque evening featuring new
works by R. Bolton and C. Meyer. Marion Newman, mezzo; Toronto Youth Chamber Orchestra; Kingsway Conservatory Strings; Kevin
Mallon, director. Glenn Gould Studio, 250 Front
St. W. 416-872-4255. $15–$35.
• 8:00: Gallery 345. Allison Cameron, curio,
Nicole Rampersaud, trumpet and Germaine Liu,
drums. Live recording with improvisations and
compositions by c _ rl. 345 Sorauren Ave.
416-822-9781. $10.
• 8:00: Green Door Cabaret at the Lower
Ossington Theatre. Kim Barber & Friends.
100A Ossington Ave. 416-915-6747. $30(reserved); $25; $20(st/industry with ID).
• 8:00: Kindred Spirits. Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto. Rossini: Overture to La Cenerentola; Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto; Prokofiev:
Symphony No.1 Op.25 “Classical”; Bizet:
L’amour est un oiseau rebelled (from Carmen);
Lehár: Meine Lippen sie küssen so heiß (from
Giuditta). Jing Ye, violin; Helena Holl, soprano; Kristian Alexander, conductor. Markham
Theatre for the Performing Arts, 171 Town
Centre Blvd., Markham. 905-305-7469. $25;
38
thewholenote.com
$15(sr/st).
• 8:00: Musicians in Ordinary. When Tircis
Met Chloris. Works by Monteverdi, Sances and
Grandi. Hallie Fishel, soprano; John Edward,
theorbo; guest: Bud Roach, voice and baroque
guitar. Heliconian Hall, 35 Hazelton Ave. 416535-9956. $25; $20(sr/st).
• 8:00: Royal Conservatory/Songwriters
Association of Canada. Pop Series: Bluebird
North: Where Songwriters Sing and Tell. Blair
Packham, Rob Szabo and Rik Emmett. Conservatory Theatre, 273 Bloor St. W. 416-4080208. $26.
• 8:00: Scaramella. The Angel and the Devil.
Works by Marais and Forqueray. Liam Byrne and Joëlle Morton, bass viol; Sara-Anne
Churchill, harpsichord. Victoria College Chapel,
91 Charles St. W. 416-760-8610. $30; $25(sr);
$20(st).
• 8:00: Sony Centre for the Performing
Arts. Tango Pasión. Tango dancers and live
orchestra. Mel Howard, José Libertella, directors; Hector Zaraspe, choreographer. 1 Front
St. E. 1-855-872-7669. $45–$80. Milonga
dance party to follow.
• 8:00: St. Andrew’s Church. Jazz Loves: An
evening of jazz, cabaret and pop songs and love.
Jordan Klapman Quartet; Julie Michels, John
Alcorn and Jon Seiger, vocals; guests: Donna
Greenberg and Warren James, vocals. 189 King
St. W. 416-593-5600 x231. $20; $10(st). Fundraiser for Out of the Cold Program.
• 8:00: Toronto Symphony Orchestra.
Beethoven Symphony 5. See Feb 16.
Sunday February 19
• 2:00: Harbourfront Centre World Stage/
Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery. Everything Under the Moon. See Feb 18.
• 2:00: Living Arts Centre. A Sunday Afternoon with Doc Severinsen and the Toronto
All-Star Big Band. Hammerson Hall, Living
Arts Centre, 4141 Living Arts Dr., Mississauga. 905-306-6000 or 1-888-805-8888.
$49.99–$69.99.
February 1 – March 7, 2012
• 2:00: Royal Conservatory. Mazzoleni Masters Series: David Louie, piano, Marie Bérard,
violin and Bryan Epperson, cello. Brahms: Piano
Trio in c Op.101; Sonata for Cello and Piano
Op.99; Sonata for Violin and Piano Op.100.
Mazzoleni Concert Hall, 273 Bloor St. W. 416408-0208. $31.50.
• 2:00: Toronto Opera Repertoire. The Merry
Widow. See Feb 17.
• 2:30: Aldeburgh Connection. 30th Anniversary Gala: Sixteen Starry Singers. Works by
Vaughan Williams and others. Gerald Finley,
baritone; Susan Platts, mezzo; Nathalie Paulin,
soprano; Colin Ainsworth, tenor; and others;
Stephen Ralls, Bruce Ubukata, piano. Koerner
Hall, 273 Bloor St. W. 416-408-0208. $75;
$12(st rush).
• 2:30: Performing Arts York Region. David Jalbert, piano. Shostakovich: Preludes and
Fugues Op.87; Chopin: Nocturne Op.48 No.1;
Prokofiev: Romeo and Juliet Op.75. Thornhill
Presbyterian Church, 271 Centre St., Thornhill.
905-886-7905. $25; $20(sr); $10(st).
• 3:00: Green Door Cabaret at the Lower
Ossington Theatre. Sealy/Novotny Duo. 100A
Ossington Ave. 416-915-6747. $30(reserved);
$25; $20(st/industry with ID).
• 3:00: Neapolitan Connection. A Romantic
Music Tryst with Liszt. Angela Park, piano; Eve
Rachel McLeod, soprano; Rachel Mercer, cello;
Aaron Chow, piano. Studio Theatre, Toronto
Centre for the Arts, 5040 Yonge St. 416-7339388. $25-$40; $15(st, with ID).
• 3:00: Owens, Lee & Such. Music for a
While. Works by Purcell, Schubert, Poulenc,
Jongen, Strauss, Schenker and others. Jennie Such, soprano; Jan Owens, trombone; Vanessa May-lok Lee, piano. Kingston Rd. United
Church, 975 Kingston Rd. 416-844-1157. $15
suggested donation.
• 3:00: Windermere String Quartet. The Art
of Conversation. Haydn: Quartet in C Op.1 No.6;
Boccherini: Quartet in f Op.52 No.4; Mozart:
Quartet in B-flat K589. St. Olave’s Anglican
Church, 360 Windermere Ave. 416-769-0952.
$20; $14(sr/st).
• 4:00: Cathedral Church of St. James.
Twilight Recitals. Andrew Adair, organ. 65
Church St. 416-364-7865 x231. Freewill
offering.
• 4:30: Christ Church Deer Park. Jazz Vespers. Kirk MacDonald, saxophone; Lorne Lofsky, guitar. 1570 Yonge St. 416-920-5211.
Freewill offering.
Nocturnes
in
the
City
Duo Ventapane
Mana Shiraishi, violin
Martin Karlíček, piano
February 19, 5pm
St.Wenceslaus Church
496 Gladstone Avenue
• 5:00: Nocturnes in the City. Duo
Ventapane. Works by Dvořák, Martinů and
Beethoven. Martin Karlíček, piano; Mana Shiraishi, violin. St. Wenceslas Church, 496 Gladstone Ave. 289-234-0264. $25.
• 7:00: Gallery 345/Carla Hutanen and
Adam Sherkin. Outre-Manche: new songs
and solos from modern-day France and Britain.
Works by Adès, Knussen, Butler, Bertrand and
Mantovani. Carla Hutanen, soprano; Adam
Sherkin, piano; guest: Anthony Thompson,
clarinet. 345 Sorauren Ave. 416-822-9781.
$25; $15(st).
• 8:00: b current/Theatre Archipelago. Obeah Opera. See Feb 16.
Monday February 20
• 2:00: Harbourfront Centre World Stage/
Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery. Everything Under the Moon. See Feb 18.
• 7:30: Talk is Free Theatre/Show One Productions. Dani Girl. See Feb 16.
• 8:00: Musideum. Bill Gillan and Charlie
Ringas. Prepared piano, percussion and spoken
word, using the poetry and writings of Cutlor, Thomas, Beckett, Naruda and others. 401
Richmond St. W. 416-419-2248. $20/$15(adv).
• 8:00: Queen of Puddings Music Theatre/
Canadian Stage. Beckett: Feck It! See Feb 17.
• 8:00: Xin Wang. Fragments of Love. Arts
songs by Zimmerman, Wyttenbach, Leroux,
Kessler, Berio and KaNin Chan. Xin Wang, soprano; Wallace Halladay, saxophones; David
Heatherington, cello. Gallery 345, 345 Sorauren Ave. 416-822-9781. $25.
Tuesday February 21
• 12:00 noon: Canadian Opera Company. Piano Virtuoso Series: Passion and Poetry. Works
by Schubert, Brahms and Chopin. Mehdi Ghazi,
piano. Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre, Four
Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, 145
Queen St. W. 416-363-8231. Free.
• 1:00: Cathedral Church of St. James. Music at Midday. Elgar: Organ Sonata. Andrew
Adair, organ. 65 Church St. 416-364-7865
x231. Freewill offering.
• 7:30: Canadian Opera Company. Tosca.
See Feb 3.
• 8:00: Massey Hall and Roy Thomson Hall.
Brandi Disterheft and Friends. Brandi Disterheft, bass; Sly Juhas, drums; William Sperandi,
trumpet; Jesse Barksdale, guitar; and others.
Glenn Gould Studio, 250 Front St. W. 416-8724255. $29.50.
• 8:00: Queen of Puddings Music Theatre/
Canadian Stage. Beckett: Feck It! See Feb 17.
• 8:00: Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra.
Virtuoso Vivaldi. Vivaldi: La Tempesta di Mare;
Concerto for mandolin in C; Concerto for lute
and viola d’amore in d; Telemann: Concerto
for recorder and bassoon in F. Marion Verbruggen, recorder; Thomas Georgi, viola d’amore;
Lucas Harris, lute; Christina Mahler; cello;
Dominic Teresi, bassoon; Jeanne Lamon, director. George Weston Recital Hall, Toronto Centre for the Arts, 5040 Yonge St. 1-855-9852787. $36–$76; $29–$69(sr); $20–$69(30
and under).
Wednesday February 22
• 10:00am: Harbourfront Centre World
Stage/Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery. Everything Under the Moon. See Feb 18.
• 12:30: Yorkminster Park Baptist Church.
Noonday Organ Recitals. William Maddox, organ. 1585 Yonge St. 416-922-1167. Free.
• 1:30 and 8:00: Queen of Puddings Music
A Sunday Afternoon with
Doc Severinsen and the
on period instruments
Toronto All-Star Big Band
The Art of
Conversation
Haydn
Boccherini
Mozart
Sunday, Feb 19, 3:00
February 1 – March 7, 2012
Mississauga Living Arts Centre
February 19th, 2012 2pm
905-306-6000
thewholenote.com
Theatre/Canadian Stage. Beckett: Feck It!
See Feb 17.
• 7:00: Civic Light Opera. Forbidden Broadway. Tribute to and spoof of Broadway musicals, including Guys & Dolls, Fiddler on the
Roof, The Music Man, Annie and others. Featuring David Haines, Julie Lennick, Peter Loucas, Susan Sanders and Andrea Strayer; Joe
Cascone, director. Fairview Library Theatre, 35
Fairview Mall Dr. 416-755-1717. $28. Also Feb
23-26, 29; Mar 1-4, 7-10. Start times vary.
• 7:30: Canadian Opera Company. Love from
Afar. See Feb 4.
• 7:30: Talk is Free Theatre/Show One Productions. Dani Girl. See Feb 16.
• 7:30: Toronto Opera Repertoire. The Merry
Widow. See Feb 17.
• 8:00: b current/Theatre Archipelago. Obeah Opera. See Feb 16.
• 8:00: Theatre Ad Infinitum/Why Not Theatre. The Big Smoke. Music by A. Nostbakken. Script by N. Paldi and A. Nostbakken.
One-woman show, performed a cappella, and
inspired by the lives of Virginia Woolf, Sylvia
Plath and Anne Sexton. Amy Nostbakken, singer and performer; Nir Paldi, director. Factory
Studio Theatre, 125 Bathurst St. 416-5049971. $25; $18(sr/st). PWYC(Sun, suggested
donation $15). Also Feb 23–26, 28, 29; Mar
1–4; Sun matinees at 2:30.
• 8:00: Toronto Symphony Orchestra.
Brahms Symphony 4. Fauré: Pelléas et Mélisande; Britten: Les Illuminations for Soprano
and String Orchestra; Brahms: Symphony
No.4. Karina Gauvin, soprano; Jean-Marie Zeitouni, conductor. Roy Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe
St. 416-593-4828 or 416-593-0688(Chinese).
$35–$145. Also Feb 23.
• 8:00: University of Toronto Faculty of
Medicine. Daffydil 2012: The Root of What
Plagues You. 101st annual musical production,
raising funds for the Canadian Cancer Society.
Hart House Theatre, 7 Hart House Circle. 416978-8849. $28/$25(adv); $23(sr/st)/$20(adv).
Also Feb 23–25.
Thursday February 23
• 12:00 noon: Canadian Opera Company.
Vocal Series: Les Adieux I. Farewell concert
by two graduating artists of the COC Ensemble Studio. Ileana Montalbetti, soprano; Neil
Craighead, bass-baritone. Richard Bradshaw
Amphitheatre, Four Seasons Centre for the
Performing Arts, 145 Queen St. W. 416-3638231. Free.
• 12:00 noon: Massey Hall and Roy Thomson Hall. Orpheus Choir of Toronto: Eternal
Light. Edward Moroney, organ; Robert Cooper,
conductor. Roy Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe St.
416-872-4255. Free.
• 12:10: Nine Sparrows Arts Foundation/
Christ Church Deer Park. Lunchtime Chamber Music. University of Toronto Double Reed
Band, Nadina Mackie Jackson, conductor.
Christ Church Deer Park, 1570 Yonge St. 416241-1298. Free, donations welcome.
• 12:15: Metropolitan United Church. Noon
at Met. Michael Fitzgerald, baritone. 56 Queen
St. E. 416-363-0331 x26. Free.
• 1:30: Women’s Musical Club of Toronto.
Music in the Afternoon: Roger Chase, viola and
Michiko Otaki, piano. Works by Ireland, Bowen,
Delius, Bach and Brahms. Walter Hall, Edward
Johnson Bldg., 80 Queen’s Park. 416-9237052. $45. (SEE AD ON NEXT PAGE)
• 7:00: Harbourfront Centre World Stage/
Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery. Everything Under the Moon. See Feb 18.
• 7:30: Canadian Opera Company. Tosca.
39
A. Concerts in the GTA
Women’s Musical Club of Toronto
Music in the Afternoon
Thursday
February 23, 1.30 p.m.
ROGER CHASE, viola
MICHIKO OTAKI, piano
www.wmct.on.ca
Trinity-St Paul’s Centre, 427 Bloor St. W. 416964-6337. $35–$84; $29–$76; $15–$76(30
and under). Also Feb 24–25; Feb 26(mat).
• 8:00: Toronto Philharmonia Orchestra.
Ravel, Mendelssohn, Torke, Saint-Saëns. Ravel: Le Tombeau de Couperin; Mendelssohn:
Violin Concerto Op.64 in e; Torke: Ash; SaintSaëns: Symphony No.2 Op.55 in a. Timothy
Chooi, violin; guest: Scott Seaton, conductor.
George Weston Recital Hall, Toronto Centre
for the Arts, 5040 Yonge St. 416-733-9388.
$55; $45(sr).
• 8:00: Toronto Symphony Orchestra.
Brahms Symphony 4. See Feb 22.
• 8:00: University of Toronto Faculty of
Medicine. Daffydil 2012: The Root of What
Plagues You. See Feb 22.
Friday February 24
• 7:00: Dixie Presbyterian Church. Beverly
Taft Trio. 3065 Cawthra Rd., Mississauga.
905-277-1620. $15, includes light refreshments. Benefit for youth group’s trip to Canada
Youth 2012 Conference.
• 7:30: Talk is Free Theatre/Show One Productions. Dani Girl. See Feb 16.
• 7:30: Toronto Opera Repertoire. Lucia di
Lammermoor. See Feb 15.
• 8:00: b current/Theatre Archipelago. Obeah Opera. See Feb 16.
• 8:00: Civic Light Opera. Forbidden Broadway. See Feb 22.
• 8:00: Etobicoke Philharmonica Orchestra.
Classical Gold. Freedman: Caricature; Elgar:
Concert sponsor:
The Estates of
Miriam & Irving Steinberg
See Feb 3.
• 7:30: Talk is Free Theatre/Show One Productions. Dani Girl. See Feb 16.
• 8:00: b current/Theatre Archipelago. Obeah Opera. See Feb 16.
• 8:00: Civic Light Opera. Forbidden Broadway. See Feb 22.
• 8:00: Corktown Chamber Orchestra. Esoterica: The Sum of Our Parts. An evening of
smaller ensembles, featuring familiar excerpts,
pop and new music. Paul McCulloch, conductor. Little Trinity Anglican Church, 425 King St.
E. 416-367-0272. $10; free(children).
• 8:00: Massey Hall and Roy Thomson Hall.
Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton
Marsalis. Roy Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe St.
416-872-4255. $39.50–$99.50.
• 8:00: Queen of Puddings Music Theatre/
Canadian Stage. Beckett: Feck It! See Feb 17.
• 8:00: Theatre Ad Infinitum/Why Not Theatre. The Big Smoke. See Feb 22.
• 8:00: Show One Productions. Vladimir
Spivakov, violin with Olga Kern, piano. Brahms:
Sonata No.3 in d Op.108; Stravinsky: Suite Italienne; Arvo Pärt: Spiegel im Spiegel; Franck:
Sonata in A. Koerner Hall, 273 Bloor St. W.
416-408-0208. $50-$120.
• 8:00: Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra.
Virtuoso Vivaldi. Vivaldi: La Tempesta di Mare;
Concerto for mandolin in C; Concerto for lute
and viola d’amore in d; Telemann: Concerto for
recorder and bassoon in F. Marion Verbruggen,
recorder; Thomas Georgi, viola d’amore; Lucas Harris, lute; Christina Mahler; cello; Dominic Teresi, bassoon; Jeanne Lamon, director.
Cello Concerto; Beethoven: Symphony No.3
“Eroica.” Sabatino Vacca, conductor; guest:
Winona Zelenka, cello. Scarlett Heights Entrepreneurial Academy, 15 Trehorne Dr., Etobicoke. 416-239-5665. $25; $20(sr); $10(st).
7:30: Pre-concert chat.
• 8:00: Green Door Cabaret at the Lower
Ossington Theatre. David Sereda. 100A Ossington Ave. 416-915-6747. $30(reserved);
$25; $20(st/industry with ID).
• 8:00: Guitar Society of Toronto/Royal
Conservatory. Strings Series: Eliot Fisk, guitar. D. Scarlatti: Six Sonatas for Guitar; Bach:
Ciaccona from Partita No.2 in d; Paganini: 24
Caprices arranged for guitar; Schwertsik: Ein
Kleines Requiem. Koerner Hall, 273 Bloor St.
W. 416-964-8298 or 416-408-0208. $33.50
and up.
• 8:00: Lawrence Park Community Church/
Toronto Centre of the Royal Canadian College of Organists. Fridays @ 8: Duo Majoya.
Organ/piano duets. Ruth Watson-Henderson:
new work; and works by Albinoni, Bédard and
Schubert. Marnie Giesbrecht, organ; Joachim
Seger, piano. 2180 Bayview Ave. 416-4891551. $25; $20(sr/st).
sine nomine
Ensemble for Medieval Music
The Road to
Canterbury
Music for
Chaucer's Pilgrims
Friday, February 24, 8 pm
Saint Thomas's Church
383 Huron Street
Tickets $20 / $14
416-638-9445
[email protected]
FEB. 24TH 2012 - 8PM
presents
Roy Thomson Hall
60 Simcoe Street, Toronto, ON
FOR TICKETS CALL: 416.872.4255
or pavlo.com & roythomsonhall.com
Ticket Price: $39.50, $49.50 & $59.50
IN CONCERT
40
Sponsored by
thewholenote.com
February 1 – March 7, 2012
• 8:00: Massey Hall and Roy Thomson
Hall. Pavlo. Mediterranean guitar. Roy Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe St. 416-872-4255.
$29.50­–$59.50.
• 8:00: Musideum. Laurance Tan, tenor. Michael Berkorsky, piano; guest: Ray Hanson,
baritone. 401 Richmond St. W. 416-419-2248.
$15.
• 8:00: Pilaros. Pavlo: An Evening of Mediterranean Guitar. Roy Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe
St. 416-872-4255. $39.50–$59.50.
• 8:00: Queen of Puddings Music Theatre/
Canadian Stage. Beckett: Feck It! See Feb 17.
• 8:00: Rose Theatre Brampton. Studio Jazz
Series: Peter Appleyard. Rose Studio Theatre,
1 Theatre Lane, Brampton. 905-874-2800.
$33.90.
• 8:00: Sine Nomine Ensemble for Medieval Music. The Road to Canterbury: Music for
Chaucer’s Pilgrims. English and French medieval
music set to Chaucer’s Miller’s Tale and Franklin’s Tale. Saint Thomas’s Anglican Church, 383
Huron St. 416-638-9445. $20; $14(sr/st).
• 8:00: Sony Centre for the Performing
Arts. Soweto Gospel Choir: African Grace. 1
Front St. E. 1-855-872-7669. $38–$78. Also
Feb 25.
• 8:00: Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra. Virtuoso Vivaldi. See Feb 23.
• 8:00: Theatre Ad Infinitum/Why Not Theatre. The Big Smoke. See Feb 22.
• 8:00: Toronto Operetta Theatre. Taptoo!
Music by J. Beckwith and book by Reaney. Music theatre set during the War of 1812, about
the founding of York. With Michael Barrett
(Seth); Robert Longo (Wayne); Todd Delaney
(Simcoe); Allison Angelo (Atahentsic); and others; Guillermo Silva-Marin, stage director; Larry Beckwith, conductor. Jane Mallett Theatre,
St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts. 416-3667723 or 1-800-708-6754. $66–$95. Also Feb
25, 26(mat).
• 8:00: University of Toronto Faculty of
Medicine. Daffydil 2012: The Root of What
Plagues You. See Feb 22.
Saturday February 25
• 1:30 and 3:30: Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Orchestra Olympics. Dirk Meyer, conductor; Gregory Smith, narrator. Roy Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe St. 416-593-4828 or
416-593-0688(Chinese). $20–$22.
• 2:00 and 7:30: Talk is Free Theatre/Show
One Productions. Dani Girl. See Feb 16.
• 2:00 and 8:00: Queen of Puddings Music
Theatre/Canadian Stage. Beckett: Feck It!
See Feb 17.
• 4:00: Toronto Children’s Chorus. Master
Composers and Compositions: Classic Works
and Hidden Gems. TCC’s Training Choirs, Boy’s
Choir and Cantare Choir. Metropolitan United Church, 56 Queen St. E. 416-932-8666.
$15–$20.
• 7:30: Canadian Opera Company. Tosca.
See Feb 3.
• 7:30: Toronto Opera Repertoire. The Merry
Widow. See Feb 17.
• 7:30: Toronto Welsh Male Voice Choir. A
Celebration of Song for St. David’s Day. Christ
Church Deer Park, 1570 Yonge St. 416-4102254. $25.
• 8:00: Acoustic Harvest. Grit Laskin. St.
Nicholas Anglican Church, 1512 Kingston Rd.
416-264-2235. $20; $18(sr/st).
• 8:00: b current/Theatre Archipelago. Obeah Opera. See Feb 16.
• 8:00: Canadian Sinfonietta. Wine and
Cheese. Schnittke: Suite in Old Style for Violin
and Piano; Ravel: Sonata for Violin and Piano
February 1 – March 7, 2012
Canadian Sinfonietta
Wine &Cheese
February 25, 8 PM
Michael Esch piano
Joyce Lai violin
Olivia Brayley
Quackenbush horn
SPONSORED BY
The Cambridge Food & Wine Society
in G; Brahms: Horn Trio Op.40. Michael Esch,
piano; Joyce Lai, violin; Olivia Brayley Quackenbush, horn. Heliconian Hall, 35 Hazelton Ave.
416-558-8862. $35, includes wine and food.
TH E C HAM B E R M US I C
S O C I ETY O F M I SS I SSAU GA
Mozart
&
More
G R E AT HA L L S E R I E S
The Seraphine
Piano Trio
FEB. 25
8 PM
Ossington Ave. 416-915-6747. $30(reserved);
$25; $20(st/industry with ID).
• 8:00: Ontario Philharmonic. A Journey Into
Brahms. Brahms: Violin Concerto in D Op.77;
Symphony No.2. Marco Parisotto, conductor;
guest: Ye-Eun Choi, violin. Regent Theatre, 50
King St. E., Oshawa. 905-721-3399 x2. $33–
$57. Also Feb 28 (Toronto).
• 8:00: Royal Conservatory. Beethoven and
Your Brain, Part II. Beethoven: Overture to
Egmont; Symphony No.5 in c; Symphony No.9
“Choral” (excerpts); Symphony No.3 in E-flat
“Eroica.” Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, Edwin
Outwater, director; Daniel Levitin, writer and
neuroscientist. Koerner Hall, 273 Bloor St. W.
416-408-0208. $45 and up.
• 8:00: Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra/Toronto Choral Society. Brahms’ Requiem
and Schubert’s Unfinished. Brahms: A German
Requiem; Schubert: Symphony No.8 in b “Unfinished.” Ronald Royer and Geoffrey Butler,
conductors. Birchmount Park Collegiate Institute, 3663 Danforth Ave. 416-429-0007. $30;
$25(sr); $15(youth). 7:15: Pre-concert chat.
• 8:00: Sony Centre for the Performing
Arts. Soweto Gospel Choir: African Grace. See
Feb 24.
• 8:00: Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra. Virtuoso Vivaldi. See Feb 23.
• 8:00: Theatre Ad Infinitum/Why Not Theatre. The Big Smoke. See Feb 22.
• 8:00: Toronto Operetta Theatre. Taptoo!
See Feb 24.
• 8:00: University of Toronto Faculty of
Medicine. Daffydil 2012: The Root of What
Plagues You. See Feb 22.
Sunday February 26
• 10:30am: Eglinton St. George’s United
Church. Jazz for Worship. 35 Lytton Blvd. 416481-1141 x250. Freewill offering. Religious
service.
• 2:00: b current/Theatre Archipelago. Obeah Opera. See Feb 16.
• 2:00: Civic Light Opera. Forbidden Broadway. See Feb 22.
Pantone version
CMYK version
Black & White version
• 8:00: Chamber Music Society of Mississauga. Great Hall Series: Mozart and More.
Mozart: Quartet in E K52; Dvořák: Trio No.4 in
e “Dumky”; Schubert: Trio in E-flat D929. Seraphine Piano Trio. Great Hall, Unitarian Congregation of Mississauga, 84 South Service Rd.,
Mississauga. 905-848-0015. $35; $30(sr);
$15(st); $85(family of four).
• 8:00: City of Brampton Concert Band. Heroes and Villains. Selections include I Believe,
Schindler’s List, Flight of the Bumblebee and
Fanfare for the Common Man. Darryl Eaton,
music director; guests: William Snodgrass, percussion; Susan Zach, violin; Julia Pulo, vocals;
James Faulkner, guitar; and others. 905-8742800. Rose Theatre, 1 Theatre Ln., Brampton.
$25; $20(st); $15(12 and under).
• 8:00: Civic Light Opera. Forbidden Broadway. See Feb 22.
• 8:00: Gallery 345/Marta Herman. Adventures: Toronto. Hatzis: Sappho Songs for voice
and chamber ensemble; K. Lau: String Quartet;
and other works. Marta Herman, mezzo; Ton
Beau String Quartet; Maika’I Nash, piano. 345
Sorauren Ave. 416-822-9781. $25 $15(st).
• 8:00: Green Door Cabaret at the Lower Ossington Theatre. Jay Davis. 100A
thewholenote.com
41
A. Concerts in the GTA
• 2:00: Opera York. Die Fledermaus. J.
Strauss. Matthew Zadow, tenor (Gabriel von
Eisenstein); Ilona Karan, soprano (Rosalinda);
Anna Bateman, soprano (Adele); Ryan Harper,
tenor (Alfred); Tony Cleverton, baritone (Dr.
Falke); with orchestra and chorus; Geoffrey
Butler, artistic director; Penny Cookson, stage
director. Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts, 10268 Yonge St., Richmond Hill. 905787-8811. $40-$50; $25(st). Also Mar 1(eve)
and Mar 3(eve). English surtitles.
