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I just saw this sad news, that pianist John Arpin, who I gather had been ill for some time, has died. John Arpin was such a fixture on the Canadian jazz scene, and although multi-talented, he was perhaps best known for his work as a ragtime preservationist. (In 1998 he won the Scott Joplin Award from a Missouri ragtime foundation.)
CBC | Arts News has more.
Kudos to Holger Peterson for winning a "Keeping the Blues Alive Award," given out by the Memphis-based The Blues Foundation. Holger of course is CBC Radio 1's long-running host of Saturday Night Blues (and I do mean long-running -- he's been doing the show for 21 years!).
The award is in the Public Radio category, and according to the Foundation's website they're given out to "recognize the significant contributions to blues music made by the people behind the scenes."
I guess after his win Holger won't be able to make that old blues claim: "If I didn't have bad luck I wouldn't have any luck at all." Congratulations, Holger.
That's just one of the categories of the 2007 Bucky Awards for indie music, over on Radio 3. Make sure your voice is heard! Nominations are open until the end of November.
And more serious categories include such things as "Song Most Likely To Become A Future Classic," "Best Lyric," "Most Unpronouncable Name," and so on. OK, so most unpronouncable name maybe not "more serious," but fun, as are the Buckies. Vote now! Vote often! (Once a day, anyway.)
You may have heard that the Beatles movie, Help! has been released as a DVD; now there's going to be a one-day only movie screening across the country. Happens on November 26th at 32 theatres, tickets go on sale Nov. 9 at Cineplex. The film is restored and remixed and in High-Def. All v. exciting for hardcore fans who long for those giddy strange days, once again.
I remember when the Bruce Cockburn concert went up as a Concert On Demand. People loved it. So I'm going to take the opportunity of some Bruce news to let others know -- if you click on that link, you can hear Bruce live from Banff. And now, to the news:
Twenty years after his first visit to Nepal, he's returning to the place he calls “hands down the most beautiful place on earth that I’ve seen.”
Cockburn returns to the country, which has of course been fraught with civil strife in the years in between, with Susan Walsh, the Exec. Director of the Unitarian Service Committee of Canada, USC. She was with him on that trip back in '87. Together they'll travel by foot, staying in the villages in the northwest, the pretty remote Himalayan region close to the Tibet border.
Cockburn, as you likely know, has done much humanitarian work to date. Of this trip he says:
“One of the things that characterizes people living in difficult conditions is a very well-developed sense of how dependent we humans are on each other. There’s a sense of community that is beyond anything that one encounters in the developed world...
It will also be interesting to see what the impact of the war has been on that sense of community because that often has a part to play, and that means things could go either way.”
Village committees in the area are apparently actively running small-scale irrigation, organic agriculture, community health and education programs with minimal outside support.
If you want more info, check out Cockburn's Nepal blog to see journal entries, video clips and images.
If you follow the Canadian Chamber music scene you will know that there was something of a hubbub about the sudden departure of its founding Artistic Director about eight months ago -- now the Ottawa Chamber Music Society has named a new executive director.
You can read the whole story at CBC | Arts News.
Tonight the Canadian Opera Company celebrates the life of of Richard Bradsahw, the late general director of the COC, with a tribute concert -- I understand that all tickets are long gone. But I was interested to come across this roundup of tributes to Mr. Bradshaw in August, some of which I'd not seen at the time, on the Collaborative Piano Blog.
Perhaps they will have a follow up to tonight's tribute -- and if not, it is still well worth reading some of the articles and appreciations here, including personal ones like this one at A Piece Of My Mind, penned by a writer/filmaker and usher at the former O'Keefe Centre, the COC's onetime home.
Why is it that certain websites/blogs are viewed as the arbiters of hipness (and sometimes reviled for same)? Guess it's some combination of tone, attitude, a certain range of editorial choice, perceived insider knowledge, and something else that's indefinable, but makes people think, "yeah, that's cool," or conversely, "yeah, that's irritating."
Anyway, whatever the formula is, Pitchfork has long been blessed/cursed with it. And regardless of where they really fall on the blessed/cursed scale, one thing seems absolute -- it doesn't harm a band's career to have them take notice.
Was amused by their piece this morning announcing Canada's Besnard Lakes as the opening band for Pete Bjorn and John.
"It's like a Neil Diamond song come to life, really: From the wilds of Canada to the snowdrifts of Sweden, they're coming to America! Montreal's Besnard Lakes have been added as support on all dates of Stockholm residents Peter Bjorn and John's forthcoming U.S. tour..."
