Volume 7 Issue 4 - December 2001/January 2002

10 wholenote DECEMBER 1, 2001 - JANUARY 31, 2002
CONCERT NOTES
·:· Ovrn VIEW
illuminating words with the sound
and glow of her voice," and a
-· reviewer for the New York Times
Magazine wrote, "I revere
Upsl:iaw ... because of her voice's
thought-charged clarity and its
resemblance to the light of
ordinary days."
Perhaps iQ this last comment
is the nub of why this pair of '
concerts jumped out at me. In
December we celebrate the
extraordinary; in January we
return to the ordinary, carrying
with us a desire to infuse the
' usual with something more.
I
Spotlight
on Song
THE ALDEBURGH CONNECTION
Two Toronto musicians who
seem to rise above the ordinary
on a regular basis are Stephen
Ralls and Bruce Ubukata, whose
extraordinary "Aldeburgh
Connection" recital series will
celebrate its twentieth anniversary
in' January with three events.
The first, January 11, will be
a recital by baritone, Gerald
Finley, of settings by the great
song composers of English poetry;
the second, a Jan 13 "Birthday .
Salon," will ·bring together a
Who's Whp ofCan,adian singers, ,
all of whom have been nurtured by
the Aldeburgh Connection,
including Russell Braun, Kathleen
Brett, Norine Burgess, Benjamin
Butterfield, Michael Colvin, Mary
Lou Fallis, Gerald Finley, Anita
Krause, Rosemarie Landry, Mark
Pedrotti, Catherine Robbin,
Michael Schade and Monica
Whicher.
ALDEBURGH
CONNECTION
TURNS 20 IN STYLE
Back:
left to right
Franz Schubert
(Jay Lambie),
Michael Colvin,
Monica Whicher,
Norine Burgess
Front:
Stephen Ralls
Bruce Ubukata
MANY OF THE SINGERS in this list
were spotted while still on the rise
by Ralls and Ubukata. "It's not
hard to spot talent," Ubukata told
us, "but we do take pride in the
fact that, by virtue of being in the
right place at the right time, we
have helped along people who
have gone on to great things."
The third, "The Great Song
Marathon," will begin at 10:30
am and end at 9:30pm on
Saturday, January 19. Twenty
singers, including both Aldeburgh
Connection alumni/ae and
younger singers whom Ralls and
Ubukata "have spotted" will
perform in this "day-long hit- .
parade of art song" to raise funds
for two scholarships at the
University of Toronto named after
two·illustrious. honorary
Aldeburgh Connection patrons,
Lois Marshall and Greta Kraus.
The program of approximately
100 songs will, in Ubukata' s
words, be "artfully arranged" into
three programs.
Ubukata also assured us that
the three concerts, being well after
the holiday season, "will contain
no turkeys or chestnuts!"
and Tryptych.
One of the·oldest (and best)
choirs in the city, St • .Michael's
Choir School, gives its Christmas
concerts Dec 14 & 15 at
Massey Hall; and one of the
newest and best, the Victoria
Scholars, with guests, Robert
Pomakov and James Westman,
will fill the beautiful St. Anne's
Church with their exquisite
music-making Dec 23 .
A CONCERT EASY TO OVERLOOK.
among all the Messiahs and
December
brass, will be the Tokyo String
EARLY BIRD
Quartet, playing one contempo-
Sixty-one of tl1e 440 concerts listed rary Work and the first two of
in this issue ofWholeNote occur Johannes Brahms' three string
. in the first four days of December, • quartets as part of Music
so a careful read-through the Dec Toronto's season, Dec 20.
1-4 listings should be rewarded Brahms is reported to have said
with something for every musical that he wrote twenty string
taste and budget. Have a look and quartets before writing one he
get out and be part of the scene! considered good enough to
publish, so this will be an
DECEMBER 5 TO 24
opportunity to hear "la creme de
offers a veritable feast of music, la creme" so to speak, played by
both seasonal and secular. a string quartet that has risen to
Dec 15 the Amadeus Choir the top and stayed there.-
and the Hannaford Street Silver
Band program· includes Daniel · IN THE VERY QUIET PERIOD
Pinkham's festive and exuberant· between Chfistmas and the first
Christmas Cantata and compositions
by Canadians Eleanor Daley Operetta Theatre takes over the
weekend in January, Toronto
and Mark Sirett.
Jane Mallett Theatre with
Dec 9, Concertsingers perform,
under their new music · operetta of love and heartbreak,
Sigmund Romberg's immortal
director, Lenard Whiting, 'wellknown
to WholeNote readers as Stuart Howe, in the title role.
The Student Prince, with tenor,
a tenor soloist (he will, for Winner of the Metropolitan
example, be the tenor soloist in Opera Competition in 1999 Howe
the Sacred Music Society's 500- is also singing in Opera in
voice Messiah) and as one of the Concert's production of In
forces behind Opera Anonymous Straniera on December 2.
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