• 2:00: Royal Conservatory. Mazzoleni Masters Series: Jeffrey Beecher, bass and Friends.
Works by Bach, Bartók and Rota. Guests: Joseph Johnson, cello; Vanessa Lee, piano; and
others. Mazzoleni Concert Hall, 273 Bloor St.
W. 416-408-0208. $31.50.
• 2:00: Toronto Opera Repertoire. Lucia di
Lammermoor. See Feb 15.
• 2:00: Toronto Operetta Theatre. Taptoo!
See Feb 24.
• 2:00 and 7:30: Talk is Free Theatre/Show
One Productions. Dani Girl. See Feb 16.
• 2:30: Theatre Ad Infinitum/Why Not Theatre. The Big Smoke. See Feb 22.
• 2:30: Toronto Early Music Centre.
Musically Speaking. Early 17th century German chamber music. Elyssa Lefurgey-Smith
and Christopher Verrette, violins; Sara-Anne
Churchill, harpsichord. St. David’s Anglican
Church, 49 Donlands Ave. 416-464-7610.
Free, donations welcome.
• 3:00: Hart House Music Committee. Sunday Concerts: 651st Concert. Works by SaintSaëns, Ravel and Massenet. Caroline Leonardelli, harp; Julie Trudea, cello. Great Hall, 7
Hart House Circle. 416-978-2452. Free.
• 3:00: Metro Jazz Society. Mike Field Quintet. Paupers Pub, 539 Bloor St. W. 416-4833222. $10.
• 3:00: Orchestra Toronto. Winter Tales.
Larson: The Winter’s Tale; Meyer: In Memoriam Henryk Gorecki; de Falla: El Sombrero de
Tres; Picos: Suite No.1; Copland: Fanfare for
the Common Man; Prokofiev: Romeo and Juliet
Suite No.2. Danielle Lisboa, conductor. George
Weston Recital Hall, Toronto Centre for the
Arts, 5040 Yonge St. 416-467-7142 or 1-855985-2787. $39; $34(sr); $14(under 18). 2:15:
Pre-concert talk.
• 3:00: Pickering Village United Church. Ian
Sadler, organ. 300 Church St. N., Ajax. 905683-4721. Freewill offering.
• 3:00: Silverthorn Symphonic Winds.
Chamber Music Soirée. Schmitt: Lied and
Scherzo for double wind quintet; Mozart: Gran
Partita. Christopher Gongos, French horn;
OperaYork
Johann Strauss’
Die Fledermaus
A Comedy of Intoxicated Romance
Sunday, February 26, 2012
2:00 pm
Thursday March 1, 2012
8:00 pm
Saturday, March 3, 2012
8:00 pm
Geoffrey Butler,
Artistic Director
With orchestra, chorus and supertitles.
Richmond Hill Centre
forthe Performing Arts
10268 Yonge Street, Richmond Hill
Call 905 787-8811 • Website: http://rhcentre.ca
Tickets: $40 - $50 • Students $25
42
thewholenote.com
February 1 – March 7, 2012
members of SSW; Andrew Chung, music director. M.L. McConaghy Seniors’ Centre, 10100
Yonge St., Richmond Hill. 416-652-2077. $10;
$5(sr/st).
• 3:30: Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra. Virtuoso Vivaldi. See Feb 23.
• 4:00: Cathedral Church of St. James. Twilight Recitals. Andrew Adair, organ. 65 Church
St. 416-364-7865 x231. Freewill offering.
• 4:00: Mississauga Youth Orchestra. Winter Concert. Haydn: Surprise Symphony; Liszt:
Hungarian Rhapsody No.2; Jenkins: Palladio;
Badelt: Suite from Pirates of the Caribbean.
John Barnum, conductor; Ben Bolt-Martin,
cello and conductor. Eden United Church, 3051
Battleford Rd., Mississauga. 905-451-0988.
$15; $10(ages 4-17).
• 4:00: St. Olave’s Church. Choral Evensong
for First Sunday in Lent. 360 Windemere Ave.
416-769-5686. Freewill offering; religious
service.
• 4:00: St. Philip’s Anglican Church. Jazz
Vespers. Ralph Peter Trio. 25 St. Phillips Rd.,
Etobicoke. 416-247-5181. Freewill offering.
• 4:30: Yorkminster Park Baptist Church.
Choir of Yorkminster Park Baptist Church, with
orchestra. Fauré: Requiem; Rheinberger: Organ
Concerto No.1. Stephen King, baritone; William Maddox, organ and conductor; guest: David Ford, conductor. 1585 Yonge St. 416-9221167. Admission by donation.
• 5:00: St. Olave’s Church. City Flutes. Bach:
Brandenburg Concerto No.3 (arr. for flute);
Greensleeves (arr. A. McGinty); works by
Reicha and Bozza. Lana Chou Hoyt, director.
360 Windemere Ave. 416-769-5686. Freewill
offering.
• 7:30: Talk is Free Theatre/Show One Productions. Dani Girl. See Feb 16.
• 8:00: Esprit Orchestra. Gripped By Passion. Vivier: Wo Bist du licht!; Scelsi: Ohoi;
Rea: Zefiro torna; Schnittke: Concerto for Viola and Orchestra. Teng Li, viola; Krisztina Szabó, mezzo; Alex Paul, conductor. Koerner Hall,
273 Bloor St. W. 416-408-0208. $56–$67;
$48.35–$57.70(sr); $20(30 and under). 7:15:
Pre-concert talk.
• 8:00: Green Door Cabaret at the Lower
Ossington Theatre. Doug Gibson. 100A Ossington Ave. 416-915-6747. $30(reserved);
$25; $20(st/industry with ID).
• 8:00: Massey Hall and Roy Thomson Hall.
Canadian Voices Vocal Recital Series: Julie Boulianne. Glenn Gould Studio, 250 Front St. W.
416-872-4255. $29.50–$49.50.
Monday February 27
• 12:30: York University Department of
Music. Music at Midday: Classical instrumental
Recital with student soloists. Tribute Communities Recital Hall, Rm.112, Accolade East Bldg.,
4700 Keele St. 416-736-2100 x22926. Free.
• 7:30: Associates of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Five Small Concerts: Motherland, Nature and Nostalgia. Grieg: String Quartet No.1 in g Op.27; Smetana: String Quartet
No.1 in e JB1:105 “From My Life.” Etsuko
Kimura, violin; Angelique Toews, violin; Christopher Redfield, viola; Roberta Janzen, cello.
Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre, 427 Bloor St. W. 416282-6636. $20; $17(sr/st).
• 7:30: University of Toronto Faculty of
Music. Faculty Artist Series: Henri-Paul Sicsic, piano. Beethoven: 15 Variations and
fugue in E-flat Op.35 “Eroica”; Sonata No.31
in A-flat Op.110; Bagatelles Op.33; Nos. 1
and 5 Op.126. Walter Hall, Edward Johnson
Building, 80 Queen’s Park. 416-408-0208.
$30; $20(sr/st).
• 8:00: Jazz FM.91. Sound of Jazz Concert
Series: The Jazz.FM Youth Band Meets Lew Tabackin. The Old Mill Dining Room, 21 Old Mill
Rd. 416-231-2641. $37; $32(st).
Tuesday Febuary 28
• 12:00 noon: Canadian Opera Company.
Chamber Music Series: German Romanticism:
Thuille and Strauss.Thuille: Sextet in B-flat
Op.6 for winds and piano; Strauss: Violin Sonata. Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre, Four
Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, 145
Queen St. W. 416-363-8231. Free.
• 1:00: Cathedral Church of St. James. Music at Midday: Bach Series XIII. Andrew Adair,
organ. 65 Church St. 416-364-7865 x231.
Freewill offering.
• 8:00: Les Amis Concerts. Zagreb Piano Trio.
Works by Ravel, Shostakovich, Šipuš and Pepa.
Gallery 345, 345 Sorauren Ave. 416-8229781. $20; $15(sr); $10(st).
• 8:00: Mooredale Concerts/Ontario Philharmonic Orchestra. A Journey Into Brahms.
Brahms: Violin Concerto in D Op.77; Symphony
No.2 Op.73. Ye-Eun Choi, violin; Marco Parisotto, conductor. Koerner Hall, 273 Bloor St. W.
416-922-3714 x103. $38
• 8:00: Musideum. James Correa, singer-songwriter. Guest: Maia Davies, vocals. 401 Richmond St. W. 416-419-2248. $15/$10(adv).
• 8:00: Theatre Ad Infinitum/Why Not Theatre. The Big Smoke. See Feb 22.
Wednesday February 29
• 12:00 noon: Canadian Opera Company.
Chamber Music Series: Crossing Borders. Šipuš:
Gonars Trio; Pepa: Falstaff Variations; Ravel:
Trio in a. Zagreb Piano Trio: Martin Draušnik,
Thursday March 01
• 12:10: Nine Sparrows Arts Foundation/
Christ Church Deer Park. Lunchtime Chamber
Music: Rising Stars Recital. Students from the
University of Toronto Faculty of Music. Christ
Church Deer Park, 1570 Yonge St. 416-2411298. Free, donations welcome.
• 12:10: University of Toronto Faculty of
Music. Thursdays at Noon: Colleen Skull, soprano. Works from the 20th and 21st centuries.
Walter Hall, Edward Johnson Bldg., 80 Queen’s
Park. 416-978-0492. Free.
Associates of the
Toronto
Symphony
Orchestra
Andrew Chung, Music Director
2011/2012 Season
present
Christopher Gongos, French Horn
Motherland, Nature and Nostalgia
Chamber Music Soirée
Monday, February 27, 2012 7:30 pm
February 26 at 3 pm
M.L. McConaghy Seniors’ Centre
Edvard Grieg, String quartet No. 1 in G minor,
Opus 27
An afternoon of chamber music with
Christopher Gongos and members
of Silverthorn Symphonic Winds.
Tickets: $10/$5 Available at the door
Call 416-652-2077 for more information
Ballet, Broadway and the Big Screen
April 22, 2012 at 2 pm
Richmond Hill Centre
for the Performing Arts
including music from Star Wars,
West Side Story, and The Firebird Suite
Tickets: $25/$20
905-787-8811 or www.rhcentre.ca
February 1 – March 7, 2012
violin; Pavle Zajcev, cello; Danijel Detoni, piano.
Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre, Four Seasons
Centre for the Performing Arts, 145 Queen St.
W. 416-363-8231. Free.
• 12:15: Our Lady of Sorrows. Wednesday
Concert Series. Philip Fournier, organ. 3055
Bloor St. W. 416-231-6016. Free.
• 12:30: Yorkminster Park Baptist Church.
Noonday Organ Recitals. John Paul Farahat, organ. 1585 Yonge St. 416-922-1167. Free.
• 7:00: Civic Light Opera. Forbidden Broadway. See Feb 22.
• 7:30: Talk is Free Theatre/Show One Productions. Dani Girl. See Feb 16.
• 7:30: Toronto Opera Repertoire. Lucia di
Lammermoor. See Feb 15.
• 8:00: b current/Theatre Archipelago. Obeah Opera. See Feb 16.
• 8:00: Markham Theatre for the Performing Arts. DRUM! Featuring 20 musicians,
dancers, drummers and singers from Black,
Acadian, Aboriginal and Celtic cultures. 171
Town Centre Blvd., Markham. 905-305-7469
or 1-866-768-8801. $39–$54.
• 8:00: Theatre Ad Infinitum/Why Not Theatre. The Big Smoke. See Feb 22.
thewholenote.com
Bědrich Smetana, String quartet #1 in E minor
"From my life", JB 1:105
Etsuko Kimura, violin
Angelique Toews, violin
Christopher Redfield, viola
Roberta Janzen, cello
Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre
427 Bloor Street West, Toronto
(2 blocks west of Spadina Avenue)
Tickets: Reg. $20; Stu./Srs. $17
For tickets call 416-282-6636
www.associates-tso.org
43
A. Concerts in the GTA
• 12:15: Metropolitan United Church. Noon
at Met. Richard Hansen, organ. 56 Queen St. E.
416-363-0331 x26. Free.
• 12:30: York University Department of
Music. World at Noon. Songs and ballads of the
Sephardic Diaspora. Judith Cohen, vocals; and
others. Martin Family Lounge, Rm.219, Accolade East Bldg., 4700 Keele St. 416-736-2100
x22926. Free.
$17; $12(st/sr). Also Mar 2.
• 8:00: b current/Theatre Archipelago. Obeah Opera. See Feb 16.
• 8:00: Civic Light Opera. Forbidden Broadway. See Feb 22.
Friday March 02
THROUGH THE WINDOW
OF MARC CHAGALL
Yitzhak
Yedid
piano
A genius of third stream music…
MARCH 1, 8pm
algreentheatre.ca
• 7:30: Miles Nadal jcc. Yitzhak Yedid:
Through the Window of Marc Chagall. Yitzhak
Yedid, piano and compositions. Al Green Theatre, 750 Spadina Ave. 416-924-6211 x0. $15.
• 7:30: Talk is Free Theatre/Show One Productions. Dani Girl. See Feb 16.
• 7:30: University of Toronto Faculty Music. Jazz Composers Concert. Upper Jazz Studio, 90 Wellesley St. W. 416-978-0492. Free.
• 7:30: York University Departments of
Music, Theatre and Dance. Dido and Aenas. Purcell. Catherine Robbin, music director; Stephanie Martin, conductor; Gwen Dobie, stage director; Susan Lee, choreographer.
Sandra Faire and Ivan Fecan Theatre, Accolade
East Bldg., 4700 Keele St. 416-736-5888.
44
Creations Festival: This Isn’t Silence. Current:
This Isn’t Silence; Vivier: Lonely Child; Eötvös:
Seven for Violin and Orchestra (Canadian premiere); Kurtág: Messages. Barbara Hannigan,
soprano; Akiko Suwanai, violin; Peter Eötvös,
conductor; Peter Oundjian, host. Roy Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe St. 416-593-4828 or
416-593-0688(Chinese). $35–$145.
• 8:00: Music Toronto. Discovery Series: Wallis Giunta, mezzo; Steven Philcox, piano. Wainwright: All Days are Nights: Songs for Lulu;
also works by Britten, Purcell, Vaughan Williams, Barber and others. Jane Mallett Theatre,
St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts, 27 Front St.
E. 416-366-7723 or 1-800-708-6754. $21.50;
$10(st; accompanying adult pays half price).
• 8:00: Musideum. Lara Solnicki, vocals and
George Koller, bass. Jazz standards and originals. 401 Richmond St. W. 416-419-2248.
$15.
• 8:00: Opera York. Die Fledermaus. See
Feb 26.
• 8:00: Royal Conservatory. Jordi Savall,
viol. Koerner Hall, 273 Bloor St. W. 416-4080208. $50.50 and up.
• 8:00: Theatre Ad Infinitum/Why Not Theatre. The Big Smoke. See Feb 22.
• 8:00: Toronto Symphony Orchestra. New
• 12:30: York University Department of
Music. Music at Midday: York U Brass Ensemble. James MacDonald, director. Tribute Communities Recital Hall, Rm.112, Accolade East
Bldg., 4700 Keele St. 416-736-2100 x22926.
Free.
• 7:30: Talk is Free Theatre/Show One Productions. Dani Girl. See Feb 16.
• 7:30: Toronto Opera Repertoire. The Merry
Widow. See Feb 17.
• 7:30: York University Department of Music. Dido and Aenas. See Mar 1.
• 8:00: b current/Theatre Archipelago. Obeah Opera. See Feb 16.
• 8:00: Civic Light Opera. Forbidden Broadway. See Feb 22.
• 8:00: Green Door Cabaret at the Lower
Ossington Theatre. Joel Hartt. 100A Ossington Ave. 416-915-6747. $30(reserved); $25;
$20(st/industry with ID).
• 8:00: Massey Hall and Roy Thomson Hall.
Alejandra Ribera. Glenn Gould Studio, 250
Front St. W. 416-872-4255. $29.50.
• 8:00: Music Gallery. Rufus Cappadocia,
cello. Cello and mbira trance from Zimbabwe.
Guests: Mutamba Rainos and Pasi Gunguwo,
mbira. St. George the Martyr Church, 197 John
St. 416-204-1080. $30/$25(adv).
• 8:00: Soundstreams/Royal Conservatory. So Percussion: Cage @100. Works by Cage;
Lizée: new work. Guests: Matmos; Dan Deacon, electronics; Nicole Lizée, turntable. Koerner Hall, 273 Bloor St. W. 416-408-0208.
$42 and up.
• 8:00: Theatre Ad Infinitum/Why Not Theatre. The Big Smoke. See Feb 22.
Saturday March 03
• 2:00 and 7:30: Amadeus Choir. A Celtic Celebration. With Rant Maggie Rant (Celtic band).
Jubilee United Church, 40 Underhill Dr. 416446-0188. $35; $30(sr/st). Includes live and
thewholenote.com
silent auctions.
• 2:00 and 7:30: Talk is Free Theatre/Show
One Productions. Dani Girl. See Feb 16.
• 4:30: Beach United Church. Beach Jazz and
Reflection: Music for the Soul: Come Together. Malvern Dance Band. St. Aidan’s Anglican
Church, 70 Silverbirch Ave. 416-691-8082.
Freewill offering.
• 7:00: Mississauga Pops. TV Pops.
Meadowvale Theatre, 6315 Montevideo Rd.,
Mississauga. 905-615-4720. $20; $18(sr/st);
$12(child).
• 7:30: Oakville Chamber Ensemble. Merry
Olde England. Elgar: Introduction & Allegro;
Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on a Theme of
Thomas Tallis; Purcell: The Old Bachelor Suite;
Coulthard: Prayer for Elizabeth; Britten: Simple Symphony. Central Baptist Church, 340
Rebecca St., Oakville. 905-483-6787. $25;
$20(sr); $15(st). Also Mar 4 (mat, St. Simon’s
Anglican Church).
• 7:30: St. Anne’s Choir and Orchestra.
Purcell Evening Prayer. Evening prayer service
featuring music of Purcell. St. Anne’s Church,
270 Gladstone Ave. 416-536-3160. PWYC. Refreshments to follow.
• 7:30: Tallis Choir. Stabat Mater: Music for
Passiontide. Palestrina: Stabat Mater; Monteverdi: Missa In Illo Tempore; Lotti: Crucifixus;
Scarlatti: Stabat Mater. Peter Mahon, director.
St. Patrick’s Church, 141 McCaul St. 416-2869798. $30; $25(sr); $10(st with ID).
• 7:30: Toronto Opera Repertoire. Lucia di
Lammermoor. See Feb 15.
• 7:30: Toronto Symphony Orchestra.
New Creations Festival: Con Brio. Widmann:
Con brio (Canadian premiere); Eötvös: Replica
for Viola and Orchestra (North American premiere); Charke: Concerto for String Quartet
and Orchestra (world premiere). Kronos Quartet; Teng Li, viola; Peter Eötvös, conductor;
Peter Oundjian, conductor and host. Roy Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe St. 416-593-4828 or
416-593-0688(Chinese). $33–$98.
• 7:30: Tryptych. LotZa LanZa & Za’more! A
Two Tenors Tribute to Mario Lanza. Leonard
Whiting, tenor; Edward Franko, tenor; Brett
Kingsbury, piano. West Hall Theatre, Trinity Presbyterian Church, 2737 Bayview Ave.
416-763-5066 x1. $35/$30(adv); $25(sr/
st)/$20(adv).
• 8:00: Art of Time Ensemble/Royal
February 1 – March 7, 2012
$20/$16(adv); $7(13 and under).
• 8:00: Grand Salon Orchestra. Lady Day: An
Evening of Billie Holiday. Jessica Rose, vocals;
Kerry Stratton, conductor. Glenn Gould Studio,
250 Front St. W. 647-853-0057 or 416-8724255. $32.50.
• 8:00: Greater Toronto Philharmonic Orchestra. Spring Pops. Rossini: Overture from
Italian in Algiers; Vivaldi: Winter from Four Seasons; Wolf: Italian Serenade; Haydn: Symphony
No.60 “Il Distratto”; and other works. Aria Tesolin, soprano; Entela Galanxhi, violin. Columbus
Centre, 901 Lawrence Ave. W. 647-238-0015.
$25; $20(sr/st).
• 8:00: Green Door Cabaret at the Lower
Ossington Theatre. Peter McGillivray. 100A
Ossington Ave. 416-915-6747. $30(reserved);
$25; $20(st/industry with ID).
• 8:00: Jubilate Singers. Argentina! Works
by Piazzolla, Guastavino and others. Isabel Bernaus, conductor; Sherry Squires, piano; guests:
tango dancers from Club Milonga, accompanied by the Tango Fresco ensemble. Calvin
SAT MARCH 3 8PM
GLENN GOULD STUDIO
250 Front St W.
Tickets 416.872.4255
roythomson.com
grandsalonorchestra.com
LADY DAY: AN EVENING
OF BILLIE HOLIDAY
Counterpoint Community Orchestra
Counterpoint Community Orchestra
Terry Kowalczuk Music Director,
and the Dickens Fellowship
Toronto Branch present
DICKENS
Twist
with a
A Tribute to
Charles Dickens,
Novelist,
Social Reformer,
Philanthropist,
on the Occasion
of the 200th
Anniversary
of his Birth
Drawing by Cameron Coneybeare
Conservatory. Brasil. Works by Villa-Lobos
and Jobim. Guests: Guinga, Luanda Jones,
vocals; Monica Whicher, soprano; and others.
Koerner Hall, 273 Bloor St. W. 416-408-0208.
$39 and up.
• 8:00: b current/Theatre Archipelago. Obeah Opera. See Feb 16.
• 8:00: Bell’Arte Singers. Classical: Ways
of Seeing. Works by Bach, Barber, Mozart;
Brahms and others. St. Simon the Apostle
Church, 525 Bloor St. E. 416-269-5044. $20;
$15(sr/st).
• 8:00: Civic Light Opera. Forbidden Broadway. See Feb 22.
• 8:00: Counterpoint Community Orchestra/Dickens Fellowship Toronto Branch.
Dickens with a Twist: A Tribute to Charles
Dickens on the 200th Anniversary of His Birth.
Mozart: Marten aller Arten; Beethoven: Symphony No.7; Bart: Oliver (selections); and
other works. Sinead Sugrue, soprano; Terry
Kowalczuk, music director. St. Luke’s United
Church, 353 Sherbourne St. 416-902-7532.
A Symphony
Orchestra Concert
evening featuring:
“Oliver!” Concert Orchestra Selections;
Sinead Sugrue, soprano: Mozart’s Marten aller Arten;
Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Opus 92, by Beethoven;
plus other celebrated pieces associated with this celebrated author
Tickets: $20 at the Door • Advance $16 • Youth (13 & under) $7
Reserve Tickets, Group Tickets, or for more information:
[email protected] • (416) 902-7532 • www.ccorchestra.org
Join the mailing list for upcoming Dickens Fellowship
events in 2012: [email protected]
Saturday March 3, 2012, at 8:00 p.m.
Saint Luke’s United Church, 353 Sherbourne St.
Jessica Rose & The Grand Salon Orchestra
Conductor Kerry Stratton
The Amadeus Choir & Lydia Adams ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
invite you to
Celtic
Celebration
A
Saturday, March 3, 2012
2:00 p.m. & 7:30 p.m.
Jubilee United Church (40 Underhill Drive)
Toronto, Ontario
This popular benefit concert supports the artistic initiatives of
The Amadeus Choir. Featured are The Amadeus Choir,
Rant Maggie Rant, plus Live and Silent Auctions.
Tickets are $35 ($30 for seniors and students).
For information or to purchase tickets, visit or call
www.amadeuschoir.com . 416-446-0188
February 1 – March 7, 2012
thewholenote.com
45
Jubilate
singers
A. Concerts in the GTA
Isabel Bernaus
conductor
jubilate singers.ca
Sherry Squires
accompanist
Ar GENTINA!
Tango
with
Club Milonga
Tango Dancers
and
Tango Fresco
Ensemble
Calvin Presbyterian Church
26 Delisle Avenue ( 1 block north of St. Clair, west off Yonge)
Saturday Mar. 3, 8 pm
Sunday March 04
Tickets: 416-536-5750, at the door, or
$20 adults, $15 seniors, $10 students
Jubilate Singers gratefully acknowledges
the support of its sponsors
Gibbons:
Canticles & Cries
A rare choral offering
accompanied by the Viols of the
Cardinal Consort.
Saturday March 3 • 8 p.m.
Mark Vuorinen
Music Director
Presbyterian Church, 26 Delisle Ave. 416-5365750. $20; $15(sr); $10(st).
• 8:00: Markham Theatre for the Performing Arts. Arturo Sandoval: A Tribute to My
Friend Dizzy Gillespie. 171 Town Centre Blvd.,
Markham. 905-305-7469 or 1-866-768-8801.
$54–$59.
• 8:00: Musideum. Medicine Wheel. David
R. Maracle, native flutes, hang drum; Donald
Quan, guzheng/keyboards/tabla; Ron Bankley,
guitar; Richard Best, percussion. 401 Richmond St. W. 416-419-2248. $20.
• 8:00: Opera York. Die Fledermaus. See
Feb 26.
• 8:00: Oriana Women’s Choir. Voices of
Women. Celebrating the strength of female
voices and International Women’s Day. Guests:
Andrea Ludwig, soprano; Michael Bloss, organ.
Grace Church-on-the-Hill, 300 Lonsdale Rd.
647-466-7673. $25; $20(sr); $10(under 30).
• 8:00: Theatre Ad Infinitum/Why Not Theatre. The Big Smoke. See Feb 22.
• 8:00: Toronto Chamber Choir. Gibbons:
Canticles & Cries. Renaissance canticles, anthems, madrigals and vendors’ cries by Gibbons, Byrd and others. With Viols of the Cardinal Consort; Mark Vuorinen, music director.
Christ Church Deer Park, 1570 Yonge St. 416763-1695. 7:00: Opening notes. $27–$30;
$20–$22(sr); $12.50(under 30).
Christ Church Deer Park, 1570 Yonge St
(416) 763-1695 • torontochamberchoir.ca
• 10:30am: Eglinton St. George’s United
Church. Jazz for Worship. 35 Lytton Blvd. 416481-1141 x250. Freewill offering. Religious
service.
• 2:00: b current/Theatre Archipelago. Obeah Opera. See Feb 16.
• 2:00: Civic Light Opera. Forbidden Broadway. See Feb 22.
• 2:00: Markham Concert Band. O Canada.
Music composed and arranged by Canadians.
John Liddle, trumpet; Canadian Singers. Markham Theatre, 171 Town Centre, Blvd., Markham. 905-305-7469. $20; $15(sr/st/child).
• 2:00: Toronto Opera Repertoire. The Merry
Widow. See Feb 17.
Pentaèdre
WOODWIND QUINTET
Sunday, March 4, 2012
2:00 pm
• 2:00: Visual and Performing Arts Newmarket. Pentaèdre Woodwind Quintet. Flute,
clarinet, oboe, bassoon and horn. Newmarket
Theatre, 505 Pickering Cres., Newmarket.
905-953-5122. $26; $20(sr); $10(st).
• 2:00 and 7:30: Talk is Free Theatre/Show
One Productions. Dani Girl. See Feb 16.
• 2:30: Opera in Concert. Oberto. Verdi. Canadian premiere. Giles Tomkins, baritone (Oberto); Joni Henson, soprano (Leonora); Michele
Bognanowicz, mezzo (Cuniza); Romulo Delgado, tenor (Riccardo); Opera in Concert Chorus,
Derek Bate, conductor; Alison d’Amato, music director and piano. Jane Mallett Theatre,
St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts, 27 Front St.
E. 416-366-7723 or 1-800-708-6754. $40–
$50. English surtitles. 1:45: Pre-concert backgrounder with Iain Scott.
