Volume 27 Issue 4 - February 2022
Gould's Wall -- Philip Akin's "breadcrumb trail; orchestras buying into hope; silver linings to the music theatre lockdown blues; Charlotte Siegel's watershed moments; Deep Wireless at 20; and guess who is Back in Focus. All this and more, now online for your reading pleasure.
Gould's Wall -- Philip Akin's "breadcrumb trail; orchestras buying into hope; silver linings to the music theatre lockdown blues; Charlotte Siegel's watershed moments; Deep Wireless at 20; and guess who is Back in Focus. All this and more, now online for your reading pleasure.
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DAVID COOPER<br />
“I give a clue, the<br />
inspiration, the<br />
breadcrumb trail<br />
and say, bring your<br />
best self to this.”<br />
— Philip Akin<br />
harnessed performers leaning out of the wall’s windows to sing to<br />
each other on multiple levels.<br />
The artistic wall can, however, evoke challenges beyond the<br />
physical, particularly for Black artists and audiences.<br />
“We need to speak of this,” says Akin. As the founder of Obsidian<br />
Theatre, Canada’s first and perhaps only theatre that specializes in<br />
work by Black writers, he has significant experience with the vagaries<br />
of Canada’s performance industry. “You also have to break down some<br />
walls, to be able to acknowledge who else is in a rehearsal hall full of<br />
predominantly white people. I have not seen another Black person<br />
working in the building (RCM/Koerner Hall), not even a janitor.<br />
However, everywhere I work is a Black space. I bring this to the table.<br />
By inhabiting the space that does not include some, we bring them to<br />
the table.”<br />
Michael Hidetoshi Mori, artistic director and Jaime Martino, executive<br />
director of Tapestry Opera, are also engaged with broadening<br />
what opera is, who does it and who hears it. Additional specificities<br />
to the concept of artistic struggle for excellence have been woven<br />
into the production process. Tapestry Opera’s Women in Musical<br />
Leadership program ensures that women conductors are mentored<br />
and included in the process. Jennifer Tung and Juliane Gallant are<br />
assistant conductors on this production. Akin has brought in Sheree<br />
Spencer as assistant director and award-winning set and costume<br />
designer Rachel Forges – two Black artists. “We have to bring others<br />
along,” he says.<br />
Finding an Artistic Compass<br />
Gould continues to serve as a guide for many musicians, not all in<br />
a traditional way. Says Balkan, “There are those who can inspire, be<br />
a muse, and support a climber. Gould’s work can directly be that for<br />
some. It can also be something to stand on, to launch from. It can be<br />
a spiritual/practical mentoring – through memory/essence/naming.”<br />
Gould once spoke at a graduation ceremony at the Conservatory,<br />
Balkan says. “After an extraordinarily long speech about art and<br />
listening, and silence and creation and finding your own voice, he<br />
said, ‘If I could give you anything, it would be to remind you not<br />
to rely on the advice of others.’” The quote is included in Balkan’s<br />
libretto.<br />
Akin has a less elliptical experience of mentorship to draw on, both<br />
as mentor and mentee. As a young theatre student at Ryerson, he was<br />
recommended by theatre journalist Herbert Whittaker for a part in<br />
the Shaw Festival’s production of Caesar and Cleopatra. At that time,<br />
there was little work for Black artists. He auditioned, won his first part<br />
and was working six months after graduating from Ryerson’s theatre<br />
program. To later receive the Herbert Whittaker Award in 2019 for his<br />
contributions to Canadian theatre was deeply meaningful.<br />
His version of mentorship, particularly for Black artists, he refers to<br />
as “radicalization.” He gives an example: “You are a dark skin, black<br />
woman, you have strong ideas. You know, the task is not just 50%<br />
more difficult. You have to prepare for that. It is not the same as being<br />
twice as good to get half as far. You need to be determined. You need<br />
to be strong. You need to call out. You need to go and do whatever you<br />
have to do to make your art happen. And you know you’re not going to<br />
get the same kind of respect because you’re not a child. You grew up<br />
POSTPONED<br />
Thursday, <strong>February</strong> 3 at 8 pm<br />
Ensemble<br />
Made In Canada<br />
Thursday, <strong>February</strong> 24 at 8 pm<br />
Miró Quartet<br />
Tickets: 416-366-7723<br />
option 2<br />
<strong>27</strong> Front Street East, Toronto<br />
| music-toronto.com<br />
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