Volume 25 Issue 3 - November 2019

25 th SEASON!
Vol 25 No 3
NOVEMBER 2019
CONCERT LISTINGS
FEATURES | REVIEWS
CONFLUENCES
Collaboration vs.
appropriation
An exploratory evening with
mezzo Marion Newman
LEGACIES
Grounded in displacement
Composer Udo Kasemets
A centenary celebration
REAR VIEW MIRROR
Controversially
uncontroversial
The Met’s Porgy and Bess
Marion Newman in
Tapestry Opera’s Shanawdithit

TS
Toronto
Symphony
Orchestra
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SEASONS
NOV
–
16, 17, 20 & 21
Jonathan Crow, leader & violin
Hear Concertmaster Jonathan Crow lead
the Orchestra in one of classical music’s
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NOV
–
22 & 23
AN AMERICAN
IN PARIS
Leonard Slatkin, conductor
Jon Kimura Parker, piano
Experience Gershwin’s jazzy musical postcard,
Samuel Barber’s Piano Concerto, and Bernstein’s
overture to Candide in this all-American program.
ALL TCHAIKOVSKY
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Daniel Lozakovich, violin
Our annual tribute to Russia’s greatest composer
includes the resounding 1812 Overture, rarely
performed “Winter Dreams” Symphony, and romantic
Violin Concerto with a rising teenage superstar.
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DEC
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O COME,
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Special guest: Tommaso Sollazzo, zampogna
The joy of the holiday season shines with the
pastoral warmth of the Italian countryside.
Dec 4–8, 2019
Jeanne Lamon Hall
Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre
Dec 10, 2019
George Weston Recital Hall
Meridian Arts Centre
(formerly Toronto Centre for the Arts)
Flock, detail, Krzysztof Browko
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Nov 14–17, 2019
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2503_NovCover.indd 1
2019-10-24 11:53 AM
ON OUR COVER
Volume 25 No 3 | November 2019
Romances
for voice and guitar
25th SEASON!
Vol 25 No 3
NOVEMBER 2019
CONCERT LISTINGS
FEATURES | REVIEWS
PHOTO: DAHLIA KATZ
FEATURES
CONFLUENCES
Collaboration vs.
appropriation
An exploratory evening with
mezzo Marion Newman
LEGACIES
Grounded in displacement
Composer Udo Kasemets
A centenary celebration
REAR VIEW MIRROR
Controversially
uncontroversial
The Met’s Porgy and Bess
Marion Newman in
Tapestry Opera’s Shanawdithit
7 OPENER | Just the Spot |
DAVID PERLMAN
8 CONFLUENCES | An
I took this photograph during the dress rehearsal of
Shanawdithit, produced by Tapestry Opera, at the Joey and
Toby Tanenbaum Opera Centre, in May 2019. Between the
bold courage of the character and the elegant poise of the
performer, this peak moment was clearly deserving the ‘hero
shot’ treatment. Marion looked up at the light and I looked up
at her. No-brainer. — Dahlia Katz
12 LEGACIES | Grounded in
Displacement – Udo
Kasemets | ANDREW TIMAR
Exploratory Evening MAGALI SIMARD-GALDÈS
16 CANADIAN • ANTONIO MUSIC FIGUEROA |
with Marion Newman |
DAVID A Musical JACQUES Sea Change –
DAVID PERLMAN
Alexina Louie and Rachel
Mercer | DAVID JAEGER
20 OFF BEAT | Something
About the Theremin |
MJ BUELL
73 WE ARE ALL MUSIC’S
CHILDEN | MJ BUELL
94 REARVIEW MIRROR |
Controversial
Uncontroversial – Porgy
and Bess at the Met |
ROBERT HARRIS
Romances
pour voix et guitare
Arrangements
Hector Berlioz
MAGALI SIMARD-GALDÈS soprano • ANTONIO FIGUEROA ténor
DAVID JACQUES guitare (1829) par J.-J. Coffe
ACD2 2800
MAGALI SIMARD-GALDÈS
soprano
ANTONIO FIGUEROA
tenor
DAVID JACQUES
guitare
The first complete
recording of Berlioz’s
arrangements of romances
for voice and guitar.
150 years
SINCE THE DEATH OF
HECTOR BERLIOZ!
TO BE RELEASED
ON NOVEMBER 8, 2019!
20

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69 Mainly Clubs, Mostly Jazz |
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LISTINGS
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62 B | Concerts Beyond the GTA
66 C | Music Theatre
68 D | In the Clubs (Mostly Jazz)
71 E | The ETCeteras
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RECORDINGS REVIEWED
74 Editor’s Corner | DAVID OLDS
76 Strings Attached |
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78 Keyed In | ROGER KNOX,
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80 Vocal
81 Classical and Beyond
82 Modern and Contemporary
85 Jazz and Improvised Music
89 Pot Pourri
90 Something in the Air |
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92 Old Wine, New Bottles |
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FOR OPENERS | DAVID PERLMAN
Just the Spot
One of the things that the following random clutch of upcoming
event listings have in common is that each of them was picked
up as noteworthy by one or another of our writers this month.
In chronological order: Loose Tea Music Theatre’s “Singing Softly”
evening of Anne Frank Diary-based opera (Nov 2) was picked up
by yours truly (still subbing for globe-trotting Christopher Hoile)
in On Opera; soprano Maureen Batt’s “Crossing Borders: Traversía
Latinoamericana” (Nov 5), featuring Batt and tenor Fabián Arciniegas
in an evening of contemporary Canadian and Colombian repertoire,
is the main subject of Lydia Perović’s regular Art of Song column;
Hedgehog Concerts’ Pamelia Stickney recital of theremin sonatas by
Alexander Rapoport (Nov 16) is the subject of a somewhat-off-theusual-beaten-track
feature by regular “We Are All Music’s Children”
writer MJ Buell; Confluence’s “Evening with Marion Newman”
(Nov 26 and 27) is our cover story; and Syrinx Concerts’ seasonopening
Schumann/Haydn/Mendelssohn piano trio recital (Dec 1) is
the coda to Paul Ennis’ Classical and Beyond column.
The other interesting thing these five wide-ranging presentations have
in common is that they all take place in the same venue; for each of these
five presenters – along with at least half a dozen others – Heliconian Hall
(out of the more than 1,800 venues in The WholeNote listings database)
was just the spot, this month, for a particular labour of artistic love.
The venue database: One of the many advantages of managing our
concert listings through a database, as we have been doing for the past
nine or ten years, is the resulting accretion of searchable data on the
musical life of our region, just waiting to be mined by musicologists
and consultants on this and that (so drop me a line if you’re interested).
At a more practical level, it has resulted in a dramatic reduction
of wear and tear on the wrists and fingers of our listings team
(Santa Tecla be praised), not having to retype the names and addresses
of concert venues every time, or re-search the postal codes that are an
indispensable geocoding tool.
As for the “more than 1,800” venues in our database that I just cited,
the actual number, as of 3pm Oct 27 2019, was 2,133 places that have
been used at least once, in our catchment area, for a public concert of
one kind or another, over the years since we started the database.
My 1,800 lowball estimate is because some of them are phantoms at
this point – crushed under the heel of condos, drowned in the tide of
out-of-control land costs and taxes, or left high and dry by dwindling
religious congregations in the host of faith-arts hybrid centres that are
a crucial component of the performing arts infrastructure. Or they
have simply changed names as they go, in the endless naming-rights
quest for private sector sponsorships (from O’Keefe to Hummingbird
to Sony to Meridian, for example). But it’s still a fine long list,
reflective of how the human
hunger to congregate counterbalances
digital life’s invitations
to physical isolation.
Heliconian Hall: Back in
January 2011 (around the same
time our data-driven listings
system was kicking in), we
launched an occasional series
of articles in this magazine,
called Just the Spot, in which
we invited community musicians
whose work we feature
in the magazine to write about
some venue that was particularly
resonant (literally or
figuratively) for them.
In March 2011, recorder and
Heliconian Hall
period flute virtuoso Alison
Melville, co-founder of Baroque Music Beside the Grange contributed
the following: “Part of rural Toronto when it was built in 1875, the
Heliconian Hall is located near the south end of Hazelton Avenue, situated
amongst galleries, upscale offices and private homes in what’s now
known as Yorkville. It’s the home of the Heliconian Club, an organization
founded in 1909 for professional women in the arts and one of the
oldest associations of its kind in Canada.” (At the time, BMBG was in
search of an occasional venue, after losing predictable access to their
previous regular spot at the Church of St. George the Martyr, once the
Music Gallery amped up its multifaceted activities there.)
“For me, the Heliconian is a delightful and unpretentious little oasis
in a surrounding sea of consumer excess, and an intimate concert hall
which I have known since I was a kid,” she continued. “I played my
first ‘non-compulsory’ solo recital there, blissfully free from the pressure
of university grading, and have made music there many more
times since … But perhaps what makes the Heliconian most appealing
to musicians is its stellar acoustic and its intimate feel. With every seat
occupied there’s room for 120, and the stage rises just a foot above the
main floor, so there’s little chance of establishing that ‘us versus them’
feeling that many performance venues still seem to evoke. It’s a great
place for chamber music, and it’s easy to get to, ... available for anyone
to rent, at a very reasonable rate.”
They all sound like resonant reasons to me. How many other
Heliconian Halls are out there, I wonder?
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Classifieds Deadline
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Publication Date
Tuesday November 26 (online)
Thursday November 28
(print edition)
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December 1, 2019 to February 7, 2020
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thewholenote.com November 2019| 7

FEATURE
CONFLUENCES
An Exploratory
Evening with
Mezzo-Soprano
Marion
Newman
DAVID PERLMAN
Marion Newman as Dr. Wilson in Missing
DEAN KALYAN
This past September 20, soprano Melody Courage
posted the following on Facebook:
What an incredible evening last night! It was such an
honour to perform the world premiere of Ian Cusson’s
beautiful aria ‘Dodo, mon tout petit’ with Alexander
Shelley. Ian was commissioned by the Canadian Opera
Company and National Arts Centre Orchestra to replace
the opening aria in Act 3 of the opera Louis Riel. It will
forever be inserted in the opera, taking the place of
the original aria which used a sacred Nisga’a melody
without permission. It was a monumental evening
in this time of reconciliation, and I am so honoured I
was asked to sing! … I was proud to share this moment
with, not only the incredibly gifted Métis composer Ian
Cusson, but my colleague Marion Newman who gave
a beautiful performance of Barbara Croall’s Zasakwaa:
There is a Heavy Frost. Marion, your passion and voice
within the indigenous community continues to inspire
me! I can’t wait to see where the future takes us!
The “incredible evening” she was referencing was a concert, on
September 19, at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, of the NAC
Orchestra, and it serves as a useful narrative starting point for this
story, which will, eventually, journey towards another significant
evening, November 26, and repeated November 27, at Heliconian Hall,
titled An Evening with Marion Newman. It will explore, in words and
music, the question “What is classical Indigenous Music?” with the
musical participation of Newman herself, mezzo-soprano Rebecca
Cuddy, baritone Evan Korbut, and pianist Gordon Gerrard, with music
by composers Ian Cusson, Barbara Croall and others.
Some of these participants were involved in the September 19
Ottawa concert, some not. All will be people whose artistic lives have
intersected significantly with Newman’s. Some, but not all, are of
Indigenous background. All have significant classical credentials. And
all are committed participants in an emerging nationwide conversation
about the ways classical music can and must move away from a
model in which Indigenous song and storytelling have been up for
grabs by non-Indigenous composers, artists and academics, at the
same time as the Indigenous custodians of the words and works in
question were forbidden to utter them.
En route from Ottawa in September to Yorkville in November, we must
first detour to the West Coast, which is where I caught up, by phone, with
Marion Newman in Victoria, BC, in late October, where she found half
an hour to chat, very early in the morning of her first day off, halfway
through a two-opera engagement with Pacific Opera Victoria (POV).
The first of the two productions, Puccini’s Il trittico, was already
up and running. It’s better known by the names of its one-acter
constituent parts: Il tabarro (The Cloak), Suor Angelica (Sister
Angelica), and Gianni Schicchi. They are seldom performed together
this way, but when they are, they pack a cumulative punch, gaining
perspective by congruity. Newman’s role in Il triticco is in Suor
Angelica, where she plays two rather forbidding roles: The Mistress
of the Novices and the Abbess, in this tragic tale of a noblewoman
banished to a convent for bearing a son out of wedlock.
8 | November 2019 thewholenote.com

The second of the two POV productions, Missing, just going
into rehearsal as we spoke, is a piece that Newman has been
involved with since its inception. It will run November 1 and 2 in
Victoria, then, to Newman’s delight, travel to Regina Performing
Arts Centre, November 8 and 9, and finally on to Prince George, BC,
November 15, 16 and 17, on the Highway of Tears that, along with
Vancouver’s Downtown East Side (DTES), is this searing work’s
primary setting. Missing was created “to give voice to the story of
Canada’s missing and murdered aboriginal women and girls, and to
show that each and every one of these missing people is honoured.”
It premiered on November 1 2017 during Vancouver’s DTES Heart of
the City Festival, before an invited audience of families, friends and
the DTES community of the missing. This was followed by runs of
five performances each at Vancouver City Opera and POV. Newman
reprises her original role in this run.
A review of the first run in Vancouver Magazine stated that
Missing “lays the foundation for a bridge between two cultural
solitudes that must work together ... to give birth to a new Canada.”
And Opera Canada called it “an important piece of theatre that
builds over its short 80 minutes to a shatteringly emotional
conclusion... [it] is some-thing every Canadian should see.”
It also offers, in the way it was created, some clues to how to build
that bridge between solitudes. One example: Marie Clements, who
is Métis-Dene, fully developed the libretto prior to the selection of
a composer; the composer selected, Brian Current, was one of four
composers asked to set a portion of it, with their settings sung before
a jury who did not know their identities.
For Marion Newman, the fact that Missing is going to Regina is a
source of great satisfaction, because of her relationship with Gordon
Gerrard, music director of the Regina Symphony Orchestra, who will
be the pianist for Newman’s Heliconian Hall November concerts. As
she explains:
“Gordon was really key in bringing Missing to Regina; he wanted
it two years ago. He was very determined. This is very much with
the support of the Indigenous advisory council there, which I’m proud
to be a part of. He has a board member who’s an Indigenous woman
from Regina and he asked her if she thought it would be possible to
have an Indigenous advisory council from all walks of life in Regina,
and she thought that was a great idea, to help guide the RSO
towards being more involved in telling Indigenous stories in music
and community – really leading the way in terms of symphonies
engaging the people on whose lands they exist.”
A recent manifestation of Gerrard’s commitment to meaningful
collaboration was his role in the March 2019 mounting of the new
opera Riel: Heart of the North by Métis librettist Suzanne Steele and
composer Neil Weisensel (in which Newman, along with mezzosoprano
Rebecca Cuddy, who will be at the Heliconian with Newman,
both had roles). But according to Newman, Gerrard’s commitment
goes back further than that.
“Well before Riel, going back to the beginning of his tenure … the
first big thing we did was a festival for the symphony not part of the
regular season, focused on social change and community. The first
one was about truth and reconciliation and they partnered with the
Art Gallery of Regina to make that happen, to create a unique space.
Almost all the content was Indigenous performances in both dance
and music. This coming year it’s about LGBTQ themes, planning for
a different focus each year – related to people who don’t normally
get a voice at the symphony – and to how to bring the community to
the symphony, and the symphony to the community.
“He has been there when things got awkward and people stuck
their foot in their mouth about Indigenous people with me right there,
watching how that affected me and others. So bringing Missing
there is a no-brainer … and so is including him in a concert that is
about Indigenous classical music. Besides, he is a wonderful pianist as
well as conductor; so many of my ideas have grown out of
conversations we have. I really want him to be part of this.”
Digging down into some of Newman’s other recent roles, the
connections and bonds between her and the other November 26
Heliconian participants becomes clearer. For example, both Evan
Korbut and Rebecca Cuddy were in Tapestry Opera’s production of
Thursday November 7 at 8 pm
vision string quartet
A new generation string quartet
makes its Toronto debut
Thursday December 5 at 8 pm
Gryphon Trio
with Robert Pomakov
Canada’s great operatic bass
joins our beloved piano trio
27 Front Street East, Toronto
Tickets: 416-366-7723 | music-toronto.com
thewholenote.com November 2019| 9

LIZ BEDDALL
Dean Bury/Yvette Nolan’s Shanawdithit in which Newman, as seen
on our cover, played the title role.
“We keep meeting up here and there, and Rebecca and I have
become very good friends as well as colleagues and I’m always
delighted to work with her. I think she’s a really smart and interesting
artist – she’s very young but very grounded and centred and
learning very quickly how to speak up when that’s what’s needed in
a great way. She’s definitely that next generation who are going to do
incredible things, and so it was an easy one to want to have her on
board. And Evan … Evan has a beautiful voice – he’s from the Garden
River First Nations in Ontario. And I think … he could sing anything –
it doesn’t need to be Indigenous music but I think that he does have
an important voice there, and I really want to let him to know he
is welcome in that place and I hope one day he is also helping lead
where we’re all going – where there is truth in music, bringing our
culture forward.”
In its mushiest sense, the word “confluence” is a bit like the word
“synergy,” descriptive of any old kind of coming together – good for
grant applications and things like that, but not particularly helpful as
to how to go about it. But its narrower meaning is both intriguing and
instructive: namely the junction of two equivalent rivers: each strengthened
by the other as they continue, downstream. True confluence
means neither accepting or demanding tributary status of the other.
The Heliconian event itself is a collaborative work in progress. “Evan
and Rebecca are part of developing the plan. We need to make sure
it’s not too wordy, but still offer some context … a bit like introducing
songs like at a potlatch or powwow, you talk about the permission
granted to perform a work, about who you need to be naming. In
ceremony there is speaking and music, so seeing this as a ceremony of
sorts makes sense. We’ll be singing in Gitxsan and Odawa and a little
bit of Kwak’wala. It’s an amazing opportunity to sing those languages
back into the air. And we are drawing from repertoire I’ve been
involved in over the years, that come with really good feelings – ones
where collaborations worked beautifully. Some of it is new for Rebecca
and Evan, but they are really cool at saying yes, this is an opportunity.”
There’s nothing abstract about Newman’s personal understanding
of what true confluence entails: “I have understood this
idea of Indigenous classical music my whole life. At five I was
already steeped in the cultures of both sides of my family. There’s
a picture of me wearing my kilt … and my moccasins and my dad’s
toque, with a pair of wooden spoons crossed on the floor, and I’m
doing a highland dance. For my parents it was such a snapshot of
how I was being raised, living all of my cultures. What it was like to
be able to just be everything without anyone questioning. I began
piano lessons – Suzuki – and right away did my own composing, like
Kinanu, my lullaby, in its first iteration. I found my worlds could
meld organically. Now it’s about getting other people to understand,
and embrace, the possibilities.”
David Perlman can be reached at publisher@thewholenote.com
TWO ODYSSEYS:
Pimooteewin / Gállábártnit
NOV 13–17
ADA SLAIGHT HALL,
DANIELS SPECTRUM
The world’s first operas sung and narrated in the Indigenous languages of both Cree and Sámi.
BLACK
In partnership with
Production Sponsor
Venue Partners
(416) 408-0208 | soundstreams.ca
10 | November 2019 thewholenote.com

KOERNER HALL
2019.20 Concert Season
Ray Chen with
Julio Elizalde
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 8PM
PRELUDE RECITAL 7PM KOERNER HALL
TICKETS START AT ONLY $35
“Colors dance, moods swing, and
Chen’s artistry blazes.” (The Times)
Works by Grieg, Saint-Saëns, Bach,
Debussy, and Ravel.
Royal Academy
of Music, London
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1PM
MAZZOLENI CONCERT HALL
Free tickets will be available starting
Mon. Nov. 4.
Students and faculty from London,
England’s Royal Academy of Music
perform with their counterparts from
The Glenn Gould School.
Generously supported by
Dorothy Cohen Shoichet
ARC Ensemble presents the
works of Dmitri Klebanov
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 7:30PM MAZZOLENI CONCERT HALL
Free tickets will be available starting Fri. Nov. 8.
The Ukrainian-Jewish composer, Dmitri Klebanov, was one of communism’s
many casualties. ARC revives Klebanov’s vivacious String Quartet No. 4,
a stunning Piano Trio, and extraordinary songs performed by soprano,
Olenka Slywynska.
Andrei Feher
conducts the
Royal Conservatory
Orchestra
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2019 8PM
PRELUDE RECITAL AT 6:45PM /
PRE-CONCERT TALK AT 7:15PM
KOERNER HALL
TICKETS START AT ONLY $25
Andrei Feher will conduct the RCO
in Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 (“Titan”)
and cellist Mansur Kadirov in
Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1.
Part of the Temerty Orchestral Program
Taylor Academy Showcase Concert
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 4:30PM MAZZOLENI CONCERT HALL
Free tickets will be available starting Fri. Nov. 15.
The Phil and Eli Taylor Performance Academy for Young Artists presents
this concert by the stars of tomorrow!
Beethoven’s 6th
with Valdepeñas
MONDAY, DECEMBER 9, 7:30PM
MAZZOLENI CONCERT HALL
Tickets: $20
Joaquin Valdepeñas, conducts Glenn Gould
School students in Beethoven’s Symphony
No. 6 (“Pastoral”).
273 BLOOR STREET WEST
237 (BLOOR ST. STREET & AVENUE WEST RD.)
(BLOOR TORONTO ST. & AVENUE RD.) TORONTO
Rebanks Family Fellowship Concert
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 7:30PM MAZZOLENI CONCERT HALL
Free tickets will be available starting Wed. Nov. 27.
Hear artists on the cusp of major careers perform solo and chamber works.
Generously supported by the Rebanks Family and
Academy Chamber Orchestra
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 14, 7:30PM MAZZOLENI CONCERT HALL
Free tickets will be available starting Fri. Dec. 6.
String students from The Phil and Eli Taylor Performance Academy for Young
Artists come together to perform this special concert.
TICKETS & GIFT CERTIFICATES ARE GREAT GIFTS!
TICKETS & SUBSCRIPTIONS ON SALE NOW! 416.408.0208 RCMUSIC.COM/PERFORMANCE

LEGACIES
GROUNDED IN
DISPLACEMENT
UDO KASEMETS
A Centenary Celebration
ANDREW TIMAR
ANDRE LÉDUC
Assessing the legacy of a musician is tricky any day,
but particularly when celebrating the person’s birth
centenary, and especially when he was my teacher,
colleague and then, friend, over several decades. It’s even
more daunting when that person is the prolific composer,
pianist, vocal coach, choral conductor, music journalist
and educator, and mentor to several generations of
Toronto musicians, Udo Kasemets (1919-2014).
Kasemets considered himself a perennial outsider. He also, however,
possessed the entrepreneurial chops to stretch the definition of what
it meant to be a composer – and somehow to survive doing just that
throughout his fascinating, multifaceted and prolific career. For most
of his life he was, as he put it, “always trying to get things going.”
The outlines of his biography may provide a few clues to this enigmatic
man. Born into a musical Estonian family (his father Anton
Kasemets was an organist, influential choral conductor, composer
and musicologist), he was educated in Tallinn and, after WWII, in
Germany. In 1951 Kasemets immigrated to Canada. He made Hamilton
and then Toronto the home where his musical career grew; during his
long life he mentored several generations of musicians, me included.
This is not the first time I’ve written about Kasemets in The
WholeNote. In my 2010 article, In Appreciation of Udo Kasemets,
Robert Aitken, founding artistic director of New Music Concerts calls
him “probably the most uncompromising musician in Canadian
musical history”; while my 2014 article, Toronto’s Musical Avant-
Gardist: Udo Kasemets (Tallinn 1919 – Toronto 2014) A Remembrance
in Five Decades, leaves no doubt about its contents.
A number of organizations have taken Kasemets’ 100th birth year
as a cue to program his extraordinary compositions. We’ll look at
several Toronto concerts scheduled throughout November. To aid us
with background, I’ve reached out by email to Canadian musicologist
Jeremy Strachan, Estonian flutist (and Ensemble U: member) Tarmo
Johannes, Toronto pianist and concert curator Stephen Clarke, and
composer Linda Catlin Smith. They knew Kasemets personally, either
performing his work or writing extensively about it.
I first asked my interviewees why Canadians should care about
Kasemets’ musical legacy.
Jeremy Strachan was the first to reply. “Udo was one of Canada’s
most prolific composers and a trailblazing figure, bringing the avantgarde
to listeners in this country. Although he is remembered fondly
by those he knew and worked with, by and large his work has flown
under the radar, outside of the small circle of enthusiasts of experimental
music scattered across Canada. Aside from being a composer,
concert promoter and writer, he was also a teacher and collaborator
who brought many people together. I’m reticent to say ‘without Udo...’
but he really did an extraordinary amount of work to ensure that
experimentalism in music and the arts had a legitimate place in the
Canadian cultural landscape.”
Tarmo Johannes weighed in with his Estonian musician’s perspective.
“He is a little known in Estonia – unfortunately too little. It has been
our mission in Ensemble U: to introduce him more to our audiences,
draw attention to his music and to situate him as a very important,
very enriching part of Estonian music culture, a figure with no parallel
in the Estonian ‘homeland.’ On the other hand let’s not forget that he
returned to Tallinn in 2006 as an honorary guest of the Days of Estonian
Music festival. There was a concert full of his music, a masterclass at the
Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre, interviews, articles, though
there haven’t been many performances since.”
From Stephen Clarke, seasoned interpreter of Kasemets’ piano
works: “Kasemets with Susan Layard, his singer/companion, travelled
to Tallinn where he gave lectures – in Estonian, the first time he spoke
it since the 1940s (!) – and performances. The German pianist Florian
Steininger contacted me some years ago asking for scores of Kasemets’
later piano works. He has been performing them around Europe.”
Johannes further observed: “As an Estonian, I’ve been impressed
by how many people talk about him with deep respect, admiration
and warmth. But first of all, let’s consider his output as a composer.
12 | November 2019 thewholenote.com

Having studied several of his scores it has become more and more
clear how strong his works are. My group Ensemble U: has considerable
experience interpreting open scores. Even then, working with a
Kasemets score still sometimes means we have to struggle for hours
with quite complex sets of rules, yet time and again after unravelling
the sounds, we’ve been astonished by the quality of his work! I’ve
heard Kasemets sometimes referred to as Canada’s John Cage. Well,
okay, but concerning his compositions, in my humble opinion, Udo
Kasemets did it better.”
Clarke was just as unequivocal in his assessment: “I’m convinced
that had Kasemets emigrated to the US instead of Canada, his would
be an iconic name as a maverick composer along the lines of Harry
Partch, for instance. But Udo kept a fairly low profile and any selfpromotion
was anathema to him.”
“Fortunately he moved to Toronto,” Clarke continued, “or I
might never have had the friendship and collaborations with him!
Musicologist Jeremy Strachan recently completed his doctoral thesis
at the University of Toronto on Kasemets’ work. This is highly encouraging,
not only for preserving a legacy, but for opening doors for
further exploration. Kasemets’ work is prolific and vastly ranging.”
Linda Catlin Smith, performer in many Kasemets pieces and coordinator
for his massive work Counterbomb Renga, as well as for the
recording of his Eight Houses of the I Ching, put it this way: “Udo is
important to Canadian music for his unique and individual approach
to music making. He’s also notable for his many concerts dedicated to
celebrating other artists, especially poets such as Octavio Paz, Robert
Creeley, Louis Zukofsky and Susan Howe.”
I asked Strachan about Kasemets’ trailblazing 1960s and 1970s
contributions to experimental music composition and performance
in Toronto.
“Udo was sort of the
right guy at the right place
at the right time in 60s
Toronto. It was a period of
transition and possibility,
and he was determined to
make an intervention in
the suffocating conservatism
of Canadian musical
culture. He was, I think,
uniquely equipped with the
skills, the pedigree, and the
disposition to shake things
up at a time when there
was a desire for something
to happen, but he also had
the required skills when he
Udo Kasemets’ Timepiece for a Solo
was forced to go it alone. In
Performer: aleatoric graphic score
the 70s, you start to see the
from the anthology, Notations (1969),
emergence of arts councils,
collected by John Cage & Alison
Knowles & documented via chance
artist-run spaces, and more
operations produced with the I Ching.
collectivization and support;
Udo really didn’t have that in
the 60s. [Earlier] he had to forge alliances with galleries and navigate a
frankly hostile musical terrain to present his work and the work of
avant-garde composers.”
Smith added: “He was incredibly active in his early years in
Canada, and was a passionate participant along with the other
composers of the day presenting concerts, working with the League
of Composers, bringing John Cage’s work to Canada, etc. He had a
devoted following of listeners who came to many of his self-produced
events. He also attended many, many concerts over the years, and was
a keen supporter of younger composers and performers.
Toronto audiences can explore for themselves why Kasemets’
music still attracts musicians, composers and musicologists at the
following events.
New Music Concerts: Kasemets@100
November 12, New Music Concerts presents Kasemets@100 at
Walter Hall, University of Toronto, with guest Ensemble U: and pianist
thewholenote.com November 2019| 13

Canadian League of Composers, 1955
Front (L-R): Jean Papineau-Couture, John Weinzweig, John Beckwith
Back (L-R): Louis Applebaum, Samuel Dolin, Harry Somers, Leslie Mann,
Barbara Pentland, Andrew Twa, Harry Freedman, Udo Kasemets
Stephen Clarke. Ensemble U: is the most active contemporary music
ensemble in Estonia. Touring widely, it has gained recognition for
performing very demanding works without a conductor.
This celebration of the eclectic compositions of Udo Kasemets has
another aim: to build musical bridges between Kasemets’ Estonian
heritage and his Toronto career. The program features four works by
Kasemets from the 60s, 90s and 2000, but also includes works by
outstanding Estonian composers Märt-Matis Lill (b. 1975) and Tatjana
Kozlova-Johannes (b. 1977), compositional voices unfamiliar to most
Toronto audiences.
An unusual programming touch for a contemporary music concert
is the inclusion of Giovanni Palestrina’s sacred motet Tu es Petrus
(1572); it directly addresses a Kasemets comment: “When studying
Palestrina I sensed that musical order was larger than the sum of its
components, however cleverly, imaginatively, and systematically they
were put together.” It reflects the Kasemets view that composing
music is a human approach to grasping the vastness of the multiverse
and to creating order from its constituent parts.
“I’ve heard Kasemets sometimes referred
to as Canada’s John Cage. Well, okay, but
concerning his compositions, in my humble
opinion, Udo Kasemets did it better.”
— Tarmo Johannes
Array Music: Udo Kasemets @ 100
November 23, Array Music presents Udo Kasemets @ 100 performed
by the Array Ensemble at the Array Space. This concert also pays
tribute to “a towering figure in Toronto’s experimental music scene”
with a program of his lesser-known chamber works curated by Array
pianist and longtime Kasemets collaborator Stephen Clarke.
The inclusion of the 1948 Kasemets work, Sonaat in E, Viiulile
ja Klaverile, Op.10, in the concert reveals a relatively conservative
compositional style in his 20s, an aesthetic he brought to Canada.
During the first decade of his career here, Kasemets performed,
directed and organized concerts not of the experimental music of the
day, but rather European high-art music of past centuries. Proof: he
was the founder-director of the Toronto Bach Society (1957/8), and
also of Musica Viva (1958/9), a pioneering Toronto organization in that
it performed both new compositions and early music.
Clarke’s case for programming the 1948 work? “Udo’s earlier activities
with choirs and traditional classical music aren’t so surprising
given his inclusive views on what music is and can be. His Violin
Sonata might be the most shocking piece of Kasemets anyone has ever
heard: precisely because it’s not shocking!”
Kasemets at Estonian Music Week
Toronto’s Estonian Music Week (EMW), November 14 to 17 this
year, partners with Latitude 44, an Estonian digital conference
being held in Toronto for the first time. I’d be willing to bet that if
Udo Kasemets were in his prime today, he’d be dreaming of fresh
experimental music-tech interfaces for Latitude 44 and organizing
performance events for it. (For more on EMW, see the sidebar to
this story.)
November 14, we can hear a prime example of a music-tech
work at EMW when American composer Scott L. Miller’s immersive
audio-visual concert work Raba is performed three times
by Ensemble U: at the WE Global Learning Centre. Raba (“bog”
in Estonian) is experienced by the audience wearing VR headsets.
Audience members visually explore a 360-degree film while
Ensemble U: performs the synchronized music. The ensemble and
playback speakers physically surround the audience, providing
each audience member with their own individual audio, as well as
visual, experience.
November 17, the outstanding Toronto accordionist Tiina Kiik
performs the 1993 Kasemets composition Kuradi Kiik (Satan’s Swing)
for solo accordion at the EMW’s wrap party at Tartu College. Kasemets
wrote the work especially for Kiik, a well-known musician in the
Estonian community, whose repertoire includes classical, folk and
improvised music. The party headlines the Estonian singer-songwriter
Vaiko Eplik, a pop music star in his country, who has released
21 albums and produced music for many other artists.
Udo Kasemets: outsider or scene builder?
Let’s conclude our Kasemets centenary overview with one of
his common declarations: “I’ve always been an outsider.” Strachan
feels it’s not simply an off-handed statement of self-deprecation but
rather speaks of a generation whose “attachments to place is far more
grounded in displacement, dislocation and rupture – a diminished
sense of rootedness” – one of modernism’s conditions.
Although Kasemets vigorously maintained his self-perceived
outsider status to the end and questioned the lasting impact of his
earlier accomplishments with cool skepticism, Strachan however
assesses his legacy rather differently. Strachan’s 2014 Array Space
lecture, Udo Kasemets: Uncompromising Experimentalist, ends with
an optimistic appraisal: “The activity we see happening in Toronto
today: with experimental music thriving ... new performance spaces
opening as quickly as other ones close, and a sense of community
among performers which is intergenerational, dynamic and always
renewing itself – to me, that’s the promise that Udo saw in the
1960s, fulfilled.”
HARRI ROSPU
Tarmo Johannes
Andrew Timar is a Toronto musician and music writer.
He can be contacted at worldmusic@thewholenote.com.
14 | November 2019 thewholenote.com

Puuluup
The National Youth Orchestra of Canada
and the European Union Youth Orchestra join forces for
ESTONIAN MUSIC WEEK – NOVEMBER 14 TO 17
In addition to the two EMW concerts already mentioned here is
another concert pick, providing a taste of the rest of the festival’s
several performances.
On November 15 (Artscape Sandbox, Toronto) and November 16
(Cotton Factory, Hamilton) you can hear the quirky duo Puuluup
(“wooden magnifying glass” in Estonian), from Viljandi, a town
in southern Estonia. They’ve developed a unique musical hybrid
variously dubbed “Estonian neo-folk” and ‘folktronica.” Their
talharpas – horse-hair four-stringed bowed or plucked lyres –
featured in the Estonian folklore revival, provide essential textures
in their music, along with live electronic looping, electronic pedal
effects, alternative bowing and amplified drumming techniques.
Finnish jouhikko (a closely related bowed lyre) are also part of the
mix. The duo’s catchy vocal melodies, harmonies and raps in the
Estonian language draw inspiration from the village leiks (songs) of
Vormsi island, Russian or Ukrainian chastushkas, and from more
distant global music traditions. The tone is wry and unconventional,
with lyrics about wind turbines, Polish TV heroes, fat cakes,
and the “uncomfortable feeling that your neighbour’s dog might try
to bite you while you take out the trash.” The old mashes with the
new in their live performances and music videos, or as described in
seasonally appropriate Baltic imagery, “sticking together like water
and sleet.”
Estonian Music Week is co-presented with Latitude 44 a digital
conference which introduces Estonia as the “world’s first digital
society.” How did this Baltic country, about 24 times smaller than
the province of Ontario, become such a digitally advanced society?
Estonian e-engineers and managers share their success stories at
the WE Global Learning Centre, 339 Queen St.E. Toronto.
latitude44to.ca/tickets
“Estonia, a small country, big traditions.” This country with a
population of 1.3 million has over two million yearly concert visits.
Massed national song and dance festivals have played an important
role in the development and preservation of Estonian identity.
During the “Singing Revolution,” for example, many thousands
of Estonians gathered for massed choral demonstrations between
1986 and 1991, putting pressure on the USSR government to end
decades of Soviet occupation. In 1991 Estonia achieved independence,
nonviolently.
World music fans double the population of the town of Viljandi
during the Viljandi Folk Music Festival which presents world music
acts from all over the world. Jazz is prominent in the popular
Tallinn Music Week and at the Jazzkaar Festival. Estonia also
boasts a number of top composers, such as Arvo Pärt, among the
world’s most performed living composers, and Veljo Tormis, who
based some of his successful works on ancient regi songs. The
country has also produced several fine conductors such as Neeme
Järvi, Tõnu Kaljuste and Paavo Järvi, the latter having conducted
Canadian musicians on a 1994 all-Kasemets CD on the Koch
International label.
Tuesday, November 12, 7:30 pm
Koerner Hall, 273 Bloor St. W
Blake Pouliot, violin
Tickets - $23 / $33
Sascha Goetzel, conductor
Tickets available at rcmusic.com
or 416-408-0208
Music by Stravinsky, Wagner,
and John Estacio’s Frenergy for orchestra
Made possible by the European Union Delegation to Canada
FOR MORE INFO VISIT NYOC.ORG
thewholenote.com November 2019| 15

SPOTLIGHT
Alexina Louie with Lydia Adams (left) and
Alex Pauk, conductor, Esprit Orchestra (right)
SIGNALLING A MUSICAL SEA CHANGE
Composer Alexina Louie and cellist Rachel Mercer
MALCOLM COOK
DAVID JAEGER
MALCOLM COOK
Alexina Louie and
the Canada Council’s
Marc-Olivier Lamontagne
The recent announcement
of composer Alexina Louie
as the winner of the 2019
Molson Prize in the Arts, the
first time the $50,000 prize
has been awarded to a female
composer, signalled something
of a sea change in the world
of Canadian music that’s been
developing gradually.
The prize was presented to Louie by the Canada Council for
the Arts, on stage at Esprit Orchestra’s season-opening concert
at Koerner Hall this past October. “One of Canada’s most highly
regarded and most often performed composers, performed and
broadcast internationally,” the citation read. “Her commissioned
works range across all musical genres, including ballet and
opera.” It’s an award that recognizes Louie’s place at the forefront
of the many women who have propelled themselves to positions
of significant influence in Canada’s classical music community
through both their activism and artistic achievements.
In a blog on the Esprit Orchestra website Louie states: “I’m proud
of my large catalogue of wildly diverse compositions. They range from
pedagogical piano pieces for children, a full-length main stage opera,
my ‘ground-breaking’ comedic five-minute made-for-TV operas
(created with my collaborators, director Larry Weinstein and librettist
Dan Redican), to more unconventional, leading-edge compositions.
In my pieces I aim to create something captivating, magical,
touching, inspiring. It doesn’t matter if the work is meant for a young
piano student or the audience of National Ballet of Canada, I cannot be
satisfied with my work unless I aim high. I also avoid writing the same
piece over and over, a trap that is easy to fall into. However, pushing
boundaries and propelling yourself into new personal artistic territory
can be frightening. The compositions listed in my catalogue span
many decades. You can hear my musical voice taking shape in the
earlier pieces. There are works from those formative years that still
affect me deeply. They still ring true after so many decades.” And in a
subsequent conversation Louie told me that the Molson Prize is especially
meaningful to her because nominees come from all the arts, not
just music. “When you look at the list of past winners, it spans the full
range of artists in Canada from Alice Munro, Glenn Gould, Mary Pratt
to Bill Reid, Margaret Atwood and of course, Alex Pauk, and so on.”
The Molson Prize is just one recent recognition of Louie’s prominence.
Just a few days prior to her receiving it, she was also presented
the Arts and Letters Award by the Arts and Letters Club of Toronto.
John Stanley, the club member who nominated her for the award
wrote: “Her work has been performed by all of Canada’s important
16 | November 2019 thewholenote.com

symphony orchestras, locally and on tour. In addition, her works have
been performed in the United Kingdom, Germany, the United States
as well as in China. She was recently commissioned by the Toronto
Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, and
the National Arts Centre Orchestra to write a Triple Concerto for
the orchestra’s concertmasters, a task which she fulfilled with great
mastery and verve. The concerto was performed in all three cities
in 2017/18. In 2019, she was the featured composer at Finding a
Voice, a festival devoted to women composers, held in Cork, Ireland.
This year, her work was also performed by the Ensemble symphonique
Neuchâtel, Switzerland. The Canadian writer Emily-Jane Hills
Orford has described Ms. Louie’s work’s ‘ethereal quality [that] transcends
both time and place and leaves the audience, as well as the
performers, with a distinct feeling of being in a trance, a dream.
The unique sounds and colours of Alexina Louie’s music enlighten
the listener, allowing the music, the performer and the audience to
experience an idea, to gain knowledge of an emotion.’”
The Arts and Letters Award ceremony included performances of
her vocal and piano music by soprano Caroline Stanczyk and pianist
Morgan-Paige Melbourne; her accordion music, performed by Matti
Pulkki; as well as excerpts from her made-for-TV operas, all introduced
by the composer herself. She made the point that, though she’s
a thoroughly Canadian composer, her musical voice is heard and
recognized around the world. She told me: “In my desire to communicate
and express my message, I’ve striven for a universality in my
musical language.”
It should be noted here that I am not an unbiased observer!
On a personal level, I’m proud of the role I played in encouraging
Louie’s early development in the 1980s, having arranged her
very first commission through CBC Radio, as well as the broadcasts
of her works on the national CBC network program Two New
Hours. These broadcasts introduced Louie’s music to a national audience
through the CBC’s Radio Two network. Our recordings of her
music in concerts were also disseminated internationally through the
International Rostrum of Composers and the network of international
program exchange that CBC had with organizations like the European
Broadcasting Union.
I also produced her very first recordings on CD: clarinetist James
Campbell and percussionist Beverley Johnston recorded her Cadenzas
for Centrediscs in 1986, and the 2019 Governor General’s Performing
Arts Award-winning pianist Louise Bessette recorded Music for Piano
with me for CBC Records in 1993. Three years later I also produced a
CBC Records CD with accordionist Joseph Macerollo that included the
first recordings of Louie’s Earth Cycles for solo accordion, as well as
her trio for accordion, harp and percussion, Refuge, the work I had
commissioned in 1980 on the occasion of her return to Canada after
ten years living in California.
—
I’ve also recently collaborated with another woman at the forefront
of Canadian musical creativity, cellist Rachel Mercer, along with her
violinist sister, Akemi Mercer-Niewöhner: their new recording of six
works by Canadian women has now been released on the Centrediscs
label. A few years in its making, the CD, Our Strength, Our Song,
combines three of Mercer’s recently commissioned duos for violin and
cello with three 20th-century Canadian duos.
The title of the recording comes from one of the works on the
recording – one of the last compositions by the late composer
Rebekah Cummings (1980–2019) who wrote of her composition:
“Our Strength, Our Song is a tribute to the empowering generational
bonds between women, and the beauty of sisterhood. I was so
inspired to compose for a pair of sisters (the Mercer Duo), and for two
instruments that support and complement one another so perfectly
– unique, yet part of the same family – like sisters.” Cummings, who
was Bulgarian-Canadian, found inspiration in the traditional twopart
folk singing of Bulgarian women, and writes in her notes: “These
songs are a strong, common bond among the women and girls in
the community, and a remarkable way in which the older generation
Akemi Mercer-Niewöhner (left) and Rachel Mercer (Mercer Duo)
The older generation upholds the
younger and imparts wisdom, culture,
values, beauty and strength.
— Rebekah Cummings
upholds the younger and imparts wisdom, culture, values, beauty and
strength. This piece is based on a short theme written in traditional
Bulgarian folk-singing style, recurring but ever-evolving, tenaciously
rising again despite opposition, pain and struggle. The violin and cello
personify the voices of sisters across generations, sharing and cultivating
this ancient, everlasting song.”
This new recording also includes commissioned works by Alice Ho
– her Kagura Fantasy, a new duo inspired by a Japanese fertility ritual
– and by Jocelyn Morlock – Serpentine paths, depicting life’s twisting
pathways. The pre-existing duos are by Violet Archer (Four Duets
for Violin and Cello,) Jean Coulthard (Duo Sonata for Violin and
Cello,) and Barbara Monk Feldman (Pour un nuage violet.) Rachel
Mercer told me she feels Our Strength, Our Song – the recording – is
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thewholenote.com November 2019| 17

CLAIRE DAMBIO
Rebekah Cummings
Gemma New
ANTHONY CHANG
“relevant to the current time we are in; celebrating and supporting
the power and liberated expression of women. In this case we also
hope our recording encourages others to play these older works that
have been rarely performed.” It’s a fascinating mix of contrasting
styles and approaches, all performed with verve and brilliance
by this outstanding sibling duo. It’s a production I’m particularly
pleased with.
Rachel Mercer has been commissioning new works since 2010,
when she asked Dundas, Ontario-composer Abigail Richardson-
Schulte to compose a piece for the Mercer-Park duo (with pianist
Angela Park.) The resulting work, Crossings, remains in their repertoire
and is regularly programmed on recitals. Her most ambitious
project to date was the creation of 14 new works (by seven women
and seven men from every region of Canada), commissioned through
her quartet, Ensemble Made in Canada. Titled the Mosaïque Project,
it was inspired by a desire to reflect the diverse regions of Canada in
music and media, and consists of three components: the 14 commissioned
piano quartets; a national concert tour extending through the
2018/2020 seasons; and a specially designed website that showcases
audience-generated artwork inspired by the musical commissions.
There is now an impressive web presence to explore at
mosaiqueproject.com, involving “artists from across Canada
including performers, composers, visual artists and web designers,
in order to create an evolving artistic work that can be experienced
by audiences, partici-pants and online visitors throughout our
country and internationally. Our aim is to celebrate the diversity and
richness of Canada through the eyes and ears of its people.”
Mercer’s most recent commission is a cello concerto by pianist/
composer Stewart Goodyear. She tells the story like this: “In 2015,
I received an email from Stewart Goodyear, saying that he wanted
to write me a cello concerto! We’ve known each other since we
were 13 and playing in a trio together at the RCM Toronto (with
Susanne Hou) and had played together a couple of times since,
but this was completely out of the blue to me. I couldn’t believe it,
but he said he was already sketching ... forward to 2016 ... I didn’t
hear more about the concerto, but ended up playing the Canadian
THURSDAY, NOV. 14
Ensemble U: (EST)
@ WE: Global Learning Centre
Opening Dinner
@ Archeo w/Augie Riik Jazz
Duo (CAN) and DJ Vaiko (EST)
SATURDAY, NOV. 16
NOËP (EST)
Part of Indie Week Canada
@ The Hideout
EMW Culture Club Presents:
Puuluup (EST)
@ Cotton Factory Hamilton
FRIDAY, NOV. 15
Puuluup (EST)
Kaili Kinnon (CAN)
Mari Sild
Muusika ja Mõtted (CAN)
@ Artscape Sandbox
SUNDAY, NOV. 17
Wrap It Up! Closing Party
Vaiko Eplik (EST)
Tiina Kiik (CAN)
and more...
@ Tartu College
for tickets and more info:
estonianmusicweek.ca
18 | November 2019 thewholenote.com

Abigail Richardson-Schulte
Alice Ho
BO HUANG
premiere of his piano quartet with Ensemble Made In Canada at
Ottawa Chamberfest ... finally in 2017 NACO [National Arts Centre
Orchestra] was interested in programming the cello concerto and
we received funding from the Ontario Arts Council and a research
project at UOttawa. It will be a co-commission between me and
NACO. I’m looking forward to seeing the score very soon and the
premiere will happen on February 14, 2020 with my orchestra
[National Arts Centre Orchestra].”
For Mercer, as she told me, her desire to commission new repertoire
is because “It feels like the closest I can come to being part of a
creation, besides the interpretive creation that happens on stage.”
The composer, Louie, and the interpreter, Mercer, are just two
examples of women who have been steadily changing the direction
of the creative tide in the creative branch of the Canadian classical
music community. Others come easily to mind, such as the prolific
collaborations I witnessed over the years between the late composer
Ann Southam (1937-2010) and pianists Eve Egoyan and Christina
Petrowska Quilico. Over the span of more than 20 years, I have
been involved in the production of 14 CDs of Southam’s various and
varied piano compositions. And the current collaboration between
Hamilton Philharmonic (HPO) music director, Gemma New, and HPO
Composer-in-Residence, Abigail Richardson-Schulte, seems to have
exciting potential through their new initiative called the Composer
Fellowship Program. In this program, emerging composers can apply
to work with the orchestra. Richardson-Schulte says “Gemma is a
great supporter of contemporary Canadian music at the HPO and I’m
so pleased that we are able to commission, present, and mentor. We
have a practically all-Canadian series (Intimate and Immersive), which
is a larger instrumentation version of our previous What Next Festival
(which was also Canadian new music). In addition to the Composer
Fellowship, we have three main stage premieres by women this season
– me, Alice Ho and Juliet Palmer. Gemma is conducting all of our new
music at the HPO which shows her dedication to it.”
David Jaeger is a composer, producer and broadcaster
based in Toronto.
ONE SMALL STEP
Saturday, November 9, 2019 @ 7:30 pm
St. Anne’s Anglican Church
270 Gladstone Ave., Toronto, ON M6J 3L6
Explore Earth’s place in the cosmos in a program
celebrating the 50th anniversary of the moon landing …
works by Tawnie Olson, Leonard Enns, Ola Gjeilo and more.
Robert Cooper,
Artistic Director
Tickets $20-$45. For information call 416-530-4428
or visit OrpheusChoirToronto.com
VERN & ELFRIEDA
HEINRICHS
SANDRA
PARSONS
ROBERT
SHERRIN
PETER
SIDGWICK
thewholenote.com November 2019| 19

OFF BEAT
Pamelia Stickney
Lev Termen
DAVID VISNJIC
Something About the Theremin
BY MJ BUELL
My theremin is a musical instrument, an instrument of the air.
Its two antennas emerge from a closed wooden box. The pitch
antenna is tall and black, noble. The closer your right hand gets,
the higher the theremin’s tone. The second antenna controls
volume. It is bent, looped, gold, and horizontal. The closer you
bring your left hand, the softer the instrument’s song. The farther
away, the louder it becomes. But always you are standing with
your hands in the air, like a conductor. That is the secret of the
theremin, after all: your body is a conductor …
Canadian author Sean Michaels’ debut novel (Random House)
was called Us Conductors and the quotation above is from it. When
Michaels won the 2014 Giller prize the citation read: “He succeeds
at one of the hardest things a writer can do: he makes music seem
to sing from the pages of a novel.” It’s based on the life of Lev
Sergeyevich Termen, the Russian-born inventor of the theremin, set
in the glittery Jazz Age of New York in the 20s, the grim gulags and
prisons of Stalin’s 1930s Soviet Union, and includes Terman’s love
affair with a beautiful young violinist – Clara Rockmore. Full disclosure:
after a few pages I forgot entirely that I was reading fiction, and
in the end was left with a fascination I have not been able to shake.
There’s something about the theremin and its ethereal voice that
makes it hard to brush off because you just can’t put your finger on
it – figuratively or literally. In Alfred Hitchcock’s Spellbound (1945)
composer Miklós Rózsa used the theremin for a kind of alienation
leitmotif. All you need to do is hear a little of that soundtrack
and the entire film will slither back into your mind and ear-worm
you for days.
On November 16 (7:30pm), Hedgehog Concerts presents a performance
in Toronto’s intimate concert jewel-box – Heliconian Hall. It will
offer the opportunity for a close encounter with the instrument that
gives that supernatural something to film and television scores for
science fiction and thrillers.
But when first introduced in concert halls of North America, Great
Britain and Europe, the repertoire was art music: Schubert and
Glinka, for example, at Albert Hall where “The human voice, the
violin, viola, cello, bass and double-bass, the cornet, horn, trombone,
saxophone, organ, and almost every instrument you can think of, are
all beaten at their own game by this one simple little apparatus” (The
Musical Standard, London 1927). A hundred years later, while the
theremin’s capacity for beauty is often and unjustly overlooked, it is
newly championed by its closest friends.
Pamelia Stickney is one of these – a leading player in the theremin
world, who will help us celebrate the instrument’s centennial year,
along with Viennese pianist Thessi Rauba, performing three specially
commissioned sonatas for theremin and piano by Canadian composer
Alexander Rapoport – including the Canadian premieres of Sonata
No.2 and Sonata No.3. Rapoport will introduce the works himself.
Composer-in-residence with the Talisker Players from 2001 to
2017, Rapoport’s had diverse commissions for orchestral, choral and
chamber music, film scores, and incidental music for live theatre and
musical comedy. But this new theremin learning curve was more or
less self-inflicted.
Rapoport became aware of Stickney through Rauba, who is
Rapoport’s wife. Stickney and Rauba had already worked together in
Vienna. Rapoport did some arrangements for them and they decided
he should write an original piece. “The First Sonata was a lot of fun, so
I was able to talk them into letting me do two more. I wish I could do a
hundred or so, as Haydn did with his symphonies and string quartets.
By that time you’ve learned something.”
Stickney began her musical career as a Los Angeles jazz/rock musician
after spending her teens playing piano, violin, viola, cello and
contrabass. She had her first personal encounter with the instrument
while working on a recording project in 1999. Stickney’s jazz background
led to what emerged as a walking bass theremin technique.
Today, based in Vienna, she performs internationally, and collaborates
and records with a wide range of artists and ensembles. Stickney
was instrumental to the final design of Robert Moog’s Etherwave
Pro theremin.
Pianist and educator, Thessi Rauba, is active in Vienna’s alternative
music scene, performing with her brother, instrument-inventor
Hans Tschiritsch, thereminist Stickney, and accordionist Otto Lechner.
She also performs one-person shows combining piano performances
with literary readings. Rauba plays and records a diverse repertoire
including jazz, popular and classical music.
Will it be gimmicky? Rapoport had this to say: “Wait until you
hear Pam play! The theremin is a thoroughly legitimate instrument
with special capabilities and also limitations, just like any other. It is
also an instrument where a performer’s individual expression comes
out much more than you would imagine, in my view because of the
infinite variation in intonation and vibrato.”
The last word here goes to Sean Michaels:
The theremin has always been a machine with two strangenesses.
There is the strangeness of the playing: palms flexing
in empty space, as if you are pulling the strings of an invisible
marionette. But the stranger strangeness is the sound. It is acute.
It is at once unmodulated and modulating. It feels both still and
frantic. For all my tweakings of timbre, the theremin cannot
quite mimic the trumpet’s joyous blast, the cello’s steadying
stroke. It is something Else.
Yes, the Elseness is what brings audiences to their feet. It is
what inspires composers like Schillinger and Varèse. But there
is no escaping the other part, too: like the pallor of an electric
lightbulb, like the heat of an electric stove, the theremin’s sound
is a stranger to the Earth.
MJ BUELL is the regular writer of We Are ALL Music’s Children
20 | November 2019 thewholenote.com

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Beat by Beat | Art of Song
Crossing Borders
Builds Bridges
LYDIA PEROVIĆ
Not a lot of people in Canada know a whole lot about Colombia,
the third largest country in South America, and what we
manage to gather usually comes from American television
shows and media reports on drug wars. The November 5 Toronto
edition of Crossing Borders, the recital series founded by the Halifaxbased
soprano Maureen Batt, which pairs up Canadian composers
with foreign ones in creatively themed evenings, may just change
things on this score. Batt’s key partner in programming this time is
Colombia-born, Ontario-based tenor Fabián Arciniegas,
whom Toronto audiences may remember from the
productions with Essential Opera and Opera in Concert.
He left the Republic of Colombia in 2010 to complete a
master’s at U of T, and stayed. “If any Latin American
music is presented here in Canada,” he tells me on the
phone from Coburg, where he now lives, “it’s usually a
zarzuela – and that’s rare enough. When people think of
music from Hispanic places, Spain included, they think
either dance, or zarzuela, or de Falla. Composers from
South America that are being performed outside South
America are few. Carlos Guastavino is one – and he died
in 2000. Piazzolla is another. And that’s where it ends.”
One day not so long ago, Batt and Arciniegas were
chatting over instant messenger when the tenor
mentioned in passing that he really wanted to put on
a recital of songs by living composers from Colombia.
Batt liked the idea and offered to produce it as a halfhalf
evening, Canadian and Colombian/Latin American,
and soon enough they were posting public calls for
scores. Arciniegas urged the Colombian composers that
he knew or knew of to submit, but nobody’s placement
in the program was guaranteed. It was, unusually,
a blind submission process, which upon completion of
the first round, Batt, Arciniegas and pianist Claire Harris
tweaked here and there for diversity of themes and
musical approaches.
The result is an eclectic program which, beside the
classical art song, showcases electronic, improvised and
popular songs. Juan Pablo Carreño is the composer of
a mass, incorporating the testimonies by the victims of
the 2002 Bojayá massacre in Colombia, and in this recital the pianoand-soprano
piece from the Mass, In Conspectu Tuo, will be heard.
Another Colombian composer, Leo Herrera, came to art song from
the popular song tradition and acoustic guitar-playing – Arciniegas
will sing his Noche. Words by Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz and Jorge
Luis Borges will be heard thanks to the Colombian composers Pedro
Ramirez and Alba L. Potes who use them in their work. Stephen
Bachicha employed a text by American Navajo poet Elizabeth Woody
in an unaccompanied piece that has echoes of Hildegard von Bingen.
Scottish composer Chris Hutchings’ I was listening to a pogrom, for
speaking chorus and piano, deals with immigration and border crossings,
and uses text by children’s author and BBC 4 radio presenter
Michael Rosen. Many of the Canadians on the program have a direct
link with Latin America, like the Cuban-born, Toronto-based Alondra
Vega-Zaldivar.
“I’ve always admired Alondra’s work,” says Batt on the phone from
Halifax. I first saw her perform in Halifax, in a program called Opera
from Scratch – she went as a singer and composer, both. It was brilliant;
really lovely work. I wrote and asked her what else she had and
she ended up sending me an opera for chamber orchestra that she
wrote for her MA dissertation. So we’re premiering a couple of scenes
from that opera in the version for the piano. It’s an opera about an
actress going through many stages of her life, and it’s solo soprano for
about 25 minutes or so, which I’m hoping to produce in full eventually.”
Monica Pearce is also in the program. Pearce’s chamber opera,
December, for three sopranos and string quartet, set in an airport
departure lounge, will premiere in Toronto later next year, as a partly
crowd-funded commission from Batt and Erin Bardua’s jointly run
company Essential Opera.
When he asked the Colombian composers how they preferred to
be paid, says Arciniegas, some were surprised that in addition to
their work being performed, a payment would be forthcoming. “We
in Colombia don’t have that tradition where you publish your music.
So lot of things we’ll perform will be the first performance.” He tells
me he’s been printing scores directly from the composers’ files, and
we spend some minutes comparing the copyright and author royalties
situation in the non-EU part of Eastern Europe, which I know
well, and Latin America (it’s not great on either side). “And I’m not
The cast of Crossing Borders. (from left) Claire Harris, Maureen Batt, Fabian Arciniegas
talking about composers who are just starting out – I’m talking about
those who are mid-career,” he says. “If you do a concert in Colombia,
it’s very hard for you to sell contemporary music. It’s the same here in
Canada, but I still think there’s much more support for the composer
in Canada and North America than South America.”
What is Colombian folk music like and is there, in fact, such a thing,
I ask him. “We don’t have one folk music, but multiple. On the Pacific
coast, folk and popular music are heavily influenced by African music.
There is a huge population of Colombians of African origin who came
to the country as slaves. But if you go toward the centre of the country,
you have more traditional European influence, except it’s mixed with
aboriginal music.” Have Americans been influential? “Of course. I
grew up listening to, say, Michael Jackson, Elton John … Even if I didn’t
speak English, I connected with the songs. I treated the music and the
voice as one, and listened to the voice as an instrument.”
The classically trained tenor did not grow up in a musical family
(“My parents had absolutely no interest in classical music”) and at first
dreamed of being a rock singer. “The household listened to whatever
happened to be on the radio. But slowly, I started seeking out different
DAHLIA KATZ
22 | November 2019 thewholenote.com

DEAN ARTISTS MANAGEMENT
kinds of music. I became interested in opera because of The Three
Tenors. People sometimes complain about these things, oh but they’re
too popular etc. But that’s how classical music lovers are created.
The very first classical thing that I’ve heard was probably Richard
Clayderman. I was little, and that was the kind of classical music that
you can easily find on LP. As I started studying music, my interest in
the genre became more in-depth.”
As a towering figure in the development of his musical tastes, he
mentions Leonard Bernstein. “I love that he’s capable of mixing love
of a very classical tradition (he was a great Mahler conductor) with
creating things like Trouble in Tahiti. He was not afraid to take on the
more contemporary pop music and incorporate it into classical and
make it all organic.” Arciniegas cites the “uptightness” of the classical
music world as something that puts many potential music lovers off,
him included. “I’m more and more going back to salsa, which I love
dancing. And I like jazz musicians, who are less concerned with precision
of delivery and more with the question of ‘How am I connecting
to this, what am I saying with this?’”
What would he recommend to people who want to learn more
about Colombia? “Two books. First, the obvious choice: Gabriel Garcia
Marquez’ One Hundred Years of Solitude.” But he was writing magical
realism, which is not exactly documentarian, I protest. “Yes, but when
you go to Colombia, you understand where all that comes from,” he
says. “Magical realism is not as crazy as it looks. Crazy things happen
in Colombia.” And the second one? “It’s a book translated into English
as Oblivion, by Hector Abad. It’s a memorial to his father. His father
was a doctor and the first doctor in Colombia who applied medicine
as prevention – he went to poor areas, told people to boil water etc.
Because he was doing that, he was suspected of having Communist
sympathies. And he was murdered. Abad writes about their relationship,
and what was happening in Colombia at that time. It’s the
saddest book ever. So deep, and it reflects a lot of what we are: the
worst and the best of Colombia.”
Crossing Borders: Travesía Latinoamericana – November 5,
7:30pm, Heliconian Hall, Toronto; then touring Colombia, including
Bogotá, Pereira, Medellín and Cali. Full Colombian tour schedule on
maureenbatt.com.
ART OF SONG QUICK PICKS
!!
NOV 8, 8:PM: Tongue in Cheek Productions and Opera 5 present a night of “Eight
Singers Drinking.” Works by Handel, Porter, Montsalvatge, Berlioz, Viardot and others.
Aaron Durand, Beste Kalender, Catherine Daniel, Michael Nyby, Rachel Krehm, River
Guard, Ryan Downey and Trevor Chartrand. Gallery 345.
!!
NOV 11, 7:30PM: University of Toronto Faculty of Music. Chamber Music Concert
Series: “Of War and Peace.” Works of remembrance from Handel to Sting. Monica
Whicher, soprano; Steven Philcox, piano; Marie Bérard; violin. Walter Hall.
!!
NOV 14, 1:30PM: Women’s Musical Club of Toronto. Music in the Afternoon. Works
by Purcell, Mozart, Debussy, Schubert. Jane
Archibald, soprano; Liz Upchurch, piano. Walter
Hall, U of T.
!!
NOV 20, 12:30PM: University of Waterloo
Department of Music. Noon Hour Concerts:
“The Birds & the Bees.” Works for female
singers. Eviole (Corey Linforth, soprano; Laura
Pudwell, mezzo; Miriam Stewart-Kroeker,
cello; Borys Medicky, harpsichord). Great Hall,
Conrad Grebel University COllege. Free. Never
miss a chance to hear Laura Pudwell.
!!
NOV 24, 3:15PM: Mooredale Concerts. Wallis
Giunta, mezzo-soprano. Songs by Barber,
Britten, de Falla, Schumann, Sondheim, etc.
Steven Philcox, piano. Walter Hall, U of T. Giunta
is now more likely to be found in Leipzig and
Northern England than in Toronto, so mark your
Wallis Giunta
calendars.
KATYA
KABANOVÁ
By Leoš Janáček
AN EVENING WITH MARION NEWMAN
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December 1 2019 | 2:30 pm
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Michael Barrett
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CHORUS DIRECTOR
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With Marion Newman,
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NOVEMBER 26 & 27
8:00 P.M.
HELICONIAN CLUB
WHAT IS INDIGENOUS CLASSICAL MUSIC?
Lydia Perović is an arts journalist in Toronto. Send her your
art-of-song news to artofsong@thewholenote.com.
thewholenote.com November 2019 | 23

Beat by Beat | Classical & Beyond
November’s
Panoply
of Future Stars
PAUL ENNIS
This month there is a panoply of young talent on display in
various stages of development with many opportunities to see
and hear potential musical stars, some of them in more intimate
surroundings than the future may bring.
Nicholas Namoradze: One such artist is Nicolas Namoradze, who came
to international attention when he was 26 years old after winning the
2018 Honens International Piano Competition in Calgary. Honens is
proud of their reputation for discovering and nurturing talent for the
21st century and Namoradze is now in the second year of Honens’
three-year development program that includes management and
mentorship opportunities. He will do well if he is able to follow in the
footsteps of 2012 laureate Pavel Kolesnikov, now reaping the rewards
of his Hyperion Records exposure, and indications are that he may
well do so. Namoradze’s performances to date have been hailed by
critics as “sparkling… sensitive and coloristic” (New York Times) and
“simply gorgeous” (Wall Street Journal). One of his former teachers,
the widely respected Emanuel Ax, said that Namoradze is set to
become one of the truly important artists of his generation.
Born in Georgia and raised in Budapest, he grew up on a diet of
great Hungarian composers like Bartók, Ligeti and Kurtág, as well as
Liszt. But as he told Pamela Kuhn on her radio program Center Stage:
“Everyone plays Liszt.” As an infant he would “get stuck” listening to
Verdi and Wagner. “You could not drag me away,” he said. He began
instrumental studies at seven with the piano, but before that he was
obsessed with The Beatles and for a short period, AC/DC. Once he
began to play, he lived strictly within the classical world. And apart
from an interest in jazz, he still does.
Georgian is his mother tongue but if pressed he considers himself a
European New Yorker who feels Georgian. Ax invited him to study at
Juilliard when they met, when Namoradze was a teenager in Budapest.
He accepted once he was ready to study for a master’s degree. He’s
now pursuing a PhD at the CUNY Center. His daily regimen includes
no more than four hours of physical piano practice, plus a lot of practice
mentally. He does yoga, qi gong and tai chi; he’s big on meditation
as well. “It helps with competitions and flying into same-day
concerts,” he said. “It takes me and the audience to somewhere else.”
He’s also a composer who studied with John Corigliano. Namoradze
spoke with Kuhn about Georgian folk music, which he called “one
of the wonders of the musical world,” and which has influenced his
composing. “It’s a musical tradition that came to tonal harmony from
a completely different route,” he said. “And by the tenth and eleventh
century; earlier than tonal harmony became established in
Western music.”
“Georgian folk music was almost entirely vocal and that means
that the tuning system had very little to do with what we call equal
temperament,” he explained. “In Georgian folk music there is no
octave -- the most stable interval is the third. You stack two thirds on
top of each other and you get a triad!” He spoke of its great diversity
and complex polyphony and how certain aspects of the way it treats
polyphony and counterpoint influenced his composing approach.
Highlights of the current season include a critically acclaimed, soldout
Carnegie debut recital at Zankel Hall, about which ConcertoNet
wrote: “[Namoradze] is a pianist who proved that, once in a while, the
distinguished members of the jury make a good choice and select a
Nicolas Namoradze
winner who plays like a true artist; who impresses not with pyrotechnics
but rather with keen intelligence, a rich tonal palette and refinement
… It was a most auspicious debut by an artist representing that
rare breed, a thinking virtuoso.” Two other highlights await this rising
star: a recital at London’s Wigmore Hall and a recording on Hyperion
-- the label of Hamelin, Hough and Hewitt.
Meanwhile, his COC free noon-hour recital on November 19
includes his own Etudes I-VI in addition to Scriabin’s Etudes Op.42.
Two More COC Noon-Hour Concerts of Interest
Born in 1991, pianist and composer Philippe Prud’homme began his
piano studies at 12 with professor Gilles Manny. At 16, Prud’homme
was accepted, under special circumstances, to the Université de
Montréal without even finishing his secondary school education and
with only four years of piano under his belt. He earned his master’s
with highest distinctions in the class of Dang Thai Son before beginning
another graduate degree at the Conservatoire de Montréal in 2015
with Louise Bessette.
Well-known in Quebec, Prud’homme has won first prize at the
Canadian Music Competition several times, in the solo piano category,
as well as in chamber music. He is particularly interested in the works
of Frederic Rzewski and François Morel. In 2016, Prud’homme took
home the grand prize at the CMC in the 19-30-year-old category by
Cathedral Bluffs
SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Norman Reintamm Artistic Director/Principal Conductor
Rafael Luz Guest Conductor
Saturday Dec. 14, 2019 8 pm
BEETHOVEN & MORE
Mozart: Overture to The Magic Flute
Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 in C minor
concert also features the finals of the
2019 CBSO Clifford Poole Vocal Competition
Village Voices Community Choir of Markham
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concert 3
24 | November 2019 thewholenote.com
ANDREA FELVEGI

performing Prokofiev. A few weeks later, he was part of CBC Music’s
30 Hot Canadian Classical Musicians under 30. Soon after, he began
his doctorate with Dang Thai Song at the Université de Montréal. His
COC concert, November 14, features Liszt’s La Vallée d’Obermann and
Prokofiev’s Sonata No.4, bracketted by Chopin and Hamelin.
In addition, a week earlier, November 6, Artists of the Royal
Academy of Music in London join with Artists of the Royal
Conservatory in Toronto to perform Weinberg’s Piano Trio Op.24
and Hartmann’s String Quartet No.1. It’s a rare opportunity to hear
students from two venerable musical institutions on the same stage.
Ray Chen
Born in Taiwan and raised in Australia, 30-year-old Ray Chen was
accepted by the Curtis Institute of Music at 15 where he studied with
Aaron Rosand. He won the Menuhin Competition in 2007 and the
Queen Elisabeth of Belgium Competition in 2008, two prestigious
prizes that raised his profile and established his professional career.
He’s known for his vital social media presence where he interacts with
his audience. He once performed in front of 800,000 people on Bastille
Day in Paris and he has appeared on the Amazon series, Mozart in the
Jungle. And he produced the lush sound that came out of Clive Owen’s
character’s violin, jumping off the screen in François Girard’s new film,
The Song of Names. He plays the Stradivarius violin once owned by the
legendary Joseph Joachim, on loan from the Nippon Music Foundation,
with a luxuriant sound reminiscent of David Oistrakh.
The program for his Koerner Hall recital with American pianist
Ray Chen
Julio Elizalde, on November 8, begins with Grieg’s Violin Sonata No.2
in G Major, Op.13, “written in the euphoria of my honeymoon” and
brimming with Norwegian folk music references. Saint-Saëns’ finely
SOPHIE ZHAI
THE ASSOCIATES
OF THE
TORONTO
SYMPHONY
ORCHESTRA
2020 SEASON
January 20, 2020, 7:30 p.m.
Song Before the Storm
Johannes Brahms, Dmitri Shostakovich
February 10, 2020, 7:30 p.m.
Beethoven: Kreutzer and the Archduke
Ludwig van Beethoven
March 30, 2020, 7:30 p.m.
Folk Tunes Made Classic
Carl Czerny, Frank Martin, Antonín Dvořák,
Fernandez Arbos
April 27, 2020, 7:30 p.m.
Clash and Calm: A Folkloric Journey
Joseph Haydn, Béla Bartók, Antonín Dvořák
May 25, 2020, 7:30 p.m.
Augmented 6ix/5
Francis Poulenc, Claude-Paul Taffanel,
Ludwig Thuille
TICKETS
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Tickets $25, Seniors and Students $23
Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre, 427 Bloor St. W.
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thewholenote.com November 2019 | 25
web box

