Volume 26 Issue 4 - December 2020 / January 2021
In this issue: Beautiful Exceptions, Sing-Alone Messiahs, Livingston’s Vocal Pleasures, Chamber Beethoven, Online Opera (Plexiglass & All), Playlist for the Winter of our Discontent, The Oud & the Fuzz, Who is Alex Trebek? All this and more available in flipthrough HERE, and in print Friday December 4.
In this issue: Beautiful Exceptions, Sing-Alone Messiahs, Livingston’s Vocal Pleasures, Chamber Beethoven, Online Opera (Plexiglass & All), Playlist for the Winter of our Discontent, The Oud & the Fuzz, Who is Alex Trebek? All this and more available in flipthrough HERE, and in print Friday December 4.
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incorporate the flight number 752 into the piece using motifs of seven,<br />
five and two notes.<br />
“John Burge and I had already started to collaborate on this project<br />
but when COVID hit, everything got put on hold,” explained Amini.<br />
“So it means a lot to me to be able to now continue with this work and<br />
bring it to the world as a memorial to the victims.”<br />
In addition to her musical skills, Amini’s master’s degree in Musical<br />
Technology from U of T, and current job as a technician at The Isabel,<br />
make her uniquely qualified to speak to the experience of performing<br />
in the hall there. “It’s a great building--very well-engineered and wellmaintained,”<br />
said Amini. “The acoustics are so good in the hall that<br />
groups can perform acoustically without any amplification.”<br />
Julia Wedman, another of the successful applicants, is a violinist<br />
specializing in the Baroque period, who performs with Tafelmusik<br />
and other ensembles, as well as as a soloist. The piece she’ll be<br />
working on with Brian Solomon, an Indigenous choreographer/<br />
dancer and Mariana Medellin, a Mestizo dancer, is one part of a threeyear<br />
work that originated at the Gallery Players in Niagara, called<br />
Songs of Life - Bach on Turtle’s Back.<br />
“Although we’ve been working on it for a couple of years, this grant<br />
is an opportunity to go in deep on a small part of this larger project<br />
that we’ve been exploring,” said Wedman. The work is a contemporary<br />
take on Bach’s violin sonatas and partitas that explores themes<br />
of creation and transformation.“Both Brian and I are very open musically<br />
and artistically and put a high priority on expressing something<br />
meaningful in our art,” said Wedman. “These pieces are about<br />
a journey from darkness to light – a hero’s journey to find a new<br />
way forward – and it really relates to what we’re all going through at<br />
this time.”<br />
She, Solomon and Medellin have been given rehearsal time plus<br />
a full day in the theatre with access to the technical team and four<br />
video cameras.<br />
“I’ve done some small filming projects, but I’ve never filmed with<br />
a dancer before,” explained Wedman. “Plus, I’ve never been in the<br />
position to have input on how the cameras are set up and how things<br />
will be shot, so that’s new and exciting.”<br />
Although making the final video and audio recordings available<br />
for public consumption wasn’t a criterion for being accepted for the<br />
IMAGINE initiative, The Isabel is planning to make many of the works<br />
available online or during their summer festival in <strong>2021</strong>. We look<br />
forward to seeing the fruits of these labours and new directions and<br />
collaborations they’ve enabled.<br />
As Tricia Baldwin says, “The hardest times are often when the best<br />
work happens.”<br />
Cathy Riches is a self-described Toronto-based<br />
recovering singer and ink slinger.<br />
New Releases<br />
(L-R) Brian Solomon, Mariana<br />
Medellin and Julia Wedman<br />
These pieces are about a journey from darkness<br />
to light – a hero’s journey to find a new way<br />
forward – and it really relates to what we’re all<br />
going through at this time. – Julia Wedman<br />
COLIN SAVAGE<br />
! Melos Ensemble, Sadaf Amini, santur: cross-cultural audio<br />
recording initiative.<br />
! Sheng Cai, piano: new album – performer’s original transcriptions<br />
of Grieg.<br />
! Room Tone (Helena Hannibal, alto and tenor sax; Eric Liu,<br />
guitar): residency and recording video of jazz busking works.<br />
! Bridge & Wolak (Michael Bridge, accordions & piano; Kornel<br />
Wolak, (clarinet & piano): new online music mentorship program<br />
for high school students.<br />
! Kasador (Cam Wyatt, Boris Baker, and Stephen Adubofuor),<br />
indie rock/pop: film/recording of four new unreleased songs.<br />
! Ted Evans, electronic musician: performance film of original<br />
electronic music works.<br />
! The Gertrudes (Annie Clifford, Greg Tilson, Pete Bowers, Jason<br />
Mercer, Matt Rogalsky, and Jason Erb): videos of five works for<br />
<strong>2021</strong> album.<br />
! Michael Capon, composer, Gord Love, script/lyrics: artist residency/performance<br />
video for a new musical for piano and four<br />
cast members.<br />
! Moira Demorest (solo musician): EP/audio recording of 3<br />
original songs.<br />
! Kelli Trottier (vocalist, instrumentalist, song writer and dancer)<br />
and band: two performance videos.<br />
! Leonid Nediak, piano: performance video: pre-recorded recital<br />
for Neapolitan Connection’s Virtual Virtuosi Series.<br />
Jaap Nico Hamburger<br />
Composer<br />
Jaap Nico Hamburger<br />
Piano Concerto<br />
www.leaf-music.ca<br />
Chamber Symphonies<br />
Nos.1&2<br />
thewholenote.com <strong>December</strong> <strong>2020</strong> / <strong>January</strong> <strong>2021</strong> | 65
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