Toronto Classical Singers
Goes Platinum~20 years of Singing
Timeless Treasures
Vivaldi: Gloria & Schubert: Mass in G
4 pm Sunday March 4, 2012
Vivaldi’s sparkling hit with the beautiful melodies of Schubert
Syrinx Sunday Salons
Conductor & Artistic Director
Jurgen Petrenko
The Talisker Players Orchestra
Peter Longworth, piano
Benjamin Bowman, violin
Soloists:
Sheila Dietrich, soprano
Danielle MacMillan, mezzo-soprano
Cory Knight, tenor
Kevin Bradshaw, bass
William Rowson: Violin Sonata
Schubert: B Minor Rondo for
violin and piano
John Corigliano: Sonata for
violin and piano
Sunday March 4, 2012 3pm
Heliconian Hall, 35 Hazelton Ave
Christ Church Deer Park
1570 Yonge St. @Heath St W.
www.torontoclassicalsingers.ca or 416-443-1490
Tickets $25 Students $20
info: 416-654-0877 www.syrinxconcerts.org
46
Tickets $30 Adult, $25 Senior/Student
thewholenote.com
February 1 – March 7, 2012
• 2:30: Theatre Ad Infinitum/Why Not Theatre. The Big Smoke. See Feb 22.
• 3:00: Mississauga Choral Society. A Variety of Vivaldi. St. Patrick’s Catholic Church,
921 Flagship Dr., Mississauga. 905-278-7059.
$16–$28.
• 3:00: Oakville Chamber Ensemble. Merry
Olde England. Elgar: Introduction & Allegro;
Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on the a Theme of
Thomas Tallis; Purcell: The Old Bachelor Suite;
Coulthard: Prayer for Elizabeth; Britten: Simple Symphony. St. Simon’s Anglican Church,
1450 Litchfield Rd., Oakville. 905-483-6787.
$25; $20(sr); $15(st). Also Mar 3 (Central Baptist Church).
• 3:00: Orpheus Choir. Beethoven, Bevan
and the Bard. Bevan: No Mortal Business (premiere); Beethoven: Mass in C. Johane Ansell,
soprano; Sidgwick Scholars of the Orpheus
Choir; Chorus Niagara; Talisker Players; Edward Moroney, organ; Robert Cooper, conductor; Geraint Wyn Davies, narrator. Metropolitan United Church, 56 Queen St. E. 416-5304428. $30; $25(sr); $15(st).
• 3:00: Royal Conservatory. Ian Bostridge,
tenor, with Julius Drake, piano. Schumann:
Dein Angesicht Op.127 No.2; Mein Wagen rollet langsam Op.142 No.4; Liederkreis Op.24;
and other works; Brahms: Auf dem Kirchhofe
Op.105 No.4; Verzagen Op.72 No.4; Botschaft
2011-12
SeaSon
DISCOVER THE SOUND!
DISCOVER THE VOICE!
Guillermo Silva-Marin, General Director
Monday March 05
OBERTO
by
G IUSEPPE VERDI in Italian with English surtitles
A young Verdi’s tale of love, infidelity and vengeance
in the aftermath of battle. A Canadian Premiere!
Alison d’Amato, Music Director and Pianist
Giles Tomkins, Joni Henson,
Michèle Bogdanowicz, Christy Derksen, Romulo Delgado
Opera in Concert Chorus, Derek Bate, Guest Chorus Director
Sun. March 4 at 2:30 pm
‘The Backgrounder’ with Iain Scott
An introduction to the opera at 1:45 pm
Free Admission with your ticket.
416-366-7723
1-800-708-6754
Op.47 No.1; and other works. Koerner Hall, 273
Bloor St. W. 416-408-0208. $33.50 and up.
• 3:00: Syrinx Sunday Salons. Peter Longworth, piano and Benjamin Bowman, violin.
Rowson: Violin Sonata; Schubert: Rondo in
b for violin and piano; Corigliano: Sonata for
Violin and Piano. Heliconian Hall, 35 Hazelton
Ave. 416-654-0877. $25; $20(st). Reception
to follow.
• 4:00: Toronto Classical Singers. Timeless
Treasures. Marking the 20th season of TCS.
Vivaldi: Gloria; Schubert: Mass in G. Sheila
Dietrich, soprano; Danielle MacMillan, mezzo;
Cory Knight, tenor; Kevin Bradshaw, bass; Talisker Players Orchestra; Jurgen Petrenko, conductor. Christ Church Deer Park, 1570 Yonge
St. 416-443-1490. $30; $25(sr/st).
• 7:30: Victoria Scholars Men’s Choral Ensemble. The Romantic Gentlemen. Works by
Brahms, Elgar, Gounod, Rossini, Grieg and others. Our Lady of Sorrows Church, 3055 Bloor
St. W. 416-761-7776. $25; $20(sr/st).
• 8:00: Green Door Cabaret at the Lower
Ossington Theatre. Geoffrey Tyler. 100A
Ossington Ave. 416-915-6747. $30(reserved);
$25; $20(st/industry with ID).
www.stlc.com
• 12:30: York University Department of
Music. Music at Midday: Classical instrumental
Recital with student soloists. Tribute Communities Recital Hall, Rm.112, Accolade East Bldg.,
4700 Keele St. 416-736-2100 x22926. Free.
• 7:00: Toronto Brass Quintet. In Recital.
Church of the Redeemer, 162 Bloor St. W. 416732-7236. $20; $10(sr/st).
• 7:30: Al Green Theatre/MNjcc. Bridges:
Yiddish and Arabic music in dialogue. Featuring
Lenka Lichtenberg, vocals; Roula Said, vocals
and dance; plus ensemble of eight musicians.
750 Spadina Ave. 416-924-6211 x0. $20-$50.
Tuesday March 06
• 12:00 noon: Canadian Opera Company. Vocal Series: A Celebration of Canadian Art Song.
Harman: Sewing the Earthworm (world premiere); Passmore: Seven “Dark Lady” Sonnets;
Glick: Two Landscapes. Carla Huhtanen, soprano; Krisztina Szabó, mezzo; Lawrence Wiliford,
tenor and director; Steven Philcox, piano and
director. Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre, Four
Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, 145
Queen St. W. 416-363-8231. Free.
• 12:30: York University Department of
www.kids4peace.ca
Music. Music at Midday: York U Chamber
Strings. Jacques Israelievitch, director. Tribute Communities Recital Hall, Rm.112, Accolade East Bldg., 4700 Keele St. 416-736-2100
x22926. Free.
• 7:30: Kids4Peace. Benefit concert with The
Three Cantors. Angus Sinclair, accompanist. All
Saints’ Kingsway Anglican Church, 2850 Bloor
St. W. 416-233-1125. $30/$25(adv). In support
of interfaith summer camp programs.
• 7:30: York University Department of Music. York U Chamber Choir. Works by Vivaldi,
Bach, Buxtehude and others. Mélisande Sinsoulier, piano. Tribute Communities Recital
Hall, Rm.112, Accolade East Bldg., 4700 Keele
St. 416-736-2100 x22926. Free.
• 8:00: Music Toronto. Piano Series: Richard
Goode. Brahms: Eight Pieces Op.76; Chopin:
short works tba; Sonata No.3 in b Op.58. Jane
Mallett Theatre, St. Lawrence Centre for the
Arts, 27 Front St. E. 416-366-7723 or 1-800708-6754. $47.50–$52; $10(st, accompanying adult half price); Pay your age(18-35, plus
$6 facility and handling charges).
• 8:00: Musideum. Mark Sepic and his Junkestra. Songs, stories and musical fantasies. 401
Richmond St. W. 416-419-2248. $20.
Wednesday March 07
• 12:15: Our Lady of Sorrows. Wednesday
Concert Series. Mark Toews, organ. 3055 Bloor
St. W. 416-231-6016. Free.
• 12:30: Yorkminster Park Baptist Church.
Noonday Organ Recitals. Imre Olah, organ.
1585 Yonge St. 416-922-1167. Free.
• 5:30: Canadian Opera Company. Jazz Series: My Foolish Heart. Jazz classics and originals. Guido Basso, trumpet and flugelhorn; Don
Thomson, piano and bass. Richard Bradshaw
Amphitheatre, Four Seasons Centre for the
Performing Arts, 145 Queen St. W. 416-3638231. Free.
• 7:00: Civic Light Opera. Forbidden Broadway. See Feb 22.
• 8:00: Gallery 345/suddenlyLISTEN. New
compositions and improvisations. Norman Adams, cello; Lee Pui Ming, piano; Erin Donovan,
percussion. 345 Sorauren Ave. 416-822-9781.
$20; $15(sr); $10(st).
• 8:00: Rose Theatre Brampton. Michael
Kaeshammer. 1 Theatre Lane, Brampton. 905874-2800. $41.81–64.41.
• 8:00: Royal Conservatory. Lila Downs,
Latin singer. Koerner Hall, 273 Bloor St. W.
join OPERA BY REQUEST
for our 50th opera:
Verdi's Don
Carlo
Saturday, March 10, 7:30 pm
THETHREECANTORS
Tuesday, March 6, 7:30 p.m.
All Saints Kingsway Anglican Church
2850 Bloor Street West • $25 advance; $30 at the door
Call 416-233-1125 to reserve tickets • www.3cantors.com
February 1 – March 7, 2012
thewholenote.com
College St. United Church
452 College St. (at Bathurst)
All tickets $20
416 455-2365 for rsvtns/info
operabyrequest.com
5 YEARS
50 OPERAS
150 SINGERS
47
B. Concerts Beyond the GTA
A. Concerts in the GTA
416-408-0208. $33.50 and up.
• 8:00: Toronto Symphony Orchestra. New
Creations Festival: Orion. Vivier: Orion; Widmann: Elegy for Clarinet and Orchestra (North
American premiere); Eötvös: Cello Concerto
Grosso (North American premiere); zeroPoints.
Jörg Widmann, clarinet; Joseph Johnson, cello;
Peter Eötvös, conductor; Peter Oundjian, conductor and host. Roy Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe
St. 416-593-4828 or 416-593-0688(Chinese).
$35–$145.
IN THIS ISSUE: Barrie, Brantford, Dundas, Guelph, Hamilton,
Huntsville, Kingston, Kitchener, Jordan, London, Orillia,
Owen Sound, Peterborough, Port Hope, St. Catharines, Waterloo.
Wednesday February 01
Saturday February 04
• 12:00 noon: Midday Music with Shigeru.
Thomson Somerville, jazz piano. Music by Berlin, Stevens, McLaughlin and Somerville. HiWay Pentecostal Church, 50 Anne St. N., Barrie. 705-726-1181. $5; free(st).
• 8:00: Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music
Society. WLU Student Composers and Improvisers. Original compositions for string quartet
and woodwind trio. KWCMS Music Room, 57
Young St. W., Waterloo. 519-886-1673. $15;
$10(sr); $8(st).
• 1:00 and 7:30: EBP Productions. Les Misérables. See Feb 3.
• 2:00 and 7:30: Brock Musical Theatre.
Rent. See Feb 2.
• 7:30: Barrie Concerts. Pergolesi’s Inspiring
Stabat Mater. Pergolesi: Stabat Mater; Handel:
solos and duos. Daniel Taylor, countertenor;
Dame Emma Kirkby, soprano; Theatre of Early
Music. Hi-Way Pentecostal Church, 50 Anne
St. N., Barrie. 705-726-1181. By subscription only.
• 7:30: Grand Philharmonic Choir. A Night of
Brahms and Pärt. Brahms: Ein Deutsches Requiem; Pärt: Credo and Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten. Betty Waynne Allison, soprano;
Andrew Tees, baritone; Mark Vuorinen, conductor. Centre in the Square, 101 Queen St. N.,
Kitchener. 519-578-6885. $10-$65.
• 8:00: Wilfrid Laurier University. WLU
Choirs. Lee Willingham, director. First United
Church, 16 William St., Waterloo. 519-8840710. x2150. $10; $5(sr/st).
Thursday February 02
SOUNDSTREAMS 11/12 CONCERT SERIES
STUTTGART CHAMBER CHOIR
& CHOIR 21
Sunday, March 11, 2012 at 3pm
The Carlu Concert Hall, 444 Yonge St. 7th floor
Frieder Bernius conducts one of the world’s foremost interpreters of Bach,
the Stuttgart Chamber Choir. Together with Choir 21 and TorQ Percussion
Ensemble they perform a program that includes choral masterpieces.
Single tickets starting at $47 // Under 35 & Artists $28
For tickets call 416.408.0208 or visit www.rcmusic.ca
WWW.SOUNDSTREAMS.CA
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48
• 12:00 noon: Wilfrid Laurier University.
Music at Noon: Emily, the Way You Are: a OneWoman Opera. Opera explores the life and work
of Emily Carr with music by J. Skarecky and
libretto by Brandt. Ramona Carmelly, mezzo;
Joseph Ferretti, piano; John Brownell, percussion. Maureen Forrester Recital Hall, 75 University Ave. W., Waterloo. 519-884-0710.
x2150. Free.
• 12:10: University of Guelph. Thursday at
Noon Concert Series: The Evolution of the String
Quartet in One Hour. Works by Purcell, Haydn,
Peters and Storring. Madawaska Quartet.
MacKinnon Bldg., Rm.107 (Goldschmidt Rm.),
50 Stone Rd. E., Guelph. 519-824-4120. Free.
• 7:30: Brock Musical Theatre. Rent. Music
and lyrics by Larson. David S. Howes Theatre, Brock University, 500 Glenridge Ave., St.
Catharines. 905-688-5550 x3257. $15. Also
Feb 3-5; Feb 4(mat and eve).
• 7:30: Centre for the Arts, Brock University. Ravi Coltrane Quartet. Sean O’Sullivan
Theatre, 500 Glenridge Ave., St. Catharines.
905-688-5550 x3257. $55.
Friday February 03
• 7:30: Hillfield Strahallan College. Crescendo Concerts: Darcy Hepner Jazz Orchestra.
Performance to feature compositions and arrangements by Thad Jones. Sophia Perlman,
vocals. 299 Fennell Ave. W., Hamilton. 905389-1367 x112. $35; $30(sr); $25(st).
• 7:30: Brock Musical Theatre. Rent. See
Feb 2.
• 7:30: Centre for the Arts, Brock University. Africville. Joe Sealy, piano; George Elliot Clarke, poet; and guests. Sean O’Sullivan
Theatre, 500 Glenridge Ave., St. Catharines.
905-688-5550 x3257. $28.50; $22.50(sr/st);
$5(eyeGO).
• 7:30: EBP Productions. Les Misérables.
Boubil and Schonberg. Erin Bree Pierce, director. Lincoln Alexander Theatre, 160 King St.
E., Hamilton. 905-617-2733. $20. Also Feb
4(mat and eve).
• 8:00: Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music
Society. Winston Choi, piano. Bach: The Art
of Fugue BWV1080. KWCMS Music Room, 57
Young St. W., Waterloo. 519-886-1673. $30;
$25(sr); $20(st).
• 8:00: NUMUS Concerts. Pop/Rock Avant
Series: The White Album(s). Works by the Beatles. Pete Oldridge and the Urban Monks; Lukas
Bouda, guitar and sitar; NUMUS Chamber Orchestra. Conrad Centre for the Performing
Arts, 36 King St. W., Kitchener. 519-8963662. $35; $30(sr); $10(st; rush only).
thewholenote.com
Sunday February 05
• 2:30: Kingston Symphony. Canada Meets
Finland. Sibelius: Finlandia; Symphony No.1; M.
Szczesniak: Felt Resonance (piano concerto).
Michel Szczesniak, piano; Glen Fast, conductor.
Grand Theatre, 218 Princess St., Kingston.
613-530-2050. $20-$49.
• 3:00: Wilfrid Laurier University. WLU Wind
Orchestra. Jessica Kun, conductor. Theatre
Auditorium, 75 University Ave. W., Waterloo.
519-884-0710. x2150. $10; $5(sr/st).
• 7:00: Guitar Hamilton. Girls’ Night Out:
Young Female Guitarists. Works by Bach, Rodrigo, Granados, Piazzolla and more. Emma Rush,
Eva Beneke, Tracy Anne Smith, guitar. Hamilton Conservatory for the Arts, 126 James St.
S., Hamilton. 905-528-4020. $25; $15(sr/st).
• 7:30: Brock Musical Theatre. Rent. See
Feb 2.
• 7:30: Cuckoo’s Nest. Brian Pickell and
Friends. With Shane Cook, fiddle and Jack
Charron, piano. Chaucer’s Pub, 122 Carling St.,
London. 519-672-9267. $18/$15(adv).
Tuesday February 07
• 12:00 noon: Brock University Department
of Music. Music@Noon: Faculty Recital. Tim
White, trumpet; Karin Di Bella, piano. Concordia Seminary Chapel, 500 Glenridge Ave., St.
Catharines. 905-688-5550 x3817. Free.
• 4:30: Guelph Connection Concerts. Anna
Redekop, viola and Leslie Kinton, piano. St.
George’s Anglican Church, 99 Woolwich St.,
Guelph. 519-362-1075. Free.
• 8:00: Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music Society. New Orford String Quartet.
Beethoven: Quartet Op.59 No.3; Schubert:
Quintet in C. Jonathan Crow, Andrew Wan,
violin; Eric Nowlin, viola; Brian Manker, cello;
guest: Shauna Rolston, cello. KWCMS Music
Room, 57 Young St. W., Waterloo. 519-8861673. $35; $30(sr); $25(st).
Wednesday February 08
• 2:30: Seniors Serenade. A Hymn to Hymns.
Cheryl Graham, piano. 43 Ross St., Barrie.
705-726-1181. Free.
February 1 – March 7, 2012
• 8:00: Wilfrid Laurier University. Student
Composer Series. Maureen Forrester Recital
Hall, 75 University Ave. W., Waterloo. 519884-0710. x2150. Free.
Thursday February 09
• 12:00 noon: Wilfrid Laurier University.
Music at Noon: Glenn Buhr, piano. Maureen Forrester Recital Hall, 75 University Ave. W., Waterloo. 519-884-0710. x2150. Free.
• 12:10: University of Guelph. Thursday at
Noon Concert Series: Klezmer Music From Old
Traditions to New Improvisations. Brian Katz,
guitar/piano/voice; Jonno Lightstone, clarinet
and flute. MacKinnon Bldg., Rm.107 (Goldschmidt Rm.), 50 Stone Rd. E., Guelph. 519824-4120. Free.
• 8:00: Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music
Society. Cecilia Quartet. Haydn: Op.77 No.2;
Janáček: Quartet No.1 “Kreutzer Sonata”;
Dvořák: Quartet in G Op.106. KWCMS Music
Room, 57 Young St. W., Waterloo. 519-8861673. $35; $30(sr); $25(st).
• 8:00: Sunfest. Laila Biali, vocals and piano.
With George Koller, bass; Larnell Lewis, drums;
Ben Wittman, percussion. Aeolian Hall, 795
Dundas St. E., London. 519-672-7950. $25.
Friday February 10
• 8:00: Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music
Society. New Orford String Quartet. Brahms:
Quintet in f; Sokolovic: Blanc Dominant;
Beethoven: Quartet No.16 in F Op.135. Jonathan Crow, Andrew Wan, violin; Eric Nowlin,
viola; Brian Manker, cello; with Arthur Rowe,
piano. KWCMS Music Room, 57 Young St.
W., Waterloo. 519-886-1673. $35; $30(sr);
$25(st).
• 8:00: Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony.
Classical Mystery Tour: Music of the Beatles. Evan Mitchell, conductor. Centre In The
Square, 101 Queen St. N., Kitchener. 519745-4711 or 1-888-745-4717. $19 and up.
Also Feb 11.
Saturday February 11
• 7:30: Brock University Department of
Music. Viva Voce Choral Series. Haydn: Little Organ Mass. Avanti Chamber Singers and
string ensemble, Harris Loewen, conductor. ST.
Barnabas Anglican Church, 31 Queenston St.,
St. Catharines. 905-688-5550 x3817. $20;
$15(sr/st); $5(eyeGo/13 and under).
• 7:30: Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra.
One Thousand and One Nights. Debussy: Clair
de Lune (orch. Caplet); Berlioz: Mab Scherzo
from Roméo et Juliette; Saint-Saëns: Cello
Concerto No.1; Dvořák: Silent Woods; RimskyKorsakov: Scheherazde. Matt Haimovitz, cello;
James Sommerville, conductor. Hamilton
Place, 1 Summers Lane, Hamilton. 905-5267756. $18–$64; $10(under 30); $5(child).
• 8:00: Jeffrey Concerts. New Orford String
Quartet. Brahms: Quintet in f; Sokolovic: Blanc
Dominant; Beethoven: Quartet No.16 in F
Op.135. With Arthur Rowe, piano. Wolf Performance Hall, 251 Dundas St. E., London.
519-672-8800. $30; $25(sr); $15(st).
• 8:00: Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony.
Classical Mystery Tour: Music of the Beatles.
See Feb 10.
• 8:00: Wilfrid Laurier University. WLU Symphony Orchestra. Paul Pulford, conductor. Theatre Auditorium, 75 University Ave. W., Waterloo. 519-884-0710. x2150. $10; $5(sr/st).
• 8:00: Zooma Zooma Café. Laila Biali, vocals
and piano. With George Koller, bass; Larnell
Lewis, drums; Ben Wittman, percussion. 3839
Main St., Jordan. 905-562-6280. $25.
Sunday February 12
• 3:00: Port Hope Friends of Music. Via Salzburg. Cameco Capitol Arts Centre, 20 Queen
St., Port Hope. 905-797-2295. $40; $37(sr);
$13(st).
• 3:00: Sundays @ 3 Series. A Unique Valentine: The Kevin Ramessar Trio. Classical
and jazz, guitar and vocals. Dublin St. United
Church 68 Suffolk St. W., Guelph. 519-8210610. $20; $5(st).
• 3:00: Wellington Winds. Winds Around
the World. Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No.1;
also works by Dukas, Milhaud, Gassi, Swearingen and Marquen. Olena Klyucharova, piano;
Daniel Warren, conductor. Grandview Baptist
Church, 250 Old Chicopee Dr., Kitchener. 519579-3097. $25; $15(sr); free(st). Also Feb 26
(Waterloo).
• 3:00: Wilfrid Laurier University. WLU Symphony Orchestra. Paul Pulford, conductor. Theatre Auditorium, 75 University Ave. W., Waterloo. 519-884-0710. x2150. $10; $5(sr/st).
• 3:30: Huronia Symphony Orchestra. Family Classics. Saint-Saëns: Carnival of the Animals; Poulenc: The Story of Babar, The Little
Elephant; Williams: Harry Potter; Star Wars;
Badelt: Pirates of the Caribbean; Harwood:
Amusement Park; Barnes: Maid of the Mist.
Oliver Balaburski, conductor. Collier Street
United Church, 112 Collier St., Barrie. 705721-4752. $20; $10(st); $5(child). Also Feb
25 (Orillia).
• 7:00: Hamilton Concert Band/Jimmy
Stahl Big Band. The Sounds of Love. St.
Andrew’s United Church, 479 Upper Paradise
Rd., Hamilton. 905-930-8406. $10.
• 8:00: Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music
Society. Jorge Caballero, guitar. Bach: Violin
Sonata No.3; Albeniz: Iberia; Mussgorsky: Pictures at an Exhibition. KWCMS Music Room,
57 Young St. W., Waterloo. 519-886-1673.
$30; $25(sr); $20(st).
Tuesday February 14
• 12:00 noon: Brock University Department
of Music. Music@Noon: Recital. Piano, voice
and instrumental students. Concordia Seminary Chapel, 500 Glenridge Ave., St. Catharines. 905-688-5550 x3817. Free.
• 4:30: Guelph Connection Concerts. Emma
Banfield, violin, Marlena Turesky, cello; Talisa
Blackman, piano. Dvořák: Trio in E “Dumky.” St.
George’s Anglican Church, 99 Woolwich St.,
Guelph. 519-362-1075. Free.
• 8:00: Sanderson Centre for the Performing Arts. The Color Purple. Adapted by M. Norman with lyrics and music by B. Russell, A.
Willis and S. Bray. Gary Griffin, director. 88
Dalhousie St., Brantford. 519-758-8090 or
1-800-265-0710. $76. Also Feb 15(mat).
Wednesday February 15
• 12:00 noon: Music at St. Andrew’s. Blair
Bailey, organ. Guests: Steve Winfield and the
Eastview Senior Chorale. St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, 47 Owen St., Barrie. 705-7261181. $5; free(st).
• 2:00: Sanderson Centre for the Performing Arts. The Color Purple. See Feb 14.
Thursday February 16
• 12:00 noon: Wilfrid Laurier University.
John Laing Singers and Schulte Strings present
Mystery and Majesty
featuring music by Handel,
Haydn, Mendelssohn & Pärt
Saturday, February 25, 2012, 7:30p.m.
Central Presbyterian Church,
165 Charlton Avenue West, Hamilton
Sunday, February 26, 2012, 3:30p.m.
St. Paul’s United Church,
29 Park Street West, Dundas
The John Laing Singers gratefully acknowledge the support of:
February 1 – March 7, 2012
thewholenote.com
Buy tickets online at
www.johnlaingsingers.com
or call 905-628-5238.
Adults: $20 in advance, $25 at the door
Students: $10
Hamilton’s Community Partnership Program
for Culture
The Ontario Trillium Foundation is an agency
of the Government of Ontario
49
B. Concerts Beyond the GTA
Music at Noon: Piano Lecture Recital. Cage:
Sonatas and Interludes. Kate Boyd, piano. Theatre Auditorium, 75 University Ave. W., Waterloo. 519-884-0710. x2150. Free.
• 12:10: University of Guelph. Thursday at
Noon Concert Series: Convergence Ensemble.
Gerard Yun, shakuhachi/didgeridoo/native flute;
Kathryn Ladano, bass clarinet; Sandro Manzon, piano. MacKinnon Bldg., Rm.107 (Goldschmidt Rm.), 50 Stone Rd. E., Guelph. 519824-4120. Free.
• 7:00: Guelph Youth Singers. When Children
Sing: A Choral Event. Linda Beaupré, conductor.
Guests: Mitchell Woods Public School Choir;
Westwood Public School Choir; Resurrection
Christian Academy and the Guelph Youth Music
Centre Kids Chorus. New Life Christian Reformed Church, 400 Victoria Rd. N., Guelph.
519-821-8574. $5. Proceeds to the bursary
fund of the Guelph Youth Music Centre.
• 7:15: Skyliners Big Band. Concert and
Dance. With Maria Branje, vocals. Barrie City
Hall, 70 Collier St., Barrie. 705-487-2574.
Free.
• 8:00: Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music
Society. Kate Boyd, piano. Cage: Complete Sonatas and Interludes. KWCMS Music Room, 57
Young St. W., Waterloo. 519-886-1673. $25;
$20(sr); $15(st).
Tuesday February 21
• 4:30: Guelph Connection Concerts. Madawaska String Quartet. Schubert: Death and
the Maiden; Evangelista: Spanish Garland. St.
George’s Anglican Church, 99 Woolwich St.,
Guelph. 519-362-1075. Free.
Wednesday February 22
• 8:00: Brantford Downtown Jazz. Alex
Pangman & Her Alleycats. 1930s jazz. Alex
Pangman, jazz vocals. Sanderson Centre for
the Performing Arts, 88 Dalhousie St., Brantford. 519-758-8090 or 1-800-265-0710. $30.
• 8:00: St. John the Evangelist Anglican
Church. The Shining Night. Works by Warlock,
Bainton, Rorem, Barber and others. Christopher Watson, tenor; Carol Missio-King, piano.
23 Water St. Kitchener. 519-743-0228. $25;
$15(sr/st). Also Feb 20 (London) and Feb 23
(Peterborough).
Thursday February 23
• 8:00: Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony.
Spanish Origins: Bolero and Rodrigo. See Feb 17.
• 7:30: Centre for the Arts, Brock University. Emilie-Claire Barlow, jazz vocals. Guest:
Brandi Disterheft, bass. Sean O’Sullivan Theatre, 500 Glenridge Ave., St. Catharines.
905-688-5550 x3257. $39.
• 7:30: St. John the Evangelist Anglican
Church. The Shining Night. Works by Warlock,
Bainton, Rorem, Barber and others. Christopher Watson, tenor; Carol Missio-King, piano.
99 Brock St., Peterborough. 705-745-7624.
$25; $15(sr/st). Also Feb 20 (London) and Feb
22 (Kitchener).
• 8:00: Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony.