LEV TSIVIAN
Anastasia Rizikov
crafted Violin Sonata No.1 in D Minor, Op.75 is next followed by
Bach’s monumental Chaconne from Partita No. 2 in D Minor for Solo
Violin, BWV1004, Debussy’s ever-popular Clair de lune (arr. Roelens)
and Ravel’s flamboyant Tzigane.
Gallery 345
Gallery 345’s abundant programming continues this month with
further installments of the Art of the Piano series and more. Piano 6
Next Generation-member Anastasia Rizikov has dazzled the world
ever since her orchestral debut in Kiev at seven. Now 20, having
competed with musicians over twice her age in winning numerous
international piano competitions, she has entered a new stage in her
career. Her November 14 recital is built to please, beginning with three
major works by Chopin. After intermission, Burge, Arensky, Scriabin,
Rachmaninoff and Balakirev’s devilishly difficult Islameny will
further showcase her musical skill set.
Ida Pelliccioli is a 31-year-old Italo-Croatian pianist who grew up
in France. Her program, November 29, aims to create echoes between
the music of Debussy and that of two composers who influenced him:
Rameau and Albeniz. Debussy described Rameau as the pinnacle of
the French tradition; his Suite in E Major opens the recital followed
by Debussy’s Hommage à Rameau. Debussy was fond of reimagining
the music of other countries and Spanish idioms inspired some of
his most animated music. Three of the pieces Pelliccioli will play are
also linked by the same element of inspiration: Albeniz’s La Vega was
also called Alhambra Suite; Debussy’s La Puerta del Vino refers to
the gate of the same palace in Granada; and finally, Debussy’s Soirée à
Grenade” uses the Arabic scale and mimics guitar strumming to evoke
images of this same land and heritage.
NYOC/EUYO Frenergy Tour
The National Youth Orchestra of Canada (NYO Canada) and the
European Union Youth Orchestra (EUYO) join forces for The Frenergy
Tour, a landmark collaboration and celebration of music and friendship,
featuring a combined total of 76 outstanding young musicians
under the baton of acclaimed Viennese conductor Sascha Goetzel,
with music by Rossini, Ravel, Saint-Saëns, Stravinsky and Wagner,
as well as Canadian composer John Estacio’s Frenergy for orchestra.
JUNO-nominated, burgeoning-star violinist and NYOC alumnus,
Blake Pouliot, is featured as guest soloist in two virtuoso showpieces:
Saint-Saëns’ Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso and Ravel’s Tzigane.
This groundbreaking tour comprises concerts in Toronto (Koerner
Hall November 12), Kingston (Isabel Bader November 13), Montreal
(November 14) and Ottawa (November 17).
Daniel Lozakovich
TSO Marks the Hits
On November 27, 28 30 and December 1, 18-year-old Swedish-born
violin phenom, Daniel Lozakovich, is the soloist in Tchaikovsky’s
Violin Concerto, a Romantic masterpiece that is the featured work
on his just-released, second Deutsche Grammophon CD. Lozakovich
began playing the violin before he turned seven and made his debut
two years later with Vladimir Spivakov and the Moscow Virtuosi
Chamber Orchestra. His first appearance on DG came as a 15-yearold
when Daniel Hope invited Lozakovich to join him in playing a
selection of Bartok’s Duos for two violins on his Tribute to Yehudi
A TAPESTRY OF YULETIDE MAGIC
Ontario Christmas Tour 2019
TORONTO PERFORMANCE
A FUNDRAISER FOR THE HOUSE OF COMPASSION
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29 | 7:00PM
YORMINISTER PARK BAPTIST CHURCH
1585 YONGE ST.
TICKETS $26 AVAILABLE AT THE DOOR
CHILDREN 12 AND UNDER FREE
ADVANCE TICKETS: TEL: (416) 922-1167
26 | November 2019 thewholenote.com

Menuhin CD. Rounding out the all-Tchaikovsky program, TSO resident
conductor Simon Rivard leads the orchestra in the composer’s
beguiling Symphony No.1 “Winter Dreams” and the iconic
1812 Overture.
That program is the culmination of a month of orchestral favourites
that begins November 13 with Sir Andrew Davis conducting
Shostakovich’s Symphony No.10, arguably the composer’s greatest
symphony. Concertmaster Jonathan Crow leads the TSO in Vivaldi’s
The Four Seasons and Copland’s Appalachian Spring, November 16,
17, 20 and 21. And Leonard Slatkin makes a rare TSO appearance,
November 22 and 23, conducting Gershwin’s joyous An American in
Paris and Barber’s intensely emotional Piano Concerto (with soloist
Jon Kimura Parker).
CLASSICAL AND BEYOND QUICK PICKS
!!
NOV 7, 7:30PM: Stewart Goodyear joins the legendary Fine Arts String Quartet in a
performance of Brahms’ Piano Quintet in F Minor Op.34 at Isabel Bader Centre for the
Performing Arts, Kingston.
!!
NOV 10, 2PM: Chamber Music Hamilton presents the Fine Arts String Quartet
playing Beethoven’s String Quartet Op.18 No.1 and, with cellist and Chamber Music
Hamilton co-artistic director Michael Schulte, Bruckner’s unique String Quintet.
!!
NOV 13, 8PM: Violinist Kerry DuWors and pianist Futaba Nickawa were students
at the Eastman School of Music when they founded duo526 in 2011. Their acclaimed
new Navona CD, Double Fantasy, features works by Villa-Lobos, Bax and Bolcom,
which comprise the bulk of their recital for the Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music
Society (K-WCMS). On NOV 16 at 7:30, the duo repeats their program at Gallery 345
in Toronto. Gramophone Magazine praised their recording, calling them a “beautifully
balanced duo, with exceptional intonation and a tangible empathy.”
!!
NOV 16, 8PM: The ever-elegant pianist David Jalbert, fresh from his impactful
participation in Music Toronto’s spectacular Piano Six New Generation concert on
October 22, gives a solo recital for K-WCMS headed by Debussy’s poetic Images Book
I and II.
!!
NOV 17, 2:30PM: The formidable Jonathan Biss performs five Beethoven piano
sonatas, from the early Op.7 to the celestial Op.109, at the Isabel Bader Centre for the
Performing Arts, Kingston.
!!
NOV 17, 3PM: Recalling two prior visits to Koerner Hall – his memorable
Soundstreams performance of Max Richter’s Vivaldi Recomposed and subsequent
Tribute to Yehudi Menuhin – violinist Daniel Hope returns with his new band, the Zurich
Chamber Orchestra, to perform works connected to Menuhin as well as Vivaldi’s The
Four Seasons.
!!
NOV 23, 7:30PM: Pianist Yefim Bronfman brings his virtuoso talent to a program
of Beethoven and Brahms at the Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts,
Kingston. NOV 24, 3PM: It’s all Beethoven – Sonatas Nos.7, 8 and 9 as well as No.23
“Appassionata” – when Bronfman comes to Koerner Hall.
!!
NOV 29 AND 30, 8PM: Sparkling violinist, Blake Pouliot, joins conductor Andrei
Feher and the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony in a performance of Brahms’ unforgettable
Violin Concerto.
!!
NOV 30, 7:30PM: Bravo Niagara! presents cellist Ofra Harnoy who continues her
remarkable recovery from reconstructive shoulder surgery in 2015. Her Niagaraon-the-Lake
recital features music by Bach, Corelli, Popper and a Beatles Medley,
supported by her husband, Mike Herriott, on flugelhorn and trumpet. Herriott
produced Harnoy’s latest recording, Back to Bach, much of which is the basis for this
recital.
!!
DEC 1, 3PM: The first American in three decades and the youngest musician ever
to win First Prize at the International Tchaikovsky Competition Cello Division, 20-yearold
Zlatomir Fung (who is of Bulgarian-Chinese parentage) is poised to become one
of the preeminent cellists of our time. Joining him in this Syrinx Concerts presentation,
in the intimate surroundings of Heliconian Hall, are pianist Jean-Luc Therrien,
a Jeunesses Musicales Canada alumnus, and violinist Mai Tategami, Orford Music
Prize-winner. Piano trios by Haydn, Clara Schumann, Chan Ka Nin and Mendelssohn
are enticing.
Paul Ennis is the managing editor of The WholeNote.
thewholenote.com November 2019 | 27

• THE ANNUAL •
City
CAROL
SING
In collaboration
with
SATURDAY
DECEMBER 7 | 2:00PM
YORKMINSTER PARK BAPTIST CHURCH
HOST
Dina Pugliese
SPECIAL GUESTS
Murray McLauchlan
Marc Jordan
Ian Thomas
FEATURING
HOGTOWN BRASS
Bach Children’s Chorus
Yorkminster Park Baptist Church Choir
Hedgerow Singers
William Maddox, Organ
Eric Robertson, Conductor
Beat by Beat | Choral Scene
Choral Relevance
Amidst Today’s
Disarray
MENAKA SWAMINATHAN
music is not one of life’s frills. It’s something that
goes to the very heart of our humanity, our sense of
“C,horal
community, and our souls.” – John Rutter
Some of my earliest memories of community are from being a
member of choir. It has always held great prominence in my life. A
few weeks ago, I watched a short YouTube video from J.W. Pepper
of an interview with John Rutter, a renowned composer of choral
music. Although the clip is only a few minutes long, his words resonated
with me, for he spoke so eloquently and profoundly of the significance
of choir.
My Introduction to the Choral World
I was seven years old when my family immigrated to Canada. Shortly
after settling down in Toronto, my mother became involved with
the choir of our then-community church as their pianist. Soon after,
she encouraged my sister and me to join it. In addition to singing in
church, my sister and I also became members of a choir called VOCE,
a children’s choir affiliated with the Toronto Catholic District School
Board. The rehearsals were held at Cardinal Carter Academy for the
Arts. (We would go on to attend the high school a few years later.)
Because I was considerably younger than the other members of
the church choir, attending rehearsals weekly was something I did
primarily because of my mother. However, being part of VOCE, with
other singers my own age, was a completely different experience. As
Rutter says during the interview, “When you get together with a group
of other singers […] all of those people are pouring out their hearts
and souls in perfect harmony.” I felt at ease in choir as I mingled with
like-minded children; all of us bonding over music, learning our
parts together, competing for solos but also supporting one another. I
remember having a lot of fun.
ADMISSION FREE
A collection will be taken for
the Churches on-the-Hill Food Bank
Yorkminster Park
Baptist Church
1585 Yonge St. (1 block north of St. Clair Ave.)
YORKMINSTERPARK.COM | 9SPARROWSARTS.ORG
28 | November 2019 thewholenote.com

Canadian Vocal Ensemble
and members of
St. Michael's Choir
School Alumni
Carol Woodward Ratzlaff
Choral Community and Inclusivity
I recently was affiliated with VIVA! Youth Singers of Toronto, as I
worked part-time with them and sang with their Main Chorus.
Founded in 2000, VIVA! is a welcoming space inclusive to singers
with disabilities. After listening to the Rutter video, I was moved to
discuss this theme of community with someone deeply rooted in the
choral scene, so I reconnected by email with Carol Woodward Ratzlaff,
founder of VIVA!, to get her perspective both as a conductor and a
chorister.
When schools started eliminating arts programming 20 years ago,
Ratzlaff, who was working for the Toronto District School Board at
the time, felt she needed to turn to the private sector to respond.
She tells me: “We need to work to inform education leaders and
those in government of the personal advantages, educational benefits
and holistic impact of arts opportunities. Too often, adult-centred
economic concerns inform educational outcomes. I was aware of
many other excellent private-sector choral experiences in the GTA,
but I was not focused on what the market was already providing;
it was not a business response. I was motivated by the fact that
there were many children (as well as youth and adults with disabilities)
who were not being provided with opportunities to sing and to
create beautiful music together.” Ratzlaff’s words resonate strongly
with Classic String Quartet,
Michael Barth - Trumpet, Donna
Kiousis - Flute, James Brown - Guitar
IN
REMEMBRANCE
CONCERTS
Friday November 8, 2019,
7:30 pm
Holy Name Catholic Church
71 Gough Avenue, Toronto, M4K 3N9
Pastor: Fr. Jinto Puthiyidathuchalil
and
Saturday November 9, 2019,
7:30 pm
St. Patrick Catholic Church
921 Flagship Dr, Mississauga, L4Y 2J6
Pastor: Fr. John Facey
Founder, Artistic Director
and Conductor
Gordon D. Mansell (SMCS 1975)
For further information, call/text:
416-571-3680 or email:
gdmansell@sympatico.ca
ON WINTER’S NIGHT
Toronto Youth Choir
with The Salvation Army
North York Temple Band
Sun. Dec. 8 | 4 PM
St. Andrew’s Church
torontochildrenschorus.com
19/20 Season
A CHORUS CHRISTMAS:
CELESTIAL CELEBRATIONS
co-presented by
Sun. Dec. 15 | 2 PM
Roy Thomson Hall
roythomsonhall.com/tcc
thewholenote.com November 2019 | 29

ONE
SHOW
ONLY
with Rutter’s. As he states: “Politicians need to take note […], and our
educators, those who decide education budgets, church budgets, just
need to remember [choral music is] not a frill.”
Ratzlaff’s first experiences in choir were from middle school in
St. Catharines ON. Since then, she has sung with several esteemed
choirs, including the Elmer Iseler Singers and the Toronto
Mendelssohn Choir. She shares: “Choral singing has been one of the
great joys of my professional and personal life. I am temperamentally
suited to group singing and collaborative creative work. I am particularly
intrigued by the rich connections that are fostered between choristers
themselves, between choristers and audience, and the changing
role of the conductor in this landscape.”
I asked her what she tries to instill in singers as a choral director.
She replied: “I try to empower them to make decisions along with
me, to take ownership of our creative journey, and to make something
beautiful with their voices. […] I seek a balance between meeting individual
and group needs.” Ratzlaff shares that she loves “the process
of discernment in seeking how to teach a piece of music. [She loves]
sound and the capacity of the human voice to produce many expressive
colours to tell a story.”
The last word on this topic goes to John Rutter again: “Choral music
is like a great oak that rises up from the centre of the human race and
spreads its branches everywhere. That’s what music does for us. And
choral music must stand as one of the supreme examples of it.”
Gloria!
Toronto’s Christmas Tradition
featuring St. Michael’s Choir School
continues at Roy Thomson Hall
Repertoire to include John Rutter’s
celebrated ‘Gloria’
and an array of seasonal favourites
Conductors Maria Conkey, Teri Dunn, S. Bryan Priddy, Joshua Tamayo
Accompanist William O’Meara
Guest Instrumentalists True North Brass
SUNDAY
8 DECEMBER 2019
3PM
John Rutter
Concerts around the GTA
Speaking of Rutter, we can listen to some of his works that will be
included in a few concerts over the next months. Under artistic
director, Oliver Balaburski, the King Edward Choir will perform
Rutter’s Angels’ Carol and Candlelight Carol during their concert,
“Gloria!” on November 30. The Aurora United Church Chancel Choir
Tickets $30–$80
ROY THOMSON HALL 416 872.4255
www.roythomsonhall.com
present
Winter Light
with guest artists Ariko
Saturday, December 14 at 7:30 pm
Grace Church on-the-Hill
www.annexsingers.com
30 | November 2019 thewholenote.com

2019/20
Elmer
Iseler
Singers
Lydia Adams, Conductor
Fri. Dec. 13, 2019 @ 7:30pm
Yorkminster Park Baptist Church
Glorious Sounds of Handel
Messiah
conducted by Craig Pike
Featuring the
Bach Youth Chamber Choir
With special guest artists, The Amadeus Choir and soloists
DECEMBER 14, 8PM
St. Andrew's Presbyterian
73 Simcoe Street, Toronto ON
All tickets are PAY WHAT YOU CAN
and available at thatchoir.com
Leslie Fagan
soprano
Daniel Cabena
countertenor
Michael Colvin
tenor
Alexander Dobson
baritone
416-217-0537 elmeriselersingers.com
LISTEN TO US ON YOUTUBE
FESTIVAL
OF CAROLS
Toronto Mendelssohn Choir
with the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra
DAVID FALLIS CONDUCTOR SIMON RIVARD TSYO CONDUCTOR
EZRA BURKE ASSOCIATE CONDUCTOR
Join us for a joyous celebration of music for the season – by Berlioz,
Tchaikovsky, Vaughan Williams and Rutter — and add your voice to
the audience carol sing-along with full orchestral accompaniment.
Tues, Dec 3 & Wed, Dec 4 at 7:30 pm
Yorkminster Park Baptist Church
(just north of Yonge and St. Clair)
Tickets start at $35
$20 VoxTix for patrons 30 and under
Tickets: Call RCM Tickets at 416-408-0208 or purchase online at www.tmchoir.org
thewholenote.com November 2019 | 31

and Handbell Ensembles,
will have a Carols by
Candlelight service on
December 8. The first
movement of Rutter’s
Gloria will be one of the
pieces sung. The MCS
Chorus Mississauga will
take you on a musical
and literary journey with
Christmas with Anne,
also on December 8. Along
with readings from Lucy
Montgomery’s Anne of
Green Gables books, savour
the sounds of Rutter’s Carol
of the Children and Angel’s Carol.
Choral Mosaic: Invitation to Choirs
With all this dialogue on choral music and community, you may
feel inspired to get out and join a choir right away. But circle your
calendar too for a great choral event, the inaugural Choral Mosaic
Festival, taking place from
June 25 to 27, 2020. Organized by
the Mississauga Festival Choir and
Festival Team, under the direction
of David Ambrose, it will be
three days of choral merriment;
the choral Osheaga, if you will.
Complete choirs, as well as individuals,
are welcome to participate in
the festival. Take the opportunity
to hone your vocal skills and gain
insight from professional speakers,
be challenged by a variety of workshops
and enjoy fraternizing with
other singers. In addition, some
notable features include an act by
comedian Mary Lou Fallis and a
Mary Lou Fallis
closing gala performance by all the participants. The Festival will be
held at the Living Arts Centre in Mississauga. If this has piqued your
interest, look for more details on the festival website, choralmosaic.com.
And take note! Early-bird registration has already begun.
VIVA! Youth Singers of Toronto
CHORAL SCENE QUICK PICKS
!!
NOV 16, 7:30PM: The Bach Elgar Choir presents Brahms’ Requiem at Melrose
United Church in Hamilton. The choir, under the direction of Alexander Cann, will
perform with the accompaniment of a full orchestra.
!!
NOV 23, 6:30PM: Join the VIVA! Youth Singers of Toronto with “The World in a
City,” an interactive family-friendly concert. The concert will pay homage to Toronto
with works conveying Indigenous roots and waves of migration. Jeanne Lamon Hall,
Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre.
!!
NOV 30, 7PM: The Incontra Vocal Ensemble presents “Creator of the Stars of
Night,” under the direction of Matthew Otto. Look forward to hearing the works of
Britten, Mendelssohn, and Chilcott, among others. The concert will serve as a fundraiser
for the Institute for Christian Studies. At Knox College Chapel, U of T.
!!
DEC 6, 7:30PM AND DEC 7, 2PM AND 7:30PM: Cue the Home Alone face. Relive the
joyous and laughter-filled memories with this beloved Christmas film. The Toronto
Symphony Orchestra, with the Resonance Youth Choir, will present Home Alone in
Concert under the direction of Constantine Kitsopoulos. The music by John Williams
will be ringing once again at Roy Thomson Hall.
!!
DEC 7, 7:30PM: The Christmas season always feels complete with the soaring
harmonies of Handel’s Messiah. Take in the beautiful sound of the Grand Philharmonic
Choir with soprano soloist Mireille Asselin, mezzo Maude Brunet, tenor Asitha
Tenekoon and baritone Samuel Chan. The Choir will be accompanied by the Kitchener-
Waterloo Symphony at the Centre in the Square in Kitchener.
Menaka Swaminathan is a writer and chorister, currently based in
Toronto. She can be reached via choralscene@thewholenote.com.
HAVE SEEN A GREAT LIGHT
THE UNIVERSALLY SHARED EXPERIENCE
HANDEL MESSIAH
Jurgen Petrenko, Conductor
The Talisker Players
Sheila Dietrich, soprano
Lillian Brooks, mezzo
Cory Knight, tenor
Michael Nyby, bass
December 8, 2019
Tickets: $30.00
437.344.1719 torontoclassicalsingers.ca
TORONTO CLASSICAL SINGERS
transcending tradition tradition
32 | November 2019 thewholenote.com

Advent &Christmas
@ Yorkminster Park Baptist Church
CELEBRATE THE SEASON WITH US
A TAPESTRY OF YULETIDE MAGIC
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29 TH
7:00PM
A Fundraiser
for the House of Compassion
TICKETS: $26 at the door
Advance Tickets Call 416-922-1167
• THE ANNUAL •
City
CAROL
SING
In collaboration
with
SATURDAY, DEC. 7 - 2:00 PM
WITH SPECIAL GUESTS
Dina Pugliesez • Murray McLauchlan
Marc Jordan • Ian Thomas
FREE ADMISSION
A collection will be taken for
the Churches on-the-Hill Food Bank
GLORIOUS SOUNDS OF HANDEL:
Messiah
Elmer Iseler Singers
with the Amadeus Choir
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13
7:30 PM
TICKETS:
$55 REGULAR
$50 SENIOR
CALL: 416-922-1167
A FUNDRAISER IN SUPPORT
OF THE YPBC REFUGEE FUND
CAROLS BY
CANDLELIGHT
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 15
4:30PM
A candlelight choral
presentation featuring
choirs and musicians
of Yorkminster Park
Baptist Church.
FREE ADMISSION. Doors open at 3:30 pm.
DECEMBER 19
7:00PM
Fundraising
Christmas Concert
Tickets $25.00 online
at www.eventbrite.ca
or at the door.
FESTIVAL OF
NINE LESSONS
& CAROLS
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 22
4:30PM
Following the historic tradition
of King’s College in Cambridge.
Featuring the Choirs of YPBC.
FREE ADMISSION. Doors open at 3:30 pm.
Yorkminster Park Baptist Church 1585 Yonge St., (1 block north of St. Clair Ave.)
For information on our services and events call (416) 922-1167 or visit yorkminsterpark.com

Beat by Beat | Music Theatre
The Parts That
Musical Passion
Plays
JENNIFER PARR
Of the many music theatre events in October, one that stood
out for me was the Canadian Musical Theatre Project’s annual
festival of new musicals in progress at the beautiful Winter
Garden Theatre. An international incubator for the creation of new
musicals based at Sheridan College, the CMTP also gives fourthyear
Sheridan musical theatre students an unparalleled opportunity
to be part of the creation and development of new works alongside
working professionals, and, on top of that, to have this exceptional
showcase of their own abilities. Of the three musicals presented in
excerpt, one in particular caught my eye: Pump Up The Volume by
Jeff Thomson (music) and Jeremy Desmon (book and lyrics). Although
based on the 1990 film by Alan Moyle, this show exploded onstage
with youthful energy echoing the energy and passion of the growing
number of youth-led movements to fix what is wrong with our world
today, whether the proliferation of guns or the imminence of climate
disaster. Songs, script and performances added up to more than the
sum of their parts. If the whole musical is this strong, I can see young
audiences responding to it in a big way.
This same energy was captured by Hanna Kiel’s world-premiere
dance piece for Human Body Expression at the end of September:
Resonance, explicit in its own language of movement and 80’s
inspired rock music about the need for all of us to stand together to
fight for what is right. (See my review on The WholeNote blog).
A Million Billion Pieces
Music, as an essential ingredient in portraying youthful passion and
idealism, will also be seen in the
upcoming new “play with opera,” A
Million Billion Pieces by David James
Brock (book) and Gareth Williams
(music). Though a creative extension
of The Breath Cycle Project the
duo began with Scottish Opera in
2013, Brock explains that the play
stands on its own, set in a “SciFi/
Fantasy realm where a simple touch
can cause the two main characters to
explode into a million billion pieces,
due to a rare genetic illness.” Isolated
by their illness, two 16-year-olds, Pria
and Theo, craving connection, create
online personas and correspond as
these ‘ideal” selves for a year before
daring to meet in person. This online
ideal world is set apart from the
David James Brock
real world by being “heightened cosmically and sonically,” as Brock
says, not just with singing but “through vocal effects and scoring, so
that the music evolves into fuller vocal lines and scenes as the relationships
do,” to the point where music enters the real world as Pria
and Theo dare to actually meet in person. When I asked Brock if his
writing process changed for this project since he was writing for a
teenage audience, he said, “not much. The characters are teenagers,
but they’ve lived their whole lives being told they wouldn’t survive
to adulthood, so they’ve had to fit as much as possible in on a countdown.
These characters are hyper aware of the finite amount of time
in a life. I think we all have a sense we’re not using the time we have
correctly – I certainly do. As a side note, at the climate march recently,
I overheard a conversation where two teens truly didn’t think the
planet would be around when they were 50.”
A Million Billion Pieces is directed by Philip Akin and runs
November 25 to December 13 in YPT’s studio theatre. Paired with it
in the season, and beginning two weeks earlier, is a heartfelt musical
version of the classic fairy tale of the boy whose nose grows whenever
he tells a lie: Pinocchio. Created by Neil Bartram and Brian Hill (who
first met as cast mates in the Toronto production of Forever Plaid
in the 1990s), this Canadian premiere will be directed by Canadian
musical and television star Sheila McCarthy, notable for past incarnations
as Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors and Adelaide in Guys and
Dolls to name just two.
Orpheus Revisited
Over at the National Ballet of Canada, another classic tale is being
explored and revisited through two short ballets: George Balanchine’s
1975 Chaconne, and the world premiere of Robert Binet’s Orpheus
Alive. Both ballets are inspired by the classical tale of the musician,
Orpheus, who petitions the gods to bring his beloved wife, Eurydice,
back from the dead. Balanchine’s piece, while set to some of Gluck’s
score for his opera Orfeo ed Euridice, is mostly abstract, whereas
Binet’s new work sets out to really tell the story, setting it in our own
times and switching the gender of the leading roles, making Orpheus
a woman artist, and Eurydice a man, her husband. He also turns the
audience into the gods who must judge their case. Set to a new score
by the award-winning composer Missy Mazzoli, and including projections,
and text spoken by some of the dancers to the audience, this
looks like a must-see for fans of contemporary ballet.
Another Brick in the Wall
Walls
Another must-see in November is the Toronto premiere (after the
world premiere in Vancouver two weeks earlier) of The 9th!, A
dance work ten years in the making by co-choreographers Roberto
Campanella and Robert Glumbek of ProArteDanza. Set to Beethoven’s
famously iconic Ninth Symphony and inspired by its connection with
the celebration of of the fall of the Berlin Wall 30 years ago (almost
to the day of the opening), the full-length work also uses the full
four movements of the symphony to explore the idea of the need
to demolish inhibiting walls in our lives, both tangible and metaphysical.
(November 6 to 9, Fleck Dance Theatre, Harbourfront).
(See my upcoming interview with Roberto Campanella on The
WholeNote blog.)
The powerful image of a wall is central as well to Another Brick in
the Wall, a new opera inspired by and based on Roger Waters’ music
from the famous Pink Floyd album, The Wall. The album predated the
fall of the Berlin Wall by ten years, but the themes being explored by
composer Julien Bilodeau and director Dominic Champagne – “the
34 | November 2019 thewholenote.com

difficulties of a whole generation confronted with the destruction of
its dreams” – are certainly similar. (November 13 to 23 at Meridian
Hall, the former Sony Centre).
Storytelling through song
Old and new, traditional and experimental, were combined in another
October highlight over at Crow’s Theatre in collaboration with Eclipse
Theatre, with the Toronto premiere of Dave Malloy’s Ghost Quartet in
a production that – with a stage the size of a postage stamp – managed
to create a multi-layered, magical, eerie world of time travelling, interconnected
characters, and a wild variety of mixed genre music, folk
tale and dialogue that created a hypnotically fascinating world via the
stories told by the songs of a concept album that forms the first layer
of the show’s structure.
Brilliantly directed, designed and performed, this show was/is
unique, and yet it also made me think of two ongoing Toronto concert
series that in their own ways, create their own magic by revisiting
classic songs in new contexts, creating new and enthralling musictheatrical
world’s for audiences to experience. Both series have shows
coming up this month. First is The Musical Stage Company’s 13th
edition of Uncovered, this time looking at the connected lives and
works of Stevie Wonder and Prince, inspired by the fact that the two
artists knew and admired each other and influenced each other’s
work. Following the gender-blind casting tradition begun in 2017
when Maev Beaty played David Bowie, and followed by Sara Farb as
Bob Dylan in 2018, this year Sarah Afful takes on the role of Stevie
Wonder, with Chy Ryan Spain appearing as Prince.
Toronto’s other storytelling-through-song tradition, Soulpepper’s
concert series curated by music director Mike Ross, brings back its
2017 hit Riverboat Coffee House:The Yorkville Scene, November 5 to
17. Written and directed by Frank Cox-O’Connell, this concert weaves
together songs by and stories about such iconic Canadian singersongwriters
as Gordon Lightfoot, Joni Mitchell, Murray McLauchlan
and Neil Young, to recreate the anarchic excitement of Yorkville in
the 60’s.
Bands on stage
Onstage bands are the anchors of two more new plays with live scores
opening in Toronto this month. The world premiere of The Wager
is inspired by the true story of a scientist in the 19th century who
accepted a bet to prove that the planet Earth is round rather than flat,
only to have his proof rejected by the hostile flat-Earthers. Provocative
and timely in our era of climate denial, the play employs Theatre
Gargantua’s signature combination of physical theatre, innovative
use of technology and a live vocal score to tell the story, with the cast
doubling as the live on-stage band. (November 14-30 at Theatre Passe
Muraille).
Opening shortly after The Wager, down the street at Factory Theatre
(November 20 to December 8) is the Toronto premiere of Between
Breaths, an Artistic Fraud of Newfoundland production written
by Robert Chafe and directed by Jillian Keiley (famous for her very
physical, almost stylized, productions at the NAC and Stratford).
Inspired by the real life of Jon Lien known as “the Whale Man” the
play tells the story of his inspiring career during which he freed more
than 500 whales from fishing nets off Newfoundland’s coast. As
might be intuited from the title, there are also links here to A Million
Billion Pieces, as later in his life Jon Lien suffered from dementia
ending his days in a wheelchair, chronically short of breath. Between
Breaths begins at the end of the story and travels back to Lien’s very
first whale intervention, the whole story buoyed and infused by the
live music, vocal and instrumental, of famed Newfoundland folk trio
The Once.
MUSIC THEATRE QUICK PICKS
!!
NOV 4, 8PM: One show only. Stratford Festival. Avon Theatre. The House of Martin
Guerre in concert. A wonderful chance to see Leslie Arden’s musical version of this
classic tale, starring the luminous Chilina Kennedy, directed by Richard Ouzounian.
!!
NOV 4 TO NOV 17: Harold Green Jewish Theatre Company. The Pianist of Willesden
Lane. A play that makes classical music a character of its own through the piano
playing of the protagonist. An intriguing premise.
Steve O'Connell and Berni Stapleton in Artistic Fraud’s Between Breaths
!!
NOV 6 TO NOV 10: National Ballet of Canada. Giselle. Music by Adolphe Adam. Sir
Peter Wright, choreographer. Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. One of
the most beloved romantic ballets, and one of my favourite productions at the NBC.
There will be some notable debuts and farewells in the role of Gistelle this fall.
!!
NOV 12 AND NOV 14, 8PM: Mirvish. Mandy Patinkin in Concert: Diaries. Ed Mirvish
Theatre. A rare chance to see a great musical theatre star live. Mandy Patinkin is
electric onstage whether playing Che in Evita or singing concert material with Patti
Lupone, or alone with a band.
!!
NOV 28 TO DEC 22: Theatre Orangeville. Little Women. Canadian composer Jim
Betts’ musical version of the classic Louisa May Alcott novel. It debuted to acclaim
in 2001 with a great cast that included Douglas Chamberlain, Tracey Michailidis and
Michael Therriault.
Jennifer Parr is a Toronto-based director, dramaturge, fight
director, and acting coach, brought up from a young age on a
rich mix of musicals, Shakespeare and new Canadian plays.
RICH BLENKINSOPP
thewholenote.com November 2019 | 35

Beat by Beat | In with the New
Textural
Landscapes
and Epic Journeys
WENDALYN BARTLEY
For this month’s column, I’ll be taking a look at two different
events during the month of November that involve large-scale
forces. The first involves the mainstay of communal soundmaking
– the symphony orchestra, while the second is a significant new
amalgam of voices coming together to create two operas.
I’ll begin with what’s happening with the Toronto Symphony and
their affiliate composer, Emilie LeBel, who is currently in the second
year of her position. One of the benefits of this position is that she
is given the opportunity to compose one new piece each year for
the orchestra. This year’s work, unsheltered, will receive its Toronto
premiere on November 13, after performances on November 11 in
Ottawa and November 12 in Montreal, part of an upcoming TSO tour.
I spoke with LeBel about her new work, as well as another of the
projects she is involved with at the TSO, titled Explore The Score.
Currently living and teaching in Edmonton, Alberta (when not
engaged in her TSO commitments), LeBel says that she began
composing unsheltered during the spring of 2019, while all around
her wildfires were blazing north of Edmonton, amidst various public
conversations and controversies about building more pipelines. She
spoke about the general uneasiness and tensions that exist right
now everywhere in the world and how her composition took on
that atmosphere. She stressed that “the piece is not about politics or
climate change in an overt way, rather I’m picking up on an uneasiness
that feels very palpable right now.” In juxtaposition to this, LeBel
said, is the natural beauty of the area she is currently living in, how
different that environment is for her personally, and how it helps her
aspire to be hopeful as well.
In her own note on unsheltered, she quotes a poem by Joanna
Doxey as inspiration – speaking, as it does, to the importance of
human connection during those moments we have with people, as
well as to our experience of time, particularly when we look back on
such moments in a more nostalgic way. The poem is from Doxey’s
Book of Worry and begins “…in this humming and doubled land, hold
worry, only me”.
It is the word humming that LeBel frequently referenced while
speaking of the piece, to describe the overall atmosphere being
invoked in her composition. Musically, it started off as a bass line from
a Baroque piece that she has been studying with her students. “I was
thinking about Baroque bass lines and how everything on top of it is
like a textural landscape. This is often what I do in orchestral pieces.
There are sections with slippery glissandos and high string harmonics
that create an atmosphere where things feel tenuous.” The poetic
except from Doxey continues: “and I get older or I grow farther from
myself and I always most love the moment before now…” It is a sentiment
that is also reflected in LeBel’s piece; she chooses to end it on
a note that, while part of the humming atmosphere, is both nostalgic
and hopeful.
LeBel’s responsibilities as TSO affiliate composer have also entailed
involvement in another hopeful venture. This year is the eighth season
in which the TSO has supported opportunities for composers to have
their works read by the orchestra. Last year, along with Matthew Fava
from the Canadian Music Centre, they devised a new approach to
the project. They changed the jury process from being anonymous
to asking people to send in their scores, along with informational
Emilie LeBel
statements outlining what they wished to get out of the program.
This way, composers who would get the most from this opportunity
would be selected, regardless of age or stage in their career. Around
the same time, there was a conversation at the TSO about opening
up the process to the public, to offer them an experience of how
a new orchestral work is rehearsed. A new name was given to the
program – Explore the Score – and they have received great feedback
from both the public and the composers about the experience. This
November 30 will mark the second year for this new approach, and
will include works by composers Ian Cusson, Matthew Emery, Fjóla
Evans, and Jared Richardson. In advance, the composers will have
received guidance from the orchestra’s librarian on how to prepare
the score and parts, with the new compositions being conducted by
Gary Kulesha – the TSO’s composer advisor. After the performance,
feedback from both Kulesha and LeBel will be given to the composers
and during a lunch with representatives from the different sections
of the orchestra, the composers will receive additional feedback from
the musicians’ point of view. They will also have access to LeBel for a
follow-up session for both compositional and/or career advice.
Beyond her TSO commitments, LeBel remains an active composer
within the Toronto music community and she will be premiering a
new work with Continuum on November 3 as part of their 35th anniversary
celebration concert, alongside works by Canadians Jason
Doell, Christopher Goddard, Cassandra Miller and Michael Oesterle.
Two Odysseys
The second project that caught my eye this month is the upcoming
production of Two Odysseys: Pimooteewin/Gállábártnit running
from November 13 to 17 at Daniels Spectrum. Produced by
Soundstreams with partners Signal Theatre and the Sámi National
Theatre, the performance will present two operas that are the first
such works to be sung and narrated in the Indigenous languages
of both Cree and Sámi (the language of the Sápmi people, whose
territory today encompasses large northern parts of Norway and
Sweden, northern parts of Finland, and the Kola Peninsula within the
Murmansk Oblast of Russia. Both works will be directed collaboratively
by Michael Greyeyes from Signal Theatre and Cole Alvis from
lemonTree creations.
Pimooteewin (The Journey) was first premiered in 2008, a performance
that initiated a collaboration between Soundstreams and
Greyeyes. Since that time, through a series of performances, connections,
meetings and creative thinking, the initial venture has now
evolved to the current production that has expanded to include a
second companion opera, Gállábártnit, written in the Sámi language.
The libretto for Pimooteewin was written in Cree by the celebrated
Indigenous playwright and novelist Tomson Highway. Canadian
composer Melissa Hui was selected to compose the music for the
libretto and this task demanded her full committment to understanding
how to work with the Cree language. The librettist for
Gállábártnit is Norwegian and Sámi playwright/author Rawdna
Carita Eira. Swedish composer Britta Byström, who received the Elaine
PHILLIPA C PHOTOGRAPHY
36 | November 2019 thewholenote.com

their own sensibilities and artistic voices to the project. It is a dialogue
that explores the edges of the possibilities available when people
of diverse cultures are able to work collaboratively with sensitivity,
respect and a willingness to listen to each other. Soprano Melody
Courage sums it up this way: “You can expect to be moved and transformed,
musically and spiritually.”
Britta Byström
Lebenbom Memorial Award for Female Composers in 2015 from the
Detroit Symphony Orchestra, was selected to bring her unique artistic
language to bear in the creation of the music.
In the casting of Two Odysseys, great care was taken to reflect
diverse Indigenous and non-Indigenous perspectives. The performers
include two narrators—Yolanda Bonnell and Heli Huovinen, each
fluent in their respective languages of Cree and Sámi, as well as vocal
soloists Melody Courage, Asitha Tennekoon and Bud Roach. The
musical performers also include a choir assembled by Soundstreams
as well as a chamber ensemble. Métis soprano soloist Melody Courage
provides a quick peek into her experience of the rehearsal process
in a short excerpt from the promotional video available on the
Soundstreams website, in which she reflects on “…the amount of
pride I feel performing with so many ridiculously talented Indigenous
artists that I’ve met for the first time … It’s in the stages of coming
together and it feels very magical.”
Both works examine the question of how we live together as a
human community on this earth, and how we journey on to the
land of the dead. Each piece is based on ancient stories from the
two traditions. The Cree story tells the tale of the Trickster character
Weesageechak (coyote) and Migisoo (eagle) and their desire to
be reunited with loved ones. The Gállábártnit of the Sámi story are
the “sons of the son of the sun,” hunter/inventor star beings who
come to earth from the “belt” of the constellation known in European
cosmology as Orion. This mix of Indigenous stories, languages, directors,
librettists, narrators and soloists intermingle here in an art form
with European roots, in music created by two composers who bring
IN WITH THE NEW QUICK PICKS
!!
NOV 12, 8PM: New Music Concerts/Faculty of Music, U of T. Kasemets@100.
Palestrina: Tu es Petrus; Kasemets: Trigon; Märt-Matis Lill: When the Buffalo Went
Away; Kozlova-Johannes: Horizontals; Kasemets: 4’33” Fractals; Future is past…is…
now. Ensemble U:; Stephen Clarke, piano. Walter Hall, Edward Johnson Building.
!!
NOV 17, 8PM: The Music Gallery.
History Series: Celebrating Casey
Sokol. An evening with one of the
Music Gallery’s co-founders as he
moves on from a storied career
teaching improvisation at York
University. The evening will be part
improvised soirée/part interview with
food and drinks.
!!
NOV 24, 8PM: The Music Gallery.
Emergents I: Sarah Albu & Mári Mákó
+ Anoush Moazzeni. Blend of electronics,
improvisation and notated
works. Sarah Albu, vocalist; Mári
Mákó, composer/sound artist; Anoush
Moazzeni, piano/improvisation/
composer.
!!
NOV 24, 8PM: Toronto Improvisors
Orchestra. TIO Celebrates Casey
Sokol. Casey Sokol, piano; Eugene
Casey Sokol
Martynec, laptop; Rod Campbell,
trumpet; Bill Gilliam, piano; Ambrose Pottie, percussion. Array Space
!!
NOV 26 AND 27, 8PM: Confluence Concerts. “An Evening with Marion Newman:
What Is Classical Indigenous Music?” Marion Newman, mezzo; Rebecca Cuddy, mezzo;
Evan Korbut, baritone; Gordon Gerrard, piano; Ian Cusson, composer. Heliconian Hall.
!!
DEC 1, 8PM: Esprit Orchestra. “Sustain.” Andrew Norman: Sustain, for orchestra;
Adam Scime: Afterglow, concerto for violin and orchestra; José Evangelista:
Accelerando, for orchestra. Véronique Mathieu, violin; Alex Pauk, conductor. Koerner
Hall.
Wendalyn Bartley is a Toronto-based composer and electrovocal
sound artist. sounddreaming@gmail.com.
Kasemets@100
TUESDAY NOVEMBER 12, 2019
University of Toronto, Walter Hall | 80 Queen’s Park
ENSEMBLE U: (ESTONIA) | STEPHEN CLARKE PIANO
Works by Udo Kasemets, Märt-Matis Lill & Tatjana Kozlova-Johannes
Introduction 7:15 | Concert 8:00 | Reservations 416.961.9594 www.NewMusicConcerts.com
thewholenote.com November 2019 | 37

Beat by Beat | Early Music
Living with
Legends
(or, How to Build a Program)
MATTHEW WHITFIELD
“T* ime is an equal opportunity employer” – Denis Waitley
While time may provide equal opportunity to those now
living, history can be much less kind to the legacies of those
who have gone before us. For example, when reviewing composers
of classical music, we see specific instances of how such artists are
grouped into seemingly infinite pyramid-shaped hierarchies, their
status as “genius” determined as much by the quality of their output
as their enduring and perennial appeal. Starting at the top, we
encounter the universally revered composers, the capital-G Geniuses:
Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms, Bach, and the other craftsmen whose
works have transcended time and transfixed audiences for centuries.
These are the figures after whom busts are
sculpted and monuments built, and who
can be trusted to draw large audiences year
after year.
Another tier of the legacy tower is that of
the well-respected, yet under-performed
composer. Arnold Schoenberg and subsequent
proponents of the Second Viennese
School belong here, as do many of the
20th century’s finest musical minds, such
as Ligeti, Berio and Stockhausen. While
their works might not tickle the ears of
every person who happens upon them,
or fill up a concert hall, they nonetheless
played significant roles in the development
of new forms of musical expression.
Yet another category is that of composers
who achieve renown by virtue of their
writing for a specific instrument, such as
Josef Rheinberger’s compositions for the
organ or Franz Liszt’s piano works; while
both of these examples wrote a wide variety
of material for a range of vocal and instrumental
forces, their legacies rest primarily
on a specific segment of their output.
No matter how we categorize the characters
in our history books, these theoretical
organizational principles are just that –
theoretical. From a practical perspective, how does one choose which
of these compositional strata to draw from when deciding what to
perform next week, month, or year? Balance is key when constructing
a concert program, and finding a stimulating and satisfying blend of
composers and repertoire is the challenge of artistic directors across
the globe. A quick case in point: when Pierre Boulez assumed control
of the New York Philharmonic in 1971, succeeding Leonard Bernstein,
his attempts to incorporate higher volumes of contemporary music led
to much criticism and a drop in annual subscriptions to the orchestra’s
seasons. While there was great merit to Boulez’s contemporary
crusade, the slight change in emphasis from the easily digestible,
top-tier “Genius” to the more sinewy Schoenbergian genius did not
resonate with his audience and led to a challenging tenure for one of
the 20th century’s greatest composer-conductors.
Much like the categorization of composers, there is a near-infinite
number of approaches that can be taken to program-building and we
will encounter some of them in this column, exploring a variety of
early music through numerous combinations and juxtapositions, both
of the music itself and the people who wrote it.
Discovering Antonio Lotti
A relatively unknown figure in a scene dominated by such heavyweights
as Claudio Monteverdi, Antonio Vivaldi and Domenico
Scarlatti, Antonio Lotti was an Italian composer who spent his career
at St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice, working his way up the musical hierarchy
from singer to maestro di cappella. Lotti wrote in a variety
of forms, producing masses, cantatas, madrigals, nearly 30 operas,
and instrumental music, thereby influencing some of the era’s great
geniuses: Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frideric Handel and Jan
Dismas Zelenka owned copies of Lotti’s Missa Sapientiae, consisting
of a Kyrie and Gloria scored for chorus and orchestra, transcribed
from the manuscript by each in their own hand.
This connection between Lotti’s Missa Sapientiae and the music
of Bach, Handel and Zelenka is made apparent in Tafelmusik’s “Lotti
Revealed”, presented from November 14 to 17 and directed by Ivars
Taurins. This is the first time Tafelmusik has performed music by Lotti
and it will be paired with excerpts from Bach and Zelenka masses, as
well as Handel’s Carmelite Vespers. Sumptuous and expressive, Lotti’s
music will prove a valuable addition to Tafelmusik’s repertory and
stimulating listening for those who enjoy the richness and depth of
late-Baroque music.
Academie für Alte Musik Berlin
This Sounds Familiar…
The turning back of our clocks signals more than the arrival of colder
temperatures; it also commences the annual transition to Christmas
music, which regularly features combinations of classic works
and interesting revelations. On November 24, the York University
Concert and Chamber Choirs join forces to present a seasonal selection
of music by Dieterich Buxtehude, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi,
and Camille Saint-Saëns. Two of these composers are famous largely
for their organ works: Buxtehude for his masterful praeludia, chorale
preludes and pieces in free style; Saint-Saëns for his Third Symphony,
which gives the organ a prominent place in what is an overall glorious
masterpiece. Pergolesi, meanwhile, is renowned for his Stabat Mater,
a passiontide classic that makes multiple appearances each year.
While the names may be familiar, the York University choirs will not
be performing a greatest hits concert, but rather a series of pieces
38 | November 2019 thewholenote.com

that focuses on various aspects of the
Christmas story.
Saint-Saëns’ Oratorio de Noël is
a cantata-oratorio hybrid written
for soloists, chorus, organ, strings
and harp, composed while he was
an organist at La Madeleine in Paris.
Distinctly French in harmonic
language, yet clearly indebted to the
form of the Baroque cantata and
dramatic element of the oratorio,
this work combines arias, recitatives
and chorus movements with the
Latin texts of the Catholic lectionary,
creating a piece of music with distinct characteristics and fascinating
form. The cantata theme continues with Buxtehude’s Das neugeborne
Kindelein, a Protestant church cantata for chorus and chamber
orchestra, and Pergolesi’s Magnificat. These works will not only frame
Saint-Saëns’ unconventional cantata with more traditional essays in
the form, but delight the audience with infrequently performed works
by renowned masters of their craft.
Two Bits of Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos are stunning masterpieces,
as virtuosic a display of compositional prowess as their instrumental
interpreters must be to convey the secrets contained therein.
This November, the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin visits Kingston
on November 26 and Koerner Hall on November 27 in a performance
of the first five Brandenburgs, a not-to-be-missed musical event.
The Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin (Akamus for short), founded in
East Berlin in 1982, is one of the world’s leading chamber orchestras
on period instruments. It has established itself as one of the
pillars of Berlin’s cultural scene, holding its own concert series at
the Konzerthaus Berlin for more than 30 years, as well as a concert
Ottawa Bach Choir
series at Munich’s Prinzregententheater. Having sold more than one
million CDs, their highly successful recordings have won all important
awards for classical recordings; with such extraordinary international
performers making a rare Canadian appearance, tickets for these
concerts will certainly be in high demand.
Now in its 18th season, the Ottawa Bach Choir (OBC) continues
to impress with their high level of skill and devotion to the art of
their namesake composer. As a testament to their dedication and
continued excellence, the OBC has been invited to return to Leipzig
for the 2020 Bachfest as one of a select number of ensembles worldwide
to present Bach’s entire chorale cantata cycle, a remarkable and
imposing proposition! On November 30, the Ottawa Bach Choir, led
by founding artistic director Lisette Canton, will visit Toronto for A
Bach Christmas, providing us with the opportunity to hear a miniature
Bachfest of our own. This program includes the cantatas the
choir will perform at Bachfest Leipzig 2020 (Meinen Jesum laß ich
nicht, BWV124; Ach Gott, wie manches Herzeleid, BWV3; Was mein
Gott will, das g’scheh allzeit, BWV111), as well as the Christmas interpolations
from the Magnificat, BWV243 (Vom Himmel hoch, Freut
euch und jubiliert, Gloria in excelsis Deo, Virga Jesse floruit), the
2019-2020: The Fellowship of Early Music
Great seats start at only $32!
416-964-6337 | TorontoConsort.org
COUNTRYSIDE
Schütz’s
and CHRISTMAS
COURT
OCTOBER
STORY
25 & 26 at 8pm
Artistic Direction by Katherine Hill, with Emilyn Stam
DEC. 13 & 14 at 8pm | DEC. 15 at 3:30pm
Whether Artistic enjoyed Direction in refined by David 16th-century Fallis courts or in
today’s traditional music scene, the undeniable appeal
Celebrate the season with one of the brightest
of French music has endured through the centuries! We
musical jewels of early-Baroque Germany: Heinrich
kick off the season whirling and twirling through the
Schütz’s The Christmas Story. We welcome acclaimed
English popular “voix tenor de Charles ville” songs Daniels and in exquisite the role courtly of the music
Evangelist, of Claude Le with Jeune a and gloriously his contemporaries, colourful band combined of singers,
recorders, with the magic cornetti, of guest sackbuts, traditional violins, fiddler violas and dancer
gamba, Emilyn Stam. keyboards, and theorbos.
thewholenote.com November 2019 | 39

celebratory motet, Singet dem Herrn, BWV225, and more. Featuring
the Ensemble Caprice baroque orchestra with strings, oboes d’amore,
horn, as well as soprano Meredith Hall, countertenor Nicholas Burns,
tenor Philippe Gagné and bass Andrew Mahon, there is little doubt
that this concert will give Bach aficionados much to rejoice about this
Christmas season.
Whether discovering the profundity of Antonio Lotti for the first
time, hearing a rare performance of Saint-Saëns’ Oratorio de Noël, or
basking in the resplendent genius of Bach, the month of November
is full of magnificent music that is well worth the price of admission.
There is also much to look forward to in the following weeks, as the
ushering in of the Christmas season brings with it many more opportunities
to take in landmark works by both renowned and less-known
composers. See you in December – until then, feel free to get in touch
at earlymusic@thewholenote.com.
EARLY MUSIC QUICK PICKS
!!
NOV 19, 7:30 PM: University of Toronto Faculty of Music. Early Music Concerts:
Purcell’s King Arthur. Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre. Containing some of Purcell’s most
lyrical music and adventurous harmonies, King Arthur is a mystical journey through
Arthur’s battle against the Saxons, with cameo appearances by Cupid, Venus and
more! Much like last month’s Acis and Galatea, this is a fine opportunity to hear the U
of T’s rising stars.
!!
NOV 23, 7:30PM; NOV 24, 3PM: Cantemus Singers. “A Boy is Born.” Church of
the Holy Trinity, 19 Trinity Square (Saturday)/St. Aidan’s Anglican Church, 70 Silver
Birch Avenue (Sunday). In a column devoted to building a program, Cantemus
deserves a special mention, as their concerts regularly consist of a fascinating
variety of material. This month’s presentation features carols and motets from
Renaissance England, including Thomas Tallis’ stunning Missa Puer natus est nobis for
seven voices.
!!
NOV 24, 7PM: Cantorei Sine Nomine. Bach: Christmas Oratorio. St. Paul’s Anglican
Church (Uxbridge), 59 Toronto Street South. And so, it begins! This season’s first
performance of the Christmas Oratorio features six cantatas drawn from the larger
work, one of the finest Christmas choral pieces ever written and an unbroken
sequence of drama and beauty that continues to inspire audiences, despite being
premiered almost three centuries ago.
!!
DEC 4, 7PM; DEC 5 TO 7, 8PM; DEC 8, 3:30PM: Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra.
“O Come, Shepherds.” Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre. With a diverse program connected
through an underlying pastoral theme, this concert promises a unique combination
of Baroque Christmas concertos and the soulful folk music of Southern Italy,
with its own rhythms, instruments, and spirit – a fine continuation of Tafelmusik’s
mission to broaden its horizons and those of its listeners, through innovative and
unexpected presentations.
Matthew Whitfield is a Toronto-based harpsichordist and organist.
Beat by Beat | On Opera
Drilling Down into
Operatic Bedrock
DAVID PERLMAN
With the Canadian Opera Company sleeping off the effects of
Turandot and Rusalka, its two wildly contrasting fall main
stage blockbusters, top spot in the operatic food chain this
month goes to Opera Atelier’s remount of their convention-bucking,
commedia-based Don Giovanni, in their new digs at the Ed Mirvish
Theatre (formerly the Pantages) on Yonge Street, a big block north
of OA’s longtime regular venue at the Elgin Theatre (now hosting an
indefinite, and presumably lucratively lengthy, run of Come From
Away). Don Giovanni opens October 31, one day before this issue hits
the streets, but if you’re fast out of the blocks, you can still catch it
November 2, 3, 8 and 9. And catch it you should, especially if you’re
allergic to the heavy-handed Bergmanesque moralizing gloom that all
too often accrues to this work. Mozart would have recognized the style
of this production far more readily (and I dare say delightedly) than
some of the other gloomily lit treatments it has received.
“Fast out of the blocks” will also need to be the operative phrase if
you want to take advantage of the period covered in this issue to drill
down into five other strata of activity that are the bedrock of opera
as a lively art in our region: our universities and conservatories; our
regional opera companies; a vibrant indie opera scene, constantly
reinventing itself; a rich tradition of community-based performance –
participation in opera for the sheer love of it; and a decades-long tradition
of opera-in-concert presentation of works we might otherwise,
for various reasons, never have the opportunity to see and hear.
Universities and conservatories: Nov 1 and 2, at Mazzoleni Concert
Hall, the Royal Conservatory’s Glenn Gould School gets things rolling
with its fall chamber opera: a production of English composer
Jonathan Dove’s Siren Song (libretto by Nick Dear). It’s a 70-minute
work for five singers, one actor, and an orchestra of ten players (here
conducted by Peter Tiefenbach), based on “a bizarre, true story of a
young sailor who exchanges letters with a beautiful and successful
model. Over time, a romantic and passionate relationship develops,
but a meeting proves increasingly difficult to arrange.”
Later in the month, a short stroll down Philosopher’s Walk from the
Royal Conservatory, the University of Toronto Faculty of Music gets
A Baroque
Celebration
Jubilant choral works by the greatest
composers of the Baroque period.
Magnificat, Francesco Durante
Gloria, Antonio Vivaldi
Magnificat, Johann Sebastian Bach
Pax Christi Chorale featuring Megan Miceli & Elizabeth Polese, sopranos;
Georgia Burashko, mezzo-soprano; Daevyd Pepper, tenor;
Bradley Christensen, baritone; and the Toronto Mozart Players
DECEMBER 15, 2019, 3:00PM
St. Andrew’s Church
73 Simcoe Street
BUY TICKETS ONLINE AT
PAXCHRISTICHORALE.ORG
40 | November 2019 thewholenote.com

BRUCE ZINGER
Opera Atelier’s Don Giovanni
into the act, twice. Nov 21, 22, 23, and 24, in the MacMillan Theatre,
Edward Johnson Building, the Opera School presents Mozart’s The
Marriage of Figaro, with two casts getting two shows each, and an
“Opera Talk” lecture half an hour before each concert. And then,
Dec 5, the U of T Symphony Orchestra gets into the act with a
program titled Operatic Showpieces, featuring U of T Opera and the
MacMillan Singers, conducted by COC chorus master Sandra Horst
and Uri Meyer.
And if that’s not enough, or you live westwards, head down the 401
to the Don Wright Faculty of Music in London, where, on the same
dates (Nov 21, 22, 23, and 24) Opera at Western presents Mozart’s The
Secret Gardener (La Finta Giardiniera), penned at the ripe old age of
18! Stage direction by renowned baritone Theodore Baerg.
Regional and community opera: Nov 1 and 3 also offer an opportunity
to observe Opera York in action, in Verdi’s La Traviata, at the
Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts, one of two fully staged
operas they will present this season. (The other will be Lehar’s Merry
Widow, Feb 28 and Mar 1.) This tenacious company’s mission is “to
provide professional opera that is accessible financially, geographically
and comprehensibly to the communities of York Region and
surrounding communities, to encourage the development of the
art form through educational and outreach activities and provide a
platform for emerging and established Canadian artists” and they
stick to it, as reflected in the quality of their casts. An example from
this show: Natalya Gennadi (Violetta), whose Dora-nominated title
role in Tapestry Opera’s Oksana G. in 2017 was widely praised.
Natalya Gennadi
NOW Magazine called it “stunning... piercing in its openness and
vulnerability.”
Later in the month, and proudly rooted at the community opera end
of things for 73 years, on Nov 21 and 23, Toronto City Opera, formerly
known as Toronto Opera Repertoire, presents Offenbach’s Les contes
d’Hoffmann, at the Al Green Theatre, 750 Spadina. Founded in 1946,
by an optimistic James Rosselino, as an “Opera Workshop” at Central
Technical School, in collaboration with the Toronto School Board, and
now under the artistic direction of the multi-talented Jennifer Tung
(singer, vocal coach, collaborative pianist, conductor), they present at
least two fully staged operas each year with early-career paid-professional
soloists selected after open auditions, and an amateur nonauditioned
community chorus that remains open to all. The result is
a wonderful sense of community engagement that extends through
the chorus to the audience, many of whom are often having their first
Mozart’s
The Secret
Gardener
(La finta giardiniera)
November 21 – 24
Gilbert & Sullivan’s
The Mikado
January 31 – February 9
Western University
London
music.uwo.ca/events
thewholenote.com November 2019 | 41

Beat by Beat | Jazz Notes
Steeltown Jazz
STEVE WALLACE
Jennifer Tung
opera experience. Their mission statement – passionately committed
to opera for everyone – says it all.
Indie opera: With the recent buzz around Tapestry Opera’s 40th anniversary
and the tenth anniversary tour of Against the Grain’s pubbased
La Bohème, it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that independent
opera in this town is fertile soil for much more. Just one example:
Nov 2, 3 and 4, at Heliconian Hall, Loose Tea Music Theatre, under the
always searching and provocative direction of Alaina Viau presents
Singing Only Softly/The Diary of Anne Frank - Operas from the
Secret Annex which pairs two separate works: Singing Only Softly,
(composed by Cecilia Livingston with libretto by Monica Pearce); and
The Diary of Anne Frank composed by Grigory Frid. Singing Only
Softly Is based on the original, unredacted texts of the diary, “voicing
Anne Frank as a fully formed young woman describing her experiences
while discovering herself. Freshly interpreted in a current
female context, it explores Anne’s complex self-awareness and selfrepresentation.”
Anne Frank is variously portrayed by sopranos Sara
Schabas and Gillian Grossman, with music direction by Cheryl Duvall.
Opera in Concert: From the scope and scale of the Toronto Symphony
Orchestra’s “Grand Opera in Concert” performances of Jules Massenet
and Louis Gallet’s Thaïs, on Nov 7 and 9 at Roy Thomson Hall, to the
intimate informality of Opera by Request’s Rossini’s Barber of Seville,
Nov 15 at College St. United Church, opera in concert is alive and
well as an art form in these parts. So it’s a fitting close to this exercise
to give a special nod to a production by the company, now in
its fifth decade, that pretty much single-handedly made the genre a
natural and necessary part of the fabric of all things operatic around
here: VOICEBOX: Opera in Concert’s presentation on Dec 1 of Leoš
Janáček’s 1921 opera, Katya Kabanová.
Sung in English, the performance, in the company’s customary Jane
Mallet Theatre surrounds, will feature Lynn Isnar, soprano; Emilia
Boteva, mezzo; and tenors Michael Barrett and Cian Horrobin; with
Jo Greenaway, music director/piano, and, as always, Robert Cooper,
as chorus director. It’s not the opera that the brilliant 20th-century
composer of Jenufa, The Cunning Little Vixen, and The Makropulos
Affair is best known for. But that is the whole point. Opera in concert
allows presenters, as play readings sometimes do, to bring to the eyes,
and more importantly ears, of audiences, works that, for a range of
reasons that have nothing to do with artistic quality, might otherwise
be consigned to archival oblivion. And we would all be the
poorer for it.
David Perlman can be reached at publisher@thewholenote.com.
Through the years, jazz in Hamilton has often been overshadowed
by the bigger scene in Toronto, just as Toronto jazz has been
dwarfed by the huge and active scene in New York. Part of it
has to do with economics and sheer size, as jazz, not being a popular
music for some time, has always required a large population base in
order to flourish. Generally, the bigger the city, the bigger and better
its jazz scene. While all sorts of jazz musicians have come from very
small towns, they have cut their musical teeth either on the road or by
moving to bigger cities. Part of it also has to with Toronto tending to
see itself as the centre of the universe, as many big cities do.
None of this has been fair to Hamilton, which has had its own interesting
jazz scene for many years and continues to. For one thing,
Hamilton, like its steel-producing sister city Pittsburgh, has produced
a remarkable number of significant jazz musicians for a city its size.
For example, guitarist Sonny Greenwich is from Hamilton, and it’s
hard to think of a more singularly original voice in the entire history
of Canadian jazz. Granted, like musicians from Pittsburgh who gravitated
to New York in search of more work, Greenwich settled in
Toronto and later Montreal, but he got his start in Steeltown.
So did saxophonist/arranger Rick Wilkins, another hugely
important figure in Canadian music, jazz and otherwise. Being so
quiet and mild-mannered, Rick is perhaps the ultimate insider in
Canadian music. By this I mean that one could randomly pick 100
people on the street aged 60 or older and ask them if they’d heard
of Rick Wilkins and maybe one or two would answer yes. But all of
them would have heard lots of his music in some form – a saxophone
solo with the Boss Brass, countless scores for television or movies, an
arrangement on somebody’s record, a jingle – often without realizing
it. Most of his career has taken place in Toronto, but he was born in
Hamilton. Torontonians who are boastfully proud of their city’s rich
jazz history would do well to remember that an awful lot of the major
contributors have come from somewhere else – Vancouver, Winnipeg,
Northern Ontario, Quebec, the Maritimes and yes, Hamilton.
A more recent example
is pianist/composer David
Braid, who has had a major
impact with his sextet, the
more recent quartet, The
North, and as a composer
and educator. He grew up not
far from Mohawk College in
Hamilton and, as much as
any Canadian jazz musician,
has taken his music abroad
with frequent tours in China,
Russia, Europe and elsewhere.
There have been other
important Hamilton-born
jazz players – pianist Bruce
Harvey, two excellent trumpeters
in Jason Logue and
Steve McDade, and no doubt
many others I’ve forgotten or
overlooked.
Mohawk and more
David Braid
The jazz program at Mohawk
College has had a major impact as a centerpiece of jazz in Hamilton
in several ways. It draws talented young players from the surrounding
region, provides a venue for concerts and has attracted, as teachers,
important musicians, some of them previously Toronto-based,
who have raised the level and profile of jazz in Hamilton in recent
42 | November 2019 thewholenote.com

