Volume 21 Issue 3 - November 2015
"Come" seems to be the verb that knits this month's issue together. Sondra Radvanovsky comes to Koerner, William Norris comes to Tafel as their new GM, opera comes to Canadian Stage; and (a long time coming!) Jane Bunnett's musicianship and mentorship are honoured with the Premier's award for excellence; plus David Jaeger's ongoing series on the golden years of CBC Radio Two, Andrew Timar on hybridity, a bumper crop of record reviews and much much more. Come on in!
"Come" seems to be the verb that knits this month's issue together. Sondra Radvanovsky comes to Koerner, William Norris comes to Tafel as their new GM, opera comes to Canadian Stage; and (a long time coming!) Jane Bunnett's musicianship and mentorship are honoured with the Premier's award for excellence; plus David Jaeger's ongoing series on the golden years of CBC Radio Two, Andrew Timar on hybridity, a bumper crop of record reviews and much much more. Come on in!
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Wednesday December 2<br />
●●6:00: Don Wright Faculty of Music. Welcome<br />
Yule! St. Cecilia Singers; Western University<br />
Singers. Von Kuster Hall, Music<br />
Building, Western University, 1151 Richmond<br />
St. N., London. 519-661-3767. Free.<br />
●●7:30: Plumbing Factory Brass Band. Semiannual<br />
Convention of the Plumbers Union<br />
and Its Delegations. J.J. Richards: Emblem<br />
of Unity March; M.M. Snyder: Fraternal Overture;<br />
Mendelssohn: Nocturne from A Midsummer<br />
Night’s Dream, Weber: “Leise, Leise”<br />
from Der Freischütz; and other works. Henry<br />
Meredith, conductor. Byron United Covenant<br />
Church, 420 Boler Rd., London. 519-471-1250.<br />
$15; $10(st).<br />
●●8:00: Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music<br />
Society. Alexander Tselyakov, piano - with<br />
Canadian Sinfonietta Chamber Musicians.<br />
Hummel: Piano Quintet in E-flat, Op.87; Chopin:<br />
Barcarolle; Ballade No.4; Piano Concerto<br />
No.2 in f with quintet. Joyce Lai, Alain Bouvier,<br />
violins; Ian Clarke, viola; Andras Weber, cello;<br />
Tim FitzGerald, bass. KWCMS Music Room,<br />
57 Young St. W., Waterloo. 519-886-1673.<br />
$35; $20(st).<br />
Thursday December 3<br />
●●12:15: St. George’s Cathedral (Kingston).<br />
Advent Concerts at the Cathedral. Mark Himmelman,<br />
organ. 270 King St. E., Kingston.<br />
613-548-4617. Free with voluntary offering.<br />
Thursdays until Dec 17.<br />
●●7:30: FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre.<br />
Hot Ticket: Louise Pitre. 250 St. Paul St.,<br />
St. Catharines. 905-688-0722. $47.<br />
Friday December 4<br />
●●7:30: FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre.<br />
Hot Ticket: Jesse Cook -- One World!<br />
Jesse Cook, guitar. 250 St. Paul St., St. Catharines.<br />
905-688-0722. $62.<br />
Saturday December 5<br />
●●2:30: FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre.<br />
Hot Ticket: Natalie MacMaster & Donnell<br />
Leahy’s Christmas Celebration. 250 St.<br />
Paul St., St. Catharines. 905-688-0722. $55.<br />
Also 7:30.<br />
B. Concerts Beyond the GTA<br />
Laura Secord Secondary School Concert Choir<br />
Dave Sisler ~ Conductor<br />
Holy Cross Catholic Secondary School Concert Choir<br />
J.P. Dupont ~ Conductor<br />
The St. Catharines Civic Brass Ensemble<br />
Steve Fralick ~ Conductor<br />
●●5:30: St. Andrew’s United Church. Indian<br />
Christmas Night: Concert & Dinner. Christmas<br />
carols performed in Indian Raga/fusion<br />
style on sitar, flute, guitar and tabla. Bruce<br />
Harding, flute and guitar. St. Andrew’s United<br />
Church (Hamilton), 497 Upper Paradise<br />
Rd., Hamilton. 905-383-7411. $25; $20(adv).<br />
Authentic Indian dinner.<br />
●●7:00: Guelph Youth Singers. Snowforms.<br />
Annual winter concert. Markus Howard, artistic<br />
director/conductor; Heather Fleming,<br />
choir/conductor. Harcourt Memorial United<br />
Church, 87 Dean St., Guelph. 519-763-3000.<br />
$25; $20(sr/st); $5(eyeGO).<br />
●●7:30: FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre.<br />
Hot Ticket: Natalie MacMaster & Donnell<br />
Leahy’s Christmas Celebration. 250 St.<br />
Paul St., St. Catharines. 905-688-0722. $55.<br />
Also 2:30.<br />
●●7:30: Lyrica Chamber Choir. A Canadian<br />
Noel. Works by Mark Sirett, Jeff Enns, Eleanor<br />
Daley, Derek Holman, Healey Willan and<br />
others. Lyrica Chamber Choir; Steve Winfield,<br />
director; Brent Mayhew, piano. Burton<br />
Avenue United Church, 37 Burton Ave., Barrie.<br />
705-722-0271. $17; $14(sr/st).<br />
Sunday December 6<br />
●●2:30: Niagara Symphony Orchestra.<br />
Family Concert: From Neverland to Hogwarts.<br />
Peter Pan; The Harry Potter Children’s<br />
Suite. Bradley Thachuk, conductor. Cairns<br />
Hall, FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre,<br />
250 St Paul St., St. Catharines. 905-688-<br />
0722. $32; $12(child).<br />
●●7:30: Achill Choral Society. Rejoice. Rutter:<br />
Magnificat; and other works. Christopher<br />
Dawes, organ; Shawn Grenke, piano; Roger<br />
Flock, percussion; A. Dale Wood, conductor.<br />
St. Mark’s Anglican Church (Orangeville),<br />
5 First Avenue, Orangeville. 905-936-5060.<br />
