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Volume 23 Issue 6 - March 2018

In this issue: Canadian Stage, Tapestry Opera and Vancouver Opera collaborate to take Gogol’s short story The Overcoat to the operatic stage; Montreal-based Sam Shalabi brings his ensemble Land of Kush, and his newest composition, to Toronto; Five Canadian composers, each with a different CBC connection, are nominated for JUNOs; and The WholeNote team presents its annual Summer Music Education Directory, a directory of summer music camps, programs and courses across the province and beyond.

In this issue: Canadian Stage, Tapestry Opera and Vancouver Opera collaborate to take Gogol’s short story The Overcoat to the operatic stage; Montreal-based Sam Shalabi brings his ensemble Land of Kush, and his newest composition, to Toronto; Five Canadian composers, each with a different CBC connection, are nominated for JUNOs; and The WholeNote team presents its annual Summer Music Education Directory, a directory of summer music camps, programs and courses across the province and beyond.

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elaborate on those two statements.<br />

The emotional range of the piece<br />

is staggering. And often the juxtapositions<br />

of fiercely contrasting<br />

emotions require a nimble<br />

approach from the performers.<br />

For example, after a lyrical fourth<br />

movement full of whimsy and<br />

fantasy, one is hurled into a helter<br />

skelter scherzo which requires fast<br />

fingers and finesse. Immediately<br />

after that, the sixth movement is a<br />

lament, again with the minimum<br />

of time to prepare. The piece is<br />

an adventure because traversing<br />

such a range of emotions feels a bit<br />

different each time.<br />

What is your approach to<br />

Opus 131 today? How might it<br />

change on <strong>March</strong> 25 in Toronto?<br />

How does the energy of the audience<br />

bear on it?<br />

The opening bars of the piece are<br />

like the beginning of a long story.<br />

Sometimes the opening feels introspective,<br />

sometimes more overtly<br />

despairing. This is music that can<br />

accommodate many different approaches, just like a Shakespeare play.<br />

The purpose of rehearsing Opus 131 is to feel comfortable enough<br />

to be open to minute changes of character, balance and pacing that<br />

can occur spontaneously onstage. Beethoven modestly remarked<br />

that in this music there is “less lack of fantasy (imagination).” It is<br />

hard to predict from one concert to the next how our feeling about<br />

performing the piece will change but our job is to be open to how that<br />

fantasy may unfold.<br />

How would you characterize the two other works on your<br />

Koerner Hall program – The Haydn E-flat Major, Op.76 No.5 and the<br />

Shostakovich No.11 in F Minor, Op.122?<br />

The Haydn is a wonderfully varied piece with a luminous slow<br />

movement worthy of a late Beethoven quartet. The outer movements<br />

are full of surprises. The first movement starts rather gently before<br />

delivering a rambunctious coda. The last movement is full of high<br />

spirits, comic turns and pregnant pauses – one of our favourites.<br />

The Shostakovich is an extraordinary piece. Like Opus 131,<br />

the movements are played without a break. And like Beethoven,<br />

Shostakovich takes simple thematic material and transforms it in<br />

imaginative ways, creating a satisfying narrative arc.<br />

Speaking of Quartets (2): The Rolston String Quartet’s international<br />

profile has recently been raised even higher, having been selected<br />

as the recipient of the <strong>2018</strong> Cleveland Quartet Award, the first time<br />

a Canadian ensemble has received this prestigious biennial award<br />

The Takács Quartet: (from left) Geraldine Walther, viola; Edward Dusinberre,<br />

violin; András Fejér, cello; Károly Schranz, violin.<br />

which honours young string quartets on the cusp of a major international<br />

career. It is given out by the Cleveland Quartet, Chamber<br />

Music America and eight notable chamber music presenters across the<br />

United States. Winning quartets receive a concert tour of the United<br />

States, including performances at Carnegie Hall and the Smithsonian<br />

in Washington DC. The prize is the latest in a string of accolades<br />

for the fast-rising ensemble since winning the top prize at the 12th<br />

Banff International String Quartet Competition in 2016. Currently<br />

the fellowship quartet-in-residence at the Yale School of Music, the<br />

Rolstons now join the ranks of previous Cleveland Quartet Award<br />

winners Brentano, Borromeo, Miami, Pacifica, Miro, Jupiter, Parker,<br />

Jasper, Ariel and Dover Quartets.<br />

As Bill Rankin wrote in La Scena in June 2017, Barry Shiffman, a<br />

founding member of the St. Lawrence Quartet and associate dean and<br />

director of chamber music at the RCM’s Glenn Gould School (GGS),<br />

recognized the group’s adventurous spirit from the outset. “There’s<br />

a bit of craziness to them, which I like in a young quartet,” he said.<br />

“They’re risk takers. They don’t play it safe. They have a concept, and<br />

they go for it.”<br />

“Some people think of a string quartet as a 16-string instrument;<br />

others see it more as four individuals, with a very distinct identity<br />

and characteristics. We lean more toward the latter,” Rolston cellist<br />

Jonathan Lo said.<br />

Cellist Norman Fischer, an alumnus of the Concord Quartet and a<br />

specialist in contemporary music, explained that at Rice University,<br />

Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra<br />

<strong>March</strong> 21<br />

Organist<br />

Cameron<br />

Carpenter<br />

April 11<br />

905-681-6000<br />

burlingtonpac.ca<br />

440 Locust Street<br />

in Burlington<br />

thewholenote.com <strong>March</strong> <strong>2018</strong> | 19

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