Mike Malone and the Writer’s Jazz Orchestra
years. Some musicians who were full-time faculty, such as the late
trombonist Dave McMurdo and trumpeter Mike Malone, moved to
Hamilton from Toronto, reversing an age-old tradition. McMurdo
had a huge impact on Hamilton jazz as a teacher and by starting his
Mountain Access (sometimes affectionately known as “Mounting
Excess”) Jazz Orchestra, which provided an outlet for writers and
players both from Toronto and the Hamilton area. Malone has
continued this with his Writer’s Jazz Orchestra, which performs regularly
in and around Hamilton and at Toronto venues such as The Rex.
More recently, the Hamilton-born, gifted pianist Adrean Farrugia and
his equally gifted wife, singer Sophia Perlman, who both teach at
Mohawk, have moved from Hogtown to Steeltown, perhaps attracted
by a city that’s less hectic, more affordable, and still offers opportunities
for cultural expression. With the Toronto jazz scene shrinking in
recent times, the worm is beginning to turn toward smaller cities.
Hamilton has also boasted attractive musical venues and organizations
through the years, often created and sustained by dedicated
music lovers and arts activists. Liuna Station is an excellent example.
It was originally a CN Railway station which had fallen into disrepair
until a guild of local artisans was commissioned to give it a lavish
facelift. The result is a unique and splendid venue for concerts as well
as other functions. I’ve played there numerous times with the likes
of Oliver Jones and David Braid and was bowled over by its extravagance.
One of my favourite places to play in Hamilton was not really
a jazz venue but a small Polish restaurant on Main St. called Izzy’s,
named for its cheerful and generous proprietor Isidora, who loved
jazz, cooking, jazz musicians and Irish whiskey, not necessarily in that
order. I’ll never forget playing there one night with the Mike Murley
Trio when Kenny Wheeler, Norma Winstone, Dave McMurdo and
Mike Malone were in the audience. Wheeler and
Winstone were in Hamilton as artists-in-residence
for a week of clinics and concerts at Mohawk
College, another example of how that institution
has boosted jazz in Hamilton.
Steel City Jazz Festival
Hamilton boasts many other long-term jazz outlets
– the Corktown Pub, Artword Artbar (on which
more later), Fieldcote Park in nearby Ancaster,
The Pearl Company, as well as concert venues
at Mohawk College and McMaster University.
Hamilton has also staged its own festival for the
last seven years, The Steel City Jazz Festival. This
year’s festival runs from November 6 to 10 and will
feature shows at Artword Artbar, the Corktown
Pub and The Pearl Company. It will return to
its roots by showcasing pianist Paul Benton, a
longtime seminal figure in Hamilton jazz, in its
opening concert, and by focusing on the past 30
years of jazz in the area.
Other artists will include the Nick McLean
Quartet, the Sextet of Smordin Law artist-in-residence
Jason Logue, the Waleed Kush African Jazz
Ensemble and Mike Malone, playing as part of the ECJ quintet led by
bassist Evelyn Charlotte Joe. This year the festival is also launching
performances at the legendary Corktown Pub – George Grossman’s
Bohemian Swing featuring Brandon Walker on November 7 and Blunt
Object on November 8. It’s a diverse and interesting lineup.
Farewell Artword, hail Zula
Unfortunately, this year’s festival will mark the end of one of
Hamilton’s best music venues, Artword Artbar, a café-bar on
Colbourne Street which has been hosting jazz and other interesting
music and theatre for the past ten years. Proprietors Ronald Weihs and
Judith Sandiford have sold the building and its future use is unclear,
but it won’t likely have to do with music or the arts. This is a decided
blow to the local scene and one hopes someone will step in with an
alternative space at some point. I only played there once, some years
ago with the Mike Murley Trio, and very much enjoyed the experience.
Artword Artbar has (had) good natural sound and a relaxing, casual,
grassroots feeling which combined the best of both worlds – a small
concert space and a rustic pub – one which encouraged audiences to
listen and inspired artists to play their best. It will be missed.
But not all is lost… finally, a word on another force in Hamilton jazz,
one largely unknown to many Torontonians, including yours truly
until recently: Zula, a bold and independent arts organization dedicated
to presenting adventurous and under-the-radar music against
long odds in Hamilton. It is the brainchild of music lover and arts
activist Cem Zafir, who originally founded Zula in Vancouver way back
in 2000, transplanting the concept to Hamilton when he moved there
in 2012. It is supported by the Ontario Arts Council and has gathered
a board of local artists including Donna Akrey, Chris Alic, Neil
Please join our continuing
40 th Anniversary celebration of swing era music by
JIM GALLOWAY’S
WEE BIG BAND
UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF MARTIN LOOMER
Thursday 21 st November 2019
from 7:30 to 10:30pm
in the elegant Great Hall of our new venue
the historic Arts & Letters Club of Toronto, 14 Elm Street
Duke
Ellington versus
Count
Basie
WHOSE ORCHESTRA WAS THE BEST?
Whether it’s the 1930’s, 40’s, 50’s or 60’s
The musical debate has continued.
Come, listen, and decide for yourself!
Doors 6:45 pm for Open Seating
Licensed facility
Ken Page Memorial Trust
Tickets $30, cash only please
Close to Dundas subway
Questions: Anne Page: 416 515 0200 or email: moraig@huntingstewart.com
Our concerts are dedicated to the memory of saxophone master, Jim Galloway, the band’s founder and leader for 35 years – and to those members passed
Media Sponsor
thewholenote.com November 2019 | 43

Ballantyne, Gary Barwin, Ted Harms, Connor Bennett, Taing Ng-Chan,
Kay Chornook, Andrew Johnson, Heather Kanabe, Neal Thomas and
above all Zafir, whose non-conformist and creative spirit is the driving
force behind it all.
Since 2014, Zula has staged the Something Else Festival, presenting
under-known and adventurous musicians from Canada and abroad
who one would never expect to hear in Hamilton, never mind a larger
city like Toronto. Such as William Parker, Samuel Blaser, Dave Gould,
the Lina Allemano Four, David Lee, Ken Aldcroft and many more. Zula
often coordinates with the equally adventurous Guelph Jazz Festival,
another good example of uncompromising music flourishing in a
smaller population centre against long odds, largely due to the vision
and dedication of its founders.
So, as we’ve seen, bigger is not always better and jazz continues to
grow in Hamilton, with all signs indicating that it will continue to.
JAZZ NOTES QUICK PICKS
!!
NOV 2, 8PM: Royal Conservatory of Music. “Music Mix Series: Toronto Sings the
Breithaupt Brothers’ Songbook.” Jackie Richardson, Kellylee Evans, Denzal Sinclaire,
Heather Bambrick, Patricia O’Callaghan and others. Koerner Hall. A lineup of first-rate
Canadian singers performing the witty and artistic songs of the Breithaupt Brothers.
!!
NOV 8, 7:30PM: Bravo Niagara! Festival of the Arts. Monty Alexander’s Harlem-
Kingston Express and Larnell Lewis Band. Works by Monty Alexander and Larnell
Lewis. Monty Alexander, piano; Hassan Abdul Ash-Shakur, bass; Jason Brown, drums;
Andrew Bassford, guitar; Larnell Lewis Band. FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre
Partridge Hall, 250 St. Paul St., St. Catharines. An attractive doubleheader featuring
Monty Alexander, who needs no introduction, and local drummer Larnell Lewis, who
has become something of a force in recent years.
!!
NOV 21, 7:30PM: Ken Page Memorial Trust. Jim Galloway’s Wee Big Band. 40th
Anniversary celebration of swing-era music with special selections from Duke
Ellington and Count Basie. Martin Loomer, guitar, arranger, leader. Arts and Letters
Club, 14 Elm St. Licensed facility. Even after the death of its founder, this band is always
worth hearing because it is so unique and has been left in the capable hands of its
chief arranger/transcriber and longtime rhythm guitarist, Martin Loomer.
Nick Fraser Trio
!!
NOV 30, 8PM: Zula. Nick Fraser Trio: “Rock on Locke.” Nick Fraser, drums/composition;
Tony Malaby, saxophones; Kris Davis, piano. Church of St. John the Evangelist,
320 Charlton Ave. W., Hamilton. zulapresents.org. $15 or PWYC. A concert by a very
interesting trio featuring three of the most inventive players on the local scene, or any
other for that matter.
Toronto bassist Steve Wallace writes a blog called “Steve
Wallace jazz, baseball, life and other ephemera” which
can be accessed at wallacebass.com. Aside from the topics
mentioned, he sometimes writes about movies and food.
Beat by Beat | Bandstand
Occasional Rants
and Fanfarones
JACK MACQUARRIE
Here we are midway through the last third of the year, and
most community bands are busy rehearsing, for a variety of
programs from formal concerts to Santa Claus Parades; the last
thing that any band needs at this time of year is any disruption of
rehearsals. Many community groups rehearse in schools, so for many
bands in this part of the world there was near panic that these schools
might be closed due to a possible labour dispute. Fortunately, at the
very last minute the matter was settled. I, myself, received notices a
few days later that all rehearsals would proceed as scheduled.
It was, however, a sobering reminder of a topic I have been known
to occasionally rant about: the dilemma facing many community
musical groups regarding rehearsal space. Most groups are tenants of
schools, churches or community centres. Few have any real means of
avoiding such matters. School music rooms are ideal rehearsal spaces,
complete with music stands, and much of the heavier percussion
equipment. However, most music teachers and many principals have
concern for the safety of this equipment. I have known of a number of
situations where a new music teacher, or principal, arrived at a school
and expressed concern for equipment safety. All of a sudden, a band
which might have rehearsed there for years, found themselves homeless.
Even if they manage to obtain another kind of rehearsal space,
where do they keep larger percussion instruments, stands and maybe
music library?
Actually, we just recently heard of a good compromise. When the
band Resa’s Pieces were told that the music room they had been using
would no longer be available, they were offered a different, much
larger room with no instruments or stands. With a bit of ingenuity
the band was able to negotiate a compromise. Members of the band
were given permission to construct a storage space at the end of the
rehearsal room to store percussion equipment. Members still have to
bring their own music stands.
Might it be time for community bands to be recognized as
important components of the local culture and be accorded more
assistance in obtaining and retaining a home?
Speaking of rants, I’d like to refer to one that I overheard at a
rehearsal recently. One member of a band referred to it as the “band
practice.” Another vigorously disputed the choice of words: stating
that he was at “a band rehearsal.” The matter was eventually settled
amicably; all agreed that they should “practice” at home to prepare for
the “band rehearsal.”
Conspicuous cold weather commitment
Now, for coming band activities. When I first entered the band world,
parades were an integral part of almost every band’s activities. My
very first public performance was a Labour Day Parade. In smaller
communities particularly, the town band was a major component of
community activities. How often do community bands parade now?
For many, the answer is never. We just received word from one of the
few exceptions in this part of the world. The Newmarket Citizens Band
(by their own admission, Canada’s oldest town band) has announced
no fewer than three such events in the coming (chilly) weeks. These
include a Remembrance Day Parade, A Candlelight Parade and
Treelighting Ceremony, and Santa Claus Parade. For those who have
never played their instruments on parade before, help is available
from more experienced band members. That band even has a set of
special cold weather band parkas as part of their uniforms. They look
at these events as an important part of their community involvement.
What percentage of community bands in our part of the world can
match that?
44 | November 2019 thewholenote.com

“Blowhards” by name
On October 11, I had the pleasure of attending a
very different type of concert from anything that
I had ever experienced before, by an instrumental
group I had never heard of before. Made up of 10
wind musicians, conducted by John Liddle, they
call themselves “Fanfarones.” The first portion of
the concert consisted of relatively familiar music
including: Wedding Day at Troldhaugen from
Grieg’s Holdberg Suite, Tango Op.165 by Albeniz,
Jamaica Farewell by Irving Burgie, and excerpts
from Rocky Mountain Suite by Canadian
composer Pete Coulman. To end the first portion
of the program, conductor John Liddle played
Hoagy Carmichael’s Stardust on his trumpet.
The second portion of the program featured
the Fanfarones performing a new work, Canoe
Dancing, by local composer Stu Beaudoin.
Beaudoin’s original idea had been to produce a
ballet, and Canoe Dancing could still be described
as a dance-like programmatic musical journey.
As the work progressed, its musical impressions
of canoeing were reflected on two large viewing
screens on either side of the stage, capturing the
many different aspects of canoeing in the music.
The pictures taken by Beaudoin himself, and
fellow canoeing enthusiasts, portrayed both scenic
beauty and the sometimes terrifying experiences
of the canoeists in rough water: from views
of canoeists gently paddling along tranquil waters at sunset to others
struggling to stay afloat while trying to negotiate violent rapids with
surf thundering over rocks on all sides. At times, audience members
felt as though they were participating in a journey, with emotions
ranging from tranquillity to terror. In all, a fascinating and entertaining
performance, by a group worth knowing more about.
I contacted Helen Graham, one of the founding members of the
group. Here’s how she described their birth: “Fanfarones was invented
in 2012 as an experiment in sound, to add a pair of flutes to a wind
octet. We decided it was more fun with ten, and so have kept with this
formation. Core members at the time in 2012 were Tom Fleming, Bill
Krangle, Helen Graham, Dorothy Ward and John Liddle. Our playermembers
are drawn from the wind sections of community orchestras
across the Toronto area.
“The name Fanfarones is Italian for ‘blowhards,’ which we consider
to be both a pun on wind players, and poking some fun at ourselves if
we ever got too arrogant, given the English language meaning (somebody
who boasts and brags). We also like to say that Fanfarones means
“quirky, elegant music.”
They perform music originally written for their instrumentation,
as well as arrangements, and their programming ranges from classical
through to modern day popular music. The earliest original piece
for such instrumentation that they have found so far is a work by
Donizetti.
All in all, Fanfarones are 11 musicians who celebrate beautiful music
that surprises as well as delights. The group is comprised of pairs of
flutes, oboes, clarinets, French horns and bassoons. Sometimes they
refer to themselves as a “dectet.” The 11th member is conductor John
Liddle, who on occasion plays trumpet with the group. In Helen
Graham’s words: “We create a sonority that plays with a broad palette
of instrumental colours. Orchestral musicians who also revel in that
small group vibe, we provide quirky, elegant music.”
Other News
As I have mentioned previously, for many years my contact with
Silverthorn Symphonic Winds has been Heather Engli. Heather
decided to make a drastic move to Wolfville, Nova Scotia a few weeks
ago. She now tells me that she is loving Wolfville. She already has
hooked up with Dan Kapp, of New Horizons renown, who moved
there some months ago. She is also very busy playing with the
Fanfarones
Symphonic Band at the university and singing in a church choir. Dan
Kapp also plays in the Symphonic Band and has invited her to play
in the King’s County Community Band. It’s a great example of the
social benefits of playing in musical groups, and of how one can find
community through music.
Just Missed
As I write this, I am looking forward to the Wychwood Clarinet Choir’s
Halloween concert “Creepy Clarinets” on October 27. Unfortunately,
it will have passed by the time this issue is available. It includes
Humperdink’s Overture to Hansel and Gretel; Moussorgsky’s Baba
Yaga’s Hut and Great Gate of Kiev; Mancini’s; The Pink Panther and
Grieg’s In the Hall of the Mountain King.
BANDSTAND QUICK PICKS
!!
NOV 2, 2:30PM: The combined Navy bands of Toronto’s HMCS York and Hamilton’s
HMCS Star present their Remembrance Concert at the Cathedral Church of St.
James, 106 King St. E in Toronto.
!!
NOV 2, 7:30PM: Toronto’s Professional Flute Choir, Flute Street will be joined by
special guests, Les Flûtistes de Montréal, at the Church of St. Peter and St. Simonthe-Apostle,
525 Bloor St. E. If you are not familiar with the variety of flute sizes, this
is a great chance to hear them. From the usual concert flute this group includes alto
flutes, bass flutes, contrabass flutes and even a giant sub contrabass flute. Compared
to the regular flute, about two feet long, this instrument stands over six feet tall.
!!
NOV 2, 7:30PM: “A Little Wind Music” by Upper Canada Brass will include
Impressions by Paul Lovatt-Cooper, When Thunder Calls by Len Ballantine and
Hannaford Street March by Kevin Lau. St. Paul’s Anglican Church-Innisfil, 3294 St.
Paul’s Crescent St., Barrie.
!!
NOV 23, 7:30PM: Silverthorn Symphonic Winds will present their fall concert at the
Wilmar Heights Events Centre, 963 Pharmacy Ave., Toronto.
!!
NOV 29, 7:30PM: The Newmarket Citizens Band will be at Newmarket’s historic
Old Town Hall, 460 Botsford Street, to present their formal seasonal concert, ”Winter
Fantasy,” with special guests, Marquee Theatrical Productions Elite Intermediate
Youth Group.
Jack MacQuarrie plays several brass instruments and
has performed in many community ensembles. He can
be contacted at bandstand@thewholenote.com.
thewholenote.com November 2019 | 45

The WholeNote listings are arranged in five sections:
A.
GTA (GREATER TORONTO AREA) covers all of Toronto
plus Halton, Peel, York and Durham regions.
B.
BEYOND THE GTA covers many areas of Southern
Ontario outside Toronto and the GTA. Starts on page 62.
C.
MUSIC THEATRE covers a wide range of music types:
from opera, operetta and musicals, to non-traditional
performance types where words and music are in some
fashion equal partners in the drama. Starts on page 66.
D.
IN THE CLUBS (MOSTLY JAZZ)
is organized alphabetically by club.
Starts on page 68.
E.
THE ETCETERAS is for galas, fundraisers, competitions,
screenings, lectures, symposia, masterclasses, workshops,
singalongs and other music-related events (except
performances) which may be of interest to our readers.
Starts on page 71.
A GENERAL WORD OF CAUTION. A phone number is provided
with every listing in The WholeNote — in fact, we won’t publish
a listing without one. Concerts are sometimes cancelled or postponed;
artists or venues may change after listings are published.
Please check before you go out to a concert.
HOW TO LIST. Listings in The WholeNote in the four sections above
are a free service available, at our discretion, to eligible presenters.
If you have an event, send us your information no later than the
8th of the month prior to the issue or issues in which your listing is
eligible to appear.
LISTINGS DEADLINE. The next issue is a combined issue covering
the period from December 1, 2019 to February 7, 2020. All listings
must be received by 11:59pm, Friday November 8.
LISTINGS can be sent by email to listings@thewholenote.com
or by using the online form on our website. We do not receive
listings by phone, but you can call 416-323-2232 x27 for further
information.
LISTINGS ZONE MAP. Visit our website to search for concerts
by the zones on this map: thewholenote.com.
Lake
Huron
6
Georgian
Bay
7
2 1
5
Lake Erie
3 4
8
City of Toronto
LISTINGS
Lake Ontario
Friday November 1
●●12:10: Music at St. Andrew’s. Noontime
Recital. Works by Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Bach,
Regondi, Donne and Piazzolla. Brent Crawford,
guitar. St. Andrew’s Church (Toronto),
73 Simcoe St. 416-593-5600 x231. Free.
●●6:30: Istituto Italiano di Cultura Toronto.
Mariotti and Moretti. Contemporary chamber
music and instant compositions. Mario
Mariotti, trumpet; Elia Moretti, percussion.
496 Huron St. 416-921-3802. Free.
●●7:30: Festival of Arabic Music and Arts.
Naseer Shamma and Orontes Flamenco
Night. Naseer Shamma, flamenco oud; Orontes
Guitar Quartet. Bluma Appel Theatre, St.
Lawrence Centre for the Arts, 27 Front St. E.
canadianarabicorchestra.ca. $74-$112.
●●7:30: Opera York. La Traviata. Music by
Giuseppe Verdi, libretto by Francesco Maria
Piave. Natalya Gennadi, soprano (Violetta);
Kijong Wi, tenor (Alfredo); Diego Catala, baritone
(Giorgio); Penny Cookson, stage director;
Denis Mastromonaco, music director.
Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing
Arts, 10268 Yonge St., Richmond Hill. 905-
787-8811. From $40; $25(st). Also Nov 3(mat).
●●7:30: Royal Conservatory of Music. The
Glenn Gould School Fall Opera: Siren Song.
Music by Jonathan Dove, libretto by Nick
Dear. Peter Tiefenbach, conductor. Mazzoleni
Concert Hall, TELUS Centre, 273 Bloor St. W.
416-408-0208. $20. Also Nov 2.
●●7:30: St. George’s Lutheran Church/DAAD
Alumni Association Canada. Schubert’s
Winterreise. Arranged for bass-baritone and
string quartet by Richard Krug. Daniel Lichti,
bass-baritone; Penderecki String Quartet.
St. George’s Lutheran Church, 410 College St.
416-532-8591. $30; $10(st).
●●7:30: TO Live/Attila Glatz Concert Productions.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood
Prince In Concert. Toronto Symphony
Orchestra. Meridian Hall (formerly Sony Centre),
1 Front St. E. 1-855-985-2787. $49-$99.
Also Oct 31, Nov 2.
●●7:30: Trio Arkel. Après un Rêve. Ravel:
Sonata for Violin and Cello; Fauré: Quartet for
Piano in c; and works by Vieuxtemps and Boulanger.
Guests: Francine Kay, piano; Victor
Fournelle-Blain, viola. Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre,
427 Bloor St. W. 647-229-6918 or brownpapertickets.com.
$35; $20(sr); $10(st).
●●7:30: York Region Chamber Music/Autour.
Duo Kalysta: Flute and Harp. Works by
Debussy, Morlock, Schafer, and others. Lara
Deutsch, flute; Emily Belvedere, harp. Richmond
Hill Centre for the Performing Arts,
10268 Yonge St., Richmond Hill. 905-787-
8811. $25; $20(st).
●●8:00: Burlington Performing Arts Centre.
Ken Lavigne: 3 Knights with a Tenor.
440 Locust St., Burlington. 905-681-6000.
$49.50; $44.50(members).
●●8:00: Canadian Sinfonietta. Full Orchestra.
Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No.5 in D
BW1050; Stamitz: Concerto in D Op.1; Mozart:
Symphony No.29 in A K201. Máté Szücs, viola.
Glenn Gould Studio, 250 Front St. W. 647-812-
0839. $40; $35(sr); $20(st).
●●8:00: Etobicoke Community Concert Band.
Radio Days. Alex Dean, saxophone. Etobicoke
Collegiate Auditorium, 86 Montgomery
Rd., Etobicoke. 416-410-1570. $15; free(child
under 12).
●●8:00: Gallery 345. Jazz at the Gallery: Look
A. Concerts in the GTA
Ahead. Paul Novotny, bass; Robi Botos, piano.
345 Sorauren Ave. 416-822-9781 or infogallery345.com
or eventbrite.ca. $30; $15(st).
Cash only at the door.
●●8:00: Roy Thomson Hall. Loreena McKennitt:
Lost Souls Tour. 60 Simcoe St. 416-872-
4255. $59.50-$129.50.
●●8:00: Royal Conservatory of Music. Power
Corporation Vocal Series: Karina Gauvin with
the Pacific Baroque Orchestra. Opera arias
from 18th century St. Petersburg. Karina
Gauvin, soprano. Koerner Hall, TELUS Centre,
273 Bloor St. W. 416-408-0208. $40-$90.
Saturday November 2
●●2:00: Toronto Public Library, Centennial
Branch. Sidecar 78 Saxophone Quartet: An
Afternoon Concert. 578 Finch Ave. W. 416-
395-5490. Free. Registration required.
●●4:00: Church of the Ascension. Fauré’s
Requiem for All Souls. A service of thanksgiving
and reflection to remember loved ones
who have passed. 33 Overland Dr. ascensiontoronto.ca.
Freewill offering. Reception following
in the Parish Hall. All invited.
●●4:30: Hope United Church. Praise and Gospel
Cafe. Open the Eyes of My Heart; Refiner’s
Fire; Amazing Grace; Offer It Up. Brian Stevens,
piano; Bill MacLean, bass; Mike Green,
guitar. 2550 Danforth Ave. 416-691-9682.
Freewill offering. Music and cafe style meal.
●●6:00: Art of Life Community Centre.
Touching the Sky. Works by Mendelssohn,
Bach, Schumann, and Piazzolla. Prater
Ensemble. Lawrence Park Community
Church, 2180 Bayview Ave. 416-449-6747. $25.
●●6:30: Burdock Music Hall. CD Release: Tony
McManus and Julia Toaspern. Music from
“Live in Concert”. John McMillan, harp/guitars/Spanish
laud. 1184 Bloor St. W. 416-546-
4033. $25.
●●7:00: Alliance Française de Toronto. Live
Nation Presents Anne Sila. Spadina Theatre,
24 Spadina Rd. 416-922-2014 x37. Free. Followed
by a Q&A.
●●7:30: Bloordale United Church. Climax
Jazz Band Live. 4258 Bloor St. W., Etobicoke.
416-620-5377 or 416-621-1710. $25/$20(adv);
free(under 18).
●●7:30: Festival of Arabic Music and Arts.
Small Wonders: “Reminisce with Remi Bendali”.
Meadowvale Theatre, 6315 Montevideo
Rd., Mississauga. canadianarabicorchestra.
ca. $28-$35.
●●7:30: Flute Street. Entre Amis. Les Flûtistes
de Montréal. Church of St. Peter and St.
Simon-the-Apostle, 525 Bloor St. E. 416-462-
9498. $25; $20(sr/arts worker); $10(st).
●●7:30: Loose Tea Music Theatre. Singing
Only Softly/The Diary of Anne Frank - Operas
from the Secret Annex. Singing Only Softly;
Livingston; Pearce; Viau; The Diary of Anne
Frank; Grigory Frid. Sara Schabas, Gillian
Grossman, sopranos; Cheryl Duvall, piano.
Heliconian Hall, 35 Hazelton Ave. looseteamusictheatre.com.
$35. Also Nov 3, 4.
●●7:30: Opera Atelier. Mozart: Don Giovanni.
Colin Ainsworth, Gustav Andreassen,
Mireille Asselin, Stephen Hegedus, Carla
Huhtanen, Olivier Laquerre, Meghan Lindsay,
Douglas Williams, vocalists; Marshall
Pynkoski, stage director; Jeannette Lajeunesse
Zingg, choreographer; Artists of Atelier
Ballet; Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra;
David Fallis, conductor. Ed Mirvish Theatre,
244 Victoria St. 416-872-1212. $39-$194. Also
46 | November 2019 thewholenote.com

MOZART
DON
GIOVANNI
OCT 31–NOV 9
ED MIRVISH
THEATRE
OPERAATELIER.COM
Oct 31, Nov 3(3pm), 8, 9.
●●7:30: Pax Christi Chorale. The Sun, the
Wind, and the Man with the Cloak. Music by
Stephanie Martin, libretto by Paul Ciufo. Martih/Ciufo:
The Sun, the Wind, and the Man
with the Cloak (world premiere); and works
by Britten, Vaughan Williams and Elgar. Allison
Walmsley, soprano; Catherine Daniel,
mezzo; Asitha Tennekoon, tenor; Brett Polegato,
baritone; Intermediate Chorus of Canadian
Children’s Opera Company. Yorkminster
Park Baptist Church, 1585 Yonge St. 416-729-
3630. $50; $45(sr); $25(under 30).
●●7:30: Royal Conservatory of Music. The
Glenn Gould School Fall Opera: Siren Song.
Music by Jonathan Dove, libretto by Nick
Dear. Peter Tiefenbach, conductor. Mazzoleni
Concert Hall, TELUS Centre, 273 Bloor St. W.
416-408-0208. $20. Also Nov 1.
●●7:30: Sigrid Angell. Danny’s 7. Popular
music of the 40’s, 50’s, 60’s. Donway Covenant
United Church, 230 The Donway W. 416-
444-8444. $20. Post-concert reception.
●●7:30: TO Live/Attila Glatz Concert Productions.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood
Prince In Concert. Toronto Symphony
Orchestra. Meridian Hall (formerly Sony Centre),
1 Front St. E. 1-855-985-2787. $49-$99.
Also Oct 31, Nov 1.
●●8:00: Acoustic Harvest/Live Music East.
Irish Mythen. St. Paul’s United Church (Scarborough),
200 McIntosh St., Scarborough.
416-729-7564 or acousticharvest.ca.
$30/$25(adv).
●●8:00: Greater Toronto Philharmonic
Orchestra. Dances of the World. Ginastera:
Danzas del ballet Estancia; Bartók: Rumanian
Dances; Marquez: Danzon 2; Arr. Carli: La
Cumparsita; Copland: Hoedown and others.
Lorenzo Guggenheim, conductor. Calvin Presbyterian
Church, 26 Delisle Ave. 647-238-0015
or gtpo.ca. $30; $25(sr); $15(st).
●●8:00: North York Concert Orchestra. The
Titans. Mahler: Symphony No.1; Sibelius: Violin
Concerto. Alessia Disimino, violin. Yorkminster
Citadel, 1 Lord Seaton Rd., North
York. 416-628-9195. $30; $25(sr); $10(st).
NYCOPark service available.
●●8:00: Roy Thomson Hall. 6th Annual Dream
Serenade Benefit Concert. Dream Serenade
is a benefit concert and celebration of the
Toronto community of children with developmental
and or physical disabilities and their
caregivers. 60 Simcoe St. 416-872-4255.
$34.50-$199.50.
●●8:00: Royal Conservatory of Music.
Music Mix Series: Toronto Sings the Breithaupt
Brothers’ Songbook. Jackie Richardson,
Kellylee Evans, Denzal Sinclaire, Heather
Bambrick, Patricia O’Callaghan and others.
Koerner Hall, TELUS Centre, 273 Bloor St. W.
416-408-0208. $35-$85.
●●8:00: Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra.
Mozart and Mendelssohn. Mozart: Sinfonia
Concertante for Violin, Viola and
Orchestra K364; Royer: Sarabande for Viola
and Chamber Orchestra; Mendelssohn: Symphony
No.4 in A “Italian” Op.90. Joyce Lai,
violin; Máté Szűcs, viola; Ronald Royer, conductor.
Salvation Army Scarborough Citadel,
2021 Lawrence Ave. E., Scarborough.
spo@spo.ca or spo.ca. $35; $30(sr); $15(st);
$10(under 10).
●●8:00: Small World Music Society. Heavens
and Earth: A Concert with Salil Subedi.
Salil Subedi, didgeridoo, jaw harps, bamboo
flute, singing bowls, bells and Nepali percussion;
Himalayan Vibes Nepali folk instrumental
band. Small World Music Centre, Artscape
Youngplace, 180 Shaw St. 416-536-5439.
$25/$15(adv).
Sunday November 3
●●1:00: Opticianado Eyewear. Katey Morley
and Steve Park. Opticianado, 2919 Dundas St.
W. 416-604-2020. Free.
●●2:00: Opera York. La Traviata. Music by
Giuseppe Verdi, libretto by Francesco Maria
Piave. Natalya Gennadi, soprano (Violetta);
Kijong Wi, tenor (Alfredo); Diego Catala, baritone
(Giorgio); Penny Cookson, stage director;
Denis Mastromonaco, music director.
Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing
Arts, 10268 Yonge St., Richmond Hill. 905-
787-8811. From $40; $25(st). Also Nov 1(eve).
●●2:00: Visual and Performing Arts Newmarket.
Leslie Fagan, soprano. Guy Few,
trumpet; Lorin Shalanko, piano. Newmarket
Theatre, 505 Pickering Cres., Newmarket.
905-953-5122. $30; $25(sr); $10(st).
●●3:00: Burlington Symphony Orchestra.
Russian Treasures. Glinka: Ruslan and Ludmila
Overture; Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto
No.1; Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition.
Jianhan Wu, piano. Burlington Performing
Arts Centre, 440 Locust St., Burlington. 905-
681-6000. $46; $39(sr); $12(under 16). Group
discount for 10 or more.
●●3:00: Canadian Music Centre. CMC Presents:
Winner of the Eckhardt-Gramatté
National Music Competition. Works by Coultard,
Hétu, Current and others. Bryn Blackwood,
piano. 20 St. Joseph St. 416-961-6601
x202. $20/$15(adv); $15/$12(adv-CMC members/arts
workers); $10(st).
●●3:00: Opera Atelier. Mozart: Don Giovanni.
Colin Ainsworth, Gustav Andreassen, Mireille
Asselin, Stephen Hegedus, Carla Huhtanen,
Olivier Laquerre, Meghan Lindsay, Douglas
Williams, vocalists; Marshall Pynkoski,
stage director; Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg,
choreographer; Artists of Atelier Ballet;
Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra; David Fallis,
conductor. Ed Mirvish Theatre, 244 Victoria
St. 416-872-1212. $39-$194. Also Oct 31, Nov 2,
8, 9(4:30pm).
●●3:00: St. Paul’s Bloor Street. Organ Concert.
Works by Palestrina, Tallis, Byrd, Messiaen
and Ugis Praulins. Choir of St. Paul’s
Bloor Street; Gerald Loo, organ; Thomas Bell,
conductor. 227 Bloor St. E. 416-961-8116. Free.
●●5:00: Nocturnes in the City. George Grosman
and Bohemian Jazz Quartet. Pre-Christmas
jazz. Prague Restaurant at Masaryktown,
450 Scarborough Golf Club Rd. 416-481-7294
or nocturnesinthecity.com. $25; $15(st).
●●7:00: Show One Productions. Classical
Stars at Koerner: Soprano Hibla Gerzmava.
Arias from Anna Bolena, Norma, La forza del
destino, and works by Tchaikovsky, Glinka,
Rimsky-Korsakov, and Rachmaninoff. Ekaterina
Ganelina, piano. Koerner Hall, TELUS
Centre, 273 Bloor St. W. 416-408-0208 or
rcmusic.ca. $45-$135.
●●7:30: Festival of Arabic Music and Arts.
Marwa Nagi: “A Tribute to Warda and
Baleegh”. Jane Mallett Theatre, St. Lawrence
Centre for the Arts, 27 Front St. E. canadianarabicorchestra.ca.
$30-$60.
●●7:30: Loose Tea Music Theatre. Singing
Only Softly and The Diary of Anne Frank
- Operas from the Secret Annex. Music by
Cecilia Livingston and Grigory Frid, libretti by
Monica Pearce and Grigory Frid. Heliconian
Hall, 35 Hazelton Ave. looseteamusictheatre.
com. $35; $25(st). Opens Nov 2, 7:30pm. Also
Nov 2, 4.
●●8:00: Continuum Contemporary Music/
The Music Gallery. Continuum’s 35th Anniversary
Celebration Concert! Jason Doell;
Emilie LeBel; Christopher Goddard; Michael
Oesterle; Molly Joyce. The Music Gallery,
918 Bathurst St. 416-204-1080. $15-$20.
Monday November 4
●●6:00: Caliban Arts/Black Maple Records
with Trane Live. EP Release - Song Poet One.
Michael St. George; Maurice Gordon; The
Soul/Ska Quintet. Lula Lounge, 1585 Dundas
St. W. 647-505-0791. $20-$30.
●●7:30: Loose Tea Music Theatre. Singing
Only Softly and The Diary of Anne Frank -
Operas from the Secret Annex. Singing Only
Softly; Livingston; Pearce; Viau; The Diary
of Anne Frank; Grigory Frid. Sara Schabas,
Gillian Grossman, sopranos; Cheryl Duvall,
piano. Heliconian Hall, 35 Hazelton Ave.
looseteamusictheatre.com. $35; $25(st).
Opens Nov 2, 7:30pm. Also Nov 2, 3.
Tuesday November 5
●●12:10: Nine Sparrows Arts Foundation.
Lunchtime Chamber Music. Rising Stars
Recital featuring students from the Glenn
Gould School. Yorkminster Park Baptist
Church, 1585 Yonge St. 416-241-1298. Free.
Donations welcome.
●●7:30: Gallery 345. Ron Davis’ SymphRONica:
Open Rehearsal. 345 Sorauren Ave.
416-822-9781 or info@gallery345.com or
eventbrite.ca. $20; $10 or PWYC(st). Cash
only at the door.
●●7:30: Maureen Batt. Crossing Borders: Traversía
Latinoamericana. Works by Carrabré,
Martins, Pearce, Rivést, Vega-Zaldivar. Maureen
Batt, soprano; Fabián Arciniegas,
tenor; Claire Harris, piano. Heliconian Hall,
35 Hazelton Ave. 647-290-7970. $15-$25.
●●7:30: TO Live. The Kingdom Choir. Stand by
Me; Beyoncé: Halo; Legend: All Of Me. Meridian
Arts Centre (formerly Toronto Centre for
the Arts), 5040 Yonge St., North York. 1-855-
985-2787. $45-$65. Also Nov 6.
Wednesday November 6
●●12:00 noon: Canadian Opera Company.
Chamber Music Series: Royal Collaborations
- Music of Exile. Mieczyslaw Weinberg: Piano
Trio Op.24; Karl Amadeus Hartmann: String
Quartet No.1. Artists of the Royal Academy
of Music; Artists of the Royal Conservatory
of Music. Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre,
Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts,
145 Queen St. W. 416-363-8231. Free. First
come, first served. No late seating.
●●12:30: Organix Concerts/All Saints Kingsway.
Kingsway Organ Concert Series. Ian
Grundy, organ. All Saints Kingsway Anglican
Church, 2850 Bloor St. W. 416-571-3680
or organixconcerts.ca. Free-will offering
appreciated.
●●12:30: Yorkminster Park Baptist Church.
Noonday Organ Recital. William Maddox,
organ. 1585 Yonge St. 416-922-1167. Free.
●●7:30: National Ballet of Canada. Giselle.
Music by Adolphe Adam. Sir Peter Wright,
choreographer. Four Seasons Centre for
the Performing Arts, 145 Queen St. W. 416-
345-9595. $41 and up. Opens Nov 6, 7:30pm.
Runs to Nov 10. Wed-Sat(7:30pm), Thurs/Sat/
Sun(2pm).
●●7:30: TO Live. The Kingdom Choir. Stand by
Me; Beyoncé: Halo; Legend: All Of Me. Meridian
Arts Centre (formerly Toronto Centre for
the Arts), 5040 Yonge St., North York. 1-855-
985-2787. $45-$65. Also Nov 5.
●●8:00: ProArteDanza. The 9th! Beethoven:
Symphony No.9. Taylor Bojanowski, Ryan Lee,
Sasha Ludavicius, Daniel McArthur, Victoria
Mehaffey and others, dancers; Roberto Campanella
and Robert Glumbek, co-choreographers.
Harbourfront Centre Fleck Dance
Theatre, 207 Queen’s Quay West. 416-973-
4000. $20-$50. Discounts for sr/st/artsworkers/groups.
Also Nov 7, 8, 9.
●●9:00: Nick Maclean Quartet. Nick Maclean
Quartet featuring Brownman Ali. Drom Taberna,
458 Queen St. W. 416-389-2643. PWYC.
●●9:00: Swing Out Music. The Unforgettable
Nat King Cole: A Musical Tribute. Route 66;
Straighten Up And Fly Right; Stardust; Destination
Moon; I Keep Going Back To Joe’s. Joel
Sheridan, vocalist; Ewen Farncombe, piano.
Mezzetta Restaurant, 681 St. Clair Ave. W.
416-658-5697. $10.
●●9:30: Danie Friesen. Opera Revue. Opera
classics, art song and other works. Danie
Friesen, soprano; Claire Harris, piano; and
others. The Emmett Ray, 924 College St. 647-
637-7491. PWYC. Also Dec 4.
Thursday November 7
●●12:30: York University Department of
Music. Spotlight Series: Leaving Kansas.
Works by Dorothy de Val. Dorothy de Val,
piano; Paula Arciniega, mezzo; Susanna
McCleary, soprano; Anne Lederman, fiddle;
Kye Marshall, cello; Patricia Wait, clarinet;
Barbara Ackerman, flute. Tribute Communities
Recital Hall, Accolade East, YU,
4700 Keele St. 416-736-2100 x20054. Free.
●●2:00: National Ballet of Canada. Giselle.
See Nov 6. Also Nov 7(7:30pm), 8(7:30pm),
9(2pm & 7:30pm), 10(2pm).
●●7:30: Festival of Arabic Music and Arts.
Greek Arabia. Aga Khan Museum, 77 Wynford
Dr. canadianarabicorchestra.ca. $45-$50.
●●7:30: National Ballet of Canada. Giselle. See
Nov 6. Also Nov 8(7:30pm), 9(2pm, 7:30pm),
10(2pm).
●●7:30: York University Department of Music.
York University Wind Symphony and York University
Symphony Orchestra’s Preview Concert.
Mark Chambers and William Thomas, directors.
Tribute Communities Recital Hall, Accolade East,
thewholenote.com November 2019 | 47

YU, 4700 Keele St. 416-736-5888. $10.
●●8:00: Gallery 345. Jazz at the Gallery.
John MacMurchy, reeds; Dan Ionescu, guitar.
345 Sorauren Ave. 416-822-9781 or info@gallery345.com
or eventbrite.ca. $25; $10(st).
Cash only at the door.
●●8:00: Music Toronto. Vision String Quartet.
Bacewicz: Quartet No.4; Haydn: Quartet in G
Op.77 No.1; Schumann: Quartet in A Op.41 No.3.
Jakob Encke and Daniel Stoll, violins; Leonard
Disselhorst, cello; Sander Stuart, viola. Jane
Mallett Theatre, St. Lawrence Centre for the
November 7 at 8 pm
vision string
quartet
A. Concerts in the GTA
Arts, 27 Front St. E. 416-366-7723. $47.50-$52;
$10(st). Toronto debut.
●●8:00: Grandmothers Partnering with
Africa. Great Songs of the Folk Revival. Songs
of Dylan, Baez, Seeger, Peter, Paul and Mary,
and others. Mike Daley, guitar; Jill Daley,
piano/violin/vocals. Lula Lounge, 1585 Dundas
St. W. GPWAfrica@gmail.com or Eventbrite.
$50. Benefit for Stephen Lewis Foundation
Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign.
●●8:00: ProArteDanza. The 9th! Beethoven:
Symphony No.9. Taylor Bojanowski, Ryan Lee,
Sasha Ludavicius, Daniel McArthur, Victoria
Mehaffey and others, dancers; Roberto Campanella
and Robert Glumbek, co-choreographers.
Harbourfront Centre Fleck Dance
Theatre, 207 Queen’s Quay West. 416-973-
4000. $20-$50. Discounts for sr/st/artsworkers/groups.
Also Nov 6, 8, 9.
●●8:00: Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Grand
Opera in Concert: Thaïs. Music by Jules Massenet.
Libretto by Louis Gallet. Erin Wall, soprano;
Joshua Hopkins, baritone; Andrew
Staples, tenor; Nathan Berg, bass-baritone; Liv
Redpath, soprano; and others; Toronto Mendelssohn
Choir; Sir Andrew Davis, conductor.
Roy Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe St. 416-598-
3375. From $45. Also Nov 9.
●●9:00: Global Village Creative. Jazz Armenia:
The music of Gomidas and his contemporaries.
Works by Gomidas, Khatchaturian, Babajanian,
Ganatchian, ADISS, Aznavour, and Legrand.
Levon Ichkhanian, guitar; with Wilson
Laurencin, drums; Andrew Stewart, bass;
Richard Evans, keys; Hampic Djabourian, doudouk;
Siavash Kavehmaryan, Kemance; Ernie
Tollar, woodwinds. Jazz Bistro, 251 Victoria St.
NINE SPARROWS ARTS FOUNDATION
PRESENTS
A CONCERT OF
REMEMBRANCE
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2019 | 7:30 PM
Yorkminster Park Baptist Church
1585 Yonge Street at Heath Street
416-363-5299. $25 (cover). Also Nov 8, 9.
Friday November 8
●●12:10: Music at St. Andrew’s. Noontime
Recital. Lisa Tahara, piano; Brenna Hardy-
Kavanagh, violin. St. Andrew’s Church (Toronto),
73 Simcoe St. 416-593-5600 x231. Free.
●●7:30: Festival of Arabic Music and Arts.
Maghrebian Night. Aga Khan Museum,
77 Wynford Dr. canadianarabicorchestra.ca.
$45-$50.
November 8 and
November 9
narrator. Guests: Guido Basso, trumpet; Neil
Swainson, bass; Eric N. Robertson, conductor.
Yorkminster Park Baptist Church, 1585 Yonge
St. 416-241-1298 or 9sparrowsarts.org. Free.
Donations welcome.
●●7:30: Opera Atelier. Mozart: Don Giovanni.
Colin Ainsworth, Gustav Andreassen, Mireille
Asselin, Stephen Hegedus, Carla Huhtanen,
Olivier Laquerre, Meghan Lindsay, Douglas
Williams, vocalists; Marshall Pynkoski,
stage director; Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg,
choreographer; Artists of Atelier Ballet;
Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra; David Fallis,
conductor. Ed Mirvish Theatre, 244 Victoria
St. 416-872-1212. $39-$194. Also Oct 31, Nov 2,
3(3pm), 9(4:30pm).
●●8:00: Luke Jackson. The Songs of Nick
Drake. Patricia O’Callaghan; Marla and David
Celia; Elizabeth Shepherd; Mitchell Girio and
others. Hugh’s Room Live, 2261 Dundas St. W.
647-339-5853. $40.
●●8:00: ProArteDanza. The 9th! Beethoven:
Symphony No.9. Taylor Bojanowski, Ryan Lee,
Sasha Ludavicius, Daniel McArthur, Victoria
Mehaffey and others, dancers; Roberto Campanella
and Robert Glumbek, co-choreographers.
Harbourfront Centre Fleck Dance
Theatre, 207 Queen’s Quay West. 416-973-
4000. $20-$50. Discounts for sr/st/artsworkers/groups.
Also Nov 6, 7, 9.
●●8:00: Royal Conservatory of Music. String
Concerts Series: Ray Chen with Julio Elizalde.
Grieg: Violin Sonata No.2 in G Op.13; Saint-
Saëns: Violin Sonata No.1 in d Op.75; Bach:
Chaconne from Partita No.2 in d for Solo Violin
BWV1004; Debussy: Clair de lune L32, arr.
Roelens; Ravel: Tzigane. Koerner Hall, TELUS
Centre, 273 Bloor St. W. 416-408-0208. $35-
$90. 7pm: Prelude Recital.
SINFONIA TORONTO
SPECIAL GUESTS
Guido Basso trumpet
Neil Swainson bass
FEATURING:
Rob Crabtree, Piper
Lark Popov, Piano
Colleen Burns, Narrator
Choirs and Organ
Eric N. Robertson, Conductor
ADMISSION FREE - DONATIONS WELCOME
Sponsored in part by Trinity Custom Masonry Limited
WWW.9SPARROWSARTS.ORG
●●7:30: Mosaic Canadian Vocal Ensemble.
In Remembrance Concert. Elias: Dark Night
of the Soul; Fauré: Cantique de Jean Racine;
Brahms: How Lovely Thy Dwellings; Martin:
Kyrie. Members of St. Michael’s Choir School
Alumni; Classic String Quartet; Michael Barth,
trumpet; Donna Klousis, flute; James Brown,
guitar; Gordon D. Mansell, conductor. Holy
Name Catholic Church, 71 Gough Ave. 416-
571-3680 or gdmansell@sympatico.ca. Freewill
offering. Also Nov 9(St. Patrick Catholic
Church, Mississauga).
●●7:30: National Ballet of Canada. Giselle. See
Nov 6. Also Nov 9(2pm, 7:30pm), 10(2pm).
●●7:30: Nine Sparrows Arts Foundation.
A Concert of Remembrance. Rob Crabtree,
piper; Lark Popov, piano; Collen Burns,
Nurhan Arman, Conductor
MOZART & TCHAIKOVSKY
Nov 8 8 pm
Glenn Gould Studio
sinfoniatoronto.com
●●8:00: Sinfonia Toronto. Mozart and Tchaikovsky.
Mozart: Divertimento K138; Ichmouratov:
Letter from an Unknown Woman;
Kuzmenko: Skartaris Duo Concerto; Tchaikovsky:
Serenade. Marc Djokic, violin; Christina
Petrowska Quilico, piano; Nurhan Arman,
conductor. Glenn Gould Studio, 250 Front St.
W. sinfoniatoronto.com. $42; $35(sr); $15(st).
●●8:00: That Choir. That Choir Remembers.
Rachmaninoff: Vespers; Gjeilo: Dark Night of
the Soul (with string quartet); other works.
Craig Pike, conductor. Trinity College Chapel,
U of T, 6 Hoskin Ave. thatchoir.com. $10 and up.
48 | November 2019 thewholenote.com

2019/20
conducted by Craig Pike
NOV. 8 & 9, 8PM
Trinity College Chapel
6 Hoskin Ave., Toronto ON
TICKETS: thatchoir.com
●●8:00: Tongue in Cheek Productions. Opera
5: Eight Singers Drinking. Works by Handel,
Porter, Montsalvatge, Berlioz, Viardot
and others. Aaron Durand, Beste Kalender,
Catherine Daniel, Michael Nyby, Rachel
Krehm, River Guard, Ryan Downey and Trevor
Chartrand. Gallery 345, 345 Sorauren Ave.
647-825-3151 or info@gallery345.com or
eventbrite.com. $35; $25(arts worker).
●●9:00: Global Village Creative. Jazz
Armenia: The music of Gomidas and his contemporaries.
See Nov 7. Also Nov 9.
Saturday November 9
●●2:00: National Ballet of Canada. Giselle.
See Nov 6. Also Nov 9(7:30pm), 10(2pm).
●●3:00: Arraymusic. Telematic 1. Van Nort:
SSHRC Partnership Engage project. Doug
Van Nort; Arraymusic; Anne Bourne, cello;
NowNet Arts Ensemble (connected from
New York). Array Space, 155 Walnut Ave. 416-
532-3019. $30 or PWYC. Concert can also be
Nov 9 | 3pm
TELEMATIC Ⅰ
The Array Ensemble, Doug
Van Nort, and cellist Anne
Bourne connect digitally
with New York’s NowNet Arts
Ensemble to create new
works across borders.
Nov 23 | 8pm
UDO KASEMETS @100
Curated by Stephen Clarke
Celebrating the Estonianborn
Canadian composer’s
centenary with a program of
rare chamber works.
$30 / pwyw
@The Array Space
155 Walnut Ave. Toronto
arraymusic.ca
livestreamed.
●●4:00: Toronto Children’s Chorus. Whether
the Weather. Works by Bach, Poulenc,
Debussy, Mendelssohn, Daley and others.
TCC’s Main Choir and Toronto Youth Choir.
Church of the Redeemer, 162 Bloor St. W. 416-
932-8666 x231 or torontochildrenschorus.
com/performances. $30; $15(under 30);
$10(child).
●●4:30: Opera Atelier. Mozart: Don Giovanni.
Colin Ainsworth, Gustav Andreassen, Mireille
Asselin, Stephen Hegedus, Carla Huhtanen,
Olivier Laquerre, Meghan Lindsay, Douglas
Williams, vocalists; Marshall Pynkoski,
stage director; Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg,
choreographer; Artists of Atelier Ballet;
Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra; David Fallis,
conductor. Ed Mirvish Theatre, 244 Victoria
St. 416-872-1212. $39-$194. Also Oct 31, Nov 2,
3(3pm), 8.
●●7:00: Brad Ratzlaff. In Remembrance.
MacMillan: Cantos Sagrados; Balfour: Take
The Indian. James MacMillan; Andrew Balfour,
singer; VIVA Chamber Singers; Stephen
Boda, organ; Brian Solomon, dancer and
others. Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre, 427 Bloor St.
W. 416-922-8435 x23. $25; $20(sr/st). Tickets
available at the door.
●●7:30: Concerts at Scarborough Bluffs.
Musical Spirit. The Bronze Foundation. Scarborough
Bluffs United Church, 3739 Kingston
Rd., Scarborough. 416-267-8265. $20.
●●7:30: Festival of Arabic Music and Arts.
Joe Show. Living Arts Centre, Hammerson
Hall, 4141 Living Arts Dr., Mississauga. canadianarabicorchestra.ca.
$30-$100.
●●7:30: Mosaic Canadian Vocal Ensemble.
Remembrance Concert. Elias: Dark Night
of the Soul; Fauré: Cantique de Jean Racine;
Brahms: How Lovely Thy Dwellings; Martin:
Kyrie. Members of St. Michael’s Choir School
Alumni; Classic String Quartet; Michael
Barth, trumpet; Donna Klousis, flute; James
Brown, guitar; Gordon D. Mansell, conductor.
St. Patrick Catholic Church, 921 Flagship
Saturday, Nov. 9, 2019 at 8 p.m
(pre-concert chat at 7:15 p.m.
With Brainerd Blyden-Taylor)
Don’t Be Weary,
Traveller
(in concert with
The Nathaniel Dett Chorale)
torontochamberchoir.ca
@torontochamberchoir
@torchamberchoir
Dr., Mississauga. 416-571-3680 or gdmansell@sympatico.ca.
Freewill offering. Also
Nov 8(Holy Name Catholic Church, Toronto).
●●7:30: National Ballet of Canada. Giselle. See
Nov 6. Also Nov 10(2pm).
●●7:30: Orpheus Choir of Toronto. One
Small Step. Olson: That’s One Small Step
(world premiere); Gjeilo: Across the Vast,
Eternal Sky; Enns: I Saw Eternity; Gimon:
Earth. Vaso String Quartet; Amanda Bolger,
Amelia Shields, horns. St. Anne’s Anglican
Church, 270 Gladstone Ave. 416-530-4428 or
orpheuschoirtoronto.com. $20-$45.
●●8:00: Burlington Performing Arts Centre.
Mariachi Herencia de México. 440 Locust
St., Burlington. 905-681-6000. $49.50;
$44.50(members).
●●8:00: Cathedral Bluffs Symphony Orchestra.
Subscription Concert 2: Mozart and
Brahms. Mozart: Piano Concerto No.23 in
A; Brahms: Symphony No.1 in c Op.68; Mozart:
Overture to Don Giovanni. Lauren Esch,
piano; Norman Reintamm, conductor. P.C. Ho
Theatre, Chinese Cultural Centre of Greater
Toronto, 5183 Sheppard Ave. E., Scarborough.
416-879-5566 or cathedralbluffs.com.
From $35; From $30(sr/st); free(under 12).
7:15pm: Pre-concert talk.
●●8:00: ProArteDanza. The 9th! Beethoven:
Symphony No.9. Taylor Bojanowski, Ryan Lee,
Sasha Ludavicius, Daniel McArthur, Victoria
Mehaffey and others, dancers; Roberto Campanella
and Robert Glumbek, co-choreographers.
Harbourfront Centre Fleck Dance
Theatre, 207 Queen’s Quay West. 416-973-
4000. $20-$50. Discounts for sr/st/artsworkers/groups.
Also Nov 6, 7, 8.
●●8:00: Ron Davis’ SymphRONica. SymphRONica:
Season 7: The Opener! Featuring
new music and some old favourites. Ron
Davis, piano; Kevin Barrett, guitar; Mike
Downes, bass; Aline Homzy, violin; Guest
MC: Jaymz Bee. 918 Bathurst Centre for Culture,
Arts, Media and Education, 918 Bathurst
St. 416-347-6765. $25/$20(adv); $10(sr/st).
bemusednetwork.com.
●●8:00: Royal Conservatory of Music. Music
Mix Series: SongBird North. Temerty Theatre,
Telus Centre, 273 Bloor St. W. 416-408-
0208. $40.
●●8:00: Royal Conservatory of Music. World
Music Concerts Series: Carminho and Pilar.
Koerner Hall, TELUS Centre, 273 Bloor St. W.
416-408-0208. $40-$85.
●●8:00: That Choir. That Choir Remembers.
See Nov 8.
●●8:00: Toronto Chamber Choir. Don’t Be
Weary, Traveller. Sweelinck: Cantate Domino;
Dett: Ave Maria, Don’t Be Weary, Traveller;
Purcell: Hear My Prayer; Hogan: Hear
My Prayer. Nathaniel Dett Chorale; Brainerd
Blyden-Taylor, conductor. Grace Church onthe-Hill,
300 Lonsdale Rd. 416-763-1695. $30;
$25(sr); $12.50(under 30). 7:15pm: Pre-concert
chat with Brainerd Blyden-Taylor.
●●8:00: Toronto Symphony Orchestra.
Grand Opera in Concert: Thaïs. Music by
Jules Massenet. Libretto by Louis Gallet.
Erin Wall, soprano; Joshua Hopkins, baritone;
Andrew Staples, tenor; Nathan Berg,
bass-baritone; Liv Redpath, soprano; and
others; Toronto Mendelssohn Choir; Sir
Andrew Davis, conductor. Roy Thomson Hall,
60 Simcoe St. 416-598-3375. From $45. Also
Nov 7.
●●9:00: Global Village Creative. Jazz
Armenia: The music of Gomidas and his contemporaries.
See Nov 7.
Sunday November 10
●●1:00: Royal Conservatory of Music. Sunday
Interludes Series: Royal Academy of Music,
London. Students and faculty from Royal
Academy of Music and Glenn Gould School.
Mazzoleni Concert Hall, TELUS Centre,
273 Bloor St. W. 416-408-0208. Free(ticket
required). Tickets available a week prior to
concert date.
●●2:00: National Ballet of Canada. Giselle.
See Nov 6.
●●2:00: Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus of
North America. Centennial Concert. Koerner
Hall, 189 Yonge St. 416-408-0208. $49-$99.
●●3:00: Gallery 345. The Art of the Piano:
Cathy Yang and Benyamin Nuss. Works
for four hands by Stravinsky, Satie, Nuss,
Uematsu and Soken. 345 Sorauren Ave. 416-
822-9781 or info@gallery345.com or eventbrite.ca.
$25; $10(st). Cash only at the door.
●●3:00: Mississauga Symphony Orchestra. A
Celebration of Peace and Remembrance. Living
Arts Centre, Hammerson Hall, 4141 Living
Cathedral Bluffs
SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Norman Reintamm
Artistic Director/Principal Conductor
Saturday November 9, 2019 8 pm
MOZART & BRAHMS
Mozart: Overture to Don Giovanni
Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major
with pianist Lauren Esch
Brahms: Symphony No. 1 in C minor
TICKETS: from $35 ($30 student/senior; children under 12 are free)
ORDER ONLINE cathedralbluffs.com BY PHONE 416.879.5566
P.C. Ho Theatre 5183 Sheppard Ave East
subscription
(1 block east of Markham Rd), Scarborough
cathedralbluffs.com | 416.879.5566
concert 2
thewholenote.com November 2019 | 49

Arts Dr., Mississauga. 905-306-6000 or mississaugasymphony.ca.
$30.
TORONTO
MANDOLIN
ORCHESTRA
movies by
mandolin
Cinematic themes
and songs from your
favourite movies!
Sunday, Nov. 10, 3:30
Trinity–St. Paul’s Centre
shevchenkomusic.com
●●3:30: Toronto Mandolin Orchestra. Movies
by Mandolin. Themes and Songs from
Movies. Game of Thrones, Doctor Zhivago,
Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, and others. Alexander
Veprinskiy, conductor; Toronto Mandolin
Orchestra; vocal soloists. Trinity-St.
Paul’s Centre, 427 Bloor St. W. 416-533-2725.
$35; $20(st).
●●4:00: Andrew Adair. Organ Music by Bach.
Andrew Adair, organ. Church of St. Mary
Magdalene (Toronto), 477 Manning Ave. 416-
531-7955. Free.
●●4:30: Christ Church Deer Park. Jazz Vespers:
Tribute to Charlie Parker. Matthew
Woroshyl, alto saxophone. 1570 Yonge St. 416-
920-5211. Freewill offering. Religious service.
●●7:30: Canadian Arabic Orchestra. Grand
Finale with Taher Mamilli. John Bassett Theatre,
Metro Toronto Convention Centre,
255 Front St. W. canadianarabicorchestra.
ca. $36-$70.
●●7:30: Orpheus Symphonietta. Remembering
Them. Tchaikovsky: Manfred Symphony;
Presentation: Women of the Wars.
Stu Beaudoin, conductor. St. Paul’s Anglican
Church (Uxbridge), 59 Toronto St. S.,
Uxbridge. 705-357-3299. $20; free(child).
Monday November 11
●●7:00: Borealis Big Band. In Concert. The
Duke Live, 1225 Queen St. E. 416-463-5303.
$10 cover.
●●7:30: Shaftesbury Salon Series. Fire and
Grace. Bach: Prelude from Cello Suite No.1,
Allemande from Partita No.2; Whelan: Music
from Riverdance; Piazzolla: Oblivion; Vivaldi:
Winter from The Four Seasons. Edwin
Huizinga, violin; William Coulter, guitar.
Atrium, 21 Shaftesbury Ave. 416-519-7883 or
647-638-4234. $30. Venue accessible.
●●7:30: University of Toronto Faculty of
Music. Chamber Music Concert Series: Of
War and Peace. Works of remembrance
from Handel to Sting. Monica Whicher, soprano;
Steven Philcox, piano; Marie Bérard;
violin. Walter Hall, Edward Johnson Building,
University of Toronto, 80 Queen’s Park.
416-408-0208. $40; $25(sr); $10(st). U of T
A. Concerts in the GTA
students admitted free with a valid TCard,
space permitting.
●●8:00: Music Gallery. History Series: Celebrating
Casey Sokol. An evening with one
of Music Gallery’s co-founders as he moves
on from a storied career teaching improvisation
at York University. Music Gallery at
918 Bathurst, 918 Bathurst St. 416-204-1080.
PWYC. 7:30pm: doors open.
Tuesday November 12
●●12:00 noon: Canadian Opera Company.
Dance Series: In Absentia. Sharon Moore:
In Absentia. JD Dance. Richard Bradshaw
Amphitheatre, Four Seasons Centre for the
Performing Arts, 145 Queen St. W. 416-363-
8231. Free. First come, first served. No late
seating.
●●12:10: Nine Sparrows Arts Foundation.
Lunchtime Chamber Music. Dongso Julia
Kim, cello. Yorkminster Park Baptist Church,
1585 Yonge St. 416-241-1298. Free. Donations
welcome.
●●12:10: University of Toronto Faculty of
Music. Voice Performance Class: Songs of
Requiem and Light. 3rd-year Oratorio Class
under Mia Bach. Walter Hall, Edward Johnson
Building, University of Toronto, 80 Queen’s
Park. 416-978-3750. Free. Open to the public.
●●2:00: Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra.
HPO at the Library. Composers influenced
by their homeland, talk and performance.
Burlington Public Library - Central Branch,
2331 New St., Burlington. 905-526-7756 or
hpo.org. $12.
●●7:30: Royal Conservatory of Music.
National Youth Orchestra: The Frenergy Tour.
Stravinsky: The Firebird Suite; Ravel: Tzigane;
Saint-Saëns: Rondo Capriccioso; and other
works. National Youth Orchestra of Canada;
European Union Youth Orchestra; Blake
Pouliot, violin; Sascha Goetzel, conductor.
Koerner Hall, TELUS Centre, 273 Bloor St. W.
416-408-0208 or tickets@rcmusic.ca. $33.
●●7:30: The Piano Lunaire. Beaver Moon.
Jaeger: I Never Knew; Dennehy: Her Wits
(About Him), North Wall, North Circular,
North Strand; Sherkin: Tagish Fires. Christina
Haldane, soprano; Adam Sherkin, piano.
Bunker Lane Press, 1001 Bloor St. W. Rear.
416-825-2744. $15. ●●8:00: Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Davis
Conducts Russian Masters. Emilie LeBel:
unsheltered (world premiere); Prokofiev: Violin
Concerto No.1 in D Op.19; Shostakovich:
KASEMETS@100
Symphony No.10 in e Op.93. Karen Gomyo,
violin; Sir Andrew Davis, conductor. Roy
Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe St. 416-598-3375.
From $35.
Thursday November 14
TUESDAY NOV. 12•WALTER HALL
Faculty of Music, University of Toronto
www.NewMusicConcerts.com
●●8:00: New Music Concerts/Faculty of
Music, U of T. Kasemets@100. Palestrina:
Tu es Petrus; Kasemets: Trigon; Märt-Matis
Lill: When the Buffalo Went Away; Tatiana
Kozlova-Johannes: Horizontals; Kasemets:
4’33” Fractals; Future is past…is…now.
Ensemble U:; Stephen Clarke, piano. Walter
Hall, Edward Johnson Building, University of
Toronto, 80 Queen’s Park. 416-961-9594. $35;
$25(sr/arts workers); $10(st). 7:15pm: preconcert
talk.
Wednesday November 13
●●12:30: Yorkminster Park Baptist Church.
Noonday Organ Recital. Imre Olah, organ.
1585 Yonge St. 416-922-1167. Free.
●●5:30: Canadian Opera Company. Jazz Series:
Poetry and Song. Elizabeth Shepherd,
singer/piano/composer; Michael Occhipinti,
guitar. Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre,
Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts,
145 Queen St. W. 416-363-8231. Free. First
come, first served. No late seating.
●●7:30: University of Toronto Faculty of
Music. What Makes It Great?®: The Great
Bands of the Swing Era. University of Toronto
Jazz Orchestra; Rob Kapilow, conductor. Walter
Hall, Edward Johnson Building, University
of Toronto, 80 Queen’s Park. 416-408-0208.
$40; $25(sr); $10(st). U of T students admitted
free with a valid TCard, space permitting.
●●7:30: York University Department of
Music. York University Chamber Choir: A
Master’s Recital. Works by Palestrina, Schütz,
Monteverdi, Mendelssohn and Britten. Craig
Garnham, guest conductor; Lisette Canton,
director. Tribute Communities Recital Hall,
Accolade East, YU, 4700 Keele St. 416-736-
5888. $15; $10(sr/st).
●●8:00: Productions Opéra Concept MP.
Another Brick in the Wall: The Opera. Meridian
Hall (formerly Sony Centre), 1 Front St. E.
1-855-985-2787. $50-$190. Also Nov 14, 16,
17(mat), 23.
●●8:00: Soundstreams. Two Odysseys: Pimooteewin
/ Gállábártnit. Yolanda Bonnell, Heli
Huovinen, narrators; Melody Courage, Asitha
Tennekoon, Bud Roach, soloists and others.
Daniels Spectrum, 585 Dundas St. E. 416-408-
0208. $25-$77. Also Nov 14, 15, 16, 17(2pm).
●●12:00 noon: Canadian Opera Company.
Piano Virtuoso Series: Will to Live. Liszt: La
vallée d’Obermann; and works by Prokofiev,
Chopin and Hamelin. Philippe Prud’homme,
piano. Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre, Four
Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts,
145 Queen St. W. 416-363-8231. Free. First
come, first served. No late seating.
●●12:30: York University Department of
Music. World @ Midday: Ensemble Jeng Yi
- Korean Drum and Dance. Martin Family
Lounge, Accolade East, YU, 4700 Keele St.
416-736-2100 x20054. Free.
WOMEN’S MUSICAL CLUB OF TORONTO
NOVEMBER 14, 2019 | 1.30 PM
JANE ARCHIBALD
Jane Archibald, soprano
Liz Upchurch, piano
416-923-7052
wmct.on.ca
●●1:30: Women’s Musical Club of Toronto.
Music in the Afternoon: Jane Archibald.
Works by Purcell, Mozart, Debussy, Schubert,
and others. Jane Archibald, soprano;
Liz Upchurch, piano. Walter Hall, Edward
Johnson Building, University of Toronto,
80 Queen’s Park. 416-923-7052 or wmct.
on.ca. $45.
●●2:00: Y.C. Lee. OrchardViewers. Art song
and operatic favourites. Y.C. Lee, tenor;
Antonia De Wolfe, piano. Northern District
Public Library, Room 224, 40 Orchard View
Blvd. 416-393-7610. Free.
●●5:00: Latitude44/Estonian Music Week.
Ensemble U: Concert and VR Program. Three
short 30 min. sets. Raba (VR version 2017).
Scott L. Miller. WE Global Learning Centre,
339 Queen St. E. 416-925-9405. $15.
●●7:00: Latitude44/Estonian Music Week.
L44; EMW Kickoff Party. Augie Riik’s Jazz Duo;
DJ Vaiko Eplik. Restaurant Archeo at Distillery
District, 31 Trinity St. 416-925-9405. $90;
$70(youth 30 and under).
●●7:30: Burlington Performing Arts Centre.
The Abrams. 440 Locust St., Burlington. 905-
681-6000. $49; $44(members).
●●7:30: Gallery 345. The Art of the Piano:
Anastasia Rizikov. Chopin: Rondo in c Op.1;
50 | November 2019 thewholenote.com

