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 />
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