Quantum: Music at the Frontier of Science. Exploring how music works at nature’s most fundamental level; with researchers from the Institute for Quantum Computing. Edwin Outwater,
conductor. Conrad Centre for the Performing
Arts, 36 King St. W, Kitchener. 519-745-4711
or 1-888-745-4717. $33 and up. Also Feb 24.
Sunday February 19
Friday February 24
• 2:30: Georgian Music. All-Beethoven. Anton
Kuerti, piano. Hi-Way Pentecostal Church, 50
Anne St. N., Barrie. 705-726-1181. By subscription only.
• 3:00: Guelph Symphony Orchestra. New
Worlds. Dvořák: Ninth Symphony “from the
New World”; Baker: Harp Concerto; Morawetz: Carnival Overture. River Run Centre, 35
Woolwich St., Guelph. 519-763-3000. $32;
$16(st).
• 4:00: Spiritus Ensemble. All-Bach Concert.
Cantatas Nos. 55 and 94; Magnificat in D; Sinfonia from Cantata No.29. Chris Watson, tenor
(Tallis Scholars); Stephanie Kramer, soprano;
Sheila Dietrich, soprano; Jennifer Enns Modolo,
mezzo; Daniel Lichti, bass-baritone; Kenneth
Hull, conductor. St. John the Evangelist Anglican Church, 22 Water St., Kitchener. 519743-0228. $20 suggested donation.
• 2:00: Sanderson Centre for the Performing Arts. Rhythm of the Dance. Dance and music performance reliving the journey of the Irish
Celts throughout history. Featuring three tenors
and a seanos dancer. 88 Dalhousie St., Brantford. 519-758-8090 or 1-800-265-0710. $46.
• 8:00: Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony. Music at the Frontier of Science. See Feb 24.
Friday February 17
• 8:00: Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony.
Spanish Origins: Bolero and Rodrigo. Ravel: Bolero; Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuaz; Muhly: So
Far So Good (KWS commission). Jason Vieaux,
guitar; Edwin Outwater, conductor. Centre
In The Square, 101 Queen St. N., Kitchener.
519-745-4711 or 1-888-745-4717. $19 and up.
Also Feb 18.
Saturday February 18
Monday February 20
• 7:30: St. John the Evangelist Anglican
Church. The Shining Night. Works by Warlock,
Bainton, Rorem, Barber and others. Christopher Watson, tenor; Carol Missio-King, piano.
280 James St., London. 519-432-3743. $25;
$15(sr/st). Also Feb 22 (Kitchener) and Feb 23
(Peterborough).
Saturday February 25
• 2:00: Peterborough Singers. Quartetto e
Cento. Quartetto Gelato, chamber ensemble;
Sydney Birrell, conductor. Calvary Church,
1421 Lansdowne St. W., Peterborough. 705745-1820. $30; $10(st).
• 2:30: Huronia Symphony Orchestra. Family Classics. Saint-Saëns: Carnival of the Animals; Poulenc: The Story of Babar, The Little
Elephant; Williams: Harry Potter; Star Wars;
Badelt: Pirates of the Caribbean; Harwood:
Amusement Park; Barnes: Maid of the Mist. Oliver Balaburski, conductor. Orillia Opera House,
20 Mississauga St. W., Orillia. 705-721-4752.
$20; $10(st); $5(child). Also Feb 12 (Barrie).
• 7:30: John Laing Singers. Mystery and
Majesty. Handel: Zadok the Priest; Haydn:
Te Deum; Mendelssohn: Psalm 98; Pärt: Berliner Messe. Roger Bergs, director; guests:
Christopher Dawes, organ; Schulte Strings,
Michael Schulte, director. Central Presbyterian
Church, 165 Charlton Ave. W., Hamilton. 905628-5238. $25/$20(adv); $10(st). Also Feb
26 (Dundas).
• 8:00: Da Capo Chamber Choir. Creating Home. Habibi: Colour of Freedom. Amir
Haghighi, vocals. St. John the Evangelist Anglican Church, 23 Water St., Kitchener. 519725-7549 or 519-743-0228. $20; $15(sr/st);
$5(eyeGo). Also Feb 26(mat).
Sunday February 26
• 3:00: Da Capo Chamber Choir. Creating
Home. See Feb 25.
• 3:00: Guelph Concert Band. Guelph Ceilidh
(A Celtic Celebration). Traditional Celtic music
including Molly on the Shore, Irish Washerwoman, Lord of the Dance and others. Colin
Clarke, conductor; guests: Addison Women’s
choir; Cambridge Male Chorus; Royal Academy of Irish Dance; and others. River Run Centre, 35 Woolwich St., Guelph. 519-824-0022
x73065. $20; $15(sr); $5(eyeGO/child).
• 3:00: La Jeunesse Youth Orchestra. In
the Spotlight. Selections for violin, cello, piano,
voice and full orchestra. Port Hope United
Church, 34 South St., Port Hope. 1-866460-5596 or 905-885-1071. $20; $15(sr);
$50(family).
• 3:00: Wellington Winds. Winds Around the
World. Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No.1; also
works by Dukas, Milhaud, Gassi, Swearingen
and Marquen. Olena Klyucharova, piano; Daniel
Warren, conductor. Knox Presbyterian Church,
50 Erb St. W., Waterloo. 519-579-3097. $25;
$15(sr); free(st). Also Feb 12 (Kitchener).
• 3:30: John Laing Singers. Mystery and
Majesty. Handel: Zadok the Priest; Haydn: Te
Deum; Mendelssohn: Psalm 98; Pärt: Berliner
Messe. Roger Bergs, director; guests: Christopher Dawes, organ; Schulte Strings, Michael
Schulte, director. St. Paul’s United Church,
29 Park St. W., Dundas. 905-628-5238.
$25/$20(adv); $10(st). Also Feb 25 (Hamilton).
• 8:00: Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music Society. STEALTH. Kathryn Ladano, bass
clarinet; Richard Burrows, percussion. New
works by Sierra, Kulesha and Ghander; improvisations. KWCMS Music Room, 57 Young St.
W., Waterloo. 519-886-1673. $20; $15(sr);
$10(st).
Tuesday February 28
• 12:00 noon: Brock University Department
of Music. Music@Noon: Faculty Recital. Gordon Cleland, cello; Karin Di Bella, piano. Sean
O’Sullivan Theatre, 500 Glenridge Ave., St.
Catharines. 905-688-5550 x3817. Free.
• 4:30: Guelph Connection Concerts. Doug
Miller and Friends. Works by Bach and Brahms.
Doug Miller, flute; Darius Bagli, piano. St.
George’s Anglican Church, 99 Woolwich St.,
Guelph. 519-362-1075. Free.
• 8:00: Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony. Distant Worlds: Music from Final Fantasy. Featuring music of Japanese video game composers
Uematsu and Hamauzu; videos and art stills
highlight memorable sequences from games
on large screens. Centre In The Square, 101
Queen St. N., Kitchener. 519-745-4711 or
1-888-745-4717. $25 and up.
Thursday March 01
• 12:10: University of Guelph. Thursday at
Noon Concert Series: Music from Newfoundland
and Labrador. Daniel Payne, fiddle/accordion/
mandolin/whistle/wooden flute. MacKinnon
Bldg., Rm.107 (Goldschmidt Rm.), 50 Stone Rd.
E., Guelph. 519-824-4120. Free.
• 7:30: Centre for the Arts, Brock University. DRUM! Sean O’Sullivan Theatre, 500
Glenridge Ave., St. Catharines. 905-6885550 x3257. $49.
• 8:00: Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music Society. Penderecki Quartet and Pentaèdre
Woodwind Quintet. Rheinberger: Octet; Shostakovich: Nonet version of Quartet No.3 (arr.
Barshai); Wagner: Sigfried Idyll. Maureen Forrester Hall, 75 University Ave. W., Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo. 519-886-1673. $25;
$20(sr); $15(st).
Friday March 02
• 8:00: Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony. The
Music of John Williams. Featuring music from
E.T.; Superman; Jurassic Park; Indiana Jones;
Harry Potter; and all six Star Wars films. Michael Krajewski, conductor. Centre In The
Square, 101 Queen St. N., Kitchener. 519745-4711 or 1-888-745-4717. $19 and up.
Also Mar 2(mat and eve).
• 8:00: Perimeter Institute. Classical World
Music Artists Series. Jordi Savall, viola da gamba. Mike Lazaridis Theatre of Ideas, 31 Caroline St. N., Waterloo. 519-883-4480. $80;
$55(st w ID).
Saturday March 03
• 2:30 and 8:00: Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony. The Music of John Williams. See Mar 2.
• 7:30: Georgian Bay Symphony. Broadway Babes. Music from Broadway, including Don’t Rain on My Parade, Someone to
Watch Over Me, Don’t Cry for me Argentina
and others. Carol Duronio, vocals; John Barnum, conductor. OSCVI Regional Auditorium,
1550 8th St. E., Owen Sound. 519-3720212. $5–$28.
• 8:00: Concert Association of Huntsville.
Pentaèdre Wind Quintet. Trinity United Church,
33 Main St. E., Huntsville. 705-787-1918.
$25; free(12 and under).
• 8:00: Guelph Chamber Choir. Remember …
Places, people and songs you love. Folk songs,
spirituals, Broadway show tunes and cabaret
songs. Alison MacNeill, accompanist; Gerard
Neufeld, conductor. Harcourt Memorial United
Church, 87 Dean Ave., Guelph. 519-763-3000.
$20/$15(if buying 4 or more); $10(st).
Sunday March 04
• 7:30: Centre for the Arts, Brock University. Arturo Sandoval: A Tribute to My Friend
Dizzy Gillespie. Sean O’Sullivan Theatre, 500
Glenridge Ave., St. Catharines. 905-6885550 x3257. $55.
Tuesday March 06
• 5:00: Guelph Connection Concerts. Emma
Banfield, violin; Marlena Tureski, cello; Jody
Davenport, viola. Dohnanyi: String Quartet;
Schubert: String Quartet. St. George’s Anglican Church, 99 Woolwich St., Guelph. 519362-1075. Free.
• 8:00: Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music
Society. David Jalbert, piano. Shostakovich:
selected preludes and fugues. KWCMS Music
Room, 57 Young St. W., Waterloo. 519-8861673. $20; $15(sr); $10(st).
Listings in The WholeNote are searchable by genre and by geographic zone at thewholenote.com
50
thewholenote.com
February 1 – March 7, 2012
C. In the Clubs (Mostly Jazz)
2409 Yonge St. 416-481-6865
www.alleycatz.ca
Every Mon 8pm Salsa Night w DJ Frank Bischun and lessons. Every Tue 8:30pm Carlo Berardinucci & the Double A Jazz Swing Band $5.
Every Wed 8:30pm Grayceful Daddies. Every
Thu Soul, R&B and Reggae; $4 Refreshments,
No Cover. Fri and Sat Funk, Soul, Reggae,
R&B, Top 40; $10 w/out dinner reservations.
Feb 2 Local Music is Sexy: Indie Band Showcase. Feb 3, 4 Graffitti Park. Feb 9, 10 Jamesking. Feb 11 Soular. Feb 16, 17, 18 Ascension.
Feb 22, 23 Lady Kane. Feb 24 Soular.
Aquila Restaurant
347 Keele St. 416-761-7474
Live Blues Wednesday to Saturday Nights 9pm.
Open Jam Sundays 4-8pm.
Artword Artbar
15 Colbourne St., Hamilton 905-543-8512
www.artword.net
Feb 16 8pm David Essig, blues & roots $15.
Feb 18 8pm Sophia Perlman (voc) & Adrean Farrugia (piano) $15/$10(st).
Azure Restaurant & Bar
at the Intercontinental Hotel
225 Front St. W. 416-597-3701
www.azurerestaurant.ca
Every Thu, Fri, Sat 5:30-10:30pm Dan Bodanis Trio w Bernie Senensky & Steve Wallace.
Black Swan, The
154 Danforth Ave. 416-469-0537
Every Wed 9:30pm The Danforth Jam w Jon
Long and Friends.
Bon Vivant Restaurant
1924 Avenue Rd. 416-630-5153
www.bonvivantdining.com
Every Thu Bill Naphan Solo Guitar 6-9pm.
Every Fri 6-9pm Margaret Stowe Solo Guitar.
Castro’s Lounge
2116 Queen St. E. 416-699-8272
www.castroslounge.com No Cover/PWYC.
Every Sat 4:30pm Big Rude Jake Duo. Every
Sun 4pm Live jazz. Every Mon 9:30pm Rockabilly Night. Every Tue Quiet Revolution: acoustic songwriter jam night w/ host Andrea de Boer.
Every Wed 9:30pm Smokey Folk (Bluegrass/
Rockabilly). Every Thu 9:30pm Jerry Legere
and the Situation.
C’est What
67 Front St. E. 416-860-9000
www.cestwhat.com (full schedule)
Sax Appeal
Feb 4, 18 3-6pm Hot Five Jazzmakers $5.
Feb 5, 19 3-6pm Jazz with Del Dako and
Guests. No Cover/PWYC.
Chalkers Pub, Billiards & Bistro
247 Marlee Ave. 416-789-2531
www.chalkerspub.com (full schedule)
Every Wed 8pm-midnight Girls Night Out
Vocalist-Friendly Jazz Jam w host Lisa Particelli
(vocals/flute), Peter Hill (piano) Ross MacIntyre
(bass), Norman Marshall Villeneuve (drums); No
Cover/PWYC. Feb 4 6-9pm David Occhipinti
Quartet $10. Feb 11 6-9pm Dave Young Quartet
$10; 9:30pm-2am Soul Stew, No Cover. Feb 18
6-9pm Nancy Walker Quartet $10. Feb 25 Lisa
Particelli’s GNO JAZZ All-star Showcase and
Scholarship Fundraiser $10; 9:30pm-2am Soul
Stew, No Cover.
ORI DAGAN
I
t’s not the flower in her hair,
the cute dress or the matching
scarf and boots. And it’s not just
her fierce, soulful tone on the horn
that blows listeners away — it’s that
Alison Young takes musical chances and has something to say. She’s
a jazz musician, yes, “but that can
mean different things to different
Cherry Street Restaurant, The
people. I’m glad that I studied jazz
because if you’re looking at it as
275 Cherry St. 416-461-5111
an all-encompassing approach to
All shows 7:30-10:30pm, $10 cover
music, you can take what you learn
www.cherryst.ca
Feb 2 Peripheral Vision. Feb 9 Brad Goode. Feb and apply it towards any genre. So
16 Sophia Perlman Quartet. Feb 23 Broadview.
there’s a lot of discipline, but also
a
lot of room for creativity.” So
Classico Pizza & Pasta
who has this Young lady spent her
2457 Bloor St. W. 416-763-1313
time listening to the most?
Every Thu 7pm Jazz Guitarist Nate Renner.
“When I started listening to
No Cover.
Alison Young.
jazz, it was always the more soulCobourg, The
influenced players that grabbed
my ears. Cannonball Adderley was one of my first major influences,
533 Parliament St. 416-913-7538
and then I got really into funk. Later on I got into Tower of Power
Jazz Sundays 9pm No Cover
and Lenny Pickett — after seeing him on Saturday Night Live way
Coco Rogue Chocolate Lounge, The
back when, he became one of my favourite sax players. Then there’s
2097 Yonge St. 416-901-2626
Aretha Franklin. Eddie Harris. Anybody who plays or sings with
www.coco-rogue.com
soul! There are a lot of local musicians who have influenced me in
Every Thu. John Campbell. No Cover. Every
a
big way too, like Phil Nimmons and Mike Murley — both former
Fri and Sat Alex James. No Cover.
teachers — and countless others. I could go on forever!” Communist’s Daughter, The
Talented, dedicated and likable, Young is easy to hire. As a
side-woman, she plays in more than a few bands and can be heard
1149 Dundas St. W. 647-435-0103
in a variety of contexts this month: at the Reservoir Lounge with
Every Sat 4-7pm Gypsy Jazz w Michael Johnson & Red Rhythm. No Cover/PWYC.
Alysha Brillinger & the Brilltones (Feb 2, 9, 16 and 23 at 9:45pm);
at Castro’s Lounge in the Beaches with Big Rude Jake (Feb 4 at
DeSotos
4:30pm); at the Distillery District’s Boiler House with Peter Hill &
1079 St. Clair Ave. W. 416-651-2109
Christ Lamont (Feb 5 at 11am); back at the Reservoir Lounge with
Every Thu 8pm-midnight Open Mic Jazz Jam,
Bradley
and the Bouncers as well as Sophia Perlman and the Vipers
hosted by Double A Jazz. Every Sun 11am(Feb
8
and
13 at 9:45pm); and at the Dovercourt House with Roberta
2pm Brunch w Double A Jazz and Guest.
Hunt’s Red Hot Ramble (Feb 17 at 9pm). In the midst of all of that,
Dominion on Queen
Young will lead her own quartet at the Pilot Tavern on Saturday
February 11 from 3:30pm to 6:30pm with Richard Whiteman on
500 Queen St. E. 416-368-6893
www.dominiononqueen.com
piano, Jack Zarowski on bass and Glenn Anderson on drums.
Every Sun 11am-3pm Rockabilly Brunch.
“These are all fantastic musicians I’ve had the privilege of playing
Every Tue 8:30pm Corktown Django Jam w
with in many contexts over the past few years … I’m excited about
host Wayne Nakamura. PWYC. Every Wed
this gig! Being a bandleader is entirely different from being a sideCorktown Uke Jam. Every Sat Ronnie Hayward
man and I plan to do a lot more of my own gigs — and maybe even
4-7:30pm Feb 3 8:30pm Maureen Kennedy
DOWNTOWN
CONCERT VENUE
• Concert, rehearsal, seminar space
• Competitive rates
• Intimate atmosphere, warm acoustics
• Unobstructed versatile seating for 150
• Wedding and reception facilities
• Fully accessible
• Close to transit and parking
• Historic Kensington Church (circa 1858)
Venue Rental
• in the heart of Yorkville
• historical heritage building
• Steinway Grand Piano
• recital and special events
• lighting and sound systems
• accomodates caterers
• reasonable rates
Church of St. Stephen in-the-Field on College Street
between Bathurst & Spadina • 647-638-3550 / 416-921-6350
email ststepheninthefi[email protected]
February 1 – March 7, 2012
35 Hazelton Avenue, Heliconian Hall
416-922-3618 [email protected]
thewholenote.com
51
HILL PEPPARD
Alleycatz
Beat by Beat / In the Clubs
some recording — this year, but I’m still getting used to calling the
shots. I’m used to supporting a bandleader’s creative vision, but I
love the idea of being in charge of the musical direction, there are so
many things I want to do!”
SPEAKING OF DOING MANY THINGS, Vancouver’s Cory Weeds
is not only a saxophonist (www.coryweeds.com), but also a jazz club
owner (www.thecellar.com), record label owner (www.cellarjazz.
com), radio show host (Chasin’ the Train on CFRO, www.coopradio.
org) and he’s a father of two! After firing off a few questions to
Weeds, I acquired both insight and inspiration.
As a musician, recording artist,
club owner, record label owner,
radio host, etc. you are obviously
extremely devoted to jazz music.
How did this devotion come about?
Cory Weeds.
What sacrifices (if any) have you had to make in order to own and run
a successful jazz club?
Job security, pension, EI, benefits (although I married a school
teacher). I don’t feel I have sacrificed much. I have a beautiful wife,
two kids who are the lights of my life, we own an apartment, we
have a car. I mean what more could someone want? I have all this
all while being in the “jazz” business. I feel very fortunate.
There are fewer jazz clubs in Toronto than there used to be … what
advice would you give to someone who has a dream of opening one up?
Wow that’s a tough question. Be prepared to dedicate your life to
it for at least five years. I mean 24/7. If you’re not a musician then
talk to musicians, find out what they like/don’t like about other clubs.
Get to know the musicians first. I had the musicians on my side from
day one and that is the single most important thing. Try promoting
a few concerts locally to get your feet wet. Finally, don’t give up.
Persevere!!!
I love T.O. and always have. It was the first big city I visited as an
adult and the second I would get there I’d head to Sam the Record
Man to spend all the money I had on CDs. Now my sister lives there
and I love connecting with all my Toronto musician friends. I love
playing with Bernie Senensky, always look forward to seeing Kelly
Jefferson and Andy Scott and love playing with everyone I get a
chance to. I have found that through my club, my label and my own
records I have some fans there too which is really nice. Building a
fan base is a long, slow process and it’s nice to see the hard work
pay off.
If you’re reading this column early enough in the month, you’ve
got a few chances to catch Weeds in and around The Big Smoke: at
The Rex (Feb 2 at 9:30pm), with vocalist Maureen Kennedy at the
Dominion on Queen (Feb 3 at 8:30pm), at the Pilot Tavern (Feb 4 at
3:30pm) or at The Jazz Room in Waterloo (Feb 4 at 8:30pm). Ori Dagan is a Toronto-based jazz vocalist,
voice actor and entertainment journalist. He can
be contacted at [email protected].
52
with Cory Weeds $10. Feb 4 8:30pm Moo’d
Swing $15. Feb 5 4-7pm Jazz Jam with Noah
Leibel. Feb 10 8pm Mike Field Jazz Quintet
$10. Feb 11 4pm “Sound of Ronnie Hayward
& his Quintet” CD Release Party; 8:30pm Allsax 4tet $10. Feb 12 5-8pm Uptown Swing
Band $10. Feb 17 9pm Mat MacDonald Quartet PWYC. Feb 18 8:30pm Young Kim Quartet
$10. Feb 19 4-7pm Jazz Jam with Noah Leibel
Feb 24 9pm Havana to Toronto with host Joaquin Nunez Hidalgo $10. Feb 26 7pm Musical
Theatre Cabaret.
Dovercourt House
Well, jazz was always in my
household. My dad is a guitar
player and music was always a
part of my family. I was a typical
rebellious teenager and didn’t
really figure out how great jazz
was until I was in about grade 11.
When I graduated from school I didn’t really have any other interests
than music so I went to music school (Cap College) and things just
grew from there. I knew I wanted to be involved with this music. I
had a very entrepreneurial spirit from a young age and when I was
about 24 or 25 there was a big lull in the jazz scene here. Not a lot
going on. I was mad that I couldn’t go see Oliver Gannon, Cam
Ryga, Ross Taggart etc on a regular basis so I decided I should start
my own club, so I did. The label was a natural transition. I had
been doing radio before that so that continued and musically I was
prepared for my career to sort of slow down and stop. The complete
opposite happened and I couldn’t be happier. Jazz isn’t a part of my
life, it is my life.
What do you enjoy about playing in Toronto?
C. In the Clubs (Mostly Jazz)
805 Dovercourt Rd. 416-537-3337
www.odd-socks.org (full schedule)
Fri Feb 17 9:10pm-1am 3rd Friday Blues Dance
Party with Roberta Hunt & the Gents. Dance
$10; $13 with class. Every Sat 9pm-1am Saturday Night Swing: Dance featuring Live Swing
Bands and dance lessons. Dance $13; $15 with
one class, $18 with both. Bands: Feb 4 Alex
Pangman & Her Alleycats. Feb 11 Roberta Hunt
& the Gents. Feb 18 Toronto Jazz Orchestra.
Emmet Ray, The
924 College St. 416-792-4497
All shows 9pm unless otherwise noted. PWYC.
www.theemmetray.com (full schedule)
Feb 1 Chet Vincent. Feb 2 John Wayne Swingtet. Feb 5 Angela Sande. Feb 6 Shannon Graham Group. Feb 8 Peter Boyd. Feb 9 Box Full of
Cash. Feb 12 3pm-12am Emmet Ray Music Festival. $5-$10 sugg. donation. Feb 13 Peripheral
Vision. Feb 15 Vokurka`s Vicarious Virtuoso Violin. Feb 16 Patrick Brealey. Feb 19 Brian Friedland & Jeff LaRochelle. Feb 20 David Buchbinder. Feb 22 Alistair Christl & The Lonely. Feb
23 Ken Yoshioka. Feb 26 Tyler Emond. Feb 27
Josh Cole Quartet. Feb 29 Gregory Finney.
Flying Beaver Pubaret, The
488 Parliament St. 647-347-6567
www.pubaret.com (full schedule)
Feb 3, 4 7pm Carole Pope $25/$20(adv).
Gallery Studio, The
2877 Lake Shore Blvd., Etobicoke
416-253-0285 www.thegallerystudiocafe.ca
Every Tue Jazz Jam with Humber College w
alumni house band: Riley O’Connor (drums);
Scott Kemp (bass); Scott Metcalf (piano); Shirantha Beddage (saxophone); Lee Wallace (guitar). Every Thu 7pm Kirk MacDonald/Al Henderson Duo $7. Every Sat 4:30-7pm The Cooking Channel No Cover. Every Sun 1:30pm Birds
of a Feather; 4pm Fair Trade; 7pm Elizabeth
Martins Quartet No Cover. Feb 8 7:30pm Uptown Swing Band $8.
Ross Barris; 9pm David Hutchison. Feb 13 5pm
Denis Schingh; 9pm Richard Whiteman. Feb
14 5pm Mighty Tusk Band; 9pm Julian Fauth.
Feb 15 5pm Brian Cober & Aslan Gotov; 9pm
Rommel Reyes. Feb 16 5pm Margot Roi; 9pm
Gia & the Unpredictable Update. Feb 17 5pm
Bobby Hsu; 9pm Sweet Derrick. Feb 18 5pm
Bill Heffernan & Friends; 9pm Patrick Tevlin`s
New Orleans Rhythm. Feb 19 5pm France St.
Trio; 9pm Brownman. Feb 20 5pm Tom Duke;
9pm Richard Whiteman. Feb 21 5pm ByungGul Jung; 9pm Julian Fauth. Feb 22 5pm Brian
Cober & Aslan Gotov; 9pm Blakeley Walker.
Feb 23 5pm Noam Lemish; 9pm Cyndi Carleton.
Feb 24 5pm The Brodkorb/Simmons/Guerette
Trio; 9pm Bartek Kozminksi el Mosaico Flamenco Jazz Fusion. Feb 25 5pm Bill Heffernan &
Friends; 9pm The Pearl Motel. Feb 26 5pm Alan
Zemitas; 9pm Aj Ing Fusion Band. Feb 27 5pm
Olga & the Gimlets; 9pm Richard Whiteman. Feb
28 5pm Andy Malette; 9pm Julian Fauth. Feb
29 5pm Brian Cober & Aslan Gotov; 9pm John
Wayne Swingtet.
Grossman’s Tavern
379 Spadina Ave. 416-977-1210
www.grossmanstavern.com (full schedule)
Every Sat 4-8pm The Happy Pals; Every Sun
9:30pm-2am The Nationals w Brian Cober:
Double Slide Guitar Open Jam; Every Mon 9:30
No Band Required. Every Wed 9:30pm Ernest
Lee & Cotton Traffic. Feb 3 Swinging Black
Jacks. Feb 4 Grayceful Daddies. Feb 10, 11 Kid
Bastien Forever with Guido Cairo. Feb 17 Julian
Fauth. Feb 18 Combo Royale. Feb 19 The Connection. Feb 24 Frankie Foo. Feb 25 Caution
Jam. Feb 26 The Connection.
Harlem Restaurant
67 Richmond St. E. 416-368-1920
www.harlemrestaurant.com (full schedule)
All shows: No Cover/PWYC
Every Mon 8pm-1am Open Jam Night with
Carolyn T. Every Fri/Sat 7:30-11:30pm
Jazz/Blues. Feb 3 Unbuttoned. Feb 4 Joanna
Mohammed. Feb 10 Dan McLean Jr. Feb 11
Gibrran. Feb 17 Jill Peacock. Feb 18 Reece.
Feb 24 Carol Oya. Feb 25 James King Trio.
Harlem Underground Restaurant/Bar
745 Queen St. W. 416-366-4743
www.harlemrestaurant.com/underground
Every Mon Daniel Gagnon. Every Tue John
Campbell. Every Thu, Every Sat Carl Bray.
Hirut Restaurant
2050 Danforth Ave. 416-551-7560
Every Wed 8pm Open Mic with Gary 17. Every
Sat 7pm Ethi Fidel Band.
Gate 403
Hot House Café
403 Roncesvalles Ave. 416-588-2930
www.gate403.com All shows: PWYC
Feb 1 5pm Brian Cober & Aslan Gotov Blues
Duo; 9pm Kurt Neilsen & Richard Whiteman.
