PRICELESS Vol 26 No 3 Alanis Obomsawin 2020 Glenn Gould Prize Laureate NOVEMBER 2020 Concerts, live & livestreamed Record reviews & Listening Room Stories and interviews 2603_Features_new.indd 1 2020-10-28 6:17 PM FOR WHAT IT’S WORTH • CIRC – keep up with reopenings, welcome new partners • SUBS CAMPAIGN – give (someone/yourself) the gift! • BACK ISSUES (ESP. LAST 4) – ask and ye shall receive • STILL IN PRINT!!!! – pass the word, PLEASE. • BUT MORE THAN PRINT – flip-through, HalfTones, blog, web, tweet, like, share • WEEKLY LISTINGS UPDATES – so keep sending them in!! • WE’RE WholeNote media 2603_Features_new.indd 2 2020-10-28 7:17 PM Volume 26 No 3 | November 2020 This picture of Alanis Obomsawin was taken in her office, at ON OUR COVER the National Film Board’s Montreal headquarters on Le Chemin PRICELESS de la Côte-de Liesse, just before they moved to Îlot Balmoral last Vol 26 No 3 summer. Having had the opportunity of working on a three-year project at the National Film Board of Canada, I had the chance to witness Alanis Obomsawin’s presence on an almost daily basis. If you would be passing by her office door you would witness a monumental intellect tirelessly rewriting our history for a better future for all. Unwavering from sunrise till sunset, she humbled ACD2 2736 us all. She is a true architect of change, winning her battles through the mind and heart, with more than fifty films in fifty years. — Stéphan Ballard Alanis Obomsawin “My office holds 50 years of archives, images, and text. I’m 2020 Glenn Gould Prize Laureate now finishing my 53rd film, so you can just imagine the number NOVEMBER 2020 Concerts, live & livestreamed Record reviews & Listening Room Stories and interviews of documents. I’ve grown attached to this place. So much has happened here, and I’ve seen so many changes. There’s a lot of 2602_NovCover.inddPHOTO: 1 STÉPHAN BALLARD 2020-10-27 8:10 PM history.” — Alanis Obomsawin ( blog.nfb.ca in July 2019) 5 OPENER | For What It’s Worth | 10 MUSIC THEATRE | MCS’s DAVID PERLMAN UnCovered Reinvented | ACD2 2808 JENNIFER PARR TO BE RELEASED STORIES & INTERVIEWS ON NOVEMBER 6, 2020 12 NEW MUSIC | Exquisite 6 FEATURE | Celebrating Alanis Departures in Trying Times | Obomsawin | PAUL ENNIS ANDREW TIMAR 11 ACD2 2797 TO BE RELEASED ON NOVEMBER 13, 2020 Live and on-demand concerts in Bourgie Hall are available from November 19th to December 3rd, 2020! Purchase your ticket at 2603_Features_new.indd 3 2020-10-28 6:30 PM The WholeNote™ VOLUME 26 NO 3 | NOVEMBER 2020 MORE STORIES & DISCOVERIES: Centre for Social Innovation 720 Bathurst St., Suite 503, Toronto ON M5S 2R4 INTERVIEWS RECORDINGS REVIEWED PHONE 416-323-2232 | FAX 416-603-4791 Publisher/Editor in Chief | David Perlman 15 JAZZ NOTES | Jazz in the 29 Editor’s Corner | DAVID OLDS [email protected] Kitchen | STEVE WALLACE Chairman of the Board | Allan Pulker 31 Strings Attached | [email protected] 17 BANDSTAND | Music for Life | TERRY ROBBINS EDITORIAL JACK MACQUARRIE Managing Editor | Paul Ennis Vocal [email protected] 33 TAKE THREE | Remastering Recordings Editor | David Olds 49 [email protected] the Record Release | 36 Classical and Beyond Digital Media Editor | Sara Constant CATHY RICHES [email protected] 39 Modern and Contemporary Social Media Editor | Danial Jazaeri MAINLY, MOSTLY | Rolling with [email protected] 51 the Punches – A Tale of Two Listings Editor | John Sharpe 42 Jazz and Improvised Music [email protected] Festivals | COLIN STORY [email protected] 45 Pot Pourri SALES, MARKETING & MEMBERSHIP 53 EARLY MUSIC | Tafelmusik’s Concert & Event Advertising / Membership | Karen Ages Baroque for Baby | Something in the Air | @ 46 members thewholenote.com MATTHEW WHITFIELD KEN WAXMAN Production & Operations / Advertising Art | Jack Buell [email protected], [email protected] REARVIEW MIRROR | Classified Ads | [email protected] 54 47 Old Wine, New Bottles | Website/Systems Support | Kevin King “Classical” Baggage vs BRUCE SURTEES [email protected] Necessary Luggage | Circulation/Subscriptions | Chris Malcolm & Sheila McCoy ROBERT HARRIS [email protected] SUBSCRIPTIONS LISTINGS $45 per year + HST (9 issues)* SPECIAL SECTIONS *international subscriptions: additional postage IN THIS ISSUE By Date; Continuing, ETCetera applies 24 PAGES 19-23 THANKS TO THIS MONTH’S CONTRIBUTORS The 21st annual BLUE PAGES, Paul Ennis, Robert Harris, Jack MacQuarrie, Jennifer MORE Part 2 BRICK BY BRICK Parr, David Perlman, Cathy Riches, Colin Story, Andrew Timar, Steve Wallace, Matthew Whitfield Presenter Profiles 2020/21 5 Upcoming dates and deadlines CD Reviewers Upcoming in Sophie Bisson, Stuart Broomer, Max Christie, DECEMBER 2020 Sam Dickenson, Daniel Foley, Raul da Gama, Janos 28 Classified Ads Gardonyi, Richard Haskell, Tiina Kiik, Kati Kiilaspea, BLUE PAGES Profiles: Part 3 Roger Knox, Pamela Margles, Lesley Mitchell-Clarke, Cheryl Ockrant, David Olds, Ted Parkinson, Ivana Popovic, Terry Robbins, Michael Schulman, Michael Schwartz, Adam Scime, Andrew Scott, Adam PRESENTER PROFILES 21st ANNUAL DIRECTORY OF MUSIC MAKERS Sherkin, Bruce