Volume 27 Issue 7 | May 20 - July 12, 2022

dawn. One of the works from this production, Two Sisters: Isis &
Nephthys, for two sopranos, harp and two percussionists, will be
performed June 5, as will Epitaph for Moonlight, one of his mostoften-performed
choral works, which is written as a graphic score
and allows performers who may not be skilled at reading notated
scores the opportunity to participate. Here it will be performed by
the Soundstreams’ Choir 21, conducted by David Fallis, who will also
present Schafer’s Fire for choir and sticks.
The concert will conclude with a 2005 recorded performance of
another Soundstreams commission, The Death of Shalana composed
for four choirs. The text, written by Schafer, tells the story of Shalana, a
human who goes to live in the forest with the animals. After his death,
his voice lives on and can be heard in the soundscape of nature. So, too,
does Schafer’s voice live on, both in his compositions of course, but also
as an inspirational force whispering to our mythic imagination.
CLASSICAL AND BEYOND
Inspired by
Inspiration
QUICK PICKS
MAY 24 to JUNE 5: Tapestry
Opera and OCAD University
collaborate in OCAD’s Great Hall to
perform R.U.R. A Torrent of Light.
What is the future of our entanglement
with A.I.? This new opera,
with music composed by Nicole
Lizée and libretto by Nicolas Billon,
offers one vision of what happens
when a creative duo’s visions lead
to unexpected breakthroughs
and ensuing conflict. The project
combines dance, multimedia
design, wearable technology and an
orchestra of 100 instruments.
MAY 26, 8PM: Estonian Music
Week. Jeanne Lamon Hall,
Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre. A performance of Estonian composer
Veljo Tormis’ Forgotten People by Collegium Musicale, an
ensemble who combine performances of early music and contemporary
music. The piece is based on indigenous Balto-Finnic song,
a repertoire that has almost been lost. In the face of the current
Russian invasion of Ukraine, protecting this heritage has become
increasingly difficult and problematic. There will be a repeat
performance in Hamilton on June 1 at the Cotton Factory.
MAY 27, 8:30PM: Black Fish Project, Aga Khan Museum. Featuring
the Ton Beau String Quartet and a team of multi-genre Toronto musicians
in a performance of a project written by Persian-Canadian
composer Keyan Emami. The score calls for the diverse performers to
engage in improvisatory responses to each other, an activity that was
challenging to rehearse during Covid. This performance will be the
culmination of all their labours and collaboration.
JUNE 9, 8PM: Esprit Orchestra, Koerner Hall. “Esprit Live 2022!”
The concert repertoire features pieces by Russian Sophia
Gubaidulina, UK composer Thomas Adès and Canada’s Alison
Yun-Fei Jiang, whose Esprit-commissioned work – Sanctuary –
composed in 2020, will be given its world premiere. From 2020
to 2022, Jiang has been composer-in-residence with the National
Arts Centre Orchestra of Canada; she combines multiple sources
such as Chinese traditional music, Buddhism, film music and
Canadian landscapes in her compositional language.
JUNE 11, 8 PM: Westben presents an online concert titled The
Pencil Salesman. Created by Brian Finley, this opera tells the story of
Boris Ball, an inventor who becomes increasingly disenchanted with
technological advancements. The work is directed by Michael Mori,
the director of R.U.R. A Torrent of Light, another opera devoted to the
theme of technology gone awry. westbendigitalvenue.ca
Wendalyn Bartley is a Toronto-based composer and electro-vocal
sound artist. sounddreaming@gmail.com.
COURTESY JOANNA YU
A robot costume drawing, for
R.U.R. A Torrent of Light.
at TSM
PAUL ENNIS
Toronto Summer Music (TSM) is back, bigger than
ever – July 7 to July 30 – with “Inspirations”
as its theme. Toronto’s go-to summer classical
music event will present an ambitious program of 26
mainstage concerts. Eight of them will showcase the TSM
Academy Fellows and Mentors, highlighting one crucial
aspect of the festival’s mandate – to offer high-level
training to emerging musicians. The details of those eight
ReGENERATION concerts will be announced in June; the
contents of the other 18 were made public in late April.
I took the opportunity in early May to discuss the “Inspirations”
theme with TSO concertmaster Jonathan Crow, now in his sixth year
as TSM’s artistic director. (This interview has been edited for length.)
WN: In the festival release, you describe inspiration as “deeply motivating
moments that connect us to one another.” Given that the backbone
of Toronto Summer Music is the TSM Academy with its Mentors
and Fellows, there is clearly a wealth of inspiration to be had, in any TSM
season, in terms of teachable/performing moments. But how did you
make the leap from that to basing the whole festival on that theme?
JC: I don’t think the leap came about because of one specific
moment, but rather from thinking about how we’ve put together
themes these last five years at TSM. There are so many things that
come into play when tying music together – the specific reasons for
the composition, the actual inspiration of the composer, the meaning
of music to the artists… I thought it might be interesting to explore
more explicitly the reasons behind how we program great music.
Can you give some examples of how these inspirational catalysts
manifest themselves in the programming, maybe starting with how you
decided what works to include in the New Orford program on July 26?
The New Orford String Quartet program (“The Americas”) explores
different inspirations that composers found in areas that may or may
not have been their homes – from birdsong in Dvořák’s “American”
Quartet, to American folk music in Jessie Montgomery’s Strum, and
the flight paths of ravens in Carmen Braden’s The Raven Conspiracy.
This program came about when Sharon Wei joined our quartet
last year; we were looking for a standard work we had not played
together as a group, and surprisingly we hadn’t yet done Dvořák’’s
“American” – even though it is probably the most played of all string
14 | May 20 - July 12, 2022 thewholenote.com