114TH SEASON 11 MUSIC IN THE AFTERNOON 12 NEWS NOTES & NUMBER 45 | FEBRUARY 2012 A LOOK FORWARD TO The WMCT’s 115TH ANNIVERSARY SEASON By Simon Fryer, WMCT Artistic Director am delighted to share with you the results of the The remarkable Artists Selection Committee’s efforts over the past Paul Lewis, I months with you. I thank Penelope Cookson, one of the Hanna Feuerriegel, Peter Goulding, Emmy Hom- leading pianist burger, Annette Sanger, and Julia Smith for their of his genera- hard work, excellent judgement, and open-mind- tion, opens the edness. It has been fascinating and a great pleasure 11 5 th season to work with this wonderful group of people to put on October 18, together each concert season. 2012, in his Toronto debut. Maintaining our careful attention to the balance Lewis became created for the 2011-2012 season and its prede- the first pianist cessors, our process began as it has each year, by in the history of addressing the various components that we felt the BBC Proms should constitute the series. First and foremost is to play all five the WMCT’s role as the introducer of talent: we seek Beethoven Canadian artists of the highest calibre and foreign Piano Concertos in a single Proms season. His many artists well-established at home but less known in awards include the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Canada. Instrumentalist of the Year Award, the South Bank Show Classical Music Award, the Diapason d’Or de To create a satisfying programme, we evaluated the l’Année in France, two successive Edison awards in accomplishments and talents of many musicians. The Netherlands, the 25th Premio Internazionale We each suggested artists who had attracted our at- Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, the Preis tention and discussed the appropriateness of each der deutschen Schallplattenkritik, and three Gramo- potential artist for the series given our parameters phone awards, including Record of the Year in 2008. above. As a team we have now been approaching this His complete set of the Beethoven Piano Concertos task together for a few years and as the WMCT is a with Jiří Bělohlávek and the BBC Symphony Orches- well known and respected presenting organisation tra was chosen as Recording of the Month in both potential performers are happily responsive to our Gramophone and Classic FM Magazine in 2010. overtures. Thus once the Artists Selection Committee members have arrived at a consensus on what we be- Paul Lewis has presented solo recitals in major cities lieve to be a stimulating and fascinating selection of across the globe including London, Tokyo, Chicago, artists, the act of assembling everyone into a coher- Amsterdam, Madrid, and Vienna. He has appeared ent season of events is a pleasurable one! on more than fifty occasions at London’s Wigmore Hall and is also a regular guest at prestigious festivals I think you will agree that the 2012-2013 series dem- such as the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg. onstrates attention to the values that have allowed Music in the Afternoon to thrive for so long, and that In 2011 he embarked upon a two year Schubert proj- we continue the tradition of excellence for which the ect, performing all the mature piano works from the WMCT’s concert experience is renowned. Wandererfantasie onwards. “There are many prized recordings of the Beethoven The WMCT begins 2013 on February 14 with a spe- sonatas from past masters and current artists. But if cial Valentine’s Day performance by The Duke Piano I had to recommend a single complete set, I would Trio. Since the trio’s formation and Toronto debut in suggest Mr. Lewis’s distinguished recordings.” 1995, it has performed throughout North America in The New York Times recitals and radio broadcasts. www.paullewispiano.com.uk While each member of The Duke Piano Trio On November 29 the WMCT presents Duo Con- enjoys prominence certante: Nancy Dahn, violin, and Timothy Steeves, in his own right, as a piano. The two maintain a busy touring schedule, group the trio has been with frequent performances across North America, hailed for its attention as well as in Europe and China. Duo Concertante to ensemble-playing has received the Touring Performers Award (Contact detail. Violinist Mark East), as well as Memorial University’s prestigious Fewer is one of Can- President’s Award for Outstanding Research, and was ada’s most important named Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council and most popular art- Artist of the Year ists and currently Chair in May 2010. of the String Area at the Schulich School of Mu- Of five acclaimed sic at McGill University. recordings, the Cellist Thomas Wiebe is Professor of Cello at the most recent, Wild University of Western Ontario in London. Pianist Pe- Bird, includes ter Longworth is on the faculty of The Glenn Gould works written School and has a notable career as a chamber music