Feb 2 5pm Melissa Lauren; 9pm The Bettys.
Feb 3 5pm Elizabeth Martins; 9pm Sabor Latin
Jazz Band. Feb 4 5pm Bill Heffernan & Friends;
9pm Melissa Boyce. Feb 5 5pm Jeff Taylor &
the S.L.T.; 9pm Kyle McGyle. Feb 6 5pm Ken
McDonald; 9pm Richard Whiteman. Feb 7 5pm
Jorge Gavidia; 9pm Julian Fauth. Feb 9 5pm
Brian Cober & Aslan Gotov; 9pm Vincent Bertucci. Feb 9 5pm Alex Samaras; 9pm Eddie
Paton. Feb 10 5pm Donné Roberts; 9pm Fraser
Mevlin. Feb 11 5pm Bill Heffernan & Friends;
9pm Keiko Jazz Band. Feb 12 5pm Whitney
35 Church St. 416-366-7800
www.hothousecafe.com
Every Sun 11am-3pm. Brunch with Jazz Zone.
thewholenote.com
Hugh’s Room
2261 Dundas St. W. 416-531-6604
www.hughsroom.com (full schedule)
All shows at 8:30pm unless otherwise noted.
Feb 2 Ian Thomas $30/$27.50(adv). Feb 3
Garnet Rogers $25/$22.50(adv). Feb 4 Fathead $20/$18(adv). Feb 5 12th Annual Banjo
Special $20/$18(adv). Feb 8 DK Ibomeka
“Ocean” CD Release $20/$17(adv). Feb 9
Catherine MacLennan $20/$18(adv). Feb 10
Suzana da Camara & her Company of Men
feat Diana Salvatore $20/$17.50(adv). Feb
February 1 – March 7, 2012
11 Micah Barnes & Jackie Richardson: A Jazz
Valentine $27.50/$25(adv). Feb 12 Alfie Zappacosta $39/$34(adv). Feb 13 John Alcorn &
Adi Braun: Speak Low $22.50/$20(adv). Feb
14 Betty & 14 Betty & the Bobs Valentine’s
Show $22.50/$20(adv). Feb 16 David Newland “Give It a Whirl” CD Release $20/$18(adv).
Feb 17 Dave Young & Terry Promane Octet
feat. Kevin Turcotte, Vern Dorge, Mike Murley,
Perry White, Gary Williamson & Terry Clarke
$27.50/$25(adv). Feb 18 Danny Marks &
Guests: Tribute to Muddy Water & Howlin’ Wolfe
$25/$22(adv). Feb 21 Jane Harbury’s Discoveries: David Krystal, Anastasia Rizikov, Rory Jordan-Stevens & Jordana Talsky $17/$15(adv).
Feb 22 Tony McManus $22.50/$20(adv).
Feb 23 Treasa Levasseur & Tanika Charles
$20/$18(adv). Feb 24 Andy Maize & Friends.
$18/$16(adv) Feb 25 The Way to SanJose:
Music of Burt Bacharach w Lori Cullen, Julie Michels, Aaron Jensen & more $25/$22.50. Feb
26 2pm Ken Whiteley`s Annual Gospel Music
Series w Marlene O’Neill, Joan Harris & Len
Udow $22.50/$20(adv); 7pm SHINE! for the
Jim Fay Music Bursary feat. Ron Hawkins & the
Do Good Assassins, Corin Raymon & the Sundowners, and more $25/$22(adv).
Jazz Room, The
Located in the Huether Hotel
59 King St. N., Waterloo 226-476-1565.
www.kwjazzroom.com
All attendees must be 19+; opening acts at
6pm, headliners (listed below) at 8:30pm.
Feb 3 Lorne Lofsky Quartet $15. Feb 4 Cory
Weeds Quartet $18. Feb 10 Trace Element $12.
Feb 11 Barry Elmes Quintet $20. Feb 17 Barb
Fulton Quintet $12. Feb 18 Maureen Kennedy
Quartet $18. Feb 24 Andrew McAnsh Sextet
$12. Feb 25 Kelsey Grant Quartet $18.
Joe Mama’s
317 King St. W. 416-340-6469. No Cover.
Every Sun 7-11pm Nathan Hiltz Trio & Special Guests. Every Mon 7:30-11:30pm Soul
Mondays. Every Tue 7-11pm Blue Angels.
Every Wed 8pm-12am Blackburn. Every Thu
8:30pm-12:30am Blackburn. Every Fri 10pm2am The Grind. Every Sat 10pm-2am Shugga.
Latinada Restaurant & Jazz Bar
1671 Bloor St. W. 416-913-9716
www.latinada.com
Lula Lounge
1585 Dundas St. W. 416-588-0307
www.lula.ca
Feb 2 7:30pm Swing Shift Big Band $10. Feb
3 10pm Salsa Friday w Changuy Havana and DJ
Suave $15. Feb 4 10pm Salsa Saturday w Lady
Son y Articulo Veinte and DJ GIO $15. Feb 5
12:30pm Sunday Family Salsa Brunch $15. Feb
8, 9 8pm Pastel Supernoa’s Love Letters $20.
Feb 10 10pm Salsa Dance Party w Alberto Alberto & Super Bando Show & DJ GIO $15. Feb
11 10pm Salsa Saturday w Café Cubano and
DJ Suave $15. Feb 12 12:30pm Sunday Family
Salsa Brunch. $15. Feb 14 7pm and 9:30pm
Valentine’s Day w the Alithea Cameron Quintet
$15. Feb 18 10pm Salsa Saturday w Son Ache
and DJ Suave $15. Feb 19 Feb 5 12:30pm Sunday Family Salsa Brunch $15; 7pm Salon Noir:
The Surreal Speakeasy $35/$30(adv). Feb 24
10pm Salsa Dance Party w Yani Borrell & the
Clave Kings and DJ Suave $15. Feb 25 10pm
Orquesta Fantasia $15. Feb 26 12:30pm Sunday Family Salsa Brunch $15; 7pm Akwaba
Dance Company $10/$5(under 12).
February 1 – March 7, 2012
Manhattan’s Music Club
951 Gordon St., Guelph. 519-767-2440
www.manhattans.ca
Mezzetta Restaurant
681 St. Clair Ave. W. 416-658-5687
www.mezzettarestaurant.com
Every Wed: sets at 9pm, 10:15pm. $7-$10.
Feb 1 Robi Botos (melodica); Jozef Botos (guitar); Attila Darvas (bass). Feb 8 Morgan Childs
(drums); Lee Wallace (guitar); Jon Meyer (bass).
Feb 15 Mike Murley (sax); David Occhipinti
(guitar). Feb 22 Don Thompson (bass); Reg
Schwager (guitar). Feb 29 Lorne Lofsky (guitar); Kieran Overs (bass).
Quotes
220 King St. W. 416-979-7697
Every Fri 5pm Canadian Jazz Quartet: Gary
Benson (guitar), Frank Wright (vibes), Duncan
Hopkins (bass) Don Vickery (drums) and featured guest: Feb 3 Al Kay (trombone). Feb 10
Bob Brough (saxophone). Feb 17 Denny Christianson (trumpet). Feb 24 John MacMurchy.
Reposado Bar & Lounge
136 Ossington Ave. 416-532-6474
www.reposadobar.com
Fridays $5 Cover; all other nights PWYC.
Every Wed Spy vs. Spy vs. Sly Every Thu, Fri
The Reposadists.
Momo’s Bistro
Reservoir Lounge, The
664 The Queensway, Etobicoke 416-252-5560
www.momosbistro.com
Every Wed 8pm Open Mic.
52 Wellington St. E. 416-955-0887
www.reservoirlounge.com
Every Mon Sophia Perlman and the Vipers;
Every Tue Tyler Yarema & his Rhythm; Every
Wed Bradley & the Bouncers; Every Thu Alysha & the Brilltones. Every Fri DeeDee & the
Dirty Martinis; Every Sat Tyler Yarema & his
Rhythm. Early shows: Tue, Wed, Thurs 7-9pm
including Feb 2 Alex Pangman & her Alleycats.
Feb 21 Beverly Taft & her Swell Fellas.
Monarchs Pub
At the Delta Chelsea Hotel, 33 Gerrard St. W.
416-585-4352 www.monarchspub.ca
Every Tue Acoustic Open Mic Night. Every
Wed Jazz Wednesdays. Every Thu Blues Thursdays. Feb 17-19 Winterfolk Festival. For details:
www.winterfolk.com
Much Me
816 St. Clair Ave. W. 416-651-0009
Every Thu 8-11pm Ben D’Cunha (piano and
vocals). No Cover.
Nawlins Jazz Bar & Dining
299 King St. W. 416-595-1958
www.nawlins.ca
Every Tue Stacie McGregor; Every Wed Jim
Heineman Trio; Every Thu Blues Night w Guest
Vocalists; Every Fri/Sat All Star Bourbon St.
Band; Every Sun Brooke Blackburn.
Old Mill, The
21 Old Mill Rd. 416-236-2641
www.oldmilltoronto.com
Home Smith Bar: No Reservations. No Cover; $20 minimum per person. 7:30-10:30pm.
Feb 2 Brigham Phillips (piano). Feb 3 Georgia Ambros (vocals); Mark Eisenman (piano);
Steve Wallace (bass). Feb 4 Adrean Farrugia
(piano); Kelly Jefferson (sax); Andrew Downing
(bass). Feb 9 John Sherwood (piano). Feb 11
Sheree Jeacocke Cerqua (vocals); Mark Camilleri (piano); Scott Alexander (bass); Kevan McKenzie (drums). Feb 11 Brian O’Kane (trumpet);
Lorne Lofsky (guitar); Neil Swainson (bass). Feb
16 John Sherwood (piano). Feb 17 Sophia Perlman (vocals); Adrean Farrugia (piano); Pat Collins (bass). Feb 18 Ross Wooldridge (clarinet);
John Sherwood (piano); Neil Swainson (bass).
Feb 23 John Sherwood (piano). Feb 24 Barbara
Gordon (vocals); Adrean Farrugia (piano); Jon
Maharaj (bass). Feb 25 Ron Davis (piano); Daniel Fortin (bass); Morgan Childs (drums).
Rex Hotel Jazz & Blues Bar, The
194 Queen St. W. 416-598-2475
www.therex.ca (many shows PWYC; cover
charge applies to some shows, call ahead)
Feb 1 6:30pm Katie Malloch Retirement Party
w music by Barry Elmes Quintet; 9:30pm Daniel
Jamieson. Feb 2 6:30pm Ross Wooldridge Trio;
9:30pm Cory Weeds w Perfectly Hank feat. Bernie Senensky. Feb 3 4pm Hogtown Syncopators;
6:30pm The Maisies; 9:45pm The Navigators.
Feb 4 12pm Danny Marks & Friends; 3:30pm
Composers Collective; 7pm Lester McLean Trio;
9:45pm Vaughan Meisner. Feb 5 12pm Excelsior
Dixieland Jazz; 3:30pm Club Django; 7pm The
Offbeat; 9:30pm Random Access. Feb 6 6:30pm
U of T Student Ensembles; 9:30pm Humber College Student Ensembles. Feb 7 6:30pm Shields
& Fielding Trio; 9:30pm Rex Jazz Jam. Feb 8
6:30pm Rhonda Stakich Trio; 9:30pm Bill Withers Tribute w Justin Bacchus. Feb 9 6:30pm
Ross Wooldridge; 9:30pm Kiki Misumi Quintet.
Feb 10 4pm Hogtown Syncopators; 6:30pm
The Maisies; 9:45pm Ross Wooldridge Sextet:
Benny Goodman Tribute. Feb 11 12pm Danny
Marks & Friends; 3:30pm Jake Chisholm Group;
7pm Lester McLean Trio; 9:45pm Brad Goode.
Feb 12 12pm Excelsior Dixieland Jazz; 3:30pm
Dr. Nick Blues; 7pm The Offbeat; 9:30 Fern Lindzon. Feb 13 6:30pm U of T Student Ensembles;
9:30pm Humber College Student Ensembles.
Feb 14 6:30pm Shields & Fielding Trio; 9:30pm
Rex Jazz Jam. Feb 15 6:30pm Rhonda Stakich
Trio; 9:30pm Yves Leveille Quartet. Feb 16
6:30pm Ross Wooldridge Trio; 9:30pm Yves
Leveille Quartet. Feb 17 4pm Hogtown Syncopators; 6:30pm The Maisies; 9:45pm Eliana
Cuevas. Feb 18 12pm Danny Marks & Friends;
3:30pm Laura Hubert; 7pm Lester McLean Trio;
9:45pm Hotfoot Orchestra. Feb 19 12pm Excelsior Dixieland Jazz; 3:30pm Toronto Jazz Orchestra; 7pm The Offbeat; 9:30pm Will Vinson Quartet. Feb 20 6:30pm U of T Student Ensembles;
9:30pm Will Vinson Quartet. Feb 21 6:30pm
Shields & Fielding Trio; 9:30pm Rex Jazz Jam.
Feb 22 6:30pm Rhonda Stakich Trio; 9:30pm
Robb Cappelletto. Feb 23 6:30pm Ross Wooldridge Trio; 9:45pm Dave Turner Quartet. Feb 24
4pm Hogtown Syncopators; 6:30pm The Maisies; 9:45pm Dave Turner Quartet. Feb 25 12pm
Danny Marks & Friends; 3:30pm Christ Hunt
Tentet +2; 7pm Lester McLean Trio; 9:45pm Bob
Brough Quartet; 12:30am Rinsethealgorithm.
Feb 26 12pm Excelsior Dixieland Jazz; 3:30pm
Freeway Dixieland; 7pm The Offbeat; 9:30pm
David French’s Bloomsday. Feb 27 6:30pm U of
T Student Ensembles; 9:30pm John MacLeod’s
Rex Hotel Orchestra. Feb 28 6:30pm Shields
& Fielding Trio; 9:30pm Rex Jazz Jam. Feb 29
6:30pm Rhonda Stakich Trio; 9:30pm Tesseract
CD Release.
Ristorante Roma
1090 Bloor St. W. 416-531-4000
All shows: PWYC
Jazz Every Fri/Sat 8pm, Every Sun 6pm.
Le Saint Tropez
315 King St. W. 416-591-3600
Live piano jazz 7 days a week
www.lesainttropez.com
Somewhere There
227 Sterling Rd. Unit #112 416-262-2883
All shows: $8 cover
Feb 1 8pm Complete Chamber Works of Queen
Victrola. Feb 2 8pm Alaniaris: Ken Aldcroft (guitar); Michael Kaler (bass); Mark Zurawinski
(drums). Feb 4 8pm Kyle Brenders (sax); Steve
Ward (trombone); Wes Neal (bass); Mark Segger (drums). Feb 5 5pm Ancient Egypt: Holger
Schoorl (guitar/vocals); Kyle Brenders (clarinet); Pete Johnson (bass). Feb 8 8pm Queen
Victrola: Cheryl O (cello); Michaelangelo Iaffaldando (accordion/tenor banjo/clarinet). Feb 9
8pm Alaniaris. Feb 12 5pm Ancient Egypt; 8pm
Robin Buckley (drums/percussion); Jesse Levine
(keys); Mike Overton (bass); Jeremy Strachan
(sax); 9pm Funky Bunch: Germaine Liu (drums/
percussion); Heather Segger (trombone). Feb
14 8pm Josh Cole (bass); David French (sax);
Caleb Chan, Hugh Marsh (violin); Alex Goodman (guitar); Dan Gaucher (drums). Feb 15 8pm
Queen Victrola; 9pm Octopus: Germain Liu, Mark
Zurawinski (percussion). Feb 16 8pm Alaniaris.
Feb 19 5pm Ancient Egypt. Feb 22 8pm Cheryl
O (cello); Michaelangelo Iaffaldano (misc. instruments); Queen Victrola. Feb 23 8pm Alaniaris.
Pantages Martini Bar & Lounge
200 Victoria St. 416-362-1777
Every Fri Robert Scott; Every Sat Solo Piano:
Various artists.
Pilot Tavern, The
22 Cumberland Ave. 416-923-5716
www.thepilot.ca
Jazz Saturdays 3:30–6:30pm. No Cover.
Feb 4 Cory Weeds with Bernie Senensky Trio.
Feb 11 Alison Young Quartet. Feb 18 Sugar
Daddies. Feb 25 Botos Brothers Quartet.
Publicity, press kits
& image consulting
for performers
416.544.1803
www.lizpr.com
thewholenote.com
53
C. In the Clubs (Mostly Jazz)
Feb 26 5pm Ancient Egypt. Feb 29 8pm Queen
Victrola, Christine Duncan’s Element Choir.
Trane Studio
964 Bathurst St. 416-913-8197
www.tranestudio.com (full schedule)
Feb 1 8pm Noah Zacharin No Cover. Feb 2
8pm Blue Train Revisited w Steve Hall $10. Feb
3 8pm Santerias & Ventanas $10. Feb 4 8pm
Amai Kuda & Kae Sun $10. Feb 5 8pm Casey
Yugo “Maybe in Time You’ll See” CD Release
$10. Feb 6 8pm Son Roberts $5. Feb 7 7pm
The Meaning of Marley with Klive Walker; 8pm
Al Hamilton w Norman Richmond. PWYC. Feb 8
8pm Noah Zacharin No Cover. Feb 9 8pm Michael Arthurs Group $10. Feb 10 8pm Moo’d
Swing $10. Feb 11 8pm Carlos Morgan Valentine’s Concert $10. Feb 12 8pm Chelsea & the
Socialist Night School $10. Feb 13 8pm Son
Roberts $5. Feb 14 8pm Brownman Quartet
$10. Feb 15 8pm Noah Zacharin No Cover. Feb
16 8pm Singers Den Open Mic w Al St. Louis
$10. Feb 17,18 8pm Caliban Arts Theatre Relaunch: Ethnic Heritage Ensemble $20/$15(adv).
Feb 19 8pm Kathleen Gorman Group $5. Feb
20 8pm Son Roberts $5. Feb 22 8pm Noah
Zacharin No Cover. Feb 23, 24 8pm Rachel
Therrien Quintet $10. Feb 27 8pm Son Roberts
$5. Feb 29 8pm Noah Zacharin No Cover.
THE TRADITIONS OF
EUROPE MADE
AFFORDABLE
D. The ETCeteras
Tranzac
292 Brunswick Ave. 416-923-8137
www.tranzac.org (full schedule)
3-4 shows nightly, mostly PWYC
Every Mon 7pm This is Awesome; 10pm Open
Mic. Every Fri 5pm The Foolish Things. Every
Sat 3pm Jamzac. Performances include: Feb 3
10pm Jesse Malone & Nathan Dell-Vandenberg.
Feb 5 5pm Monk’s Music. Feb 7 10pm Peripheral Vision. Feb 8 10pm John Russon Quartet.
Feb 12 10pm Lina Allemano Four. Feb 14 10pm
Stop Time. Feb 18 6:30pm Michael Davidson.
Feb 19 7:30pm Tania Gill Quartet; 10pm Nick
Fraser Quartet. Feb 24 10pm Ryan Driver Quartet. Feb 26 10:30pm Steve Ward Presents. Feb
28 10pm Nick Fraser’s Drumheller.
Whitlock’s Restaurant & Wine Café Bar
1961 Queen St. E. 416-691-8784
www.whitlocks.ca
Every Fri 8pm Gerry Mackay, guitar. No Cover.
Zemra Bar & Lounge
GALAS & FUNDRAISERS
LECTURES & SYMPOSIA
•Feb 04 11:30am: La Jeunesse Youth Orchestra. Soup & Symphony Fundraiser. Public
invited to bid on silent auction and observe an
LYJO rehearsal while hot soup is served. Calvary Pentecostal Church, 401 Croft St. E.,
Port Hope. 1-866-460-5956. $20.
•Feb 04 9:30am-12:30pm: Canadian Opera
Company/University of Toronto Faculty of
Music/Munk School of Global Affairs. The
Opera Exchange: Long Distant Loving: Saariaho’s
L’Amour loin/Love from Afar. Ted Chamberlin,
Sherry Lee (U of T); David Metzer (UBC); Susan
McClary (Case Western); Greg Newsome, composer. Walter Hall, Edward Johnson Bldg, 80
Queen’s Park. 416-363-8231. $23; $17(faculty); $12(st); free(U of T students with ID).
•Feb 11 11:00am: Northumberland Learning Connection. Opera Brown-bag Lunch Talk:
Wagner’s Götterdämmerung. Ian Montagnes
gives a half-hour talk ahead of Metropolitan
Opera HD broadcast. 20 Queen St., Port Hope.
905-349-3402. $5 (includes coffee/tea).
•Feb 12 2:00: Mississauga Library System.
Freedom, Slavery and the Roots of American
Music. Lecture and performance by Ray Kamalay. Noel Ryan Auditorium, Mississauga Central
Library, 301 Burnhamthorpe Rd. W., Mississauga. 905-615-3500. Free.
•Feb 12 4:00 Continuum Contemporary
Music. Pre-Concert talk by Henk de Graauw.
Lecture by mechanical organ enthusiast and
retired engineer. Music Gallery, 197 John St.
416-924-4945. Free.
•Feb 13 7:30: Southern Ontario Chapter of
the Hymn Society. Hymns and Church Music:
Where is it all going? Conversation with students and grads of the Sacred Music program
at Emmanuel College. 75 Queen’s Park Cres.
E., 416-342-6034. Free.
•Feb 14 1:00: University of Toronto Faculty of Music. Toronto & the War of 1812.
COMPETITIONS
•Feb 16 8:00: Hart House. U of T Idol. Vocal
competition featuring U of T students, faculty
and staff. Hosted by Dave Clark; his band, The
Woodshed Orchestra, will accompany each
vocalist. Arbor Room, 7 Hart House Circle. 416978-5362. www.harthouse.ca. Free.
•Applications now accepted Orchestra Toronto. Orchestra Toronto Concerto Competition:
The 2012 Marta Hidy Prize for Cello. For Canadian virtuosos 23 and under; apply online by
April 6 at www.orchestratoronto.ca; Contact:
Karen Henderson, 416-757-2988.
SCREENINGS
778 St. Clair Ave. W. 416-651-3123
www.zemrabarlounge.com
Every Wed Open Mic and Jam.
Every Fri Live Music Fridays.
Children's
Piano
Lessons
•Feb 11 8:00: Niagara Artists Centre. Silence is Golden. Silent films with accompanying
improvised music. Films: La Voyage De La Lune
(1902) and La Coquille et le Clergyman (1928).
Douglas Miller, flute; Eric Mahar, guitar; Penner MacKay, percussion. 354 St. Paul St., St.
Catharines. $30; $27(sr); $11(st).
•Feb 13 8:00: Robert Bruce. Three Short Silent Films by Buster Keaton About Love and Romance With live piano accompaniment by Robert Bruce. Trinity-St. Paul’s United Church, 427
Bloor St. W. 905-777-9196. $15; $12(sr/st).
Friendly, approachable and strict!
Liz Parker
416.544.1803
[email protected]
Queen/Bathurst
Student wind and brass
instruments
Call for the location of a
retailer near you
1 800 690-0515
Premiere Source for HigH quality food
(416) 364-7397 www.pasqualebros.com
54
thewholenote.com
February 1 – March 7, 2012
Composer John Beckwith introduces the documentary ballad opera Taptoo! Walter Hall, Edward Johnson Bldg., 80 Queen’s Park. 416408-0208. Free.
•Feb 16 12:10pm: University of Toronto Faculty of Music. Spotlight on Opera. Preview of
U of T Opera Division’s production of Mozart’s
Così fan tutte, including excerpts performed by
cast members. Walter Hall, Edward Johnson
Bldg., 80 Queen’s Park. 416-408-0208. Free.
•Feb 16 3:30: University of Toronto Faculty
of Music. Graduate Colloquia Series: Kenneth
H. Peacock Lecturer: Gary Tomlison, musicologist. “Paleolithic Formalism and the Emergence
of Music.” Walter Hall, Edward Johnson Bldg.,
80 Queen’s Park. 416-408-0208. Free.
•Feb 16 7:00: Tafelmusik. Baroque Music
Lecture. Tafelmusik violinist Patricia Ahern discusses period performance, including a comparison between the baroque and modern violin. North York Public Library Auditorium, 5120
Yonge St. 416-395-5639. Free.
•Feb 26 2:00: Toronto Opera Club. Gilbert
& Sullivan – opera? Guest speaker: Michael
James Burgess. Rm.330, Edward Johnson
Bldg., 80 Queen’s Park. 416-924-3940. $10.
•Mar 4:00: Wilfrid Laurier University
Press/Massey College/University of Toronto Faculty of Music. John Beckwith Book
Launch. Celebration of Beckwith’s recent publication Unheard Of: Memoirs of a Canadian Composer. Massey College, 4 Devonshire Place.
519-884-0710 x2665. Free.
MASTERCLASSES
•Feb 05, 19 and Mar 04 2:00: Singing Studio of Deborah Staiman. Masterclass. Musical theatre/audition preparation, using textual
analysis and other interpretative tools for the
sung monologue. Yonge & Eglinton area – call
for exact location. 416-483-9532.
www.singingstudio.ca
•Feb 14 10:00am: University of Toronto
Faculty of Music. St. Lawrence String Quartet Masterclass. Walter Hall, Edward Johnson
Bldg., 80 Queen’s Park. 416-408-0208. Free.
•Feb 14 11:30am: York University Department of Music. Vocal Masterclass by Nathalie
Paulin, soprano. With York U classical voice
participants. Tribute Communities Recital Hall,
Rm.112 Accolade East Bldg., 4700 Keele St.
416-736-2100 x22926. Free.
•Feb 17 3:15: University of Toronto Faculty
of Music. Yves Léveillé Quartet: Jazz Masterclass. Upper Jazz Studio, 90 Wellesley St. W.
416-978-3750. Free.
•Feb 28 11:30am: York University Department of Music. Guitar Masterclass by Michael
Savona. Tribute Communities Recital Hall,
Rm.112 Accolade East Bldg., 4700 Keele St.
416-736-2100 x22926. Free.
WORKSHOPS
•Feb 05 1:00: Harbourfront Centre. Kuumba Festival: Drumming Workshop with Alpha
Rhythm Roots. Lakeside Terrace, 235 Queen’s
Quay W. 416-973-4000. Free.
•Feb 05 1:30-4:00: Toronto Early Music
Players Organization. Workshop. Frank
Nakashima, coach. Bring own instruments and
music stand; music is available at the door. Armour Heights Community Centre, 2140 Avenue
Rd. 416-245-3413. $20.
•Feb 10 6:30: O’Hara House Concerts. Ukelele Workshop/Dinner with Manitoba Hal of
Blues with Nighthowls. Informal session designed to develop ukulele skills; concert by
Blues with Nighthowls follows at 8pm. 28
O’Hara Ave. 416-516-4703. $20 for workshop/
dinner; $30 for workshop, dinner and concert.
•Feb 12 2:00: CAMMAC. Reading for Singers.
Guastavino: Indianas. Isabel Bernaus, conductor. Christ Church Deer Park, 1570 Yonge St.
416-694-9266. $10; $6(members).
•Feb 25 10:30am: Toronto Mendelssohn
Choir. Singsation Saturday: Choral Workshop
with Guest Conductor Thea Kano. Haydn: Theresien Messe. Music provided; participants
can register at the workshop. Cameron Hall,
Yorkminster Park Baptist Church, 1585 Yonge
St. 416-598-0422 x24. $10 includes refreshments. Register online: www.tmchoir.org.
•Mar 04 1:30-4:00: Toronto Early Music
Players Organization. Workshop: “Birds and
the Bees.” Dexter Roberts, coach. Music that
honours “feathered, otherwise-flighted and
perhaps even a few footed friends.” Bring own
instruments and music stand; music is available
at the door. Armour Heights Community Centre, 2140 Avenue Rd. 416-245-3413. $20.
ALEXANDER KATS
SINGALONGS
•Feb 14 7:00: Canada Sings!/Chantons Canada! Toronto-Riverdale. Neighbourhood Singalong. Folk, rock, ballads and Broadway. Mark
Bell, songleader; Marjorie Wiens, piano. Guest:
Church of the Redeemer Choir, Mark Vuorinen,
conductor, John Campbell, music director. Toronto Chinese Alliance Church, 77 First Ave.