Scherzo No.4 in E Op.54; Sonata No.3 in b
Op.58; Arensky: Caprices Op.43 - No.4 in G;
No.5 in D; and works by Scriabin, Rachmaninoff,
Glinka and Balakirev. 345 Sorauren Ave.
647-667-4190. $30; $10(st).
●●7:30: University of Toronto Faculty of
Music. Instrumentalis. Graduate student
instrumentalists. Walter Hall, Edward Johnson
Building, University of Toronto, 80 Queen’s
Park. 416-978-3750. Free. Open to the public.
●●8:00: Burlington Performing Arts Centre.
Tiffany. 440 Locust St., Burlington. 905-681-
6000. $69.50; $64.50(members).
●●8:00: Corktown Chamber Orchestra. In
Concert. Saint-Saëns: “Organ” Symphony
No.3; R. Strauss: Death and Transfiguration.
Little Trinity Anglican Church, 425 King St. E.
corktownorchestra@gmail.com. $20 sliding
scale.
●●8:00: Productions Opéra Concept MP.
Another Brick in the Wall: The Opera. See
Nov 13. Also Nov 16(8pm), 17(2pm), 23(8pm).
LOTTI
REVEALED
Nov 14–17, 2019
Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre
tafelmusik.org
● ● 8:00: Tafelmusik. Lotti Revealed. Lotti:
Missa Sapientiae; Choral works by Bach,
Handel and Zelenka; James Rolfe: Kadosh/
Sanctus/Holy (world premiere). Tafelmusik
Chamber Choir; Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra;
Ivars Taurins. Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre,
427 Bloor St. W. 416-964-9337. From $42. Also
Nov 15, 16, 17(3:30pm).
●●8:00: Soundstreams. Two Odysseys: Pimooteewin
/ Gállábártnit. See Nov 13. Also
Nov 15(8pm), 16(8pm), 17(2pm).
●●8:00: York University Department of
Music. Improv Soirée. An evening of improvisation
in a participatory “open mic” set-up.
Hosted by the improv studios of Matt Brubeck.
Performers and observers welcome.
Sterling Beckwith Studio, 235 Accolade East,
YU, 4700 Keele St. 416-736-2100 x20054.
Free.
Friday November 15
●●12:10: Music at St. Andrew’s. Noontime
Recital. Allison Angelo, soprano; Ariana
Chris, mezzo. St. Andrew’s Church (Toronto),
73 Simcoe St. 416-593-5600 x231. Free.
●●7:00: Estonian Music Week. Jazz and
Folk Night. Puuluup; Kaili Kinnon; Mari Sild;
Muusika ja Mõtted;. Artscape Sandbox,
301 Adelaide St. W. 416-925-9405. $60.
●●7:30: National Ballet of Canada. Orpheus
Alive and Chaconne. Music by Missy Mazzoli.
Robert Binet, choreographer. Four Seasons
Centre for the Performing Arts, 145 Queen St.
W. 416-345-9595. $41 and up. Opens Nov 15,
7:30pm. Runs to Nov 21. Wed-Sat(7:30pm),
Sat/Sun(2pm).
●●7:30: Opera by Request. Rossini’s Barber of
Seville. Gene Wu, baritone (Figaro); Meagan
Larios, mezzo (Rosina); Cian Horrobin, tenor
(Almaviva); Aaron Durand, baritone (Bartolo);
Natasha Fransblow, piano/music director
and others. College St. United Church,
452 College St. 416-455-2365. $20. In concert
with piano accompaniment.
●●8:00: Gallery 345. CD Release: Let Me
Explain. Works by Jaeger, Gionet, Moussa
and Peterson. Christina Raphaelle Haldane,
soprano; Carl Philippe Gionet, Stu Harrison,
piano. 345 Sorauren Ave. 416-822-9781 or
info@gallery345.com or eventbrite.ca. $30;
$15(st). Cash only at the door. Ticket includes
refreshment.
●●8:00: Soundstreams. Two Odysseys: Pimooteewin
/ Gállábártnit. See Nov 13. Also
Nov 16(8pm), 17(2pm).
●●8:00: Tafelmusik. Lotti Revealed. Lotti:
Missa Sapientiae; Choral works by Bach,
Handel and Zelenka; James Rolfe: Kadosh/
Sanctus/Holy (world premiere). Tafelmusik
Chamber Choir; Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra;
Ivars Taurins. Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre,
427 Bloor St. W. 416-964-6337. From $42. Also
Nov 14, 16, 17(3:30pm).
●●8:00: Vic Chorus. Fall Concert. British
folk songs; works by Purcell, Handel and
Whitacre. Taylor Sullivan, conductor. Guests:
Paul Sandvidotti and Brian Roberts. Victoria
College Chapel, 91 Charles St. W. 416-585-
5421. Free.
Saturday November 16
●●2:00: National Ballet of Canada. Orpheus Alive
and Chaconne. See Nov 15. Also Nov 16(7:30pm),
17(2pm), 20(7:30pm), 21(7:30pm).
●●6:00: Small World Music Society. Michelle
Shocked. Small World Music Centre, Artscape
Youngplace, 180 Shaw St. 416-536-
5439. $25. Also 9pm.
●●6:00: Terry Cade Quartet. Terry Cade
Quartet. Burdock Music Hall, 1184 Bloor St. W.
416-546-4033. $10-$15.
●●7:00: Fairlawn Avenue United Church.
The Art of English Song: A Commonwealth
Collaboration. Works by Britten, Finzi, Purcell,
Vaughan Williams and others. Nicholas
Nicolaidis, tenor; Doreen Uren Simmons,
piano. 28 Fairlawn Ave. 416-481-6848 x21.
$20; $10(child).
Lee-Shillingberg
Piano Duo
Saturday, Nov 16, 7pm
Glenn Gould Studio
torontomusicacademyofcanada .com
●●7:00: Toronto Music Academy of Canada.
Lee-Shillingberg Piano Duo. Clementi:
Sonata for Two Pianos in B-flat; Piazzolla: Tangata
Tango for Two Pianos; Arensky: Suite for
Two Pianos No.2 Op.23; Poulenc: Sonata for
Two Pianos; Schumann: Andante and Variations
Op.46; Anderson: Carmen Fantasy. Yun
HEDGEHOG
CONCERTS
Pamelia Stickney
Theremin
Thessi Rauba
Piano
Alexander Rapoport
Sonatas Nos. 1-3
for Theremin and Piano
Canadian premieres
of Sonatas #2 and #3
with support
from
He Lee, piano; John Shillingberg, piano. Glenn
Gould Studio, 250 Front St. W. 416-223-6106
or eventbrite.com/e/lee-shillingberg-pianoduo-tickets-71753150605.
$30; $20(sr/st).
●●7:30: Gallery 345. Duo526: Duo Fantasy.
Works by Villa-Lobos, Mackey, Bax and Bolcom.
Futaba Niekawa, piano; Kerry DuWors,
violin. 345 Sorauren Ave. 416-822-9781 or
info@gallery345.com or eventbrite.ca. $30;
$10(st). Cash only at the door.
●●7:30: Hedgehog Concerts. Pamelia Stickney:
Theremin Centennial Concert! Rapoport:
Three Sonatas for Theremin and Piano.
Pamelia Stickney, theremin; Thessi Rauba,
piano. Heliconian Hall, 35 Hazelton Ave. 416-
540-4058. $25; $15(st/st/arts workers/
underemployed).
●●7:30: Music at Metropolitan. Like As The
Lute Delights. New and ancient songs exploring
the voice of the lute in music, art, and literature.
Benjamin Stein, lute; Emily Klassen,
soprano; Hannah Stein, alto; Jenna Gallagher,
violin. Metropolitan United Church (Toronto),
56 Queen St. E. 416-363-0331 x26 or metunited.ca/music.
$20; $10(st).
●●7:30: National Ballet of Canada. Orpheus
Alive and Chaconne. See Nov 15. Also
Nov 17(2pm), 20(7:30pm), 21(7:30pm).
●●7:30: St. George on Yonge. In Concert.
Premiere of commissioned works by Tse,
Procunier, Emery, and Richardson-Schulte;
Webern: Langsamer Satz; Prokofiev: String
Quartet No.1. Interro Quartet (Eric Kim-Fujita,
violin; Steve Koh, violin; Maxime Despax, viola;
Sebastian Ostertag, cello). St. George Anglican
Church, 5350 Yonge St. 416-993-3172
or eventbrite.ca/e/new-classicsneo-classics-tickets-74643636125.
$25/$20(adv);
Theremin Centennial
Celebratory
Concert
Saturday, November 16
7:30 pm
Heliconian Hall
35 Hazelton Avenue
Toronto
Lev Termen
1896 -1993
$25/15
reservations/info: alexander.rapoport@utoronto.ca
Chi Rich
thewholenote.com November 2019 | 51

$20/$15(st/adv).
●●7:30: Thornhill United Church. November
Delights. 25 Elgin St., Thornhill. 905-889-
2131. Freewill offering. Refreshments post
concert.
●●8:00: Greenbank Folk Music Society. David
Francey. Original folk songs. Shawna Caspi.
Greenbank Hall, 19965 Highway #12, Greenbank.
905-985-8351. $30.
●●8:00: Mississauga Symphony Orchestra.
Symphonic Dances. Dvořák: Slavonic Dances
No.3, 7, 8; Paganini: La Campanella; Enescu:
Romanian Rhapsody No.1; Rachmaninoff:
Symphonic Dances. Guest: Leslie Ashworth,
violin. Living Arts Centre, Hammerson Hall,
4141 Living Arts Dr., Mississauga. 905-306-
6000 or mississaugasymphony.ca. $40-$65.
●●8:00: Productions Opéra Concept MP.
Another Brick in the Wall: The Opera. See
Nov 13. Also Nov 17(2pm), 23(8pm).
●●8:00: Royal Conservatory of Music. Music
Mix Series: Mavis Staples. Koerner Hall,
TELUS Centre, 273 Bloor St. W. 416-408-
0208. $60-$120.
●●8:00: Scaramella. Chamber Concert.
Rameau: Pièces en concerts. Sara-Anne
Churchill, clavecin; Olivier Brault, violon;
Joëlle Morton, basse de viole. Victoria College
Chapel, 91 Charles St. W. 416-760-8610. $30;
$25(sr); $20(st); free(14 and under).
●●8:00: Soundstreams. Two Odysseys: Pimooteewin
/ Gállábártnit. See Nov 13. Also
Nov 17(2pm).
●●8:00: Tafelmusik. Lotti Revealed. Lotti:
Missa Sapientiae; Choral works by Bach,
Handel and Zelenka; James Rolfe: Kadosh/
Sanctus/Holy (world premiere). Tafelmusik
Chamber Choir; Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra;
Ivars Taurins. Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre,
427 Bloor St. W. 416-964-6337. From $42. Also
Nov 14, 15, 17(3:30pm).
●●8:00: Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Vivaldi’s
Four Seasons. Carmen Braden: Songs
of the Invisible Summer Stars; Copland:
Suite from Appalachian Spring (1944 original
orchestration); Vivaldi: The Four Seasons.
Jonathan Crow: leader/violin. Roy Thomson
Hall, 60 Simcoe St. 416-598-3375. From
$35. Also Nov 17(George Weston Recital Hall);
20(Roy Thomson Hall); 21(Roy Thomson Hall).
A. Concerts in the GTA
●●8:45: Estonian Music Week. Showcase Performance
by NOËP. The Hideout, 423 College
St. 416-925-9405. $25. Part of the Toronto
Indie Week program.
●●9:00: Alliance Française de Toronto.
Grooz. Spadina Theatre, 24 Spadina Rd. 416-
922-2014 x37. $28; $14(members).
●●9:00: Small World Music Society. Michelle
Shocked. Small World Music Centre, Artscape
Youngplace, 180 Shaw St. 416-536-
5439. $25. Also 6pm.
Sunday November 17
●●10:30am: Lawrence Park Community
Church. Brian Barlow Quartet with the Choir
of Lawrence Park Community Church. Sealy:
Song of Hope; Feldman arr. Barlow: River in
Judea. 2180 Bayview Ave. 416-489-1551. Free.
Service of worship. Free parking.
●●2:00: Daniel Lichti. Art Song in House.
Lieder, Melodie and Art Song. Graduate level
and emerging classical singers of all voice
types. A Private Home, 13A Robina Ave. 226-
581-2972. $20. A salon concert; total occupancy
is 18.
●●2:00: Gallery 345. The Art of the Piano:
Sarah Hagen. Works by 18th- and 19th-century
female composers. 345 Sorauren Ave.
416-822-9781 or info@gallery345.com or
eventbrite.ca. $30; $10(st). Cash only at the
door.
●●2:00: National Ballet of Canada. Orpheus
Alive and Chaconne. See Nov 15. Also
Nov 20(7:30pm), 21(7:30pm).
●●2:00: Productions Opéra Concept MP.
Another Brick in the Wall: The Opera. See
Nov 13. Also Nov 23(8pm).
●●2:00: Soundstreams. Two Odysseys: Pimooteewin
/ Gállábártnit. See Nov 13.
●●2:30: University of Toronto Faculty of
Music. UTJO and Hart House Jazz Ensemble.
Walter Hall, Edward Johnson Building, University
of Toronto, 80 Queen’s Park. 416-978-
3750. Free. Open to the public.
●●3:00: Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Vivaldi’s
Four Seasons. Carmen Braden: Songs
of the Invisible Summer Stars; Copland:
Suite from Appalachian Spring (1944 original
orchestration); Vivaldi: The Four Seasons.
Jonathan Crow: leader/violin. George
Weston Recital Hall, 5040 Yonge St. 416-
598-3375. From $129. Also Nov 16, 20, 21(Roy
Thomson Hall).
●●3:30: Tafelmusik. Lotti Revealed. Lotti:
Missa Sapientiae; Choral works by Bach,
Handel and Zelenka; James Rolfe: Kadosh/
Sanctus/Holy (world premiere). Tafelmusik
Chamber Choir; Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra;
Ivars Taurins. Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre,
427 Bloor St. W. 416-964-9337. From $42. Also
Nov 14, 15, 16(all at 8pm).
●●4:00: Estonian Music Week. Wrap it up!
EMW Closing Party. Tiina Kiik, accordion;
Vaiko Eplik, indie. Tartu College, 310 Bloor
St. W. 416-925-9405. $25; $10(youth 30 and
under). Opening of Laani Heinar’s exhibit
of her works for the EMW/L44 social media
campaign.
●●4:00: Good Kind Productions/Small World
Music Society. TBA Series Chapter 3. Small
World Music Centre, Artscape Youngplace,
180 Shaw St. 416-536-5439. To $50.
●●4:00: Hart House Singers. Verdi: Messa
da Requiem. Inga Filippovoa, soprano; Monica
Zerbe, mezzo; James McLean, tenor; Jeffrey
Carl, baritone; David Arnot-Johnston,
Hart House Singers
VERDI:
MESSA
da REQUIEM
with soloists
and orchestra
SUNDAY, NOV 17
4PM
harthouse100.ca
Like As the Lute Delights
the lute’s voice in music, art & literature
Saturday November 16th, 7:30 p.m.
Benjamin Stein, lute
Emily Klassen, soprano
Hannah Stein, alto
Jenna Gallagher, violin
metunited.ca
52 | November 2019 thewholenote.com

conductor. Great Hall, Hart House, 7 Hart
House Circle. 416-978-2452. PWYC ($10 suggested);
food donations to UofT Foodbank
welcome.
ARC Ensemble
presents the works of
Dmitri Klebanov
SuNDAy, NovEmbER 17, 7:30pm
mAzzolENi CoNCERt HAll
Free tickets will be available
starting Fri. Nov. 8 416.408.0208
www.rcmusic.com/performance
●●7:30: Royal Conservatory of Music. ARC
Ensemble Presents the Works of Dmitri Klebanov.
Klebanov: String Quartet No.4; Piano
Trio; and a selection of songs. Olenka Slywynska,
soprano. Mazzoleni Concert Hall,
TELUS Centre, 273 Bloor St. W. 416-408-
0208. Free.
●●7:30: University of Toronto Faculty of
Music. Woodwind Chamber Ensembles. Walter
Hall, Edward Johnson Building, University
of Toronto, 80 Queen’s Park. 416-978-3750.
Free. Open to the public.
Monday November 18
●●12:30: York University Department of
Music. Music @ Midday: Classical Instrumental
Concert. Tribute Communities Recital Hall,
Accolade East, YU, 4700 Keele St. 416-736-
2100 x20054. Free.
●●7:30: Trio Teneramente. An Evening Celebrating
French Composers with Trio Teneramente.
Fauré: Piano Trio Op.120, Debussy:
Estampes and other French works. Jelena
Cingara, piano; Kishan Chouhan, clarinet;
Anna Shabalina, cello. Heliconian Hall,
35 Hazelton Ave. 647-332-3352 or eventbrite.
$26.
●●7:30: University of Toronto Faculty of
Music. Graduate Student Conductor Concert.
Walter Hall, Edward Johnson Building, University
of Toronto, 80 Queen’s Park. 416-978-
3750. Free. Open to the public.
●●7:30: York University Department of
Music. Jazz Festival: Small Ensembles. Roy
Patterson, Lorne Lofsky, Mark Eisenman, directors.
Martin Family Lounge, Accolade East,
YU, 4700 Keele St. 416-736-2100 x20054.
Free.
Tuesday November 19
●●12:00 noon: Canadian Opera Company.
Piano Virtuoso Series: Moving Mirrors -
Études for Piano. Scriabin: Études Op.42;
Namoradze: Études I-VI. Nicolas Namoradze,
piano. Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre, Four
Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts,
145 Queen St. W. 416-363-8231. Free. First
come, first served. No late seating.
●●12:10: Nine Sparrows Arts Foundation.
Lunchtime Chamber Music. Rising Stars
Recital featuring students from the UofT
Faculty of Music. Yorkminster Park Baptist
Church, 1585 Yonge St. 416-241-1298. Free.
Donations welcome.
●●12:10: University of Toronto Faculty of
Music. Voice Performance Class: Second
Year Undergraduate Singers in Performance.
Walter Hall, Edward Johnson Building, University
of Toronto, 80 Queen’s Park. 416-978-
3750. Free. Open to the public.
●●7:00: University of Toronto Faculty of
Music. Student Composer Concert #2. Walter
Hall, Edward Johnson Building, University
of Toronto, 80 Queen’s Park. 416-978-3750.
Free. Open to the public.
●●7:30: University of Toronto Faculty of
Music. Early Music Concerts: King Arthur.
Purcell. Erik Thor, stage director; Christopher
Bagan, conductor. Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre,
427 Bloor St. W. 416-408-0208. $30; $20(sr);
$10(st). U of T students admitted free with a
valid TCard, space permitting.
●●7:30: York University Department of
Music. Jazz Festival: Small Ensembles.
Anthony Michelli, Artie Roth, Kelly Jefferson,
directors. Martin Family Lounge, Accolade
East, YU, 4700 Keele St. 416-736-2100
x20054. Free.
Wednesday November 20
●●12:00 noon: Canadian Opera Company.
Chamber Music Series: Brilliantly Baroque.
Featuring students of the Schulich School
of Music at McGill University. McGill Baroque
Orchestra; Hank Knox, director. Richard
Bradshaw Amphitheatre, Four Seasons Centre
for the Performing Arts, 145 Queen St. W.
416-363-8231. Free. First come, first served.
No late seating.
●●12:30: Organix Concerts/All Saints Kingsway.
Kingsway Organ Concert Series.
Hanné Becker, organ. All Saints Kingsway
Anglican Church, 2850 Bloor St. W. 416-571-
3680 or organixconcerts.ca. Free-will offering
appreciated.
●●12:30: Yorkminster Park Baptist Church.
Noonday Organ Recital. Andrew Adair, organ.
1585 Yonge St. 416-922-1167. Free.
●●7:00: University of Toronto Faculty of
Music. UofT Jazz Ensembles. Upper Jazz Studio,
90 Wellesley St. W. 416-978-3750. Free.
Open to the public.
●●7:30: National Ballet of Canada. Orpheus
Alive and Chaconne. See Nov 15. Also
Nov 21(7:30pm).
●●7:30: York University Department of
Music. Jazz Festival: Small Ensembles. Kevin
Turcotte, Jim Vivian, Frank Falco, directors.
Martin Family Lounge, Accolade East, YU,
4700 Keele St. 416-736-2100 x20054. Free.
●●8:00: Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Vivaldi’s
Four Seasons. Carmen Braden: Songs
of the Invisible Summer Stars; Copland:
Suite from Appalachian Spring (1944 original
orchestration); Vivaldi: The Four Seasons.
Jonathan Crow: leader/violin. Roy Thomson
Hall, 60 Simcoe St. 416-598-3375. From $35.
Also Nov 16(Roy Thomson Hall), 17(George
Weston Recital Hall); 21(Roy Thomson Hall).
Thursday November 21
●●12:00 noon: Canadian Opera Company.
Jazz Series: Lift Your Spirits. York University
Gospel Choir; Prof. Karen Burke, director.
Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre, Four
Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts,
145 Queen St. W. 416-363-8231. Free. First
come, first served. No late seating.
●●12:30: York University Department of
Music. Music @ Midday: York University
Chamber Concert. Patricia Wait, director.
Tribute Communities Recital Hall, Accolade
East, YU, 4700 Keele St. 647-459-0701. Free.
●●6:30: York University Department of
Music. Jazz Festival: Jazz Choirs. Mim
Adams, director. Tribute Communities Recital
Hall, Accolade East, YU, 4700 Keele St. 647-
459-0701. Free.
●●7:00: Canadian Music Centre. CMC Presents:
Chik White and Gayle Young. 20 St.
Joseph St. 416-961-6601 x202. $20/$15(adv);
$15/$12(adv-CMC members/arts workers);
$10(st).
●●7:00: University of Toronto Faculty of
Music. Vocalis: A Woman for All Seasons.
Walter Hall, Edward Johnson Building, University
of Toronto, 80 Queen’s Park. 416-978-
3750. Free. Open to the public.
●●7:30: Ken Page Memorial Trust. Jim Galloway’s
Wee Big Band: Duke Ellington vs. Count
Basie. 40th anniversary celebration of swing
era music. Martin Loomer, guitar, arranger,
leader. Arts and Letters Club, 14 Elm St.
Call Anne at 416-515-0200. $30 (cash only).
Licensed facility.
●●7:30: National Ballet of Canada. Orpheus
Alive and Chaconne. See Nov 15.
●●7:30: Toronto City Opera. Les contes
d’Hoffmann. Music by Jacques Offenbach;
libretto by Jules Barbier. Ryan Harper,
tenor (Hoffmann); Nicole Dubinsky, soprano
(Olympia/Antonia/Giulietta); Dylan Wright,
bass baritone (Lindorf/Coppélius/Miracle/
Dapertuto); Jennifer Tung, artistic director
and others. Al Green Theatre, 750 Spadina
Ave. 647-699-9391. $45-$55; $35(st). Also
Nov 23(4pm), 24(3pm).
●●7:30: University of Toronto Faculty of
Music. The Marriage of Figaro. Mozart.
MacMillan Theatre, Edward Johnson Building,
80 Queen’s Park. 416-408-0208. $40;
$25(sr); $10(st). U of T students admitted free
with a valid TCard, space permitting. “Opera
Talk” lecture ½ hour before concert. Also
Nov 22, 23(eve); 24(mat).
●●7:30: York University Department of Music.
Jazz Festival: York U Jazz Orchestra. Mike
Cadó, director. Martin Family Lounge, Accolade
East, YU, 4700 Keele St. 647-459-0701. Free.
●●8:00: Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Vivaldi’s
Four Seasons. Carmen Braden: Songs
of the Invisible Summer Stars; Copland:
Suite from Appalachian Spring (1944 original
orchestration); Vivaldi: The Four Seasons.
Jonathan Crow: leader/violin. Roy Thomson
Hall, 60 Simcoe St. 416-598-3375. From $35.
Also Nov 16(Roy Thomson Hall), 17(George
Weston Recital Hall); 20(Roy Thomson Hall).
Friday November 22
●●12:10: Music at St. Andrew’s. Noontime
Recital. Liszt: Un Sospiro; Beethoven:
32 Variations in c; works by Rachmaninoff
and Pärt. Ryan Phelps, piano. St. Andrew’s
Church (Toronto), 73 Simcoe St. 416-593-
5600 x231. Free.
●●7:30: Toronto Symphony Orchestra. An
American in Paris. Cindy McTee: Double
Play for Orchestra; Barber: Piano Concerto
Op.38; Bernstein: Overture to Candide; John
Corigliano: Elegy for Orchestra; Gershwin: An
American in Paris. Jon Kimura Parker, piano;
Leonard Slatkin, conductor. Roy Thomson
Hall, 60 Simcoe St. 416-598-3375. From $35.
Also Nov 23(8pm).
●●7:30: University of Toronto Faculty of
Music. The Marriage of Figaro. Mozart.
MacMillan Theatre, Edward Johnson Building,
80 Queen’s Park. 416-408-0208. $40;
$25(sr); $10(st). U of T students admitted free
with a valid TCard, space permitting. “Opera
Talk” lecture ½ hour before concert. Also
Nov 21, 23(eve); 24(mat).
●●8:00: Gallery 345. The Art of Improvisation:
Celebrating Gallery 345. Bill Gilliam, piano;
Kayla Milmine, soprano sax; Ambrose Pottie,
drums; Bill McBirnie, flute; Eugene Martynec,
electro acoustics. 345 Sorauren Ave. 416-822-
9781 or info@gallery345.com or eventbrite.ca.
$20; $10 or Pywc(st). Cash only at the door.
Friday
November 22
Arsenault
Tales of a
Canadian Pioneer
Elgar
Enigma Variations
Young Performers
www.eporchestra.ca
●●8:00: Etobicoke Philharmonic Orchestra.
Tales of a Canadian Pioneer. Elgar: Enigma
Variations; Rimsky-Korsakov: Piano Concerto;
Haydn: Cello Concerto; Arsenault: Histoire.
Concerto winners from the North York Music
Festival competition. Martingrove Collegiate
Institute, 50 Winterton Dr., Etobicoke. 416-
239-5665. $30; $25/$22(adv sr); $15(st).
●●8:00: Royal Conservatory of Music. RCO
Andrei Feher conducts
the Royal Conservatory
Orchestra
FRIdAy, NOvEmbER 22, 8pm
prelude Recital at 6:45pm
pre-concert Talk at 7:15pm
KOERNER HALL
TICKETS ON SALE NOW! 416.408.0208
www.rcmusic.com/performance
thewholenote.com November 2019 | 53

Concerts Series. Shostakovich: Cello Concerto
No.1 in E-flat Op.107; Mahler: Symphony
No.1 in D “Titan”. Mansur Kadirov, cello; Andrei
Feher, conductor. Koerner Hall, TELUS Centre,
273 Bloor St. W. 416-408-0208. $25-$60. 6:45:
Prelude Recital; 7:15pm: Pre-concert chat.
Saturday November 23
●●2:00: Gallery 345. The Iris Trio: Homage
and Inspiration. Works by Schumann, Kurtág,
Bruch, Hoefner and McKay. 345 Sorauren
Ave. 416-822-9781 or info@gallery345.com
or eventbrite.ca. $25; $10(st). Cash only at
the door.
●●2:00: Harbourtown Sound. The North
Pole’s Got Talent. Guest: Melissa-Maarie Shriner,
soloist. Burlington Performing Arts
Centre, 440 Locust St., Burlington. 905-681-
6000 or harbourtownsound.ca. $35; $30(sr);
$20(st under 18). Also 7:30pm.
●●3:30: Toronto City Opera. Les contes
d’Hoffmann. Music by Jacques Offenbach;
libretto by Jules Barbier. Ryan Harper, tenor
(Hoffmann); Nicole Dubinsky, soprano (Olympia/Antonia/Giulietta);
Dylan Wright, bass
baritone (Lindorf/Coppélius/Miracle/Dapertuto);
Jennifer Tung, artistic director and
others. Al Green Theatre, 750 Spadina Ave.
647-699-9391. $45-$55; $35(st). Also Nov 21
(7:30pm), 24(3pm).
●●4:30: Royal Conservatory of Music. Taylor
Performance Academy for Young Artists
Series - Showcase Concerts. Features classical
musicians aged 8-18. Mazzoleni Concert
Hall, TELUS Centre, 273 Bloor St. W. 416-408-
0208. Free(ticket required). Tickets available
a week prior to concert date.
A. Concerts in the GTA
DAWN
A concert celebrating
the oneness of
human family.
SATURDAY, NOV 23
6pm
dawninitiative.com
●●6:00: Dawn Initiative. Dawn: A Concert
Celebrating the Oneness of the Human
Family. Works by Kevin Lau, Lena Orsa, Aran
Corcoran, Sergei Kofman, Ara Cho and
others. Jacqueline Woodley, soprano; Alheli
Pimienta, flute; Peter Stoll, clarinet; Alex
Toskov, violin; Narmina Afandiyeva, piano
and others. Meridian Arts Centre (formerly
Toronto Centre for the Arts), 5040 Yonge St.,
North York. 416-250-3708. $30; $25(sr/st/
arts workers); $45(VIP).
●●6:30: VIVA! Youth Singers of Toronto. The
World in a City. Family-friendly interactive
concert experience celebrating Toronto in
song through Indigenous roots and waves of
migration. VIVA Youth Choirs; Everyone Can
Sing Choir. Jeanne Lamon Hall, Trinity-St.
Paul’s Centre, 427 Bloor St. W. 416-788-8482.
$25; $20(sr/st).
●●7:00: Metropolitan Community Church
of Toronto. Christmas with the Choir 2019.
Thom Allison, Julie Michels, Cantor David
Rosen, Cailin Stadnyk, Lauren Margison, soprano
with the MCCT ChoirJason Jestadt,
music director. 115 Simpson Ave. 416-406-
6228. $25.
Clavier à Couleurs:
An Exhibit of
Piano Preludes
Art • Music
November 23
●●7:00: Millar Piano Duo. Clavier à Couleurs:
An Exhibit of Piano Preludes. Scriabin:
Twenty-four Preludes Op.11 with paintings by
Antonietta Kies (24 Poetics after Scriabin);
Chopin: Twenty-four Preludes Op.28. Gregory
Millar and Lisa Raposa, piano; Antonietta Kies,
artist. Heliconian Hall, 35 Hazelton Ave. 416-
885-2585. $35; $28(sr/st) cash only at door;
online at: universe.com/clavier-a-couleurs.
6pm: Art opening and reception.
●●7:00: Montgomery’s Inn/Toronto Duke
Ellington Society. Drew Jurecka Trio: An
Ellington Evening at Montgomery’s Inn. Montgomery’s
Inn, 4709 Dundas St. W. 416-394-
8113. $25. Refreshments post concert.
●●7:00: Oakville Choir for Children and
Youth. Winter Song. Clearview Church,
2300 Sheridan Garden Dr., Oakville. oakvillechoir.org.
$25; $20(sr); $15(12 and
under).
●●7:30: Cantemus Singers. A Boy Is Born.
Tallis: Missa - Puer natus est; and carols and
motets of Renaissance England. Michael
Erdman, conductor. Church of the Holy Trinity,
19 Trinity Sq. 416-578-6602 or cantemus.
ca. $20; free(under 12). Also Nov 24(St. Aidan’s
Anglican Church).
●●7:30: Harbourtown Sound. The North
Pole’s Got Talent. Guest: Melissa-Maarie Shriner,
soloist. Burlington Performing Arts
Centre, 440 Locust St., Burlington. 905-681-
6000 or harbourtownsound.ca. $35; $30(sr);
$20(st under 18). Also 2pm.
●●7:30: Monica Chapman. Monica Chapman
Trio. Home Smith Bar at The Old Mill Toronto,
21 Old Mill Rd. 416-207-2020. $20 minimum
food/drinks. No cover, no reservations.
●●7:30: University of Toronto Faculty of
Music. The Marriage of Figaro. Mozart.
MacMillan Theatre, Edward Johnson Building,
80 Queen’s Park. 416-408-0208. $40;
$25(sr); $10(st). U of T students admitted free
with a valid TCard, space permitting. “Opera
Talk” lecture ½ hour before concert. Also
Nov 21, 22(eve); 24(mat).
●●8:00: Arraymusic. Udo Kasemets @100.
Kasemets: Sonata in E, Viiulile ja Klaverile
Op.10, Pythagoras Tree, OP; Cage: Nocturne
for violin and piano. Stephen Clarke, piano;
Sheila Jaffe, violin; Lydia Munchinsky, cello.
Array Space, 155 Walnut Ave. 416-532-3019.
$30 or PWYC.
●●8:00: Gallery 345. The Art of the Piano:
Nazareno Ferruggio. Works by Scarlatti,
Chopin, Satie, Grieg, Mompou and others.
345 Sorauren Ave. 416-822-9781 or info@gallery345.com
or eventbrite.ca. $30; $10(st).
Cash only at the door.
●●8:00: Guitar Society of Toronto. In Concert.
Raphaël Feuillâtre, guitar. St. Andrew’s
Church (Toronto), 73 Simcoe St. 416-964-
8298 or guitarsocietyoftoronto.com. $40;
$35(sr); $30(st); $35(adv); $30(sr adv);
$25(st adv).
●●8:00: Masterworks of Oakville Chorus
and Orchestra. Handel’s Messiah. Allison
McAuley, soprano; Erica Iris Huang, mezzo;
Christopher Fischer, tenor; Joel Allison, bass.
St. Matthew Catholic Church, 1150 Monks
Passage, Oakville. 905-399-9732. $30(over
30); $25(sr); free(30 and under). Also
Nov 24(3pm). Free tickets (30 and under)
available online or at door only. ID must be
shown.
●●8:00: Productions Opéra Concept MP.
Another Brick in the Wall: The Opera. See
Nov 13.
●●8:00: Royal Conservatory of Music. Music
Mix Series: Formidable! Charles Aznavour.
Koerner Hall, TELUS Centre, 273 Bloor St. W.
416-408-0208. $49-$100.
●●8:00: Small World Music Society. Journey
to the East. Terek Ghriri, guitar; Anwar Khurshid,
sitar/vocals; Padideh Ahrarnejad, Persian
tar/vocals; Murshed Khalid, vocals; Nour
Saturday, Nov 23 at 8 pm
Sunday, Nov 24 at 3 pm
Messiah
G.F. Handel
www.masterworksofoakville.ca
free tickets online for 30 yrs and under
54 | November 2019 thewholenote.com

Kaadan, percussion; Ali Masoudi, percussion/
vocals. Small World Music Centre, Artscape
Youngplace, 180 Shaw St. 416-536-5439.
$35/$25(adv).
●●8:00: Toronto Symphony Orchestra. An
American in Paris. Cindy McTee: Double
Play for Orchestra; Barber: Piano Concerto
Op.38; Bernstein: Overture to Candide; John
Corigliano: Elegy for Orchestra; Gershwin: An
American in Paris. Jon Kimura Parker, piano;
Leonard Slatkin, conductor. Roy Thomson
Hall, 60 Simcoe St. 416-598-3375. From $35.
Also Nov 22(7:30pm).
Sunday November 24
●●1:00: Opticianado Eyewear. Mitch Filler.
Opticianado, 2919 Dundas St. W. 416-604-
2020. Free.
●●1:15: Mooredale Concerts. Music & Truffles.
Wallis Giunta, mezzo; Steven Philcox,
piano. Walter Hall, Edward Johnson Building,
University of Toronto, 80 Queen’s Park. 416-
922-3714 x103. $20.
●●2:00: Gallery 345. Magisterra Soloists. Farrenc:
String Quintet; Dvořák: String Quintet;
Lourie: Sonata for violin and bass. Annette-
Barbara Vogel, Mikela Witjes, violin; Matt
Antal, viola; Pablo Veglia-Mahave, cello;
Joseph Phillips, bass. 345 Sorauren Ave. 416-
822-9781 or info@gallery345.com or eventbrite.ca.
$30; $15(st). Cash only at the door.
●●2:00: Missisauga Big Band Jazz Ensemble.
Jazz at the Legion. Port Credit Legion,
35 Front St. N., Port Credit. 905-270-4757.
PWYC.
●●2:00: Royal Conservatory of Music. Mazzoleni
Masters: Songmasters Series: An
Afternoon with Adrianne. Wagner: Wesendonck
Lieder WWV91; Korngold: Four Lieder
from Shakespeare Op.31; Works by Schubert
and Strauss. Adrianne Pieczonka, soprano;
Rachel Andrist, piano. Mazzoleni Concert
Hall, TELUS Centre, 273 Bloor St. W. 416-408-
0208. $30.
●●2:00: Toronto Mozart Players. Mystical
Birds. Handel: Organ Concerto in F
“The Cuckoo and the Nightingale”; Haydn:
Symphony No.6 “Le Matin”; Mozart: Piano
Concerto No.17 in G; owser: Sonata for
Unaccompanied Cello; Bach: Concerto for
Two Violins in d BWV1043; Mozart: Requiem.
Paul Jenkins, organ; Barbara Croall, pipigwan;
Asher Ian Armstrong, piano; David
Bowser, conductor. Church of the Redeemer,
162 Bloor St. W. 647-478-7532 or mozartproject.ca.
$40; $35(sr); $15(st).
●●2:30: University of Toronto Faculty of
Music. The Marriage of Figaro. Mozart.
MacMillan Theatre, Edward Johnson Building,
80 Queen’s Park. 416-408-0208. $40;
$25(sr); $10(st). U of T students admitted free
with a valid TCard, space permitting. “Opera
Talk” lecture ½ hour before concert. Also
Nov 21, 22, 23(eve).
●●3:00: Cantemus Singers. A Boy Is Born.
Tallis: Missa - Puer natus est; and carols and
motets of Renaissance England. Michael
Erdman, conductor. St. Aidan’s Anglican
Church (Toronto), 70 Silver Birch Ave. 416-
578-6602 or cantemus.ca. $20; free(under
12). Also Nov 23(7:30pm; Church of the Holy
Trinity).
●●3:00: Masterworks of Oakville Chorus
and Orchestra. Handel’s Messiah. Allison
McAuley, soprano; Erica Iris Huang, mezzo;
Christopher Fischer, tenor; Joel Allison, bass.
St. Matthew Catholic Church, 1150 Monks
Passage, Oakville. 905-399-9732. $30(over
30); $25(sr); free(30 and under). Also
Nov 23(8pm). Free tickets (30 and under)
available online or at door only, ID must be
shown.
●●3:00: Royal Conservatory of Music.
Invesco Piano Concerts Series: Yefim Bronfman.
Beethoven: Piano Sonata No.5 in c
Op.10 No.1; No. 6 in F Op.10 No.2; No. 7 in D
Op.10 No.3; No. 23 in f Op.57 “Appassionata”.
Koerner Hall, TELUS Centre, 273 Bloor St. W.
416-408-0208. $40-$95.
●●3:00: Toronto City Opera. Les contes
d’Hoffmann. Music by Jacques Offenbach;
libretto by Jules Barbier. Ryan Harper, tenor
(Hoffmann); Nicole Dubinsky, soprano (Olympia/Antonia/Giulietta);
Dylan Wright, bass
baritone (Lindorf/Coppélius/Miracle/Dapertuto);
Jennifer Tung, artistic director and
others. Al Green Theatre, 750 Spadina Ave.
647-699-9391. $45-$55; $35(st). Also Nov 21
(7:30pm), 23(4pm).
●●3:00: Toronto Symphony Orchestra.
Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra and
Samuel Kerr. Mussorgsky/orch. Rimsky-Korsakov:
St. John’s Night on Bald Mountain (original
version); Ney Rosauro: Concerto No.1
for Marimba; Vivier: Orion; Tchaikovsky: Symphony
No.5. Samuel Kerr, marimba (2018/19
TSYO Concerto Competition winner); Simon
Rivard, TSO RBC Resident Conductor. George
Weston Recital Hall, 5040 Yonge St. 416-598-
3375. $28.
●●3:00: York University Department of
Music. York University Concert and Chamber
Choirs. Saint-Saëns: Oratorio de Noël; Pergolesi:
Magnificat; Buxtehude: Das neugeborne
Kindelein with chamber orchestra. Lisette
Canton, director. Tribute Communities Recital
Hall, Accolade East, YU, 4700 Keele St. 416-
736-5888. $15; $10(sr/st).
●●3:15: Mooredale Concerts. Vocal Recital.
Songs by Barber, Britten, Falla, Schumann,
Sondheim, and others. Wallis Giunta, mezzo;
Steven Philcox, piano. Walter Hall, Edward
Johnson Building, University of Toronto,
80 Queen’s Park. 416-922-3714 x103. $45;
$40(sr); $30(under 30).
●●4:00: St. Phillip’s Etobicoke. Jazz Vespers.
Genevieve Marentette. St. Philip’s Anglican
Church, 31 St. Phillips Rd., Etobicoke. 416-247-
5181. PWYC.
●●4:30: Christ Church Deer Park. Jazz Vespers:
A Charlie Brown Christmas. John Sherwood,
piano; Scott Alexander, bass; Brian
Barlow, drums. 1570 Yonge St. 416-920-5211.
Freewill offering. Religious service.
●●7:00: Cantorei sine Nomine. Bach: Christmas
Oratorio. 6 Cantatas of Bach’s Christmas
Oratorio in English. Sasha Leibich, soprano;
Shannon Coates, mezzo; Colin Ainsworth,
tenor; Jonathan Leibich, bass baritone;
orchestra; Stu Beaudoin, conductor. St. Paul’s
Anglican Church (Uxbridge), 59 Toronto St.
S., Uxbridge. 705-357-3299 or 905-852-
7016. $25.
●●7:30: Aspirare Vocal Collective. Monomyth:
A Journey to the Unknown. Sokolović:
Sirènes; Shaw: Fly Away, I; Desjarlais: Les
Astres; and works by Poulenc. Grace Centre
for the Arts, 383 Jarvis St. 647-967-0603.
PWYC($10-$40). Venue accessible.
●●8:00: Music Gallery. Emergents I: Sarah
Albu and Mári Mákó + Anoush Moazzeni.
Blend of electronics, improvisation and
notated works. Sarah Albu, vocalist; Mári
Mákó, composer/sound artist; Anoush
Moazzeni, piano/improvisation/composer.
Music Gallery at 918 Bathurst, 918 Bathurst
St. 416-204-1080. $12; $8(st/members).
7:30pm: doors open.
●●8:00: Toronto Improvisors Orchestra.
TIO Celebrates Casey Sokol. Casey Sokol,
piano; Eugene Martynec, laptop; Rod Campbell,
trumpet; Bill Gilliam, piano; Ambrose Pottie,
percussion. Array Space, 155 Walnut Ave.
416-532-3019. $10.
Monday November 25
●●7:30: Opera5. Elizabeth Krehm Memorial
Concert: Shostakovich and Strauss.
Bruch: Kol Nidrei; R. Strauss: Four Last
Songs; Shostakovich: Symphony No.5. Michel
Strauss, cello; Rachel Krehm, soprano; Evan
Mitchell, conductor. Christ Church Deer Park,
1570 Yonge St. 647-248-4048 or opera5.ca/
ekm7. PWYC. Donations to the St. Michael’s
Hospital ICU.
●●7:30: University of Toronto Faculty of
Music. Brass Chamber Ensembles. Walter
Hall, Edward Johnson Building, University of
Toronto, 80 Queen’s Park. 416-978-3750. Free.
Open to the public.
●●7:30: Camerata Canadiana. Vaughan Williams’
Piano Quintet. Bottesini: Elegy No.1;
works by Vaughan Williams and others. Jennifer
Murphy, violin; Brenna Hardy-Kavanagh,
David Bowser, Artistic Director and Conductor
162 Bloor St W, Toronto, ON
George Frideric Handel
Paul Jenkins, organ
Franz Joseph Haydn
Barbara Croall, pipigwan
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Asher Ian Armstrong, piano
thewholenote.com November 2019 | 55

CAMERATA
CANADIANA
inaugural
concert
MONDAY
NOVEMBER 25
7:30pm
Heliconian Club,
Toronto
marykenedimusic.com
viola: Kendra Grittani, cello; Jesse Dietschi,
double bass; Mary Kenedi, piano. Heliconian
Hall, 35 Hazelton Ave. 416-272-4904. $35;
$15(st/arts worker). Cash only.
Tuesday November 26
●●12:00 noon: Canadian Opera Company.
World Music Series: The Walls Are Made of
Song. Ladom Ensemble. Richard Bradshaw
Amphitheatre, Four Seasons Centre for the
Performing Arts, 145 Queen St. W. 416-363-
8231. Free. First come, first served. No late
seating.
●●12:10: University of Toronto Faculty of
Music. Voice Performance Class: Second-
Year Undergraduate Singers in Performance.
Walter Hall, Edward Johnson Building, University
of Toronto, 80 Queen’s Park. 416-978-
3750. Free. Open to the public.
●●7:30: University of Toronto Faculty of
Music. Contemporary Music Ensemble:
Re:SPECT(ral). Walter Hall, Edward Johnson
Building, University of Toronto, 80 Queen’s
Park. 416-978-3750. Free. Open to the public.
●●8:00: Live Nation. Il Divo Holiday Song Celebration
Tour. Songs from their album The
Christmas Collection and other holiday classics.
Queen Elizabeth Theatre, 190 Princes'
A. Concerts in the GTA
Blvd. ticketmaster.ca or 1-855-985-4357. $196
and up.
●●8:00: Confluence Concerts. An Evening
with Marion Newman. Marion Newman,
mezzo; Rebecca Cuddy, mezzo; Evan Korbut,
baritone; Gordon Gerrard, piano. Heliconian
Hall, 35 Hazelton Ave. 647-678-4923. $30;
$25(sr); $20(30 and under). Also Nov 27. Preconcert
talk at 7:15pm.
Wednesday November 27
●●12:00 noon: Canadian Opera Company.
Chamber Music Series: Schulich à la carte:
Golden Violin Award. Elie Basinot, violin.
Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre, Four
Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts,
145 Queen St. W. 416-363-8231. Free. First
come, first served. No late seating.
●●12:30: York University Department of
Music. Music @ Midday: R&B Ensemble. Mike
Cadó, director. Martin Family Lounge, Accolade
East, YU, 4700 Keele St. 647-459-0701.
Free.
●●12:30: Yorkminster Park Baptist Church.
Noonday Organ Recital. William Maddox,
organ. 1585 Yonge St. 416-922-1167. Free.
●●7:30: National Ballet of Canada. Etudes
& Piano Concerto #1 & Petite Mort. Music
by Carl Czerny, Dmitri Shostakovich, and
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Harald Lander,
choreographer. Alexei Ratmansky, choreographer.
Jiří Kylián, choreographer. Four
Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts,
145 Queen St. W. 416-345-9595. $41 and up.
Opens Nov 27, 7:30pm. Runs to Dec 1. Wed-
Sat(7:30pm), Sat/Sun(2pm).
●●8:00: Confluence Concerts. An Evening
with Marion Newman. Marion Newman,
mezzo; Rebecca Cuddy, mezzo; Evan Korbut,
baritone; Gordon Gerrard, piano. Heliconian
Hall, 35 Hazelton Ave. 647-678-4923. $30;
$25(sr); $20(30 and under). Also Nov 26. Preconcert
talk at 7:15pm.
●●8:00: Royal Conservatory of Music. Chamber
Music Concerts Series: Akademie für Alte
Musik Berlin. Bach: Sinfonia from Cantata
“Am Abend aber desselbigen Sabbats”, Brandenburg
Concertos No.1, 5, 3, 4, 2. Koerner
Hall, TELUS Centre, 273 Bloor St. W. 416-408-
0208. $45-$95.
●●8:00: Toronto Symphony Orchestra. All
Tchaikovsky. Tchaikovsky: Symphony No.1 in
g Op.13 “Winter Dreams”; Violin Concerto in
TS
Toronto
Symphony
Orchestra
D Op.35; 1812 Overture. Daniel Lozakovich,
violin; Simon Rivard, TSO RBC Resident Conductor.
Roy Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe St.
416-598-3375. From $35. Also Nov 28, 30,
Dec 1(3pm).
Thursday November 28
●●12:00 noon: Canadian Opera Company.
Vocal Series: Schulich à la carte - Wirth
Vocal Prize. Schubert: Erlkönig; Copland:
I Bought Me a Cat; and other works. Marcel
d’Entremont, tenor. Richard Bradshaw
Amphitheatre, Four Seasons Centre for the
Performing Arts, 145 Queen St. W. 416-363-
8231. Free. First come, first served. No late
seating.
●●12:10: University of Toronto Faculty of
Music. Thursdays at Noon: Lele’s Tune.
Braid: Lele’s Tune (scored for jazz quartet
and string quaret). David Braid, Mike Murley
and Jim Vivian from Jazz Studies join
Mark Fewer and select graduate students
from the Faculty’s Strings area. Walter
Hall, Edward Johnson Building, University
of Toronto, 80 Queen’s Park. 416-978-3750.
Free. Open to the public.
●●12:30: York University Department of
Music. Music @ Midday Classical Piano
Showcase. Tribute Communities Recital Hall,
Accolade East, YU, 4700 Keele St. 416-736-
2100 x20054. Free.
●●7:30: National Ballet of Canada. Etudes &
Piano Concerto #1 & Petite Mort. See Nov 27.
Also Nov 29(7:30pm), 30(2pm & 7:30pm),
Dec 1(2pm).
●●7:30: University of Toronto Faculty of
Music. World Music: Klezmer, Japanese Taiko
Drumming, and Gospel Ensembles. Walter
Hall, Edward Johnson Building, University of
Toronto, 80 Queen’s Park. 416-978-3750. Free.
Open to the public.
●●7:30: York University Department of
Music. York University Symphony Orchestra.
Mark Chambers, director. Tribute Communities
Recital Hall, Accolade East, YU,
4700 Keele St. 416-736-5888. $15; $10(sr/st).
●●8:00: Gallery 345. Aaron Davis Circle of
Friends. 345 Sorauren Ave. 416-822-9781 or
info@gallery345.com or eventbrite.ca. $30;
$15(st). Cash only at the door.
●●8:00: Royal Conservatory of Music. Quiet
Please, There’s a Lady Onstage Series: Dee
Dee Bridgewater: Memphis...Yes, I’m Ready.
Koerner Hall, TELUS Centre, 273 Bloor St. W.
416-408-0208. $50-$100.
●●8:00: Toronto Symphony Orchestra. All
Tchaikovsky. Tchaikovsky: Symphony No.1 in
g Op.13 “Winter Dreams”; Violin Concerto in
D Op.35; 1812 Overture. Daniel Lozakovich,
violin; Simon Rivard, TSO RBC Resident Conductor.
Roy Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe St.
416-598-3375. From $35. Also Nov 27, 30,
Dec 1(3pm).
Friday November 29
●●12:10: Music at St. Andrew’s. Noontime
Recital. Works by Shostakovich, Fauré
and Prokofiev. Jean-Luc Therrien, piano;
Mai Tategami, violin. St. Andrew’s Church
(Toronto), 73 Simcoe St. 416-593-5600
x231. Free.
A TAPESTRY
OF YULETIDE MAGIC
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29
7:00PM
Yorkminster Park
Baptist Church
A FUNDRAISER FOR
THE HOUSE OF COMPASSION
●●7:00: Yorkminster Park Baptist Church.
Harp and Holly: A Tapestry of Yuletide Music.
1585 Yonge St. 416-922-1167 or yorkminsterpark.com.
$26; free(12 and under). A fundraiser
for the House of Compassion.
●●7:30: Gallery 345. The Art of the Piano: Ida
Pelliccioli. Works by Debussy, Rameau and
Albeniz. 345 Sorauren Ave. 416-822-9781 or
info@gallery345.com or eventbrite.ca. $30;
$10(st). Cash only at the door.
●●7:30: National Ballet of Canada. Etudes &
Piano Concerto #1 & Petite Mort. See Nov 27.
Also Nov 30(2pm, 7:30pm), Dec 1(2pm).
●●7:30: Newmarket Citizens Band. Winter
Fantasy. Family friendly seasonal community
concert band event exploring the theme
of fantasy. Guest: Marquee Theatrical Productions’
Elite Intermediate Youth Group. Old
Town Hall, 460 Botsford St., Newmarket.
905-726-2641. $20; free(under 12).
●●7:30: St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church.
Organ Music Concert. Cole Holland, organ.
St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church (Etobicoke),
1579 Royal York Rd., Etobicoke. 905-
824-4667. $25; $10(st).
●●7:30: St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church,
Humber Heights. Annual Christmas Concert.
New Age Celtic
Zoomer Hall
Sat. Nov 30 - 3pm
More shows at Heatherdale.com
56 | November 2019 thewholenote.com

Featuring performing artist Cole Holland at
“The Mighty Wurlitzer” and “The Grand Pipe
Organ”. 1579 Royal York Rd., Etobicoke. 905-
824-4667. $25; $10(st).
●●7:30: University of Toronto Faculty of
Music. Wind Symphony Concerts. Daugherty:
On the Air; Reed: Armenian Dances No.1;
La Fiesta Mexicana; Colgrass: Raag Mala;
Ticheli: Rest. Jeffrey Reynolds, conductor.
MacMillan Theatre, Edward Johnson Building,
80 Queen’s Park. 416-408-0208. $30;
$20(sr); $10(st). U of T students admitted free
with a valid TCard, space permitting.
●●7:30: York University Department of
Music. York University Gospel Choir. Karen
Burke, director. Sandra Faire and Ivan Fecan
Theatre, Accolade East, YU, 4700 Keele St.
416-736-5888. $15; $10(sr/st).
●●8:00: Royal Conservatory of Music. Music
Mix Series: Blind Boys of Alabama Christmas
Show. Koerner Hall, TELUS Centre, 273 Bloor
St. W. 416-408-0208. $50-$100.
Saturday November 30
●●2:00: National Ballet of Canada. Etudes &
Piano Concerto #1 & Petite Mort. See Nov 27.
Also 7:30pm. Also Dec 1(2pm).
●●2:00: York Harmony Chorus. A Claus for
Celebration. A cappella seasonal and contemporary
music. Martha DeClerq, director.
Newmarket Community Centre, 200 Duncan
Dr., Newmarket. 905-616-6436 or grant.
martha601.com. $20.
●●3:00: Achill Choral Society. Glorious
Sounds Christmas Concert. Chilcott: Gloria;
and other works. Audience sing-along.
Shawn Grenke, conductor. Christ Church
Anglican (Bolton), 22 Nancy St., Bolton.
905-857-2737 or achill.ca. $25; $10(13-17);
$5(child). Also Dec 1(Orangeville).
●●3:00: Amphis Music. Celtic Spark. Heather
Dale, vocals/Irish flutes/hammered dulcimer;
Ben Deschamps, guitar/keys; Leanne
Wright, cello; John Stadtlander, percussion.
Zoomer Hall, 70 Jefferson Ave. 416-580-5258
or HeatherDale.com. $25 or PWYC.
●●4:00: Pax Christi Chorale. Children’s Messiah.
Highlights from Handel’s Messiah performed
for children and families. Guests:
musicians from the Glenn Gould School and
Taylor Academy of the Royal Conservatory.
Church of the Redeemer, 162 Bloor St. W.
416-729-3630. PWYC. Proceeds to Church
of the Redeemer’s The Common Table Drop-
In Program.
●●4:00: Toronto Operetta Theatre. Our Fair
Ladies Cabaret. A cabaret performance tribute
to Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe.
Music from My Fair Lady, Brigadoon, Camelot,
and the musical film Gigi. Edward Jackman
Centre, 947 Queen St. E., 2nd Floor. 416-366-
7723. $45.
●●5:30: Faith Amour. Marmalade Jazz Live
Recording. Jeremhy Ledbetter and band.
120 Diner, 120 Church St. 416-792-7725. $20
in advance.
●●7:00: Incontra Vocal Ensemble. Creator of
the Stars of Night. Works by Britten, Mendelssohn,
Chilcott, Brubacher and others. Matthew
Otto, conductor. Knox College Chapel,
59 St. George St. 416-979-2331 x260 or communications@icscanada.edu.
$35. Fundraiser
for the Institute for Christian Studies.
●●7:00: Music at St. Andrew’s. A Christmas
Carol. Dramatic readings with musical interludes.
Rick Phillips, Marion Newman, Neema
Bickerseth, Patricia Garnett-Smith and Ben
Heppner, readers; The Aldbury Garden Brass;
and others. St. Andrew’s Church (Toronto),
73 Simcoe St. 416-593-5600 x231. Freewill
offering. Gingerbread and hot apple cider
reception. Benefit for St. Andrew’s Refugee
Support Program.
●●7:00: Spadina Station. Holiday Relief Line.
A cappella holiday music and beloved songs
from the 60s to the 90s. Marlena McCarthy,
alto; Jane Miller, soprano; Tyler Smith, tenor;
Stephen Reich, bass. Guest vocalist: Ilana
Waldston. Buddies in Bad Times Theatre,
12 Alexander St. 416-975-8555. $20. Familyfriendly
concert.
●●7:00: University of Toronto Scarborough.
Fall Flourish Music Concert. UTSC Concert
Choir, Concert Band, and String Orchestra.
AC223, ARC Theatre, 1265 Military Trail, Scarborough.
416-208-4769. Free.
●●7:30: East York Barbershoppers. Winter
in Harmony. Scarborough Harmony Chorus.
Toronto Estonian House, 958 Broadview Ave.
647-204-0220 or tickets@ybs.ca. $25. Venue
accessible.
●●7:30: Jubilate Singers. Navidad Nuestra.
Ariel Ramirez: Navidad Nuestra; and other
seasonal songs from Latin America. Guests:
Sikuris St. Lawrence. Eastminster United
Church, 310 Danforth Ave. 416-485-1988. $25;
$20(sr); $15(st); free(under 13).
●●7:30: National Ballet of Canada. Etudes &
Piano Concerto #1 & Petite Mort. See Nov 27.
Also Dec 1(2pm).
ENCIRCLING
THE WORLD:
ZITHERS!
Nov. 30, 7:30pm
Heliconian Hall, Toronto
northwindconcerts.com
● ● 7:30: North Wind Concerts. Encircling
the World: Zithers. Featuring zithers, dulcimers
and psalteries from Egypt, Finland,
China and Iran. Lina Cao, guzheng; Bill Parsons,
kacapi; Amin Reihani, santour; George
Sawa, qanun. Heliconian Hall, 35 Hazelton
SAT. NOV. 30
7 PM
christmas
a
carol
Readings & Music
Jubilate
singers
Navidad
Nuestra
Music by AriE l r A M irE z
ben
All-star readers including
heppner
Renowned Tenor
& CBC Radio host
FREE ADMISSION
Donations accepted
for our Refugee Sponsorship
Program
standrewstoronto.org
& Latin American Seasonal Music
With Sikuris St. Lawrence
Sat. Nov. 30, 7:30 pm
Eastminster United Church
jubilatesingers.ca
thewholenote.com November 2019 | 57

Ave. 416-588-4301 or bemusednetwork.com/
events/detail/652. $32; $25(sr); $18(st/arts);
$12(12 and under).
●●7:30: Ottawa Bach Choir. A Bach Christmas.
Bach: Meinem Jesum laß ich nicht
BWV124; Ach Gott, wie manches Herzeleid
BWV3; Was mein Gott will, das g’scheh allzeit
BWV111; and others. Meredith Hall,
soprano; Nicholas Burns, countertenor;
Philippe Gagné, tenor; Andrew Mahon,
bass; Ensemble Caprice Baroque Orchestra;
Jonathan Oldengarm, organ. Grace
Church on-the-Hill, 300 Lonsdale Rd. 613-
270-1015. $50(reserved); $40(adv); $35(sr
65+); $15(st). Also Dec 1(Knox Presbyterian,
Ottawa).
●●7:30: Tallis Choir. Palestrina: High Mass
for Christmas Day. Period brass, strings and
organ. Peter Mahon, conductor. St. Patrick’s
Church, 131 McCaul St. 416-286-9798 or tallischoir.com.
$30; $25(sr); $10(st).
●●7:30: University of Toronto Faculty of
Music. Wind Ensemble Concerts: Taking
Flight. Mellits: Requiem for a Hummingbird;
Cuong: Moth; Cichy: Bugs; Davoren:
Stillness (After Amelia Earhart); Dahl: Concerto
for Alto Saxophone. Christopher Jones,
saxophone; Gillian MacKay, conductor. Mac-
Millan Theatre, Edward Johnson Building,
80 Queen’s Park. 416-408-0208. $30;
$20(sr); $10(st). U of T students admitted free
with a valid TCard, space permitting.
●●7:30: York University Department of
Music. York University Gospel Choir. Karen
Burke, director. Sandra Faire and Ivan Fecan
Theatre, Accolade East, YU, 4700 Keele St.
416-736-5888. $15; $10(sr/st).
A. Concerts in the GTA
●●8:00: Nagata Shachu. Hibiki (reverberations).
Al Green Theatre, 750 Spadina Ave.
hibiki/brownpapertickets.com. $30-$35;
$20(sr/st).
●●8:00: Chorus York. Celebrate the Season.
A program of Christmas favorites, with
some audience participation. Stéphane Potvin,
director; Andrea Van Pelt, piano; guests:
The Bells of St. Matthew’s handbell choir;
Joan Plume, director. St. Matthew’s United
Church, 333 Crosby Ave., Richmond Hill. 905-
884-7922. $30/$20(adv); $15(st/under 36);
2019 / 2020
Season
Presents
free(under 12). Reception following. Also
Dec 1(3pm, Thornhill).
●●8:00: Estonian Music Week. An Evening
with Laila Biali. Kadri Voorand; Mihkel Mälgand.
Royal Cinema, 608 College St. 416-925-
9405. $50.
●●8:00: Gallery 345. Jazz at the Gallery: BDLQ
Quartet. 345 Sorauren Ave. 416-822-9781 or
info@gallery345.com or eventbrite.ca. $35;
$15(st). Cash only at the door.
●●8:00: Oriana Women’s Choir. Snowforms.
Vivaldi: Gloria (arr. Pady); Quartel: Snow
Angel; Elgar: The Snow. Guests from Earl
Haig Claude Watson Senior Arts Program.
Church of St. Mary Magdalene (Toronto),
477 Manning Ave. orianachoir.com. $25;
$20(sr/under 35); $10(st).
●●8:00: Small World Music Society/The
Rose. Haviah Mighty. Rose Theatre, 1 Theatre
Ln., Brampton. 905-874 2800.
●●8:00: Toronto Symphony Orchestra. All
Tchaikovsky. Tchaikovsky: Symphony No.1
in g Op.13 “Winter Dreams”; Violin Concerto
in D Op.35; 1812 Overture. Daniel Lozakovich,
violin; Simon Rivard, TSO RBC Resident
Conductor. Roy Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe
St. 416-598-3375. From $35. Also Nov 27, 28,
Dec 1(3pm).
●●8:00: York Symphony Orchestra. Romantic
Premieres. Brahms: Piano Concerto No.1;
Sibelius: Symphony No.1. Jarred Dunn, piano.
Trinity Anglican Church (Aurora), 79 Victoria
St., Aurora. 647-849-8403. $30; $25(sr);
$15(st). Also Dec 1(3pm, Richmond Hill Centre
for Performing Arts).
Sunday December 1
●●1:00: Royal Conservatory of Music. Sunday
Interludes Series: Jinjoo Cho, violin. Mazzoleni
Concert Hall, TELUS Centre, 273 Bloor
St. W. 416-408-0208. Free(ticket required).
Tickets available a week prior to concert
date.
●●2:00: Canzona. The Music Speaks. Schubert:
Arpeggione Sonata; Mendelssohn:
Sonata No.1 Op.45; Debussy: Sonata; Chopin:
Polonaise Op.26/1; Fauré: Elégie Op.24 and
others. Peter Cosbey, cello; Mariko Kamachi-Cosbey,
piano. St. Andrew by-the-Lake
Anglican Church, Cibola Ave., Toronto Island.
416-822-0613. $30. Brunch ($20) at 12:30pm.
Reservations required. Also Dec 2(7:30pm,
St. George by the Grange, Toronto).
●●2:00: Gallery 345. The Art of the Piano:
Shoshana Telner. Chopin: Four Ballades;
Debussy: Twelve Etudes. 345 Sorauren Ave.
416-822-9781 or info@gallery345.com or
eventbrite.ca. $25; $15(st). Cash only at the
door.
●●2:00: National Ballet of Canada. Etudes &
Piano Concerto #1 & Petite Mort. See Nov 27.
●●2:00: The Sound Post. Fall Salon Concert.
Duos for violin and viola. Elizabeth Chang, violin;
Nardo Poy, viola. 93 Grenville St. events@
thesoundpost.com. Free with the purchase of
CD. Limited seating. Reception post concert.
●●2:30: University of Toronto Faculty of
Music. Choirs in Concert: To Hold Off Winter’s
Chill. Works by Sirett, Schubert, Daley and
Vivancos. Women’s Chorus; Women’s Chamber
Choir; Men’s Chorus; Elaine Choi and
Lori-Anne Dolloff, conductors. Church of the
Redeemer, 162 Bloor St. W. 416-408-0208.
$30; $20(sr); $10(st). U of T students admitted
free with a valid TCard, space permitting.
●●2:30: VOICEBOX: Opera in Concert. Katya
Kabanová. Music by Leoš Janáček. Sung in
English. Lynn Isnar, soprano; Emilia Boteva,
mezzo; Michael Barrett, tenor; Cian Horrobin,
tenor; Jo Greenaway, music director/piano;
Robert Cooper, chorus director. Jane Mallett
Theatre, St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts,
27 Front St. E. 416-366-7723 or 1-800-708-
6754. $20-$50.
●●3:00: Chorus York. Celebrate the Season.
A program of Christmas favorites, with some
audience participation. Stéphane Potvin, director;
Andrea Van Pelt, piano; guests: The Bells
of St. Matthew’s handbell choir; Joan Plume,
director. Thornhill Presbyterian Church,
271 Centre St., Thornhill. 905-884-7922.
$30/$20(adv); $15(st/under 36); free(under
12). Also Nov 30(8pm, Richmond Hill).
●●3:00: Off Centre Music Salon. Runaway
Waltz. Works of Strauss, Debussy, Poulenc,
Glinka, Tchaikovsky and others. Allison
Angelo, soprano; Ernesto Ramirez, tenor;
Ilana Zarankin, soprano; Helen Becque, piano;
Inna Perkis, piano; Boris Zarankin, piano.
Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre, 427 Bloor St. W. 416-
466-6323. $50; $40(sr); $15(13-25); $5(12
and under).
Snowforms
Saturday, November 30, 2019 ~ 8 pm
Church of St. Mary Magdalene
477 Manning Ave. ~ Toronto
Adults: $25 Under 35/ Seniors: $20 Students: $10
Tickets available at www.orianachoir.com
Oriana Women’s Choir gratefully acknowledges the financial assistance of
Director Peter Mahon
High Mass for Christmas Day
Experience the rich pageantry of
Christmas at Sant’Apollinare at the
acme of the High Renaissance with
austere chant, brilliant polyphony
and sonorous instrumental pieces
from the Golden Age of Music.
Saturday, November 30, 7:30 pm
St. Patrick’s Church
141 McCaul St.
www.orianachoir.com
info@orianachoir.com
Tickets: $30, Seniors: $25, Students with ID: $10 (only at the door)
Info: 416 286-9798 Order online: boxoffice.tallischoir.com
58 | November 2019 thewholenote.com

