Volume 10 Issue 4 - December 2004

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ROBERT LOWREY
Proudly Introduces the
BECHSTEIN
FAMILY OF PIANOS
C. Bechstein • Wm. Knabe • Sohmer
• Kohler & Campbell • Hazelton
They Join
Bosendorfer, Schimmel, Vogel, Baldwin,
Chickering, Heintzman, and Nordheimer
To Provide
Robert Lowrey's Piano Experts with the finest
and largest selection of pianos in Canada!
• Concert Rentals • Appraisals • Rebuilding
ROBERT LOWREY'S
PIANO EXPERTS
94J Eglinton Ave. East 41 6 423-0434
pianoexperts.com
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A GREA.
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SPRINGBOARD
STUDENT AWARDS PROGRAM IN MUSIC
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MESSIAH
Quoolibet
by Allan Pulker
The month of December, as always,
brings with it a host of performances
of Handel's Messiah. The first
this month according to our listings
will be by the 180-voice Mennonite
Massed Choir on December 3
in Kitchener's marvellous Cent re in
the Square. The core of this choir is
Kitchener's Menno Singers, who
are celebrating their 50th season.
I asked Dr. Peter Nikiforuk, the
choir's conductor, about reasons for
Messiah's enduring and perennial
'popularity. In his view the quality
of the music icself combines with the
work's effective conveyance of its
theological message 10 elicit a very
visceral response from performers
and audience alike. He says that even
his colleague, Howard Dyck, after
innumerable performances of the
work, still loves it.
He pointed out too that far from
being hackneyed, the Messiah actually
has a lot of rarely heard music:
"Having previously been involved
only in chamber choirs - including
the Exultate Chamber Singers for
fifteen years -·I had never performed
a complete Messiah until 2000. I was
astonished by how much of parts 2
and 3 almost never get sung. This
year we are doing everything, leaving
out only a couple ofDa Capos."
I asked what he was looking for
in his soloists. "Tone colour that corresponds
to the music. In preparing
the choir for this year's performance
I have been cultivating a clear, light,
and agile singing s'tyle, so of course
was looking for compatible soloists.
The soprano who can do Messiah is
not necessarily the one T would
choose to do the Verdi Requiem. Of
course I want the soloists 10 be a
balanced quartet and, in the Menno
Singers we want to use Mennonite
talent as much as possible."
Implicit in everything Peter Nikiforuk
said is that, above all, Messiah
is so singable. His massed choir,
for example, is made up primarily
of volunteers, amateurs. who pay a
fee just to join the choir for the Messiah
rehearsals and performance.
And then, of course, there are the
sing-along versions, in which the
entire audience joins in for the choruses.
So, whether you go to sing
or just to liten, any of the Messiahs
coming up in December offer an
evening of memorable and stirring
music-making.
You can find a "Quick Pick
Chrylarkfeawres the work of
Oskar Morawetz
EARLY JN TtlE M01"fH
A new presenter this season, Atelier
S, is presenting baritone, Stuart
Graham in recital with pianist Jose
Hernandez on Dec 1 at Christ
Church Deer Park. The program,
which is built around the theme of
fate, includes works by Rachmaninoff,
Poulenc and Mahler.
On Dec 2, 3 and 4 at Sainte­
Marie Among the Hurons near
Midland the "First Light" pre­
Christrnas event offers a variety of
activities for the whole family, including
music. The musical compo­
·nent will showcase local-area talent
sharing their seasonal repertoire. The
Huronia Harmonizers will be featured
on December 2, La Cle d'la
Baie on December 3, and Vox Huronia
on December 4. The beautiful
Huron Carol wiU be sung by artist
Adam MacMillan in the Sainte­
Marie Chapel. and the Christian Island
Native Drum Group will. perform
in the Sainte-Marie longhouse
over all three evenings. For more
information phone 705-526-7884 or
visit the SMAR website at
www .southerngeorgianbay .on.ea
CH.RYLARK SERIE.S
The third Chrylark Series begins
on December 5 at the Heliconian
Hall with a solo recital by pianist,
Peter Longworth of music by Schubert,
Morawetz and Brahms. This
year's series focuses on the music
of celebrated Czech/Canadian composer,
Oskar Morawetz, who left his
post as assistant conductor of the
Prague Opera to come to Canada in
1940, becoming a professor of theory
and composition in 1946 at the
University of Toronto, a position he
held until his retirement in 1982. A
self-avowed traditionalist, he has embraced
several of the compositional
trends of the 20th Cenrury to devel­
Guide" to all of these Messiahs at
www. thewholenote. corn.
op a body of works that have been
performed on four continents by
f8 WWW.lHEWHOlENOTE.COM DECEMBER 1 2004 -FEBRUARY 7 2005