Volume 10 Issue 1 - September 2004

SOME THING NEW
by Jason vanEyk
Thurs. Oct 7 . @ 8:00
Music Gallery (197 John St)
. "&
Sat Oct 9 @ 8:00
Trinity-St Paul's. (427 BloorW.)
The newest cycle ofwor/ss by
composer Charl#e Rlngas.,
Jazz and prog rock-iquenced ,, '
cosmic minimalist music for)'.}
chamber orchestra and chorus} •'
Mezmerizingl
· Tickets: $10 - $30
In December ... earshot # 15
Believe EverJthln!
You Hear
Montreal-based composer
Michael Hynes presents. his
stunning new concert-length structured
improvisation, petformed by the
Earshot Ensemble and friends.
Tickets $5 • $25.
earshot! concerts
For tickets, subscriptions & info
ca/1416-538-2006 or
visit earshotconcerts.ca
The National Youth Orchestra
of Canada ended their
cross-Canada tour in Toronto on
August 17th, a well-honed ensemble
under the baton of veteran
conductor Kazuyoshi Akiyama.
I was in attendance hopingto
hear the work of this year's
composers in residence, BC
based Stephen Chatman and Rodney
Graham. As expected, the
NYOC rotated through a wide
range of repertoire on this threeweek
tour.
On this evening we heard one
of the set programmes, which
included only one Canadian
work, Chatman's Tara's
Dream. The piece had some of
what I expected from Chatman,
mixing in references from popular
genres like jazz, big band, rags and
waltzes, but also some 18th Cen-
, tury classical (moments sounded
like a Mozart piano concerto), and
contemporary practices. Despite the
nagging familiarity of the mixed up
music, all the material was original,
which makes me commend
Chatman's compositional versatility.
I was really impressed with
how he melded together so many
musical fragments, taking us on a
wild journey through this Tara's
dream. The opening had a particularly
beautiful sequence where two
harps and what sounded like glock-
. enspiel created a dream-like environment,
veiled and occasionally
obscured by lush. and romantic
Strings playing in a completely different
key and tempo. What was
even more remarkable, in hindsight,
was how Tara's Dream created
a logical link between the Berlioz
Overture that opened the concert
and the rousing rendition of
Ravel's Ln Valse, which brought
us to intermission. It was intriguing
to hear how new Canadian work
can make its links back to great
works of the 19th and 20th Century
and hold its place among them.
Sitting beside me in the concert
hall was Soundstreams Canada's
Artistic Director Lawrence Cherney.
Before the lights went down
for the second half, we had the
chance to discuss what is coming
up at Soundstrearns for 2004-2005,
including the trials and travails of
putting together that pesky season
brochure. Soundstrearns is one of
J.he first new music presenters out
of the gale in the upcoming season.
Their first concert, entitled Kaleidoscope,
continues the artistic direction
of Soundstream's Encounters
Series. These concerts match
up one international composer with
a Canadian equivalent. Sept 27 at
the Glenn Gould Studio, Danish
composer Paul Ruders will be
paired with pioneering Canadian
composer Harry Freedman.
Freedman is truly one of this
country's artistic pioneers: he is a
founding member of the Canadian
League of Composers and of the
Guild of Canadian Film Composers,
not to mention an Officer of
the Order of Canada since 1984.
Although Freedman is one of Canada's
most frequently performed
composers, bridging the jazz and
classical worlds, we don't often get
to hear concerts devoted to large
amounts of his work. This alone
makes this concert a treat. Freedman's
"encounter" counterpart,
Pou! Ruders, might be best known
to Canadians for his operatic adaptation
of Margaret Atwood's
popular novel The Handmaid's
Tale. And as luck would have it,
the Canadian Opera Company will
present the Canadian premiere .of
Ruder's The Handmaid's Tale
starting on September 23rd at the
Hummingbird Centre.
Both Soundstreams and COC
concerts are also part of the much
larger, multi-disciplinary and extremely
ambitious SUPERDAN­
ISH: Newfangled Danish Culture
festival, which launches at Harbourfront
Centre Sept 28.
FOLLOWING THROUGH ON the thread
of Canadian inspired opera, Tap-
Left: Harry Freedman
estry New Opera Works will
present the results of their Composer-Librettist
Laboratory (or
Lib-Lab for short) at its Opera
Briefs event Sept 28 & 29. You
can find them at the Tapestry/Night-
. wood New Works Space in the
Cannery building of the trendy
Distillery District. In their own
words, Tapestry describes the
event as "Astonishing, entertainjng,
irreverent, provocative, moving
... the diversity is dazzling and
the creative energy palpable during
this marvellous annual event." If you
can't make it to this one, you may
want to get a sneak peek as Tapestry
stages a selection of Opera
Briefs at the Word on the Street
Festival's Stage & Screen tent in
Queen's Park on September 26th.
AND AS AN ODDLY FORTUITOUS closing
of the loop, New Music Concerts
brings together the Western
Canadian and Danish connections
for the opening of its 2004-2005
season. On October 2nd, Edmonton's
Hammerhead Consort, an
unusual combination of two pianos
and two percussionists, visits
. Toronto to perform the work of
Alberta composer Howard Bashaw
(who was profiled in last issue's
Composer to Composer column)
and to deliver two world premieres,
one from BC composer Keith
Hamel and the other from Danish
composer Kirn Helweg. They do so
at the Music Gallery, Toronto's
home for new and unusual music.
Just as the summer season comes
to a close, it certainly seems like
this year's new music season is
already off to a dynamic start. I
truly look forward to hearing how
it will unfold.
(Jason van Eyk is the CMC's Ontario
Regional Director. He can
be reached at 416-961-6601 x. 207
or jasonv@inusiccentre.ca.) ·
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