Volume 17 Issue 8 - May 2012

WE ARE ALL MUSIC’S CHILDRENMay’s Child Colin Ainsworthmj buellWho isJune’s Child?You’ll find May’schild in the driver’sseat for a diversecontinuum of music,and occasionallyon the frontline.He may need ajazzy crash helmetin festive June,racing betweenToronto’s lakefrontand Koerner Hall,where he’s invitedsome sophisticatedladies to gather.Know our mysterychild’s name?Send your best guessto musicschildren@thewholenote.com.Provide yourmailing address incase your name isdrawn from correctreplies receivedby midnight onMay 20, 2012.“Hey … where’s myhorn?”Vancouver, 1980.Tenor Colin Ainsworth is wellknownto Southern Ontarioaudiences for his big warmvoice and remarkable dictionwhich bring beauty and clarityto operas, choral and symphonicworks and song recitals. Disarmedby his frank grin and unpretentiousmanner, some will not know thatbeyond Opera Atelier and TheAldeburgh Connection he is indemand with opera companies andsymphonies internationally, andmade his Carnegie Hall debut onFebruary 10, singing the role ofHaroun in Bizet’s Djamileh withLeon Botstein and the AmericanSymphony Orchestra. The NewYork Times said that his “… bright,beautiful singing made Harouninstantly appealing …” Those whohave followed his career will notbe surprised.Ainsworth’s website biographyand schedule are quietly vertigo inducing,and include a tour of OperaAtelier’s production of Armide to theOpéra Royal de Versailles, France,and the Glimmerglass Festival inupstate New York.Ainsworth grew up in HollandLanding, Ontario, and attendedDr. Denison High School inNewmarket. Late in high school hetook a drama/music theatre classfor fun: the teacher said he shouldconsider private singing lessons. He went to Irene Ilicon a recommendation from one of his mother’s friends,and subsequently met Darryl Edwards at the TorontoKiwanis Music Competition. Ainsworth went to theUniversity of Western Ontario to study with Edwardsand later transferred to the University of Toronto tocontinue with him.Ainsworth’s parents, who are both deaf, were a bitapprehensive about his becoming a singer since theycouldn’t hear if he was good or not. But people whohad heard him sing helped to ease their fears …Colin Ainsworth lives in Brooklin, Ontarioin a house he can’t wait to start workingon. Some of his other interests includeplaying Superhero make believe, dressingup as Superman and Thor, playingbaseball and bike riding, freeze tag (andanything else his son can come up with),hanging out with friends and running.About your childhood photo … ?I apparently had just cut my ownhair — thus the lack of hair at thefront — and I remember being veryproud of myself for doing so.Anything you would like to telllittle Colin? I would tell him neverto cut my/his own hair, something Ididn’t grasp until I was at least 17.Your earliest memories of music?My earliest memory is going tohear my mother’s father, JimSpark, conduct the Masonic ChoralGroup when I was about four. Hetoo was a tenor but I don’t haveany recollection of him singing thatday. I also remember trying to doHighland dancing to his Scottishrecords in my grandparent’s livingroom and listening to theirrecords of bagpipes. The sound ofa bagpipe still brings back thosememories for me.Other family musicians? Myfather’s father, Ivan Ainsworth,was a folk singer and played guitar.As a young child, I can vividlyremember him singing to me “Oneday at a time, Lord Jesus.” Bothmy father’s parents played and sangin a folk band up in Sudbury. Mymother’s siblings either sang orplayed piano. Bur since my parentswere deaf, there wasn’t that kind ofmusic in the house at the time thatphoto was taken.First experiences of engaging with music? Despitehaving deaf parents, music slowly became part of mylife. I heard music at church, loved listening to theradio, would sneak a pocket cassette/radio player intomy coat at school and listen to it on recess time, andloved to sing at school. I remember as a child tryingto make up harmonies to hymns at church and beingasked to sing for the class with another friend inGrade 1 … .A full-length version of Colin Ainsworths’ interviewcontinues at www.thewholenote.com.KEVIN CLARKCONGRATULATIONS TO OUR WINNERS! HERE’S WHAT THEY WONOrchestra Toronto’s The Choral Symphony (May 27, Toronto Centre for the Arts) is a performance of Beethoven’sSymphony No.9 in D minor for which they’re joined by the Toronto Choral Society, and Rachel Cleland, soprano,Erin Lawson, alto, Colin Ainsworth, tenor, and Orival Bento-Goncalves, bass. Sue Woo andJoy Gordon each won a pair of tickets! The seventh annual Toronto Summer Music Festival hasthis treat in store: the Nash Ensemble with Colin Ainsworth performs Music of England (August 2,Koerner Hall) — works by Bridge, Vaughan Williams and Elgar. The Nash Ensemble is the first ensemble-in-residence atLondon’s legendary Wigmore Hall. Mark your calendars, Warren Keyes, and Rahila Faziluddin, you each have a pair oftickets! Our Own Songs is a recording of The Aldeburgh Connection’s own commissioned works by John Greer, DerekHolman and John Beckwith, inspired by a wide range of influences in art, history, and literature. Artistic directors andpianists Stephen Ralls and Bruce Ubukata perform with Adrianne Pieczonka, Monica Whicher, Elizabeth Turnbull, MarkPedrotti, and Colin Ainsworth. (MARQUIS 381) Ruth Comfort and Shelby Cook: a copy each!Music’s Children gratefully acknowledges Beth and Adrian, Peter and Verity, Wendy, Claire, Sophia, Marie, Stephen and Bruce, Carol, Sharon and Larry.May 1 – June 7, 2012 thewholenote.com 59