Eatdrink #78 July/August 2019

56 | July/August 2019
Music
The Sounds of Summer
Music Festival Season Is Here
eatdrink.ca |@eatdrinkmag
By GERRY BLACKWELL
Music festival season is
here. Send up a cheer.
Sunfest, Home County,
Rock The Park. And one
we sometimes take for granted but
shouldn’t: Stratford Summer Music.
SSM, now in its 19th year, runs
at indoor and outdoor venues
around the city from July 15 to
August 25 — 100 events in total.
Under new artistic director Mark
Fewer, it covers the waterfront —
jazz, classical, avant garde, singersongwriter,
funk, cabaret. Etcetera.
“We have so much to look forward
to this summer that to say we’re
excited would be an understatement,”
Fewer says. “As well as the greatest
variety of any summer music festival
in the country and the most free
programming, we have new initiatives
that focus on youth, music and health
— and original productions you won’t
hear anywhere else.”
For a full run-down, see the SSM
website: stratfordsummermusic.ca.
In the meantime, here’s some of the
coolest stuff. Let’s look first at some
interesting food and drink tie-ins.
The Prune restaurant, doyenne of
upscale Stratford eateries, hosts 11
a.m. Saturday brunches with musical
entertainment from July 20 to August
24. The first, with cellist Stéphane
Tétreault playing Bach, is sold out,
and some others were close to selling
out at time of writing.
So don’t dawdle.
The theme this
year is deep strings.
Performers include
London-born Andrew
Downing on double
bass (August 17), two
more solo bassists
Mark Fewer
— Joseph Phillips
(August 3) and Clark Schaufele,
who also sings (August 10) — and
cellist Thomas Wiebe (August
24). For something less stringy,
there’s percussionist Graham
Hargrove (July 27).
Revival House, formerly the
Church Restaurant, has its Friday
Night Live jazz series starting
July 19, 9 p.m. As usual with
Revival House, you can take in
the music only or
Tom Allen
have dinner too for
a package price.
Performers
include innovative
pianist-composer
Stephen
Prutsman (July 19),
Duane Andrews
playing his
surprising blend of
Bohemians in Brooklyn
Celtic and gypsy jazz
(July 26), the Phil Dwyer Trio, led by the 11-time Juno
winning saxophonist (August 2), and jazz vocals with
Newfoundland’s Heather Bambrick backed by the
Jodi Proznick Trio (August 9).
One of the more intriguing events
in the series — and at SSM 2019 — is
Bohemians in Brooklyn, a cabaret with
Tom Allen & Co. It tells the story, in music
and words, of the Brooklyn NY house
where a fascinating and eclectic crew of
artists lived in the 1940s.