Recital Hall, Accolade East, YU, 4700 Keele St.
416-736-5888. $15; $10(sr/st).
●●4:00: Andrew Adair. Seven Allegorical
Pictures by Sverre Eftestøl. Andrew
Adair, organ. Church of St. Mary Magdalene
(Toronto), 477 Manning Ave. 416-531-7955.
Free.
●●4:00: Church of St. Peter and St. Simonthe-Apostle.
Advent Lessons and Carols.
Works by Holman, Near, Carter and Bruckner.
525 Bloor St. E. 416-923-8714. Freewill offering.
Fruit cake and sherry reception follows.
Toronto Island &
City Concert Series
17th season 7 ensembles 14 concerts
MARIKO KAMACHI-COSBEY & PETER COSBEY
●●3:00: Syrinx Concerts Toronto. Chamber
Music Concert. Haydn: Gypsy Trio; Mendelssohn:
Piano Trio No.2; Schumann: Piano Trio;
Ka Nin: “Among Friends”. Jean-Luc Therrien,
piano; Mai Tategami, violin; Zlatomir Fung,
cello. Heliconian Hall, 35 Hazelton Ave. 416-
654-0877 or syrinxconcerts.ca/tickets. $30;
$20(st). Cash or cheque only at the door.
●●3:00: Thomas Bell. Organ Concert. John
Paul Farahat, organ. St. Paul’s Bloor Street,
227 Bloor St. E. 416-961-8116. Free.
●●3:00: Toronto Symphony Orchestra. All
Tchaikovsky. Tchaikovsky: Symphony No.1 in
g Op.13 “Winter Dreams”; Violin Concerto in
D Op.35; 1812 Overture. Daniel Lozakovich,
violin; Simon Rivard, TSO RBC Resident Conductor.
Roy Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe St. 416-
598-3375. From $32. Also Nov 27, 28, 30.
●●3:00: York Symphony Orchestra. Romantic
Premieres. Brahms: Piano Concerto No.1;
Sibelius: Symphony No.1. Jarred Dunn, piano.
Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts,
10268 Yonge St., Richmond Hill. 905-787-
8811. $32; $27(sr); $15(st). Also Nov 30(8pm,
Trinity Anglican, Aurora).
●●3:00: York University Department of
Music. York University Wind Symphony.
Bill Thomas, director. Tribute Communities
SUN 1 DEC AT 4
Choral Evensong
plus Christmas Tea and at 5
CHRISTMAS
LIGHTS
Light music and light
entertainment including
rare Christmas pieces by
Charles Dickens
●●4:00: St. Olave’s Anglican Church. Christmas
Lights. Choral Evensong for Advent
Sunday. Followed by Christmas Tea. Voices
Chamber Choir. 360 Windermere Ave. 416-
769-5686. Free. Contributions appreciated.
5:00: St. Olave’s Arts Guild presents light
music and light entertainment, including
drama, poetry, music and songs.
●●7:30: Echo Women’s Choir. When She Won’t
Back Down. Parra: Volver a los 17; Ain’t Gonna
Let Nobody Turn Me ‘Round; Waits: Bella Ciao;
Olsavsky: What Happens When a Woman?;
Roblyn: Fire In My Heart. Guest: Las Brujas
Island Concert
Sunday, December 1, 2pm
St. Andrew-bythe-Lake
Church
Toronto Island
*Brunch 12:30pm
Tickets $30
Brunch $20 *reservation required
City Concert
Monday, December 2 7:30pm
St. George the
Martyr Church
197 John Street, Toronto
Tickets $30
Please visit canzona.org
SINGLE | SEASONS TICKETS ARE AVAILABLE
Reservations/information
Email reservations@canzona.org
Text/call 416.822.0613
canzona.org | facebook.com/CanzonaChamberPlayers
Violins, violas, cellos & bows
Complete line of strings & accessories
Expert repairs & rehairs
Canada’s largest stock of string music
A
treasure trove of gifts for string players
thesoundpost.com
info@the soundpost.com
93 Grenville St, Toronto M5S 1B4
416.971.6990 • fax 416.597.9923
ANNUAL FALL SALE • Nov 19-23
FALL SALON • SALON CONCERT CONCERT • Dec 1, 2 pm •
Elizabeth Chang, violin & Nardo Poy, viola
Jeanne Lamon & Friends • Nov 1, 2pm
Limited seating. Email: events@thesoundpost.com
Runaway
Waltz
DECEMBER 1, 2019 | 3PM
“Now is the time when trembling on its stem
Each flower fades away like incense;
Sounds and scents turn in the evening air;
A melancholy waltz, a soft and giddy dizziness.”
– Charles Baudelaire
Allison Angelo, soprano
Ernesto Ramirez, tenor
Ilana Zarankin, soprano
Helen Becque, piano
Inna Perkis, piano
Boris Zarankin, piano
OFFCENTREMUSIC.COM
thewholenote.com November 2019 | 59

del Barrio; Alan Gasser, conductor. Church of
the Holy Trinity, 19 Trinity Sq. 416-779-5554 or
Eventbrite. $25; $15(sr/child/underwaged).
Sustain
Sunday
December 1
2019
8pm Concert
Koerner Hall
ESPRIT ORCHESTRA
espritorchestra.com
●●8:00: Esprit Orchestra. Sustain. Andrew
Norman: Sustain, for orchestra; Adam Scime:
Afterglow, concerto for violin and orchestra;
José Evangelista: Accelerando, for orchestra.
Véronique Mathieu, violin; Alex Pauk, conductor.
Koerner Hall, TELUS Centre, 273 Bloor
St. W. 416-408-0208. From $20. 7:15pm: preconcert
chat.
Monday December 2
●●12:00 noon: University of Toronto Faculty
of Music. UofT Percussion: Post Reset I. Walter
Hall, Edward Johnson Building, University
of Toronto, 80 Queen’s Park. 416-978-3750.
Free. Open to the public.
●●12:30: York University Department of
Music. Instrumental Masterclass in Concert.
Tribute Communities Recital Hall, Accolade
East, YU, 4700 Keele St. 416-736-2100
x20054. Free.
●●7:30: Canzona. The Music Speaks. Schubert:
Arpeggione Sonata; Mendelssohn: Sonata
No.1 Op.45; Debussy: Sonata; Chopin: Polonaise
Op.26/1; Fauré: Elégie Op.24 and others. Peter
Cosbey, cello; Mariko Kamachi-Cosbey, piano.
St. George by the Grange Church, 197 John
St. 416-822-0613. $30. Also Dec 1(2pm, St.
Andrew-by-the-Lake Anglican, Toronto Island).
●●7:30: Casey House Foundation. Voices
for World AIDS Day. Shannon Mercer, soprano;
Asitha Tennekoon, tenor; Julie Nasrallah,
host; Emily Steinwall Trio; Pearle Harbour,
tragicomedienne; and others. Glenn Gould
Studio, 250 Front St. W. 416-962-4040. Free.
Suggested donation $20. Fundraiser for
Casey House.
●●7:30: Chorisma. An Evening of Christmas
Music. Guests: Alexa Ball, flute; Damon Richardson,
percussion; Lona Richardson, accompanist;
Bob Richardson, conductor. Thornhill
United Church, 25 Elgin St., Thornhill. 905-
731-8318. Freewill offering. In support of the
Thornh8ill Christmas Assistance Program.
Please bring a non-perishable offering for the
food bank.
●●7:30: University of Toronto Faculty of Music.
Guitar Orchestra. Walter Hall, Edward Johnson
Building, University of Toronto, 80 Queen’s Park.
416-978-3750. Free. Open to the public.
A. Concerts in the GTA
Tuesday December 3
●●12:10: Nine Sparrows Arts Foundation.
Lunchtime Chamber Music. Michael Lee, piano.
Yorkminster Park Baptist Church, 1585 Yonge
St. 416-241-1298. Free. Donations welcome.
●●12:10: University of Toronto Faculty of
Music. Voice Performance Class: Songs of
the Season. Walter Hall, Edward Johnson
Building, University of Toronto, 80 Queen’s
Park. 416-978-3750. Free. Open to the public.
FESTIVAL
OF CAROLS
TMC + TSYO
a joyous celebration
Dec 3 & 4
Yorkminster Park
Baptist Church
www.tmchoir.org
●●7:30: Toronto Mendelssohn Choir. Festival
of Carols. Works by Berlioz, Tchaikovsky,
Ralph Vaughan Williams and Rutter; and audience
carol sing-along with full orchestra.
Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra; David
Fallis, Simon Rivard, Ezra Burke, conductors.
Yorkminster Park Baptist Church, 1585 Yonge
St. 416-408-0208 or tmchoir.org. $35-$78;
$20(VoxTix 30 and under). Also Dec 4.
●●7:30: University of Toronto Faculty of
Music. Jazz Concerts. U of T 12tet; Kris Davis
piano and composer; Terry Promane, conductor.
Walter Hall, Edward Johnson Building,
University of Toronto, 80 Queen’s Park. 416-
408-0208. $20; $10(st). U of T students admitted
free with a valid TCard, space permitting.
Orchestrated:
ROYAL WOOD
& FRIENDS
with the Toronto
Symphony Orchestra
TUE DEC 3 ◆ 8 PM
A Part of Share the Music Presented by
ROYTHOMSONHALL.COM
●●8:00: Roy Thomson Hall. Orchestrated:
Royal Wood and Friends. Guests: Toronto
Symphony Orchestra. 60 Simcoe St. 416-872-
4255. $41.70-$62.40.
Wednesday December 4
●●12:30: Organix Concerts/All Saints Kingsway.
Kingsway Organ Concert Series.
Dudley Oakes, organ. All Saints Kingsway
Anglican Church, 2850 Bloor St. W. 416-571-
3680 or organixconcerts.ca. Free-will offering
appreciated.
●●12:30: Yorkminster Park Baptist Church.
Noonday Organ Recital. Angus Sinclair,
organ. 1585 Yonge St. 416-922-1167. Free.
O COME,
SHEPHERDS
Dec 4–8, 2019
Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre
tafelmusik.org
●●7:00: Tafelmusik. O Come, Shepherds.
Manfredini: Christmas Concerto; Dall’Abaco:
“La zampogna”; Pasquini: “Pastorale”; and
traditional music from Southern Italy.
Guest: Tommaso Sollazzo, zampogna; Vesuvius
Ensemble; Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra.
Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre, 427 Bloor St. W.
416-964-6337. From $42. Also Dec 5(8pm),
6(8pm), 7(8pm), 8(3:30pm); 10(8pm at
George Weston Recital Hall).
●●7:00: University of Toronto Faculty of
Music. Upper Jazz Ensembles. Upper Jazz
Studio, 90 Wellesley St. W. 416-978-3750.
Free. Open to the public.
●●7:30: Royal Conservatory of Music.
Rebanks Family Fellowship Concert Series.
Mazzoleni Concert Hall, TELUS Centre,
273 Bloor St. W. 416-408-0208. Free(ticket
required). Tickets available a week prior to
concert date.
●●7:30: Toronto Mendelssohn Choir. Festival
of Carols. Works by Berlioz, Tchaikovsky,
Ralph Vaughan Williams and Rutter; and audience
carol sing-along with full orchestra.
Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra; David
Fallis, Simon Rivard, Ezra Burke, conductors.
Yorkminster Park Baptist Church, 1585 Yonge
St. 416-408-0208 or tmchoir.org. $35-$78;
$20(VoxTix 30 and under). Also Dec 3.
●●7:30: University of Toronto Faculty of
Music. World Music: Gospel Ensemble. Walter
Hall, Edward Johnson Building, University
of Toronto, 80 Queen’s Park. 416-978-3750.
Free. Open to the public.
●●8:00: Royal Conservatory of Music. TD
Jazz Concerts Series: Chucho Valdés: Jazz
Batá. Koerner Hall, TELUS Centre, 273 Bloor
St. W. 416-408-0208. $40-$95.
●●9:30: Danie Friesen. Opera Revue. Opera
classics, art song and other works. Danie
Friesen, soprano; Claire Harris, piano; and
others. The Emmett Ray, 924 College St. 647-
637-7491. PWYC. Also Nov 6.
Thursday December 5
SONG UNDER
THE STAIR
Beth Anne Cole
new songs and
Yiddish folksongs
Dec 5, 7:30pm
bethannecole.com
●●7:30: Gallery 345. Song Under the Stair.
Beth Anne Cole, vocalist; Martin van de Ven,
clarinet; Tania Gill, piano; and a surprise
guest. 345 Sorauren Ave. 416-822-9781 or
info@gallery345.com or eventbrite.ca. $25.
Cash only at the door.
●●7:30: University of Toronto Faculty of
Music. U of T Symphony Orchestra: Operatic
Showpieces. UTSO; U of T Opera; Mac-
Millan Singers; Sandra Horst and Uri Meyer,
conductors. MacMillan Theatre, Edward
Johnson Building, 80 Queen’s Park. 416-
408-0208. $30; $20(sr); $10(st). Pre-performance
lecture ‘Symphony Talk’. U of T
students admitted free with a valid TCard,
space permitting.
●●8:00: Music Toronto. Gryphon Trio with
Robert Pomakov. Beethoven: Kakadu Variations
Op.121a; Mussorgsky: Songs and Dances
of Death (arr. Kulesha); Dvořák: Piano Trio
No.3 in f Op.65. Annalee Patipatanakoon,
December 5 at 8 pm
GRYPHON TRIO
with
ROBERT
POMAKOV
60 | November 2019 thewholenote.com

violin; Roman Borys, cello; Jamie Parker,
piano; Robert Pomakov, bass. Jane Mallett
Theatre, St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts,
27 Front St. E. 416-366-7723. $47.50-$52;
$10(st).
●●8:00: Raging Asian Women Taiko Drummers.
Undaunted: Into the Open. Japanese
Taiko drumming combined with singing,
movement and video-stories. Betty Oliphant
Theatre, 404 Jarvis St. 416-671-7256. PWYC.
Also Dec 6, 7, 8(2pm). Family-friendly concert
on Dec 8.
●●8:00: Tafelmusik. O Come, Shepherds.
Manfredini: Christmas Concerto; Dall’Abaco:
“La zampogna”; Pasquini: “Pastorale”; and
traditional music from Southern Italy.
Guest: Tommaso Sollazzo, zampogna; Vesuvius
Ensemble; Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra.
Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre, 427 Bloor St. W.
416-964-6337. From $42. Also Dec 4(7pm),
6(8pm), 7(8pm), 8(3:30pm); 10(8pm at
George Weston Recital Hall).
Friday December 6
●●7:00: University Settlement Music & Arts
School. End of Term Student Concert. St.
George the Martyr Church, 30 Stephanie St.
416-598-3444 x243. Free; donations welcome
at the door. Also Dec 7(11am; 1pm).
●●7:30: Brampton Folk Club. Friday Folk
Night: Songs for the Snowy Season. Coffeehouse-style
folk music concert. Boreal (Tannis
Slimmon, Katherine Wheatley and Jude
Vadala). St. Paul’s United Church (Brampton),
30 Main St. S., Brampton. 647-233-3655. $18;
$15(sr/st).
●●7:30: Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Home
Alone in Concert. Resonance Youth Choir;
Constantine Kitsopoulos, conductor. Roy
Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe St. 416-598-3375.
From $49. Partial-view seats from $35. Also
Dec 7(2pm and 7:30pm).
●●7:30: University of Toronto Faculty of
Music. PianoFest. Walter Hall, Edward
Johnson Building, University of Toronto,
80 Queen’s Park. 416-978-3750. Free. Open
to the public.
●●8:00: Alliance Française de Toronto.
La Sonate de Saint-Saëns. Saint-Saëns:
Cello Sonata No.3 Op.posth. Juliette Herlin,
cello; Kevin Ahfat, piano. Spadina Theatre,
24 Spadina Rd. 416-922-2014 x37. $28;
$14(members).
●●8:00: De Bouche / À Oreille. In Concert.
Pierre Flynn; Quatuor Étoile Magique (Brielle
Goheen, Aline Hornzy, Catherine Gray, Beth
Silver). Helconian Hall, 35 Hazelton Ave. 647-
892-7367 or dbaoproductions.ca. $30.
●●8:00: Exultate Chamber Singers. Holidays
with a Twist: A Merry Romp Through Some
Festive Favourites. Mark Ramsay, conductor.
St. Thomas’s Anglican Church (Toronto),
383 Huron St. 416-410-4561. $30; $25(sr);
$20(arts workers/under 30); $10(st).
●●8:00: Music Gallery/Bad New Days. Melancholiac:
The Music of Scott Walker. Part
concert, part spectacle, part existential
talk-show. Music Gallery at 918 Bathurst,
918 Bathurst St. 416-204-1080. $25/$20(adv);
$15(st/members). Also Nov 7(eve & mat).
●●8:00: Raging Asian Women Taiko Drummers.
Undaunted: Into the Open. Japanese
Taiko drumming combined with singing,
movement and video-stories. Betty Oliphant
Theatre, 404 Jarvis St. 416-671-7256. $35;
$25(st/income challenged). Also Dec 5, 7,
8(2pm). Family-friendly concert on Dec 8.
●●8:00: Tafelmusik. O Come, Shepherds.
Manfredini: Christmas Concerto; Dall’Abaco:
“La zampogna”; Pasquini: “Pastorale”; and
traditional music from Southern Italy.
Guest: Tommaso Sollazzo, zampogna; Vesuvius
Ensemble; Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra.
Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre, 427 Bloor St. W.
416-964-6337. From $42. Also Dec 4(7pm),
5(8pm), 7(8pm), 8(3:30pm); 10(8pm at
George Weston Recital Hall).
●●8:00: Upper Canada Choristers. Christmas
Fantasy. Featuring carols from the 15th
century to the modern era. Boar’s Head Carol
and Noel for the Darkness (arr. L.E. Fraser);
Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on Christmas
Carols; and other works. Bradley Christensen,
baritone; Hye Won Cecilia Lee, piano;
Cantemos Latin ensemble; Laurie Evan Fraser,
conductor. Grace Church on-the-Hill,
300 Lonsdale Rd. 416-256-0510 or info@
uppercanadachoristers.org. $25; free(child
with adult). Non-perishable item for the Daily
Bread Food Bank appreciated.
●●8:30: Ensemble Vivant. CD Release - Latin
Romance. Hugh’s Room Live, 2261 Dundas
St. W. 416-533-5483 or ensemblevivant.com.
$40/$35(adv).
Saturday December 7
●●11:00am: University Settlement Music &
Arts School. End of Term Student Concert.
St. George the Martyr Church, 30 Stephanie
St. 416-598-3444 x243. Free; donations welcome
at the door. Also 1pm; Dec 6(7pm).
●●1:00: University Settlement Music & Arts
School. End of Term Student Concert. St.
George the Martyr Church, 30 Stephanie St.
416-598-3444 x243. Free; donations welcome
at the door. Also 11am; Dec 6(7pm).
●●2:00: Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Home
Alone in Concert. Resonance Youth Choir;
Constantine Kitsopoulos, conductor. Roy
Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe St. 416-598-3375.
From $49. Partial-view seats from $35. Also
Dec 6 & 7 (both at 7:30pm).
●●2:00: Yorkminster Park Baptist Church.
City Carol Sing. Dina Pugliese, host. Guests:
Murray McLauchlan, Marc Jordan, Ian
Thomas. Hogtown Brass; Bach’s Children’s
Choir; Yorkminster Park Baptist Church
Choir; Hedgerow Singers; William Maddox,
organ; Eric Robertson; conductor. 1585 Yonge
St. 416-922-1167. Free. A collection will be
• THE ANNUAL •
City
CAROL
SING
In collaboration
with
SATURDAY, DEC. 7 - 2:00 PM
YORKMINSTER PARK BAPTIST CHURCH
WITH SPECIAL GUESTS
Dina Pugliese
Murray McLauchlan
Marc Jordan
Ian Thomas
FREE ADMISSION
taken for the Churches-on-the-Hill Food
Bank.
●●2:30: Bel Canto Singers. Tidings of Comfort
and Joy. Scarborough Bluffs United Church,
3739 Kingston Rd., Scarborough. 416-690-
3858 or belcantosingers.ca. $20; $5(child
under 12). Cash only at the door. Also 7:30pm.
●●2:30: University of Toronto Faculty of
Music. PianoFest. Walter Hall, Edward
Johnson Building, University of Toronto,
80 Queen’s Park. 416-978-3750. Free. Open
to the public.
●●2:30: Village Voices. Comfort and Joy.
Gjeilo: Northern Lights; Janmohamed: Nur
Reflections on Light; Daley: In Remembrance;
nsemble
CD Release
CONCERT
Gaudete (arr. Englehardt). Village Voices
Chamber Choir; Naomi Barron, cello; percussion
ensemble. Markham Missionary Church,
5438 Major Mackenzie Dr. E., Markham. 905-
294-7373. $25; $20(sr); $10(st); free(under
12). The choir will also take the opportunity
to honour our veterans and their families
in commemoration of the 75th Anniversary
of D-Day.
●●4:00: Music Gallery/Bad New Days. Melancholiac:
The Music of Scott Walker. Part
concert, part spectacle, part existential
talk-show. Music Gallery at 918 Bathurst,
918 Bathurst St. 416-204-1080. $25/$20(adv);
$15(st/members). 3:30pm: doors open. Also
8pm, Nov 6 (eve).
●●7:30: Bel Canto Singers. Tidings of Comfort
and Joy. Scarborough Bluffs United Church,
3739 Kingston Rd., Scarborough. 416-690-
3858 or belcantosingers.ca. $20; $5(child
under 12). Cash only at the door. Also 2:30pm.
●●7:30: Etobicoke Centennial Choir. Sweet
Rejoicing. Vivaldi: Gloria; Rachmaninoff: Ave
Maria; Pearsall: In dulci jubilo. Humber Valley
United Church, 76 Anglesey Blvd., Etobicoke.
416-779-2258. $30. Venue has elevator
access.
●●7:30: Georgetown Choral Society. Gloria:
The Song of Angels. Vivaldi: Gloria; seasonal
songs and anthems, including some audience
participation. Chris Dawes, director.
Georgetown Christian Reformed Church,
11611 Trafalgar Rd., Georgetown. 905-877-
7795. $25.
●●7:30: Mississauga Festival Choir. An East
Coast Christmas. Seasonal music from the
Maritimes and beyond. Guests: The Barra
MacNeils. Hammerson Hall, Living Arts
ivant
latin romance
DEC
8:30PM
HUGH’S ROOM LIVE
2261 DUNDAS ST. WEST, TORONTO
416-533-5483
ensemblevivant.com
6TH
thewholenote.com November 2019 | 61

A. Concerts in the GTA
B. Concerts Beyond the GTA
Centre, 4141 Living Arts Dr., Mississauga.
905-306-6000 or livingartscentre.ca. $42.
●●7:30: Oakville Choral. Reflections: Rediscovering
the Women of Music History.
Clearview Christian Reformed Church,
2300 Sheridan Garden Dr., Oakville. 289-351-
1574. $30/$25(adv); $15(st); free(child 12 &
under). Also Dec 8(3pm, Chartwell Baptist
Church, Oakville).
●●7:30: Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Home
Alone in Concert. Resonance Youth Choir;
Constantine Kitsopoulos, conductor. Roy
Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe St. 416-598-3375.
From $49. Partial-view seats from $35. Also
Dec 6(7:30pm) & 7(2pm).
●●7:30: VOCA Chorus of Toronto. Comfort
and Joy. Vivaldi: Gloria; Vaughan Williams:
Fantasia on Christmas Carols; works
by Gjeilo, Letourneau, Pentatonix and others.
Dallas Chorley, soprano; Lindsay Connolly,
mezzo; Parker Clements, baritone; VOCA
Chamber Orchestra; Elizabeth Acker, accompanist;
Jenny Crober, conductor. Eastminster
United Church, 310 Danforth Ave. 416-947-
8487. $30; $25(sr); $15(st).
●●8:00: Acoustic Harvest. Tony Quarrington’s
“For King and Country”. St. Paul’s United
Church (Scarborough), 200 McIntosh St.,
Scarborough. 416-729-7564. $27/$25(adv).
●●8:00: Music Gallery/Bad New Days. Melancholiac:
The Music of Scott Walker. Part
concert, part spectacle, part existential
talk-show. Music Gallery at 918 Bathurst,
918 Bathurst St. 416-204-1080. $25/$20(adv);
$15(st/members). 7:30pm: doors open. Also
4pm, Nov 6(eve).
●●8:00: Raging Asian Women Taiko Drummers.
Undaunted: Into the Open. Japanese
Taiko drumming combined with singing,
movement and video-stories. Betty Oliphant
Theatre, 404 Jarvis St. 416-671-7256. $35;
$25(st/income challenged). Also Dec 5, 6,
8(2pm). Family-friendly concert on Dec 8.
SINFONIA TORONTO
Antonio diCristofano, Pianist
Nurhan Arman, Conductor
MOZART & MENDELSSOHN
Dec 7 8 pm
Glenn Gould Studio
sinfoniatoronto.com
● ● 8:00: Sinfonia Toronto. Mozart and Mendelssohn.
Ka Nin: Salt and Vinegar; Mozart:
Piano Concerto No.21; Burge: Port Milford
Suite; Mendelssohn: String Symphony No.7.
Antonio Di Cristofano, piano; Nurhan Arman,
conductor. Glenn Gould Studio, 250 Front St.
W. sinfoniatoronto.com. $42; $35(sr); $15(st).
O COME,
SHEPHERDS
Dec 10, 2019
Meridian Arts Centre
(formerly Toronto Centre for the Arts)
tafelmusik.org
●●8:00: Tafelmusik. O Come, Shepherds.
Manfredini: Christmas Concerto; Dall’Abaco:
“La zampogna”; Pasquini: “Pastorale”; and
traditional music from Southern Italy.
Guest: Tommaso Sollazzo, zampogna; Vesuvius
Ensemble; Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra.
Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre, 427 Bloor St. W.
416-964-6337. From $42. Also Dec 4(7pm),
5(8pm), 6(8pm), 8(3:30pm); 10(8pm at
George Weston Recital Hall).
IN THIS ISSUE: Alexandria, Athens, Barrie, Belleville, Brantford,
Cambridge, Campbellford, Cobourg, Dundas, Elora, Greenbank,
Guelph, Hamilton, Kingston, Kitchener, London, Maberly, Niagara-onthe-Lake,
Norwood, Orangeville, Ottawa, Pakenham, Peterborough,
Port Dover, Sault Ste. Marie, Smith Falls, St. Catharines, Stratford,
Sudbury, Tatlock, Tweed, Uxbridge, Wasaga Beach, Waterloo.
Friday November 1
●●12:00 noon: Hamilton Philharmonic
Orchestra. Music at the Library. HPO violin/viola
duo. Hamilton Public Library, 55 York
Blvd., Hamilton. 905-526-7756 or hpo.org.
Free.
●●12:00 noon: Westben. Dickens with a
Musical Twist! First-Friday Lunchtime Tick
Talk. Chris Cameron, musician. Clock Tower
Cultural Centre, 36 Front St. S., Campbellford.
705-653-5508 or 1-877-883-5777.
PWYC($10 minimum suggested).
●●7:30: Don Wright Faculty of Music. Western
University Symphony Orchestra. Works
by Grieg, Berlioz, Dvořák and Séjourné. Alexis
Wright, percussion. Paul Davenport Theatre,
Talbot College, Western University,
1151 Richmond St. N., London. 519-661-3767.
$15/$10(adv).
●●7:30: Tim Nast. In Concert. Tatlock Community
Hall, 6916 Concession Rd. 7 Darling,
Tatlock. timnast.com. $20.
●●8:00: Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony.
Czech Hits. Smetana: Sárka from Má vlast;
Wijeratne: Valdrada from Invisible CitiesLizée:
new commission; Dvořák: Symphony
No.8 in G. Carlos Izcaray, conductor; TorQ
Percussion Quartet. Centre in the Square,
101 Queen St. N., Kitchener. 519-745-4711 or
1-888-745-4717 or kwsymphony.ca. $20-87.
Also Nov 2.
Saturday November 2
●●2:30: Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony.
Water and Ice. Handel: Water Music
(excerpts); other works exploring ways water
and ice can be musical. KWS Youth Orchestra;
Matthew Jones, conductor; Carousel Dance
Company. Centre in the Square, 101 Queen St.
N., Kitchener. 519-745-4711 or 1-888-745-4717
or kwsymphony.ca. $18; $11(child). 1:15pm: art
activities hosted by the KW Art Gallery; music
activities hosted by Music for Young Children;
mini lesson from a KWS musician on a variety
of instruments.
●●3:00: 5 at the First Chamber Players.
Czech Tales. Smetana: Trio in g Op.15;
Jane Skarecky: The Eye of the Phoenix, for
solo cello; Dvořák: Trio in e Op.90. AYR Trio
(Angela Park, piano; Yehonatan Berick, violin;
Rachel Mercer, cello). First Unitarian Church
of Hamilton, 170 Dundurn St. S., Hamilton.
905-399-5125. $20; $15(sr); $5(st/unwaged);
free(under 12).
●●7:30: A Little Wind Music (Upper Canada
Brass). Impressions! Paul Lovatt-Cooper:
“When Thunder Calls”; Len Ballantine: Hannaford
Street March; Kevin Lau: Impressions.
Upper Canada Brass. St. Paul’s Anglican
Church-Innisfil, 3294 St. Paul’s Crescent
St., Barrie. 705-792-5766. $20; $15(sr/st);
free(under 10). Concert in the Church Hall.
Also Oct 25(St. Mary’s Anglican Church, Richmond
Hill).
●●7:30: Cantabile Choirs of Kingston. Life
Has Loveliness. Quartessence; Mark Sirett,
conductor. The Spire/Sydenham Street
United Church, 82 Sydenham St., Kingston.
cantabilechoirs.ca. $22; $20(sr); $12(child 12
and under).
●●7:30: Chorus Niagara. A Child of Our Time.
Michael Tippett. Johane Ansell, soprano;
Lauren Segal, mezzo; Andrew Haji, tenor;
James Westman, baritone; Orpheus Choir
of Toronto; Niagara Symphony Orchestra;
Robert Cooper, conductor. Partridge Hall,
FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre, 250 St.
Paul St., St. Catharines. 905-688-0722. $47;
$45(sr 60+); $30(under 30); $20(st valid
id); $15(ch under 15 valid ID); $5(eyeGO high
school st valid ID). Season subscriptions also
available.
●●7:30: Peterborough Symphony Orchestra.
Between Us: Friendship, Love and Complex
Relationships. Schumann: Symphony
No.3 in E Op.97 “Rhenish”; Schumann: Prelude
and Fugue No.3 Op.16; Archer: Fanfare
and Passacaglia; Brahms: Violin Concerto in D
Op.77. Tom Allen, host; Jonathan Crow, violin;
Michael Newnham, conductor. Showplace Performance
Centre, 290 George St. N., Peterborough.
705-742-7469 or showplace.org.
$20-$49; $10(st).
●●7:30: Tim Nast. In Concert. Maberly Hall,
180 Mablery Elphin Rd., Maberly. timnast.
62 | November 2019 thewholenote.com

com. $20.
●●8:00: DaCapo Chamber Choir. The Sun’s
Birthday. 2019 NewWorks winning composition.
Angela Schwarzkopf, harp. St. John
the Evangelist (Kitchener), 23 Water St. N.,
Kitchener. 519-725-7549. $25; $20(sr 65+);
$15(st-post secondary); $5(youth/child 18 and
under). Also Nov 3(3pm, Trillium Lutheran,
Waterloo).
●●8:00: Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony.
Czech Hits. Smetana: Sárka from Má vlast;
Wijeratne: Valdrada from Invisible CitiesLizée:
new commission; Dvořák: Symphony
No.8 in G. Carlos Izcaray, conductor; TorQ
Percussion Quartet. Centre in the Square,
101 Queen St. N., Kitchener. 519-745-4711 or
1-888-745-4717 or kwsymphony.ca. $20-87.
Also Nov 1.
Sunday November 3
●●2:00: Tim Nast. In Concert. Marble Arts
Centre, 13 Bridgewater Rd., Tweed. timnast.
com. $15.
●●2:30: Kingston Symphony. Rossini and
Rock Stars. Works by Rossini, Beethoven,
Estacio and others. Janna Sailor, conductor.
Grand Theatre (Kingston), 218 Princess St.,
Kingston. 613-546-9729. $10-$50.
●●3:00: DaCapo Chamber Choir. The Sun’s
Birthday. 2019 NewWorks winning composition.
Angela Schwarzkopf, harp. Trillium
Lutheran Church, 22 Willow St., Waterloo.
519-725-7549. $25; $20(sr 65+); $15(st-post
secondary); $5(youth/child 18 and under).
Also Nov 2(8pm, St. John the Evangelist,
Kitchener).
●●7:30: Cuckoo’s Nest Folk Club. Gathering
Sparks. Eve Goldberg and Jane Lewis. Chaucer’s
Pub, 122 Carling St., London. 519-319-
5847. $25/$20(adv).
●●8:00: Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music
Society. Chamber Music Concert. Schubert:
Arpeggione Sonata; Royer: Sarabande;
Strauss: Piano Quartet. Máté Szűcs, viola;
Joyce Lai, violin; Andras Weber, cello; Talisa
Blackman, piano. KWCMS Music Room,
57 Young St. W., Waterloo. 519-886-1673.
$35; $20(st).
Wednesday November 6
●●12:00 noon: Midday Music with Shigeru.
Hwaeun Song, Violin and Younggun Kim,
Piano. Brahms: Violin Sonata No.3; Zigeunerweisen;
and works by Chacon. Hi-Way
Pentecostal Church, 50 Anne St. N., Barrie.
705-726-1181. $10; free(st).
●●12:30: University of Waterloo Department
of Music. Noon Hour Concerts: And Oboe
Makes Four. Britten: Phantasy Quartet for
Oboe and String Trio; Mozart: Oboe quartet
in F. Anita Walsh, violin; Brenna Hardy-Kavanagh,
viola; Ben Bolt-Martin, cello; Jim Mason,
oboe. Great Hall, Conrad Grebel University
College, 140 Westmount Rd. N., Waterloo.
519-885-0220 x24226. Free.
●●7:30: FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre.
Manteca. 250 St. Paul St., St. Catharines.
905-688-0722. $45; $35(Hot Ticket Members);
$25(univ/college st); $5(high school st).
Thursday November 7
●●7:30: Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing
Arts/Full Frequency Productions.
Chamber Music Virtuosity. Brahms:
Piano Quintet in f; and works by Beethoven
and Shostakovich. Fine Arts Quartet; Stewart
Goodyear, piano. Isabel Bader Centre for
the Performing Arts, 390 King St. W., Kingston.
613-533-2424 or queensu.ca/theisabel/tickets.
$42-$59; $39-$56(faculty/staff);
$19-$29(st).
●●8:00: Steel City Jazz Festival. Nick Maclean
Quartet featuring Brownman Ali. Artword
Artbar, 15 Colbourne St., Hamilton.
416-389-2643. $20.
Friday November 8
●●11:30am: Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra.
School Concert: A Canadian Brass
Experience. Canadian Brass. FirstOntario
Concert Hall, 1 Summers Ln., Hamilton. 905-
526-7756 or hpo.org. $5(st).
●●7:30: Bravo Niagara! Festival of the Arts.
Monty Alexander’s Harlem-Kingston Express
and Larnell Lewis Band. Works by Monty Alexander
and Larnell Lewis. Monty Alexander,
piano; Hassan Abdul Ash-Shakur, bass; Jason
Brown, drums; Andrew Bassford, guitar; Larnell
Lewis Band. FirstOntario Performing Arts
Centre Partridge Hall, 250 St. Paul St., St.
Catharines. 289-868-9177 or music@bravoniagara.org.
$25-$55; $5(eyego).
●●7:30: Jazz @ the Loft. Nick Maclean
Quartet’s Tribute to Herbie Hancock featuring
Brownman Ali. The Loft Cinema,
201 Division St., Cobourg. 905-372-2210
or tickets.cobourg.ca/TheatreManager/1/
online?performance=3161. $25.
●●7:30: Tim Nast. In Concert. Joshua Bates
Centre, 1 Main St., Athens. timnast.com. $20.
Saturday November 9
●●10:30am: Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony.
The Porridge Pot. Adaptation of a classic
German fairytale collected by the Grimm
Brothers. Kait Taylor, storyteller; KWS musicians.
Waterloo Region Museum, 10 Huron
Rd., Kitchener. 519-745-4711 or 1-888-745-
4717 or kwsymphony.ca. $13; $11(child). Also
Oct 26(Elmira), Nov 16(Kitchener). 10am:
music activities provided by Music for Young
Children; following concert meet performers
and their instruments.
●●7:30: Avanti Chamber Singers. Inner
Fire. Bach: Lobet den Herrn BWV230; Morlock:
Exaudi; Runestad: A Silence Haunts Me
(premiere). Laura Jones, cello; Lesley Kingham,
piano; Rachel Rensink-Hoff, conductor.
St. Thomas Anglican Church (St. Catharines),
99 Ontario St., St. Catharines. 905-
650-9962. $25/$20(adv); $20(sr); $10(st);
$5(child/youth).
●●7:30: Barrie Concerts. Voices of Angels.
Hamilton Children’s Choir; Zimfira Poloz, conductor.
Hiway Pentecostal Church, 50 Anne
St. N., Barrie. 705-726-1181. $85 or by
subscription.
●●7:30: Grand Philharmonic Choir. Winter
Hymn. Quartel: A Winter’s Day; Gjeilo’s The
Rose; Burhan: Super Flumina Babylonis; and
other works. Grand Philharmonic Chamber
Singers. St. John the Evangelist Anglican
Church, 23 Water St. N., Kitchener. 519-578-
5660 x5290. $30; $14(st/under 30); $5(child/
HS student).
●●7:30: Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra.
A Canadian Brass Salute. Canadian Brass,
guest artists; Joey Pietraroia, conductor.
FirstOntario Concert Hall, 1 Summers Ln.,
Hamilton. 905-526-7756 or hpo.org. $19-$71.
●●7:30: Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing
Arts. Big Band Divas. Swing Shift
Big Band; Heather Bambrick, June Garber
and Larisa Renee, vocalists; Jim John, music
director. 390 King St. W., Kingston. 613-
533-2424 or queensu.ca/theisabel/tickets.
$42-$59; $39-$56(faculty/staff); $19-$29(st).
●●7:30: Tim Nast. In Concert. La Fraternité,
49 St. Paul St., Alexandria. timnast.com. $20.
●●8:00: TD Sunfest World Music & Jazz Series.
Amanda Martinez: CD Release Concert
for “Libre”. Aeolian Hall, 795 Dundas St. E.,
London. sunfest.on.ca. $33/$28(adv).
●●9:30: Nick Maclean Quartet. Nick Maclean
Quartet featuring Brownman Ali. The Alibi
Room, 113 Durham St., Sudbury. 416-389-
2643. Free.
Sunday November 10
FINE ARTS
QUARTET
Sunday, November 10
2pm
Art Gallery of Hamilton
CHAMBER
MUSIC
HAMILTON.CA
●●2:00: Chamber Music Hamilton. In Concert.
Beethoven: String Quartet No.1 in F
Op.18 No.1; Bruckner: String Quintet. Fine
Arts Quartet; Michael Schulte, cello. Art Gallery
of Hamilton, 123 King St. W., Hamilton.
1-905-719-6457. $35; $30(sr); $15(st).
●●3:00: Dundas Valley Orchestra. Broadway
Spectacular! Rodgers: Carousel Waltz (arr.
Walker); Andersson/Rice/Ulvaeus: Athem
(from Chess) (arr. O’Loughlin); Willson: The
Music Man (arr. Issac); Hamlisch: A Chorus
Line (arr. Lowden); Gershwin: Porgy and Bess
(selections; arr. Sayre). Sarena Paton, soprano;
Fernando Lima, countertenor. St. Paul’s
United Church (Dundas), 29 Park St. W., Dundas.
905-387-4773. Free.
●●3:00: Les AMIS Concerts. In Concert.
Works by Hummel, Schubert, Mendelssohn
and Pepa. Kaili Maimets, flute; Rachel Mercer,
cello; Angela Park, piano. Victoria Hall,
Cobourg, 55 King Street W., Cobourg. 905-
372-2210. $30.
●●8:00: Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music
Society. Adam Ciccilitti and Steve Cowan,
Guitar Duo. Roux: Ombres et lumières; Staniland:
Choro: Joyful Lament for Villa-Lobos;
Evangelista: Retazos; Noble: River and Cave;
Debussy: Prelude No.5 from Book II “Bruyères”;
Stafylakis: Focus; and other works.
KWCMS Music Room, 57 Young St. W., Waterloo.
519-569-1809. $30; $20(st).
●●8:00: Nick Maclean Quartet. Nick Maclean
Quartet featuring Brownman Ali. Loplops,
651 Queen St. E., Sault Ste. Marie. 416-389-
2643. $15.
Monday November 11
●●7:30: Don Wright Faculty of Music. Early
Music Studio. Von Kuster Hall, Music Building,
Western University, 1151 Richmond St. N., London.
519-661-3767. Free.
Tuesday November 12
●●7:30: Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing
Arts. Spirit and Soul. Measha
Brueggergosman, soprano. 390 King St. W.,
Kingston. 613-533-2424 or queensu.ca/theisabel/tickets.
$42-$59; $39-$56(faculty/
staff); $19-$29(st).
Wednesday November 13
●●12:30: University of Waterloo Department
of Music. Noon Hour Concerts: Root Systems.
Letting Go (new arr.) and works by Berio, Mansurian,
Sunabacka, Matthews and others. Park
Sounds (Jennifer Thiessen, viola, viola d’amore;
and Ben Reimer percussion. Great Hall, Conrad
Grebel University College, 140 Westmount
Rd. N., Waterloo. 519-885-0220 x24226. Free.
●●2:30: Seniors Serenade. Chris Au Piano
Trio. Shostakovich: Piano Trio No.1 and 2.
Bethel Community Church, 128 St. Vincent
Street, Barrie. 705-726-1181. Free.
●●7:30: Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing
Arts. Virtuosic Tour de Force. Stravinsky:
The Firebird Suite; Ravel: Tzigane;
Saint-Saëns: Rondo Capriccioso; and other
works. National Youth Orchestra of Canada;
European Union Youth Orchestra; Blake
Pouliot, violin; Sascha Goetzel, conductor.
390 King St. W., Kingston. 613-533-2424
or queensu.ca/theisabel/tickets. $42-$59;
$39-$56(faculty/staff); $19-$29(st).
●●8:00: Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music
Society. Chamber Music Concert. Villa-
Lobos: Sonata Fantasia No.2; Mackey: Elegy
and Fantasie; Bax: Violin Sonata No.2; Bolcom:
Duo Fantasy. Duo 526 (Kerry DuWors,
violin; Futaba Niekawa, piano). KWCMS Music
Room, 57 Young St. W., Waterloo. 519-569-
1809. $30; $20(st).
Thursday November 14
●●7:30: FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre.
Juliet + Romeo by Decidedly Jazz Danceworks.
Fraser: Live jazz band score. 250 St.
Paul St., St. Catharines. 905-688-0722 or
1-855-515-0722 or FirstOntarioPAC.ca. $55;
$45(Hot Ticket members); $25(st-university/
college); $5(st-high school).
Friday November 15
●●12:30: Don Wright Faculty of Music. Fridays
at 12:30 Concert Series. Jane Archibald,
soprano; Liz Upchurch, piano. Von
Kuster Hall, Music Building, Western University,
1151 Richmond St. N., London. 519-661-
3767. Free.
●●1:30: Don Wright Faculty of Music. Songs
of Many Lands. Von Kuster Hall, Music Building,
Western University, 1151 Richmond St. N.,
London. 519-661-3767. Free.
●●6:00: Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra.
CF Lime Ridge Tree Lighting. HPO and
HPYO ensembles perform. CF Lime Ridge
Mall, 999 Upper Wentworth St., Hamilton.
905-526-7756 or hpo.org. Free. Time to be
confirmed.
●●7:00: Vera Causa Opera. The Child and the
Spells by Maurice Ravel. First United Church
(Waterloo), 16 William St. W., Waterloo. 519-
277-9277. $15; free(st/child). Also Nov 16,
thewholenote.com November 2019 | 63

B. Concerts Beyond the GTA
17(3pm).
●●7:30: Tim Nast. In Concert. St. Andrew’s
United Church (Pakenham), 2585 County Rd.
29, Pakenham. timnast.com. $20.
●●8:00: Gathering Sparks. CD release: All
That’s Real. Mostly original songs. Eve Goldberg,
acoustic guitar, ukulele, vocals; Jane
Lewis, piano, ukulele, accordion, vocals;
guest musicians. Niagara Artists Centre,
354 St.Paul St., St. Catharines. 905-641-0331.
$25/$20(adv).
●●8:00: Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony.
Shane Cook’s Canadian Celtic Roots. Musical
styles ranging from Irish to Scottish to
French-Canadian and Bluegrass. David Martin,
conductor; Shane Cook, fiddle; Alison Lupton,
vocals/Irish flute; Nate Douglas, guitar;
Mika McCairley-Greenwell, piano/step dance;
Ailsa McCairley-Greenwell, step dance. Centre
in the Square, 101 Queen St. N., Kitchener.
519-745-4711 or 1-888-745-4717 or kwsymphony.ca.
$20-90. Also Nov 16.
Saturday November 16
●●10:30am: Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony.
The Porridge Pot. Adaptation of a classic
German fairytale collected by the Grimm
Brothers. Kait Taylor, storyteller; KWS musicians.
Conrad Centre for the Performing
Arts, 36 King St. W., Kitchener. 519-745-4711
or 1-888-745-4717 or kwsymphony.ca. $13;
$11(child). Also Oct 26(Elmira), Nov 9(Kitchener).
10am: music activities provided by
Music for Young Children; following concert
meet performers and their instruments.
●●7:00: Vera Causa Opera. The Child and the
Spells by Maurice Ravel. First United Church
(Waterloo), 16 William St. W., Waterloo. 519-
277-9277. $15; free(st/child). Also Nov 15,
17(3pm).
●●7:30: Bach Elgar Choir. Brahms’s Requiem.
Brahms: Ein deutsches Requiem Op.45. Melrose
United Church, 86 Homewood Ave.,
Hamilton. 905-527-5995 or bachelgar.com.
$35; $30(sr); $15(st). Cash at the door.
●●7:30: Kingston Symphony. Howard Cable’s
Big Band Hits. Harvey Kogen, flute/clarinet/
saxophone; Evan Mitchell, conductor. Grand
Theatre (Kingston), 218 Princess St., Kingston.
613-546-9729. $10-$50.
●●7:30: Niagara Symphony Orchestra. Diversions.
Prokofiev: Symphony No.1 “Classical”;
Rota: Divertimento Concertante; Haydn: Symphony
No.104 “London”. Brian Baty, double
bass; Bradley Thachuk, conductor. FirstOntario
Performing Arts Centre, 250 St. Paul
St., St. Catharines. 905-688-0722 or 1-855-
515-0722. $69; $64(sr); $33(30 and under);
$20(arts worker); $12(st/child); $5(eyeGO).
Also Nov 17(2:30pm).
●●7:30: Tim Nast. In Concert. Westminster
Presbyterian Church (Smiths Falls), 11 Church
St. W., Smith Falls. timnast.com. $20.
●●8:00: Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music
Society. Piano Recital. Schumann: Waldszenen
(Forest Scenes) Op.82; Intermezzi Op.4; Wijeratne:
Colour Study in Rupaktaal; Debussy:
Images Books I and II (complete). David Jalbert,
piano. KWCMS Music Room, 57 Young St.
W., Waterloo. 519-569-1809. $35; $20(st).
●●8:00: Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony.
Shane Cook’s Canadian Celtic Roots. Musical
styles ranging from Irish to Scottish to
French-Canadian and Bluegrass. David Martin,
conductor; Shane Cook, fiddle; Alison Lupton,
vocals/Irish flute; Nate Douglas, guitar;
Mika McCairley-Greenwell, piano/step dance;
Ailsa McCairley-Greenwell, step dance. Centre
in the Square, 101 Queen St. N., Kitchener.
519-745-4711 or 1-888-745-4717 or kwsymphony.ca.
$20-90. Also Nov 15.
●●8:00: Zula. Houle/Meger/Sorbara. Zula
House, 80 West Ave. N., Hamilton. zulapresents.org.
$15 or PWYC.
Sunday November 17
●●2:30: Glebe-St. James United Church.
Chamber Music Concert: Autumn Notes.
Mozart: Sonata for piano and violin in e; Vivaldi:
Trio Sonata in c; Glière: 8 pieces Op.39
for violin and cello; Reinecke: Trio No.2 in e.
Sofia-Marie Bergeron, violin; Kitty Chan, cello;
Emmanuel Cigana, piano. 650 Lyon St. S.,
Ottawa. 613-236-0617. $10; $7(sr/st).
●●2:30: Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing
Arts. Believer in Beethoven.
Beethoven: Sonatas. Jonathan Biss, piano.
390 King St. W., Kingston. 613-533-2424
or queensu.ca/theisabel/tickets. $42-$59;
$39-$56(faculty/staff); $19-$29(st).
●●2:30: Niagara Symphony Orchestra. Diversions.
Prokofiev: Symphony No.1 “Classical”;
Rota: Divertimento Concertante; Haydn: Symphony
No.104 “London”. Brian Baty, double
bass; Bradley Thachuk, conductor. FirstOntario
Performing Arts Centre, 250 St. Paul
St., St. Catharines. 905-688-0722 or 1-855-
515-0722. $69; $64(sr); $33(30 and under);
$20(arts worker); $12(st/child); $5(eyeGO).
Also Nov 16(7:30pm).
●●3:00: Jeffery Concerts. In Concert.
Beethoven: Sonata No.27 in e Op.90, Sonata
No.28 in A Op.101, Sonata No.29 in B-flat
Op.106 “Hammerklavier”. Minsoo Sohn, piano.
Wolf Performance Hall, 251 Dundas St., London.
519-672-8800. $40.
●●3:00: Vera Causa Opera. The Child and the
Spells by Maurice Ravel. First United Church
(Waterloo), 16 William St. W., Waterloo. 519-
277-9277. $15; free(st/child). Also Nov 15,
16(all 7pm).
●●3:30: Elora Singers. To the Hands. Buxtehude:
Ad Genua; Ad Manus; Caroline Shaw: To
the Hands; Thorvaldsdottir: Ad Genua (To the
Knees). Mark Vuorinen, conductor. St. John’s
Anglican Church (Elora), 36 Henderson St.,
Elora. 519-846-0331. $45; $20(st); $10(child).
●●4:30: Music at St. Thomas’. Toccata and
Fugue in D Minor and Masterworks for Organ
Solo. Bach: Toccata and Fugue in d BWV565,
Passacaglia and Fugue in c BWV582; Vierne:
Berceuse, Arabesque, Carillon de Westminster.
Matthieu Latreille, Francine Nguyen-
Savaria, organ. St. Thomas’s Anglican Church
(Belleville), 201 Church St., Belleville. 613-
962-3636. By donation.
Tuesday November 19
●●12:30: Don Wright Faculty of Music. Chamber
Music Showcase Concert. Von Kuster
Hall, Music Building, Western University,
1151 Richmond St. N., London. 519-661-3767.
Free.
Wednesday November 20
●●12:00 noon: Music at St. Andrew’s. Organ
Recital. Angus Sinclair, organ. St. Andrew’s
Presbyterian Church (Barrie), 47 Owen St.,
Barrie. 705-726-1181. $10; free(st).
●●12:30: University of Waterloo Department
of Music. Noon Hour Concerts: The Birds
and the Bees. Works for female singers. Eviole
(Corey Linforth, soprano; Laura Pudwell,
mezzo; Miriam Stewart-Kroeker, cello; Borys
Medicky, harpsichord). Great Hall, Conrad
Grebel University College, 140 Westmount
Rd. N., Waterloo. 519-885-0220 x24226. Free.
●●8:00: Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony.
Christmastide: A Baroque Christmas. Vivaldi:
Concerto in C for 2 trumpets and strings;
Corrette: Symphonies des Noëls No.3; Charpentier:
Noël pour les instruments; Manfredini:
Sinfonia da Chiesa; Corelli: Concerto
grosso Op.6 No.8 “Christmas Concerto”; Corrette:
Symphonies des Noëls No.1; traditional
carols. Martha Kalyniak and Roxalana Toews,
co-curators; Mathieu Lussier, conductor;
Larry Larson and Dan Warren, trumpet;
Members of the Grand Philharmonic Choir.
First United Church (Waterloo), 16 William St.
W., Waterloo. 519-745-4711 or 1-888-745-4717
or kwsymphony.ca. $37. Also Nov 22(Guelph),
23(Cambridge).
Thursday November 21
●●12:30: Don Wright Faculty of Music. Chamber
Music Showcase Concert. Von Kuster
Hall, Music Building, Western University,
1151 Richmond St. N., London. 519-661-3767.
Free.
●●7:00: Magisterra Soloists. Bass Power.
Barrière: Sonata for Cello and Double Bass;
Farrenc: Quintet (after Nonet); Lourié: Sonata
for Violin and Double Bass; Dvořák: Bass Quintet
Op.77. Guest: Joseph Phillips, double bass.
Museum London Theatre, 421 Ridout St. N.,
London. 519-661-0333. $30; $25(sr); $15(st);
$10(child under 10).
●●7:30: Don Wright Faculty of Music. Opera
at Western: The Secret Gardener (La Finta
Giardiniera). Paul Davenport Theatre, Talbot
College, Western University, 1151 Richmond
St. N., London. 519-661-3767. $30/$20(adv).
Also Nov 22(7:30pm), 23(2pm), 24(2pm).
●●7:30: Westben. Mike and Amy Aiken: House
Concert. Chris Cameron, musician. Clock
Tower Cultural Centre, 36 Front St. S., Campbellford.
705-653-5508 or 1-877-883-5777.
$20(ad/sr); $15(under 30); $5(youth).
●●8:00: Don Wright Faculty of Music. Guest
Artist Recital. Marie Johnson, Robert Riseling,
clarinet; Denise Jung, piano. Von Kuster
Hall, Music Building, Western University,
1151 Richmond St. N., London. 519-661-3767.
Free.
●●8:00: Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music
Society. Chamber Music Concert. Beethoven:
7 Variations on “Bei Männern, welche Liebe
fühlen” from The Magic Flute; Schumann:
Fantasiestücke; Cassado: Suite; Sarasate:
Zigeurnerweisen; Brahms: Sonata No.1 Op.99
in F. Se-Doo Park, cello; Ben Smith, piano.
KWCMS Music Room, 57 Young St. W., Waterloo.
519-886-1673. $30; $20(st).
Friday November 22
●●12:30: Don Wright Faculty of Music. Fridays
at 12:30 Concert Series. Christine Tithecott.
Von Kuster Hall, Music Building, Western
University, 1151 Richmond St. N., London. 519-
661-3767. Free.
●●7:30: Don Wright Faculty of Music. Opera
at Western: The Secret Gardener (La Finta
Giardiniera). Paul Davenport Theatre, Talbot
College, Western University, 1151 Richmond
St. N., London. 519-661-3767. $30/$20(adv).
Also Nov 21(7:30pm), 23(2pm), 24(2pm).
●●8:00: Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony.
Christmastide: A Baroque Christmas. Vivaldi:
Concerto in C for 2 trumpets and strings;
Corrette: Symphonies des Noëls No.3; Charpentier:
Noël pour les instruments; Manfredini:
Sinfonia da Chiesa; Corelli: Concerto
grosso Op.6 No.8 “Christmas Concerto”; Corrette:
Symphonies des Noëls No.1; traditional
carols. Martha Kalyniak and Roxalana Toews,
co-curators; Mathieu Lussier, conductor;
Larry Larson and Dan Warren, trumpet;
Members of the Grand Philharmonic Choir.
Harcourt Memorial United Church, 87 Dean
Ave., Guelph. 519-745-4711 or 1-888-745-4717
or kwsymphony.ca. $37. Also Nov 20(Waterloo),
23(Cambridge).
Saturday November 23
●●1:00: Westben. A Westben Christmas
Carol. Rob Winslow; Soloists; Westben Youth,
Teen and Festival Choruses. Westben Concert
Barn, 6698 County Rd. 30, Campbellford.
705-653-5508 or 1-877-883-5777.
$28(ad/sr);$15(under 30); $5(youth). Also
Nov 24(3pm), 30(3pm, Peterborough),
Dec 1(3pm, Norwood).
●●2:00: Don Wright Faculty of Music. Opera
64 | November 2019 thewholenote.com

at Western: The Secret Gardener (La Finta
Giardiniera). Paul Davenport Theatre, Talbot
College, Western University, 1151 Richmond
St. N., London. 519-661-3767. $30/$20(adv).
Also Nov 21(7:30pm), 22(7:30pm), 24(2pm).
●●7:30: Arcady. There’s a Song in the Air.
Works by Beckett. St. Andrew’s United
Church (Brantford), 95 Darling St., Brantford.
519-752-5823. $25; $15(st).
●●7:30: Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing
Arts. Virtuoso Pianist. Works by
Beethoven and Brahms. Yefim Bronfman,
piano. 390 King St. W., Kingston. 613-533-
2424 or queensu.ca/theisabel/tickets. $42-
$59; $39-$56(faculty/staff); $19-$29(st).
●●7:30: Stratford Symphony Orchestra.
Legend and Legacy. Beethoven: Prometheus
Overture; Violin Concerto in D; Farrenc:
Symphony in g. Sarah Pratt, violin. Avondale
United Church, 194 Avondale Ave., Stratford.
519-271-0990. $40; $10(st); free(under 12).
●●8:00: Karen Schuessler Singers. Shining
Night. Wesley-Knox United Church, 91 Askin
St., London. kssingers.com. $28/$25adv;
$25/$22adv(sr); $10(st).
●●8:00: Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony.
Christmastide: A Baroque Christmas. Vivaldi:
Concerto in C for 2 trumpets and strings;
Corrette: Symphonies des Noëls No.3; Charpentier:
Noël pour les instruments; Manfredini:
Sinfonia da Chiesa; Corelli: Concerto
grosso Op.6 No.8 “Christmas Concerto”; Corrette:
Symphonies des Noëls No.1; traditional
carols. Martha Kalyniak and Roxalana Toews,
co-curators; Mathieu Lussier, conductor;
Larry Larson and Dan Warren, trumpet;
Members of the Grand Philharmonic Choir.
Central Presbyterian Church (Cambridge),
7 Queens Sq., Cambridge. 519-745-4711 or
1-888-745-4717 or kwsymphony.ca. $37. Also
Nov 20(Waterloo), 22(Guelph).
●●8:00: TD Sunfest World Music & Jazz Series/Cuckoo’s
Nest Folk Club. The Light of
East Ensemble. Chaucer’s Pub, 122 Carling St.,
London. sunfest.on.ca. $25/$20(adv).
Sunday November 24
●●2:00: Don Wright Faculty of Music. Opera
at Western: The Secret Gardener (La Finta
Giardiniera). Paul Davenport Theatre, Talbot
College, Western University, 1151 Richmond
St. N., London. 519-661-3767. $30/$20(adv).
Also Nov 21(7:30pm), 22(7:30pm), 23(2pm).
●●2:00: Gallery Players of Niagara. Borodin’s
Muse - An Animated Concert. An original
play by Anthony Magro. Brock University’s
Walker String Quartet performs 19th century
Russian masterworks with actor Colin
Bruce Anthes starring as Borodin. FirstOntario
Performing Arts Centre, 250 St. Paul St.,
St. Catharines. 905-468-1525 or galleryplayers.ca.
$5-$42.
●●2:30: Georgian Music. Gryphon Piano Trio.
Works by Beethoven, Brahms, Dvořák. Bethel
Community Church, 128 St. Vincent Street,
Barrie. 705-726-1181. $65.
●●3:00: Westben. A Westben Christmas
Carol. Rob Winslow; Soloists; Westben Youth,
Teen and Festival Choruses. Westben Concert
Barn, 6698 County Rd. 30, Campbellford.
705-653-5508 or 1-877-883-5777. $28(ad/sr);
$15(under 30); $5(youth). Also Nov 23(1pm),
30(3pm, Peterborough), Dec 1(3pm,
Norwood).
●●5:00: St. George’s Cathedral (Kingston).
Advent Candlelight Procession with Carols.
Works by Palestrina, Carter, Biebl, Stainer
and Aston. Cathedral Adult, Youth, and Children’s
Choir. 270 King St. E., Kingston. 613-
548-4617 or stgeorgescathedral.ca. Freewill
offering. Religious service.
St. Paul’s Anglican
Uxbridge
Bach’s
Christmas
Oratorio
(in English)
Evangelist: Colin
Ainsworth
Conductor: Stu Beaudoin
Sunday, Nov. 24, 7PM
Tickets $25
●●7:00: Cantorei sine Nomine. Bach's Christmas
Oratorio. Bach: Christmas Oratorio (complete
and in English). Colin Ainsworth, Shannon
Coates, Sasha Liebich-Tate, Jonathan Liebich:
soloists; Cantorei sine Nomine choir; Orpheus
Symphonietta; Stuart Beaudoin, director. St.
Paul's Anglican Church (Uxbridge), 59 Toronto
St. S., Uxbridge. 905-852-7016. $25.
●●7:30: Cuckoo’s Nest Folk Club. Archie
Fisher. Chaucer’s Pub, 122 Carling St., London.
519-319-5847. $25/$20(adv).
●●8:00: Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music
Society. Chamber Music Concert. Schumann:
Märchenerzählungen (Fairy Tales)
Op.132; Kurtág: Hommage à R.Sch. Op.15d;
Bruch: Eight Pieces for Clarinet, Viola, and
Piano Op.83; Hoefner: Bird Island Suite. Iris
Trio (Molly Carr, viola; Christine Carter, clarinet;
Anna Petrova, piano); Don McKay, poet.
KWCMS Music Room, 57 Young St. W., Waterloo.
519-569-1809. $35; $20(st).
Tuesday November 26
●●7:30: Don Wright Faculty of Music. Western
University Jazz Ensemble. Works by Darling,
Williams, Schneider and others. Paul
Davenport Theatre, Talbot College, Western
University, 1151 Richmond St. N., London. 519-
661-3767. Free.
●●7:30: Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing
Arts. J.S. Bach: Brandenburg Concertos.
“Akamus”: The Akademie für Alte
Musik Berlin. 390 King St. W., Kingston. 613-
533-2424 or queensu.ca/theisabel/tickets.
$42-$59; $39-$56(faculty/staff); $19-$29(st).
Wednesday November 27
●●12:30: Don Wright Faculty of Music. Western
Performs! Concert Series. Weldon
Library Atrium, 1151 Richmond St. N., London.
519-661-3767. Free.
Thursday November 28
●●12:15: St. George’s Cathedral (Kingston).
Advent Concert. Anne Palmer and Jay McLellan,
flute duo. 270 King St. E., Kingston. 613-
548-4617 or stgeorgescathedral.ca. Freewill
offering.
●●8:00: TD Sunfest World Music & Jazz Series.
Emilie-Claire Barlow. Aeolian Hall, 795 Dundas
St. E., London. sunfest.on.ca. $40/$35(adv).
Friday November 29
●●12:30: Don Wright Faculty of Music. Fridays
at 12:30 Concert Series. Teresa Suen-Campbell,
harp; Stephen Tam, flute. Von Kuster Hall, Music
Building, Western University, 1151 Richmond St.
N., London. 519-661-3767. Free.
●●12:30: Don Wright Faculty of Music. Western
University Percussion Ensemble. Paul
Davenport Theatre, Talbot College, Western
University, 1151 Richmond St. N., London. 519-
661-3767. Free. Also 7pm.
●●12:30: Don Wright Faculty of Music.
Choral Concert: Carols and Choirs. First-
St. Andrew’s United Church (London),
350 Queens Ave., London. 519-661-3767.
$15/$10(adv).
●●6:00: Broadway Jazz Productions. Anything
Goes! An Evening of Cole Porter. Night
And Day; I Get A Kick Out Of You; You’re The
Top; I’ve Got You Under My Skin; So In Love.
Joel Sheridan, voice; Mary-Catherine Pazzano,
voice/piano. Lana’s Lounge, 220 King St.
N., Waterloo. 519-725-5262. No cover. Dinner
reservations recommended. Seating limited.
●●7:00: Don Wright Faculty of Music. Western
University Percussion Ensemble. Paul
Davenport Theatre, Talbot College, Western
University, 1151 Richmond St. N., London. 519-
661-3767. Free. Also 12:30pm.
●●7:30: Bravado Show Choir. Comfort and
Joy. Choral music with some choreography.
Adult choir; 4-piece band; Bravado Kids children’s
choir. Collier Street United Church,
112 Collier St., Barrie. 705-739-1637 or bravadoshowchoir.com.
$25.
●●8:00: Estonian Music Week. An Evening
with Laila Biali. Kadri Voorand; Mihkel Mälgand.
The Westdale Theatre, 1014 King St. W.,
Hamilton. 416-925-9405. $50.
●●8:00: Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony.
German Romantics. Schumann: Overture,
Scherzo and Finale; Brahms: Violin Concerto
in D; Gernsheim: Symphony No.2 in E-flat.
Andrei Feher, conductor; Blake Pouliot, violin.
Centre in the Square, 101 Queen St. N.,
Kitchener. 519-745-4711 or 1-888-745-4717 or
kwsymphony.ca. $20-87. Also Nov 30.
Mozart’s
The Secret
Gardener
(La finta giardiniera)
November 21 – 24
Gilbert & Sullivan’s
The Mikado
January 31 – February 9
Saturday November 30
Vivaldi
Rutter
Somers
Willan
Telfer
November 30
in Barrie
kingedwardchoir.ca
●●2:00: King Edward Choir. Gloria! A Christmas
Concert. Vivaldi: Gloria; Rutter: Angels’
Carol, Candlelight Carol; Willan: Hodie, Christus
natus est; Telfer: Christmas Fanfare; and
other works. Oliver Balaburski, conductor.
Bethel Community Church, 128 St. Vincent
Street, Barrie. 705-733-7955 or kingedwardchoir.ca.
$25; $15(st). Also 7:30pm.
●●2:00: Bravado Show Choir. Comfort and
Joy. Children’s matinee of Bravado Show
Choir’s Christmas Concert. Adult choir; 4
piece band; Bravado Kids children’s choir. Collier
Street United Church, 112 Collier St., Barrie.
705–739–1637. $45(family); $18; $7(under
13). 1pm: Pre-show crafts and fun.
●●3:00: Westben. A Westben Christmas
Carol. Rob Winslow; Soloists; Westben Youth,
Teen and Festival Choruses. Northminster
United Church, 300 Sunset Blvd, Peterborough.
705-653-5508 or 1-877-883-5777.
$28(ad/sr); $15(under 30); $5(youth). Also
Nov 23(1pm, Campbellford), 24(3pm, Campbellford),
Dec 1(3pm, Norwood).
●●7:00: Canadian Celtic Choir. Christmas
Western University
London
music.uwo.ca/events
thewholenote.com November 2019 | 65