416-778-0796. Free, donations accepted.
www.canadasings.ca
•Feb 18 9:30am: Canada Sings!/Chantons
Canada! Toronto-Riverdale. Neighbourhood
Singalong. Folk, rock, ballads and Broadway.
Play
Klezmer
with bandleader ERIC STEIN (Mandolinist: Beyond the Pale) JOIN US! MNjcc Klezmer Music Ensemble Tuesdays 7:30‐9:30 pm Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre 750 Spadina (at Bloor) 416‐924‐6211 x 0 www.mnjcc.org [email protected] A rst class Russian-trained
concert pianist/teacher
is accepting students for
regular private lessons or
repertoire coaching, from
advanced (ARCT, university)
to all grades of RCM
including theory
Call: (416) 340-1844
[email protected]
SIGHT-SINGING
LESSONS
Private coaching sessions
with
Sheila McCoy
416-574-5250
[email protected]
Let Your
Inner Song
be Sung
Whole Classical
Voice training for all ages in
all styles of Singing
Classical Voice Training
using Yoga Postures,
Alexander Technique,
Mindful Meditation techniques,
and Expressive Movement
On Bayview at Eglinton
www.83VoICe.com
416 83 VoICe
(838-6423)
February 1 – March 7, 2012
thewholenote.com
55
D. The ETCeteras
Mark Bell, songleader; Marjorie Wiens, piano.
St. Lawrence Market, North Market, 92-95
Front St. 416-778-0796. Free, donations accepted. www.canadasings.ca
•Feb 24 7:00, Feb 25 1:00 and 7:00, Feb 26
7:00: Sing-Along-A. Sing-A-Long-A Grease.
Reitman Square, TIFF Bell Lightbox, 350 King
St. W. 416-599-8433 or 1-888-599-8433.
$18.75; $15(sr/st); $13(13 and under).
ANNOUNCEMENTS
•Mar 1 application deadline: Kindred Spirits
Orchestra. Composers Workshop with Brian
Current. Workshop to take place March 31–
April 2, 2012; limited to 10 active participants
and 10 auditors. $20 to enter. Successful applicants will be notified by March 7, 2012; fees
are $250 for active participants and $150 for
auditors. SEE AD ON PAGE 20. For more info
contact Jobert Seveilleno at [email protected].
ETCETERA: MISCELLANEOUS
•Feb 29 7:00: Soundstreams. Salon 21: Electronica. Meet and greet, followed by performance by turntable artist/composer Nicole Lizée.
Gardiner Museum, 111 Queen’s Park. Free, donations welcome. Limited seating; register on
website: www.soundstreams.ca
•Mar 06 7:00: Soundstreams. Salon 21: Peter
Eötvos on Jazz and Opera. Meet and greet, followed by discussion by composer/conductor
Peter Eötvos about his interest in jazz and
opera, with live and recorded examples. Gardiner Museum, 111 Queen’s Park. Free, donations
welcome. Limited seating; register on website:
www.soundstreams.ca
Classified Advertising | [email protected]
AUDITIONS / MUSICIANS WANTED
INSTRUCTION
COUNTERPOINT COMMUNITY
ORCHESTRA (www.ccorchestra.org)
welcomes volunteer musicians. Monday
evening rehearsals, downtown Toronto.
All sections especially violins. Email info@
ccorchestra.org
CONCERT PIANIST EVE EGOYAN
(M. Mus., L.R.A.M., F.R.S.C.) offers
lessons to committed musicians as well as
returning adults ([email protected],
416-894-6344, www.eveegoyan.com).
MARKHAM SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
has openings for Concertmaster, Strings,
Woodwinds, Brass. All Pay-Per Service
positions. Please send resume to
[email protected].
www.msocanada.com
NYCO SYMPHONY is looking for the following to play in 4 subscription concerts each season. Rehearsals Wed nights at York Mills CI,
Don Mills. Trumpets, Trombones, Violas
Basses. For contact info visit NYCO.on.ca
THE CABBAGETOWN CLASSICAL
YOUTH CHOIR is auditioning for its annual
production of Menotti’s “Amahl and the
Night Visitors” in December 2012. Approx.
20 soloists between the ages of 11 and
21 are needed to sing both principal and
chorus roles. The production will include
sets, costumes and a 16-piece orchestra.
Call Maestro Daniel at 647-701-5033 to
arrange an audition and to discuss details.
YOUR AD COULD BE HERE.
Contact [email protected]
FLUTE INSTRUCTION: Margot Rydall flute
studio. RCM Examiner / 40 yrs RCM Teacher.
Performance & Exam preparation. Flute for
fun! All ages, all levels. www.duomusic.ca;
416-463-1011; [email protected]
FLUTE, PIANO, THEORY LESSONS: RCM
exam preparation. Samantha Chang, Royal
Academy of Music PGDip, LRAM, ARCT.
416-293-1302, [email protected]
www.samanthaflute.com
HARPSICHORD LESSONS: Beginner,
intermediate. Style, ornamentation, theory,
figured bass. All ages. No previous keyboard
experience necessary. Competitive rates.
www.music.laeducation.ca, [email protected]
MAKING MUSIC WITH THE RECORDER.
After 30 years at The Royal Conservatory,
Scott Paterson has opened his own studio. All
ages; private lessons and ensembles. Central
location. Mus. Bac. Perf. (U of T), ARCT,
member ORMTA. 416-759-6342
(cell) 416-268-1474) [email protected]
PIANO LESSONS: Beginners – advanced.
All levels Royal Conservatory of Music
and beyond. Intensive course for adults.
Lessons are given on a 9 foot Steinway
concert grand. 416-449-1665
STUDY JAZZ SINGING WITH
ORI DAGAN! Scat, swing, improvisation,
repertoire development, performance skills.
[email protected] 416-509-3137
www.oridagan.com
STUDY SAXOPHONE with Bruce Redstone.
M.M. in Performance, B.A. in Education, 25+
years experience, 6 years university instructor,
reasonable rates, convenient location, all
levels and styles. [email protected] or
416-706-8161.
WARM EXPERIENCED AMERICAN PIANO
TEACHER with sterling credentials, unfailing
good humor, and buckets of patience. Royal
Comprehensive · .Residential
Soundproo?ng Solutions
Conservatory washouts and adult learners especially welcome. Lovely Cabbagetown studio,
with easy parking/TTC access. Testimonials:
“Now there’s a teacher!” R.D., age 13. “Deep
pleasure. Sure beats studying with those Quebec nuns!” S.A., age 50+. Peter Kristian Mose,
416-923-3060 or [email protected]. My
students have never won any prizes, except for
love of music. (And loyalty.)
WISH YOU WERE SINGING? Experienced
“professional” amateur, sliding scale. Call
Johanne 416-461-8425
FOR SALE
CLASSIC BUSCHER TROMBONE: lacquer
finish, includes case. 416-964-3642.
USED STEINWAY PIANOS: models K, S,
M, O, L, A, B www.ontariopianos.com
MUSICIANS AVAILABLE
BARD – EARLY MUSIC DUO playing recorder
and virginal available to provide background
atmosphere for teas, receptions or other
functions – greater Toronto area. For rates
and info call 905-722-5618 or email us at
[email protected]
SERVICES
ACCOUNTING AND INCOME TAX SERVICE
for small business and individuals, to save
you time and money, customized to meet your
needs. Norm Pulker, B. Math. CMA.
905-251-0309 or 905-830-2985.
DO YOU HAVE PRECIOUS MEMORIES
LOST ON OLD RECORDS, TAPES, PHOTOS
etc? Recitals-gigs-auditions-air checks-family
stuff. 78s-cassettes-reels-35mm slides-etc.
ArtsMediaProjects will restore them on CDs or
DVDs. Call George @ 416 910-1091
EXPERT EDITING of concert programs,
flyers, brochures, websites, liner notes, etc.
[email protected], 416-427-2179
VENUES
ARE YOU PLANNING A CONCERT or recital?
Looking for a venue? Consider Bloor Street
United Church. Phone: 416-924-7439 x22
Email: [email protected]
YOUR AD COULD BE HERE.
Contact [email protected]
Quality Audio Recording Services
for Classical and Acoustic Music
647 349 6467
[email protected]
w w w. L o c k wo o d A R S . c o m
leon 416-995-4016
Love To Sing?
Try
SENSIBLE VOCAL TRAINING!
Breathe new life into your voice
with this uniquely kinesthetic
approach to vocal pedagogy.
Come to the “Vocal Gym!”
Phone Pattie Kelly (905) 271-6896
[email protected]
www.vocalsense.ca
56
CLAIM YOUR VOICE
Organic and functional vocal training to gain
access to your full range, resonance and vocal
freedom. For singers, public speakers, teachers,
clergy, or if you just want to enjoy using your
voice.
claim
Sue Crowe Connolly
Hamilton Studio 905-544-1302
Toronto Studio 416-523-1154
[email protected] www.cyvstudios.ca
thewholenote.com
voice
STUD IOS
EYE-CATCHING
For economical insertions
of 3x, 5x and 10x
Now available in colour.
Interested?
[email protected]
416-323-2232 ext 25
February 1 – March 7, 2012
We Are All Music’s Children
February’s Child Shannon Mercer
MJ BUELL
Who is March’s Child?
Already so composed! With
five senses explore the array
of possibility a musical life
affords. While music stirs,
strikes, grips and turns us on,
you’ll find that esprit is what
connects us all. Say Farewell
to Heaven as you ride this
new wave into concert halls,
galleries, movie theatres,
schools and the occasional
hanging garden.
Think you know who
our mystery child is?
Send your best guess to
musicschildren@thewholenote.
com. Please provide your
mailing address just in
case your name is drawn!
Winners will be selected by
random draw among correct
replies received by Monday,
February 20, 2012.
Lady of Spain at a Swansea
Public School concert.
Toronto, circa 1954.
“… My father’s mother was left
in a basket on the steps of an
orphanage in June of 1913 in
Gelligaer, Glamorgan, South
Wales. My father immigrated
to Montreal in 1967 along
with my mother and my three
eldest siblings. Later the
family moved to Ottawa where
two additional children were
born — the youngest was me.
My father always showed a
passion and love for music …”
(liner notes: Wales – The Land
of Song)
B
orn in ottawa, soprano
Shannon Mercer grew
up in Manotick, Ontario,
on the Rideau Canal. She
attended Canterbury Arts High School in
Ottawa, and graduated from McGill University:
Vocal Performance, and Early Music Vocal
Performance and History). Then, after one
year in the Opera School Diploma program at
the University of Toronto, she was accepted
into the Ensemble Studio with the Canadian
Opera Company.
Mercer’s busy schedule of opera, concert and
recital engagements reflects in particular her appetites for both baroque and contemporary music.
Featured last season by Queen of Puddings Music
Theatre, in Ana Sokolovic’s one-woman opera
Love Songs, Mercer returns to Queen of Pudding
this month for Beckett: Feck-it! (see below).
Recent appearances include: a role in Alexina
Louie’s opera film Mulroney: The Opera, a series
of concerts with Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra,
Bach’s St. John Passion with the Arion Baroque
Orchestra and Les Voix Baroques (recorded by
ATMA Classique and just released!), and performances with the Portland Baroque Orchestra,
Colorado Symphony Orchestra, Mercury Baroque
in Houston and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.
Recent touring includes her Wales – Land of Song
programme with Skye Consort, and a programme
devoted to Francesca Caccini,
with Luc Beausejour.
Tell us about your Aldeburgh
Connection, and their 30th
Anniversary Gala on February
19. I first met Stephen Ralls
when I was at Opera School at
the University of Toronto in
1999 and he was the Head of
the Opera Department. After
leaving school to join the
Ensemble Studio I was invited
to sing with the Aldeburgh
Connection series in one of
their famous Schubertiades.
Since then, I’ve sung with
them many times — including
a program of Purcell/Britten,
an Elgar program and most
recently a program of all Fauré.
I’ve also had the opportunity to sing at their
Bayfield Festival as a guest soloist in recital which
was a thrill!
Opportunities to sing song repertoire seem
to be few and far between and the Aldeburgh
Connection gives us opportunity. I have a large
list of song repertoire thanks to these wonderful
collaborations! Stephen and Bruce are such a class
act and always come up with interesting themes
and anecdotes about the composers, making each
concert such an interesting and informative collaboration. It is my honour to be asked to sing at
their 30th Anniversary amongst so many incredible Canadian singers.
Anything you would like to tell the little person
in your childhood photo? People in the future will
embrace your craziness and energy instead of try
to bottle it up and calm you down!!! Be proud of
all of your accomplishments and take time to be
in the moment.
Your earliest musical memory? I would ask my
sister to play Boogie Woogie Dancing Shoes, ad
nauseum, which we owned as a 45 … Shannon Mercer’s entertaining interview
continues at www.thewholenote.com.
CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR WINNERS! HERE’S WHAT THEY WON
At the Aldeburgh Connection’s 30th Anniversary Gala, at Koerner Hall (Feb 19), co-artistic directors
Stephen Ralls and Bruce Ubukata will preside at two pianos for a glorious programme of classical
song. Gerald Finley, Nathalie Paulin, Gillian Keith, Michael Colvin and Brett Polegato will be joined by
Colin Ainsworth, Benjamin Butterfield, Tyler Duncan, Shannon Mercer, Susan Platts, Lauren Segal,
Krisztina Szabó, Giles Tomkins, Monica Whicher and Lawrence Wiliford. Hosts: Catherine Robbin and
Christopher Newton. DAVE LINFOOT will be there too!
Queen of Puddings Music Theatre’s Beckett:
Feck-it! Samuel Beckett’s shorter plays with contemporary classical Irish music. Actors Laura Condlln, Michal
Grzejszczak, Tom Rooney, and Sofia Tomic, with soprano Shannon Mercer and trumpet player Michael Fedyshyn.
Directed by Jennifer Tarver, with Dáirine Ní Mheadhra & John Hess (music direction), in association with
Canadian Stage (Feb 17–25). A pair of Feb 20 tickets each for KATIE LARSON and VANESSA GOYMOUR!
Francesca Caccini: O Viva Rosa: Shannon Mercer, with Sylvain Bergeron (theorbo, baroque guitar), Luc Beauséjour
(harpsichord, organ) and Amanda Keesmaat (cello) illuminate the music of Florence-born, baroque composer Francesca
Caccini. (AN 2 9966). This prize goes to FRANCES GILES.
Wales – The Land of Song: Shannon Mercer says “This is the
culture that shaped my path in life and fills me with so much love for music and song …” A recording of traditional Welsh
folk songs and classical music, with the Skye Consort. (AN 2 9965) This prize goes to ANNA MARSH.
Music’s Children gratefully acknowledges Francine, Moira, Queen of Puddings, Muriel, Kenneth, Geoff, Sebastien, Elena and Davids.
February – March 7, 2012
thewholenote.com
57
PAMEL A MARGLES
Centre and Periphery, Roots and Exile:
Interpreting the Music of István Anhalt,
György Kurtág, and Sándor Veress
edited by Friedemann Sallis, Robin Elliott,
and Kenneth DeLong
Wilfrid Laurier University Press
480 pages, score examples; $85.00
In 2005, István
Anhalt’s The Tents
of Abraham won
the JUNO Award
for best Canadian
classical composition of the year. It
was remarkable for
such a provocative,
uncompromising
and politically ambitious piece. But it
seemed even more remarkable, because for
the 54 years Anhalt had lived in Canada, as
William Benjamin points out in this collection of essays, his music had been almost
totally neglected by performers and audiences in his adopted homeland.
Anhalt is one of the three composers,
along with Sándor Veress and György
Kurtág, whose relationship to the place of
his roots, and the process of displacement
that took him away, is looked at. But the
ideas of place and displacement are treated
not just as physical states. As Gordon Smith
writes, “They also embody metaphorical
ideas of being and dwelling, and ideas pertaining to danger, persecution, exile, adaption, and the resultant imperative discovery
of others and the emergent self.”
Anhalt, Veress, and Kurtág were all born
in Hungary and all studied in Budapest at the
Franz Liszt Academy — Anhalt and Veress
with Zoltán Kodály, and Kurtág with Veress.
All left Hungary, having survived the war
and the subsequent Soviet occupation of their
homeland. Anhalt and Veress left soon after
the war ended, but Kurtág, who is younger,
didn’t leave until 1993. Anhalt and Kurtág
are Jewish, and all three are haunted by a
past which is memorialized in their music.
These 20 papers by various academics,
composers and performers were first presented at a symposium at the University of
Calgary in 2008. To set the scene, there’s a
lovely musical tribute to Veress, who died
in Switzerland in 1992, by his son, Claudio
Veress. Kurtág, who has the greatest international reputation of the three, is recalled
in an insightful reminiscence by his godson,
Hungarian-born Canadian pianist Gergely
Szokolay. Anhalt, now 93 years old and living in Kingston, Ontario, where he spent
many years teaching at Queen’s University,
contributes a brief personal memoir to complement John Beckwith’s astute portrait, and
emerges as a thoroughly fascinating figure.
58
The strength of this probing collection
lies in the way the various approaches to
place and displacement offer insights into
interpreting key works by these three composers. But the connection between Anhalt,
Veress and Kurtág is left unexplored — only
Friedemann Sallis’s introduction links them
together. Otherwise, each paper deals with
an individual composer and his own milieu.
So in the end I was left wanting to know
more about how the shared roots and experiences of these three composers influenced
the development of their individual styles.
Concert Note: The Toronto Symphony
Orchestra will perform Kurtág’s Messages
on Thursday March 1 in Roy Thomson Hall,
as part of their New Creations Festival, curated by Hungarian composer Peter Eötvös
.
Kaija Saariaho: Visions, Narratives,
Dialogues
edited by Tim Howell with Jon Hargreaves
and Michael Rofe
Ashgate Publishing Company
238 pages, score samples; $99.95 US
as “an opera about dreaming of, and loving, the unattainable.” In fact, dreams have
been a direct source of inspiration right
from Saariaho’s earliest works like From the
Grammar of Dreams, and, starting with Im
Traume, she has used her own dream diaries
to provide material.
While these eight essays and the interview
with the composer provide an invaluable
perspective on Saariaho’s music, they do not
attempt to situate her music in today’s contemporary music scene. The contributors are all
from either Finland or England — oddly there
are none from France, where she has lived
since coming to Paris as a student in 1982.
It’s certainly noteworthy that when the
Canadian Opera Company produces L’Amour
de loin in February, it will be the first opera
by that company written in the 21st century.
Even more noteworthy, this will be the first
opera written by a woman to be produced
on their main stage. Even though Saariaho
resists being defined as a woman composer — or as any type of composer, for that
matter — she has never stepped back from
breaking down barriers, as this book shows.
Concert Notes: On Monday January 30,
Soundstreams presents soprano Carla
Huhtanen performing music by Kaija
Saariaho at 7:30pm in the Gardiner Museum.
On Tuesday January 31 at 12pm,
Like István Anhalt,
Soundstreams presents the Elmer Iseler
Singers performing Saariaho’s Tag des
Finnish composer
Jahrs and soprano Carla Huhtanen perKaija Saariaho has
spent most of her
forming the Leino Songs, as well as chamcareer outside her
ber works by the composer in the Richard
homeland. But unBradshaw Amphitheatre.
like Anhalt, she left
On Thursday February 2 at 12pm in
under no duress, havthe Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre, arting benefited from
ists of the COC Ensemble studio perform
Finland’s supportive
vocal works by Saariaho, including From the
culture and enlightGrammar of Dreams and Lohn (From Afar).
ened political values.
These performances will be introduced
This collection of essays charts the deby Saariaho.
velopment of Saariaho’s distinctive voice as
On Thursday February 2 and Friday
a composer, with its unusual sensual beauty, February 3 at 8pm in Koerner Hall,
expressive power and emotional directness.
Soundstreams presents Saariaho’s Tag des
“Harmony, texture and timbre: those three
Jahrs, performed by the Elmer Iseler Singers
things were then, and still are, at the heart of under Lydia Adams. my musical thinking,” Saariaho says in the
interview with Tom Service included here.
In her stage works — three operas and an
oratorio so far — she creates something new
and challenging, with inventive, unclichéd
storytelling and innovative use of painting,
mime, lighting, electronic sounds and prerecorded materials. Yet traditional musical
devices are also part of her operatic language. As Liisamaija Hautsalo writes, “The
musical topics within Saariaho’s works, often
modified into the musical language of our
time, could be described as whispers from
the past: a link between tradition and the
composer’s individual expression.”
A number of writers discuss how dreams
play an essential part in Saariaho’s work.
While L’Amour de loin (Love from Afar)
features a dream scene, the whole opera
can be seen, as Anni Iskala describes it,
thewholenote.com
February 1 – March 7, 2012
Editor’s Corner
DAVID OLDS
T
o make room for the best of the wealth of material received over the holiday break
and to accommodate the addition of three wonderful new reviewers to our fold,
I find I have left insufficient space for my own musings this month. So let me just
take a moment to introduce to these pages pianist and pedagogue Christina Petrowska
Quilico who shares insights on a new release by her colleague Stephen Hough;
composer and tuba virtuoso J. Scott Irvine who opines on a CD of contemporary tuba
and euphonium repertoire from Deanna Swoboda; and my own chamber music coach
and mentor, violinist Ivana Popovich who gives us her take on the Tokyo Quartet’s
recent Schubert release. Welcome aboard to one and all!
We welcome your feedback and invite submissions. CDs and comments should
be sent to: The WholeNote, 503–720 Bathurst St., Toronto ON M5S 2R4. We also
encourage you to visit our website www.thewholenote.com where you can find added
features including direct links to performers, composers and record labels, “buy
buttons” for on-line shopping and additional, expanded and archival reviews. —David Olds, DISCoveries Editor
[email protected]
VOCAL
Weill – Rise and Fall of
the City of Mahagonny
Measha Brueggergosman; Jane Henschel;
Michael König; Willard White; Teatro Real
Madrid; Pablo Heras-Casado
BelAir BAC067
Kurt Weill’s music
stands alone and
needs no visuals to
covey its brilliant,
contemporary and
relevant meaning.
That said, his
stage works
always assault the
senses when produced well — especially
when accompanied by the words of his
most famous collaborator, Bertold Brecht.
Mahagonny, immortalized by the countless
renditions of the “Alabama Song,” is so
much more than the simple morality play
that many perceive it as. It is a work,
which especially in this brilliant production
satirizes, troubles and challenges the viewer.
In these years of market crashes and the
disenfranchised “99%” its resonance is as
fresh as it must have been in the Weimar
Republic. The stunning sets, including a
verdant golf course — surely as much of a
power centre as one can imagine — create the
backdrop to the all too human struggle with
that “crime of crimes” — not having money
in the materialistic world. Jane Henschel
as the widow Begbick and Canada’s
own Measha Brueggergosman as Jenny
Smith form a powerful female axis of the
performance, with Brueggergosman taking
February – March 7, 2012
refreshing risks with the score. Michael
König (Jim MacIntyre) and Willard White
(Trinity Moses) in the meantime, complete
the play’s — and music’s — symmetry. The
orchestra delivers the score beautifully,
with a strangely appropriate Spanish verve.
This is truly an “edge of your seat” opera
experience, even without the original
German rhythms of speech. Bravo.
—Robert Tomas
Britten – War Requiem
Edith Wiens; Nigel Robson;
Håkan Hagegård; Prague Philharmonic
Choir; Ankor Children’s Choir; Israel
Philharmonic Orchestra; Kurt Masur
Heilicon Classics 02-9645
Ominous sounds
issuing from the
lower depths of the
strings with the
insistent tolling of
bells and the tenor‘s
desperate question
“what passing bells
for those who die
as cattle?” — so begins the pacifist Benjamin
Britten’s mass for the dead, a passionate
antiwar statement written in 1962 for the
opening of the newly rebuilt Coventry
Cathedral. The ingenious idea to combine
the Latin text, the basic underpinning
structure of the mass, with poems of dark,
terrifying imagery of the war in the trenches
is what distinguishes Britten’s work from
other requiems of the past. The poems
of Wilfred Owen, an English foot soldier
who was killed a week before the fighting
ended in 1918 are what give this piece its
unforgettable poignancy and impact.
Nothing but praise can be given to this
thewholenote.com
spectacular new recording produced in Israel
whose people have suffered and continue to
suffer from the ravages of war. In the tradition begun by the composer himself, Kurt
Masur, a former director of the Leipziger
Gewandhaus, commands the massive ensemble of forces (full symphony orchestra,
chamber orchestra, several choruses and
three soloists) with precision, clear insight
and passionate understanding. The deafening sounds of war in the “Dies Irae” section,
martial trumpets and horns with rumbling
bass drums emulating the roar of cannons
and snare drums imitating the rattle of machine gun fire, sound frighteningly real.
But the soul of the piece is in the singing. The Latin text is carried by the mixed
choruses and the boys’ choir as well as the
female soloist, Canadian soprano of international repute Edith Wiens. Her wailing
lament, for example in the “Lacrimosa” is
heartbreaking. In stark contrast, Owen’s
verses in the declamatory style of the
English language are sung by the tenor Nigel
Robson and baritone Håkan Hagegård. Their
precise diction, annunciation of remarkable
clarity and emotional involvement rival that
legendary first recording by Peter Pears and
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau of 1963, under the
composer’s baton.
—Janos Gardonyi
Britten – Songs & Proverbs of
William Blake
Gerald Finley; Julius Drake
Hyperion CDA67778
The songs of
Britten naturally
conjure up the
memory of Peter
Pears, Britten’s
partner, muse and
greatest influence.
The celebrated tenor
was also the poetry
consultant to the composer and their shared
tastes shaped Britten’s output. But there
were other voices he composed for. One
of the most significant ones was Dietrich
Fischer-Dieskau, the wonderful baritone.
Just like in his operas, from Billy Budd to
Death in Venice, Britten approaches the
baritone voice in these songs with a lyricism
usually reserved for the tenor. Given that
and the special nature of Blake’s poetry, it
isn’t any voice that can tackle this material.
Fortunately, Gerald Finley possesses a
baritone worthy of comparisons with
Fischer-Dieskau. It may not sound like an
insightful comment, but Finley’s baritone is
simply elegant. His phrasing and understated
ornamentation bring a fully engaged
understanding to the texts. What makes this
disc even more interesting is that it contains
Britten’s settings spanning a lifetime — from
the revised early compositions of a 14-yearold boy to late-in-life, mature compositions
59
and finally some published posthumously.
Whether you are familiar with Britten’s
songs, or Blake’s poetry for that matter,
you will appreciate the intelligent, focused
reading of the material in the Finley-Drake
collaboration. And you will love the sound
that the two artists create — love it enough to
come back to this record again and again.
—Robert Tomas
Il Progetto Vivaldi 2
Sol Gabetta; Cappella Gabetta;
Andres Gabetta
Sony Classical 88697932302
Vivaldi – Cello Concertos
A Bridge of Dreams – A Cappella Music
from the Pacific Rim
Ars Nova Copenhagen; Paul Hillier
Dacapo 6.220597
Jean-Guihen Queyras; Akademie fur
Alte Musik, Berlin
Harmonia Mundi HMC 902095
Curious and delightfully captivating, this recording
by the 14-voice Ars
Nova Copenhagen
ensemble under
Paul Hillier presents
a programme by
(mostly Western)
composers of music from the Pacific Rim.
Hillier’s credentials rest largely on his
years of work in early music. His ability
to cope with challenging contemporary
repertoire, however, leaves no doubt
about his extraordinary musicianship.
While his programme for this recording is
well balanced — including works by New
Zealander Jack Body, Australians Anne
Boyd and Ross Edwards, American Lou
Harrison and Lui Sola, a multi-disciplinary
artist from China — two works really deserve
special mention.
Harrison’s Mass for St. Cecilia’s Day
is tinged strongly by his attraction to
Chinese and Indonesian music. The Latin
text, sung in an obvious plainsong style, is
frequently embellished by modal phrasings
and ornaments from the Oriental world.