$25; $10(13-17); $5(child). Also Nov 28 (Bolton),<br />
29 (Colgan).<br />
Tuesday, Dec. 8 th ● Noon<br />
St. Thomas’ Church, 99 Ontario St.<br />
Doors Open at 11:30 a.m.<br />
Free-will collection<br />
to Community Care<br />
25 TH ANNIVERSARY<br />
CIVIC CHRISTMAS<br />
CAROL CONCERT<br />
PRESENTED BY THE CITY OF ST. CATHARINES<br />
Peter M. Partridge<br />
Conductor of Massed Choirs<br />
Ross R. Stretton<br />
Producer & Organist<br />
of the Civic Christmas<br />
Carol Concert<br />
JANE BUNNETT continued from page 31<br />
Beat by Beat | Jazz Stories<br />
record was going to be for, because at that time EMI was being bought<br />
by Universal and so we didn’t have a label for it. A lot of people work<br />
like that, do it independently, but we had spent a lot of money and we<br />
were very lucky, we got some assistance from Ontario Arts Council<br />
and Toronto Arts Council and FACTOR to make that recording. That<br />
all being said, when it was done, I thought, ‘This music is very, very<br />
different from any of the musics I have written.’ There is a feminine –<br />
there’s something different from any other record I’ve made. There’s<br />
all these women singing – there’s a vocal component on four tracks<br />
– it’s not a pure jazz record, not a pure Afro-Cuban record, it’s a real<br />
mixture of the two things. I was really afraid of how people were going<br />
to react to it.<br />
“As with all of our recordings, we are always moving ahead of the<br />
curve when we make something and it’s also our problem in a way<br />
too. I can’t stay in one place, do the same thing over and over again,<br />
but just as somebody starts to understand what our last project is,<br />
we have moved on to something different. So there’s always kind of a<br />
catch-up mode with your audience, and some people get it and some<br />
people don’t. But yeah, I was really afraid, to be totally honest. Plus<br />
with it being an all-female record, I was worried that people wouldn’t<br />
give it their ears – an all-girl group – not give it the real attention and<br />
look at the integrity of it. Every one of those artists, even though some<br />
were more developed than others – it was a leap of faith taking a<br />
bunch of girls – most of them had never been into a studio before and<br />
it was their first recording.<br />
“It’s a whole bunch of firsts and Larry and I were carrying all these<br />
new things, it was a huge leap of faith and money to do this and say to<br />
the world, “What do you think of this one now?” Larry really was the<br />
one that was saying, ‘It’s going to be a great record.’”<br />
Maqueque is now working on their second album.<br />
“We’re writing new material and rehearsing every day, much to my<br />
neighbour’s chagrin,” laughs Bunnett. Following Saturday’s concert,<br />
they are doing a tour of Australia – Bunnett’s first time down under<br />
since 1993 – as well as performances planned in Cuba as part of the<br />
JAZZ.FM91 jazz safari and the Kennedy Center in May.<br />
“The record was great and it’s the door opener, but I think when<br />
this group gets on stage, people’s minds are blown because the energy<br />
is so strong from these young women. They so love performing and<br />
they so love the opportunity to get on a stage. I have been saying this<br />
for years in interviews: the only way you get better – you get more<br />
popular, you become great – is by performance opportunity. Look<br />
at Esperanza Spalding as a perfect example. She is a great talent,<br />
but if she didn’t get all those opportunities with Joe Lovano and all<br />
those people, they have all been stepping stones to her becoming her<br />
own artist.<br />
“There’s the 10,000 hours thing which has been studied – but you<br />
can put all those hours in and not get the opportunities too. I feel it so<br />
greatly when I get on the stage with them … they have these great big<br />
smiles and they are not being phony. They’re so excited to be in front<br />
of an audience, playing and getting feedback. They love it and it’s very<br />
contagious. And they’re all kickass musicians who play their instruments<br />
so well. They love being together as a group, and I know that<br />
because they’re all living in our house! So I see how it works, there<br />
is a deepness in the relationship, all the girls coming from Cuba and<br />
knowing what they’ve had to be up against. And knowing that what is<br />
happening for them right now is a huge opportunity. It’s been great for<br />
me because it has given me new energy also.”<br />
Heavyweights’ Chris Butcher: As selected by Bunnett, the Emerging<br />
Artist Award that goes with the Premier’s Award went to trombonist,<br />
composer and bandleader Christopher Butcher. At the awards gala,<br />
she introduced him:<br />
“This wonderful young musician has been in the trenches as an<br />
artist/educator/radio show host at U of T and an arts activist. Along<br />
with his Heavyweights Brass Band, he brings great musicianship to<br />
the streets and concert halls …”<br />
And says Butcher: “It is a huge honour to be selected by Jane<br />
54 | Nov 1 - Dec 7, <strong>2015</strong> thewholenote.com
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