Concert. Special guests: Celtic Shift. Royal
View Church, 218 Clarke Rd., London.
celtichoir.ca. $25/$20(adv). Also Dec 8(Lambeth
United Church).
●●7:30: Arcady. Handel’s Messiah. Lighthouse
Festival Theatre, 247 Main Street, Port Dover.
1-888-779-7703. $30.
●●7:30: Bravo Niagara! Festival of the Arts.
Ofra Harnoy. Bach: Adagio from Toccata,
Adagio, and Fugue in C; Corelli: Sonata in d
Op.5 No.8; Popper: Hungarian Rhapsody; Beatles
Medley; Seal: Kiss from a Rose. Ofra Harnoy,
cello; Mike Herriott, flugelhorn/trumpet.
St. Mark’s Anglican Church (Niagara-on-the-
Lake), 41 Byron St., Niagara-on-the-Lake.
289-868-9177 or music@bravoniagara.org.
$30-$60.
●●7:30: King Edward Choir. Gloria! A Christmas
Concert. Vivaldi: Gloria; Rutter: Angels’
Carol, Candlelight Carol; Willan: Hodie, Christus
natus est; Telfer: Christmas Fanfare; and
other works. Oliver Balaburski, conductor.
Bethel Community Church, 128 St. Vincent
Street, Barrie. 705-733-7955 or kingedwardchoir.ca.
$25; $15(st). Also 2pm.
●●7:30: Peterborough Singers. Yuletide
Cheer. Jenkins: Celebration of Christmas;
B. Concerts Beyond the GTA
Halley: Angelus ad Virginem; Quintana: Hodie
Christus Natus Est; Feliciano: Feliz Navidad.
Venabrass; Syd Birrell, organ. Emmanuel
United Church (Peterborough), 534 George
St. N., Peterborough. 705-745-1820. $35;
$10(st).
●●8:00: Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony.
German Romantics. Schumann: Overture,
Scherzo and Finale; Brahms: Violin Concerto
in D; Gernsheim: Symphony No.2 in E-flat.
Andrei Feher, conductor; Blake Pouliot, violin.
Centre in the Square, 101 Queen St. N.,
Kitchener. 519-745-4711 or 1-888-745-4717 or
kwsymphony.ca. $20-87. Also Nov 29.
●●8:00: Zula. Nick Fraser Trio: Rock on Locke.
Nick Fraser, drums/composition; Tony Malaby,
saxophones; Kris Davis, piano. Church of St.
John the Evangelist, 320 Charlton Ave. W.,
Hamilton. zulapresents.org. $15 or PWYC.
Sunday December 1
●●1:30: Don Wright Faculty of Music. New
Horizons Band 20th Anniversary. Roy Ernst,
guest conductor. Paul Davenport Theatre,
Talbot College, Western University,
1151 Richmond St. N., London. 519-661-3767.
Free.
●●2:30: Kingston Symphony. Beethoven and
Rachmaninoff. Rzewski: Coming Together;
Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No.1;
Beethoven: Symphony No.4. Avan Yu, piano;
Evan Mitchell, conductor. Isabel Bader Centre
for the Performing Arts, 390 King St. W.,
Kingston. 613-546-9729 or 613-530-2050.
$10-$50.
●●3:00: Achill Choral Society. Glorious
Sounds Christmas Concert. Chilcott:
Gloria; and other works. Audience singalong.
Shawn Grenke, conductor. Westminster
United Church (Orangeville),
247 Broadway Ave., Orangeville. 905-857-
2737 or achill.ca. $25; $10(13-17); $5(child).
Also Nov 30(Bolton).
●●3:00: Guelph Chamber Choir. Guelph
Chamber Choir’s Christmas Lessons and
Carols with Brass Quintet. Charlene Pauls,
conductor. St. George’s Anglican Church
(Guelph), 99 Woolwich St., Guelph. 519-763-
3000. $25/4 for $80; $10(st/30 and under);
$5(youth 14 and under).
●●3:00: Musicata. With One Accord. Works
by Piazzolla, Luengen and Chatman. Michael
Bridge, accordion. Central Presbyterian
Church (Hamilton), 165 Charlton Ave.
W., Hamilton. 905-531-0345. $25; $20(sr);
$5(st).
●●3:00: Westben. A Westben Christmas
Carol. Rob Winslow; Soloists; Westben
Youth, Teen and Festival Choruses. Norwood
United Church, 4264 Hwy 7, Norwood. 705-
653-5508 or 1-877-883-5777. $28(ad/sr);
$15(under 30); $5(youth). Also Nov 23(1pm,
Campbellford), 24(3pm, Campbellford),
30(3pm, Peterborough).
●●7:00: Barrie Concert Band. Christmas at
the Beach. Lighthouse Community Church,
800 Sunnidale Rd., Wasaga Beach. 705-735-
0720. Donation to the local food bank. Proceeds
to the Wasaga Beach Ministerial Food
Bank. Sponsored by Waterside Retirement
Lodge and Lighthouse Community Church.
●●7:30: Ottawa Bach Choir. A Bach Christmas.
Bach: Meinem Jesum laß ich nicht
BWV124; Ach Gott, wie manches Herzeleid
BWV3; Was mein Gott will, das g’scheh allzeit
BWV111; and others. Meredith Hall, soprano;
Nicholas Burns, countertenor; Philippe
Gagné, tenor; Andrew Mahon, bass; Ensemble
Caprice baroque orchestra; and Jonathan
Oldengarm, organ. Knox Presbyterian
Church (Ottawa), 120 Lisgar St., Ottawa. 613-
270-1015. $50(reserved); $40(adv); $35(sr
65+); $15(st). Also Nov 30 (Grace Church
C. Music Theatre
These music theatre listings contain a wide range of music theatre types including
opera, operetta, musicals and other performance genres where music and
drama combine. Listings in this section are sorted alphabetically by presenter.
●●Brampton Music Theatre. Mamma Mia!
Music and lyrics by Benny Andersson, Björn
Ulvaeus, and some songs with Stig Anderson,
book by Catherine Johnson. Rose Theatre,
1 Theatre Ln., Brampton. 905-874-2800. $29-
$38. Opens Nov 7, 7:30pm. Runs to Nov 16.
Thurs-Sat(7:30pm), Sat(1pm).
●●Brampton Music Theatre. Frozen Jr. Music
and lyrics by Kristen Anderson-Lopez & Robert
Lopez. Lester B. Pearson Theatre, 1 Theatre
Ln., Brampton. 905-874-2800. $15-$20. Opens
Dec 6, 7pm. Also Dec 7(4pm, 7pm).
●●Broadway Jazz Productions. Anything
Goes! An Evening of Cole Porter. Lana’s
Lounge, 220 King St. N., Waterloo. 519-
725-5262. Free; dinner reservation recommended.
Nov 29, 6pm.
●●Capitol Theatre. Cinderella, the Panto.
Written and directed by Caroline Smith.
Cameco Capitol Arts Centre, 20 Queen St.,
Port Hope. 1-800-434-5092. $21-$35. Opens
Nov 15, 8pm. Runs to Dec 22. Days and times
vary. Visit capitoltheatre.com for details.
●●Casey House Foundation. Voices for World
AIDS Day. Glenn Gould Studio, 250 Front St. W.
416-962-4040. Free. Suggested donation $20.
Fundraiser for Casey House. Dec 2, 7:30pm.
●●Church of the Holy Trinity. The Christmas
Story. Church of the Holy Trinity, 19 Trinity
Sq. 416-598-4521. Suggested donation $25;
$5(ch). Opens Dec 6, 7:30pm. Runs to Dec 22.
Fri/Sat(7:30pm), Sat/Sun(4:30pm). Note:
Dec 22 shows at 2pm and 5pm. Note: no
7:30pm on Dec 7.
●●Clarkson Music Theatre. The Addams
Family. Music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa,
book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice.
Meadowvale Theatre, 6315 Montevideo Rd,
Mississauga. 905-615-4720. $35; $32(sr);
$31(st). Opens Nov 22, 8pm. Runs to Dec 1.
Thurs-Sat(8pm), Sun(2pm). Note: extra show
Nov 30, 2pm.
●●Crow’s Theatre/Eclipse Theatre Company.
Ghost Quartet. Music, lyrics and book
by Dave Malloy. Streetcar Crowsnest Scotiabank
Studio, 245 Carlaw Ave. 647-341-7390.
$27-$47. Opens Oct 5, 8pm. Runs to Nov 3.
Days and times vary; visit crowstheatre.com
for details.
●●Danie Friesen. Opera Revue. Danie Friesen,
soprano; Claire Harris, piano; and others. The
Emmett Ray, 924 College St. 647-637-7491.
PWYC. Nov 6, 9:30pm. Also Dec 4.
●●Don Wright Faculty of Music. Opera at
Western: The Secret Gardener (La Finta
Giardiniera). Music by W. A. Mozart. Paul
Davenport Theatre, Talbot College, Western
University, 1151 Richmond St. N., London.
519-661-3767. $30/$20(adv). Opens Nov 21,
7:30pm. Runs to Nov 24. Thurs/Fri(7:30pm),
Sat/Sun(2pm).
●●Drayton Entertainment. Good Ol’ Country
Gospel. Conceived by David Rogers. St.
Jacob’s Schoolhouse Theatre, 11 Albert St. W.,
St. Jacob’s. 1-855-372-9866. $29-$48. Opens
Sep 11, 2pm. Runs to Dec 22. Days and times
vary; visit draytonentertainment.com for details.
●●Drayton Entertainment. Elf. Music by Matthew
Sklar, lyrics by Chad Beguelin, book by
Thomas Meehan and Bob Martin, based on
the film. Hamilton Family Theatre Cambridge,
46 Grand Ave. S., Cambridge. 1-855-372-
9866. $29-$48. Opens Nov 20, 10:30am. Runs
to Dec 22. Days and times vary. Visit draytonentertainment.com
for details.
●●Drayton Entertainment. Sleeping Beauty:
The Panto. Written by Caroline Smith. St.
Jacob’s Country Playhouse, 40 Benjamin
Rd. E., Waterloo. 1-855-372-9866. $29-$48.
Opens Nov 27, 10:30am. Runs to Dec 22. Days
and times vary. Visit draytonentertainment.
com for details.
●●Grand Theatre. Mary Poppins. Music and
lyrics by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B.
Sherman, with George Stiles and Anthony
Drewe, book by Julian Fellowes. Grand Theatre,
471 Richmond St, London. 519-672-
8800. $30-$87. Opens Nov 26, 7:30pm.
Runs to Dec 29. Days and times vary. Visit
grandtheatre.com for details.
●●Harold Green Jewish Theatre Company.
The Pianist of Willesden Lane. Adapted and
directed by Hershey Felder. Mona Golabek,
piano. Greenwin Theatre, Meridian Arts Centre,
5040 Yonge St. 416-932-9995. $30 and
up. Opens Nov 4, 8pm. Runs to Nov 17. Mon-
Thurs/Sat(8pm), Sun(2pm/7pm), Wed(1pm).
Note: Nov 17 at 2pm only.
●●Hope United Church. The War Time Radio
Show. Written by Brian Stevens. Hope United
Church Auditorium, 2550 Danforth Ave. $12-
$15. 416-691-9682. Opens Nov 8, 7:30pm.
Runs to Nov 10. Fri/Sat(7:30pm), Sun(2pm).
●●Kempenfelt Community Players. Madagascar,
Jr. Music and lyrics by George Noriega
and Joel Someillan, book by Kevin Del
Aguila, based on the film. Georgian Theatre,
1 Georgian Drive, Georgian College Campus,
Building C, Barrie. 705-739-4228. $32;
$28(sr/st). Opens Nov 8, 7pm. Runs to Nov 10.
Fri/Sat(7pm), Sat/Sun(2pm).
●●Loose Tea Music Theatre. Singing Only
Softly & The Diary of Anne Frank. Music by
Cecilia Livingston and Grigory Frid, libretti by
Monica Pearce and Grigory Frid. Heliconian
Hall, 35 Hazelton Ave. looseteamusictheatre.
com. $35; $25(st). Opens Nov 2, 7:30pm. Also
Nov 3, 4.
●●Lower Ossington Theatre. The Adventures
of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Book
by Stephan Elliott and Allan Scott, based on
the film. Randolph Theatre, 736 Bathurst St.
1-888-324-6282. $49.99-$79.99. Opens Oct 4,
7:30pm. Runs to Nov 3. Thurs-Sun(7:30pm),
Sat/Sun(3:30pm).
●●Lower Ossington Theatre. Annie. Music
by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin,
book by Thomas Meehan. Randolph Theatre,
736 Bathurst St. 1-888-324-6282. $59.99.
Opens Nov 16, 3:30pm. Runs to Dec 29. Fri/
Sat(7:30pm), Sat/Sun(3:30pm). Note: no
show Dec 8.
●●Maureen Batt. Crossing Borders: Traversía
Latinoamericana. Works by Carrabré, Martins,
Pearce, Rivést, Vega-Zaldivar. Maureen
Batt, soprano; Fabián Arciniegas, tenor; Claire
Harris, piano. Heliconian Hall, 35 Hazelton
Ave. 647-290-7970. $15-$25. Nov 5, 7:30pm.
●●Mirvish. Come From Away. Music, lyrics
and book by Irene Sankoff and David Hein.
Elgin Theatre, 189 Yonge St. 416-872-1212.
$69 and up. Ongoing. Tues-Sat(8pm),
Wed(1:30pm), Sat/Sun(2pm).
●●Mirvish. Piaf/Dietrich: A Legendary Affair.
CAA Theatre, 651 Yonge St. 416-872-1212. $39
and up. Opens Sep 17, 8pm. Runs to Dec 8.
Tues-Sat(8pm), Wed(1:30pm), Sat/Sun(2pm).
●●Mirvish. Girl from the North Country.
Music and lyrics by Bob Dylan, book by
Conor McPherson. Royal Alexandra Theatre,
260 King St. W. 416-872-1212. $39 and
up. Opens Sep 28, 2pm. Runs to Nov 24. Tues-
Sat(8pm), Wed(1:30pm), Sat/Sun(2pm).
●●Mirvish. Mandy Patinkin in Concert: Diaries.
Ed Mirvish Theatre, 244 Victoria St.
416-872-1212. $59 and up. Nov 12, 8pm. Also
Nov 14.
●●Mirvish. Cats. Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber,
libretto by T. S. Eliot. Princess of Wales
Theatre, 300 King St. W. 416-872-1212. $49
and up. Opens Nov 27, 7:30pm. Runs to Jan 5.
Days and times vary. Visit mirvish.com for
details.
●●Musical Stage Company. Uncovered:
Stevie Wonder & Prince. Koerner Hall,
273 Bloor St.W. 416-927-7880. $50 and up.
Opens Nov 4, 8pm. Also Nov 5-7.
●●Musical Stage Company. Uncovered:
Stevie Wonder & Prince. George Weston
Recital Hall, 5040 Yonge St. 416-927-7880.
$65 and up. Opens Nov 8, 8pm. Also Nov 9.
●●Musical Theatre Productions/Allswell
66 | November 2019 thewholenote.com

on-the-Hill, Toronto).
●●8:00: Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music
Society. Chamber Music Concert. Debussy:
Cello Sonata; Fauré: Three Pieces for Violin
and Piano (Berceuse Op.16; Romance
Op.28; Andante Op.75); Ravel: Trio. Kayaleh/
Dolin/Ouellet Trio (Laurence Kayaleh, violin;
Elizabeth Dolin, cello; Claire Ouellet, piano).
KWCMS Music Room, 57 Young St. W., Waterloo.
519-569-1809. $35; $20(st).
Monday December 2
●●7:30: Don Wright Faculty of Music. Contemporary
Music Studio. Von Kuster
Hall, Music Building, Western University,
1151 Richmond St. N., London. 519-661-3767.
Free.
Tuesday December 3
●●12:30: Don Wright Faculty of Music. Western
University Wind Ensemble. Works by Stetner,
Khachaturian, Stamp and Ticheli. Paul
Davenport Theatre, Talbot College, Western
University, 1151 Richmond St. N., London. 519-
661-3767. Free.
●●12:30: Don Wright Faculty of Music. Electroacoustic
Music Compositions. Von Kuster
Hall, Music Building, Western University,
1151 Richmond St. N., London. 519-661-3767.
Free.
Wednesday December 4
●●12:30: Don Wright Faculty of Music. Western
University Symphonic Band. Works by
Barnes, Ticheli, Can der Roost, Holst and
George. Paul Davenport Theatre, Talbot College,
Western University, 1151 Richmond St.
N., London. 519-661-3767. Free.
●●7:30: Cuckoo’s Nest Folk Club. Sarah Matthews
and Doug Eunson. Chaucer’s Pub,
122 Carling St., London. 519-319-5847.
$25/$20(adv).
Thursday December 5
●●12:15: St. George’s Cathedral (Kingston).
Advent Concert. Douglas Handforth, violin;
Jennifer Tindale, cello; Fran Harkness, piano.
270 King St. E., Kingston. 613-548-4617 or
stgeorgescathedral.ca. Freewill offering.
Friday December 6
●●12:00 noon: Hamilton Philharmonic
Orchestra. Brass Holiday Concert. Hamilton
Public Library, 55 York Blvd., Hamilton. 905-
526-7756 or hpo.org. Free.
●●7:30: Isabel Bader Centre for the
Performing Arts. To Gini with Love. Works
by Beethoven, Brahms and Dvořák. Gryphon
Trio. 390 King St. W., Kingston. 613-533-2424
or queensu.ca/theisabel/tickets. $42-$59;
$39-$56(faculty/staff); $19-$29(st).
●●8:00: TD Sunfest World Music & Jazz Series.
A Charlie Brown Christmas. Aeolian Hall,
795 Dundas St. E., London. sunfest.on.ca.
$40/$35(adv).
Saturday December 7
●●11:00am: Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing
Arts. Celebrate! Holidays of the
Global Village. Recommended for ages 6 to
12. Chris McKhool and Friends. Isabel Bader
Centre for the Performing Arts, Rehearsal
Hall, 390 King St. W., Kingston. 613-533-2424
or queensu.ca/theisabel/tickets. $16; $12(faculty/staff);
$8(st). Post-concert workshop:
Storytelling and Throat Music.
●●2:00: Barrie Concert Band. A Christmas
Chocolate Box. Collier Street United Church,
112 Collier St., Barrie. 705-735-0720. $25;
$10(st); free(under 13).
●●7:30: Bach Elgar Choir. Handel’s Messiah.
With choir and orchestra. Melrose United
Church, 86 Homewood Ave., Hamilton. 905-
527-5995. $40; $35(sr); $20(st).
●●7:30: Grand Philharmonic Choir. Messiah.
Handel. Mireille Asselin, soprano; Maude
Brunet, mezzo; Asitha Tenekoon, tenor; Samuel
Chan, baritone; Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony;
Grand Philharmonic Choir. Centre in
the Square, 101 Queen St. N., Kitchener. 519-
578-5660 x5290. $30-$82; $14(st/under 30);
$5(child/HS student).
●●7:30: Niagara Symphony Orchestra. A
Symphonic Bon-Bon: The Nutcracker in Concert.
Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker (complete
music from the ballet). Chorus Niagara
Children’s Chorus; Amanda Nelli, chorus director;
Bradley Thachuk, conductor. FirstOntario
Performing Arts Centre, 250 St. Paul
St., St. Catharines. 905-688-0722 or 1-855-
515-0722. $69; $64(sr); $33(30 and under);
$20(arts worker); $12(st/child); $5(eyeGO).
Also Dec 8(2:30pm).
●●8:00: Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music
Society. A Renaissance Christmas. Capella
Intima Vocal Quartet: Sheila Dietrich, soprano;
Jennifer Enns Modolo, mezzo; Bud
Roach, tenor; David Roth, baritone. KWCMS
Music Room, 57 Young St. W., Waterloo. 519-
569-1809. $35; $20(st).
C. Music Theatre
Productions. Sweeney Todd. Music and
lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book by Hugh
Wheeler. McManus Stage at the Grand Theatre,
471 Richmond St, London. 519-672-
8800. $33.90. Opens Nov 28, 7:30pm. Runs to
Dec 7. Wed-Sat(7:30pm), Sun(1:30pm). Note:
also Dec 7, 1:30pm.
●●National Ballet of Canada. Giselle. Music
by Adolphe Adam. Sir Peter Wright, choreographer.
Four Seasons Centre for the
Performing Arts, 145 Queen St. W. 416-345-
9595. $41 and up. Opens Nov 6, 7:30pm. Runs
to Nov 10. Wed-Sat(7:30pm), Thurs/Sat/
Sun(2pm).
●●National Ballet. Orpheus Alive & Chaconne.
Music by Missy Mazzoli. Robert Binet, choreographer.
Four Seasons Centre for the Performing
Arts, 145 Queen St. W. 416-345-9595.
$41 and up. Opens Nov 15, 7:30pm. Runs to
Nov 21. Wed-Sat(7:30pm), Sat/Sun(2pm).
●●National Ballet. Etudes & Piano Concerto
#1 & Petite Mort. Music by Carl Czerny, Dmitri
Shostakovich, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Harald Lander, choreographer. Alexei
Ratmansky, choreographer. Jiří Kylián, choreographer.
Four Seasons Centre for the Performing
Arts, 145 Queen St. W. 416-345-9595.
$41 and up. Opens Nov 27, 7:30pm. Runs to
Dec 1. Wed-Sat(7:30pm), Sat/Sun(2pm).
●●Off Centre Music Salon. Runaway Waltz.
Works of Strauss, Debussy, Poulenc, Glinka,
Tchaikovsky and others. Trinity-St. Paul’s
Centre, 427 Bloor St. W. 416-466-6323. $50;
$40(sr); $15(13-25); $5(12 and under). Dec 1,
3pm.
●●Opera Atelier. Don Giovanni. Music by W.
A. Mozart, libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte. Ed
Mirvish Theatre, 244 Victoria St. 416-872-
1212. $39-$194. Opens Oct 31, 7:30pm. Runs to
Nov 9. Days and times vary. Visit operaatelier.
com for details.
●●Opera by Request. Rossini’s Barber of
Seville. Music by Gioachino Rossini, libretto by
Cesare Sterbini. College St. United Church,
452 College St. 416-455-2365. $20. In concert
with piano accompaniment. Nov 15, 7:30pm.
●●Opera York. La Traviata. Music by Giuseppe
Verdi, libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. Richmond
Hill Centre for the Performing Arts,
10268 Yonge St., Richmond Hill. 905-787-
8811. $40 and up; $25(st). Nov 1, 7:30pm. Also
Nov 3(mat).
●●Peterborough Theatre Guild. 25th Annual
Putnam County Spelling Bee. Music and lyrics
by William Finn, book by Rachel Sheinkin. The
Guild Hall, 364 Rogers St., Peterborough.
705-745-4211. $15-$25. Opens Nov 8, 8pm.
Runs to Nov 23. Thurs-Sat(8pm), Sun(2pm).
●●Productions Opéra Concept MP. Another
Brick in the Wall: The Opera. Conceived
and created by Julien Bilodeau and Dominic
Champagne, based on the music and lyrics
of Roger Waters. Meridian Hall, 1 Front St. E.
1-855-872-7669. $56 and up. Opens Nov 13,
8pm. Runs to Nov 23. Days and times vary.
Visit meridianhall.com for details.
●●Randolph Academy. Cabaret. Music by
John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb, book by Joe
Masteroff. Annex Theatre, 730 Bathurst St.
416-924-2243. $28. Opens Dec 3, 8pm. Runs to
Dec 7. Tues-Sat(8pm), Sat(2pm).
●●Ross Petty Productions. Lil’ Red Robin
Hood. Written by Matt Murray. Tracey Flye,
director and choreographer. Winter Garden
Theatre, 189 Yonge St. 416-872-1212. $27-$99.
Opens Nov 29, 7pm. Runs to Jan 4. Days and
times vary. Visit rosspetty.com for details.
●●Royal City Musical Productions. Mamma
Mia! Music and lyrics by Benny Andersson,
Björn Ulvaeus, and some songs with Stig
Anderson, book by Catherine Johnson. River
Run Centre Main Stage, 35 Woolwich St,
Guelph. 519-763-3000. $42; $39(sr); $25(st).
Opens Nov 20, 7:30pm. Runs to Nov 24. Wed-
Sat(7:30pm), Sat/Sun(1:30pm).
●●Royal Conservatory of Music. The Glenn
Gould School Fall Opera: Siren Song. Music
by Jonathan Dove, libretto by Nick Dear. Mazzoleni
Concert Hall, Telus Centre, 273 Bloor
St. W. 416-408-0208. $20. Nov 1, 7:30pm.
Also Nov 2.
●●Shaw Festival. A Christmas Carol. Adapted
by Tim Carroll, music by Paul Sportelli. Royal
George Theatre, 85 Queen St., Niagara-onthe-Lake.
1-800-511-7429. $30 and up. Opens
Nov 13, 1pm. Runs to Dec 22. Days and times
vary. Visit shawfest.com for details.
●●Shaw Festival. Irving Berlin’s Holiday Inn.
Music and lyrics by Irving Berlin, book by Gordon
Greenberg and Chad Hodge, based on
the film. Festival Theatre, 10 Queen’s Parade,
Niagara-on-the-lake. 1-800-511-7429. $30
and up. Opens Nov 16, 1pm. Runs to Dec 22.
Days and times vary. Visit shawfest.com for
details.
●●Show One Productions. Classical Stars at
Koerner: Soprano Hibla Gerzmava. Arias from
Anna Bolena, Norma, La forza del destino, and
works by Tchaikovsky, Glinka, Rimsky-Korsakov,
and Rachmaninoff. Ekaterina Ganelina,
piano. Koerner Hall, TELUS Centre, 273 Bloor
St. W. 416-408-0208. $46-$120. Nov 3, 7pm.
●●Soulpepper Concert Series. Riverboat
Coffee House: The Yorkville Scene. Created
by Frank Cox-O’Connell and Mike Ross. Young
Centre for the Performing Arts, 50 Tank
House Lane. 416-866-8666. $35 and up.
Opens Nov 7, 7:30pm. Runs to Nov 17. Tues-
Sat(7:30pm), Wed/Sat/Sun(1:30pm). Note: no
show Nov 10.
●●Soulpepper Theatre. Peter Pan. Adapted
by Fiona Sauder and Reanne Spitzer, music by
Landon Doak, based on the play. Young Centre
for the Performing Arts, 50 Tank House
Ln. 416-866-8666. $30-$45. Opens Dec 6,
7pm. Runs to Dec 24. Days and times vary.
Visit soulpepper.ca for details.
●●Starvox Entertainment. Bend It Like Beckham:
The Musical. Music by Howard Goodall,
lyrics by Charles Hart, book by Gurinder
Chadha and Paul Mayeda Berges, based on
the film. St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts,
27 Front St. E. 416-366-7723. $79 and up.
Opens Dec 7, 8pm. Runs to Dec 24. Tues-
Sun(8pm), Sat/Sun(2pm). Note: Dec 24 shows
at 1pm and 5pm.
●●St. James Players. Mamma Mia! Music and
lyrics by Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus,
and some songs with Stig Anderson, book
by Catherine Johnson. Showplace Performance
Centre, 290 George St N, Peterborough.
705-743-9901. $27; $23(sr/st); $20(ch).
Opens Nov 8, 7:30pm. Runs to Nov 16. Thurs-
Sat(7:30pm), Sun(2pm). Note: also Nov 9,
2pm.
●●Stratford Festival. Billy Elliot the Musical.
Music by Elton John, lyrics and book by Lee
Hall. Festival Theatre, 55 Queen St, Stratford.
1-800-567-1600. $35 and up. Previews begin
Apr 16, 2pm. Runs to Nov 3. Days and times
vary. Visit stratfordfestival.ca for details.
●●Stratford Festival. Little Shop of Horrors.
Music by Alan Menken, lyrics and book by
Howard Ashman. Avon Theatre, 99 Downie
St, Stratford. 1-800-567-1600. $35 and up.
Previews begin Apr 29, 2pm. Runs to Nov 2.
Days and times vary. Visit stratfordfestival.
ca for details.
●●Stratford Festival. The House of Martin
Guerre, In Concert. Music and lyrics by Leslie
Arden, book by Anna T. Cascio. Avon Theatre,
99 Downie St, Stratford. 1-800-567-1600.
$35-$100. Nov 4, 8pm.
●●Talk Is Free Theatre. Into the Woods. Music
and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book by
James Lapine. Georgian Theatre, 1 Georgian
Dr., Barrie. 705-792-1949. $46; $23(st).
Opens Nov 14, 7:30pm. Runs to Nov 16.
Thurs(7:30pm), Fri/Sat(8pm), Sat(2pm).
●●Theatre Ancaster. Mamma Mia! Music and
lyrics by Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus,
and some songs with Stig Anderson, book by
Catherine Johnson. Ancaster High School,
Theatre Auditorium, 374 Jerseyville Rd.,
Ancaster. 905-304-7469. $37; $32(sr);
$17(st). Opens Nov 15, 7:30pm. Runs to
Nov 30. Fri/Sat(7:30pm), Sun(2pm). Also
Nov 23(2pm).
●●Theatre Aquarius. Hairspray. Music by
Marc Shaiman, lyrics by Scott Wittman and
thewholenote.com November 2019 | 67

C. Music Theatre D. In the Clubs (Mostly Jazz)
Marc Shaiman, book by Mark O’Donnell and
Thomas Meehan, based on the film. Theatre
Aquarius, 190 King William St, Hamilton. 905-
522-7529. $40 and up. Opens Nov 27, 7:30pm.
Runs to Dec 24. Tues-Sat(7:30pm), Sat/
Sun(1:30pm). Note: Dec 24 show at 1:30pm.
●●Theatre Aurora. Assassins. Music and
lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book by John
Weidman. Theatre Aurora, 150 Henderson Dr,
Aurora. 905-727-3669. $25; $23(sr); $10(st).
Opens Nov 28, 8pm. Runs to Dec 7. Thurs-
Sat(8pm), Sun(2pm).
●●Theatre Gargantua. The Wager. Created
by Jacquie P. A. Thomas, written by Michael
Spence. Theatre Passe Muraille, 16 Ryerson
Ave. 416-260-4660. $22-$35. Opens Nov 14,
7:30pm. Runs to Nov 30. Wed-Sat(7:30pm).
●●Theatre Orangeville. Little Women. Music
and lyrics by Jim Betts, book by Nancy
Early. Orangeville Town Hall Opera House,
87 Broadway, Orangeville. 519-942-3423.
$44; $22(st). Opens Nov 28, 8pm. Runs to
Dec 22. Days and times vary. Visit theatreorangeville.ca
for details.
●●Theatre Sheridan. Newsies. Music by Alan
Menken, lyrics by Jack Feldman, book by Harvey
Fierstein, based on the film. Macdonald-Heaslip
Hall, 1430 Trafalgar Rd, Oakville.
905-815-4049. $30; $27(sr). Opens Nov 26,
7:30pm. Runs to Dec 8. Tues-Thurs(7:30pm),
Fri/Sat(8pm), Sat/Sun(2pm). Note: no show
Dec 1.
●●Theatre Sheridan. Nine. Music and lyrics
by Maury Yeston, book by Arthur Kopit. Studio
Theatre, 1430 Trafalgar Rd, Oakville.
905-815-4049. $30; $27(sr). Opens Nov 29,
7:30pm. Runs to Dec 8. Tues-Sat(7:30pm),
Sat/Sun(2pm).
●●TO Live. Isango Ensemble - A Man of Good
Hope. St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts,
27 Front St. 1-855-985-2787. $60-$85. Opens
Nov 13, 8pm. Runs to Nov 17. Wed-Sat(8pm),
Sat/Sun(2pm).
●●TO Live. Taj Express: The Bollywood Musical
Revue. St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts,
27 Front St. 1-855-985-2787. $49-$69. Opens
Nov 24, 2pm. Runs to Dec 1. Tues-Sat(8pm),
Sat/Sun(2pm).
●●Tongue in Cheek Productions. Opera 5:
Eight Singers Drinking. Works by Handel, Porter,
Montsalvatge, Berlioz, Viardot and others.
Gallery 345, 345 Sorauren Ave. 647-825-3151.
$35; $25(arts worker). Nov 8, 8pm.
●●Toronto City Opera. Les contes
d’Hoffmann. Music by Jacques Offenbach,
libretto by Jules Barbier. Al Green Theatre,
750 Spadina Ave. 647-699-9391. $45-
$55; $35(st). Opens Nov 21, 7:30pm. Also
Nov 23(4pm), 24(3pm).
●●Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Grand
Opera in Concert: Thaïs. Music by Jules Massenet,
libretto by Louis Gallet. Roy Thomson
Hall, 60 Simcoe St. 416-598-3375. $35 and up.
Nov 7, 8pm. Also Nov 9.
●●University of Toronto Faculty of Music.
Early Music Concerts: King Arthur. Music by
Henry Purcell, libretto by John Dryden. Trinity-St.
Paul’s Centre, 427 Bloor St. W. 416-408-
0208. $30; $20(sr); $10(st). U of T students
admitted free with a valid TCard, space permitting.
Nov 19, 7:30pm.
●●University of Toronto Faculty of Music.
The Marriage of Figaro. Music by W. A. Mozart,
libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte. MacMillan
Theatre, Edward Johnson Building,
80 Queen’s Park. 416-408-0208. $40;
$25(sr); $10(st). U of T students admitted
free with a valid TCard, space permitting.
Opens Nov 21, 7:30pm. Runs to Nov 24. Thurs-
Sat(7:30pm), Sun(2:30pm).
●●University of Toronto Faculty of Music. U of T
Symphony Orchestra: Operatic Showpieces.
MacMillan Theatre, Edward Johnson Building,
80 Queen’s Park. 416-408-0208. $30; $20(sr);
$10(st). U of T students admitted free with a
valid TCard, space permitting. Dec 5, 7:30pm.
●●Vera Causa Opera. The Child and the Spells
by Maurice Ravel. First United Church (Waterloo),
16 William St. W., Waterloo. 519-277-
9277. $15; free(st/child). Opens Nov 15, 7pm.
Runs to Nov 17. Fri/Sat(7pm), Sun(3pm).
●●VOICEBOX: Opera in Concert. Katya
Kabanová. Music by Leoš Janáček. Sung in
English. Jane Mallett Theatre, St. Lawrence
Centre for the Arts, 27 Front St. E. 416-366-
7723. $20-$50. Dec 1, 2:30pm.
●●Wavestage Theatre. The Secret Garden.
Music by Lucy Simon, lyrics and book by Marsha
Norman, based on the novel. Newmarket
Theatre, 505 Pickering Cres., Newmarket.
wavestagetheatre.com. $29; $25(sr/st).
Opens Nov 7, 7:30pm. Runs to Nov 10. Thurs-
Sat(7:30pm), Sat/Sun(2pm).
●●Westben. Dickens with a Musical Twist!
First-Friday Lunchtime Tick Talk. Chris Cameron,
musician. Clock Tower Cultural Centre,
36 Front St. S., Campbellford. 705-653-5508
or 1-877-883-5777. PWYC($10 minimum suggested).
Nov 1, 12pm.
●●Windsor Light Musical Theatre. Matilda.
Music and lyrics by Tim Minchin, book by Dennis
Kelly, based on the novel. St. Clair Centre
for the Arts, 201 Riverside Dr W, Windsor.
519-974-6593. $36; $31(sr/st); $19(ch).
Opens Nov 15, 7:30pm. Runs to Nov 24. Fri/
Sat(7:30pm), Sun(2pm).
●●Young People’s Theatre. The Adventures of
Pinocchio. Music and lyrics by Neil Bartram,
book by Brian Hill. Young People’s Theatre,
165 Front St. E. 416-862-2222. $10-$54. Opens
Nov 11, 10:15am. Runs to Jan 5. Days and times
vary. Visit youngpeoplestheatre.ca for details.
●●Young People’s Theatre. A Million Billion
Pieces. By David James Brock, music by Gareth
Williams. Young People’s Theatre, 165 Front St.
E. 416-862-2222. $24; $19(st). Opens Nov 25,
10:30am. Runs to Dec 13. Days and times vary.
Visit youngpeoplestheatre.ca for details.
Search listings by genre online at
thewholenote.com/just-ask
120 Diner
120 Church St. 416-792-7725
120diner.com (full schedule)
Most shows $10-$20
All shows: PWYC ($10-$20 suggested)
Alleycatz
2409 Yonge St. 416-481-6865
alleycatz.ca
All shows: Call for cover charge info.
Mon 8:30pm Salsa Night with DJ Romantico
with free lessons.
Tues 8:30pm Bachata Night with Weekly
Guest DJ with free lessons.
Wed 7pm Midtown Blues Jam hosted by
Andrew “Voodoo” Walters.
Thurs 7pm Spotlight Thursdays.
Fri & Sat 9:30pm Funk, Soul, R&B Top 40 $10
cover after 9pm.
Sat 3pm-6pm Matinee Jazz.
Sun 4pm Blues in The Alley w/ Big Groove.
Nov 1 Lady Kane. Nov 2 Lady Kane. Nov 7 The
Garden. Nov 8 Gyles Band. Nov 9 URequest.
Nov 14 Where it Zat. Nov 15 Red Velvet.
Nov 16 Lady Kane. Nov 21 The Garden.
Nov 22 Blonde Ambition. Nov 23 York Jazz
Ensemble (matinee), Disco Night w/ Escapade
(evening). Nov 28 20 Flight Rockers.
Nov 29 Gyles Band. Nov 30 Lady Kane.
Artword Artbar
15 Colbourne St., Hamilton. 905-543-8512
artword.net (full schedule)
The Blue Goose Tavern
1 Blue Goose St. 416-255-2442
thebluegoosetavern.com (full schedule)
Bloom
2315 Bloor St. W. 416-767-1315
bloomrestaurant.com (full schedule)
All shows 7pm 19+. Call for reservations.
Burdock
1184 Bloor St. W. 416-546-4033
burdockto.com
Ticket prices vary by show, but typically
$10-$20; check website for individual show
prices.
Nov 1 6:30pm Jeffrey Martin w/ Ada Dahli.
Nov 2 6:30pm Tony McManus and Julia
Toaspern w/ John McMillan, 9:30pm Mateo
Mancuso. Nov 3 6:30pm BanjoGoBoom! w/
Bob Cohen, 9:30pm Federico Luiu. Nov 4 9pm
Monday Night Madness – Creo, Stretch, &
Scotty IV. Nov 6 6:30pm Annie Lou, 9:30pm
Picastro w/ Jason Anderson. Nov 7 6:30pm
Priya & Belinda Corpuz, 9:30pm Aphrose w/
DJ Ree. Nov 8 6:30pm Jenna Marie Pinard
and Jay Yoo, 9:30pm JORDANN w/ Joyia.
Nov 11 9:30pm Ami Dang / Kat Estacio / Memory
Pearl. Nov 12 6:30pm Rayannah, 9:30pm
IDP Toronto 4 w/ ilkae, Zachary Gray, and bio-
Mecanico. Nov 13 6:30pm OXALA, 9:30pm
Aleksi Campagne. Nov 14 6:30pm Raine
Hamilton, 9:30pm Nick Sherman + G.R.
Gritt. Nov 15 6:30pm, 9:30pm Daniel Champagne
(two shows). Nov 16 6:30pm Terry
Cade Quartet, 9:30pm Awolk w/ My Father’s
Son. Nov 17 9:30pm Germain Carter. Nov 19
9:30pm Luke Winslow-King. Nov 20 6:30pm
Gabrielle Papillon. Nov 21 8pm Kaurna Cronin
w/ Siydock. Nov 22 9:30pm For Esmé w/
Joel in Blue. Nov 23 9:30pm May Have w/
TOVI. Nov 24 9:30pm Aaron Dolman w/ Emily
Steinwall. Nov 27 6:30pm SHANEICE, 9:30pm
KRUTb. Nov 29 9:30pm Running Red Lights
and Mike Celia.
Cameron House
408 Queen St. W. 416-703-0811
thecameron.com
Castro’s Lounge
2116 Queen St. E. 416-699-8272
castroslounge.com (full schedule)
All shows: No cover/PWYC
C’est What
67 Front St. E. (416) 867-9499
cestwhat.com (full schedule)
All concerts are PWYC unless otherwise
noted.
Nov 1 9pm Fraser Melvin Band. Nov 2 3pm
The Hot Five Jazzmakers, 9pm Mr! Mouray
and Clockwise. Nov 8 9pm Metronome
Chomsky. Nov 9 3pm The Victor Monsivais
Trio, 9pm James Clark Institute, Erika Werry
& The Alphabet, Cassie Norton. Nov 10 6pm
Too Dumb to Quit Nov 16 3pm The Hot Five
Jazzmakers. Nov 17 7pm Emerald Bay. Nov 22
9pm The Mark T Band. Nov 23 3pm The Victor
Monsivais Trio. Nov 24 6pm Too Dumb to Quit.
Nov 30 3pm The Hot Five Jazzmakers.
Emmet Ray, The
924 College St. 416-792-4497
theemmetray.com (full schedule)
All shows: No cover/PWYC
Grossman’s Tavern
379 Spadina Ave. 416-977-7000
grossmanstavern.com (full schedule)
All shows: No cover (unless otherwise noted).
Every Sat 4:30pm The Happy Pals Dixieland
Jazz Jam. Every Sun 4:30pm New Orleans
Connection All Star Band; 10pm Sunday Jam
with Bill Hedefine. Every Wed 10pm Action
Sound Band w/ Leo Valvassori.
Hirut Cafe and Restaurant
2050 Danforth Ave. 416-551-7560
hirut.ca
Every Sunday 3pm Hirut Sundays Open Mic.
First and Third Tuesday 8pm Fingerstyle Guitar
Association.
Nov 1 8pm Daniel Barnes Ethio Jazz Quartet.
Nov 2 8pm Marty Harrison Jazz Quintet.
Nov 5 8pm Finger Style Guitar Association
Open Stage. Nov 8 8:30pm Don Naduriak
Jazz of the Americas. Nov 10 7pm The Dunstan
Morey Trio. Nov 15 8pm Steve Koven
Trio. Nov 16 8pm Enku Scholarship Fund
Raising Party. Nov 19 8pm Finger Style Guitar
Association Open Stage. Nov 20 8pm The
BTB’s Band. Nov 22 8pm The Ian White Quartet.
Nov 26 8pm Poetry Night. Nov 27 8pm
John Fraser Findlay. Nov 28 8pm Blues Jam.
Nov 29 9pm Hirut Hoot Comedy Night.
Home Smith Bar – See Old Mill, The
Hugh’s Room
2261 Dundas St. W 416 533 5483
hughsroom.com
All shows at 8:30pm unless otherwise noted.
See website for individual show prices.
Nov 2 Johnny A. Nov 3 Jessica Rhaye Presents:
The Dylan Project. Nov 4 Myles Goodwyn
and Friends of the Blues. Nov 5 8pm
Diane Roblin. Nov 6 Fergus Hambleton.
68 | November 2019 thewholenote.com

Beat by Beat | Mainly Clubs, Mostly Jazz!
November Gets
Seriously Busy
COLIN STORY
Ah, November. A month so rich in music that it causes one to
strain against word limits, bridle at the constraints of the page
and discard a number of truly perfect jokes, whose inclusion –
if a writer took less seriously his charge to write about, well, music –
would have sent this magazine’s readership into dangerous paroxysms
of laughter, such that finishing the rest of this column would surely
prove impossible. Out of kindness: let’s get to it.
On November 14 and 15, the Montreal-based pianist Gentiane MG
(Michaud-Gagnon) leads her eponymous trio at Jazz Bistro in support
of her recent album, Wonderland. Though Michaud-Gagnon may be
a new name to Toronto audiences, she has been increasingly active
on the Canadian jazz scene following her time at McGill, at which she
studied with Rémi Bolduc, André White and Jean-Michel Pilc, among
others. Her debut trio recording, Eternal Cycle, was on CBC Music’s
list of 10 outstanding Canadian jazz albums of 2017, along with the
likes of Matthew Stevens, Diana Krall, and PJ Perry. At Jazz Bistro,
Michaud-Gagnon brings her working rhythm section, bassist Levi
Dover and drummer Louis-Vincent Hamel. The trio’s playing runs
the gamut from introspective, pensive ballads to uptempo swingers.
Throughout it all, Michaud-Gagnon discharges her pianistic duties
with aplomb, playing both single-note lines and lush chords with
succinct clarity.
Also at Jazz Bistro: vibraphonist Dan McCarthy, on November 26,
appearing in quartet formation with guitarist Ted Quinlan, bassist
Gentiane MG Trio
Pat Collins and drummer Ted Warren. McCarthy’s quartet appears
in support of his recently released album, City Abstract, which
features the same band. Recorded in May of this year at Canterbury
Music Company, City Abstract is something of a homecoming for
McCarthy, who, after living and working in New York for 15 years,
has moved back to his hometown of Toronto. McCarthy is a superlative
vibraphonist, with chops, tone and taste to spare; his performance/recording
credits include work with American musicians such
as Steve Swallow, Ben Monder and George Garzone, as well as with
leading Canadian musicians, including Lorne Lofsky, Terry Clarke
and Laila Biali. Though the vibraphone has been something of an
uncommon instrument in modern jazz, McCarthy – along with other
notable young players, including the American Joel Ross and Toronto’s
... In the Clubs (Mostly Jazz)...
Nov 7 Johannes Linstead. Nov 8 The Songs of
Nick Drake. Nov 9 The Songs of Nick Drake.
Nov 10 7pm Jane Bunnett and Maqueque.
Nov 12 8pm Dave Woods Presents: Storytellers.
Nov 13 Aerialists. Nov 14 6pm Indie
Week. Nov 15 8pm Dayna Manning CD
Release. Nov 16 Wolfe Island Records Show.
Nov 17 2pm The World of Jackie Washington,
8:30pm Bywater Call. Nov 18 Linda McRae,
Barry James Payne, Deni Gauthier. Nov 19
9am Ravel, 8:30pm Christina Martin, Crissi
Cochrane, Mary Stewart. Nov 20 7:30pm The
Redeemers. Nov 21 Al Lerman and Northern
Bayou. Nov 22 Musical Tribute to Tom Waits.
Nov 23 Musical Celebration of The Band.
Nov 24 Musical Celebration of The Band.
Nov 5 8pm Dr. Mike Daley Presents: The
Aretha Franklin Story. Nov 27 Steve Strongman.
Nov 28 David Celia Presents: Pink
Floyd’s The Wall. Nov 29 Leahy. Nov 30 Leahy.
Jazz Bistro, The
251 Victoria St. 416-363-5299
jazzbistro.ca (full schedule)
Nov 1 9pm Rossanno Sportiello. Nov 2 9pm
Rossanno Sportiello. Nov 3 7pm Mandy Lagan
Trio. Nov 5 8pm Music Can Heal Fundraiser.
Nov 6 8pm David Rubel’s 251 Jazz Jam Session.
Nov 7 9pm Levon Ichkhanian. Nov 8
9pm Levon Ichkhanian. Nov 9 9pm Levon
Ichkhanian. Nov 10 7pm Ros Kindler. Nov 12
8pm Linda Carone. Nov 13 8pm David Rubel’s
251 Jazz Jam Session. Nov 14 9pm Gentiane
MG Trio. Nov 15 9pm Gentiane MG Trio.
Nov 16 9pm Ranee Lee. Nov 17 7pm Mandy
Goodhandy and Sebastian Ellis. Nov 20 8pm
David Rubel’s 251 Jazz Jam Session w/ John
Fedchock. Nov 21 9pm Sheila Jordan. Nov 22
9pm Sheila Jordan. Nov 23 9pm Sheila Jordan.
Nov 24 7pm Tracy Michailidis. Nov 26
8pm Dan McCarthy Quartet. Nov 27 8pm
David Rubel’s 251 Jazz Jam Session. Nov 28
8:30pm Colin Hunter and the Anthony Terpstra
Seventet. Nov 29 8:30pm Colin Hunter
and the Joe Sealy Quartet. Nov 30 Colin
Hunter and the Joe Sealy Quartet.
Jazz Room, The
Located in the Huether Hotel, 59 King St. N.,
Waterloo. 226-476-1565
kwjazzroom.com (full schedule)
Attendees must be 19+. Cover charge varies
(generally $12-$25)
Nov 1 6:30pm Glenn Buhr and the Button
Factory Band. Nov 2 8:30pm Marieke Weining.
Nov 7 8pm Michael Coghlan Group feat.
Daniel Lichti. Nov 8 8:30pm Jonathan Chapman
Trio w/ Laura Anglade. Nov 9 3pm Saturday
Afternoon Jazz Jam. Nov 10 8pm
Pilar (Ilaria Patassini) and Michael Occhipinti’s
Sicilian Jazz Project. Nov 15 8:30pm Top
Pocket. Nov 16 8:30pm Gentiane MG Trio.
Nov 22 8:30pm Rob Gellner’s Herbie Hancock
Tribute. Nov 23 8:30pm Mark Kelso’s Fezziwig
Project. Nov 24 8pm Jane Bunnett and
Maqueque. Nov 29 8:30pm Emile d’Eon Trio.
Nov 30 8:30pm Emile Claire Barlow.
Lula Lounge
1585 Dundas St. W. 416-588-0307
lula.ca (full schedule)
Every Fri 7:30pm Afterwork Global Party
Series free before 8pm; Every Fri 8:30pm
Havana Club Fridays $15; Every Sat 10:30pm
Salsa Saturdays $15.
Nov 3 6:30pm 6th Annual Blues for the Red
Door Family Shelter. Nov 4 6pm Michael St.
George. Nov 5 6:30pm Dayramir Gonzalez &
OKAN. Nov 6 6pm 5th Annual Benefit Concert
to End Abuse to Women and Girls. Nov 7
6pm Great Songs of the Folk Revival. Nov 14
6:30pm Influenced: A Tribute to Neo Soul.
Nov 14 9pm Samba Reggae Fest. Nov 18 6pm
Avalon’s Garden Swings for SickKids Nov 19
7pm Novalima. Nov 20 7pm CIUT-FM The
Sound of Your City Fundraiser. Nov 28 6pm
Sun, Nov 10 at 4:30pm
Tribute to Charlie Parker
Matthew Woroshyl
(alto saxophone)
Christ Church Deer Park, 1570 Yonge St.
(north of St. Clair at Heath St.)
Admission is free; donations are welcome.
Reina del Cid. Nov 28 9:30pm Wife.
Manhattans Pizza Bistro & Music Club
951 Gordon St., Guelph 519-767-2440
manhattans.ca (full schedule)
Mezzetta Restaurant
681 St. Clair Ave. W. 416-658-5687
mezzettarestaurant.com (full schedule)
Monarch Tavern
12 Clinton St. 416-531-5833
themonarchtavern.com (full schedule)
Nov 1 8:30pm Haunting The Monarch: Love
Wagon, Averages & Rikashay. Nov 3 7:30pm
Pomes w/ Mustardmind, Animal Party,
Torandaga. Nov 4 7:30pm Martin Loomer
& His Orange Devils Orchestra. Nov 5 8pm
Belleville-Ville. Nov 6 8:30pm Motherhood
Featuring some of Toronto’s best
jazz musicians with a brief reflection
by Jazz Vespers Clergy
Sun, Nov 24 at 4:30pm
’A Charlie Brown Christmas’
John Sherwood (piano), Scott
Alexander (bass), Brian Barlow (drums)
416-920-5211
www.thereslifehere.org
thewholenote.com November 2019 | 69

Landline
Michael Davidson – serves as a good reminder of the instrument’s
strengths and capabilities, and of the unique music that it makes
possible.
On November 6 and 7, saxophonist Chet Doxas brings the group
Landline to The Rex. Though currently a Brooklyn resident, Doxas
was born and raised in Montreal, where he attended McGill for both
his undergraduate and graduate degrees; his brother, Jim Doxas, is
one of Canada’s better-known jazz drummers, and still based in their
shared hometown. Landline – whose eponymous debut album will
release on November 1 – is a quartet, made up of Doxas, pianist Jacob
Sacks, bassist Zack Lober and drummer Vinnie Sperrazza. Landline is
something of a family affair: in May of this year, George Doxas, Chet’s
father, recorded the album in Montreal at Boutique de Son Studios.
Landline gets its name from a two-year-long process of “collaborative
composition” by all four members of the quartet, each of whom
made contributions to each piece in a process reminiscent of the children’s
game “broken telephone.” What this means isn’t precisely
clear, but I imagine that all will be revealed at The Rex. What is clear
is that Landline represents an intriguing new project from accomplished
modern jazz musicians who have played together – both in
this specific quartet and in other configurations – for a number of
years, with a collective group dynamic that only comes with shared
experience.
Sacks will be returning to The Rex later in the month with the Dan
Weiss Trio, where he – along with Weiss (drums) and Thomas Morgan
(bass) – will be playing two consecutive nights on November 20 and
21. The last time that I wrote about Weiss for The WholeNote, it was
in the wake of his 2018 Jazz Festival performance with his Starebaby
project. Drawing influence from Twin Peaks, the album Starebaby
was a study in Lynchian intensity, with bombastic and quiet moments
sustained past conventional points of resolution. During the group’s
packed Toronto show, this exploratory spirit was on display in full
force; the show that I saw qualified as one of the loudest and quietest
shows that I’ve ever seen at The Rex, or, for that matter, at any jazz
... In the Clubs (Mostly Jazz)
w/ Pete Carmichael & The Volts, Maybelleen
Nov 7 8:30pm Mimico w/ Vallens, Bart. Nov 8
8:30pm Sorry Girls w/ Favours & More. Nov 9
8:30pm Pale Lips w/ Prancer, Terrastray.
Nov 10 8:30pm Stuyedeyed w/ Mother
Tongues + Your Grandad. Nov 15 9:30pm
Beans on Toast. Nov 17 8:30pm Brooke Lanziner.
Nov 20 8pm Ringo Deathstarr. Nov 21
9pm Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet.
Nov 21 9pm Shadowy Men on a Shadowy
Planet. Nov 22 9pm Shadowy Men on a Shadowy
Planet.
N’awlins Jazz Bar & Dining
299 King St. W. 416-595-1958
nawlins.ca
All shows: No cover/PWYC.
Every Tue 6:30pm Stacie McGregor. Every
Wed 7pm The Jim Heineman Trio. Every Thur
8pm Nothin’ But the Blues with Joe Bowden.
Every Fri & Sat 8:30pm N’awlins All Star
Band; Every Sun 7pm Brooke Blackburn.
Nice Bistro, The
117 Brock St. N., Whitby. 905-668-8839
nicebistro.com (full schedule)
Live jazz and dinner, $45.00 per person. Dinner
from 6pm and music from 7pm to 9pm.
Nov 13 Suzi and Doug. Nov 27 Paul Greco and
Laura Gauthier.
Old Mill, The
21 Old Mill Rd. 416-236-2641
oldmilltoronto.com (full schedule)
The Home Smith Bar: No reservations. No
cover. $20 food/drink minimum. All shows:
7:30-10:30pm unless otherwise listed.
Nov 1 Canadian Jazz Quartet & Friends.
Nov 2 Wendy Lands Quartet. Nov 5 Gene
DiNovi. Nov 6 Mike Murley Trio. Nov 7 Libor
Smoldas Trio. Nov 8 Dave Young Quartet.
Nov 9 Brian Blain’s Blues Campfire.
Nov 13 John MacLeod and Friends.
Nov 14 Sophia Perlman & Adrean Farrugia’s
Thursday Night Jazz Party. Nov 15 James
Brown Trio. Nov 16 Tunetown. Nov 20 Russ
Little Quartet. Nov 21 Bob DeAngelis &
Friends. Nov 22 Richard Whiteman Trio.
Nov 23 Monica Chapman Trio. Nov 27 John
MacMurchy’s Wednesday Night Jazz Party.
Nov 28 Daniel Bado Quartet. Nov 29 Amy
McConnell Quartet. Nov 30 Don Vickery Trio.
Only Café, The
972 Danforth Ave. 416-463-7843
theonlycafe.com (full schedule)
Pilot Tavern, The
22 Cumberland Ave. 416-923-5716
thepilot.ca
All shows: 2:30pm. No cover.
Nov 2 Nick Morgan Quartet. Nov 9 Sugar
Daddies Sextet. Nov 16 Kirk MacDoanld Quartet.
Nov 23 Free Spirits. Nov 30 A Tribute to
Randy Sorrell.
Poetry Jazz Café
224 Augusta Ave. 416-599-5299
poetryjazzcafe.com (full schedule)
Reposado Bar & Lounge
136 Ossington Ave. 416-532-6474
reposadobar.com (full schedule)
Reservoir Lounge, The
52 Wellington St. E. 416-955-0887
reservoirlounge.com (full schedule).
Every Tue & Sat, 8:45pm Tyler Yarema
and his Rhythm. Every Wed 9pm The Digs.
Every Thurs 9:45pm Stacey Kaniuk. Every
Fri 9:45pm Dee Dee and the Dirty Martinis.
Rex Hotel Jazz & Blues Bar, The
194 Queen St. W. 416-598-2475
therex.ca (full schedule)
Call for cover charge info.
Nov 1 4pm Hogtown Syncopators,
6:30pm Lester McLean Trio, 9:45pm Andy
Ballantyne’s Sidewinders. Nov 2 12pm Terry
Wilkins’ Uncle Bass, 3:30pm Conor Gains,
7pm Elena Kapeleris Group, 9:45pm Bernie
Senensky Sextet. Nov 3 12pm Excelsior Dixieland,
3:30pm Club Django, 7pm Marilyn Lerner
Duo, 9:30pm Barry Romberg Group.
Nov 4 6:30pm U of T Jazz Ensembles, 9:30pm
Jazzlab Orchestra. Nov 5 6:30pm Brodie
West Quintet, 9:30pm JazzLab Orchestra.
Nov 6 6:30pm Chris Platt Trio, 9:30pm
Chet Doxas’ Landline. Nov 7 6:30pm Kevin
Quain, 9:30pm Chet Doxas’ Landline. Nov 8
4pm Hogtown Syncopators, 6:30pm Lester
McLean Trio, 9:45pm Alex Dean Jazz Orchestra.
Nov 9 12pm Terry Wilkins’ Uncle Bass,
3:30pm Laura Hubert Band, 7pm Jenna Marie
R&B, 9:45pm Alex Dean Jazz Orchestra.
Nov 10 12pm Excelsior Dixieland, 3:30pm Red
Hot Ramble, 7pm Marilyn Lerner, 9:30pm JV’s
Boogaloo Squad. Nov 11 6:30pm U of T Student
Jazz Ensembles, 9:30pm Brigham Phillips
Jazz Orchestra. Nov 12 6:30pm Brodie
West Quintet, 9:30pm Harry Bartlett Trio.
Nov 13 6:30pm Chris Platt Trio, 9:30pm Lauren
Falls Quintet. Nov 14 6:30pm Kevin Quain,
9:30pm Robb Cappelletto Group. Nov 15
4pm Hogtown Syncopators, 6:30pm Lester
McLean Trio, 9:45pm Avi Granite. Nov 16
12pm Terry Wilkins’ Uncle Bass, 3:30pm Chris
Hunt Tentet + 2, 7pm Justin Bacchus, 9:45pm
Dave Young Quintet. Nov 17 12pm Excelsior
Dixieland, 3:30pm Dr. Nick & The Rollercoasters,
7pm Marilyn Lerner Trio +, 9:30pm
Dan Pitt Trio. Nov 18 6:30pm U of T Student
Jazz Ensembles, 9:30pm Humber College
Jazz Orchestras. Nov 19 6:30pm Brodie
West Quintet, 9:30pm Classic Rex Jazz Jam.
Nov 20 6:30pm Chris Platt Trio, 9:30pm
Dan Weiss Trio. Nov 21 6:30pm Kevin Quain,
9:30pm Dan Weiss Trio. Nov 22 4pm Hogtown
Syncopators, 6:30pm Lester McLean Trio,
9:45pm Michael Dunston. Nov 23 12pm Terry
Wilkins’ Uncle Bass, 3:30pm Advocats Big
Band, 7pm Justin Bacchus, 9:45pm Roberto
Occhipinti 4. Nov 24 12pm Hart House Jazz
Ensemble, 3:30pm Excelsior Dixieland, 7pm
Chris Banks Trio, 9:30pm Michael Eckert’s
Neon Eagle. Nov 25 6:30pm U of T Student
Jazz Ensembles, 8:30pm John MacLeod’s Rex
Hotel Orchestra. Nov 26 6:30pm Brodie West
Quintet, 9:30pm Gymnoped. Nov 27 6:30pm
Chris Platt Trio, 9:30pm Carn / Davidson 9.
Nov 28 6:30pm Kevin Quain, 9:30pm Carn
/ Davidson 9. Nov 29 4pm Hogtown Syncopators,
6:30pm Lester McLean Trio, 9:45pm
Brad Shigeta w/ David Braid. Nov 30 12pm
Terry Wilkins’ Uncle Bass, 3:30pm Paul Reddick,
7pm Justin Bacchus, 9:45pm Joe Bowden
Quintet.
Salty Dog Bar & Grill, The
1980 Queen St. E. 416-849-5064
thesaltydog.ca (full schedule)
Every Tue 7-10pm Jazz Night. Every
Thu 8:30pm Karaoke. Every Fri 9:30pm
Blues Jam - house band with weekly featured
guest. Every Sat 3pm Salty Dog Saturday
Matinée.
Sauce on Danforth
1376 Danforth Ave. 647-748-1376
sauceondanforth.com
All shows: No cover.
Every Mon 9pm Gareth Parry’s Book Club.
Every Tue 6pm Julian Fauth. Every Wed Paul
Reddick & Friends. Every Thu 8pm Steve
Koven and Artie Roth. Sat and Sun Matinees
4pm various performers.
The Senator Winebar
249 Victoria St 416 364-7517
thesenator.com (full schedule)
Tranzac
292 Brunswick Ave. 416-923-8137
tranzac.org (full schedule)
3-4 shows daily, various styles, in three different
performance spaces. Mostly PWYC.
70 | November 2019 thewholenote.com

E. The ETCeteras
Dan Weiss
club. Though Weiss’ trio may not have the same mandate for extreme
dynamics, it does have the same mandate for intensity and intentionality.
It is not hyperbole to say that Weiss is one of the preeminent jazz
drummers of his generation; a brief look at his recent schedule reveals
engagements with the likes of Nir Felder, Adam Rogers, Miles Okazaki
and Chris Potter’s Underground Quartet, amongst many other
notable gigs, including his own. As a drummer and as a bandleader,
he is much the same: specific, exacting, exciting and, at unexpected
moments, funny, in a way that complements the seriousness of his
dedication to his craft.
A final note on The Rex: guitarist Robb Cappelletto, who has crafted
a unique musical identity that straddles the line between jazz, rock,
blues, and other genres, releases his new album Double Red on
November 14, in performance with keyboardist Michael Shand, bassist
Andrew Stewart and drummer Amhed Mitchel. Cappelletto – a faculty
member at York University – has been putting out consistently interesting
music since his debut album !!! was released in 2012, both
under his own name and with the instrumental group re.verse, which
has been heard in its residency slots at 416 Snack Bar and The Drake,
as well as at Koerner Hall, collaborating with the likes of Shad and
DJ Skratch Bastid. Cappelletto is a fiery player, with ample technical
command of his instrument, but what sets him apart from his peers
is his conscientious attention to the nuances of tone, and his commitment
to building a multilayered sonic world in which his music
can live.
MAINLY CLUBS, MOSTLY JAZZ QUICK PICKS
!!
NOV 6 AND NOV 7, 9:30PM: Chet Doxas’ Landline, The Rex. Landline, a new project
helmed by Montreal-born saxophonist Chet Doxas, play in support of their new selftitled
album, the material for which the band composed cooperatively through a
musical version of “broken telephone.” With pianist Jacob Sacks, bassist Zack Lober
and drummer Vinnie Sperrazza.
!!
NOV 14, 9:30PM: Robb Cappelletto Group, The Rex. Robb Cappelletto celebrates
the release of his new album Double Red, the latest entry in the fusion guitarist’s discography.
With keyboardist Michael Shand, bassist Andrew Stewart and drummer
Amhed Mitchel.
!!
NOV 14 AND NOV 15, 9PM: Gentiane MG Trio, Jazz Bistro. An up-and-coming
musician from Montreal, Gentiane MG (Michaud-Gagnon) leads her eponymous trio
(bassist Levi Dover and drummer Louis-Vincent Hamel) at Jazz Bistro in support of
her recent album, Wonderland.
!!
NOV 20 AND NOV 21, 9:30PM: Dan Weiss Trio, The Rex. Playing compelling modern
jazz, drummer Dan Weiss’ trio, with pianist Jacob Sacks and bassist Thomas Morgan,
has been active for over a decade, and has developed a thrillingly intuitive musical
connection.
!!
NOV 26, 8PM: Dan McCarthy Quartet, Jazz Bistro. Toronto-born vibraphonist Dan
McCarthy returns from New York with a new project and a new album, both of which
feature guitarist Ted Quinlan, bassist Pat Collins and drummer Ted Warren.
Colin Story is a jazz guitarist, writer and teacher based in Toronto.
He can be reached at www.colinstory.com, on Instagram and
on Twitter.
Book Launches and Record Releases
●●Nov 08 7:00: Canadian Music Centre. Book
Launch of They Shot, He Scored: The Life and
Music of Eldon Rathburn by James K. Wright
with Allyson Rogers. Featuring a performance
of The Romance of Improvisation in
Canada: The Genius of Eldon Rathburn, with
Petr Cancura, Kevin Turcotte, Marianne Trudel,
Adrian Vedady and Jim Doxas. 416-961-
6601 x202. $25; $10(st).
●●Nov 11 8:00: Gathering Sparks. “All That’s
Real” CD Release. Eve Goldberg, acoustic guitar/ukulele/vocals;
Jane Lewis, piano/ukulele/
accordion/vocals with guest musicians. Niagara
Artists Centre, 354 St. Paul St., St. Catharines.
905-641-0331. $25/$20(adv).
●●Dec 06 8:30: Hugh’s Room Live. Ensemble
Vivant: Latin Romance CD Release Concert.
2261 Dundas St. W. 416-533-5483.
$40/$35(adv).
Clubs & Groups
●●Nov 02 1:00: Recollectiv. For anyone living
with cognitive challenges from Alzheimer’s,
dementia, traumatic brain injury, stroke, or
PTSD. The group meets weekly to rediscover
the joy of making music. Community members
and music students are welcome to this
fun, rewarding and inter-generational experience.
292 Brunswick Ave. 416-599-8440.
Free. Also Nov 9, 16, 23, 30, Dec 7.
●●Nov 10 2:00: Toronto Opera Club. Dvořák’s
Bewitching Rusalka. Guest speaker: John
Holland, bass-baritone. Edward Johnson
Bldg., Faculty of Music, 80 Queens Park,
Room 330. 416-924-3940. $10.
●●Nov 17 2:00: Classical Music Club Toronto.
Offenbach Bicentennial Celebration. For further
information, visit classicalmusicclubtoronto.org
or contact John Sharpe at
416-898-2549 or torontoshi@sympatico.ca.
Annual membership: $25(regular); $10(sr/
st). Free for first-time visitors. Donations
accepted for refreshments.
●●Nov 23 7:15: Toronto Gilbert & Sullivan
Society. Join us for a sing-through of Trial by
Jury, a 35-minute delight and the partnership’s
first big success plus a quiz and more!
St. Andrew’s United Church, 117 Bloor St. E.
Refreshments included. $5 for non-members.
●●Dec 01 2:00: Classical Music Club Toronto.
Bach: Christmas Oratorio. For further information,
visit classicalmusicclubtoronto.org
or contact John Sharpe at 416-898-2549
or torontoshi@sympatico.ca. Annual membership:
$25(regular); $10(sr/st). Free for
first-time visitors. Donations accepted for
refreshments.
Competitions and Applications
●●Nov 29 application deadline: TD Discovery
Series Special Projects. Designed to
encourage the creation, development and
presentation of special projects by local jazz
musicians. Provides successful applicants
with marketing and public relations support,
including a bursary, from Toronto Downtown
Jazz. Projects must take place between
Jan 15 and Apr 30, 2020, and must fall outside
of the usual scope of an artist’s work.
For complete details, please visit torontojazz.
com/special-projects.
●●Dec 01 application deadline: Toronto Mozart
Violin Competition. Further information
at mozartproject.ca.
●●Dec 01 application deadline: Toronto Mozart
Vocal Competition. Further information
at mozartproject.ca.
Festivals, Fairs and Festivities
●●Nov 30 10:00am: Aurora Community Band.
Eighth Annual Holiday Market. Christmas
and holiday favourites by the Aurora Community
Band. Enjoy one-of-a-kind gifts from
unique local vendors. Aurora Cultural Centre,
22 Church St., Aurora. auroracommunityband@gmail.com.
Free admission.
Galas, Tributes and Fundraisers
●●Nov 02 8:00: Roy Thomson Hall. 6th Annual
Dream Serenade Benefit Concert. Dream
Serenade is a benefit concert and celebration
of the Toronto community of children with
developmental or physical disabilities and
their caregivers. 60 Simcoe St. 416-872-4255.
$34.50-$199.50.
●●Nov 22 7:00: High Notes Avante Productions.
Mental Health Image-Raiser. Luba
Goy, Selardor Duo, and friends. An intimate
combination of a concert, social and imageraising
event. Selardor Duo plays and sings
favourite tunes. Talks by special guests who
have been touched by mental illness. Enjoy
free appetizers, buy a drink, browse the silent
auction, and bid on items in the live auction.
Heintzman House, 135 Bay Thorn Dr., Markham.
Information at 416-605-8915 or highnotesavante@gmail.com
or visit Eventbrite.
$20.
●●Nov 24 5:00. Denise Williams In Concert:
A Benefit for Orquesta Sinfónica De Oriente,
Santiago de Cuba. Ernesto Lecuona: Lamento
Africano and Mi Vida Eres Tu; and works
by Handel, Mozart, Bellini and Gershwin.
Denise Williams, vocalist; and others. Trinity-
St. Paul’s Centre, 427 Boor St. W. cubafundraiser2019.eventbrite.com.
$40; $30(st).
●●Nov 30 7:00: Incontra Vocal Ensemble.
Creator of the Stars of Night. Advent and
Christmas music by Britten, Mendelssohn,
Chilcott, and J. Scott Brubacher. Matthew
Otto, artistic director/conductor. Knox College
Chapel, Fundraiser to support the Institute
for Christian Studies. 59 St George St.
416-979-2331 ext. 260 or email: communications@icscanada.edu.
$35.
●●Dec 02 7:30: Casey House Foundation.
Voices for World AIDS Day. A fundraising concert
for Casey House, Ontario’s HIV/AIDS hospital.
A mixed program of classical and jazz
for the whole family. Shannon Mercer, soprano;
Asitha Tennekoon, tenor; Julie Nasrallah,
host; Emily Steinwall Trio; Pearle Harbour,
tragicomedienne; and others. Glenn Gould
Studio. CBC Building, 250 Front St. W. 416-
962-4040. For further information: caseyhouse.com.
Free (suggested donation $20).
Lectures, Salons and Symposia
●●Nov 16 10:00am: Royal Canadian College
of Organists Toronto. The Employment of a
Church Musician. Expert panel discussion.
Wycliffe College, 5 Hoskin Ave. 416-929-6400.
Free and open to the public.
Tours
● ● Nov 03 10:30am: Canadian Opera Company.
90-Minute Tour of the Four Seasons
Centre. Led by a trained docent. Includes
information and access to the Isadore
and Rosalie Sharp City Room, the Richard
thewholenote.com November 2019 | 71