The effect of this fusion is surprisingly
compelling. One is never quite sure if what’s
being sung is ancient or modern. Harrison’s
skilful writing moves effortlessly through
an in-between realm where he creates
something new from something ancient.
Edwards’ Sacred Kingfisher Psalms also
combine otherwise unrelated material into
a remarkable composition. Using portions
of Latin psalm texts, Edwards pays homage
to the aboriginal spirit of his homeland by
weaving the native names of indigenous
birds into his Latin text. The chanting
evokes ancient aboriginal rituals as well
medieval European polyphonies.
Harrison’s and Edwards’ works appear to
practice some kind of musical alchemy and
do so with the skilful formulation of Ars
Nova’s choral ingredient.
—Alex Baran
There’s more at www.thewholenote.com:
Janos Gardonyi reviews Diana Damrau’s
new recording of Lieder by Franz Liszt and
Tiina Kiik shares her thoughts about Luciano
Pavarotti – A Film by Esther Schapira.
60
EARLY & PERIOD PERFORMANCE
These are two lively and exuberant
recordings of the music of Vivaldi and his
contemporaries, focussing on the Venetian
composer’s rich and somewhat varied cello
concertos. There are 27 cello concertos by
Vivaldi that have come down to us and a
strong cross-section is represented here.
Gabetta and Queyras are two of the world’s
leading cellists and belong to a generation of
modern European musicians who have fully
integrated baroque style into their musical
philosophies.
The “Argentine
French Russianborn” Sol Gabetta
has been garnering
rave reviews for her
playing since
finishing her studies
in 2006. She
maintains a busy
performing and recording schedule and a
wide repertoire, from Bach and Vivaldi to
Shostakovich, Elgar and Ginastera. Her
playing on this recording — her second CD
of Vivaldi concertos — is exquisite and the
orchestral playing (directed by her brother,
violinist Andrew Gabetta) is exciting and
elegant. Of special interest is the Concerto in
D Major by Leonardo Leo, which looks
forward stylistically to the galant music of
the later 18th century, and the world
premiere recording of the Concerto in D
Minor by Giovanni Benedetto Platti, an
interesting and dramatic work that we should
hear more often.
Jean-Guihen
Queyras was born in
Canada, but brought
up in France. He
was the winner of
the 2002 City of
Toronto Protégé
Prize as chosen by
Glenn Gould Prize
laureate Pierre Boulez and his playing is
possessed of a remarkably burnished and
gorgeous tone. His interest in chamber music
is apparent in the program of this CD, which
features sinfonias and orchestral concertos
by Vivaldi in addition to the concertos for
solo cello. The Berlin Akademie provides
tasteful and profound support, exploiting
a wide range of string colours. Of special
note is the playing of lutenist Simon
thewholenote.com
Martyn-Ellis. Included are two sinfonias by
Antonio Caldara, to my ears not as musically
interesting as the Vivaldi works.
Of the two recordings, the one by Queyras
feels a little more rehearsed, steady and
thoughtful. The Capella Gabetta has the
feeling of being a pick-up band, albeit
one made up of very fine players. Both
recordings are full of life and youthful
energy and are highly recommended.
—Larry Beckwith
Vivaldi – Return of Angels
Ensemble Caprice; Matthias Maute
Analekta AN 2 9995
This CD builds on
Ensemble Caprice’s
first recording of
Vivaldi’s sacred
music, Gloria!
Vivaldi and his
Angels. Once again,
we are transported
into the confines
of the Ospedale della Pietà, the orphanage
where Vivaldi taught orphaned girls violin
and singing, and composed concertos and
sacred music.
Vivaldi’s charges enjoyed great fame
throughout Europe, a fact made even more
amazing by the thoroughly demanding
quality of the compositions. Listeners
even included the English traveler Edward
Wright, who states that the girls “have a
eunuch for a master, and he composes their
music!” It is a unique description of Vivaldi!
Ten lady singers are assembled by
Matthias Maute; not a male voice is to be
heard even though the opening “Coro” from
Juditha Triumphans is inspired by a military
theme. Less warlike are the “Coro O quam
vaga” and the aria “Armatae, face” (both
sung with distinction by Shannon Mercer).
Other soloists make their mark: Laura
Pudwell, contralto, in Si Fulgida, and
Gabriele Hierdeis in the motet O qui coeli
terraeque serenitas. Also on the CD, perhaps
strangely, are two pieces by Zelenka (the
soloists Mercer and Pudwell once again) and
even two concertos by Vivaldi; perhaps it
was Vivaldi’s custom to spare the voices of
his charges from over-exposure and Maute is
following suit.
In fact, the Ensemble’s interpretations,
solo or otherwise, present a spiritual and
intense selection of Vivaldi’s compositions
for his orphaned girls. This reviewer looks
forward to a third CD.
—Michael Schwartz
There’s more at www.thewholenote.com:
Michael Schwartz enjoys A French Soirée
courtesy of Trio Settecento, as well as recent
Juilliard piano graduate Evan Shinner’s
debut CD @bach.
February 1 – March 7, 2012
CLASSICAL & BEYOND
Carl Czerny – A Rediscovered Genius
Anton Kuerti, St. Lawrence String Quartet,
Edmonton Symphony
Doremi DHR-6011-3
After many
years of listening
to and reviewing
classical music
on record, there
was little chance
that I would be
unexpectedly and so
pleasantly surprised
by a collection of Carl Czerny (1791–1857).
Czerny is well known to piano students as
the composer of routine practice studies
and technique development exercises. And
nothing beyond that. It has taken a century
and a half since his death to find out that
Czerny was, in reality, a composer of the
first rank who created nearly one thousand
significant compositions.
The discovery of the real Czerny started
some ten years ago here in Canada, led
by the internationally celebrated pianist
Anton Kuerti. Like many great discoveries,
it was quite by chance that Kuerti came
upon the score of a Czerny piano sonata in
a music store in Edmonton that was going
out of business. He was so impressed that
he had to find out if there were other such
masterpieces by Czerny. Kuerti’s research
revealed that there was “an overwhelming
body of extraordinary work in a multitude
of genres by Czerny that was totally ignored
and forgotten and huge quantities that had
never been published or heard.” Included are
symphonic compositions, concertos, vocal,
chamber and instrumental works. Czerny’s
style lies between Schubert and Mendelssohn
and while there are overtones of Beethoven
(his teacher) his style is original and
his own.
The outcome of Kuerti’s discoveries was
The World’s First Czerny Music Festival in
Edmonton in 2002, during which symphonies, masses, string quartets and quintets,
works for piano and strings, songs and miscellaneous chamber works were featured.
Some works are astonishing in their complexity such as two Fugatos for string quintet. What a surprise to hear among the songs
a setting of Goethe’s Der Erlkönig predating
Schubert’s famous version, in which Czerny
depicts the terrifying excitement in quite a
different manner.
The festival was recorded by the CBC and
many of the performances are featured on
this Doremi release. The performers include
Kuerti, the St. Lawrence String Quartet, the
Edmonton Symphony Orchestra and many
other distinguished pianists and vocalists,
all sounding fresh and into the engaging
music, much of it receiving a first or second
performance ever.
February – March 7, 2012
The set of three CDs plays for almost
four hours and every second was a joy to
hear. The sound is excellent and the 16 page
booklet includes informative notes by Kuerti.
One can only hope that more Czerny will be
unearthed, performed and recorded.
—Bruce Surtees
Beethoven – Symphony No.9
Erin Wall; Mihoko Fujimura; Simon O’Neill;
Mikhail Petrenko; Choeur et Orchestre
symphonique de Montréal; Kent Nagano
Analekta AN 2 9885
Unashamedly and
unapologetically
modern. Intended
deliberately for the
21st century soul.
There is nothing
“authentic” about
this performance by
the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal under Kent Nagano,
not as we understand the established practice of historically informed performances.
Authentic, however, is the breath-taking
emotional intensity channelled through this
symphonic colossus. This performance
leaves no doubt that Nagano has understood
every nuance of Beethoven’s convictions
about the world, indeed the universe around
him. Every lost hope, every anger, every
dream and inspiration the composer ever had
seems embedded in the writing for Nagano
to reveal with exquisite precision.
Perhaps the joy of familiar works is discovering new inner voices brought forward
by fresh interpreters who uncover secret
countermelodies that have eluded others.
Nagano does this repeatedly with oboes and
lower string phrases, especially against the
solo vocal parts. The effect is astonishing
and delightful.
Numbering some 92 players, the orchestra
is massive but always lithe, agile and fully
capable of every dynamic required by the
score. The 60-voice combined chorus of the
OSM and Tafelmusik Chamber Choir under
Ivars Taurins sings beautifully with flawless
diction. Every German word is there with
clarity and intent.
It would be hard to find higher production values than those demonstrably evident
on this recording. I haven’t heard a Ninth
so moving, so exciting, in very many years.
Recorded during the inaugural concerts at
the OSM’s new home, the Maison symphonique de Montréal, this testament certainly
bodes well for the orchestra’s future.
—Alex Baran
Schubert – String Quintet; Quartettsatz
Tokyo String Quartet; David Watkin
Harmonia Mundi HUM8074227
Schubert died shortly after completing his
String Quintet in C Major and the quintet
remained unnoticed until 1850, when the
famous Hellmesberger Quartet started to
thewholenote.com
promote it three
years before it was
published for the
first time. This
piece is full of
very powerful contrasts — light is followed by darkness,
serenity is interrupted by drama, and the whole work seems
to be a wonderful yet unsettling interaction
between two very different worlds. Schubert
emphasized the contrasting sonorities by his
use of the instruments–the first violin and
first cello are often paired and playing in
octaves, inner voices tend to be restricted
to their lower registers and the second cello
often brings in the darker textures.
Cellist David Watkin (of the Eroica
Quartet) has a wonderful rapport with the
members of the Tokyo on this recording.
There is a sense of effortless playing, a
unity of ideas and the near perfect crispness
in bow attacks. Two cellos bring up a very
expressive sound in the second theme of the
first movement and in the third theme in the
fourth movement. Throughout the second
movement, possibly the most beautiful and
complex slow movement of all Schubert’s
works, there are points of stillness and feelings of being suspended in time that are so
rewarding for the listener. Martin Beaver‘s
violin at times comes very close to the human voice. The third movement, with an
almost overwhelming difference of character
between the Scherzo and Trio, allows the
Tokyo Quartet and David Watkin to display
a virtuosity and depth of emotion at the same
time. The fourth movement is played very
stylishly; the dance-like quality is uplifting and the tempo, along with a feeling of
exuberance, accelerates at the end before it
brings the turbulence back in the last bar. A
fluid and extremely satisfying performance!
—Ivana Popovich
An expanded version of this review
appears at www.thewholenote.com.
Grieg; Liszt – Piano Concertos
Stephen Hough; Bergen Philharmonic
Orchestra; Andrew Litton
Hyperion CDA67824
Do we need
another Grieg or
Liszt CD? Yes we
do, if it is Stephen
Hough at the piano.
Although the Grieg
is usually paired
with the Schumann
Concerto in A
Minor I prefer this combination of the Liszt
concertos with the Grieg.
These works are perennial warhorses
that can sound dated and mannered but
not with Stephen Hough as soloist. Hough
is a remarkable pianist with flawless
technique and innate musicality and these
61
performances live up to expectation. I love
his intelligent and well-paced interpretations.
He never descends to the affectation and
overly mannered playing that some pianists
use in this repertoire. Hough is always about
the music and beautiful sound. He does not
sacrifice the musicality for virtuoso tricks.
The florid Lisztian passage-work is always an
extension of the melodic line. The trills and
roulades enhance the cantabile expression.
The tonal quality of Hough’s touch on the
piano has a clear ring to it which impresses
in both the bravura octaves, trills and the
slow lines. His sound is never harsh and the
sensitive phrasing is never replaced by empty
technical gestures. There is also a wonderful
rapport between piano and orchestra. The
ensemble is seamless and the music breathes
naturally. Andrew Litton’s conducting is
a soloist’s dream. The performances are
stunning and I highly recommend this CD.
The Grieg is an absolute gem.
—Christina Petrowska Quilico
Vaughan Williams – Symphony Nos.4 & 5
Toronto Symphony Orchestra;
Peter Oundjian
TSO Live (www.tso.ca)
If you think of
Vaughan Williams
only in terms
of English folk
song and church
music, listen to
this recording!
Compelling live
performances of
the fourth and fifth symphonies by Peter
Oundjian and the Toronto Symphony
Orchestra reveal the composer’s wide range
and continuing relevance. The Fourth
is the darker of the pair, its semitonal
theme generating dissonance and tension
throughout. At numerous points the
interlacing motifs and the accumulating
contrapuntal weave create tremendous
energy, which Oundjian captures without
sacrificing clarity or losing the long view.
He maintains the lyricism of the first
movement’s second theme, and consistently
brings out expressive moments within the
overall turbulence. Contrasts are handled
effectively, for example in the uneasy
peace of that movement’s coda or in the
quiet section before the finale’s climax. I
like especially the slow movement, with
its walking bass line and sense of a bleak
journey towards a lonely close, which
Oundjian paces perfectly.
Symphony No.5 shows a brighter side of
Vaughan Williams. In the first movement
rich textures and tone colours evoke a
natural setting, but overall the personal
exceeds the pastoral. Incorporating material
from a planned opera based on Bunyan’s
The Pilgrim’s Progress, the work to me
is suffused with integrity and spirituality.
Handling transitions and their changes
of dynamics, tempo and mood especially
62
well, Oundjian indeed conveys the striving,
committed voice of Vaughan Williams.
—Roger Knox
Fauré – Complete Chamber Music for
Strings and Piano
Renaud Capuçon; Gautier Capuçon;
Gerard Caussé; Michel Dalberto;
Quatuor Ebène
Virgin Classics 5099907087523
The composer
Aaron Copland once
remarked that the
music of Gabriel
Fauré possessed
all the earmarks of
the French temperament: harmonic
sensitivity, impeccable taste, classic restraint and a love of
clear lines and well-made proportions. These
qualities are no more evident than in Fauré’s
chamber music for piano and strings, now
presented in its entirety in this attractive
five-disc box set on the Virgin Classics label.
Is French music best interpreted by French
musicians? That question is certainly open
to debate, but in this case, it doesn’t hurt
that most of those taking part in this recording are top-rated French artists, including
violinist Renaud Capuçon, violist Gerard
Caussé, cellist Gautier Capuçon, pianist
Michel Dalberto joined by the Ebène Quartet
and the American pianist Nicholas Angelich.
Everything is included here: the pairs of violin and cello sonatas, the two piano quartets
and quintets, the piano trio, as well as the
sole string quartet.
The extensive notes rightly point out
that Fauré’s chamber music was composed
over the course of his lifetime, from the
first of the two violin sonatas and the first
piano quartet written when he was 30, to
the second piano quintet and the Piano Trio
in D Minor completed over 40 years later,
when deafness and advancing age obviously
weren’t hindering his creativity. The result
is a wonderful sense of progression and development spanning a 45 year period. The
Violin Sonata No.1, for example, contains
all the optimism and freshness of a youthful
composer, the quirky rhythms and modulations adeptly handled by Renaud Capuçon
and Michel Dalberto. On the other hand,
the Piano Quintet No.2 Op.115, completed
in 1921, is dark and impassioned, surely the
music of a composer resigned to the frailties
of old age; one refusing to abandon his own
musical idiom in favour of more modern
trends. The performance here by Andelich
and the Ebène Quartet is boldly assured,
imbued with a deeply-rooted sensitivity to
the demands of the music.
One of the most intriguing pieces in this
collection is the String Quartet in E Minor,
the only one Fauré ever wrote and the last
of his works to be completed. It was written only at the request of several colleagues,
including his pupil Ravel, and even then
Fauré did not fully embrace the project. The
end result is an angular piece that has a decidedly atmospheric quality to it — a haunting swan song concluding a lifetime devoted
to music.
An added bonus in this set is the inclusion
of musical miniatures for which Fauré is
justifiably famous, pieces such as the Élégie,
Sicilienne and Romance. And as if great
music superbly performed wasn’t enough,
the attractive packaging–involving “Belle
Époch” graphics and typeface on the covers–serves to further enhance this most appealing collection which will surely become
a mainstay in the catalogue.
—Richard Haskell
There’s more at www.thewholenote.com:
Read Richard Haskell’s impressions
of Garrick Ohlsson’s new recording of
Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No.3 with
the Atlantic Symphony Orchestra.
Strings Attached
TERRY ROBBINS
T
he montreal violinist
Alexandre Da Costa is back
with another outstanding CD
of contemporary works, this time
with the Orchestre Symphonique
de Montreal under Pedro Halffter
in Fire and Blood, featuring the
music of the American composer
Michael Daugherty (Acacia
Classics ACA 2 0931). The title work is a
violin concerto from 2003; commissioned by
the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, it was inspired by the “Detroit Industry” murals at
the Detroit Institute of Art, painted in the
early 1930s by the Mexican artist Diego
Rivera on a commission from Edsel Ford.
thewholenote.com
The opening movement
— “Volcano” — invokes the fires
of Mexican volcanoes and the
blaze of factory furnaces. The
beautiful second movement
— “River Rouge” — is named for
the Ford complex where Rivera
spent several months sketching
with his wife, artist Frida Kahlo;
her long-term serious health problems — she
almost died from a miscarriage while in
Detroit with her husband — resulted in “the
color of blood” being everywhere in her
works of that period. The third movement
— “Assembly Line” — is described by the
composer as “a roller coaster ride on a
February 1 – March 7, 2012
conveyor belt,” with the violin representing
the worker surrounded by a mechanical and
metallic orchestra that includes a ratchet and
brake drums! It’s stunning stuff with wonderful orchestration. It’s difficult to imagine
it being performed any better. Two shorter
works complete the CD: Flamingo, for two
tambourines and orchestra; and Ladder to
the Moon, for violin, wind octet, double bass
and percussion. Da Costa is again outstanding in the latter, a two-movement work also
inspired by art — this time a musical tribute
to Georgia O’Keeffe’s 1925–30 paintings of
New York skyscrapers and the Manhattan
cityscape.
The latest CD
from Canada’s
James Ehnes sees
him paired with the
Sydney Symphony
and Vladimir
Ashkenazy in an
all-Tchaikovsky programme recorded
live at Australia’s Sydney Opera House in
December 2010 (ONYX 4076). I was lucky
enough to catch this same team in a memorable performance of the Elgar violin concerto in Sydney in 2009, and it’s no surprise
to find them continuing their relationship.
Ashkenazy was also the conductor for the
Ehnes CD of the Mendelssohn concerto in
2010. The Violin Concerto is obviously the
main work here, and it’s a terrific performance, with Ashkenazy drawing idiomatic
playing from the orchestra, and Ehnes always managing to find something fresh
to say in the solo part while making the
technical difficulties sound easy. The two
other works with orchestra, the Sérénade
mélancolique Op.26, and the Valse-scherzo
Op.34, receive equally compelling performances from all concerned.
Ashkenazy returns to his first profession
as pianist for the final work, accompanying
Ehnes in the three-movement Souvenir d’un
lieu cher Op.42. Again, the mutual understanding is there for all to hear. It’s another
terrific addition to the already impressive
Ehnes discography.
There are more
live recordings
featured on the
latest CD from
Christian Tetzlaff
(ONDINE ODE 11952) which features
the Violin Concertos
of Mendelssohn
and Schumann, with Paavo Järvi conducting
the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra.
Tetzlaff was artist in residence with the orchestra when the recordings were made in
September 2008 and February 2009. The
Mendelssohn is a beautiful performance,
never over-played, with an affecting slow
movement and a finale that displays detailed,
subtle and sensitive playing without ever losing a sense of line. The Schumann concerto
has had a troubled history and waited 84
February – March 7, 2012
years for its eventual premiere in 1937. The
beautiful slow movement is its saving grace,
but the opening movement material is not the
greatest, and with its demanding technical
difficulty it’s not hard to see why the concerto continues to struggle to enter the mainstream repertoire. Tetzlaff, however, does
a lovely job with this work, as he does with
the Fantasy for Violin and Orchestra, which
was also written in 1853 and quickly fell
out of favour. It was originally felt to be a
brilliant and cheerful piece, but Schumann’s
mental illness and death within three years
seemed to change the public perception of
the work. In this repertoire, though, Tetzlaff
is up against stiff competition from Ulf
Wallin, whose definitive performances of
these works on the BIS label were reviewed
in depth in the September 2011 Strings
Attached column. Strings Attached continues at www.
thewholenote.com with recent releases
from the Jasper and Takács string quartets,
violinist Tim Fain and violists Matthew Jones
and Nathan Braude.
MODERN & CONTEMPORARY
Southam – Returnings
Eve Egoyan
Centrediscs CMCCD 17211
This album marks
the premiere recording of four piano
works by the late
Ann Southam. The
music was chosen
by Southam, among
Canada’s finest composers, who died at
age 73 in November 2010. The consummate
Toronto pianist Eve Egoyan, for whom the
works were created, makes a convincing and
moving case for them.
I first heard Southam’s music in the 1970s
when she became known for the electroacoustic works she made for Toronto Dance
Theatre choreographers. I was surprised
to hear later that we shared a mutual composition teacher, Samuel Dolin of the Royal
Conservatory of Music. In Returnings I,
the piano tolls in the low register while the
consonant mid-keyboard chords support a
disjunct melodic line. The haunting, though
reassuring, music is over well before I want
it to be. It hardly seems to last the quarter of
an hour the CD timing states.
In Retrospect is like a broken harmonic
series rearranged, a set of cubist impressions
of bells ringing, their pitches ranging over
most of the keyboard. One can imagine in
the listening Southam’s abstracted, distanced
and terse life in review, fastidious in its
avoidance of dramatic overstatement and
emotional sturm und drang. While her
modernist colours are on display here, by the
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end of the work I am left with the feeling of
unquiet, unnamed musical questions being
posed rather than clear statements articulated
and argued.
Qualities of Consonance, in contrast, has
a dramatic agenda. It serves up dissonant,
aggressive, loud musical gestures that would
be quite at home in the mid-20th century,
alternating with soft sostenuto passages.
The resulting dialectic resonates on a
deep emotional level. In the final work,
Returnings II: A Meditation, Southam offers
us a more refined aesthetic. Set in a haltingly
rocking rhythm, it revisits the harmonic
grammar of Returnings I.
Yes, I hear links in these last piano pieces
to the more pattern-concerned jubilant
minimalism of Southam’s earlier works,
yet this mature autumnal music speaks to
me with more conviction. They have the
admirable gravitas and serenity of a full
life well lived. These pieces, along with
Southam’s Simple Lines of Enquiry (recorded
by Egoyan on Centrediscs CMCCD 14609),
should take their rightful place in the top tier
of contemporary concert piano repertoire.
—Andrew Timar
O Music – The Music of Allan Gilliland
New Edmonton Wind Sinfonia
Centrediscs CMCCD 17111
This disc by the
well-established
New Edmonton
Wind Sinfonia
contains a variety
of music by prolific
Edmonton-based
composer Allan
Gilliland. Conductor
Raymond Baril maintains a high standard
throughout, with soloists James Campbell
and Dean McNeill making distinguished
contributions. Included are jazz and
Broadway suites as well as music based on
the composer’s Scottish heritage. My main
reservation is that, for a single-composer
collection, I don’t hear enough of Gilliland’s
“own” musical voice coming through.
Dreaming of the Masters I pays tribute
to great jazz clarinettists including Benny
Goodman, Pee Wee Russell and Buddy
DeFranco. Perhaps better known as a
classical clarinettist, James Campbell
emerges here as also a fine jazz stylist and
improviser. In Kalla (“call” in Norwegian),
trumpeter and arranger Dean McNeill
conveys brilliantly the role of a riverside
trumpeter in New Orleans circa 1900
making echoing calls that are answered by
other trumpets throughout the city (with
jazz plunger mutes much in evidence).
Fantasia on Themes from West Side
Story demonstrates Gilliland’s inventive
orchestration and idiomatic technique in
what he calls a “re-composition” of material
from the beloved musical. O Music, Loch
Na Beiste, and Love’s Red Rose evoke
the Scottish landscape and traditional
63
melodic style. Overall, this disc would
appeal to those who enjoy any or all of the
above genres.
—Roger Knox
two + two
TorQ Percussion Quartet
Bedoint Records BR002
(www.torqpercussion.ca)
“Always complimenting or
opposing” is the
descriptive phrase
that creative percussion quartet TorQ
uses to describe the
music on their debut
recording project,
two + two. Produced by TorQ (skilled
percussionist/composers Richard Burrows,
Adam Campbell, Jamie Drake and Daniel
Morphy) and Ray Dillard, the CD is without
question a fascinating and intense piece of
work. According to TorQ themselves, their
project explores harmonic and rhythmic
concepts and the contrasting and complex
relationships to their polar antithesis, e.g.
pitched and un-pitched; tranquil and relentless; simple and complex.
two + two is comprised of five extended
works, including the evocative Awakening
Fire by Jason Stanford, which utilizes
ephemeral vibes and marimbas, the drones
of Tibetan meditation bowls and all manner
of drums and percussion gizmos to create
a primordial sonic landscape — replete with
Neolithic thunderstorms. Also of note is the
stark Tak-Nara by Nebojsa Jovan Zivkovic,
and the funky, marimba driven I Call Your
Name: Rescue Me (Christos Hatzis), which
integrates urbanized spoken word snippets as
well as some thrilling auricular cacophonies.
Also moving is an ethno-centric version of
iconic avant-garde composer John Cage’s
opus, Third Construction.
This conceptual, non-linear and visceral
music may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but
it clearly extends beyond a mere auditory experience and into the realm of performance
art. I’m sure that we can all look forward to
the next magical multi-dimensional presentation from TorQ — highly musical percussive
artistry without artifice or gimmicks.
—Lesley Mitchell-Clarke
Concert Note: TorQ Percussion Quartet
performs a concert of world premieres
including Three Pieces for Eight Mallets by
Christos Hatzis, Walter Hall, February 5,
7:30pm.
Shamanic Journey
Deanna Swoboda
Potenza Music PM1013
(www.potenzamusic.com)
The noble tuba is the only instrument in
the standard symphony orchestra that can
claim that virtually all of its solo repertoire
64
has been composed
within the last 60
years. This is in
large part due to
the efforts of tuba
players themselves,
who often seek out
the friendship of
composers, who
they then commission (or brow-beat) into
composing these solo works.
American tuba player Deanna Swoboda is
no exception to this: a professor of tuba and
euphonium at Western Michigan University
and the President of the International Tuba
and Euphonium Association, she also is a
fantastic performer, as this solo CD, her
second, ably shows. Most of the featured
repertoire is by women composers and most
is of the “easy-listening” variety — a number
of the works having a jazz or pop-infused
feel. Particularly enjoyable is the Concert
Piece for Tuba and Piano by the noted
American composer, Libby Larsen.
A bonus for listeners on our side of the
border is the inclusion of two works by
Canadian composers, Elizabeth Raum’s
Ballad and Burlesque (commissioned by
Swoboda) and Barbara York’s Sonata for
Tuba and Piano, subtitled “Shamanic
Journey,” which gives Swoboda’s new CD
its name.
—J. Scott Irvine
Saariaho – D’om le vrai sens; Laterna
Magica; Leino Songs
Kari Kriikku; Anu Komsi; Finnish Radio
Symphony Orchestra; Sakari Oramo
Ondine ODE 1173-2
Kaija Saariaho
stands among
today’s outstanding
concert music
composers. She was
born in Finland
(1952) but has been a
long-time resident of
Paris. Her research
at IRCAM, the Paris institute where FM
synthesis and electroacoustic techniques
associated with spectral music have been
developed, has had a profound influence on
her compositions, which often combine live
and electronic musical forces.
This CD features three recent all-acoustic
works performed by some of Finland’s
finest interpreters. Saariaho’s clarinet
concerto D’om Le Vrai Sens, inspired by
the famous La Dame à la Licorne medieval
tapestries is almost operatic in scope, the
solo clarinet virtuoso Kari Kriikku playing
the protagonist to the orchestra’s lushly
mysterious textures.
