Volume 21 Issue 9 - Summer 2016

corporate and individual supporters. Located in a pleasant garden
setting along the lakeshore, it’s free, though donations are welcome.
The 17th edition of Summer Music in the Garden runs most Thursdays
at 7pm and Sundays at 4pm, weather permitting, from June 30 to
September 18 in the Toronto Music Garden.
With Tamara Bernstein returning to her artistic director duties, the
18-concert program this year looks as eclectic and exciting as usual.
I won’t pretend to be all-inclusive; but here are my picks from the
Garden’s crop.
July 21: Persian percussion specialist Naghmeh Farahmand and
young setar soloist Pejman Zahedian present “Becoming One with
Universal Love: Ancient Persian Music for a New Age.”
July 24: Toronto-based Subhadra Vijaykumar, violin, Vasudevan
Govindarajan, mrdangam, and Ramana Indrakumar, ghatam, present
“From the Banyan to the Willow Tree,” featuring the melodies and
rhythms of Carnatic classical music of South India.
July 28: Tamara Ilana and Ventanas have been making waves in the
city’s world music scene for a number of years. The six-member group
presents a “trans-Mediterranean” program of North African, Balkan,
Turkish and Spanish music.
August 7: Multiple JUNO-winning banjoist extraordinaire Jayme
Stone, and his friends (Kristin Andreassen, voice; Sumaia Jackson,
fiddle; and Joe Phillips, bass) return to the Summer Music in the
Garden with “Deep River of Song.” They will perform from their
impressive album Tabula Rasa, featuring songs collected by American
song collector Alan Lomax.
August 11: Sadie Buck and the He hi ye Girls present traditional and
contemporary Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) music in their concert, “The
Sweet Sound of Our Nature.” It’s rare to hear these songs cherished by
the people who made their homes here before most of us, performed
in public in the city. This is one opportunity I’ll be sure not to miss.
August 18: Nagata Shachu, Toronto’s leading taiko ensemble, returns
to the lakeside garden with roaring rhythms and soaring melodies
performed on Japanese instruments made of wood, metal and skin.
August 21: The Bachands, consisting of Qristina Bachand, violin/
voice, and Quinn Bachand, guitar/banjo, perform “All in the (Celtic)
Family.” Expect Celtic roots music by the award-winning brothersister
duo.
QUICK PICKS
Lulaworld 2016, presented by Lula Music and Arts Centre, continues
its festival into the second week of June with concerts every evening
until June 10. Check the listings for details.
Aga Khan Museum: June 12 World Music Series: “Dusk to Dawn”
features the renowned dancer Pandit Birju Maharaj in a program of
kathak dance and Hindustani music. August 4 the Fanna-Fi-Allah Sufi
Qawwali Party perform Sufi devotional music. August 11 The World
Music Series presents the Mehmet Polat Trio in a program of Ottoman,
Anatolian, Balkan and West African musical traditions played on the
ngoni, oud and ney.
Cultura Festival, North York: Mel Lastman Square is home July 8,
15, 22 and 29 to an un-ticketed outdoor community-centric familyoriented
arts festival. Each Friday night in July different musicians,
buskers, art activities, international street food and films are featured.
As of press time the programming hadn’t yet been released, so check
the festival website or print media closer to the festival dates.
Roy Thomson Hall: Live on the Patio: The concerts, which take place
throughout the months of June, July and August, transform the Roy
Thomson Hall patio into an outdoor downtown music venue. Groups
such as Lemon Bucket Orkestra, Hampaté and Sahel Blues, Salsa y
Fusion, Samba e Forró with Flavia Nascimento and World Fusion with
the Villalobos Brothers and Alberto de la Rosa help enliven the large
space a level down from King Street. Again, the listings hold the keys
to the dates.
If you see me relaxing at one of these concerts, please say hello. And
may you have a pleasant music-filled summer.
Andrew Timar is a Toronto musician and music writer. He
can be contacted at worldmusic@thewholenote.com.
Beat by Beat | On Opera
Filling the
Operatic Vacuum
CHRISTOPHER HOILE
It used to be that come June Ontarians had to leave the province
to seek opera performances elsewhere. That’s not the case
this summer which is surprisingly filled with opera, especially
with new ones.
The season begins with a brand new opera festival – the Toronto
Festival of Children’s Opera – running May 29 to June 12. The festival
includes lectures and symposia and performances of four operas.
There is the Adventures of the Magic Tree Fort created by the After
School Opera Program; the world premiere of Dean Burry’s latest
work, The Sword in the Schoolyard by VIVA! Youth Singers of Toronto;
a version of Hansel and Gretel by Shoestring Opera and a remount
of Dean Burry’s successful 2004 opera, The Hobbit, presented by the
Canadian Children’s Opera Company June 9 to 12 with Giles Tomkins
as both Gandalf and Smaug.
The same month Opera 5 concludes its 2015/16 season with an
immersive performance of Die Fledermaus (1874) by Johann Strauss,
Jr. The operetta is set in the midst of a party going on at 918 Bathurst
Street with card playing and alcohol available. Michael Barrett sings
Eisenstein, Rachel Krehm is Rosalinde, Julie Ludwig is Adele and Keith
Lam is Falke. Patrick Hansen conducts an 11-member ensemble and a
13-member chorus and Aria Umezawa is the stage director. The party
featuring dancers and surprise cabaret acts is set for June 8 to 11.
Also in June are three performances by Opera by Request, the
company where the singers choose the repertory. First up on June 10
is the rarity La Wally (1892) by Alfredo Catalani. The opera is best
known for the aria “Ebben? Ne andrò lontana,” made popular as the
stolen recording in the 1981 movie Diva. Sarah Hood sings Wally (a
nickname for Walburga), Paul Williamson sings Hagenbach whom
Wally loves and Michael Robert-Broder sings Gellner who also loves
Wally. One reason the opera is seldom produced is that it ends in an
avalanche, but that will be no problem for Opera by Request since the
work is presented in concert.
Also on OBR’s schedule is Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress (1951),
an opera not seen in Toronto since 1985. Will Ford sings the role of the
aptly named Tom Rakewell, Sharon Tikiryan sings Tom’s betrothed,
Anne Trulove, and
Michael York sings
Nick Shadow, the Devil
in disguise who leads
Tom astray. The single
performance takes
place June 17.
OBR’s final offering
on June 25 is Verdi’s
Aida (1871). Carrie Gray
will sing the title role,
Paul Williamson will
sing Aida’s beloved
Radames and Ramona
Carmelly will sing
the jealous Amneris.
For all three operas
in concert, the tireless
William Shookhoff
will provide the piano
accompaniment.
June 26 will see the
first production of the
mysterious Confidential
Opera Project. In a
Alexander Dobson
26 | June 1, 2016 - September 7, 2016 thewholenote.com