E. The ETCeteras Classified Advertising | classad@thewholenote.com
Bradshaw Amphitheatre and R. Fraser Elliott
Hall, as well as backstage areas such as the
wig rooms and dressing rooms, the orchestra
pit, and other spaces that only a stage
door pass could unlock. Four Seasons Centre
for the Performing Arts, 145 Queen St. W. 416-
363-8231. coc.ca. $20(adults); $15(sr/st). Also
Nov 10, 17, 24, Dec 1.
Tributes
●●Nov 17 8:00: The Music Gallery. History
Series: Celebrating Casey Sokol. Tribute to
one of the greatest teachers of improvisation
that Canada has ever produced, as he
retires. Part improvised soiree, part interview,
with nibbles and drinks to set the tone.
918 Bathurst St. 416-204-1080. PWYC.
Workshops & Classes
●●Nov 09 1:00: Canadian Music Centre. Theremin
Composition Workshop. Join theremin
player Pamelia Stickney in the midst of the
100th anniversary of the theremin; lecture/
demonstration on writing for the instrument
and techniques; discussion of the differences
and similarities between writing for theremin
and writing for voice or strings. Composer
Alexander Rapoport will also be on hand to
discuss his use of the theremin in his sonatas.
Canadian Music Centre, Chalmers Performance
Space, 20 St. Joseph St. 416-961-6601.
Free admission.
●●Nov 17 2:00: CAMMAC Toronto Region.
Reading for Singers and Instrumentalists of
Haydn’s Te Deum and Bruckner’s Te Deum.
Maria Case, conductor. Christ Church Deer
Park, 1570 Yonge St. 905-877-0671. $10;
$6(members).
●●Nov 23 10:30am: Toronto Mendelssohn
Choir. Singsation Saturday Choral Workshop.
Guest conductor Dr. Andrew Donaldson
will lead participants through part-songs,
call-and-response freedom songs, and dance
songs from various faith traditions and many
countries. Cameron Hall, Yorkminster Park
Baptist Church, 1585 Yonge St. Information
at tmchoir.org/singsation-saturdays/. $10 fee
includes refreshments.
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you recruit new members for your
choir, band or orchestra; find a new
music director or accompanist; sell
your banjo! Starting at only $24/issue.
INQUIRE BY NOVEMBER 23 for the
combined DECEMBER & JANUARY
issue. classad@thewholenote.com
AUDITIONS & EMPLOYMENT
OPPORTUNITIES
ANGLICAN CHURCH OF
PENETANGUISHENE requires an ORGANIST
for Sunday service plus funerals and
weddings, to start immediately. Ability to
direct a choir preferred. Remuneration
based on experience. Email resume to
anglicanparish@bellnet.ca or deliver to
church office at 1 Peel Street, Tuesday to
Friday 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.
Available pro bono positions with the
KINDRED SPIRITS ORCHESTRA: Horn,
Trumpet, Violins, Violas, Violoncellos
and Contrabasses. For information, visit
KSOchestra.ca or email GM@KSOrchestra.ca
MUSIC DIRECTOR, GLEN ACRES BAPTIST
CHURCH. WATERLOO; part-time (10 hours/
week). See http://www.glenacres.on.ca/
wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Music-
Director-vfinal.pdf for further details and
to apply.
NAVAL RESERVE BAND IN DOWNTOWN
TORONTO IS LOOKING FOR MUSICIANS:
Clarinet, French Horn, other positions
available. Take pride and join. Get paid to
play. Email david.pottinger@forces.gc.ca
ROYAL CANADIAN LEGION CONCERT
BAND has openings for wind, brass, and
percussion players. Be part of an exciting
ensemble. Please contact John Walker for
more information jwwalker75@yahoo.com
TENOR AND BASS SECTION
LEADERS NEEDED, for Anglican
Church in Unionville. Paid positons.
Contact nwucotton@spoth.ca
TENOR OR BASS SECTION-LEAD POSITION
for Cummer Ave. United Church (near Yonge
and Finch) Paid position. Contact Taylor
Sullivan taylorsullivan@yahoo.com
BUY & SELL
CLASSICAL RECORD AND CD
COLLECTIONS WANTED. Minimum 350
units. Call, text or e-mail Aaron 416-471-8169
or A@A31.CA
FRENCH HORN: Selmer prototype by
Reynolds. Double horn in excellent condition.
mjbuell@gmail.com
MARTIN GUITAR MODEL DX1 2002
Excellent condition – hardly used. Hard Case
included. $700.00 Contact: Phil 1-613-923-
5156 Mallorytown, On
PIANO and BENCH: Franz Schubert
by Canrus International Ltd, Studio
47”x55”x24”. Near Neilson and Sheppard.
Call Shirley. 416-282-8402
TRUMPET Bach Stradivarius model 37
(never used); TENOR saxophone, Yamaha;
TRUMPET, Olds Ambassador; Phone
416-964-3642.
WHAT’S IN YOUR CLOSET? Does your
old guitar gently weep? Send that nice
old accordion / clarinet / drum kit back to
school by finding it a new owner! WholeNote
classified ads start at just $24.00 INQUIRE
BY NOVEMBER 23 for the combined
DECEMBER & JANUARY issue.
INSTRUCTION
CELLO LESSONS DOWN TOWN TORONTO
Individual approach to every student.
Young professionals, adults and beginners.
Dr. Dobrochna Zubek zubekdobrochna@
hotmail.com http://dobrochnazubek.com
http://celloteaching.ca
DO YOU SING IN A CHOIR? Would you like
to practice your sight-singing skills? Or need
a little help learning your notes or rhythms?
Or experience the joy of singing duets?
Treat yourself! Private and group lessons
available near Woodbine subway. Call or
text Sheila at 416-574-5250, or lilackayak@
gmail.com
FRIENDLY, WISE PIANO TEACHER with
loyal following and buckets of patience.
Royal Conservatory refugees and nervous
adults/teens most welcome. Lovely
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Mose, 416.923.3060. MosePianoForAll.com.
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except for love of music.)
FLUTE, PIANO, THEORY LESSONS. RCM
Certified Advanced Specialist. Samantha
Chang, FTCL, FLCM, LRAM, PGDip, ARCT.
Toronto, Scarborough 416-801-9196,
samantha.studio@gmail.com www.
samanthaflute.com
LESSONS FOR ALL! Friendly and firm - I’m
an experienced musician and mom teaching
piano and singing to children (and the
young at heart) in my Toronto home (East
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music-making please contact kskwhite@
gmail.com
SIGHT-SINGING WORKSHOPS: sacred/
secular Renaissance music, on the last
Monday of the month. 7:30-9:30pm. Drop-in
$10. Free for members of the Toronto Early
Music Centre. All levels are welcome. Near
Woodbine subway. Call/text 416-574-5250.
SERVICES
ACCOUNTING AND INCOME TAX SERVICE
for small business and individuals, to save
you time and money, customized to meet
your needs. Norm Pulker, B. Math. CMA.
905-251-0309 or 905-830-2985.
DOG BOARDING (near Woodbine subway).
Heading away for a while and can’t bring
your favourite canine companion? I take just
one dog at a time and give it a very special
vacation. Your dog will pull you to my door on
repeat visits! Call or text Sheila at 416-574-
5250 or lilackayak@gmail.com.
PIANO TUNING BY EAR: 43 years
distinguished service. In Toronto Nov 11-16.
$140, no tax. Dr Charles Lage, MPT. 1-800-
360-1116, lagepianos@gmail.com.
RESTORE PRECIOUS MEMORIES lost on
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VENUES AVAILABLE / WANTED
ARE YOU PLANNING A CONCERT OR
RECITAL? Looking for a venue? Consider
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72 | November 2019 thewholenote.com

WE ARE ALL MUSIC’S CHILDREN
MJ BUELL
Who is
DECEMBER’S CHILD?
Not happy about practising then, but currently grateful.
Not on stage but definitely part of Pacific Opera, Victoria’s current
production mentioned in our cover story (see pages 8-10).
Now composing himself for conducting some new music concerts.
In our listings on November 3
Know our Mystery Child’s name? WIN PRIZES!
Send your best guess by November 22 to
musicschildren@thewholenote.com
Previous artist profiles and full-length interviews can be read at
thewholenote.com/musicschildren. Or – you can view them in their
original magazine format by visiting our online back issues
https://kiosk.thewholenote.com
Ottawa suburbs circa 1978
The WholeNote
20TH ANNUAL BLUE PAGES
UPDATE: November 2019
Welcome to the following presenters whose profiles were received
too late to publish in our October 2019 Blue Pages Directory of
Music Makers. It’s available online, and updated year-round, at
thewholenote.com/blue.
●●
Lula Music and Arts Centre
Lula Music and Arts Centre (LMAC) aspires to nourish a thriving
Canadian world music scene. With a focus on local world artists
performing music of the Americas, LMAC fosters all expressions
of Canadian world music. Through concerts, festivals, cultural
exchanges, education and outreach as well as audience and professional
development, LMAC supports musicians from diverse
cultural backgrounds, encouraging artistic cross-pollinations and
cross-cultural understanding. LMAC values collaboration, mutual
respect in all partnerships, community development, inclusiveness,
diversity, accessibility and artistic integrity.
Tracy Jenkins
416-588-0307
www.lulaworld.ca
●●
Ottawa Bach Choir
The Ottawa Bach Choir (OBC), founded in 2002 by Dr. Lisette
Canton, offers audiences a wide range of choral music of the
finest quality, performing music from all historical periods while
keeping Bach’s choral œuvre as the focus of its repertoire. Through
a combination of both a scholarly and emotional approach to
choral music, the ensemble expands all aspects of the artistic spectrum.
Joining some of Canada’s most accomplished artists and
top choristers from the National Capital region and beyond, the
professional choir has received national and international recognition.
Now in its 18th season, the OBC performs a large subscription
concert series in Ottawa and travels extensively in Canada and
abroad. In 2020 the choir has been invited to return to the world’s
most prestigious international Bach festival, Bachfest Leipzig, as one
of a select number of ensembles worldwide (and the only Canadian
ensemble) to present the entire chorale cantata cycle of Bach. Last
season, the choir released its 7th CD, Handel, Bach & Schütz, on
the ATMA Classique label. Performances this season include “A
Bach Christmas” on Nov. 30 (in Toronto), “The Genius of Josquin”
and “Prelude-Europe 2020”, several Special Events and a 5th
European tour.
Dr. Lisette Canton, founder & artistic director
613-270-1015
www.ottawabachchoir.ca
Interested in WholeNote’s Blue Pages membership? Please contact
Karen Ages members@thewholenote.com or at 416-323-2232 x26.
thewholenote.com November 2019| 73

DISCOVERIES | RECORDINGS REVIEWED
I
had a great musical visit with my good friend Ted a couple of weeks
ago and he took the opportunity to show off his marvellous guitar
collection. Ted has so many fine guitars that I didn’t even bother to
pack one of my own for the overnight visit. Of particular interest to
me was his recently acquired Larrivée 12-string, but this turned out
not to be the one that impressed the most. His pride and joy is a finely
hand-crafted Lowden six-string instrument with the most incredible
resonance, and perfectly balanced dynamics from the quietest to the
loudest range, not to mention some extremely artistic inlay over the
neck and body of the guitar. It is probably the finest instrument I’ve
ever had the privilege to play, and it answered the question that always
pops to mind when I hear one of the masters playing: How do they get
that gorgeous sound? Well of course it has a lot to do with impeccable
technique, but also it seems, with the quality of the instrument itself.
Speaking of masters, Celtic guitarist
Tony McManus (Scottish-born with Irish
heritage), who has made his home in Elora
for the past dozen years, is exactly that.
His reputation is such that the prestigious
Maryland-based custom guitar manufacturer
PRS has produced a signature Tony
McManus Private Stock Acoustic guitar line,
one of which, not surprisingly, is featured
on his latest release Live in Concert with multi-instrumentalist Julia
Toaspern (CDTRAX405 felicitas-records.de). Toaspern also plays a
PRS (Angelus Private Stock) guitar, an unidentified violin, and they
each, on occasional tracks, play a Greenfield G5 soprano guitar. The
soprano guitar (a new one on me, tuned an octave above a standard
guitar) is particularly effective on the Django-inflected Breton Waltzes
(McManus) and Star of Munster Set (Toaspern). Although primarily
a virtuosic instrumental album, McManus and Toaspern each sing
a few songs, and the influences encompass Celtic, roots, jazz and
Latin, along with one foray into early classical repertoire – Caccini’s
Amarilli – which Toaspern says is a holdover from her days training
as an opera singer. Her beautiful soprano voice is suitably idiomatic to
the 16th-century love song, and the acoustic guitar accompaniment is
immaculate. Also of note is her arrangement for two guitars of Manha
de Carneval from Black Orpheus in medley with the Irish tune The
Musical Priest, with some familiar quotations from disparate genres
thrown in along the way. Very effective. McManus’ own distinctive
vocal work on a setting of Robbie Burns’ Bonnie Jean with Toaspern’s
vocal and violin harmonies is stunning, harkening back to the best
of the string band music to find its way to North America from the
British Isles in the heyday of the 60s and 70s. As one of the “50 most
influential acoustic guitarists of all time” (Guitar Player Magazine),
we are fortunate that McManus has chosen to follow that path too,
and settle with us in Southern Ontario. He is truly masterful and the
music he has chosen to share with us here is enchanting.
Concert Note: Tony McManus and Julia Toaspern perform with John
McMillan at Burdock Music Hall, 1184 Bloor St. W. on November 2 at
6:30.
One of the most exceptional things about
the music of J.S. Bach is that it can withstand
transcription to virtually any instrumental
medium, from grandiose
Wagner-size orchestra to sopranino recorder
and just about anything in between or
beside, including Moog synthesizer as
evidenced by Wendy Carlos some half a
DAVID OLDS
century ago. The latest example to cross my desk is an album titled
Invention featuring violinist Tessa Lark and contrabass player Michael
Thurber (larkandthurber.com). On this disc, seven of Bach’s two-part
inventions are interspersed with original “inventions” by Lark and
Thurber, drawing on diverse influences from Appalachia to New
Orleans, running the gamut of Americana, but also encompassing
their skill as classical musicians. The juxtaposition works surprisingly
well, from the lilting Wooden Soldier that leads into the first two-part
invention, dear to my heart since learning it for my Grade Six Royal
Conservatory exam and performing it on my teacher’s harpsichord
(handmade by her husband Jan Albarda), to the sombre strains of
Until We Meet Again, with its echoes of the Celtic fiddle laments
brought to American shores some hundreds of years ago. A satisfying
and eclectic look at simple counterpoint.
Jessica Meyer is an accomplished violist
who has championed contemporary applications
for her instrument and expanded
its repertoire through commissioning and
collaboration. She is also active in the fields
of period performance and improvisation,
and is a renowned educator. During the past
five years she has added composition to her
palette and Ring Out on Bright Shiny Things
(BSTC-0128 brightshiny.ninja) is a showcase for this aspect of her
creativity. The disc features six powerful works ranging from solo cello
through various string combinations, to songs for voice, viola and
piano and the title work, for a cappella vocal octet (Grammy-winning
Roomful of Teeth) and field recordings. This latter work, the title track
which concludes the album, was composed in 2017 for Colorado’s
TANK Center for Sonic Arts with its incredible 20-second reverberation
decay, exceeding both the Taj Mahal and the Great Pyramid in
this regard. Meyer takes full advantage of this in a stunning work,
the overall acoustic of which is reminiscent to my ear of some of the
great works of Renaissance polyphony, albeit with contemporary close
harmonies. The addition of handheld percussion and recordings of
church bells adds greatly to the effect.
The disc begins somewhat abrasively with But Not Until for viola
(Meyer) and cello (Andrew Yee), inspired by a quote from one of my
favourite authors, David Foster Wallace: “The truth will set you free.
But not until it is finished with you.” This is followed by I Only Speak
of the Sun, for string trio, which takes its inspiration from a poem by
Rumi. Released, for specially tuned cello, “explores ideas surrounding
the last moments of life… flickering lights and memories, and perhaps
a swirling vortex of images of your life flashing before your eyes.”
Seasons of Bashō is a four-song setting of haiku by that 17th-century
Japanese master, featuring the beautiful and haunting countertenor
voice of Nicholas Tamagna. Only a Beginning is an instrumental
duo for violin (Miranda Cuckson) and viola, but it too takes words
as a point of departure, in this case a quote from Indira Ghandi –
“Martyrdom does not end something, it is only a beginning” – and the
text of In Paradisum from the Catholic funeral mass. All in all, this is
an impressive maiden voyage for Meyer the composer, with performances
and production values beyond reproach. My only caveat is the
lack of information in the package, although the lyrics are included.
Fortunately, all the performer details and biographical information
about Meyer are available on her website jessicameyermusic.com.
Although they have been making music together since 2005, Novel
Voices (Melos Records ML812/33-100) marks the debut recording
for the Carr-Petrova Duo (carrpetrovaduo.com), Molly Carr (viola)
74 | November 2019 thewholenote.com

and Anna Petrova (piano). The disc is the
culmination of a multidisciplinary project
begun in 2018 called the Novel Voices
Refugee Aid Project (winner of Music
Academy of the West’s Alumni Enterprise
Award). The project is designed to give
voice and visibility to refugee communities
around the globe while raising awareness
and support for both local and international refugee-aid organizations,
by bringing classical music performances and musical workshops
to refugee camps and aid programs. The disc begins with the
Lullaby from the ballet Gayaneh in an arrangement by the duo. I
must say I was only familiar with the bombastic highlights of Aram
Khachaturian’s ballet, such as the famous Sabre Dance, and would
have been hard-pressed to identify the origins of this gentle, lyrical
work so beautifully realized here. Mieczyslaw Weinberg is also represented
by a transcription, in this instance of his Sonata for Clarinet
and Piano, Op.28, reminding us of the close similarities between
the timbre of the viola and the darker registers of the clarinet. This is
not to say that the work itself is gloomy. The charming, and at times
angular, Allegretto middle movement is reminiscent of Shostakovich
and Prokofiev at their most playful, but, like late Shostakovich, the
work ends with a mostly sombre Adagio.
The centrepiece of this disc is a work by British composer Rebecca
Clarke (1886-1979) who moved to the United States at the age of 30.
From the liner notes I take the following: “…three years later she
entered a male-dominated composition competition sponsored by the
wealthy American philanthropist Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge… Out of
a field of 72 candidates for the prize, her Viola Sonata came first, tied
with a composition by Ernest Bloch. Ultimately, though, the award
went singlehandedly to Bloch, amidst prejudice-ridden rumours that
‘Rebecca Clarke’ was simply a pseudonym for another male composer,
because ‘it could not have been’ a woman who had written such a
beautiful piece of music.” That harsh judgement notwithstanding, the
notes go on to say: “The Viola Sonata has almost become a flagship for
the advocacy of the viola as a solo instrument, and is now considered
one of the magnificent jewels of chamber music literature.” This
nuanced performance gives credence to that statement.
The premise of the project is intriguing, and is the focus of a
documentary by filmmakers Victoria Stevens and Skyler Knutzen that
will premiere in 2020. A young Mexican, Fernando Arroyo Lascurain,
was selected to be the project’s composer-in-residence and he accompanied
the musicians on their tour of refugee camps. The resulting
work, Novel Voices, is in three movements: Stories and Dreams,
Dance and Uncertainty and Call and Prayer. It “magically weaves
together the different music of the various children’s ancestral
cultures we encountered: from Arabic music to the music of Bulgaria,
Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, Syria, Chechnya…” and provides a
moving and effective ending to this outstanding CD.
I must admit that I was only familiar with
two of the names of the composers included
on Silenced Voices, Hans Krása and Gideon
Klein. The disc features works for string
trio by Jewish composers from early in the
20th century performed by the Black Oak
Ensemble (Çedille CDR 90000 189 cedillerecords.org).
Both Krása and Klein spent
time in the German “camp-ghetto” Theresienstadt, where the latter
organized cultural events and the former’s children’s opera Brundibár
received more than 50 performances. Although the Nazis cynically
described Theresienstadt as a “spa town” where elderly German
Jews could “retire” in safety, the ghetto was in reality a collection
centre for deportations to killing centres in Nazi-occupied Eastern
Europe. Krása died at Auschwitz and Klein was sent to Fürstengrube,
where he perished just days before its liberation in 1945. The other
composers represented here all suffered similar fates, with the exception
of Géza Frid (1904-1989) who fled his native Hungary to the
Netherlands “where he managed to escape detection as a ‘stateless
Jew’ and eventually became a citizen and celebrated composer.” He
is represented by his first published work, the String Trio Op.1, with
hints of Hungarian hurdy-gurdy and bagpipes, in its world premiere
recording. The other composers – Dick Kattenburg (1919-1944),
Sándor Kuti (1908-1945) and Paul Hermann (1902-1944) – all perished
at the hands of the Nazis. The marvellous and diverse music contained
on this disc gives a glimpse of just how much culture was lost through
the tragedy of the Holocaust, and the thoughtful and thorough booklet
notes by OREL Foundation scholar Robert Elias provide context.
The project-based Black Oak Ensemble is comprised of Swiss-
American violinist Desirée Ruhstrat, British-born cellist David
Cunliffe and French-born violist Aurélien Fort Pederzoli. Silenced
Voices was inspired, in part, by Pederzoli’s mother, a history teacher
of Sephardic descent who led annual student trips to Auschwitz,
Treblinka and Terezin (Theresienstadt). In August of this year the
group presented Silenced Voices at the Terezin House of Culture
during the Everlasting Hope International Music Festival. It is our good
fortune that they have also committed the project to disc.
We invite submissions. CDs, DVDs and comments should be sent
to: DISCoveries, WholeNote Media Inc., The Centre for Social
Innovation, 503 – 720 Bathurst St. Toronto ON M5S 2R4.
David Olds, DISCoveries Editor
discoveries@thewholenote.com
What we're listening to this month:
thewholenote.com/listening
The WholeNote
Listening Room
Hear tracks from any of the
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Dvorak; Enescu Cello Concertos
Bion Tsang
Available now at Amazon and
iTunes: Bion Tsang in two epic
works with Scott Yoo and the Royal
Scottish National Orchestra
Filigree
JACK Quartet/Hannah Lash
JACK Quartet performs evocative,
lush, and inventive music of
Hannah Lash.
Les sons et les parfums
Janina Fialkowska
Les sons et les parfums is a newlyrecorded
personal anthology
of 20th century French music,
curated and performed by pianist
Janina Fialkowska.
thewholenote.com November 2019 | 75

STRINGS
ATTACHED
TERRY ROBBINS
There was never any doubt about
what would be the lead review once I
received HK Guitar Duo Plays Mozart,
the latest CD from two of Canada’s most
outstanding instrumentalists, guitarists
Drew Henderson and Michael Kolk
(Independent, hkguitarduo.com).
What I wasn’t expecting, though, even
from them, was the first of the three transcriptions
on the disc – the complete Symphony No.40 in G Minor
K550, the idea for the arrangement growing from some impromptu
improvising on the opening theme during a break in a 2008
recording session.
Transcribing the Duo No.1 in G Major for Violin and Viola K423
was, as Kolk readily admits, a much simpler process, and finding an
arrangement for two violins of the Piano Sonata No.8 in A Minor
K310 clearly assisted with their excellent transcription for two guitars.
Henderson plays a custom-built eight-string guitar in the Symphony
No.40 as well as in the middle Adagio movement of the Duo, the two
extra bass strings enabling an extended bass range that was particularly
essential for the symphony.
The playing throughout the CD is immaculate, the technical artistry
always matched by the musical sensitivity and intelligence. The Duo
and the Piano Sonata are not exactly insubstantial works, but the real
gem here is the Symphony No.40: “It’s incredible,” says the accompanying
promo blurb, “that four hands and 14 strings can cover so
much music that was written for an orchestra, but the HK Duo makes
it sound effortless.”
Indeed they do, but more significantly – and crucially – they also
make it sound both musically and artistically meaningful and an
immensely satisfying listening experience in all respects. It’s a quite
astonishing technical and musical accomplishment, completely
convincing through all four movements.
Engineered and edited by Drew Henderson to his usual impeccable
standards at the Church of St. Mary Magdalene in Toronto, this is a
simply outstanding guitar CD.
By sheer coincidence, for the second month
in a row I received a guitar quintet CD that
opened with the Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco
Quintet for Guitar and String Quartet
Op.143 and closed with Luigi Boccherini’s
Quintet for Guitar and String Quartet in D
Major – the one with the famous Fandango
final movement. Last month it was Jason
Vieaux and the Escher Quartet, and this month it’s guitarist Sharon
Isbin and the Pacifica Quartet on Souvenirs of Spain & Italy, a CD
that features music by Italian-born composers influenced by Spanish
idioms (Çedille CDR 90000 190 cedillerecords.org).
The other works on the CD are Vivaldi’s popular Lute Concerto in D
Major RV93, heard here in Emilio Pujol’s arrangement for guitar and
string trio, and Joaquín Turina’s La oración del torero Op.34 in the
composer’s own string quartet edition of the original for lute quartet.
Perhaps the words “seldom-heard gem” are finally becoming
inappropriate for the gorgeous Castelnuovo-Tedesco quintet, which
would be welcome news. There may possibly be a bit more warmth
and tonal colour in Vieaux’s playing and a slightly less-forward guitar
balance, but both performances feature excellent work by the soloists
backed by beautiful quartet playing, and can be recommended
without reservation.
The two performances of the Boccherini quintet are also very
similar and equally impressive, the main difference being the addition
of castanets and tambourine for almost the entire Fandango on this
current disc, whereas on the Vieaux, the castanets (no tambourine)
only appear for a brief single spell in the middle of the movement.
Isbin adds her own Baroque ornamentation in a measured and
thoroughly enjoyable performance of the Vivaldi concerto; indeed, the
two middle works on this CD give it a decided edge over the
Vieaux disc.
David Starobin is the classical guitar soloist
on New Music with Guitar Vol.12, the latest
CD in the excellent ongoing series on the
Bridge label (9520 bridgerecords.com).
All five composers represented – Fred
Lerdahl, John Musto, William Bland, Edward
Green and David Leisner – were born
between 1943 and 1954, and the works are
predominantly mature pieces, only Green’s
Genesis: Variations for Solo Guitar, written
for Starobin in 1974 and recorded in 1975, predating 2010.
Starobin is joined by violinist Movses Pogossian in Lerdahl’s Three
Bagatelles (2017) and by pianist Yun Hao in Bland’s Sonata No.4
(2016), the latter’s Blues final movement ending effectively with
Starobin unwinding the lower guitar strings.
The outstanding baritone Patrick Mason joins the guitarist in two
brief but quite superb song cycles: Musto’s The Brief Light (2010)
on poems of James Laughlin and Leisner’s Three James Tate Songs
(2007). Leisner’s abilities as a virtuoso guitarist make for some
dazzling and imaginative settings in the latter.
Starobin and partners are all in top form in a highly entertaining
program.
Chiaroscuro, the latest CD from the
Schumann Quartet completes the trilogy
of concept albums that began with the two
CDs, Landscapes (2017) and Intermezzo
(2018) (Berlin Classics 0301213BC berlinclassics-music.com).
Described as “a picture-gallery of music”
the album uses Mozart’s settings of Five
Fugues from Bach’s The Well-Tempered
Clavier K405 as the promenade music and connecting path between
the various works: Mendelssohn’s Fugue in E-Flat Major Op.81 No.4;
Philip Glass’ brief String Quartet No.2 “company”; Shostakovich’s
Two Pieces for string quartet from 1931; Webern’s Six Bagatelles Op.9;
and Janáček’s String Quartet No.2 “Intimate Letters.” Gershwin’s
Lullaby adds a dream-like epilogue to the series.
The Schumann Quartet is performing the complete Chiaroscuro
program in their live recitals, and recommends that the CD be listened
to from start to finish without a break. It certainly works very well,
despite – or perhaps because of – the disparity between the musical
selections. Performances throughout are excellent, particularly the
heartfelt reading of the astonishingly raw and emotional
Janáček quartet.
The string music of the American
composer Juri Seo (born 1981) is featured
on the impressive CD Respiri, with the
Argus Quartet and cellist Joann Whang
(Innova 022 innova.mu).
The quite lovely title track for string
quartet is subtitled in memoriam Jonathan
Harvey, and pays tribute to the British
composer – a practising Buddhist – who
died in 2012, and whose signature musical gesture was an evocation of
breathing.
76 | November 2019 thewholenote.com

Whang is the soloist for the Suite for Cello, a suite of five dance
movements very much in the J.S. Bach solo cello mode but with an
increasing use of harmonics, adding what the composer terms a
lingering sense of displacement.
The String Quartet – Infinite Season aims to depict the story of a
year unfolding, the four movements tracing the sounds of nature as
the seasons change. There’s a lovely use of harmonics again, together
with field recordings of birdsong and insect noises.
Freedom & Faith is the second album from
the American string quartet PUBLIQuartet
on the Bright Shiny Things label (BSTC-0126
brightshiny.ninja). The quartet is dedicated
to presenting new works, and the music
here is from two of PUBLIQuartet’s signature
initiatives: MIND I THE I GAP, collaborative
compositions and improvisations by the four
group members; and PUBLIQ Access, a program that commissions
new string quartet works by composers living in the United States.
The latter is represented by the opening and closing works – Jessica
Meyer’s three-movement Get into the Now from 2017 and Shelley
Washington’s Middleground from 2016 – while three collaborative
creations from the former project are at the centre of the disc: Sancta
Femina, reflections on Hildegard von Bingen, Francesca Caccini and
Chiara Margarita Cozzolani; Ella!, based on Ella Fitzgerald’s performance
of A-Tisket, A-Tasket; and Nina!, a celebration of Nina Simone.
Anything goes in the performances at times, with normal string
playing being replaced by a whistle, unison singing and chanting,
rhythmic clapping and percussive effects on the instrument bodies in
some vibrant and decidedly upbeat music.
The outstanding violinist Tianwa Yang
is the soloist on Wolfgang Rihm Music
for Violin and Orchestra Vol.2 with the
Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-
Pfalz under Darrell Ang (Naxos 8.573667
naxosdirect.com). Yang has a strong association
with Rihm’s music, having already
recorded his Complete Works for Violin
and Piano (8.572730) and the first volume
of the Violin and Orchestra Music (8.573812) for the Naxos label.
The three substantial works here are Gesungene Zeit (Musik für
Violine und Orchester Nr.2) (1991-92), Lichtes Spiel (Ein Sommerstück
für Violine und kleines Orchester) (2009) and COLL’ARCO (Musik für
Violine und Orchester Nr.4) (2008).
Rihm’s music is not always immediately accessible, but these
works are engrossing from start to finish with some truly beautiful
moments, especially in the lengthy COLL’ARCO, which with its hints
of Alban Berg often sounds like a violin concerto from the Second
Viennese School.
Yang is, as usual, simply brilliant in music that makes great technical
and interpretative demands.
Evocation – Violin Works by Paul Ben-Haim
traces the gradual assimilation of Middle
Eastern influences in the music of the
composer (born Paul Frankenburger in
Munich, Germany) after his emigration
to the British Mandate of Palestine (the
future Israel) in the 1930s. Itamar Zorman
is the violin soloist with the BBC National
Orchestra of Wales under Philippe Bach
(BIS-2398 bis.se).
The major works are the 1942 title track and the Violin Concerto
from 1960, a solidly professional work with a simply lovely Andante
affettuoso slow movement. Pianist Amy Yang joins Zorman for
the Berceuse sfaradite from 1945 and Three Songs without Words
from 1951.
The Three Studies for Solo Violin, written for Yehudi Menuhin in
1981 are among Ben-Haim’s last works. An arrangement for violin and
orchestra of the Toccata piano solo from 1943 by the soloist’s father,
Moshe Zorman, completes an entertaining CD.
Vaughan Williams enjoyed playing the viola
for most of his long life, its sound a seemingly
perfect projection of the pastoral and
nostalgic nature (on the surface, at least)
of his music. On Viola Fantasia, on Albion
Records, the official label of the Ralph
Vaughan Williams Society, violist Martin
Outram and pianist Julian Rolton perform
the composer’s works for viola and piano,
together with the Four Hymns for Tenor,
Viola and Pianoforte with tenor Mark Padmore (ALBCD 036 albionrecords.org).
The Suite and Romance both sprang from Vaughan Williams’ relationship
with the viola virtuoso Lionel Tertis. Six Studies in English
Folk Song and the Fantasia on Sussex Folk Tunes both originally
featured solo cello, the former heard here in the composer’s alternate
viola version and the latter in an arrangement by Outram. The
Fantasia on Greensleeves was arranged for viola and piano by another
British viola virtuoso, Watson Forbes.
There’s perhaps a tendency for the viola tone to sound a bit tight at
times, but there’s much to enjoy on what is clearly an authoritative
CD.
For his recording project Meditations on
Family the Russian-American violinist
Yevgeny Kutik commissioned eight
composers to translate a family photo into
a short musical miniature of about two
to three minutes in length for violin and
various ensemble. The resulting tracks were
released digitally on a weekly basis, and
were gathered together on a 23-minute
Extended Play CD earlier this year (Marquis 774718149329 marquisclassics.com).
Composers Christopher Cerrone, Gregory Vajda, Joseph Schwantner,
Kinan Azmeh, Paola Prestini, Timo Andres, Andreia Pinto Correia and
Gity Razaz produced brief but intriguing works for solo violin, violin
and piano, violin and double bass, violin and clarinet and violin with
vocal quartet and glass harmonica. Kutik plays them with warmth
and commitment.
The original photos, along with additional background information
and audio tracks can be found at meditationsonfamily.com
thewholenote.com/listening
Suite Nostalgique
Maria Dolnycky, Matthew
Christakos, Peter Stoll, Izabella
Budai, Alex McLeod
Suite Nostalgique - a celebration
of Ukraine's rich musical legacy.
Works by seven stylistically diverse
composers.
Come Closer
Michael Harley
Bassoonist Michael Harley
(Alarm Will Sound, U. of South
Carolina) releases "Come Closer"
which chronicles his work
commissioning music from a
range of composer colleagues.
thewholenote.com November 2019 | 77

Keyed In
Les sons et les parfums
Janina Fialkowska
ATMA ACD2 2766 (naxosdirect.com)
!!
Janina Fialkowska’s latest offering
is absolutely enchanting, a CD of “pure
nostalgia” for the acclaimed Canadian
pianist, as she states in her eloquent liner
notes for Les sons et les parfums (the sounds
and the fragrances).
Fialkowska transports us to the Paris of
the 1950s and 1960s, when, as a youth, she
visited the French capital; a time when Les
Six members Francis Poulenc and Germaine
Tailleferre were dominant forces on the French music scene. And, as
Fialkowska tells us, a time when most of the older musicians with
whom she came in contact during those visits, knew not only those
noted composers, but also Ravel, Debussy and Fauré. One further
fun fact: her piano teacher in Paris in the mid-60s, Yvonne Lefébure,
actually worked on the two Ravel pieces featured on the CD with
Ravel himself! Can anyone imagine a headier environment for one’s
musical studies?
Fialkowska’s “love letter to Paris” includes works by all of the
above-mentioned composers, as well as Emmanuel Chabrier. From
Tailleferre’s charming and shimmery Impromptu, Fauré’s sensuously
evocative Nocturne in E-flat Major Op.36, and Poulenc’s sparkling
Intermezzo in A-flat Major FP118 with its sense of yearning, to
Debussy’s beloved and beyond-beautiful Clair de Lune and the stunning,
virtuosic and impressionistic pleasures of Ravel’s Jeux d’eau
and Sonatine, Fialkowska indeed captures les sons et les parfums
of a bygone Paris. It is there in the characteristic nuance, warmth,
commanding musicianship, delight and dignity of her performance,
which is nothing short of ravishing.
Sharna Searle
Chopin – Ballades & Impromptus
Charles Richard-Hamelin
Analekta AN 2 9145 (analekta.com)
!!
The quietly heroic Canadian pianist,
Charles Richard-Hamelin, has just released
a record – his fifth on the Analekta label
– of Frédéric Chopin’s most expressive
and inspired music: the four Ballades,
(presented in chronological order) and
the three Impromptus, followed by the
Fantaisie-Impromptu.
Audiences the world over have heartened
to Richard-Hamelin’s extraordinary talent, a talent without
self-indulgence, wholly in service of musical candour on the highest
order. It is this very quality, (amongst flawless technique, lyrical sensitivity,
inspired voicing and impeccable stylistic command), that
makes Richard-Hamelin so unique in today’s individualistic, egocrazed
culture. The pianist brings a poetic integrity to his musicmaking,
born of a sincerity that is both reassuring and human. His
craft calls on the objective – not the subjective – to aid him in his
quest for beauty, awakening virtue and aesthetic perfection at every
musical turn.
In these hands, not one of Chopin’s phrases, chords or moments of
pause are left unconsidered or unloved. Richard-Hamelin intimately
knows every last fibre of the musical canvas, from first note to last;
a marvel of integral conception. It is like watching a skilled and
seasoned painter in action, as he places every brush stroke – every
swirl and point – with absolute care and expertise. Richard-Hamelin
is redesigning this loved (and oft-performed) music, entirely afresh.
Each cherished musical moment is revealed to be uniformly exquisite,
and the listener is spellbound. Charles Richard-Hamelin is an artist of
this rare Earth, singing of its myriad wonders.
Adam Sherkin
Tchaikovsky – Piano Concerto No.1; Prokofiev – Piano Concerto
No.2
Haochen Zhang; Lahti Symphony Orchestra; Dima Slobodeniouk
BIS BIS-2381 SACD (bis.se)
!!
At just 29 years old, Chinese pianist
Haochen Zhang ably demonstrates his coupling
of a virtuoso approach with a mature
and nuanced sensitivity of musical interpretation
on this 2019 BIS recording,
featuring the Lahti Symphony Orchestra
under the measured direction of Dima
Slobodeniouk. Traversing two alpine works
– Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto
No.1 and Sergei Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No.2 – Zhang evidences
considerable musical acumen in his handling of this well-known
(and widely recorded and performed) music of these Russian masters,
highlighting the embedded Romantic gestures, as well as rising to
the stentorian musical challenges put forward by these mighty and
canonical composers.
Dynamics are clearly on display as the pianist takes the listener on
a wild ride. This 19th- and 20th-century music is both rigorous and
demanding on pianists (Prokofiev was himself a touring and creative
pianist), and Zhang, a former child prodigy who won the 2009
Cliburn Competition, demonstrates that he still has the breathtaking
and wide-ranging technique that initially captured audience attention
when he was still a boy. But now he evidences a coalescing musical
maturity that is bound to excite today’s classical musical listeners not
only for what is captured here, but also for what is in store for Zhang
on future recordings and concertizing opportunities. Overall, a recommended
addition to one’s CD collection.
Andrew Scott
Beethoven – Piano Sonatas Nos.8, 21, 23
Jae-Hyuck Cho
Sony S803556 (jaehyuckcho.com/recording)
! ! Pianist Jae-Hyuck Cho is a well-established
international recitalist and a classical
music radio presenter in Korea. This
CD of three much-recorded Beethoven
sonatas – the C minor “Pathétique,” C Major
“Waldstein” and F minor “Appassionata” –
is justified by its excellent playing and sound
engineering. In the Pathétique Cho’s tonal
control is exceptional, from the introduction’s
sonorities onwards, featuring finely
graded crescendos. In the Adagio, expression is fine and intimate,
while the Rondo builds and does not overwhelm. No banging in this
Beethoven, or in the following Waldstein Sonata. Here, with melody
mostly reduced to brief motifs in the first movement, a wealth of
harmonic interest, plus the raw energy of pulses and tremolando
chords, carry the movement forward. Cho achieves this task, and then
shows an atmospheric side to his playing in the heartfelt introduction
to the Rondo. Adhering mostly to Beethoven’s blurring pedal markings
and extended trills, raising the contrast level through effective
accentuation in the episodes, and managing the coda’s octave glissandos
well, the end result is stellar.
The Appassionata Sonata is a little overwhelming in Cho`s
78 | November 2019 thewholenote.com

eading. Admittedly this sometimes aggressive work is not my
favourite Beethoven – one is likely to bang and I don`t begrudge
Cho`s becoming emphatic at times. With mostly controlled and
clean playing here, there is much for devotees to admire. The CD
adds an unlisted bonus encore: a finely-realized Liszt transcription of
Schumann’s Widmung S566.
Roger Knox
Beethoven; Liszt; Chopin
ChangYong Shin
Steinway & Sons 30115 (steinway.com/music-and-artists/label)
!!
Young Korean Pianist ChangYong Shin
has won several important awards including
the 2018 Gina Bachauer International Artist
Piano Competition. I found this pianist
reticent at first. His Beethoven Sonata
in E Major, Op.109 is technically secure
throughout, but more colour and expression
would have been welcome for Beethoven’s
quasi-improvisational mode. There are
great heights and depths in this work that may require risk-taking.
Nevertheless, Shin handles the finale’s fugal section and the theme’s
return with extended trills particularly well.
For me Franz Liszt’s Bénédiction du Dieu dans la solitude from
the cycle Harmonies poétiques et religieuses, (1847) conveys a genuinely
religious sense in the way the piece unfolds. Shin is flawless
with the opening’s rustling background and the rich ventures into
the bass register, and also in the subsequent dramatic harmony and
varied figuration. He confidently paces the balance of the work well,
including in the closing section where it is mainly rolled chords that
support the pensive upper line. By the end, peace and calm have
stilled the emotions of earlier sections.
Of the disc’s three Chopin waltzes I particularly enjoyed Op.42,
informally known as the 2/4 “waltz” because of the melody’s cross
rhythm against the triple-time bass. Shin is high-spirited here, pedalling
lightly, creating a whirl with accents and rubato, and achieving a
bravura ending. The brilliant Waltz in E-flat Major, Op.18 and Waltz in
A-flat Major, Op.34, No.1 add to the lustre of a splendid CD.
Roger Knox
Schumann – Fantasie Op.17; Kreisleriana; Kinderszenen
Marc Ponthus
Bridge Records 9514 (bridgerecords.com)
!!
This disc of three contemporaneous Schumann works played by
Marc Ponthus is revelatory. Known for major recitals of monumental
works, Ponthus here offers technical brilliance with exquisite control
What we're listening to this month:
of dynamics, voicing, and pedalling. Of the
Fantasie (1836-8) his insightful program
notes observe “a realm larger than reason”;
in the first movement “a constantly fluctuating
and forward energy” with vitalizing
changes of texture. The finale becomes
“an unfinished extension of the magnificent
formal ruins of the first movement.”
A large-scale, visionary Romantic masterpiece
grounded in non-classical principles,
then played with seamless continuity and fascinating detail. Using a
modern piano, Ponthus adds tasteful speeding up as is now practised
(controversially for some) in Romantic-era tempo modification.
With Kreisleriana (1838) Ponthus’ tempo modification becomes
more prominent, in keeping with the eccentric fictional persona of
Kreisler and perhaps the personalities of both writer E.T.A. Hoffmann
and Schumann. But I find the lyricism of the middle section of
Kreisleriana’s first piece spoiled by excessive speed; better for the
player to be guided by the section’s phrase extensions and key
changes. The slow pieces come off best and the fourth one for me is
introspection defined. As for Kinderszenen (1838), scenes of childhood
for adults, Ponthus’s idiomatic readings themselves justify purchasing
the CD. These reflective miniatures are a wonderful introduction to
Schumann’s piano music for anyone; no wonder Horowitz played No.
7 (Träumerei) as an encore so frequently.
Roger Knox
Ferhan & Ferzan Önder Play Fazil Say
Ferhan & Ferzan Önder; RSO Berlin; Markus Paschner
Winter and Winter 910 255-2 (winterandwinter.com)
!!
The duo piano approach of the Turkishborn
Austrian twins Ferhan and Ferzan
Önder comes together on this 2019 Winter &
Winter recording to mine the many musical
gems found in the music of contemporary
Turkish composer Fazil Say. Although,
unfortunately, Say has been plagued by
political persecution in recent years –
sentenced to jail time in 2013 for tweets
that were considered “blasphemous” by the Turkish government –
the now 49-year-old composer and pianist himself, has remained
prolific and artistically relevant, writing challenging new pianistic and
symphonic work, which is taken on here with class and aplomb by the
Önder sisters with sweeping accompaniment from the Berlin Radio
Symphony. Difficult to categorize stylistically – Say combines a historically
rigorous mastery of Western art-music traditions, with influence
taken from Turkish folk music, jazz and chance or improvisatory
thewholenote.com/listening
Bird as Prophet
David Bowlin
Virtuoso violinist David Bowlin
releases "Bird as Prophet",
championing contemporary violin
music by Davidovsky, Bresnick, Du
Yun, Hermentin, and Walker.
I've Got Just About Everything
Laura Anglade
Laura draws in her audience
not only with her sensitive
interpretations and melodic
approach to improvisation but
with her demure and thoroughly
engaging stage presence.
Wonderland
Gentiane MG Trio
Up-and-coming Montreal-based
pianist presents an expressive and
impressionistic universe - The
depth of lyricism is met by an equal
force of unpredictability.
Skye Consort & Emma Bjorling
An intoxicating mix of polskas,
reels, passionate love songs and
breathtaking hymns, blending
Celtic and traditional music from
Quebec, Sweden and Norway.
thewholenote.com November 2019 | 79

elements – the composer has assembled a hauntingly beautiful and
unusual musical world that the talented Önder sisters tackle with
virtuosity, expertise and their own recognizable musical agency.
Notable is the Sonata for Two Pianos, commissioned by the Louis
Vuitton Foundation, which premiered earlier this year. Here, the
sisters explore the range and expressive depth of the four-hand-piano
tradition in order to bring to life this beautiful and challenging work
that prods listeners to confront their own expectations of what constitutes
contemporary classical performance in 2019 and to rethink what
remains possible within the codified three-part sonata form employed
here. Both the music of Say, and the nuanced playing of the Önder
sisters, was new to me prior to receiving this recording. I am pleased
to musically get to know these important and, very much of this
moment, global artists.
Andrew Scott
VOCAL
Zachary Wadsworth – When There is
Peace: An Armistice Oratorio
Chor Leoni Men’s Choir; Erick Lichte
Independent CLR 1909 (chorleoni.org)
!!
One year ago
(November 10 and
11), the 100th anniversary
of the end
of World War I, this
work was premiered
and recorded in
Vancouver, where
Zachary Wadsworth (b.1983) is the Chor
Leoni Men’s Choir composer-in-residence.
Wadsworth says his goal was “to honour the
experiences” of those who served and “to
celebrate those who gave their lives in search
of peace.”
The 58-minute oratorio draws from 17
different writers, including many soldiers’
wartime descriptions and poetry by Robert
Service, Siegfried Sassoon, Sara Teasdale
and others. Soprano Arwen Myers, tenor
Lawrence Wiliford and five readers add to
the sonic mix led by the chorus, Borealis
String Quartet and percussionists Martin Fisk
and Robin Reid, all conducted by the choir’s
artistic director, Erick Lichte.
The prevailing mood, as expected, is sombre,
with the chorus suggesting (to me) the haunted
voices of the dead, ghostly laments from beyond
the grave. A recurring motif relates to birds –
representing life in contrast to the carnage below.
Musically, there’s a repeated ascending violin
melody (shades of Vaughan Williams!) while
the text (included) mentions “larks,” “thrush,”
“brave birds,” “bird songs,” “swallows,” “robins”
and Sassoon’s description of the armistice:
“Everyone burst out singing… with such delight
as prisoned birds must find in freedom.”
The well-crafted music of this worthy
addition to the choral memorial repertoire
provides a platform for the powerful words
of war and peace, century-old words still
relevant, not only on Remembrance Day, but
on all days.
Michael Schulman
Charles Gounod – La Nonne Sanglante
Michael Spyres; Vannina Santoni; Marion
Lebègue; Accentus; Insula Orchestra;
Laurence Equilbey
Naxos 2.110632 (naxos.com)
!!
In 2018, the bicentennial of Gounod’s
birth, the Paris
Opéra Comique
revived this opera,
unstaged until
2008 in Germany
following its brief,
11-performance run
in 1854. Whatever
the reasons for its
initial failure, this
production, with
highly dramatic
scenes, brilliantly
sung by an outstanding cast, makes a persuasive
case for its future survival.
During the dark, nervous Overture we witness
the Nun’s murder and slo-mo start of a battle
between two warring clans in 11th-century
Bohemia. (Today’s opera directors abhor closed
curtains during overtures.) The libretto involves
two lovers from the rival clans, the ghost of “the
Bleeding Nun” seeking vengeance against her
murderer, mistaken identity, ghostly gatherings
and a murder plot, ending with the lovers, Agnès
and Rodolphe, finally reunited.
Befitting the supernatural goings-on, the semiabstract
sets and projections are all grey and
black, as are most of the cast’s costumes, a mix of
medieval and modern. The Nun wears a white,
bloodstained shroud; the other ghosts appear in
grey military garb or shrouded in white.
Tenor Michael Spyres (Rodolphe) dominates
the action – his arias presage Gounod’s great
tenor arias for Faust and Roméo – and with
his sweet yet powerful voice he sings them
all magnificently! Paralleling Spyres’ intense,
thrilling vocalism are sopranos Vannina
Santoni (Agnès) and Jodie Devos (Arthur,
Rodolphe’s page), and mezzo Marion Lebègue
(Nun). Conductor Laurence Equilbey’s minor
cuts, mostly in the ballet, help propel the
excitement throughout.
Enthusiastically recommended to all lovers
of great singing!
Michael Schulman
Winterreise
Ian Bostridge; Thomas Adès
Pentatone PTC5186 764 (naxosdirect.com)
!!
Ian Bostridge
reaffirms the case
for Franz Schubert’s
Winterreise being
the greatest of
song cycles; it’s
also famous for
the number of
times it has been
recorded – including seven times by the great
lyric baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. This
Pentatone recording is Bostridge’s third and
that makes ten recordings by two of the finest
exponents of lieder the world has ever seen.
In Winterreise Schubert takes the despondency
which closed Die schöne Müllerin
and pushes it to extremes creating a desolate
landscape (both inner and outer) of
unrelenting pessimism. Even Schubert’s
friends, who understood the pain from where
it sprung, were reportedly dismayed by the
bleakness of the song cycle.
Bostridge brilliantly cloaks himself in
Schubert‘s rejected lover, driven to the
verge of madness as we follow his lonely
peregrinations through a snowbound
landscape. Thomas Adès’ pianism highlights
the emotional veracity of the performance.
As the lover’s journey progresses, his vision
becomes more inward and the subjectivity of
the songs more pronounced. The final song,
Der Leiermann, is a masterstroke: the traveller
meets a destitute hurdy-gurdy player,
whose rustic song Schubert mimics with a
quirky piano figure. The wanderer wonders
whether he should go with him but his question
is left hanging in the air as the song
drifts away. If Fischer-Dieskau’s baritone
voice heightened the gloom, Bostridge’s tenor
enhances the cycle’s drama through contrast
between vocal tone and meaning.
Raul da Gama
Verdi – Donizetti
Michael Fabiano; London Philharmonic
Orchestra; Enrique Mazzola
Pentatone PTC 5186 750
(pentatonemusic.com)
!!
Opera excerpt
recordings are a
dime a dozen, but
this new issue
intrigued me.
Michael Fabiano,
a young American
tenor of considerable
repute for his
starring roles in Italian and French repertoire
at the most famous opera houses around the
world, comes out with his debut recording
on the prestigious Pentatone label with a
remarkable collection of difficult bel canto
arias by Verdi and Donizetti. Why these two?
In his scholarly introduction Fabiano maintains
that there is a relationship between
the two composers, particularly in their
middle periods. There is a departure from the
80 | November 2019 thewholenote.com

elatively simple Bellini cantilena towards a
“symbiosis of sonority,” deepening emotions,
more intense drama, more complex instrumentation
and the orchestra generally
becoming more important.
This thesis definitely bears out, with many
examples from Verdi’s Luisa Miller, Un ballo
in Maschera and La Forza del Destino vs.
Donizetti’s Poliuto, Lucia di Lammermoor
and Maria di Rohan. These operas and more
are beautifully represented here by the tenor
and sung with a voice of passion, power and
fire with no lack of spectacular sustained high
notes, but also with tenderness and lyricism
where it’s called for.
A good example is Forse la soglia attinse
from Verdi’s Un Ballo, a beautiful aria where
Count Riccardo, in love with his best friend’s
wife, has to give her up, but wants to see
her “ultima volta,” for the last time, an aria
of infinite anguish followed by the intense
excitement of anticipation even though he
knows he will be assassinated during the
ball. But, for my money, Fabiano is strongest
in the rousing cabalettas like the one in
Verdi’s Il Corsaro with the wonderful support
of the chorus, not to mention the London
Philharmonic conducted with fire and
passion by Enrique Mazzola.
Janos Gardonyi
CLASSICAL AND BEYOND
Vivaldi con amore
Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra; Elisa
Citterio
Tafelmusik Media TMK 1039CD
(tafelmusik.org)
!!
Vivaldi con
amore, Tafelmusik’s
first recording
under new music
director Elisa
Citterio, is a vivid
and engaging
reflection of both
Vivaldi’s ebullient
musical style and Citterio’s approach
to working with her orchestra. Rather
than releasing a disc that shines a spotlight
squarely on her artistic leadership through
conspicuously demanding orchestral virtuosity
or by recording unexpected material,
Vivaldi con amore maintains the integrity of
the Tafelmusik ensemble, while putting the
music first.
One of the most striking features of
this recording is how, although there is
a new leader at the orchestra’s helm, the
“Tafelmusik sound” is maintained, such that
these recordings are immediately identifiable
as Tafelmusik’s own. Citterio’s respect for
the ensemble is apparent in the content of the
disc, which features seven separate concerti
in which the orchestra’s musicians are given
centre stage.
Containing over 75 minutes of the Italian
master’s works, the title says it all: Vivaldi
con amore; but, as the saying goes, “The
devil is in the details.” No detail is overlooked
in the interpretation of these works, with
beautifully tapered phrasing throughout and
thoughtful attention given to the contrasts
present in Vivaldi’s pieces, making each come
alive in its own way.
The appointment of a new music director is
a tumultuous experience for any group, especially
for one as established as Tafelmusik.
Vivaldi con amore shows us that we need
not look to the future to expect great results
from this orchestra’s newest chapter; they are
already here, and present on this disc.
Matthew Whitfield
Back to Bach
Ofra Harnoy; Mike Herriott
Analekta ACD 2 8907 (analekta.com)
!!
With the
release of her
much anticipated
new recording,
luminous, gifted
and transplendant
Israeli/Canadian
cellist, Ofra Harnoy,
and her brilliant
collaborator and
husband, Mike Herriott, have not only brought
forth a project of breathtaking beauty, but they
have done the near impossible – through the
use of contemporary technology, Herriott’s
multi-instrumental/arranging/producing
skills, Harnoy’s exquisite cello work (including
large cello ensembles performed entirely by
her), as well as a united, inspired vision –
Harnoy and Herriett have manifested a fresh,
innovative and genuine way of presenting this
Baroque music in a way that is both exciting
and accessible.
Not since the late Jacqueline du Pré (with
whom Harnoy studied) has the world heard
a cellist of Harnoy’s technical calibre and
almost telepathic communicative skills. The
well-chosen selections here include some
material previously recorded by Harnoy
from her 40-plus albums, as well as favourites
such as Bach’s Air from Orchestral Suite
No. 3 and Bist du bei mir, with the addition
of more obscure, but stirring repertoire
from Corelli and Allegri… and the sound of
Harnoy’s breathtaking musicianship, multiplied
by nine on Allegri’s Miserere is almost
too beautiful to bear.
In bringing her vision to life, Harnoy also
wanted to experiment with using brass
instruments instead of the traditional string
(or pipe organ, etc.) accompaniments, so
Herriott created complex brass arrangements,
and performed all of the parts himself:
piccolo trumpet, trumpet, flugelhorn, French
horn and trombone. There are literally only
a handful of individuals in the world who
could have accomplished what Herriott has so
deftly done on this remarkable project. This
recording is a triumph, and a must-have for
any serious collector.
Lesley Mitchell-Clarke
Berlioz – Symphonie fantastique
Lucile Richardot; L’Orchestre
Révolutionnaire et Romantique; John Eliot
Gardiner
Chateau de Versailles CVS011
(naxosdirect.com)
!!
There is no
shortage of recordings
of Berlioz’s
Symphonie fantastique
but here is
yet another one
of special interest.
A hinged package
contains two video
discs and trilingual
booklet. Presented
is a video of an all-
Berlioz concert
given by Sir John
Eliot Gardiner directing his orchestra, the
Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique
in the opulent Opera Royal, Chateau de
Versailles on October 17, 2018. The participating
guest artist is mezzo-soprano Lucile
Richardot. The program begins with the
Overture to Le Corsaire, followed by a longtime
favourite, the heartfelt, La mort de
Cléopâtre, passionately delivered by the
totally involved Richardot. From Les Troyens
the orchestra plays The Royal Hunt and Storm
and the impressive Richardot returns with
a deeply felt realization of the Monologue
et air de Didon, “Ah, je vais mourir… Adieu,
fière cité.” Richardot is a French mezzosoprano
who is highly respected as a soloist
in Baroque music and a lot more. You can
readily appreciate her voice and versatility on
any of her countless videos on YouTube.
As the arguments pro and con original
instruments, i.e. the instruments of the
composer’s day, have all been stated and
debated there is no point in carrying them
on here. However, here at least, these unique,
previously unheard sonorities and textures
of the instruments that Berlioz knew are
eloquently articulate and a revelation for
listener and viewer alike. Berlioz would
be elated.
Footnote: “The Secret of Beethoven’s Fifth
Symphony” with Gardiner and his orchestra
on YouTube is a must-watch.
Bruce Surtees
Mahler – Symphony No.1 in D Major
Minnesota Orchestra; Osmo Vänskä
BIS BIS-2346 (bis.se)
! ! This is the
fourth entry from
the Minnesota
Orchestra in a
projected Mahler
symphony cycle,
following releases
thewholenote.com November 2019 | 81

of the Second, Fifth and Sixth Symphonies
under the direction of Osmo Vänskä, the
well-regarded Finnish conductor who has
devoted himself to bringing this ensemble to
international renown since 2003. Mahler’s
First Symphony, composed in his 24th
year, reveals at a single stroke a unique and
compelling voice; it remains one of his mostoften-performed
works. Vänskä’s solid and
unaffected interpretation of the work, though
structurally very well-paced, strikes me at
times as a wee bit circumspect, particularly
so in the funereal third movement, the
opening of which is normally played as a
mournful string bass solo but is contentiously
(alas, not for the first time) assigned here to
the entire bass section, robbing this introduction
of its essentially grotesque quality;
the underplaying of the intentionally vulgar
interruptions of klezmer music that follows
is yet another ironic opportunity missed.
That being said, the strong bond between this
orchestra and their leader provides in the
end a highly compelling performance. I was
tremendously impressed by the excellence
and enthusiasm of the Minnesota musicians –
I’ve rarely heard such a fierce viola section cut
their way through the tumult of the finale of
the work. Props as well to the recording team
lead by Robert Suff; the low-floor recording
level and resultant extended dynamic range
lend an other-worldly aura to the liminal
string harmonics that slowly reveal the magic
of this work and conclude with a sonorous
account of the glorious brass passages of the
finale. While it’s admittedly not the definitive
performance of this popular work in a very
crowded field of contenders, it is certainly a
substantially satisfying one.
Daniel Foley
MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY
Michael Colgrass – Side by Side; Letter
from Mozart; The Schubert Birds
Joanne Kong; Boston Modern Orchestra
Project; Gil Rose
BMOP Sound 1064 (bmop.org)
!!
You receive a
letter from “your
favourite composer”
signed “Your friend,
Mozart,” requesting
a 20th-century take
on his style using
extra percussion
which “in my day
wasn’t dignified.” The resulting 15-minute
Letter from Mozart (1976) is a wonky, percussion-heavy
series of dreamlike, stream-ofunconsciousness
episodes, a drug-induced
merging of the 20th and 18th centuries,
requiring two conductors to avoid complete
chaos. It’s great fun!
Side by Side (2007) presents Joanne Kong
playing both piano and harpsichord, set 90
degrees to each other. To balance the disparate
instruments, Colgrass first muted the piano
strings, then amplified both to compete with
the orchestra. Colgrass never severed his roots
as a jazz drummer, so the 24-minute concerto
exploits the percussive qualities of both
keyboards and orchestra.
Colgrass wrote that The Schubert Birds
(1989) is “a crazy quilt of theme and variations…
based on Franz Schubert’s
Kupelweiser Waltz, a little-known piano
piece.” The title refers to “Schubert as a bird
who spent his life singing, surrounded by a
circle of others who… sang with him.” Like
the CD’s other two works, the 19-minute
piece revels in kaleidoscopic fragmentation
and glittering sonorities.
The prolific, always-inventive Colgrass, the
1978 Pulitzer Prize-winner who died at 87 this
past July, is less well-represented on disc than
he should be. A Chicago native, he’d lived in
Toronto since 1974, yet titled his 2010 memoir
Adventures of an American Composer.
Please, record companies, give us more CDs of
the adventurous Michael Colgrass!
Michael Schulman
Memorial Note: There will be a celebration of
Michael Colgrass’ life and art at Walter Hall,
University of Toronto, on November 10. Doors
open at 2 pm, and the afternoon will be
filled with the stories, memories and music
by friends and colleagues from Canada, the
U.S.A. and Europe, including Side by Side
soloist Joanne Kong.
Kickin’ It 2.0
Land’s End
Centrediscs CMCCD 26819
(musiccentre.ca)
!!
Two works
by Vincent Ho,
artistic director of
Calgary’s Land’s
End Ensemble,
bookend this CD
that spotlights as
soloists the ensemble’s
three musicians.
First, cellist
Beth Root Sandvoss performs Morning Sun,
a lyrical, somewhat melancholy piece, just
under four minutes long, that Ho composed
while watching a sunrise in California.
In Derek Charke’s Tree Rings, violinist John
Lowry and Ben Reimer on marimba depict
a tree’s life under ever-changing weather
conditions. The music’s moods and energies
keep changing, too; it’s compelling listening
throughout its own 11-minute “life.” Stelco
is Omar Daniel’s “homage” to industrial
machines and the Canadians “who risk life
and limb” operating them. Pianist Susanne
Ruberg-Gordon and Reimer on vibraphone
manufacture ten minutes of metallic percussion,
ranging from near-subsonic vibrations
to pile-driver pounding, with clanging
piano bass notes. The trio reunites in Analía
Llugdar’s seven-minute Don Liborio Avila,
based on a portrait of an old man in a small
Argentinian town. “But,” says Llugdar,
“violence haunts the picture.” The music is
violent, too, the ensemble simulating angry
electronic bursts, buzzes and squeaks.
Ho writes that Kickin’ It 2.0, performed
by the ensemble plus Reimer on drum
kit, was inspired by “Squarepusher, jazz,
gamelan music, Chinese folk music and the
crime novels of James Ellroy.” Ellroy’s novels
notwithstanding, Ho’s 20-minute, four-movement
work offers jazzy aggression, gentle
gamelan-like tinkles, a drum-dominated
cadenza and a powerful, sustained motoric
finale, ending a fascinating disc that gathers
steam (and steam engines!) from start to
propulsive finish.
Micharl Schulman
Carmen Braden – Songs of the Invisible
Summer Stars
Various Artists
Centrediscs CMCCD 27119
(musiccentre.ca)
! ! The idea of
north is central to
Canadian composer
Carmen Braden’s
latest release,
titled Songs of the
Invisible Summer
Stars. The imagery
of shimmering icy
planes at dusk – an impression imbedded
within all Canadians whether physically
experienced or not – is ever present in
Braden’s writing for various chamber ensembles.
But this imagery is not obvious, nor
is it obfuscated through artistic trickery.
Braden’s music is clear, and it is bright. It
drifts, lingers, dances, and breathes at rest. It
is at once far and near – a personal representation
of a liminal landscape that is at once
distant and comforting. One true gift (among
many) on the release is the second movement
from a piece titled Raven Conspiracy.
Braden gives this movement the subtitle of
Waltz of Wing and Claw. This music, written
for strings, paints the density and impossible
geometry of the dream cloud of birds
– that dark unbroken remoulding of the sky
against sun, ice and smoke. This recording is
captured psychogeography – a process that
asks us to embrace the playfulness of our
surroundings, and to drift among those places
without cause. It is clear that Braden is trying
to provide a portrait – but also a release –
between life and surroundings. With a wide
range of instrumentations, colours, and ambiences,
the sounds on this recording will
haunt and comfort – much like the strange
beauty of the northern terrain.
Adam Scime
82 | November 2019 thewholenote.com

Lutalica
Mark Takeshi McGregor
Redshift Records (redshiftrecords.org)
!!
Vancouver
flutist Mark Takeshi
McGregor is an
internationally
recognized interpreter
of classical
flute music,
particularly of the
experimental kind.
As he writes in the liner notes, the motivation
for his new album came from an exploration
of his identities. “Lutalica [the word invented
by John Koenig] meaning ‘the part of one’s
identity that doesn’t fit into categories’ is a
solo flute project that grew out of an identity
crisis.”
McGregor has been performing music
of predominantly European composers on
the metal concert flute, even though he was
“anything but Western European. I am half-
Japanese, half-Australian, born and raised
on the West Coast of Canada: a true product
of the Pacific Rim.” His geographically
informed search culminated in Lutalica, an
album of nine recent widely varied solo flute
works by composers hailing from Australia,
Canada, Chile, Japan, New Zealand, Taiwan
and the USA.
Bookending the album are works by two
composers with strong Canadian connections.
Hope Lee’s moving requiem for her
father, forever after (2000), alternates
moments of lyrical grief with percussive
anger. Emilie LeBel’s 2017 Hiraeth (Welsh for
homesickness, nostalgia, grief for lost places
of the past) explores at length the “traveller’s
desire to be free… all the while longing for a
home to which they cannot return… which
maybe never was.” The final alternating
long low tones make a beautiful and satisfying
ending to this album’s musical journey
around the Pacific rim.
Should you consider listening to an entire
album of contemporary solo flute music?
When it’s so well composed, thoughtfully
curated, and impressively performed as
Lutalica is, my answer is a resounding yes.
Andrew Timar
Frank Horvat – What Goes Around
Various Artists
Centrediscs CMCCD 27419
(musiccentre.ca)
!!
I once developed
a liking for a pricey
mosaic backsplash
tile with sharp
colours featuring
tiny images reminiscent
of Roy
Lichtenstein’s
pop-art icons.
If minimalist music has an analogy in the
visual arts it is with mosaics. Frank Horvat’s
minimalism is attractive, bright-coloured
and poppy. Also surprising. Also, somewhat
formulaic. This last is not a criticism of the
quality or value of his writing; I’m no judge
in that regard, but it does strike me that five
of the six cuts on the newly released What
Goes Around clock in at roughly ten minutes,
suggesting a pattern of construction he
consistently follows.
Breaking with this pattern, at nearly 15
minutes, is the most powerful piece, 7 Pianos,
recorded on several tracks and performed
by the composer. A concentration exercise
for the listener, it’s almost a game of recognizing
the extremely gradual variations away
from the initial minute of a repeated gesture.
Maybe it’s me being jaded, but this one challenges
me to truly listen and not let the
patterning lull my attention. Fatigue for the
performer is sometimes a cherished aesthetic
of the composer (those guys burn me up),
and if it is so for Horvat, he has at least chosen
a willing victim: this is intensity from start
to finish.
A curiously titled piece referencing the late
Rob Ford is similarly a multi-track recording
with Peter Stoll ably accompanying himself
on multiple clarinets in melancholy tunefulness;
apparently Horvat felt more compassion
than outrage regarding the misguided mayor.
Other performers include the redoubtable Bev
Johnston on mallets, and the disc ends with a
strangely offensive (to me, I have issues) voice
loop on the repeated phrase “I Love You.”
Max Christie
Russell Hartenberger – Requiem for
Percussion and Voices
Nexus; TorQ; Lindsay Kesselman; Cory
Knight
Nexus 11031 (nexuspercussion.com)
!!
The requiem
mass has provided
composers with
inspiration for
centuries, from
which has come
some of Western
music’s greatest
works, including
the Requiems of Verdi and Mozart, Fauré
and Duruflé, as well as those incorporating
external texts, such as Britten’s War Requiem.
Russell Hartenberger’s Requiem for
Percussion and Voices is a work in the latter
form, eschewing the traditional requiem
texts in favour of an eight-movement reflection
on death and nature. Incorporating tolling
bells, funeral drum beatings, a Bach chorale,
bird songs and bugle calls, this requiem is an
eclectic and wide-ranging synthesis of musical
style that suggests a broad, universal outlook.
The disc’s liner notes, written by
Hartenberger (who is also a member of
Nexus), are exceedingly insightful and highly
recommended to anyone who listens to
this piece, for within them one will find a
personal story behind each movement, from
Hartenberger’s days in the United States Air
Force Band to his study of West African drum
music. In a work with such wide-ranging and
globally sourced material as this Requiem,
such commentary serves as a road map,
guiding the listener in an invaluable way.
In an area of the arts so often committed
to reviving the works of the past, it is vitally
important to explore new material in addition
to the old standards. This recording provides
a splendid example of why this is: tuneful,
contemporary (in its truest sense), and a fine
display of vocal and instrumental ability,
Requiem is worthwhile listening for all.
Matthew Whitfield
Suite Nostalgique – Musical Impressions
from Ukraine
Izabella Budai; Matthew Christakos; Maria
Dolnycky; Alex McLeod; Peter Stoll
Independent n/a (store.cdbaby.com/cd)
! ! Pianist Maria
Dolnycky originally
brought
together the five
local musicians on
this recording to
perform the stylistically
diverse music
of these seven
Ukrainian composers in 2016 at Toronto’s
Gallery 345 as a fundraiser for modern prosthetic
limbs for Ukraine.
Dolnycky performs with passion and detail
in all the works. Mykola Lysenko’s traditional
Romantic-flavoured Sorrow (Elegy),
Op. 39 opens with cellist Matthew Christakos
playing a mournful solo line leading to singable
melodies above tonal piano chords.
Anatoly Kos-Anatolsky’s Waltz for cello and
piano is upbeat with dramatic touches of
swing and big band styles. Now it’s violist
Alex McLeod’s turn to perform expressively
in Vasyl Barvinsky’s Three Romances,
a three-movement work highlighted by
the happy closing It’s Spring Again! movement.
Levko Kolodub’s Moldovan Sketch
for viola and piano showcases the composer’s
and two performers’ musical talents
ranging from classic high tinkles to rhythmic
Moldovan-flavoured folk music. Title track
Suite Nostalgique for clarinet and piano is
the strongest composition here, as clarinetist
Peter Stoll joins Dolnycky in playing
composer Taras Yashchenko’s four-movement
exploration of two-step Foxtrot, slower Aria
and intense rhythmic party Samba. Flutist
Izabella Budai also traverses musical styles
with piano from the sweet to atonal in nine
short tasty selections from Boris Kosak’s Petit
Fours (bite-sized treats), and the expressive
Théodore Akimenko’s Idylle, Op.14 for flute
and piano.
Let’s applaud Dolnycky for making these
fascinating lesser-known Ukrainian works
available for wider audiences to hear and
contemplate.
Tiina Kiik
thewholenote.com November 2019 | 83