The other day, when the weather was still in that bizarre, endless summer state my part of the country has been blessed/cursed with, I was wandering through the Toronto Music Garden, which was inspired by Bach's Suites For Unaccompanied Cello, performed by Yo Yo Ma.
The adoration of Feist continues, and why not, she's pretty great. Though I will say mostly what I love about her music is the music -- not the lyrics, which rarely, to my mind, are particularly brilliant.
But the shapes of the songs, the instrumentation, her voice, all that wows me. It also wows many south of the border. And I thought for those of you who are Leslie Feist fans or maybe just Leslie Feist curious, you might want to know about this profile/in studio performance that was done this fall, stateside, slugged Torch Songs And Bulletproof Buzz, over on NPR. (Public radio love, too...)
A note for those many fans of the late Doug Riley...a tribute concert has been announced, as well as the creation of a musical scholarship in his name, through the University of Toronto Faculty of Music. The concert is being held at Convocation Hall on Nov. 18 and feature soloists like David Clayton Thomas, Dione Taylor, Michael Burgess and many more...
Also wanted to make note of this video tribute to Mr. Riley that's been making the rounds...
Yesterday I wrote about the obsession we have with lists, and that a sort of "list of lists" (vis a vis Canadian recordings) had come out in book form, Bob Mersereau's The Top 100 Canadian Albums.
In case you didn't hear the results later in the day -- here, according to the 600ish fans, critics, artists, and members of the music industry -- is the Top 20.
Why do we love a list? Maybe it speaks to a deep rooted fear of chaos -- corralling information creates the illusion of order. Perhaps it's laziness, saves us the work of figuring it out for ourselves. Or could be it's for reasons less consequential -- like anything cheap and cheerful, lists are just their own kind of fast fun.
It sounds like the "list of lists" provided by a new book that comes out today is as much about the list-makers as it is about the list. The Top 100 Canadian Albums, by music journalist Bob Mersereau, reveals "exclusive lists from many of the celebrity musicians involved, as well as in-depth interviews and fascinating facts."
So Mersereau talked to people like Neil Peart, Ed Robertson, (and the other Ladies), and a vast cast of other Canadian musicians, plus people like CBC hosts Holger Petersen and Stuart McLean.
And this is what he did. He asked them to "provide a list of top ten Canadian albums using whatever criteria they wished."
Anyone want to wade in? A top 3 even?
The big news over the weekend was Bruce Springsteen performing an Arcade Fire song, with members of the band. This was ecstatically reported by Stereogum, Pitchfork (videos on that link!) and Brooklyn Vegan, among others.
As Stereogum put it: "Remember when you first heard Keep The Car Running and thought, 'That's the best Bruce Springsteen song not written by Bruce Springsteen?' Apparently so did the Boss!"
OK, now this is just plain weird. Torontoist, a blog devoted to all things hogtown, has spotted and photographed some Mahler graffiti.
The mind boggles. Does someone out there feel Mahler is under-appreciated? Or is there actually a rather un-artistically inclined, current-day Gustav Mahler running around with a can of spray paint? We just don't know.
The C.O.C. launched its season with its first production without the late Richard Bradshaw -- Mozart's Marriage Of Figaro. So far, two rather different responses:
It was nice to read these reactions from a blogger a-bloggin' at Firsthand Freelance about the Variations On Gould extravaganza on Thursday presented by Espace Musique. (6 pianists, 6 cities, a lot of effort and passion.)
Seems to have inspired her to think about perhaps taking up piano again herself -- which aside from the pleasures of hearing the music, is probably the best impact of a broadcast event like this, of music like this. To paraphrase an old line from Doonesbury, the world needs more musicians!
Well, some might not agree. But I do. As long as they play in tune.
This just in, well, in a couple hours ago but still pretty fresh in the news department: Leonard Cohen has been nominated for a place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.
And you can read the whole story at CBC | Arts News.
In case you are in Vancouver -- or perhaps thinking of attending the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra's 2007/2008 season opener, but were wondering if indeed it would take place given the ongoing labour disputes, here is some news -- performances on September 29th & October 1st will go ahead at the Orpheum Theatre as scheduled.
From the press release sent out by the VSO with full details:
"This was made possible by a decision reached Wednesday by the Labour Relations Board, which issued an interim order granting third party picketing relief at the stage door of the Orpheum Theatre, allowing opening weekend concerts to proceed. The VSO respects CUPE Local 15’s right to picket the main audience entrance of the Orpheum, which will likely occur. Both parties are still in the midst of an ongoing process to determine whether this relief will be temporary or permanent, and an announcement about concerts scheduled beyond the opening weekend will be forthcoming."