Saariaho’s dramatic orchestral piece
Laterna Magica derives its title and theme
from film director Ingmar Bergman’s
memoirs, referring to an early type
of manual film projector. The title
underscores the composer’s fascination
thewholenote.com
with boundaries: between observation and
imagination; between objective light and
subjective dream-like reality. The latter is
represented in sound by shifting, colourfully
orchestrated, alternating dense and wispy
chords and evanescent hissing instrumental
sounds. Whispered words uttered by the
musicians, describing light’s effects both on
objects and on human mood, are culled from
Bergman, adding to the music’s mystery.
The four Leino Songs, built on texts by
Finnish poet Eino Leino (1878–1926), were
composed for the polished and nuanced
voice of the Finnish soprano Anu Komsi and
orchestra. Epigrammatic and voice-friendly,
the songs follow the lyrics admirably,
allowing the words to dictate the overall
form and duration of each song. This is by
far the shortest of the works here, yet its
emotional impact is perhaps the greatest.
—Andrew Timar
Concert Note: The Canadian Opera
Company will present eight performances of
Kaija Saariaho’s Love From Afar, featuring
Russell Braun, Erin Wall and Kristina
Szabó, February 2 to 22.
From the New Village
Duo Resonance
Woodlark Discs (www.silverflute.ca)
German
Romanticism of the
19th century, in
spite of much turbulence at the time,
was a golden age for
the arts, especially
for music and poetry. Duo Resonance
is composed of guitarist Wilma van Berkel
and flutist Sibylle Marquardt. The title is
derived from the first set of compositions on
the disc, Songs and Dances from the New
Village by Dusan Bogdanovic, pieces based
on traditional music from south-eastern
Europe. The rest of the repertoire, with
the exception of Toru Takemitsu’s Toward
the Sea, is similarly related to folk or traditional music.
There is some invigorating music-making
on this CD. In the first movement “Bordel”
of Astor Piazzolla’s L’histoire du tango,
for example, Marquardt’s robust sound,
incisive articulation and precise rhythmic
sense, coupled with van Berkel’s dynamic
and fluid playing, propel the music forward
to an exciting climax. Van Berkel‘s solo
at the beginning of the contrasting second
movement, exquisitely languid, sensitive and
touching, sets a sultry summer mood.
Van Berkel also excels in Toronto
composer Alan Torok’s idiosyncratically
spelled Native Rhapsody in Hommage of
James Brown. The writing for guitar, while
neither particularly “native” nor “folk” to
my ears, is rhythmically sophisticated and
works well with the modal flute line.
The notation of Takemitsu’s Toward
February 1 – March 7, 2012
the Sea, described in the liner notes
as “annotated to the point of excess,”
proves effective, nevertheless, in drawing
Marquardt, playing alto flute, into a more
expressive mode than elsewhere on the disc,
exploring a greater variety of tone qualities,
colours and dynamics.
Kudos to the duo for coupling some
of the better known repertoire for their
instruments with lesser known contemporary
compositions that need to be heard.
—Allan Pulker
JAZZ & IMPROVISED
Waltz for Bill
Tom Szczesniak
Independent SZC-27426-27
(www.tomszcz.com)
Waltz for Bill is veteran Toronto session
player and arranger, Tom Szczesniak’s, love
letter to the genius of Bill Evans. It is also
the title of his very first CD under his own
name after 40 years in the industry playing
with everyone from Anne Murray to Thad
Jones. Evans isn’t the only piano player to
be honoured by Szczesniak, as the late and
much-missed Doug
Riley (Dr. Music)
is remembered
here both with a
tribute song and
a cover of one of
his compositions,
Dinosaurus. The
progressive rock/bop
fusion number is a bit of an incongruity,
but a palate-cleanser amidst all the ear
butterscotch that comes before and after.
The disc is steeped in standards and even
veers into chestnut territory a time or two,
but is a class act from beginning to end.
Starting with a mellow but harmonically
fresh approach to What Is This Thing Called
Love, we get taken on a lush, lovely journey
of the likes of Gershwin and Hammerstein
with lots of strings, a bit of sax (Michael
Stuart and Vern Dorge) and the occasional
velvety vocal from Doug Mallory and
Cal Dodd.
—Cathy Riches
There’s more at www.thewholenote.com:
Sounds and Silence is a film by Peter
Guyer and Norbert Wiedmer about ECM
label founder Manfred Eicher reviewed by
John Larocque.
It’s Our Jazz
GEOFF CHAPMAN
J
azz in quebec is a vigorous element of
French-Canadian culture, though all too
infrequently experienced in these parts.
However, Montreal label Effendi
has recently released a bumper
crop of albums by provincial stalwarts that underscore the lively
musical health of its practitioners. One features veteran bassist
Alain Bédard, who skilfully demonstrates his roles as leader, anchor, frequent soloist and
rhythmic engine of his Auguste
Quintet on Alain Bédard – Homos
Pugnax (Effendi FND 115 www.
effendirecords.com). He wrote
five of the ten tracks that include
four by bandsmen and Carla
Bley’s Fleurs Carnivores, which
he’s arranged impressively.
Supported by the nimble, versatile sax of Frank Lozano (mainly
soprano), pianist Alexandre
Grogg and subtle drummer
Michel Lambert, Bédard has created an enticing album full of
interest, unusual time signatures
and sparkling work by all.
It’s odd to come across a fullyfledged band that’s only been
around a short while yet clearly
February – March 7, 2012
displays confidence and chemistry. Mike
Field – Ashes (MFJCD 1101 www.mikefieldjazz.com) is a pleasing quintet outing led by
trumpeter Field, a veteran of
musical forms other than jazz,
performing with tenor saxist Paul Metcalfe, pianist Matt
Newton, bassist Carlie Howell
and drummer Dave Chan.
The boss wrote all nine pieces
here, some with unconventional
structures and all executed with
considerable panache, though the
music’s more unblemished than
exhilarating. Field plays with
authority, with obvious tonal
smarts and ear-catching virtuosity. His album strongly suggests
future success.
Indefatigable drummer Barry
Romberg has put out 11 CDs
over the past decade featuring
his Random Access combos and
the newest maintains the group
rep for sustained excitement and
relentless drive. Recorded live at
the Rex, Barry Romberg’s
Random Access – Unplugged Live
(Romhog Records 121 www.
barryromberg.com) has the usual
suspects in play for 70 minutes
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encompassing just four tunes — guitarist
Geoff Young, keyboardist Robi Botos and
power electric bassist Rich Brown. Guesting
is American tenor saxist Donny McCaslin,
who’s more than comfortable with the striking free improv that is RA’s trademark, his
staccato phrasing meshing well with Young’s
distinctively spiky approach, Brown’s gouging grooves and the fierce energy from keys
and drums. The more-than-22 minutes of the
burning In Pursuit is a stirring highlight,
Botos sparkling on electric piano.
The guitar toted
by Winnipeg’s Keith
Price makes untypical, attractive
sounds, quickly
manifested on his
sophomore album
The Keith Price Trio/
Quintet – Gaia/Goya
(KP201102 www.keithprice.ca). Bell-like
chords, shining echoey notes, shimmering
resonances are heard, which gives this disc
surprising heft considering that it occupies
only a measly 41 minutes as it combines four
indie-pop tunes performed by his trio with
bass Julian Bradford and drummer Curtis
Nowosad and a six-part suite which adds alto
saxist Neil Watson and pianist William
Bonness. The groupings are well integrated,
no one stepping out of line, though the pulse
team is allotted occasional flights of fancy.
The suite’s components come across as more
fully realized, with a freshness of expression
and frequent servings of heat.
Montreal pianist
Taurey Butler has
plenty to offer on
his impressive debut
recording as leader,
the self-titled Taurey
Butler (Justin Time
JUST242-2 www.
justin-time.com),
11 cuts where he unabashedly illuminates
his respect for late genius Oscar Peterson
without consciously emulating him. The
ferocious swing, eloquent skill at speed,
pounding left hand and showy imagination
are all there, however, markedly on opening burners Sunrise, Sunset and The Lady
Is A Tramp. Butler gets exemplary support
from bassist Eric Lagacé and drummer Wali
Muhammad throughout, though the trio’s
work on ballads is less satisfying than the
verve they show on tunes mid-tempo and
up, like the catchy Butler contributions An
Afternoon Downtown and Grandpa Ted’s
Tune, the latter a surging procession of
ideas. And you can’t say OP doesn’t spring
to mind on Butler’s tearaway Nobody’s Here.
Big bands don’t rule the jazz roost
nowadays but they’re often worth a listen,
as is the case with Mississauga Big Band
Jazz Ensemble – On The Periphery (MBBJE
5-2 [email protected]), which offers 14
tunes and 73 minutes of classy, sprightly
entertainment recorded live at Arnold’s
Sports Bar in Oakville. The opening
65
Steamsville is brisk
and bright with
gritty alto by Gary
Martin, who also
shines on Aluminum
Baby. Section work
is mostly splendid
though soloists
vary widely in
ability (10 players get solo opportunities).
The ensemble sounds best on relaxed
material, especially well-worn standards,
but it can swing hard and clearly enjoys
challenging choices, including pieces from
Burt Bacharach, the Average White Band
and Charlie Mingus. Vocalist Catherine
McGregor holds her own on four songs.
Three worth seeking: If you’re in the
mood for tight fusion try Cinque – Catch A
Corner (Alma ACD83012 www.almarecords.
com), a quintet featuring Robi Botos, John
Johnson and Joey DeFrancesco. For forceful swing there’s Cory Weeds – Just Like That
(Cellar Live CL031311 www.cellarlive.com),
a quartet helmed by Vancouver alto saxist
Weeds with pianist Tilden Webb’s trio. If
you want groove and funk hear Jason Raso
– The Red Arrow (Summit Records DCD 569
www.jasonrasomusic.com), which showcases
the Guelph-based bassist in action with assorted colleagues including B3 master Tony
Monaco and drummer Ted Warren. Something in the Air
Expat Canadians Create High-Class Improv
KEN WAXMAN
A
lmost from the time the professional
music business was established in this
country, the expected route for success
has been for artists to head off to the larger
market down south and set up shop there.
Canadians from Percy Faith and Maynard
Ferguson to Joni Mitchell and Teresa Stratas
effectively followed
that formula. But
today, as American
musical hegemony
lessens and modern
communications
almost literally
shrink the world,
musicians, especially those who play
improvised music,
can demonstrate that
a permanent home in
Europe is as beneficial as becoming an
American resident.
Take Vancouverborn Joe Williamson
for instance. On Weird Weapons 2 (Creative
Sources CS197 CD www.creativesourcesrec.com), the bassist, who now lives in
Stockholm after stints in London, Berlin and
Montreal, is matched with German guitarist Olaf Rupp and drummer Tony Buck, an
Australian turned Berliner, for two extended
selections of intuitive improv. No lounge
guitar trio, this band creates sonic sparks
that almost visibly fly every which way.
Rupp’s constant, intense strumming often
elasticizes into slurred fingering as Buck
buzzes drumstick on cymbals, pops his
66
toms, door-knocks his snares and rattles and
reverberates any number of bells, chains and
wood blocks for additional textures. Keeping
the improvisations grounded is Williamson,
who splays, stretches or saws upon his instrument’s strings, scroll and body wood
when he’s not creating added continuum
by slapping out
pedal point resonation. On the
nearly 30-minute
Buckram, the three
reach such a level of
polyphonic coherence that the cumulative textures seem
to ooze into every
sonic space. Moving
to the forefront then
fading back into
the ensemble, Rupp
pinpoints jagged
licks that eventually accelerate to
stentorian multistring runs, as Buck concentrates pitter-pattering and agitatedly clanking into tremolo
whacks. Finally, a climax is reached, as
Williamson’s multi-string variations, consisting of col legno strokes vibrating with
a near-electronic pulse, push the three to a
decisive conclusion.
To read how fellow Canadians, drummer
Kevin Brow, bassist Pierre Alexandre
Tremblay and pianist Kris Davis are also
making their musical marks outside of this
country, read the continuation of this column
at www.thewholenote.com. thewholenote.com
POT POURRI
MatadoR–The Songs of Leonard Cohen
Patricia O’Callaghan
Marquis 81417
I was delighted
when I got the
nod from the
DISCoveries editor
to go ahead and
review Patricia
O’Callaghan’s newest album, MatadoR
– The Songs of
Leonard Cohen. Not only have I marvelled
at O’Callaghan’s immense talent over the
years, but I had the pleasure of attending
her thrilling performance titled “Patricia
O’Callaghan Sings Leonard Cohen” at last
year’s Global Cabaret Festival. And I was
very curious to see how it all would translate
to disc.
Generally, it’s next to impossible
to recreate the intimacy, immediacy,
spontaneity and energy of a live performance
on CD. I was utterly transfixed, watching
and listening to O’Callaghan on stage. I was
less so, listening to the recording; but the
more I listened, the more I was drawn in.
O’Callaghan’s voice (she trained as a soprano
at the University of Toronto) is as rich,
pliable and luminous as ever, interpreting
Cohen’s songs with tremendous tenderness
and a mature, worldly sensitivity and insight.
Yes, the soprano nails Cohen!
It doesn’t hurt, either, that she has
members of the Gryphon Trio backing her
up on several tracks, as well as the fine
jazz pianist, David Restivo; their collective
work on Alexandra Leaving is particularly
beautiful. And bassist Andrew Downing’s
gorgeous arrangements are outstanding on If
It Be Your Will and Anthem. But, for me, the
jewel is O’Callaghan’s take on Dance Me to
the End of Love. Translated into Spanish, it’s
pure joy and downright sexy.
O’Callaghan co-produced MatadoR. She
can be very proud of this project.
—Sharna Searle
Concert Note: Patricia O’Callaghan is fea-
tured in “Masques of Love” — a cabaret
presentation by Toronto Masque Theatre,
February 3 and 4.
ChaCha
Michele Mele
Independent (www.michelemele.com)
With the release
of ChaCha, composer and vocalist Michele Mele
clearly illustrates not
only her ineffable
sweetness of soul,
but a gamin wit,
February 1 – March 7, 2012
impeccable phrasing and mastery of the
delicious musical hook. On this, her fifth
(and finest) recording, Mele shines on keyboards and her pure, distinctive vocals are
in full force and gorgeously recorded. For
this project, brilliant producer and guitarist Greg Kavanagh has assembled a tight,
groovy cadre of A-List players, including
Michael Stewart on sax, Bill McBirnie on
flute and guitarist Lou Bartolomucci (notably
on Cabana Boy and Answer Every Question).
The material on ChaCha is a tasty mix of
brand new songs and several previously recorded tunes that have been given a complete
(and delightful) re-imagining, such as the
charming Tree Frogs (originally written for
her then ten-year-old son in celebration of his
love of amphibians).
Mele is a natural, highly connective and
communicative performer and writer, who
made quite a splash recently with her hit
one-woman show “Naked on the Rocks.”
Her appealing Astrud Gilberto-ish vocals are
a refreshing change from the over-wrought
divas all too frequently holding sway on the
airwaves and in the clubs. The title track is
irresistible — rhythmic, clever and sexy — and
the Latin sizzler Hold Back Trigger is another stand-out, as is the lilting bossa, One
Thing for Sure. Check out Michael Stewart`s
potent solo on Stop Talking. This is a gem of
a recording — the optimum soundtrack for a
languid Sunday afternoon with the New York
Times, a mimosa and the perfect company.
—Lesley Mitchell-Clarke
Onionoise
The Vegetable Orchestra
Transacoustic Research/Monkey TRES008
(www.vegetableorchestra.org)
With popular
concern about fresh
and organic produce as its height,
Vienna’s 12-piece
Vegetable Orchestra
(VO) should garner
kudos from environmentalists. That’s
because all of the instruments the members play are painstakingly fashioned from
fresh vegetables.
More than gimmickry — although most
of these sound legumes can only be played
once and are then turned into soup for the
concert audience — these compositions and
improvisations are part of the Viennese tradition of sonic experimentation that dates back
to Schoenberg and Webern; although it’s
more bio-degradable. Unlike self-contained
serialism however, the VO’s repertoire draws
from pop, concrète, noise, improvised and
electronic music. Krautrock, for instance,
approximates the sound of that noisy genre
with distorted cabbage scrapings. Meanwhile
Le Massacre du Printemps reaches a level
of timbral intensity by layering repetitive
percussion from a pumpkin bass drum, an
eggplant clatterer, a carrot xylophone and a
February – March 7, 2012
bell pepper hooter with parsley, leek and celeriac crackles that seem to emanate from a
frying pan. The mélange finale showcases an
opposing lyrical airiness propelled by radish
bass flute and carrot flute.
There are other tasty interludes of sound
mulching. They include Regen which suggests electronic oscillations, actually created
by leek membrane pulsations as well as
French bean crackles processed through a
bean-tip pickup; and Brazil, whose swinging
Latin-American-like maraca motion plus
percussion and castanet-like resonations
result from a bean shaker, eggplant clapper,
celeriac bongo and leek pulses. The tune
even ends with some swaying vamps from
carrot xylophone and calabash bass.
High quality rather than high caloric
sounds, it seems somehow appropriate that
this sonic salad is served up on a CD, which
after all is the same shape as a dinner plate.
—Ken Waxman
Old Wine, New Bottles | Fine Old Recordings Re-Released
BRUCE SURTEES
I
n 2002 Radio Netherlands Music issued
the first volume of an Anthology of the
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, a 13CD box of live performances from 1935 to
1950. Five future volumes were promised
that would cover performances, decade
by decade, to the end of the century. The
projected series is now complete with Volume
Six containing great performances from
1990 to 2000 (RCO 11004, 14 CDs). Artists
in that first volume included
Walter, Monteux, Ansermet,
Mengelberg, van Beinum,
Abendroth, Jochum, Karajan,
Kleiber, Boult, Klemperer,
Furtwangler and others, all
of whom were deceased by
1990. The works were from
the standard concert repertoire
of the day. This final edition
brings us pretty well up to date
with performances by eminent
maestros and soloists of the
decade. The editors who selected
performances for inclusion
have done well as there are no
second rate renditions to be
heard in any of the 37 individual
works presented. Collectors
may be relieved to know that
there is no Beethoven Fifth
or Ninth, (but there is a Sixth
with Sawallisch); no Brahms
symphonies, no Le Sacre du
Printemps or Bolero to add yet
another version to a balanced
collection. There are two
Shostakovich symphonies, the
First (Solti) and the Fifth (Kurt
Sanderling); an Elgar Second
(Previn); an overwhelming
Mahler Fifth (Tennstedt);
Sibelius Fourth (Berglund);
Bluebeard’s Castle (Ivan Fischer)
and scores conducted by Chailly,
Dutoit, Skrowaczewski, Jansons,
Flor, de Leeuw, Fournet, de
Waart, Boulez, Harnoncourt, Gardiner,
Rozhdestvensky, Berio, Haitink and others.
Composers include Frank Martin, Dutilleux,
Lutosławski, Ravel, Zemlinsky, Bartok and
the list goes on. Check Archivmusic.com
thewholenote.com
for the complete contents … but buy it in
Canada where it’s cheaper. Not only are the
performances exemplary but the recorded
sound is of audiophile quality throughout,
aided by the special acoustics of the
Concertgebouw. The Dutch engineers have
the art of recording this orchestra down pat.
An impeccable, if somewhat esoteric (but not
for long), collection.
Although it has been 22 years since
his death in 1989, Herbert
von Karajan’s entire recorded
repertoire, beginning in 1939
with Tchaikovsky’s “Pathétique”
symphony, is still available. He
recorded the nine Beethoven
symphonies four times; for EMI
in the early 1950s and then a
new cycle every decade with
his Berlin Philharmonic for
DG. When that final nine was
issued, the critics had a field
day comparing and twittering
about the felicities of movement
versus movement of the three
DG cycles. His interpretations
did evolve through the years
culminating in the 1982–4
performances which is the
cycle chosen for Beethoven:
Karajan, a 13-CD set of all
Karajan’s Beethoven repertoire
with the Berlin Philharmonic
(DG 4779830). Also included
are all the overtures, all the
concertos — piano (the first with
Eschenbach, and Weissenberg
for the rest), violin (Mutter)
and the triple (Zeltser, Mutter
and Ma); Wellington’s Victory;
the Missa Solemnis; the Grosse
Fuge, and a couple of short
pieces without opus numbers.
Only Fidelio is missing. This
is an exceptional collection
offering superb performances in
state-of-the-art re-mastering at
an absurdly low price that would have been
unimaginable just a few years ago when, if
bought separately, these discs would have
left the buyer with little change from $300.
I must add that my very favourite
67
recording, by anyone, of Beethoven’s
Symphony No.9 is the Karajan/Vienna
Philharmonic performance recorded in
the Musikverein under very difficult,
near impossible conditions in 1947. The
resourceful, now legendary producer, Walter
Legge, was the driving force who actually
did make it happen. The astute Legge
engaged Elizabeth Schwarzkopf, Elizabeth
Hongen, Julius Patzak and Hans Hotter. It
was by this recording that the world first
heeded the young (not of the old school)
Herbert von Karajan. This outstanding
performance is a celebration, a triumphant
and positive statement of what Beethoven is
all about. (EMI CD 0724347687822).
EMI has been assembling their recordings
of particular musicians, instrumentalists,
ensembles and conductors and issuing
performer-dedicated packages at superbudget prices. Sir John Barbirolli – The Great
EMI Recordings (EMI 5099945776724)
is a ten-CD set containing 36 of his best
performances, conducting seven different
orchestras, dating from 1957 to 1969.
Collectors will be especially thrilled
with these selections as Barbirolli was a
superlative musician and one of the great
conductors of the century. Many of these
are not only his best but, arguably, the
best available versions of many repertoire
staples. The 1957 recordings are all with the
Halle Orchestra: the Elgar Cello Concerto
with André Navarra; Ravel’s Ma Mère
l’Oye Suite; Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No.4;
Vaughan Williams “London” symphony;
Bax’s Garden of Fand; and Butterworth’s
A Shropshire Lad. Some of the later
recordings included here are La Mer, La
Valse, Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings,
Mahler’s Symphony No.5 and Elgar’s
Symphony No.1 and Enigma Variations.
Janet Baker is the soloist in Les Nuits d’été
by Berlioz, Mahler’s Rückert-Lieder and
Elgar’s Sea Pictures. Brahms, Sibelius and
Puccini are also represented. The sound is
remarkably fresh.
Sir Charles Mackerras (1925–2010) was
an Australian musician who left for England
in 1947 to become a conductor after a jaunt
as principal oboist in the Sydney Symphony
Orchestra. He played oboe and cor anglais
in the Sadler’s Wells orchestra and later,
on a scholarship from the British Council,
he studied conducting with Václav Talich
in Prague. He was enamored with, and
became an authority on, Czech repertoire,
in addition to being a respected interpreter
of music from every period. EMI’s box
and some shorter showpieces including
two Mackerras arrangements of Sir Arthur
Sullivan: the Cello Concerto and the ballet
Pineapple Poll. By the way, there is also
a budget set of acclaimed performances
of the nine Beethoven symphonies with
Mackerras conducting the Royal Liverpool
Philharmonic from EMI (CFP 7243575751
5 CDs). Charles Mackerras – Master of Orchestral
Texture (5099909818927) has a delightful
FEELING LUCKY?
THREE WAYS TO WIN
CDs, tickets and other
musical prizes courtesy of
The WholeNote
1.Join our mailing list by registering at
www.thewholenote.com
2.Like us on Facebook
3.Follow us on Twitter
collection of Mackerras specialties including
Mozart’s Symphony No.40 in G Minor,
Dvorak’s Seventh, Janáček’s Sinfonietta,
Mahler’s Fifth, Delius’ Paris – The Song
of a Great City, Elgar’s Enigma Variations
thewholenote.com
Employment Opportunity
Acting Director of Sales & Marketing
The WholeNote, The Toronto Concert-Goer’s Guide and Ontario’s leading publication
for classical and jazz music, seeks a self-starter who is able to work with and lead a
small, dynamic team in a fluid, casual but deadline-driven, open office environment.
Your knowledge of musical organizations, both professional and amateur, and music
related enterprise in the GTA and surrounding area, is your gateway to expanding
our advertising and promotional work. The successful candidate will have a
minimum of three years’ experience in commission-based sales.
Satisfactory completion of an initial six-month contract will lead to the offer of a
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February 1 – March 7, 2012
M06.LWD.019_963-AM740_Skier_Apps_Ad_Wholenote_DRA.pdf
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19/01/12
3:41 PM
Harbourfront Centre
The accomplished quarsion, Everything Under the Moon
tet of actors shares the stage
touches on loss, environmental
with soprano Shannon Mercer
threat, adaptation and the reand trumpet player Michael
storative powers of friendship
Fedyshyn to perform Beckett’s
and community, championing
the collaborative spirit as a
Come and Go, Ohio Impromptu,
Act Without Words II and Play,
means of survival.
along with the musical seFinally, on February 22,
lections Trumpeter by Gerald
Theatre Ad Infinitum Canada,
Barry, Drei Gesänge by Andrew
a new company, joins Why Not
Hamilton, and the Gaelic folkTheatre to launch the Canadian
song Eleanór a Rún by Cearbhall
premiere of The Big Smoke,
a well-received production by
Ó Dálaigh.
its sister company in the UK,
Even farther off-centre, if
that’s possible, is Everything
at the Factory Studio Theatre.
Under the Moon, a collaboraPromising “a poetic waltz with
tion between Toronto visual
death inspired by the lives of
and performance artist, Shary
Virgina Woolf, Sylvia Plath and
Boyle, and Christine Fellows, a
Anne Sexton,” this one-woman
Winnipeg songwriter/musician, Left, Shary Boyle and Christine Fellows’ Everything Under the Moon.
show is performed a cappella by
that Harbourfront Centre pre- Right, Amy Nostbakken, in The Big Smoke.
Amy Nostbakken, a Canadian
singer/performer who, along
sents as part of its 2012 World
Stage season, in association with the Power Plant Contemporary Art with director, Nir Paldi, wrote the script. Combining physical theatre
Gallery, at the Enwave Theatre, opening on February 18. An old-time and music, the sung-through play tells the story of a brilliant young
shadow play re-imagined, the performance integrates hand-animat- artist from Toronto who, given the opportunity of a lifetime (a solo
ed, real-time projected images with live music and song to tell the exhibition at London’s Tate Modern Gallery), takes a downward spiral
story of two small, winged creatures (a honey bee and a little brown into depression and, finally, madness. After premiering the show to
bat) that set out to save themselves and their species. Using mul- rave reviews at the Edinburgh Festival in 2010, Nostbakken toured
tiple overhead projectors, costumes and puppets to bring Boyle’s the production across England for three months before deciding to
artwork to life, along with an original score by Fellows performed on bring it to Canada. With this show, she should feel right at home. xylophone, timpani, wurlitzer, ukulele, cello, trumpet and percus—Robert Wallace
WHERE THE WORLD COMES TO PLAY!
TANGO
PASIÓN
FEB 9, 2012
FEB 18, 2012
FEB 24 & 25, 2012
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February 1 – March 7, 2012
Ryan Garside
ADAMANTLY OFF-CENTRE continued from page 10
Wholenote February_Layout 1 19/01/12 12:45 PM Page 1
416.593.4828
tso.ca
Jean-Marie Zeitouni
Sarah Chang
CONCERTS AT ROY THOMSON HALL
Beethoven Symphony No. 5
February 16 & 18 at 8:00pm
John Storgaards, conductor
Sarah Chang, violin
Sibelius: The Swan of Tuonela
Shostakovich: Violin Concerto No. 1
Beethoven: Symphony No. 5
Beethoven Emperor
Concerto
Brahms
Symphony No. 4
February 22 & 23 at 8:00pm
Jean-Marie Zeitouni, conductor
Karina Gauvin, soprano
Fauré: Pelléas et Méllisande
Britten: Les Illuminations for
Soprano and String Orchestra
Brahms: Symphony No. 4
February 2 & 4 at 8:00pm
Günther Herbig, conductor
Anton Kuerti, piano
Beethoven: Piano Concerto
No. 5 “Emperor”
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 10
Wholenote Feb 1213_Layout 1 19/01/12 12:37 PM Page 1
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September 2012 - June 2013
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Season highlights include:
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Sir Andrew Davis
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Measha Brueggergosman
James Ehnes
Brahms German Requiem
Joshua Bell
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