Volume 9 Issue 5 - February 2004

is still being heard by relatively
few people. I was and remain determined
to break down the barriers
between old and new music.
For me there's good music, bad
music, and a lot that's in between!!
What makes good new
music good is precisely the ways
in which it relates to tradition,
whether by embracing it or rejecting
it. But either way, our challenge
is to engage mainstream audiences
in new music. It can be
done!
Right now I'm concentrating my
attention on two immediate
projects, and one longer term one.
Soundstreams is presenting in the
Glenn Gould Studio February 6th
the music of two significant young
women· composers, Canada's
Melissa Hui and Norway's Maja
Ratkje ~ In a field that has been so
dominated by men, we're doubly
proud to present this concert.
We're also in the final planning
stages for Caiu;ulian Vo(ces February
28th & 29th, the single biggest
event ever produced in our Annual
Series. Canadian Voices celebrates
the 50th year of professional choral
singing in Canada and R. Murray
Schafer's 70th birtl\~ay . The
J'lroject gathers together from
across Canada the six professional
choirs.numbering some 130 voices.
They're heard both in solo
concerts and together in the world
premiere of a huge new 60-minute
multi-choral Schafer work The Fall
Into Light, performed from the balconies
at the Canada Broadcasting
Centre's inagn'ificent Barbara Frum
Atrium. That program also in~ ·
eludes works by Gabrieli, Mahler
and Nystedt.
I'm working on plans for our
next circumpolar festival Musicools
2005. The festival that year will
focus on the voice, and in particular
vocal ensembles from four
members to four hundred! Many
of the world's great choirs will be
here performing traditional and
new works by some of our greatest
creators. One of our goals is to
include concerts in venues
throughout the city that are not
concert halls, but have great acous-·
tics.
In the longer term, there are three·
areas I want to concentrate on.
First, we don't have nearly enough
of a sense of musical history in
this country. Fine Canadian works
are often heard only once at their ··
premiere. All works benefit from
repeated performance, and premieres
of music theatre works are
11-·-
often realized under less than ideal
circumstances. Soundstreams has
begun to revive worthy Canadian
works of the last 30 years - a case
in point is this May's SomersFest
- it includes two significant works
of Harry Somers not seen or heard
since their premieres .in the mid~
70's. We need collectively to create
a Canadian musical legacy, and
revivals are the best way to
achieve that goal.
A second area for further initiatives
is in promoting Canadian
composers abroad. Many fine Ca-
' nadian works and composers are
still little known elsewhere. We
have made a good start by insisting
that foreign ensembles must
perform (and sometimes premiere!)
Canadian music when they appear
on the Soundstreams Annual Series.
Some of these works do find
their way into the permanent repertoire
of foreign ensembles through
this process. But we can and must
do much more. One of my immediate
goals in this regard is for
Soundstreams to take the lead on '
securing a European premiere for
Schafer's The Fall Into Light.
The third area is education and
outreach. Arts education in our
school systein has become an endangered
species, yet the future of
Canadian new music is so dependent
upon developing audiences
who have had positive experiences
_with it in their formative years.
With much effort, Soundstreams
has devefoped an extensive and intensive
outreach program, perhaps
now the b'iggest of its kind in the
country. Nevertheless, we are still
acutely aware of trying to fill a
vacuum that ultimately can only be
filled when the whole arts and educational
communities are galvanized
to work together.
Follow-Up
First.: in what way "almost self-
. perpetuating" (your comment ·
about taking new music out of its
"ghetto ")?
Ironically, new music has become
a victim of a certain kind of success.
We were able to convince
funding bodies that new Canadian
music should be a high priority,
and I agree with this in principle.
However, the resulting plethora of
new music groups and activities
has not fostered nearly enough.initiatives
in audience development
and co"operation among the
groups. An assumption is made
that new music will only appeal to
·a small minority " it's a self-fulfilling
prophecy - we often preach
onl/to the convertedi In Toronto,
at least, this h~s often resulted in
even further fragmentation and territorial
attitudes that don't foster a
pealthy milieu.
Second: "Canadian Voices" at the
end 'of February seems typical io
me of the way Soundstreams so
often manages to bring contemporary
and choral concerns together.
What's the link for you?
Choral singing is the last great bastion
of amateur music making.
Nearly 7 % of Canadians actually
sing in choirs - it's extraordinary -
the combined amateur and professional
networks reach
enormous numbers, with comU1ensurate
potential to broaden the audience
base for new music. But
it's a double-edged sword. Composers
who write for choir must
adapt to the needs of the voice,
writing music that is sometimes
characterized as "accessible". The
new music community often criticizes
Soundstreams for presenting
as much new choral music as we
do, that' somehow it isn't "pure"
new music. Even the suggestion
that new music is somehow genre
specific is pretty outrageous when
you think about it - we wouldn't
entertain such a discussion about
older music from any period.
Three: You mentioned educaiion
· and outreach. As an example of
what you do, what will the youth
aspect of "Canadian Voices" be?
It's quite extensive. We have a_
long-term residency with R. Mur~
ray Schafer in the weeks leading
up to those concerts. In fact, he's
already been doing workshops
with young people from elementary
school right through to st:Udent
teachers at OISE. With younger
children, Schafer has concentrated
on helping youth to learn to listen;
and stimulating their imaginations ~
by showing them how music can·
be made with the simplest of
means. With high school students,
workshops often consist of coaching
on Schafer choral works being
prepared by the school choir, as
well as discussion about the new ,
work for Canadian Voices. There
is a also a huge outreach program
for youth taking place at the Canadian
Broadcasting Centre in the
week before the concerts.
Information about all outreach
will be posted on our website
www. soundstreams .Ga
SNAPSHOT #3: ZYGMUNT JEDRZEJEK
Who you are ...
We are the Toronto All-Star Big
Band, an ensemble df musically
advanced and dfiven young musicians
aged 16.to 22 committed to
exploring the Big Band music of
the 1930's and 40's - the roots of
modern jazz. Ours is a one-of-akind
development and performance
opportunity for young artists as we
pursue a rigorous schedule of rehearsals
and nearly 100 performances
per year. Audiences, especially
those who danced and romanced
through ilie Big Band era,
marvel at the apparent dichotom1
of such young musicians mastering We're definitely doing spme-
(and really enjoying!) these great thing right. Amazing young talent
old tunes. True to the originals, continues to cross our threshold to
our 17-piece band and two casts of support our ever-rising musical
swing singers propagate the leg- standard, and audience numbers
ends. Arrangements are _replicated . and geographic reach are growing
note-for-note, and even the staging . by leaps and bounds. ·
style emulates the times. -
For me personally, this musical What you 're working on right now
period holds huge fascination and ... As part of our dual objective of
respect, even though I didn't live offering a stimulating learning enthrough
that time. As Founder and vironment to young musicians and
Artistic Director of the band, and a top-notch musical product to auas
an educator by profession, I am diences, we have recently launched
passionate about bringing this im- performance partnerships with livportant
milestone in musical histo- ing legends of the Big Band era.
ry to the ears and intellect of aspir- To date, this "Legends in our
ing jazz musicians.
CONTINUES
WWW. THEWHOLENOTE.COM FEBR UARY 1 - M ARC H 7 2004