The Polaris Prize results were announced last night -- and Patrick Watson takes home the $20,000. In some quarters the victory is seen as an upset, or perhaps a tad mystifying (as in the Pitchfork quarter). But I'd say it would be a pretty difficult field to choose from -- a great crop of Canadian music.
For the whole story, go to cbc.ca/arts.
As you may have heard, there will be some changes to the Radio 2 schedule over the weekends, beginning October 6th/7th.
One you almost certainly already know about, if you are a faithful R2 listener, (because it was announced a while ago), is that starting Sunday October 7th, the estimable Bill Richardson will host a new programme called Sunday Afternoon In Concert. Bill, who has been guest hosting Saturday Afternoon At The Opera, will continue as regular show host -- and, this just in -- SATO is being expanded by a half-hour, to start at 1pm.
But newer news is the introduction of Gregory Charles to R2, with a Sunday morning show (10 to noon) called In The Key Of Charles. Charles has been a mainstay on the Quebec music scene, where he's sometimes known as Super Gregory! He's one of these rare, phenomenally multi-talented people. He's performed as a classical pianist, he's hosted radio shows (on Radio Canada), worked as an actor, and he has a hit pop recording I Think Of You (which has meant that now the rest of the country is starting to become familiar with Mr. Charles too).
As well, a new show called Inside The Music, hosted by the ever-popular R2 host, Patti Schmidt will be launched. Her show is about music and ideas, and will air Sundays from noon till 1 pm. The first series will explore the sources of inspiration for Canadian composers: from nature to story-telling to spiritual matters.
Looking forward to hearing them all!
Larry LeBlanc, famed Canadian music journalist, who after departing Billboard has continued to put out regular newsletters for those in the "industry," included this recent squib from legendary producer Joe Boyd. Boyd had just attended Canadian singer Martha Wainwright's wedding. Now if only most "society columns" in newspapers read like this. (Heck, if only most weddings were like this!)
“The bride was gorgeous, Brad (the groom)’s father astounded all the folkies with his impeccable crooning, Teddy Thompson and Jenni Muldaur delivered a joyous Viva Las Vegas. Rufus sang the Gounod/Bach version of Ave Maria, Linda Thompson harmonized with her offspring on Dimming of the Day. Kate McGarrigle hovered over everything like the angel she is, the weather was beautiful and a good time was had by all."
And Mr. Leblanc also passed on the news bulletin from Mr. Boyd that Mary Magaret O'Hara's seminal Miss America recording is going to be re-released, date TBA, but with Boyd, apparently, credited as co-producer on some tracks. He was not credited on the original release, due to various "industry" shenanigans.
Moral of the story? More weddings, less "industry."
A couple of Canadian music news notes:
Violinist Jacques Israelievitch is stepping down as the concertmaster for the Toronto Symphony Orchestra after 20 years at the post. You can read the whole story at CBC | Arts News
And The Canadian Folk Music Awards committee has unveiled a list of scheduled performers for this year's gala, a list headlined by Sylvia Tyson. (Also, CBC's Shelagh Rogers will co-host the awards ceremony, with Juno Award-winning Quebec musician Benoît Bourque.) More details to be found at CBC | Arts News.
...according to the Guelph Jazz Fest, which just took place over the weekend. If you are, like me, suffering from attendee-envy, you can at least check out New York based (writer, editor, author, arts producer for National Public Radio ) Howard Mandel's take on the proceedings, on his blog Jazz Beyond Jazz.
A note to fans of the Canadian Opera Company: it was announced today that Paolo Olmi, music director of France's Opéra National de Nancy, will step in for the late Richard Bradshaw this autumn to direct Don Carlos.
You can read the whole story at CBC | Arts News.
Darcy James Argue's Secret Society (a person, a jazz musician, a blog) has an insightful review of Feist performing at The Living Room in NYC. Here's a couple brief excerpts:
"She's a ridiculously skilled singer with a sweet clear voice, colored with a tiny, heartbreaking rasp." "...you could pick it apart -- 'Oh, here's a bit of folksy Canadiana via Joni Mitchell, mixed with a touch of electroclash on loan from Peaches, laced with some unabashedly retro Dusty Springfield/Burt Bacharach stylings' -- but you don't, because everything is so well integrated and so personal."
