Volume 25 Issue 2 - October 2019

BLUE PAGES 2019/20
SECTION I: PRESENTERS & PERFORMERS
●●Confluence Concerts
Confluence – “an act or process of merging” – is
a company of diverse creative artists dedicated
to intimate, thought-provoking programs with a
focus on: cabarets curated by a wide cross-section
of Toronto’s leading musicians, the work of
Indigenous artists and artists of colour, anniversary
programs celebrating important figures in
music, salons and lectures on a wide variety of
musical topics, and commissions of new works
by Canadian creative artists. Our 2019/20 season
features “Celebrating Clara Schumann”; “An
Evening with Marion Newman”; “Hugo and Willie:
Songs of the Soul”; “Witch on Thin Ice (by Alice
Ho)”; “Creativity and Aging”; “Baroque Music by
Candlelight”; and “The Mandala.” Artistic producer
Larry Beckwith has been ably assisted in
planning this new mandate by a whole host of
outstanding and diverse figures from Toronto’s
amazing music scene, including Confluence associate
artists Andrew Downing, Kathleen Kajioka,
Marion Newman, Patricia O’Callaghan, Suba
Sankaran and managing director Jennifer Collins.
“...this series has established itself as one of the
most important and consistently interesting in
the city.” - John Gilks, Opera Ramblings.
Larry Beckwith
647-678-4923
info@confluenceconcerts.ca
www.confluenceconcerts.ca
●●Counterpoint Community
Orchestra
Counterpoint Community Orchestra has been
operating as a community orchestra in downtown
Toronto for 34 years. Formed in 1984, it
was the first lesbian/gay/gay-positive orchestra
in Canada and in the world. Counterpoint is a
full symphony orchestra, and the programming
is drawn from Baroque through contemporary
orchestral repertoire. Rehearsals are at the 519
Community Centre on Church Street. The other
pages in the ‘About Us’ section of our website
give a more detailed history and description of
Counterpoint Community Orchestra.
Kevin Uchikata
647-970-8057
www.ccorchestra.org
●●DaCapo Chamber Choir
The 24-voice DaCapo Chamber Choir was
founded in 1998 in Kitchener-Waterloo under
the direction of Leonard Enns. The mission of the
choir is to identify, study, rehearse and present
outstanding choral chamber works of the past
100 years and to champion music of Canadian
and local composers. In 2019/20, DaCapo will
complete its three-season exploration of themes
related to the global refugee crisis with a focus on
“Renewal”. The season will feature the premiere
of the 2019 NewWorks winning composition by
Kevin Pirker, and appearances by guest artists
Angela Schwarzkopf, harpist; mezzo-soprano
Jennifer Enns Modolo; and pianist Catherine Robertson.
This past year, DaCapo released its 3rd
CD, containing selections received through New-
Works, its national choral composition competition.
(Read the review of this CD in the April 2019
issue of The WholeNote.) Like us on Facebook or
follow us on Twitter @DaCapoChoir!
Sara Martin, manager
519-725-7549
info@dacapochamberchoir.ca
www.dacapochamberchoir.ca
●●Don Wright Faculty of Music
at Western University
The Don Wright Faculty of Music at Western
University in London, Ontario is situated in a
research-intensive university on a campus that
is inviting and striking. It is an environment that
enables students to grow artistically and academically,
with a strong focus on community.
Our students are among 650 of the brightest
and most talented young artist scholars, who
come to study in one of our many undergraduate
and graduate programs. With the faculty and
staff, they are committed to excellence in creative
and scholarly work. In our 2019/20 season, we
invite you to experience the incredible diversity
of musical styles and genres our students, faculty
and guest artists have to offer. Included
within 350+ performances each year are student
ensemble performances (from choirs and
opera to orchestra, band, jazz, percussion, contemporary
and early music), solo and chamber
recitals, new works by student composers, faculty
concerts, and our signature “Fridays @ 12:30”
concert series.
Rachel Condie
519-661-3767
musicevents@uwo.ca
www.music.uwo.ca
●The ● Edison Singers
We are a newly formed, non-profit organization
guided by internationally-acclaimed conductor
Noel Edison to present choral music at its best.
Our vision is to reach out to communities large
and small with the world’s finest choral music.
This inaugural season, The Edison Singers
will present concerts in three communities:
Toronto, Niagara-on-the-Lake, and
Wellington County. We plan to make these
three centres the hub of our annual choral
calendar, and our aim is to become an integral
part of the musical life of each community.
A resident in each town has agreed to oversee
volunteer activities, such as postering, ushering,
advertising, marketing, hospitality, patron services,
and fundraising. And we hope to create more
musical hubs over the next few years. We also plan
to give back to each community. This season we
will be helping Knox Church in Elora raise funds for
repairs to its landmark steeple. At St. David’s Presbyterian
Church, our rehearsal venue in Campbellville,
Ontario, we will assist them in fundraising.
We welcome suggestions from all our friends and
supporters regarding ways the choir can enhance
the cultural environment in your community.
Esther Farrell
226-384-3100
contact@theedisonsingers.com
www.theedisonsingers.com
●●Eglinton St. George’s
United Church
Our 45-voice choir meets Thursday evenings for
two hours and Sunday mornings for worship, preparing
music ranging from Renaissance to jazz
and from chant to oratorio. Prior experience in
choral singing is a requirement. Outreach and
benefit concerts are regular fare with support
from our wonderful and talented eight section
leads. This year, we offer our 2019/20 concert
series with: “ESG Remembers,” featuring
our ESG Concert Choir and Chamber Orchestra
paying tribute to the 100th anniversary of
the Peace Treaty with oral masterworks to the
fallen, including the Rutter Requiem and other
works by Mark Sirett, Ruth Watson Henderson
and Eleanor Daley; our annual ESG Christmas
concert “Gloria!”, with ESG Concert Choir, Chamber
Orchestra and organ; and special guests, the
Elmer Iseler Singers and Elora Singers, with stunning
choral classics from Canada and beyond.
Bronwyn Best
416-481-1141
www.esgunited.org
●●Elmer Iseler Singers
Elmer Iseler Singers (EIS) is a 20-voice professional
chamber choir based in Toronto
and founded by the late Dr. Elmer Iseler in
1979. Directed by the acclaimed Lydia Adams,
the Singers are known for tonal beauty and
interpretive range, and valued for their contributions
to masterclasses and workshops
with schools and community choirs.
EIS present a five-concert series in Toronto
each season, and are featured at concerts,
workshops, and festivals throughout Canada,
touring Ontario annually and Eastern and
Western Canada bi-annually. Their unique “Get
Music! Educational Outreach Initiative” mentors
conductors, music educators and students.
The Elmer Iseler Singers have 15 recorded CDs
featuring Canadian music. EIS with Toronto Symphony
Orchestra were 2019 Grammy-nominated
and 2019 JUNO-awarded for the brilliant Ralph
Vaughan Williams’ Chandos CD recording, with
Peter Oundjian conducting. EIS are 2014 National
Choral Award recipients and JUNO nominees
for “Classical Album of the Year: Vocal or Choral
Performance” for Dark Star Requiem with Tapestry
Opera and Gryphon Trio in 2017, and for
David Braid’s Corona Divinae Misericordiae with
B8 | theWholeNote 2019/20 PRESENTER PROFILES