Surtees, Andrew Timar, Yoshi Wall, 2020/21 REBUILDING LIVE MUSIC BRICK BY BRICK Welcome to Part 2 of The WholeNote’s 21st Ken Waxman, Mathew Whitfield st annual Blue Pages directory of our region’s 21 ANNUAL music community. Profiles which were printed in the October issue are in black Proofreading type in the alphabetical list of directory 17 PAGES members alongside this introduction. The 18 that can be found in this November issue are listed in red. The third and final Karen Ages, Paul Ennis, Danial Jazaeri, print installment of the 2020-21 Blue Pages will follow in the December/January issue. Meanwhile, the cumulative Blue Pages David Perlman, John Sharpe directory will be continually updated BLUE online at thewholenote.com under the “Who’s Who” tab, as new profiles arrive. Additionally, all members of the Listings Team directory will be given the opportunity to update their online profiles as and Ruth Atwood, Tilly Kooyman, John Sharpe, when their plans for spring and summer BLUE PAGES LIST, OCTOBER AND NOVEMBER 2020 2021 continue to firm up. As mentioned in the October issue, Aga Khan Museum Oriana Women’s Choir for many musical organizations it has Gary Heard, Colin Story Amadeus Choir of Greater Toronto Orpheus Choir of Toronto been a bumpy ride to this point, with Annex Singers Pax Christi Chorale crystal balls as much in short supply as Azrieli Foundation Peterborough Singers paper products on supermarket shelves! Design Team Barrie Concert Association Piano Lunaire, The Nevertheless we hope you will find the Canadian Children’s Opera Company Royal Canadian College of Organists, profiles that follow to be of interest, and Canadian Sinfonietta Toronto Centre the links they offer to be useful as one of Kevin King, Susan Sinclair Chorus Niagara Royal Conservatory of Music the communities hardest hit by COVID- Church of St. Mary Magdalene Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra 19 rebuilds itself, brick by brick. Church of St. Peter and St. Simon-the-Apostle Sine Nomine Ensemble for Medieval Music Thanks to community members who Confluence Concerts Soundstreams have unhesitatingly come forward with Circulation Team DaCapo Chamber Choir St. Thomas’s Anglican Church WholeNote memberships and profiles: Don Wright Faculty of Music, Tafelmusik you are helping us find ways to keep the lights on during the winter ahead. Western University Tallis Choir Lori Sandra Aginian, Wende Bartley, Beth Bartley & Similarly we hope your presence here Edison Singers Tapestry Opera also sends a signal to our readers who care Elmer Iseler Singers Toronto Chamber Choir about what you do, that you are finding Mark Clifford, Jack Buell, Sharon Clark, Manuel Elora Festival & Singers Toronto Children’s Chorus ways to do the same. And thanks also to Ensemble Vivant Toronto Choral Society our faithful readers, whether in print Esprit Orchestra Toronto Classical Singers or online at kiosk.thewholenote.com Couto, Paul Ennis, Robert Faulkner, Soudy Gaeeni, Etobicoke Centennial Choir Toronto Consort where you can find a complete digitized Etobicoke Community Concert Band Toronto Mendelssohn Choir archive of our print editions since 1995, Etobicoke Philharmonic Orchestra Toronto Mozart Players including the five issues we have printed Terry Gaeeni, James Harris, Micah Herzog, Jeff Exultate Chamber Singers Toronto Symphony Orchestra since March 2020. If you missed any of Flute Street Trio Arkel those four print issues and would like Hannaford Street Silver Band University of Toronto Faculty of Music copies, please contact us at circulation@ Hogben, Bob Jerome, Chris Malcolm, Luna Walker- Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts Village Voices thewholenote.com. Jubilate Singers VOCA Chorus of Toronto For information on the benefits of Kindred Spirits Orchestra Wychwood Clarinet Choir a WholeNote membership (of which King Edward Choir a Blue Pages profile is a feature), please contact Karen Ages at Malcolm, Sheila McCoy, Lorna Nevison, Garry Page, Music at St. Andrew’s Big Picture Communications [email protected] or Music Gallery Bobolink Agency 416-323-2232 x26. Andrew Schaefer, Tom Sepp, Julia Tait, Dave Taylor. Music in the Afternoon Concerts in Care Music Toronto International Resource Centre for BLUE PAGES TEAM 2020/21 New Music Concerts Performing Artists PROJECT MANAGER: Karen Ages Off Centre Music Salon Linda Litwack Publicity PROJECT EDITOR: Danial Jazaeri Opera Atelier Rebecca Davis Public Relations LAYOUT AND DESIGN: Susan Sinclair Orchestra Toronto SPEAK Music PR WEBSITE: Kevin King an Ontario government agency un organisme du gouvernement de l’Ontario BluePagesNovember2020.indd 19 2020-10-26 5:42 PM 4 | November 2020 thewholenote.com 2603_Features_new.indd 4 2020-10-28 7:28 PM FOR OPENERS | DAVID PERLMAN For What It’s Worth couple of issues back (Vol 26, No 1) in this slot, I drew readers’ attention to the cheeky tagline “Priceless” on the top right hand A corner of our front cover (where one would usually expect to find a newsstand price, or, failing that, the word “Free”).