Volume 27 Issue 3 - December 2021 / January 2022

are several winners, who will be featured at both TSM and TSO
events. [Violinist Lincoln Haggart-Ives will play with Jonathan on
the February 6, 2022 TSO Young Person’s Concert.] [But] Chelsea’s
submission so impressed the jury that it was obvious we needed to
include her in the evolving Bach program.”
Chelsea Gu is no ordinary nine-year-old. She speaks in complete
sentences and with humility and purpose that would be admirable
in a person of any age. “I was already playing the piano, but
wanted to try the violin too. I had started taking lessons with Amy
Canzoneri [a TSO violinist] in February of 2019, but then COVID
prevented us from meeting in person. We continued on Zoom.
Amy is very strict about the fundamentals of playing in tune,
with precise rhythm and with a beautiful tone. I love that kind of
detailed work.”
“I knew right away that she is extremely gifted,” says Canzoneri.
“She absorbs concepts quickly and loves to practice. Her musical
instincts come from her heart. It’s a great joy to teach her!”
Chelsea continues, “My Dad brought home some CDs that Amy
recommended and I got to know the “Bach Double” [Two-Violin
Concerto, BWV 1043] from the recording by David and Igor
Oistrakh. When I saw the contest to play this piece with Jonathan, I
just decided it was something I wanted to do.”
A lot of us may look back and ask ourselves, “What did I accomplish
during the pandemic?” Chelsea Gu can say, “I started
playing the violin and got good enough to play with the Toronto
Symphony.” (Adversity to advantage!)
I like to take at least partial credit for Joseph Johnson becoming
principal cellist of the TSO. He and I were at the Grand Teton
Festival together and he was scheduled to play a concerto for two
cellos with Lynn Harrell. The page turns in the part were impossible,
so my first contact with Joe was when he asked me to split the
original two-stave part into two single-staff parts. The performance
was remarkable, as was his leadership of the cello section, so I
suggested to Joe that he might consider our principal cello position,
which was open at the time. At the end of his audition in Toronto,
the committee stood up and applauded.
Joe can be a late-night practicer and one evening, after a concert,
he was setting up in our dressing room to run through a solo recital
he was to perform the next day. Only the two of us were around, so
I asked, “Is this the dress rehearsal and can I listen?” He agreed and
I seated myself two feet in front of him, watching every detail of his
playing. There was never any concern about simply playing the correct
notes; He was searching, striving for precise sonorities and inflections
– and I sat mesmerized, awash in his sound. In a lifetime of musical
experiences, this is one I shall always remember. Joe will begin the
TSO’s Bach program with the Prelude from the Cello Suite No.1.
Talent runs deep at the TSO. While still a student at McGill
University, our second flutist Leonie Wall won the principal flute
job at the Orchestre des Grands Ballets Canadiens in Montreal.
She was also a winner of the prestigious New York Flute Club
Competition just before joining the TSO in 2004. Notes Jonathan,
“Leonie and Kelly [Kelly Zimba Lukić, principal flute] are always
working to achieve a balanced and flexible sound in our flute
section and the Brandenburg Concerto No.4 brings that teamwork
to the front of the stage.”
“I just love this piece,” says Leonie. “After such a long separation
from my colleagues, it’s wonderful to have this opportunity,
especially as a second flutist, to perform in such a prominent
ensemble role.”
Kelly adds: “Ten years ago, I heard the Pittsburgh Symphony
perform the complete Brandenburg Concerti. It was a revelation to
hear the instruments stand out in this context. I thought to myself,
I hope I’ll get to play these someday. I’ve played two before, but not
four, and it will be especially meaningful to play with Leonie.”
Next on the program will be Michael Sweeney’s mysterious Bach
bassoon concerto mentioned earlier. “This music exists in two
versions in Bach’s collected works, neither of which is a bassoon
concerto,” explains Michael. “It first appears as three separate
movements in two different Cantatas [BWV 169 and 49] that were
Upcoming
Concerts
Save these dates!
• January 23, 2022
• April 10, 2022
• June 5, 2022
In person at Trinity St. Paul’s.
Tickets go on sale online December 6, 2021 at:
www.offcentremusic.com
Glionna Mansell Presents
21
A Music Series unlike any other
www.organixconcerts.ca
12:30 - 1:30 pm
Free-will Offering (suggested $20 Donation)
Kingsway Series Concerts
TH
DECEMBER 15 Hanné Becker
Lunch Time
Concerts
Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic, 3055 Bloor Street West - Toronto
ND
DECEMBER 22 David Alexander Simon
All Saints Anglican Church, 2850 Bloor Street West - Toronto
TH
JANUARY 5 Adrian Ross
All Saints Anglican Church, 2850 Bloor Street West - Toronto
TH
JANUARY 19 Peter Nikiforuk
All Saints Anglican Church, 2850 Bloor Street West - Toronto
TH
JANUARY 26 Alexander Straus-Fausto
Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic, 3055 Bloor Street West - Toronto
SPECIAL PRESENTATION SERIES
Wed. June 29 2022, 7:30 pm
Sophie-Véronique Cauchefer-Choplin
Timothy Eaton Memorial Church
230 St. Clair Ave. West - Toronto
General Admission: $ 45.00
Tickets and Information: organixconcerts.ca
416-769-5224 Mobile Call/Text:416-571-3680
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