Come Closer
Michael Harley; Phillip Bush
New Focus Recordings FCR240
(newfocusrecordings.com)
!!
If you play
clarinet in an
orchestra, the
bassoon is your
best friend. That
rich and deeply
grained sonority
forgives a multitude
of pitch variances;
a well-supported bassoon sound is a perfect
colour complement to the whingeing voice
of its single-reed neighbour. So immediately
I must declare a bias in this commentary on
Come Closer, featuring American bassoonist
Michael Harley playing the music of several
of his colleagues from the University of South
Carolina and beyond.
Listen to this album. Just go out and buy
it and put it on and marvel at the title track
by John Fitz Rogers. A quartet performed in
multi-track by Harley, with definite echoes of
Reich, Adams and Glass, it nourishes the ear,
never tiresome, always delightful. Precision
marries beauty. In the following piece,
Miphadventures by Stefan Freund, we’re
treated to a blues-infused dialogue between
bassoon and piano (played with sympathy
and guts by Phillip Bush). An introductory
arioso sets the stage for a swinging dance
in a stylish syncopated four to a bar. This is
Americanism, not Americana. It’s never hackneyed,
simply enjoyable. Harley allows just
the barest hint of jazz inflection, which is
good. Too many bends induce nausea.
If you begin to think this all sounds too
like easy listening, stay tuned. The third track
will satisfy your wish for tonal exploration.
Alarums and Excursions by Carl Schimmel
bills itself as a Puzzle-Burlesque, but really
leave off the brain work and just gloat that
here’s something very grabby that also avoids
major and minor sonorities.
I could go on. You don’t need me to. You
need to get this disc.
Max Christie
Darker Things
Tuple
Bright Shiny Things BSTC-0179
(brightshiny.ninja)
!!
Here’s certainly
something different,
a bassoon duo
playing contemporary
concert
music. Music
scored for two
bassoons apparently
only reaches
back a few decades, yet undeterred, bassoonists
Rachael Elliott and Lynn Hileman formed
their duo Tuple in 2006. They have played
their unusual repertoire widely at American
experimental art and music venues ever
since. Darker Things, their debut album,
displays their admirable technique and
musicality, as well as the surprising tonal,
timbral and emotional range possible on just
two bassoons.
The earliest work here is by the celebrated
Tatar-Russian composer Sofia Gubaidulina.
Her masterfully crafted, impassioned Duo
Sonata (1977) is characterized by one of her
extra-musical themes: reaching for the divine
in music. Frequent glissandi, intense chromatic
motives, the use of micro-chromaticism
(i.e. quarter tones) and multiphonics illustrate
what Gubaidulina characterizes as striving for
a “transition to another plane of existence.”
Lacrimosa (1991), by the idiosyncratic
Dutch master composer Louis Andriessen,
is a slow and deliberate work employing
close atonal harmonies to create the keening
quality suggested by its title. On the other
hand multiple Grammy Award-winning
composer Michael Daugherty’s Bounce (1988)
explores a series of dramatic moments in
various moods, tempi, dynamics and bassoon
ranges. Black (2008) by American postminimalist
Marc Mellits stays light of heart
throughout. Echoes of Steve Reich at his most
ebullient permeate the work, however Mellits’
complex cross-rhythms and syncopations
also reference rock’s straightforward tonality
and forward-propelling energy.
Darker Things is a fun and thoughtprovoking
album suitable for double reed
players – as well as the rest of us.
Andrew Timar
Patterns – Chamber Works
Various Artists
Navona Records nv6243
(navonarecords.com)
!!
A musical
pattern may be a
repeating or recurring
rhythm, pitch,
dynamic, instrumentation
etc. A
repeating pattern of
surprisingly fascinating,
contrasting
music by seven
composers for diverse small ensembles,
including two solo guitar works, makes this
an unexpected listening joy.
James William Stamm’s Asymmetry for
guitar duet is upbeat with alternating broken
chord figures and short melodic sections.
Georges Raillard’s guitar solo Disintegration
opens with tonal intervals which then change
to contrasting strums and atonal intervals.
Composer/guitarist Santiago Kodela’s threemovement/pattern
solo-guitar work, Two
Lords, opens with Of Textures, a rhythmic
toe-tapping work with low tones and moving
melody. The slower, edgier Of Colours has
ringing contemplative guitar tones. The faster
Of Mechanics features driving guitar grooves,
pitches and repeated note patterns.
Now for percussion patterns. Daniel
Adams’ two-marimba work Road Traversed
and Reversed opens with attention-grabbing
marimba rolls, then lots of exciting repeated
notes, tight duet contrapuntal playing and
grooves. David Arbury’s Four Snares has
four snare drummers performing constantly
on the move – snare rolls, effects, taps and
dynamic variations.
Bunny Beck’s tango-flavoured expressive
Suite for Sarro for string trio encompasses
contemporary and Romantic sounds. Fun
abounds in Jan Järvlepp’s Bassoon Quartet.
The four bassoons emulate car sounds like
short beeps in Cadillac. The slower Reaching
showcases the instrument’s low pitch abilities.
Danceable Jig is rewarding at the low
pitch with twirling melodic patterns.
The pattern is completed with impeccable
production and performances. Great,
great, great!
Tiina Kiik
Kaija Saariaho – True Fire; Trans; Ciel
d’hiver
Gerald Finley; Xavier de Maistre; Finnish
RSO; Hannu Lintu
Ondine ODE 1309-2 (naxosdirect.com)
Sturm
Ensemble Musikfabrik
Wergo Edition Musikfabrik 15
(musikfabrik.eu/en)
! ! Kaija Saariaho
appears to engage
all the senses at full
throttle when she is
writing music. This
tactility is channelled
in such a
manner that one
might conceivably
hear the creeping of the shadow of a tree
elongating at dusk or a flower weeping in the
rain in long inventions and subtly sculpted
lines for a cello. All of this appears to make
for works that comprise highly complex
sound masses, created out of microscopic
tangles of intertwined instrumental lines –
a kind of musical spider’s web woven with
micropolyphony. Through it all she remains
completely focused on melody, counterpoint
and harmony, with rhythm also surfacing
in dramatic outbursts. Saariaho appears to
push form to its limit, creating a compelling
musical world at once eerie and beautiful.
The music on this disc is made up of three
exquisite orchestral works and is beyond
tonality, atonality and post-modernization.
On Trans, a work in three movements for
harp and orchestra, Saariaho creates a vivid
storyline and invites the listener to follow her
principal character – personified by the harp
– as it evolves in the music’s narrative. Harpist
Xavier de Maistre’s performance is lustrous
and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra
is outstanding as they make the work seem
visionary, highlighting Saariaho’s gift for
84 | November 2019 thewholenote.com

creating hauntingly memorable sounds.
Saariaho also reveals her heightened sense
of the dramatic in Ciel d’hiver, a retelling of
part of the journey of the son of Poseidon,
re-orchestrated from her larger piece, Orion.
The appropriately smaller symphony
orchestra still manages to deliver the work’s
supple textures with consummate musicality,
allowing for the beauty of the mythic
narrative to emerge with compelling force.
On True Fire, Saariaho turns to perhaps her
greatest strength – the setting of poetry to
music. This work is performed by the great
Canadian baritone Gerald Finley, who
weathers the enormous difficulty of the vocal
writing with glorious ease. His vocal
outpourings, together with masterful
orchestral direction by Hannu Lintu, help the
poetry leap off the page.
Saariaho’s music
reappears on a
second disc also
featuring works
by two other
contemporary
composers, Steffen
Schleiermacher and
Michael Wertmüller.
The disc is titled Sturm (or Storm) as the
music is evocative of – poetically or otherwise
– atmospheric agitation appropriately
conjured up by the extraordinary contemporary
collective, Ensemble Musikfabrik,
joined throughout by soloing guest musicians.
In the case of Saariaho’s contribution, the
music translates parts of Shakespeare (The
Tempest) reincarnated in a cycle of songs
titled The Tempest Songbook and brought
to life by the lustrous soprano of Olivia
Vermeulen and the ink-dark baritone of Peter
Schöne. Schleiermacher’s Das Tosen Des
Staunenden Echos (The roar of the amazed
echo) captures an agitated journey, its turbulent
repeated gestures revolving theatrically,
breaking in waves and sounding like fluid
birth pangs in the very act of the enigmatic
composition itself. Wertmüller’s Antagonisme
Contrôlé is a fiery piece that roars between
the freewheeling worlds of jazz and avantgarde-music
styles as soloists, including the
inimitable saxophonist Peter Brötzmann, take
the music to dizzying heights.
Raul da Gama
Bird as Prophet
David Bowlin; various artists
New Focus Recordings FCR237
(newfocusrecordings.com)
!!
This is one disc
that achieves so
much more than
it sets out to do.
Bird as Prophet
(the composition)
is an amalgam of
Robert Schumann,
a Romantic with a
deep and abiding
knowledge of literature and philosophy, and
Charlie Parker, the iconic bebop genius who
revolutionized jazz – and, it may be argued,
all contemporary music. But it is the fingers
– and bow – of David Bowlin that drives the
music of the entire disc much further.
Bowlin brings so much more to the
music than mere virtuosity. Combining his
absolute mastery of the violin with inspired
interpretations, he lifts the black dots off the
page in an utterly beguiling performance
evocative of the very nature of human
endeavour and the mercurial vicissitudes that
go with it.
Bowlin’s instrument lives and breathes and
takes us to another world. It’s full of glinting
illuminations, mysterious depths, expectations,
frustrations, hopes and doubts, like
the lights and shadows of a quasi-Schumann
scherzo glimpsed by moonlight in a
forest. Using taped effects and partnered by
four other musicians (on three other tracks),
Bowlin creates passage upon passage of notes
that are at once perfectly transparent yet
gorgeously coloured. There’s also a sense of
tightly disciplined improvisation everywhere
in the music.
Finally, on the mesmerising Under a Tree,
an Udātta, an almost-nine minute musical
exploration of Sanskrit phonetics (Udātta is
the pitch accent of Vedic Sanskrit), he bows
out with buoyant, aristocratic grace.
Raul da Gama
JAZZ AND IMPROVISED
A Cheerful Little Earful
Diana Panton; Reg Schwager; Don
Thompson
Independent (dianapanton.com)
!!
In 2015, vocalist
Diana Panton
released I Believe in
Little Things, with
Don Thompson,
Reg Schwager
and Coenraad
Bloemendal. The
album has a lot
going for it: intelligent arrangements, strong
performances, and classic songs from sources
such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,
Pinocchio and The Muppet Movie. While
Panton had released a number of records
previously, I Believe in Little Things was her
first children’s album.
Panton’s project continues with A Cheerful
Little Earful, a new album of jazz for kids,
which was released in October 2019.
Schwager and Thompson are back, as are
succinct arrangements of songs from television,
film and music theatre. Panton has a
gift for singing with simple phrasing and with
an unaffected delivery that places emphasis
on the melody at hand; this stripped-down
style works perfectly in the small-ensemble
setting with Schwager and Thompson, and
also focuses the listener’s attention on the
songs’ lyrics.
Like I Believe In Little Things, A Cheerful
Little Earful is being marketed as a “jazz
album for kids.” It might, however, be more
accurate to say that it is an album for adults
looking back with fondness at the music of
their own youth (and their parents’ youth,
for that matter; Happy Talk, the album’s first
track, is from South Pacific). But whether
Panton’s listeners are swept up in a rush of
nostalgia or experiencing these songs for the
first time, it’s safe to say that they’ll enjoy this
well-crafted record.
Colin Story
Zoning
Nick Fraser; Kris Davis; Tony Malaby;
Ingrid Laubrock; Lina Allemano
Astral Spirits (astralspiritsrecords.com)
! ! At times, Nick
Fraser has been
Toronto’s busiest
jazz drummer, but
he’s increasingly
involved in developing
his own
music and some key
international partnerships.
Among his projects is this trio with
New York-based saxophonist Tony Malaby
and pianist Kris Davis. For the trio’s second
outing (Too Many Continents appeared in
2015), they’ve enlisted guests: New York saxophonist
Ingrid Laubrock and Toronto trumpeter
Lina Allemano appear on the three
Fraser compositions included here.
It’s a hard-edged band with a disciplined
intensity that shows in each taut track, with
or without guests, a give and take between
form and freedom that often moves toward
form. The incendiary opening dialogue
between Malaby and Laubrock (he has the
warmer jazz tone; she’s responsible for the
weirder hollow harmonics and deliberate
bleats) is eventually drawn into form.
Throughout the program, tight-knit figures
are frequently employed to develop structural
tensions that will ultimately explode before
reassembling themselves.
Fraser’s Sketch 46, a dance between
restraint and expression, begins with the
most incidental wisps of sound: the lightest
piano flurries, a muffled cymbal, air through
a trumpet, saxophone plosives. These events,
increasingly pointillistic, gradually increase
in length and intensity, volume remaining
low, relations among parts sketchy. Eventually
the band activity expands to an increasingly
dense collective. Drawn into Fraser’s fierce
knitting drum figures, the horns emerge for
brief solo episodes, until a long-toned melody,
almost choral, emerges.
It’s just one crucial piece in this demanding
set of brilliantly realized works.
Stuart Broomer
thewholenote.com November 2019 | 85

The Chronicles of Fezziwig
Mark Kelso Jazz Project
Maisamark Music MKJE003
(groovydrums.com)
!!
Could this
musical yarn of
Fezziwig, whose
chronicles the Mark
Kelso Jazz Project
so expertly spin,
hark back to a character
from the novel
A Christmas Carol
created by Charles Dickens? If the time and
circumstance of Dickens’ story and our time
were to inhabit similar capsules, then the
jovial, foppish man with a large Welsh wig
might just as well be evoked by this breathtakingly
effervescent music for our rather
dark times, to sweep away the turmoil of our
century into a Green Revolution, just as the
character in Dickens’ story did at the cusp of
the Industrial Revolution.
Opening the fold-over package to get to The
Chronicles of Fezziwig we read the words:
“Inspire creativity.” This is the kind of spark
that Kelso’s drumming inevitably provides
whenever he becomes the rhythmic and
catalytic pivot in any ensemble. Here too,
the electrifying drummer plays that role in
this sextet. In Fezziwig’s character, Kelso’s
songs can be quirky (Elliptical), elegiac (A
Message from Idris), mesmerizing (Pinwheel)
and more. Each song evolves into a gripping
narrative evoked by a riveting melody laced
with glorious harmony. The rippling jazz
grooves that ensue gently build into boppish
saxophone and piano runs, launched, of
course, by Kelso’s broodingly percussive
funky and tumbling rhythms.
The ensemble includes heavyweight
musicians: saxophonist Pat LaBarbera,
guitarist Ted Quinlan, pianists Gordon
Sheard and Brian Dickinson, and bassist Mike
Downes, all of whom interpret Kelso’s vivid
works idiomatically.
Raul da Gama
Surefire Sweat
Surefire Sweat
Independent (surefiresweat.com)
!!
This debut album
is a breath of funky,
fresh air by JUNOnominated
musician
Larry Graves’
project, Surefire
Sweat. All eight
tracks on the record
are originals written
by Graves and are “an emotive journey,
offering real-time reflections… on the human
condition.” The mostly instrumental nature
of the album truly allows the rhythmic
complexity of each piece to be brought to
the forefront, which the first-time bandleader
himself has mentioned is an incredibly
important factor throughout. Featured is a
lineup of talented musicians such as Elena
Kapeleris on tenor sax and vocals, Paul
Metcalfe on baritone sax and Paul MacDougall
on guitar and vocals.
Threshold is a fiery, rhythmically hot start
to the record and manages to pull the listener
right into the catchy groove. Throughout the
album, it is easy to hear the fusion of funk,
jazz and world music not only through the
instrumental riffs, but even through the
rhythms themselves. The distinct flavour of
percussion and drums tells an extremely
expressive story all on its own. Sunshine
Interference has an especially addicting bass
groove that just gets your head bopping along
and Number Nine takes the listener on a
journey through completely dance-worthy
rhythms inspired by Nigerian drummer Tony
Allen. Ending the record is Scoffle Strut, a
sultry, positively scintillating tune. For those
looking for a pick-me-up for the longer fall
and winter days ahead, this album is a perfect
candidate to get you out of your daily rut.
Kati Kiilaspea
Sonnet 18
Trevor Giancola
TQM Recording TQM-1315
(tqmrecordingco.com)
!!
Guitarist Trevor
Giancola’s sophomore
album,
Sonnet 18, is one
of the season’s
most anticipated
modern straightahead
jazz releases.
A follow-up to
2016’s Fundamental, which saw Giancola in
trio format with bassist Neil Swainson and
drummer Adam Arruda, Sonnet 18 is one of
the first offerings of the new TQM Recording
Company, helmed by Ron Skinner. Recorded
live-off-the-floor at Toronto’s Union Sound
in February 2019, this new album is notable
for its rich, warm sound, for Giancola’s intelligent
compositions, and for its personnel
list: joining Giancola are Arruda, bassist Rick
Rosato and saxophonist Seamus Blake. (For
those unfamiliar: though Arruda, Rosato and
Blake are Canadian, all three are based in the
US, and are well-established names on the
international scene.)
Sonnet 18 has many highlights, including
Retrospect, a bouncy, medium swinger that
features a stop-time melody played tightly by
Giancola and Blake. It’s All Good, Man, a trio
track, is a beautiful, reflective journey, with
relatively simple melodies sitting atop lush
harmony. A + B sees Arruda in fine form,
crisply tracing the contours of the 5/4 song’s
structure; Stream, the album’s final track,
patiently builds in intensity to one of Blake’s
most exciting solos. Throughout Sonnet 18,
Giancola is the tie that binds the music
together, playing with clarity, intelligence
and enviable tone, from the album’s most
sensitive moments to its most aggressive. A
commendable second album, and a strong
beginning for TQM.
Colin Story
Unstoppable
Joel Miller
Independent MCM043
(joelmillermusic.com)
!!
Joel Miller has
made a career
for himself as
an adventurous,
searching saxophonist
and bandleader.
Based in
Montreal, he has
led projects that
range in style from straight-ahead modern
jazz to 80s pop/rock, and has collaborated
with internationally recognized musicians,
including Sienna Dahlen, Geoffrey Keezer,
Christine Jensen and Kurt Rosenwinkel.
His new release, Unstoppable, is the result
of a different kind of searching: a return to
school, a newly minted master’s degree in
jazz composition, and a desire to write music
for “21st-century chamber symphony,” an
ensemble comprising woodwinds, brass,
percussion and the traditional big band
rhythm section of guitar, piano, bass and
drums. In addition to composing and arranging
all of Unstoppable’s material and
playing tenor and soprano saxophones, Miller
conducts ten of the album’s 14 pieces (the
remaining four are conducted by Jensen).
At first glance – and before your first listen
– Unstoppable might seem like it would be
similar to Michael Brecker’s Wide Angles, a
lushly orchestrated blowing vehicle for a toptier
tenor player; it might also bring to mind
comparisons with Maria Schneider’s large
ensembles, or other modern big band writing.
The truth, however, is both more unexpected
and more interesting: Unstoppable is a true
showcase for Miller’s compositional voice,
and though it has moments of bombastic
instrumental athletics, listeners are just as
likely to hear the influence of Bernstein and
Copland as they are Brecker and Coltrane. A
beautiful album, and a serious accomplishment
for Miller.
Colin Story
I’ve Got Just About Everything
Laura Anglade
Justin Time JTR 8619-2 (justin-time.com)
! ! With her sparkling
debut release,
talented, Montrealbased
jazz vocalist
and composer,
Laura Anglade,
fearlessly plunges
headlong into
a wide range of
top-notch material, drawn from both the
86 | November 2019 thewholenote.com

Broadway stage as well as the Great American
Songbook, stretching from a Depression-era
hit by Tin Pan Alley’s Harry Ruby to the late
50s/early 60s witticism-noir of the brilliant
Fran Landesman. Anglade (who also contributes
a solid original tune) and her ensemble,
featuring Jonathan Chapman on bass, Sam
Kirmayer on guitar and Valérie Lacombe on
drums, also act as producers here; stirring
tenorist Masashi Usui completes this exceptional
musical and creative unit.
First up is an up-tempo, clever arrangement
of Gus Kahn and Julie Styne’s A Beautiful
Friendship. This lovely classic features an irresistible
bass/vocal intro, in perfect symbiosis
with Anglade’s natural, jazz-oriented
vocal style. Her deadly perfect intonation and
immaculate control of her vibrato result in
long, impactful tones, reminiscent of the late
Keely Smith; and Kirmayer’s fluid guitar solo
and Usui’s warm, mellifluous sax sound are
the perfect complements to Anglade’s assured
vocal scat section.
Incomparable American tunesmith, Bob
Dorough, is the author of the title track, and
Anglade deftly swings it, with this witty,
snappy offering. Other superb tracks include
1959’s Spring Can Really Hang You Up
the Most, with lyrics by Fran Landesman
and music by Tommy Wolf. Arranged in a
slightly perky tempo, Anglade wrings out the
maximum irony from Landesman’s inspired
poetry. I’m Glad There is You (Jimmy Dorsey’s
uber-romantic ballad) is another gem. The
sumptuous, legato, arco-bass-infused intro
by Chapman sits at the perfect tempo for
maximum effect, and the superbly intimate
work from the instrumental ensemble,
complements the nuanced vocals of Anglade.
Lesley Mitchell-Clarke
Phare
Yves Léveillé
Effendi Records FND155
(effendirecords.com)
!!
Befitting a rhythmically
flashing
beacon evocative
of the meaning
of this album title
(Lighthouse), or
perhaps arising out
of it, the repertoire
of Phare flashes
in gentle pulses beamed into the mind’s
senses and led by the refined pianism of its
creator, Yves Léveillé. This is music that is by
turns grand and spacious; spare and angular.
The short, sharp phrases and interjections
between the trumpet of Jacques Kuba Séguin
and the saxophones of Yannick Rieu come
stammering over Léviellé’s expansive piano
while all three musicians bounce ideas off
an edifice of rhythm erected by contrabassist
Guy Boisvert and drummer Kevin Warren.
The result is a dreamy set of songs where
melody, harmony and rhythm are intricately
woven together in a diaphanous fabric of
sound. The gentle pulsations of the title
track kick things off with its spacious
phrases and liquid runs by the pianist and
his accompanying musicians, who parley
with the familiarity of old friends. Their
playing always retains that sense of grace
and nobility associated with a chamber
orchestra. Yet nothing is forced, exaggerated
or overly mannered; tempos, ensemble,
solos and balance – all seem effortlessly and
intuitively right.
The horn sound is lucid – especially on
Sang-Froid – and the piano and bass add
warmth to the rhythmic architecture, chiselled
into shape by delicate percussion. The
result is poised, faultless music written and
arranged by Léveillé which sheds fresh light
on the relationship between composition and
improvisation.
Raul da Gama
Wonderland
Gentiane MG Trio
Effendi Records FND 154
(effendirecords.com)
!!
Gentiane
Michaud-Gagnon
(MG) is a composer
and jazz piano
player who studied
at the Quebec
Conservatory in
Saguenay and
then majored in
Jazz Performance at McGill University. She
has played with many jazz artists around
Canada and also toured in China and Mexico.
The Gentiane MG Trio’s first album, Eternal
Cycle (2017), was named by CBC Music as
one of the ten best jazz recordings of that
year. Wonderland’s liner notes describe it
as “a place of endless possibilities. A place
where things can be different.” Indeed, the
works are all inventive but never clichéd. The
harmonies are complex and most pieces start
from one idea or theme and work their way
through different thoughts and images more
organically than simply melodies and solos.
At the album’s core are Wonderland
(Part 1: Comeback), Wonderland
(Part 2: Shadows) and Wonderland
(Part 3: Unbearable). Comeback begins
with an ostinato from the piano, then Louis-
Vincent Hamel on drums introduces a
complex lilting samba pattern and the piece
continues to expand on those ideas with
repeated ostinatos and exchanges with the
drums. Shadows has many pensive chords
over which Levi Dover plays a thoughtful
bass solo. Unbearable opens with tense
chords and a simple pattern punctuated
by rhythmic and inventive drum fills.
Eventually the piano becomes more contrapuntal
and the bass joins the exchange as
well. Michaud-Gagnon’s piano style is cerebral
with hints of Bach, Lennie Tristano, Bill
Evans and occasional Monk-ish riffs. The trio
plays off each other in subtle shades as they
work through Michaud-Gagnon’s compositions.
Wonderland is like visiting a safe,
thoughtful and meditative world.
Ted Parkinson
Concert Note: Gentiane MG perform 7pm
November 13 at Brookstreet Hotel, Ottawa;
9pm November 14 and 15 at Jazz Bistro,
Toronto; and 8:30pm November 16 at The Jazz
Room, Waterloo.
Genius Loci Mixtape
Jeannette Lambert
Jazz from Rant rant 1953
(jazzfromrant.com)
!!
A distinctive
and creative singer,
Jeannette Lambert
presents an imaginative
and intimate
travelogue in music
here, interacting
spontaneously with
numerous musicians
in different
locales. Sometimes she sings other writers’
lyrics, sometimes her own; whether playfully
or wistfully, she sings with a poet’s diction,
making every song a model of clarity.
The most frequent collaborators are her
musical family: her husband, Montreal
drummer Michel Lambert, plays on all 11
tracks; her brother, Toronto guitarist Reg
Schwager, on four. His appearances include
two recordings from a Barcelona apartment:
the opening Keys explores a stark text
about trust among lovers by Catalan poet
Clementina Arderiu; the final vision is Gaudi,
a celebration of the architect’s crowning
achievement, the city’s Sagrada Familia, now
a century in the making. Lambert artfully
conveys the complex emotion of her lyric
about “something that was created for the
sake of creating.”
In between are other evocations of the spirit
of place. Two tracks from Puget-Ville, France,
have Lambert improvising melody with a
rambunctious quintet that includes the great
veteran bassist Barre Phillips. Sometimes
poem and site create compound spaces: the
welling emotion of Anne Brontë’s A Windy
Day was realized with pianist Greg Burk
in Ostia, Italy, while Spanish poet Federico
García Lorca’s Gypsy Nun was recorded in
Montreal with harpsichordist Alexandre
Grogg. The most joyous music here comes
from furthest afield, the virtuosic Coyote,
recorded at a festival in Sulawesi, Indonesia
with Schwager and bassist Fendy Rizk.
Stuart Broomer
Double on the Brim
Leblanc; Gibson; Vicente; Mira; Ferreira
Lopes
Atrito-Afeito 011 (atrito-afeito.com)
! ! Pianist Karoline Leblanc and drummer
Paulo J Ferreira Lopes have a developing
thewholenote.com November 2019 | 87

elationship with
Lisbon, a warmer
complement to
their Montreal
base. Lisbon is a
burgeoning centre
for free jazz and
improvised music,
with numerous
performance spaces,
these genres’ most active record labels (Clean
Feed and Creative Source have produced over
600 CDs each since 2001) and a growing list
of well-known improvisers taking up residence.
Leblanc and Ferreira Lopes recorded
A Square Meal there in 2016, and Leblanc
recently recorded Autoschediasm in Montreal
with Lisboan violist Ernesto Rodrigues.
Double on the Brim, recorded in Lisbon this
year, develops the connection further.
The quintet here includes Brazilian-born
saxophonist Yedo Gibson, trumpeter Luís
Vicente (returning from A Square Meal) and
cellist Miguel Mira. There are six episodes,
ranging in length from four to 16 minutes.
The longest of them, Anthropic Jungle and
the title track, are intense collective improvisations
that pulse with vitality, moving
tapestries in which instruments tumble
over one another. The relatively brief Singra
Alegria, almost dirge-like, foregoes the usual
density, with Leblanc’s looming bass clusters
creating an ominous mood in which
Vicente’s subdued lyricism comes to the fore.
Jaggy Glide is the most tightly focused, with
Gibson’s alto spiralling through the dense
rhythmic field created by Leblanc, Ferreira
Lopes, and the versatile Mira, who can also
provide convincing bass lines when required.
Sometimes instrumental identities will
blur, but Leblanc’s brilliant articulation
and Ferreira Lopes’ multidirectional drumming
shine.
Stuart Broomer
Tunes in a Hotel
Quinn Bachand’s Brishen
Independent CP104 (brishenmusic.com)
!!
When I
first listened
to Cheyenne (Quit
Your Talkin’) from
Brishen’s second
album, Blue
Verdun, I assumed
it was a cover of a
jazz/pop song from
the 1930s. It was surprising to discover this
clever and engaging song was written and
sung by Quinn Bachand, a young musical
prodigy from Victoria. He was studying at the
Berklee College of Music (on a full scholarship)
and recorded that album in his apartment
in Verdun, Quebec while on a semester
leave. It is a remarkable trip into a past style
creatively re-imagined in the present.
Brishen, Romany for “bringer of the
storm,” has released a third album, Tunes
in a Hotel, which is an idiosyncratic
re-imagining of several Django Reinhardt
tunes (including Odette, It Had to Be You
and Pennies from Heaven). The backstory
is dramatic with Bachand’s Berklee residence
involved in a fire which left his instruments
safe, but smelling of smoke. He and
other students were relocated to the Boston
Sheraton where he recorded this album in
room 737! The ensemble sounds tight and
feisty with Bachand (at points) playing a
borrowed Gibson ES 125 through an “amazingly
crunchy 50s tube amp.” One striking
aspect of these pieces is their crisp economy:
with an average length of less than three
minutes, the melodies and solos seem
compressed and melodically inventive with
Eric Vanderbilt-Mathews (clarinet) and
Christiaan van Hemert (violin) contributing
several excellent improvisations. Bachand’s
guitar playing is both an homage to Reinhardt
and an expression of his own eclectic originality.
I highly recommend this retro, low-fi,
yet modern revisiting of Reinhardt’s catalogue.
And I look forward to the surprises of a
fourth Brishen album, possibly even recorded
in a studio!
Ted Parkinson
Jaelem Bhate – On the Edge
Various artists
Independent (jaelembhate.com)
!!
Jaelem Bhate’s
website contains
listings for what
seem to be two
or three different
people: conducting
competitions in
Italy and Romania,
an inaugural
concert as musical director of Symphony 21 in
Vancouver and other symphony conducting
gigs. Then a catalogue of classical orchestral,
chamber and solo works and, finally, a
jazz section where On the Edge is listed as
his debut album. Bhate is a very busy person
with a range of musical interests.
On the Edge is an ambitious album with
a 20-piece band of excellent musicians
from the Vancouver area. In his liner notes
Bhate says every work “represents some
edge in my life, as does the whole album.”
The title could also represent Vancouver on
the “edge” of the ocean and the country. The
core of the CD is the magnificent Pacific
Suite with four programmatic movements:
Straights and Narrows, Weeping
Skies, Uninhabitation and Sea of
Glass. Straights and Narrows contains
slower and faster sections with a few drum
solos that could reference the movement of
water through narrow straights and onto
the beaches, Weeping Skies begins with an
elegant pizzicato bass solo which sounds like
individual drops building into the steady rain
we expect on the West Coast. Sea of Glass
opens with an up-tempo piano and bass duet
that could be a soundtrack for a floatplane
gliding low over a pristine and still harbour.
The plane lands when the horns enter and the
beat switches to a punchier swing feel with a
jaunty melody.
On the Edge is well produced with a great
band and excellent solos by several musicians
including Steve Kaldestad on a soulful
tenor saxophone. We can only hope Bhate
adds to his résumé with more jazz projects in
the future.
Ted Parkinson
B.O.A.T.S – Bass’d on a True Story
Brandon Robertson
Slammin Media
(brandonrobertsonmusic.com)
!!
Emmynominated
musical
director and Florida
staple Brandon
Robertson has
released a stellar
debut album
featuring all but two
original songs written over the span of the
past 14 years. He has referred to the record as
“the first chapter of his musical biography,”
wherein each song harks back to a significant
moment in his lifetime. Featured is a
band comprised of stars on the jazz circuit,
including collaborators such as Lew Del Gatto
on tenor saxophone, Zach Bartholomew on
piano and Gerald Watkins Jr. on drums.
The record is sultry and luscious, especially
when giving a close listen to Robertson’s
bass riffs that are very literally on fire. Each
song has its own distinct flavour, almost
creating an image in the mind of what kind of
memory the bassist was recalling in the midst
of writing. An interesting feature of the album
is that Robertson is clearly just as comfortable
leading within a piece as he is accompanying
his collaborators and allowing them to have a
moment in the spotlight. East of the Sun and
The Next Thing to Come are great opening
tracks as they have an irresistible, foottapping
rhythm. Robertson’s pizzicato technique
can really be appreciated on Lullaby
for Noelle, while bowing is also used earlier
in the same piece. While each track has its
own story, there is also a welcome togetherness
throughout the record, which makes it a
sound choice for any jazz listener.
Kati Kiilaspea
Willisau
Leimgruber/Demierre/Phillips/Lehn
Jazz Werkstatt JW 191 (jazzwerkstatt.eu)
! ! Adding another
voice to an established
trio is a
risk. But as these
extended performances
from saxophonist
Urs
Leimgruber and
88 | November 2019 thewholenote.com

pianist Jacques Demierre, both Swiss, and
expatriate American bassist Barre Phillips
indicate, the inclusion of German Thomas
Lehn’s analogue synthesizer illuminates new
tinctures in the improvisational picture the
others perfected over nearly two decades.
This ever-shifting continuum of electronic
judders not only enhances this program, but
also allows the creation of parallel duos. For
the first time, low-pitched string bowing is
matched with keyboard strums and cadenzas
while altissimo reed sputters are backed by
wave-form grinding. Throughout, partners are
changed as in a decidedly un-square dance.
Individual set pieces for each remain
though, as when Lehn’s vibrations alternate
wood-flute-like gentleness and intensely
vibrated doits, subtly seconded by pumping
piano cadenzas; or when the jagged subsequent
shape of Monkeybusiness 2, defined
by Phillips’ low-pitched sweeps in the introduction,
darkens and deepens to spiccato
string pumps, buttressed by Leimgruber’s
burbling split tones by the finale. Elsewhere,
Demierre’s key dusting can swiftly turn to a
crescendo of notes plus inner-piano string
plucks alongside circular-breathed saxophone
tones.
Cooperation and control are triumphantly
obvious at the climax of Monkeybusiness 1,
when a combination of reed multiphonics,
wriggling electronics and pounding keys
drive the track to peak excitement that
then subtly relaxes into piano glissandi and
delicate reed peeps. Willisau proves that if an
auxiliary musical voice is properly attached it
elevates the results.
Ken Waxman
Niblock/Lamb
Ensemble neoN
Hubro HUBRO CD 2601 (hubromusic.com)
!!
Two over-20-
minute microtonal
compositions
by variations of
the strings, reeds
and percussion
of Norwegian
Ensemble neoN not
only yield provocative
listening but also recognize how the subgenre
has evolved over time.
To Two Tea Roses by Phill Niblock (b.1933),
with its miniscule microtonal displacement,
borders on a solid mass as the six-piece
group begins playing a collective crescendo
and continues with an unresolved drone
throughout. While separate layers of thickness
and intensity give the choked program
shape and fascination, individual instrumental
identity is curtailed.
In contrast, Parallaxis Forma by Catherine
Lamb (b.1982) sets up a program where seven
instrumentalists contrast and comingle tonalities
into a musical wash that parallels a vocal
exposition from Stine Janvin Motland and
Silje Aker Johnsen. As the singers’ voices drift
in and out of aural focus, their closely related
lyric soprano timbres unite in near churchlike
harmonies or pull apart with tremulous
pitches, trade leads, hocket or reach
protracted pauses. Eventually, the thickened
buzz that develops from these sequences
allows individual tones to peep outwards as
the piece undulates to its conclusion.
Without jarring moments, this program
still rewards deep listening as it provides
unparalleled sonic definitions in dissimilar
interpretations.
Ken Waxman
The Passion of Octavius Catto
Uri Caine
816 Music 816-1904 (uricaine.com)
!!
Concise in
length but expansive
in execution,
this CD could be
termed a secular
oratorio, celebrating
the life, contributions
and premature
violent death of
African-American activist Octavius Catto
(1839-1871). Composed by pianist Uri Caine,
the ten-part, 29-minute program integrates
the sophisticated rhythms of Caine’s trio,
including bassist Mike Boone and drummer
Clarence Penn, with the amplified colouring
provided by a full-sized, specially constituted
philharmonic orchestra conducted by
André Raphel, two vocal ensembles and, most
crucially, singer Barbara Walker, who personalizes
episodes in Catto’s storied life that
ended in murder during election day riots
when blacks first tried to vote in post-bellum
Philadelphia.
Using ragtime and swing tropes to advance
the narrative, Caine’s playing meshes with
multilayered orchestral timbres, particularly
during Murder (October 19, 1871), which
also integrates gunfire and police whistles,
and culminates with the pianist’s subtle key
clinking and military-style drum beats dolefully
celebrating the fallen protagonist.
Elsewhere the swell of Walker’s vocal
equipment with melismatic emphasis, backed
by sympathetic affirmations from the 35
singers, almost turns each outing into gospel
music. This is no mean feat when the syllables
being emphasized deal with topics such
as rallying free men of colour to the Union
cause, new amendments to the American
Constitution or, on Change, replication of a
memorable Catto speech from 1866.
A momentous achievement. If there were
fairness in the musical world, performances
of The Passion of Octavius Catto would be
part of any symphony’s repertoire, rather
than a one-time event.
Ken Waxman
POT POURRI
Skye Consort & Emma Björling
Emma Bjorling; Skye Consort
Leaf Music LM225 (leaf-music.ca)
!!
How exactly
does a Celtic-
Quebeco-Franco-
Anglo-Acado-
Gallo-Baroquo
band team up with
a Swedish folk
singer? The answer
to this intriguing
question, posed by the liner notes, begins
in November 2017, when vocalist Emma
Björling was invited to Montreal to take part
in a project which also featured members
of the Skye Consort. The musicians casually
discussed another possible collaboration;
however, when Björling’s return flight to
Sweden was cancelled due to inclement
weather, the plans for this collaboration really
began to solidify. On the final night of her
stay, it was decided: there would be a new
project. Glasses were raised, and voilà, Skye
Consort & Emma Björling was on its way.
Flash forward to 2019, the group is
embarking on tour and releasing their first
CD. There is truly something for everyone
on this fine recording, a collection of
Swedish, Norwegian, Irish, Scottish, English,
French-Canadian and original songs. Herr
Hillebrand, a fitting upbeat opener, showcases
the talents of the entire group. Next,
Björling delivers a powerful, riveting rendition
of Om Berg Och Dalar, a traditional
Norwegian love song which segues into a
Swedish polska. Björling’s stunning original,
En Ängel, features empathic support from
Amanda Keesmaat (cello) and Seán Dagher
(bouzouki). The fiddle tunes, played by Alex
Kehler, are an absolute pleasure.
The songs are beautifully arranged, and
Björling’s vocals are fully integrated into the
ensemble, giving the music the feel of a true
collaboration. One of the best folk recordings
of 2019.
Barry Livingston
Concert Note: Skye Consort & Emma Björling
perform October 31 at the Tranzac Club,
Toronto; November 2 at Artword Artbar in
Hamilton; and November 3 at Zen Waffle Inn,
Waubashene.
Gamelan of Java, Vol. 5: Cirebon Tradition
in America
Gamelan Sinar Surya; Richard North
Lyrichord Discs LYRCH 7461
(lyrichord.com)
Gamelan Music of Cirebon, Indonesia
Gamelan Sinar Surya; Richard North
Sinar Surya Records G5503
(gamelansb.com)
thewholenote.com November 2019 | 89

Gamelan Music of Cirebon, Indonesia:
Volume 3
Gamelan Sinar Surya; Richard North
Sinar Surya Records G5503
(gamelansb.com)
!!
Richard North,
the Californiabased
gamelan
musician and
lecturer at UC Santa
Barbara, has been
studying, teaching
and performing
gamelan music
and related arts since 1972. This passion has
taken him from Sundanese villages in highland
West Java to the coastal palaces of the
Sultans of Cirebon on the island of Java.
Recognized today as an authority on the
musical traditions of the ancient kingdom
of Cirebon, North has called it “an ancient
spiritual centre [where] all of the arts radiate
a wonderful vitality and energy.” His contributions
to the preservation, transmission and
development of Cirebonese gamelan music
have not gone unappreciated – they have been
rewarded by both Cirebon’s royal palace and
the Indonesian government.
Back home in Santa Barbara, North has
directed the community group Gamelan
Sinar Surya since 2002. The group plays two
complete gamelan orchestras. The prawa set
(in a 5-tone tuning without semitones) plays
gamelan repertoires of Cirebon, Sunda and
Malaysia. The pelog set (in a 7-tone tuning
with semitones) plays pelog gamelan musics
of Cirebon, as well as Sundanese degung
klasik music which typically uses instruments
tuned to a 5-tone subset of pelog.
The three CDs in this review are a record of
Gamelan Sinar Surya’s dedication to the study
and performance of a repertoire rarely heard
outside its Cirebon homeland.
Released nine years ago, Gamelan of
Java, Vol. 5: Cirebon Tradition in America
was a 2010 landmark: the first commercial
recording by an American group of examples
of five traditional gamelan genres practised
in Cirebon. It gave non-insiders a tantalizing
taste of the aristocratic and ritual music
of this rich 500-year-old musical culture.
This is music on a more intimate scale than
the larger and better-known gamelans of
Southcentral Java and Bali.
My favourite track is Pacul Goang (Chipped
Rice Hoe), characterized at first by the gentle
musical ambiance I associate with gamelan
Cirebon performance, which then turns fast,
fiery and dense in texture. Its atmospheric
hallmarks include the dynamic playing of the
kendang and larger bedhug (drums), the
characteristically sweet suling (bamboo flute)
melodic riffs in the soft sections, and the
upbeat alok vocalizations of the musicians
imbuing life to the instrumentals in the
animated fast section.
Gamelan Music
of Cirebon,
Indonesia (2015) is
the second volume
in the series.
Gamelan Sinar
Surya plays nine
pieces on gamelan
pelog and gamelan
prawa. Standouts for me are the performances
of the endangered ritual genres, the joyous
Something in the Air
Japanese Improvisation Moves Far
Beyond its Island Base
KEN WAXMAN
Legendary as the country where every type of Western music has
some followers and where every disc extant is rumoured to exist
in some form or another, Japan likewise has a healthy jazz and
free music scene. This appreciation extends to homegrown
improvisers, but few are known throughout the larger musical world.
Not only do these discs demonstrate how this situation is changing as
Asian players interact with more Westerners, but some outsider
players have also moved there since they found the country’s
audiences to be sympathetic to their music.
In the former group, one of the most prominent
is Hiroshima-born alto saxophonist/
clarinetist Akira Sakata, 74, who’s been improvising
in an individual free jazz style since the
early 1970s which also involves his off-thewall
vocalizing. A marine biologist as well as a
musician, Sakata organized the co-operative
trio Arashi a few years ago with Norwegian
percussionist Paal Nilssen-Love and Swedish
bassist Johan Berthling. The exciting Jikan Arashi (PNL Records PNL 045
paalnilssen-love.com) is its newest disc. Reminiscent of the heyday of
“The New Thing” sound explorers, on saxophone, Sakata has seemingly
never found a tone he couldn’t split or a timbre he couldn’t overblow. This
is demonstrated most convincingly on the extended Yamanoue-no-
Okura with a solo that’s all snarls and growls, and that inflates with pressurized
vibratos and propelled reed bites each time he outputs a phrase.
In sympathy, Betherling’s accelerated strumming and Nilssen-Love’s
constant thumping, fluidly pulse and push with the same intensity.
Besides the trio’s sliding and shredding instrumentally up and down the
scale, here and elsewhere Sakata vocalizes guttural syllables that wouldn’t
be out of place on a Japanese horror film soundtrack. Eventually, gurgles
and mumbles that involve the guts and throat more than the mouth and
lips give way to small instrument whumps and cymbal lacerations from
the drummer culminating in triple intensity. While the saxophonist’s
frenetic Aylerian screams and pressurized stutters mix with Nilssen-
Love’s constant pounding on the title track, he also shows off restrained
chalumeau-register clarinet storytelling on Tsuioku, partnered by cymbal
slides. Despite his concluding shrilling output and a return to guttural
mumbling, Jikan is another indication of why the reedist has maintained
his creativity over the decades.
Another first-generation Japanese improviser
who has maintained a similar musical
ingenuity is Yokohama-born percussionist Sabu
Toyozumi, two years Sakata’s senior. Having
worked over the years in different-sized assemblages
with local and foreign Free Music
players, Sol Abstraction (Sol Disk SD 1901
soldisk.com) is a stripped-down live date from
the Philippines where he goes head-to-head with American alto saxophonist
Rick Countryman on nine tracks. A committed free jazzer, the
saxophonist’s collection of multiphonics, irregularly pitched vibrations,
tension- building and sopranissimo screams are met with expressive
touches, resonating conga-like hand slaps brought into play alongside claps
and swing affiliations. Although only the extended Integrity of Creation
includes what could be termed an albeit brief drum solo of claps, clatter,
press rolls and rattles, Toyozumi’s constant rumbles and patterns keep up
with Countryman who crams as many notes as he can into every bar, pulls
his split tones as far as possible without breakage and triple tongues into
the stratosphere before ending with crying flutter tonguing. The drummer’s
skill using the erhu or spike fiddle is also displayed on a couple of
related tracks as he cannily manages to mirror the saxophonist’s circular
textural screams and squeaky overblowing with two-stringed slices, even
as place-marking drum beats remain. The two also manage to append a
relaxed shuffle groove to the feverish sallies that make up Broken Art Part I
and Part II, but the best expression of Toyozumi’s – and by extension
Countryman’s – versatility occurs on the three parts of Ballad of Mototeru
Takagi. A threnody for a deceased saxophonist colleague, the suite moves
from tongue-slapping, reed-shaking theme development to repeated
diaphragm-intense cries from the saxophonist, as the drummer’s narrative
90 | November 2019 thewholenote.com

gong renteng, magic-imbued denggung and
ancient sacred gong sekati, genres happily
experiencing a very recent revival.
Gamelan
Music of Cirebon,
Indonesia: Volume 3
(2019) features not
only five different
Cirebon gong
ensembles but
also a solo appearance
of the rare
mellow-sounding
Cirebonese gender (multi-octave
metalophone).
The liner notes relate that “To tell a Cirebon
musician that their playing is ‘leres,’ or
correct, is faint praise. A true compliment
is to say that their music is ‘urip’ – alive!”
The special spirit and sound of the instrumental
music of Cirebon is very much alive
on these albums.
Andrew Timar
Tangos… and something more
Grupo Encuentros; Alicia Terzian
Navona Records nv6246
(navonarecords.com)
!!
In 1979 ,
Argentiniancomposer/
musicologist/
conductor Alicia
Terzian created the
Grupo Encuentros
whose international
performances
have brought
Latin American
and Argentine music to listeners around the
world. Here, Terzian leads the ensemble in the
evolving tango genre. She capably arranges
familiar traditional tangos, such as the three
Astor Piazzolla pieces, which maintain his
rhythmic, melodic and upbeat tango feel.
Roggero’s Mimi Pinzon builds from calm to
intense while Demare’s 1940s tango Malena
features a dramatic, interesting, closing
fugue-like section.
Listeners wishing to hear the tango
evolution will applaud the new works.
Finnish composer Tiensuu’s Tango lunar
(1989) travels to the new music outer space,
as tango lines sound against more electroacoustic
washes, soundscapes, squeaks,
use of spoken world and mezzo a cappella
closing. Terzian’s Argentino Hasta La Muerte
has the opening bandoneon and mezzo
swells, rubatos and accented notes so tight
that it is hard to tell what the lead line is.
Her Un Argentino de Vuelta is played with
intensity and subtleties, including bandoneon
vibrato and fast runs, flute interlude,
clarinet repeated-note rhythms, quasi jazzy/
Romantic-style piano solo and faster tango
section. In his duet, Llamado de Tambores,
composer/bandoneonist Daniel Binelli, with
the mezzo vocalist Marta Blanco, tells a tango
story with effects and emotional flourishes.
All seven performers are great tango interpreters
able to change with the tango’s
decades-long developments. Wish there were
English translations for the words. There is a
bit of something for every tango taste to enjoy
and explore.
Tiina Kiik
contribution is cymbals tolling with narrow clangs. Finally Toyozumi’s
slaps rebound at a choppier pace as Countryman elaborates the now
passive theme with melancholy sound spurts.
Moving on a generation and compounding
Japanese improvisers, almost-clichéd fascination
with electronics is In Cotton and Wool
(Ftarri ftarari-980 ftarari.com), a duet between
the audio feedback generated by Toshimaru
Nakamura’s no-input mixing board and the
trumpet and electronics of Berlin’s Axel
Dörner. Moving past expected musical tropes,
or for some music, the program mixes manipulated loops of industrialstrength
voltage feedback from Nakamura’s machine to such an extent that
the outcome appears to possess the strength and velocity of both a highspeed
locomotive and a tropical thunder storm. This is particularly true of
the extended Hemp, especially when extended electronic rumbles nearly
attain drum-beat qualities, with Dorner`s response a combination of
dissociated peeps and an intermittent moose-call-like ending. Variations of
this strategy play out during the subsequent selections, with, for instance,
grace notes from the trumpet audible through a cloud of heavily amplified
drones on Silk, before the track speeds up to the extent that it could be the
sound of a car crash captured in real time, until the noise is abruptly cut off.
The loops of blurred whistling and puffs are resolved on the final track,
Cashmere, as narrow tongue splatters from the horn are overshadowed by
blurred input-output pulses from the mixing board to create an ambulatory
synthesized exposition which Dörner amplifies with capillary bites
and echoes until brass qualities are buried under synthesized pulsation
created by both his and Nakamura’s electronics.
More general acceptance of projects like
Nakamura-Dörner’s is what persuades even
more experimental players to settle in Japan.
Case in point is Saskatchewan-native Tim
Olive, who lives in Kobe. Using his preferred
tools of magnetic pickup and electronics,
Olive joins with Beijing-based Yan Jun, who
manipulates electronics and field recordings,
on Brother of Divinity (845 Audio 845-10
845 audio.bandcamp.com), for a fascinating 28-minute sound collage
that admittedly makes even the previous discs appear conventional. A
rare electronic session that culminates with foreground resonance after
synthesizing the impulses created by the duo, Brother of Divinity works
its way from loops of crackles and pops, as distant voice singing or
beating out rock-styled music comes in and out of aural focus. As ring
modulator-like gonging-feedback loops become more prominent, the
blurry interface also takes on percussive side scratches and bounces
until what initially seemed to be neverending pulses splinter into chirps
and thumps in double counterpoint. With its keyboard-suggested bentnote
narrative, the final section becomes more reductionist with metronomic
timepiece-like clicks, suggesting a stain spreading slowly on a
yielding surface, crunching beats and church-bell-like pealing, project
with synthesized pulsations into conclusive buzzes and shuffles.
If Japanese free improvisers are little known
outside of a small coterie, imagine the situation
for a Korean saxophonist committed to
experimental music. Yet An Eternal Moment
(NoBusiness Records NBCD 115 nobusinessrecords.com)
is a 76-minute live 1995
Yamaguchi concert by Japanese percussionist
Midori Takada and alto saxophonist
Kang Tae Hwan, visiting from Seoul. One
track is an extended solo saxophone meditation and the last, Dan-Shi,
posits what sonic challenge would result if sax/drum duos like it mixed
narrow, high-pitched, sometimes barely audible reed explorations, with
gamelan-like marimba pops and sizzling cymbal hisses, besides regular
drum beats. However, the key paring is the nearly 42-minute Syun-Soku,
During the exposition, Hwan’s strained reed vibrations work up to lacerating
split tones and down to narrowed ghost notes, then up to bagpipelike
overblowing timbre-smears as Takada hits tuned aluminum bars and
shakes reverberating cymbals. Rhythmic drum taps spark thin chirps
from the saxophonist, who soon seems able to simultaneously output a
slim, whistling tone and more rounded coloratura variations. Reaching
the first climax at mid-point, the narrative slows down to the extent that
Hwan’s dissonant slurps seem to be being pushed back into his horn’s
body tube. Crashing ruffs from the percussionist become non-metered
whacks in opposition, helping to transform reed multiphonics into lowpitched
trills that neatly affiliate with unforced cymbal patterns, leading
to a finale that links splash cymbal power with retrained reed snarls.
Politically and sociologically Asia is no longer the Mysterious East for
most Westerners. These CDs could provide a similar demystification of
sound when it comes to improvised music.
thewholenote.com November 2019 | 91

Old Wine, New Bottles
Fine Old Recordings Re-Released
BRUCE SURTEES
In the last century, many superb conductors, in North America at
least, did not achieve the fame that was accorded to the matineeidol
maestros under contract to and promoted by the major
record labels.
Over the decades, many of these first-rate
musicians, conductors and soloists alike,
were engaged by the SDR (Southern German
Broadcasting of Stuttgart) and SWF (South
West Radio, Baden-Baden) to appear with
their incomparable orchestras. In 1998 the
two merged as the SWR. Some recent SWR
releases in a sub-section, “20th Century
Classics,” include Debussy Orchestral Works (SWR 19508) under the
baton of the French conductor Sylvain Cambreling. The three Images:
Gigues, Iberia and Rondes de printemps are conducted with
enthusiasm, as are the two Danses: Danse sacrée and Danse profane,
closing with a very credible La Mer.
Roger Norrington also has several surprisingly
impressive versions of some familiar
favourites for SWR. His recent releases
in “19th Century Classics” include two
Mahler symphonies, the First and the
Fifth. One might wonder why they selected
Norrington, well known in Baroque and
early music interpretations, for that repertoire.
Listening, it becomes clear that he was
the right man for the job. The First Symphony includes the Blumine
movement making this a five-movement work (SWR 19510). There is
a palpable sense of discovery throughout, leading to the closing pages
that are keenly driven to a positive resolution. The sound is thrillingly
open and clear with no instrument obscured. Norrington is
also responsible for desirable performances of the Dvořák Seventh
and Eighth Symphonies (SWR 19511). Three more Norrington
performances in “20th Century Classics” are Elgar’s First Symphony
with Wagner’s Meistersinger Prelude (SWR 19520), Holst’s The
Planets with Elgar’s Serenade for Strings (SWR 19507) and Elgar’s
Enigma Variations, In the South and the Introduction and Allegro
(SWR 19509).
Looking back, previous SWR releases that may have gone unnoticed
include these favourites: The Mahler Sixth Symphony under Kirill
Kondrashin from 1981 (SWR 19416); a 3-CD set of the legendary
pianist Wilhelm Backhaus recorded in 1953, 1959 and 1962 playing
Beethoven’s Third and Fifth Concertos and the Waldstein and
Hammerklavier Sonatas; the Brahms Second Concerto and some
short encores (SWR 19057, 3CDs); and violinist Ida Haendel in
captivating performances of two concertos, the Tchaikovsky (1960)
and the Dvořák (1965), conducted by Hans Müller-Kray (SWR
Hänssler 94.205).
It is a truism that a composer does not automatically make a
conductor, even of their own works, but there are, of course, exceptions.
Paul Hindemith and Benjamin Britten have both conducted
notable performances for the SWR: Britten conducts the Suite from
Gloriana, the Sinfonia da Requiem, Variations on an Elizabethanian
Theme and Chaconne from Purcell’s King Arthur (SWR
Hänssler 94.213); and, from June 24, 1968, the prolific conductor
Hindemith directs the Bruckner Seventh Symphony (SWR 19417)
replete with composerly insights.
The most popular and successful film biography of the 1940s was the
1945 biopic, A Song to Remember, a portrait of Frédéric Chopin, with
José Iturbi as the pianist on the soundtrack. So convincing was his
“playing” that for the longest time, star Cornel Wilde received earnest
invitations from various groups to engage him for a recital. Iturbi’s
recordings on RCA/HMV became bestsellers, particularly his Chopin.
Similarly, Song Without End, the story of Franz Liszt, is a 1960 movie
in which Jorge Bolet (1914-1990) was the pianist for Dirk Bogarde’s
Liszt, but in Bolet’s case purists condemned him for his ultra-
Romantic playing in the film. All was forgiven after a triumphant
Carnegie Hall recital in 1974, after which music lovers sought out his
recordings on various labels, and he became a virtuoso among
virtuosi. The Havana-born Bolet studied at the Curtis Institute in
Philadelphia with Leopold Godowsky, Josef Hofmann and Moritz
Rosenthal. In 1937 he won the Naumburg Competition and made his
debut. In 1942 he joined the army and was sent to Japan as part of the
Army of Occupation. He conducted the first performance in Japan of
The Mikado!
Amazon has 274 Jorge Bolet discs listed, the
latest release being The RIAS Recordings
Vol.3: Berlin 1961-1974 (Audite 21.459
3CDs). The repertoire is slightly esoteric,
from Beethoven to Norman Dello Joio. In
performance order, Chopin’s 12 Etudes
Op.25 is followed by Beethoven’s Piano
Concerto No.3 with the Berlin Radio
Symphony conducted by Moshe Atzmon
(1974). CD2 opens with Schumann’s Piano Sonata No.3 Op.14 (1964),
followed by 12 excerpts from Grieg’s Ballade in G Minor, Op.24;
continuing with César Franck’s Prelude, Aria et Final, FWV 23 and
concluding with Chopin’s Fantasie-Impromptu. CD3 opens with four
polonaises of Chopin; The Grande Polonaise in E flat major, Op.22 and
three numbered ones, No.3 Op.40/1, No.4 Op. 40/2 and the very
famous No.6 in A-flat Major Op.53, followed by Liszt’s arrangement of
Schumann’s Frühlingsnacht from Liederkreis, Op.39 No.12, and three
pieces from Debussy’s Images II plus Masques. To most listeners the
Piano Sonata No.2 by Dello Joio, “whose rugged – partly modernist,
partly expressionist, soundscape Bolet mastered with aplomb” will be
something new. The collection ends with an arrangement of themes
from Die Fledermaus, the second part of Symphonic Metamorphosis
on Themes by Johann Strauss II, written by Bolet’s teacher, Godowsky.
Even now, over 65 years after her death, the
British contralto Kathleen Ferrier remains a
voice of interest to music lovers around the
world thanks to her legacy of fine recordings.
Ferrier was born on April 22, 1912 in
Lancashire, living until October 8, 1953. She
was much admired for her Bach, Brahms,
Mahler and Elgar as well as for folk song
interpretations. And she remains so. She
was catapulted to fame when the 1952 Decca recording of Das Lied
von der Erde, conducted by Bruno Walter with Julius Patzak and the
Vienna Philharmonic, hit the world. That recording has never been
out of print. SOMM Recordings has issued a first release of the Bach
Magnificat, BWV 243.2 in a live performance from June 10, 1950 in
the Musikverein in Vienna (Kathleen Ferrier: In Celebration of Bach,
ARIADNE 5004). Ferrier is joined by Irmgard Seefried, Otto Edelmann
and five other distinguished soloists with the Chorus of the Vienna
State Opera and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by
Volkmar Andreae. This is an exuberant performance, clearly and
dynamically recorded. A treasure. Three cantatas that were recorded
in London in 1949 with the Jacques Orchestra and Reginald Jacques
fill out this most welcome collection. Sung in English are Cantata
No.11, Praise our God; Cantata No. 67, Hold in affection Jesus Christ
and Cantata No.147 Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring. An added bonus: the
informative booklet contains a chronology of Ferrier’s life.
92 | November 2019 thewholenote.com

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REAR VIEW
MIRROR
Controversially
Uncontroversial
Porgy and Bess
at the Met
ROBERT HARRIS
I
love Porgy and Bess. I’ve loved it ever since I first
heard the Leontyne Price/William Warfield RCA
recording of excerpts from the opera in the mid-60s.
The moment I hear that first octave gliss announcing the
overture, and that thrilling Stravinsky-like syncopated
ostinato that begins the score, I’m lost. And I don’t regain
myself until the strange, half-apologetic sixth chord that
ends the opera has sounded, after Porgy has demanded
of the Catfish Row residents that they “Bring my goat!”
(Stephen Sondheim claims to love this line) and Porgy is
on his way to find Bess in New York.
Basically, the beauty of the music simply dissolves everything I want
to think and decide and judge and insist about Porgy and Bess. It all just
gets lost in the overwhelming sense of joy I have in simply listening to the
music, in an exalted state of thankful wonder, again and again and again.
So perhaps I’m the last person who can adequately work his way
through all the remarkably thorny issues that still surround, or should
continue to surround this masterpiece. I say “should” because I’ve
been more than a little amazed at how little controversy has attended
the Metropolitan Opera’s current production of Porgy. In 2019, in the
middle of the era of #BlackLivesMatter, the Met has chosen to open its
season with a production of an opera about black people completely
written by white men, that portrays its characters as drug-addled,
sexually voracious, verbally primitive stereotypes, mired in poverty and
superstition, one step removed from minstrelsy, and no one seems to
mind. Granted, the Met is performing the strange 2012 hybrid version of
the opera, “The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess” which sands down some of
the sharper racial edges of the piece (Porgy is given a dignified crutch,
and thus doesn’t have to wheel around on those depressing, ridiculous
carts from the local moving company that are featured in most productions),
but the basic outline of the piece in its banal racial literalism, is
still deeply in evidence. And everyone’s okay with that, it seems.
And maybe that’s a good thing.
The opposite was the case in 1959, when the movie version of
Porgy and Bess premiered. The reaction to the film was so negative
that it has been permanently removed from circulation, Sovietstyle.
Watching the elegant Sidney Poitier and the glorious Dorothy
Dandridge debase and prostitute themselves to the worst racial stereotypes
imaginable, in the years just before the civil rights era, was too
much to bear. Why watching Eric Owens as Porgy and Angel Blue as
Bess do more or less the same thing in 2019 on the Met stage is not, is
fascinating to contemplate.
My own feeling is that, in 1959, those distorted images of black
America were too painful because they were too real, too close to the
surface, too close to the actual attitudes many white Americans still
harboured about their black co-citizens. The discomfort is seeing
these stereotypes appallingly splayed over a major Hollywood screen,
with the stamp of approval such a treatment implied, was too stark.
In 2019, audiences, black and white, seem to feel quite differently,
even as another major institution – the Metropolitan Opera – gives
its nod of approval to the piece. And that’s because we have different
models for black manhood and womanhood in the America of the 21st
century. Not every black woman needs be a sultry Bess or a mammylike
Clara. Black women can be Michelle Obama, Oprah, Toni
Morrison, Serena Williams. Black men needn’t follow the trajectory
of the crippled Porgy or the equally damaged Crown. Black men are
Barack Obama, LeBron James, Ta-Nehisi Coates. Jay-Z. Porgy and Bess
doesn’t offend or alarm black America as much anymore – perhaps –
because black America isn’t afraid of those stereotypes anymore. The
reality of a different black American life has rendered them impotent.
Maybe.
And yet, the fact remains that Porgy and Bess, the opera, is still a
depressingly literal treatment of black America closer to the world of
slavery than the world of #BlackLivesMatter. Porgy is still a problem,
I think. Imagine a contemporary black composer and black librettist
sitting down today to write an opera on black American themes. How
likely is it they would come up with Porgy and Bess? Not likely at all.
Then why should we revive it, and allow its old-fashioned reality to
colour our contemporary lives? For all its beauty, Porgy still sits there
with its dialects, and stereotypes, and problems.
There is one way out. We could just assign Porgy to the period piece
bin, and avoid its troubling aspects that way – recognize its great
strengths as a piece of music, but chalk up its theatrical two-dimensionality
to the oddities of the past, as we do with many other works
of art. Put it on from time time to time; accept its limitations; declare
November 2019 thewholenote.com

its racial anachronisms to be as painless as the voodoo/witchery of
the black Ulrica in the Boston-set version of Verdi’s A Masked Ball.
But that would be a terrible mistake. Porgy and Bess is a great
masterpiece of music, one of the greatest, and it needs productions
which match the universality of the score. It’s interesting to note
that at a time, from the 1950s to the present day, when productions
inevitably provoked intense questions and controversy, there was
one version where this was not the case. That was the production
of Porgy produced in South Africa in 2006, set in the Soweto of the
1970s. That production spoke to its African audience powerfully and
immediately, its caricatures in an American context deeply resonant
in a South African one. There’s something extremely important to be
learned from this success. Porgy may actually be ahead of its time,
not behind it. If there was ever an opera that begged for a regietheater
version, Porgy and Bess is it – a production that blows away the
fog of literalism which settles like a horrible blanket of racist tropes
on every Catfish Row setting, no matter how stylized or “dignified” it
may be; a production that recognizes that, deep at the heart of Porgy
and Bess, are archetypes both of and transcending black America
– the crippled hero, the hyper-sexualized woman, the ultra-violent
alpha male – that still ring true, whether we like them or not, and
have universal significance.
And then there is that sprawling, massive, insanely ambitious score,
a work of Western art in the end, but so American, so completely
American in its bones, with its black accents, its popular idioms,
its desire for European artistic status, its mixture of black culture
and Jewish-American existential dread, a work uneasily at home
in settings as diverse as Harlem, Tin Pan Alley, La Scala, Broadway,
and the gospel churches of the South, but comfortable in none. We
value Porgy and Bess because of its music, a score of which George
famously said “The music is so beautiful, I can’t believe I wrote it.” No
boast, that, merely an acknowledgment of the mystery of the creative
process, an acknowledgment that, I note with respect, has been many
times recognized by the greatest black American musical artists of
the last 60 years, despite Porgy’s contradictions. The great performances
of numbers from Porgy and Bess are still by Billie Holiday, Nina
Simone, Miles Davis. They heard in the score American greatness.
Porgy and Bess, the opera, is still waiting for the unclouded stage
realization that lets that greatness shine.
Robert Harris is a writer and broadcaster on music in all its
forms. He is the former classical music critic of the Globe and
Mail and the author of the Stratford Lectures and Song of a Nation:
The Untold Story of O Canada.
Price and Warfield
in the RCA Porgy
Angel Blue, who plays Bess in the Met’s current production of
Porgy and Bess, seen here as Mimi, with Atalla Ayan as Rodolfo, in the
Canadian Opera Company’s production of La Boheme, April 2019.
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