Volume 26 Issue 7 - May and June 2021
Meet some makers (of musical things) - a live filmed operatic premiere of a Handel oratorio?; 20 years of Summer Music in the Garden, short documentary film A Concerto is a Conversation; choirs Zooming in to keep connection live; a watershed moment for bridging the opera/musical theatre divide; and more than 100 recordings listened to and reviewed since the last time.
Meet some makers (of musical things) - a live filmed operatic premiere of a Handel oratorio?; 20 years of Summer Music in the Garden, short documentary film A Concerto is a Conversation; choirs Zooming in to keep connection live; a watershed moment for bridging the opera/musical theatre divide; and more than 100 recordings listened to and reviewed since the last time.
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
CLASSICAL AND BEYOND<br />
Surfing the<br />
Third Wave<br />
PAUL ENNIS<br />
Eugene Levy<br />
FAY FOX<br />
As I write this while an early spring blooms beyond<br />
my locked-down window, music presenters are<br />
trying their best to surf COVID-19’s Third Wave. The<br />
venerable Women’s Musical Club of Toronto – founded in<br />
1898 – calmly announces on its website, “We’ve been here<br />
before… <strong>and</strong> we’ve survived.” After all, they have been<br />
holding Music in the Afternoon concerts since well before<br />
the flu p<strong>and</strong>emic of 1918/1919, enduring two World Wars,<br />
depressions <strong>and</strong> recessions, <strong>and</strong> our current devastating<br />
virus. “We will survive this one too.”<br />
Serouj Kradjian (above),<br />
Joyce El -Khoury<br />
Their 2020/21 season has pivoted to live<br />
streaming <strong>and</strong> video on dem<strong>and</strong>. 2019 Banff<br />
International String Quartet Competition<br />
winner, Viano String Quartet, has just<br />
concluded an on-dem<strong>and</strong> run from April 1<br />
to 25. <strong>May</strong> is devoted to Lebanese-Canadian<br />
soprano, Joyce El-Khoury, <strong>and</strong> Armenian-<br />
Canadian pianist, Serouj Kradjian, in an<br />
on-dem<strong>and</strong> recital that mixes songs by Bizet,<br />
Fauré, Chausson, Ravel <strong>and</strong> Saint-Saëns<br />
with 20th-century Lebanese songs in Arabic.<br />
El-Khoury <strong>and</strong> Kradjian are preparing an<br />
extensive project involving music <strong>and</strong> instrumental<br />
artists from their home countries<br />
culminating in a CD that will include these<br />
Lebanese songs.<br />
The Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM)<br />
“If I’m walking down the street, the rhythm of my walk will set off<br />
a tune in my head,” Eugene Levy said during an entertaining conversation<br />
on April 22 with RCM president <strong>and</strong> CEO, Peter Simon. “I’m<br />
always humming something – a lot of time I’m making things up.”<br />
The multi-talented comic actor – known worldwide for Schitt’s<br />
Creek – was helping to launch the new online RCM series Music of<br />
My Life, a free continuing event featuring well-known performers<br />
in conversation illustrated with musical excerpts. The series is<br />
accessible at RoyalConservatory.Live, the new digital channel of the<br />
Royal Conservatory. At the time of writing, four more episodes have<br />
been confirmed: celebrated pianist <strong>and</strong> conductor Daniel Barenboim<br />
(April 29); Steven Page, founding member of the Barenaked Ladies<br />
(<strong>May</strong> 6); Cynthia Dale, star of music theatre (<strong>May</strong> 13); <strong>and</strong> Paul Shaffer,<br />
best known as David Letterman’s musical collaborator for more than<br />
three decades (<strong>May</strong> 20).<br />
Surprisingly – considering Levy’s memorable musical roles in<br />
Waiting for Guffman <strong>and</strong> A Mighty Wind as well as his accordionplaying<br />
Shmenge brother duo with John C<strong>and</strong>y on clarinet – there was<br />
no music played in his house until he was 12, which he attributed to<br />
the busy lives of his parents. Eventually, his brother took piano lessons<br />
<strong>and</strong> he dabbled in the accordion; in high school he took music as an<br />
option for five years, choosing tenor saxophone. He played in a full<br />
orchestra (“Wow! This is a whole new world here,” he thought) <strong>and</strong><br />
also a 12-piece dance b<strong>and</strong> (“You gotta do the st<strong>and</strong>ing-up thing”).<br />
During the 48-minute conversation, Levy spoke about the origin<br />
Cidel Bank Canada<br />
PRESENTS<br />
On Northern Shores<br />
music by Grieg, Röntgen <strong>and</strong> Walker<br />
Marie Bérard, violin<br />
Winona Zelenka, cello<br />
And guests;<br />
Emily Kruspe; violin<br />
Rémi Pelletier; viola<br />
Virtual Concert Release on<br />
Sunday, <strong>May</strong> 30 th , <strong>2021</strong>, 3 p.m. est<br />
trioarkel-onnorthernshores.eventbrite.ca<br />
thewholenote.com <strong>May</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>June</strong> <strong>2021</strong> | 11