Beat by Beat | On Opera & Music TheatreSalute to Glatz’sSalute to ViennaDAVID PERLMANIf you want to find out the first time Attila and Marion Glatz soldout their annual New Year’s Day “Salute to Vienna” live concertgala all you have to do is go back to the first time they presentedit — New Year’s Day <strong>19</strong>95 at theGeorge Weston Recital Hall inNorth York. So what do you dowhen you hit a home run your firsttime up at the plate? Simple, youswitch to a venue double the size,double the prices, and do it allover again ... and again ... and again.Charlie Cutts, CEO of Roy ThomsonHall was at that first ever eventand had no hesitation offering theGlatzes the opportunity to movethe event to Roy Thomson Hall, thebig glass bonnet at Simcoe andKing. “We like working with peoplewho are good at what they do,”he says, simply. And the Glatzescertainly are that.Truth be told, this magazinedid not have a listing for that firstconcert at the George Weston, for one simple reason: we didn’t comeinto existence until September of the following year. But from thentill now you can find them in every <strong>December</strong>/January double issue ofThe WholeNote, (most often as the “only show in town” in their midafternoonJanuary 1 slot).The formula has remained remarkably unchanged. Here for exampleis the listing for Thursday January 1 <strong>19</strong>98: 2.30: Roy Thomson Hall &Attila Glatz Concert Productions. Salute to Vienna. Strauss waltzes;excerpts from famous operettas; light arias and duets by Mozart;polkas and marches. Angela Kronberger, soprano; Andrea Martin,baritone; dancers from Desrosier Dance Theatre; Symphony Canada;Gregorz Nowak, conductor. $45 to $115.And in that same issue an editorial writeup in The WholeNoteproclaimed “Last year he produced the show in five North Americancities, and this year it will take place in 15, including New York andLos Angeles. Asked why the show has been so successful, Glatzsays simply that everyone wants to start the New Year on an optimisticnote.”Marion Glatz put it pretty much the same way at a screening Iattended recently. Asked about the enduring success of the Glatz“Salute to Vienna” phenomenon she replied: “It’s music that makespeople feel happy. And everybody wants to feel happy.” The screeningin question was for yet another extraordinary Glatz initiative — thefilming by PBS of a Glatz-produced glittering “Salute to Vienna”concert in a packed Wiener Konzerthaus on April 25 <strong>2013</strong> (withMaximilian Schell and Frederica von Stade as the hosts). With PBS SanDiego doing the filming, and the full PBS network picking up the film(many of the the stations as a “feel good” show for their fundraisingdrives) prospects for the Glatzes to maintain New Year’s Day concerthegemony North America-wide are brighter than ever. There are 12U.S. and 9 Canadian cities on board for live concert versions of “Saluteto Vienna” between <strong>December</strong> 29 <strong>2013</strong> and January 5 2014, with sevenon New Year’s Day afternoon alone.Wallis Giunta (right) withPeggy Kriha Dye in OperaAtelier’s 2010 production ofThe Marriage of Figaro.Glatz’s connection to the Torontoconcert scene goes back a long way.Classically trained as a pianist, hehad arrived here from Hungaryby the early 70s, supportinghimself as a jazz pianist upstairsat the Hungarian Village restaurant,and later as the HammondOrgan Concert organist. He hashad a home here pretty much eversince, barring three years between<strong>19</strong>79 and <strong>19</strong>82, when he returnedto Europe and met and marriedMarion. Attila Glatz Productionsstarted in the mid-80s as a bookingagency for musicians, but thehankering for concert productionwas there from the get-go. In <strong>19</strong>87Glatz produced a sold-out twopianistconcert at the Jane Mallett Theatre; in <strong>19</strong>89 he not only soldout Roy Thomson Hall for a concert by the North York SymphonyOrchestra, but sold 500 post-concert reception tickets as well!New Year’s Day happiness notwithstanding, there’s also nodoubt that a bit of New Year’s Eve sturm and drang also pushes alot of people’s holiday buttons. And for them Glatz has introduced“Bravissimo” at RTH on New Year’s Eve, now as firmly ensconced onthe RTH New Year’s Eve calendar as its elder sibling is on New Year’sDay. The formula is slightly different — with the evening’s repertoireweighted much more to arias, duets and choruses from bestlovedoperatic repertoire, and bringing together top choirs, visitingEuropean soloists and some of the best young homegrown talent onthe operatic scene.Wallis Giunta: One such rising star to grace the Bravissimo stagetwo <strong>December</strong>s ago, and coming back again this year, was Ottawabornmezzo Wallis Giunta. I caught up with her over the phone atone of Toronto’s two airports — I didn’t ask which one — heading backto New York City where she is in the current Metropolitan OperaBRUCE ZINGERMOZART'Scoc.ca416-363-8231Jan. 18 – Feb. 21, 2014Sung in Italian with English SURTITLESGIFTCERTIFICATESAVAILABLEBMO Financial Group Pre-PerformanceOpera Chats & BMO Financial GroupStudent Dress RehearsalsCosì fan tutte Production UnderwriterPresenting Sponsorof SURTITLESOfficial AutomotiveSponsorPreliminary costume sketch by designer Debra Hanson12 | <strong>December</strong> 1, <strong>2013</strong> – February 7, 2014 thewholenote.com
<strong>2013</strong>-14 Concert SeasonKOERNER HALL’SFIFTH ANNIVERSARYKirill GersteinSUNDAY, DECEMBER 8, <strong>2013</strong> 3PMKOERNER HALL“Brilliant, perceptive and stunninglyfresh” (The New York Times) pianistKirill Gerstein performs worksby Haydn, Mussorgsky, Ligetiand Gershwin.Natalie Dessay andMichel Legrand withLes Violons du RoySUNDAY, DECEMBER 15 &MONDAY, DECEMBER 16, <strong>2013</strong> 7PMKOERNER HALLSinger Natalie Dessayperforms music by legendarycomposer Michel Legrand withLegrand himself, accompaniedby Les Violons du Roy.Presented in association withAttila Glatz Concert Productions.Barry Shiffman & FriendsSUNDAY, JANUARY <strong>19</strong>, 2014 AT 2PMMAZZOLENI CONCERT HALLCo-founder of the St. Lawrence String Quartet,Associate Dean of The Glenn Gould School,and Director of the Phil and Eli TaylorPerformance Academy for Young Artists,renowned violinist and violist Barry Shiffmanwill lead a program featuring Brahms’sZwei Gesänge and Schumann’s PianoQuartet. He is joined by Desmond Hoebig(cello), Benjamin Bowman (violin),Julie Nesrallah (mezzo-soprano),and Peter Longworth (piano).Joaquin ValdepeñasConductsTUESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2014 7:30PMMAZZOLENI CONCERT HALLToronto Symphony OrchestraPrincipal Clarinet Joaquin Valdepeñasconducts The Glenn Gould SchoolChamber Ensemble.Isabelle Faust withAlexander MelnikovFRIDAY, JANUARY 24, 2014 8PMKOERNER HALLAn all-Beethoven program. “Faustand Melnikov make this music liveand breathe.. thrillingly.”(The Times, London)Luca Pisaroniwith Wolfram RiegerWEDNESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2014 8PMKOERNER HALL“Exciting young bass-baritone”(The New York Times) Luca Pisaroni isjoined by pianist Wolfram Rieger toperform works by Beethoven, Shubert,Liszt, Bellini, Donaudy, and Tosti.TICKETS START AT ONLY $25! 416.408.0208 www.performance.rcmusic.ca273 BLOOR STREET WEST (BLOOR ST. & AVENUE RD.) TORONTO
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