Volume 24 Issue 5 - February 2019

the Glenn Gould Foundation was in its infancy, having awarded its
first prize just the previous year to composer and visionary R. Murray
Schafer. In the words of jury member, Sir Yehudi Menuhin – who
went on to be the laureate of the Second Glenn Gould Prize – Schafer
was being honoured for his “strong, benevolent, and highly original
imagination and intellect, a dynamic power whose manifold personal
expression and aspirations are in total accord with the urgent needs
and dreams of humanity today.”
It’s important to note the Janus-like nature of Menuhin’s citation
for Schafer’s award: the words could as easily be about the individual
in whose name, and spirit, the Prize is awarded, as about the laureate
of the day. As such, this first citation was an aspirational benchmark
that has remained fundamental to the GGF’s sense of mission to this
day: Gould himself, as a timelessly creative original, sets a standard
The Prize adds lustre to the
achievements of its laureates;
… the calibre of its laureates adds
lustre to the Prize.
of engaged creativity for the GGF’s jurors that demands of them that
they choose worthy recipients. It’s win-win. The Prize adds lustre to
the achievements of its laureates; over time the consistent, cumulative
calibre of its laureates adds lustre to the Prize.
Another throughline in the GGF’s 30-year history of presenting the
award is the care taken in planning not just a celebration concert, but all
the events leading up to, or surrounding it. For it is often in these other
events that a more fully rounded portrait of the laureate can emerge.
Starting things off, a three-day festival of film, February 11 to 13
in partnership with TIFF, titled “Divine: A Jessye Norman Tribute”
features screenings (including a 1989 film, Jessye Norman Sings
Carmen, by Albert Maysles on the making of of the Seiji Ozawaconducted
recording mentioned earlier in this story), and a conversation
between Norman and the Canadian Opera Company’s
Alexander Neef.
There will also be a rare, public, three-hour Jessye Norman masterclass
for voice and opera students, in Walter Hall at the U of T Faculty
of Music, on Friday February 15. Free to the public, it should afford the
opportunity to witness Norman directly engaged in arts education, a
cause for which she is an untiring and passionate advocate.
And an all-day symposium titled “Black Opera - Uncovering Music
History” at the Toronto Reference Library, on Saturday, February 16
from 11am to 5pm, in partnership with the Toronto Public Library,
will “trace the heroic struggles of pioneering artists of African origin
to enter the operatic world, their fight for acceptance and recognition,
their triumphs and accomplishments.” It will include, in its final
hour, a conversation with Norman herself. Interestingly, the indefatigable
Norman’s own latest multimedia project, launched in 2018, titled
“Call Her By Her Name!” revolves around “the name and legacy of the
first African-American opera singer to perform, in 1893, on the main
stage of Carnegie Hall – Madame Sissieretta Jones.” So this should be a
fascinating conversation.
Of all the events programmed,
so far, for the visit, there’s one that
for me captures the essence of
why the match between the GGF
and Norman is a lustrous one;
and, fittingly, it will happen out
of the public eye. Titled “Freedom
Through the Arts Workshops” it
will bring together students from
the Jessye Norman School of the
Arts and the students of Sistema
Toronto (laureate Leonard Cohen’s
Madame Sissieretta Jones
2011 protégés).
Norman helped establish the Jessye Norman School of the Arts in
her hometown of Augusta, Georgia, in 2003, to provide arts education
to students from economically disadvantaged neighbourhoods.
In 2011, following the presentation of the Eighth Glenn Gould Prize
to Dr. José Antonio Abreu, Sistema Toronto was founded to bring the
power of music education into the lives of children from this city’s
priority neighbourhoods. In this potentially transformative exchange,
15 students from a Jessye Norman inspired initiative in Augusta will
travel to Toronto for four days of workshops and collaboration with
students engaged in a thriving Toronto initiative directly inspired by
the existence of the Glenn Gould Prize.
Drawing each new role afforded her around her shoulders like a
blanket, out of the spotlight, away from the footlights, Norman’s work
continues, even when no-one is watching.
David Perlman can be reached at publisher@thewholenote.com
GOOGLE ART PROJECT
P A X
•
C H R
I S T
•
C H O R A L E
I
David Bowser
Artistic Director
Miziwe...
(Everywhere...)
Performed in Ojibwe Odawa language with surtitles
The world premiere of
a newly commissioned
oratorio by Barbara Croall
Pax Christi Chorale with Krisztina Szabó,
Justin Welsh, Rod Nettagog, Barbara Croall
and the Toronto Mozart Players
Sunday, March 31 2019, 3:00 p.m.
Koerner Hall in the Telus Centre
for Performance & Learning
FOR TICKETS,
VISIT PAXCHRISTICHORALE.ORG
thewholenote.com February 2019 | 11