Volume 10 Issue 10 - July/August 2005

SoME THING New
No rest for the passionate
by Jason van Eyk
Now that the Toronto concert season
is firmly at its close, I was curious
to know what our new music
community would be up to with their
few "free" months. I figured rest
and relaxation would be at the top of
the list. But for those who are energized
by new music, .there is never
truly a good reason for rest.
Jerry Pergolesi, Co -Artistic Director
and percussionist for CONTACT
Contemporary Music: "I plan on
writing project reports, reconciling
my year end and writing a bunch
more grant applications ... oh, and
practising a bit. I'll be playing across
a good chunk of Canada with Kelly
and the Kellygirls, and trying my best
to confirm plans for next season ...
trying to envision where we want
the organization to go. And I'm trying
to shed a few extra pounds ... "
Scott Good, composer and Artistic
Director of Earshot! Concerts
Bongani Ndodana, Ai-tistic Director
for Ensemble Noir, describes a
slightly more leisurely pace: "I whl
mostly be spending the summer at
the Ensemble Noir offices, knocking
off late afternoon and true to my
South African origins, taking in an
occasional sundowner at the local
Scott Good, composer and Artistic watering hole. I mostly compose at
DirectorofEarshot! Concerts: "July night when it's quieter so will try
is all about getting my business side and finish off pieces for our winter
together (including a way overdue NYC tour, finish an orchestral piece
collection of submissions to the Cafor
my alma mater and meditate on a
nadian Music Centre!). Visiting piecewhichBarbaraCroallhasasked
with family and friends - and play- me to do for Ergo. Later on in the
ing lots of jazz and rock music. In . summer - nobler pursuits: trips to
August, my wife Jennifer and I are the hardware, painting IVY apartment
going on a 10-day excursion into the and putting on new floors and tiles."
wilds of Ontario- all via the most
elegant and Canadian forms of trans- Finally, Darren Copeland of New
portation-the canoe. After that, it Adventures in Sound Art:"Well for
is back to the grindstone-the end me (and Nadene) it is 'no rest for
of August and into September are the wicked' as we are presenting our
fully booked with gigs, and of annual summer Sound Travels event
course, lots of music to compose." on Toronto Island which will again
include the Sign Waves installations
New Music Concerts' General Man- running every Sunday from July 24th
ager, David Olds, sent in his Artis- untiiSeptember4th. Wearequiteextic
Director's message, as Robert cited this year to include a residency
Aitken was already overseas: ''I'm for emerging artists. David Ogborn,
afraid that Bob doesn't really know Lewis Kaye, Parrnela Attariwala and
what a vacation is. June 19 through Rose Bolton will be working with
July 3 he is in residence at Mount
Charlie Fox to record soundscapes
Orford teaching and giving master- with Charlie's newly developed 8-
classes; July 21 -31 he will be com- channel microphone array. They
muting from Freiburg to Alsace for will then work with Yves Daoust
the Music Alte summer . course, who is also our composer-in-resiagain
teaching and giving master- dence. 1 will work with the 4 as well .
classes; August 2, Bob and his wife Then at the end of August, I will be
are off to Vilnius, Lithuania where heading to ·Chlcago to do some work
he will rehearse with an orchestra
with the Third Coast festival, then a
for three days for a concert on Au- short vacation with Nadene before
gust 5; then a bit of break for a we launch our SOUNDplay event
driving tour of Lithuania before in September. Among all this, I'm
ending up back in Germany on Augoing
to make a piece just for myself,
gust 15 to prepare for a concert
in Weikersheim on the 18th. Then which 1 try to do every summer."
it's back to Freiburg to meet up Even though the season has come
with fam11y before returning to to an end, there's still new music to
Toronto August 25 ."
be found . Beyond Copeland's Sound
Travels series, there is the Toronto
Music Garden, and many summer festivals
throughout Ontario. Stratford
Summer Music delivers a series of premieres
by well-loved Canadian composers
,John Growski, Howard Ca-
. ble, Maijan Mozetich and Victor Davies.
