Volume 9 Issue 10 - July/August 2004

High Park Choirs of Toronto
9.-3
www.highparkchoirs.org
invite applications for the post of
Conductor
Beginning in September 2004, we seek
creative leadership to help with new
musical and educational goals for our
dynamic 5-choir organization. Founded in
1986, High Park Choirs is comprised of
120 choristers ages 6-18 who love to sing .
Please call for details: 416-762-0657
Pax Christi
Chorale
TORONTO'S MENNONITE CHOIR
STEPHANIE MARTIN, CONDUCTOR
WWW.PAXCHRISTICHORALE.ORG
416-494-7889
The Messiah Cometh
December 4th 0 5th, 2004
Highlights from Bach's
Christmas Oratorio, Handel's
Messiah, Berlioz' L'enfance du
Christ, carol~ ancient & modern.
Sometim.es a light surprises
April 23rd 0 24th, 2005
Luminous Canadian soprano
Teri Dunn joins us in music hy
Schiltz, Bach, Mozart and
Brahms and traditional hymns,
anthems & folksongs.
Grace Church on-the-Hill
~ Saturdays 8:00 pm
.... :,~;-;:~:;.':;,o~:;;:\,,. Sundays 3:00 pm
tor ont ca rt sc ou n cif
Oakville Children's Chorus
Chorally _speaking, Toronto is
fairly quiet over the summer
months, though there are a few
pleasant diversions from the heat,
namely the Latvian Song Festival
in early Ju·ly , featuring choral
music by Talivaldis Kenins, Imant
Raminsh and others. The Oakville
Children's Choir kicks off a European
tour with a concert on July
5 and the Hart House Singers give
an early August program in the venue
for which they're named.
Jf you are interested in joining a
choir, now is the time to be thinking
about contacting conductors and
arranging auditions or meetings. If
you have questions or need advice
about choosing a choir, look at
WholeNote's May Choral Celebration,
still available online at
www. thewholenote. com. And
please don't hesitate to contact me
at the e-mail address below.
Lastly, I am heartened to know
that there is a group of dedicated
individuals working behind the
scenes to revive the ailing Choirs
Ontario and their vital programs,
which include the Ontario Youth
Choir. If you are interested in getting
involved, donating time dr
money or helping out in any way,
you can contact the organization at
info@choirsontario.org or by calf~
ing 416-923-1144.
Have a restful and music-filled
summer.
Lnrry Beckwi1h can be reached
al dunnbeckwi1h@sympa1ico.ca
JUBILATE SINGERS AUDITIONS
Director Isabel Bernaus leads a chamber choir with an eclectic,
multilingual repertoire (Cuban, Argentinian, Italian, Finnish,
Canad ian, Catalan, Spanish; classical, traditional, contemporary),
with a 3-concert series and occasional community performances.
There are openings in the baritone and tenor sections.
Rehearsals are Tuesdays 7:30 pm at St. Leonard's Church.
Auditions Sept. 14 and 21, 5:30-7:00 pm
at St. Leonard's Church
25 Wanless Ave. (near Yonge & Lawrence)
E-mail John at johnriddell @sympatico.ca or cal I 4 16-686-7607
(evenings) to arrange a time. www.j ubilates ingers.ca
As the summer months roll
in, a vast amount of early
music activity goes out
to rural parts of the province,
namely the Festival of the Sound,
the Elora Festival, the Ottawa International
Chamber Music Festival,
Festival de Lanaudiere, and
the Grand River Baroque Festival.
Now teaching at the Early Music
Institute of Indiana University,
Stanley Ritchie, one of the world's
leading exponents of Baroque and
Classical violin, will be coaching
the Trio di Colore on the Mozart
Trio for clarinet, viola and piano,
in a masterclass (July 22) as part
of the Festival of the Sound.
Later, he will be leading The Festival
Baroque in a performance of
works by Bach (Chaconne from
the Partita in D minor for solo
violin), plus works by 17th century
violin virtuoso Biagio Marini,
Darius Castello, G.P. Telemann,
and Arcangelo Corelli (July 23).
EARLY MUSIC
by Frank Nakashima
Emma Kirkby
Another of the world's finest early
music singers is Vivica Genaux
who makes an appearance with Les
Violons du Roy under the direction
of Bernard Labadie in a program
of Handel operatic arias and
other music (July 3) at the Festival
de Lanaudiere.
Gosh, was it twenty-five yefirs Not long after he had moved to
ago that the Elora Festival intro- Leipzig, Johann Sebastian Bach
d11ced us to early music in the sum- wrote some of his most inspired
mer'? WelL this year's Festival sa- music, notably the beautiful Jesu
lutes that era by presenting The meine Freude (Jesu my Joy). It
Toronto Consort in a program was there, too, that Bach wrote his
entitled "Shakespeare's Songbook" four Lutheran masses. On this oc­
(July 29). A quintet of singers, ac- casion, performing much of this
companied by hurdy-gurdy, per- wonderful music, The.Elora Fescussion,
lute, guitar, recorder, and tival Singers are joined by special
h\lrpsichord, will transport you guests, tenor Colin Ainsworth,
back in time to th0se halcyon days · baritone Daniel Lichti, organist
at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre Matthew Larkin, and the Festival
with the many songs that appear Chamber Players, all under the di.­
in his plays.
rection of conductor Noel Edison
Meanwhile, Emma Kirkby, the (July 25, Elora Festival).
reigningqueen.ofbaroquesopran- In last month's column, I menos,
returns to the Festival to join tioned the Grand River Baroque
Canadian countertenor Daniel Tay- Festival which, in a short period
!or and the Theatre of Early Mu- of time, features a wealth of early
sic (July 24) in a program that fea- music performances (for example,
tures Pergolesi 's Stabat Mater. a performance by the Grand River
Kirkby will plso be appearing in Baroque Festival Ensemble of the
recital a few days later in Ottawa's complete Brandenburg Concerti 1
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also want to catch Taylor and the' everything and go. There's more
TEM in a performance of Bach music by Bach on the following
Cantatas ()uly 28) with other fine day _ his Concerto for 3 Violins
soloists Carolyn Sampson, tenor in D; the Oboe Concerto in F; and
Scot Weir, and bafitone Peter Har- the Cantatas BWV 54 & 64 (July
vey. Also in Ottawa, what's being
billed as a "Baroque Extrava-
2 )You'llhearsomedarkscarymuganza"
includes virtuoso violinists sical stories of S,tradella, Johnson,
Monica Huggett and Adrian But- Gesualdo, Leclair, Couperin,
terfield, with Sonnerie and the Lully, and Handel (July 3) in the
TEM (July 31),
concert entitled, Murder a la Ba-
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