especially for the collaborator and as a soloist both in recital and with duo by Cana- orchestras. dian composers R.Murray Schafer, The Duke Piano Trio brings a wide ranging pro- Chan Ka Nin, and gramme and demonstrates the ease with which these Kati Agócs, and three remarkable musicians move between perform- includes Schafer’s ing classics, forgotten masterpieces, and ground- Duo for Violin and breaking contemporary works. In addition to the Piano which won piano trio repertoire, the trio regularly collaborates the 2011 JUNO with Canada’s leading artists in the performance of Award for Clas- chamber music for larger ensembles. sical Composition of the Year. Duo Concertante’s ”Bravo isn’t enough … Try a good lusty Bravissimo…” recording It Takes Two features encore pieces and was The Buffalo News described as “spectacular” by the American Record Guide. The duo’s first three CDs – À Deux, Of Heart On March 28, 2013, the Tippett Quartet makes its and Homeland, and Wild Honey – all received nomi- Canadian debut on the WMCT stage. nations for Best Classical Recording at the East Coast Music Awards. Being conducted by Sir Michael Tippett dressed in a powder-blue suit and bright yellow shoes made a big Based at Memorial University in St. John’s, Nancy impression on four young English musicians. When Dahn and Timothy Steeves have given hundreds of they formed a quartet the week after Tippett’s death master classes and workshops across Canada, the in 1998 they honoured their mentor by adopting his United States, and China, and their commitment to name to become the Tippett Quartet. working with young musicians has given rise to the annual Tuckamore Chamber Music Festival. As artis- tic directors of the festival, they continue to present and collaborate with international artists such as the Shanghai Quartet, the Lafayette String Quartet, Mark Fewer, the Borromeo String Quartet, the Miro Quar- tet, Suzie Leblanc, and Louis Lortie. “two packages of musical dynamite” The Halifax Chronicle-Herald www.duoconcertante.com NEWS & NOTES | NUMBER 45 | FEBRUARY 2012 | PAGE 2 The quartet made its Wigmore Hall debut in 1998, in Music. James Ehnes has won numerous awards and has since performed at the BBC Proms, Chel- and prizes, including the first-ever Ivan Galamian tenham Festival, Three Choirs Festival, King’s Place, Memorial Award, the Canada Council for the Arts’ Purcell Room, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Bridgewater Virginia Parker Prize, an Avery Fisher Career Grant, Hall, and The Sage, Gateshead. The quartet regularly and, of course, the WMCT’s Career Development returns to Wigmore Hall and frequently broadcasts Award. In 2007 he became the youngest Fellow ever for BBC Radio. elected to the Royal Society of Canada and on July 1, 2010, the Governor General of Canada appointed The Tippett Quartet prides itself on clarity of execu- James Ehnes a Member of the Order of Canada. tion and total commitment to the performance. Interpretations are stylistically varied and informed James Ehnes plays the “Marsick” Stradivarius of 1715. with great breadth of repertoire. The quartet has He lives in Bradenton, Florida, with his wife Kate. recorded the complete Tippett string quartets for “Effusively lyrical ...hair-raisingly virtuosic.” NAXOS and premiered works by composers includ- The Guardian ing John Adams, Simon Holt, and Howard Goodall. www.jamesehnes.com In 2011 the Tippett Quartet began celebrating the centenary of the birth of Bernard Hermann with an Despite his extensive tour and the release of Bernard Herrmann: fame in the Psycho Suite on Signum. This project has enabled opera world, collaboration with renowned film studies professor concerts and Neil Sinyard and with Norma Hermann, who grant- recitals always ed special permission for the recording. Residencies have a major at the Perth Festival and York St. John University place on Russell have ensued. Braun’s calen- “…their intent is serious, their execution dar. In addition compelling, their ensemble immaculate”. to an extensive The Times recital tour of www.tippettquartet.co.uk Western Cana- da, in the past The final concert of the season onMay 2, 2013, few seasons he brings together two giants of the Canadian and in- has appeared ternational performing stages. Violinist James Ehnes with the New and baritone Russell Braun perform together for the York Philhar- first time in an extraordinary programme of music monic in the celebrating their individual talents and collaborative world première brilliance. of The World in Flower a new work by Peter Lieber- son and in a special 2010 Olympics performance of James Ehnes is one Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with the Vancouver Sym- of the most dynamic phony Orchestra and Bramwell Tovey. He has also and exciting perform- appeared at the BBC Proms, the Salzburg Festival, ers in classical music. the Tanglewood Festival, and with the St.