Further east, the NAC's Summer
Music Institute delivers new works
from its Young Composers Workshop
as well as pieces by established talent
like Alexina Louie. Also in our na­
. tion's capital, the Ottawa International
Chamber Music Festival gives special
attention to Canadian rew music in early
August with a Made in Canada series.
For more details, be sure to refer to the
"Green Pages" in last month's issue.
So, go out and get revived by the
passion of new music. Feel energized
by some thing new.
Jason van Eyk is the Canadian Music
Centre's Ontario Regional Director.
He can be reached at 416-961-6601
x. 207 or jasonv@musiccentre.ca .
Coalition of New Music Presenters: News
WHAT IF THEY GAVE A CONCERT AND NOBODY C AME?
by Keith Denning
Readers of this column (usually a rundown of concerts and other events
that Coalition groups are mounting). don't necessarily know me as a composer
(of really quite accessible music that you would probably enjoy
hearing), or as somebody who is deeply involved with a particular new
music group (Earshot Concerts, of which I've been the general manager
for a number of years) or as a participant in, and believer in, the Toronto
New Music Coalition (an umbrella group that comprises the shining lights
of new music in this city.)
Last year at this time, I indulged my other selves and. wrote a column
that had very little to do with the immediate goings-on of Coalition members.
I think that that was a good tradition to start, and since tradition
requires continuity, here I go again!
I have to tell you that the most disappointing new music event that I ever
attended was a concert by Trio Phoenix, about five or six years ago. It was
one of the best concerts that I ever witnessed. The musicians played
brilliantly; I particularly remember the performance of a piece by Takemitsu
that literally brought me to tears. The concert consisted of bold, brave
music, worthy music, REAL music, music that will stand the test of time
because it is timeless. Well, what could possibly be the problem with any
of that? Am I demented? What, if this was so good, could possibly be so
disappointing? I'll tell you what: my wife and I constituted forty percent of
the audience. Yes, one of the most ear-opening, excellent, beautifully
performed, and in all other ways, simply best concerts that I had ever been
to had exactly five people in attendance.
One of the most true things, if a bit waggish, that can be said of music
is: talking about music is like dancing about architecture. This creates an
immediate problem. You (I'm pretty sure) were not at that concert I just
mentioned. I talked about it just now, and said that it was one of the best
concerts I ever attended, beautifully performed, etcetera. Do you have any
idea how it sounds? Certainly not from my description. What if I told you
that the Takemitsu piece sounded like angels skateboarding on a cirrus
cloud? Well, you had to be there. Which is the whole point.
I understand this from many angles. I've missed concerts which
I've sincerely wanted to go to. I just did this a few weeks ago, and I'm
sorry, Rose, that I missed your concert. I really hope that it went well.
Life gets in the way. At the same time, I've gone to concerts which I've
regretted attending. New music can turn you on, and it can turn you off,
depending on what you go to, depending on• your ear, depending on the
programming, depending on all kinds of things. You never know what
you're going to get, and this is a good thing, intrinsically, but sometimes
after a hard day 's work, you might just want to have some idea of
what you're going to get if you go out. This can be a problem, if you
are a new music group trying to get people out to your concerts while
simultaneously pushing the envelope.
Earshot has put on sixteen concerts in its fairly brief existence, most
good, some of them truly excellent. Attendance at our concerts has ranged
from hair-pullingly bad (from the point of view of the person who writes
the cheques) to exhilaratingly great (selling out the Music Gallery! now
I'm a minor impresario!). Attempts at analysis fail. Why a concert that is
fantastically good (say. for example, our last concert of this season, which
was really brilliant) had fewer than thirty people at it, while only two years
before I was rushing around putting in extra rows of seats at the back of
the Music Gallery in dizzy glee, mystifies me.
26 WWW. THEWHOLENOTE.COM ) U LY 1 -SEPTEMBER 7 2005