Mr. Secret Society also posts an MP3 of Toronto-born jazz singer Amy Cervini's cover of the Feist hit, Mushaboom (authorized by Amy Cervini). Brave of her to take it on, and I quite like it, once she gets past the intro which I find a tad lugubrious.
On a very sad note, Doug Riley, the Toronto-born keyboardist, composer and arranger known as "Dr. Music" died on Monday. He was 62.
His passing represents a huge loss to Canada's jazz community, and to the larger musical community as well. Jazz was his first love, but he recorded with an astonishing range of musicians, from symphony orchestras to pop and R&B; musicians like Bob Seger (he played piano and organ on Seger's famous Night Moves) and Ray Charles.
I'm sure as days pass there will be tributes of various kinds paid to Doug Riley, but in the moment I'd like to suggest that celebrating a musician's life can't be done better than by hearing that person's music.
This concert was part of a week of celebration recognizing 50 years of Jazz in Edmonton presented by the Yardbird Suite. Composers Doug Riley and Sandro Dominelli were commissioned by CBC Radio to create a Jazz Suite for the occasion.
Doug Riley had a long history of great jazz collaborations at the Yardbird. Sandro is one of the key players on the contemporary Edmonton scene. Their resulting work - “Suite for the Yardbird” -consists of five distinct pieces: three from Doug and two from Sandro.
Longtime collaborators P. J Perry, Saxophone and Jim Head, Guitar, joined Doug and Sandro on stage. This was a hot night in the club: great music and and a memorable vibe.
It is likely you will have heard by now that Richard Bradshaw died on Wednesday. If not, I'm sorry to break this sad news. He was 63, and died of an apparent heart attack.
His impact on opera in this country (he moved here in the late 1980s to become the principle conductor of the COC), and on the cultural life of Toronto was remarkable. It is a shocking loss, particularly after the glorious success of the new opera house, and its inaugural production last season of Wagner's Ring Cycle.
I didn't know Mr. Bradshaw personally, although I did meet him as a radio producer with a show called The Arts Tonight. I remember that he and host Eleanor Wachtel had a marvelous conversation -- his passion, vision, and ability to articulate the same -- in that mellifluous voice -- are what stay in my mind. He was charismatic, in the best sense.
Richard Bradshaw's funeral will be held Tuesday morning at 11 a.m. at St. James Cathedral in Toronto.
Richard Bradshaw, general director of the Canadian Opera Company and the man who brought an opera house to Toronto, has died.
Bradshaw died Wednesday evening of an apparent heart attack, the company has confirmed. He was 63.
Nice to see NPR celebrating Canadian folk/pop, with an interview and live performance of Great Lake Swimmers, a band they describe as "warmly melancholic."
Speaking of GLS, they have a neat little campaign going, asking for :30 second video submissions of favourite travel footage -- they plan to edit them together for a video of one of their songs.
But back to the recognition stateside, here's the rest of the NPR billing: "Armed with a deep catalog of sad, sweetly rustic folk-pop, the Ontario band Great Lake Swimmers has become something of a word-of-mouth sensation, as well as a frequent award-winner in Canada.
For the whole story, go to NPR
Quick jazz bulletin: There's a thorough and very nice review of Canadian trumpeter Ingrid Jensen in concert with the great pianist Benny Green, on journalist Doug Ramsey's blog, Rifftides.
You can read the whole story right here.
And here I thought Arcade Fire was just tooling around Europe having a fab time. Not so, according to the Times online.
It's understandable that becoming Canada's greatest export as quickly as they have must have its travails, of course. (Maybe the White Stripes should drop by to introduce them to the daycare circuit?)
This just in from the: "unlikely to work but good on them for trying" department.
Canadian hair salons are being asked to pay for the right to play music in their businesses, says SOCAN, the umbrella group for Canadian music composers.
Somehow I find it hard to believe that in between the pressures of making endless small talk and convincing clientele that their new cuts look fabulous, hairdressers will also get it together to pay for music.
Apparently dentists were targeted last year though, so who knows, maybe there's precedence -- if dentists are paying up perhaps the same will be true for hair salons. Just hope it doesn't mean an end to those free bang trims.
You can read the whole story at CBC | Arts News.
I have a feeling that fans of The Signal probably already read Carl Wilson's Zoilus blog, but just in case you haven't encountered it yet, you may want to check out his thoughts on new music/improvising cellist Erik Friedlander, who is playing a show tomorrow in (sorry!) Toronto.
Friedlander's newest recording is called Block Ice & Propane, (love that), which refers to memories of family camping trips.
Much more positive than the title that leapt into my mind: Bunjee Cord Wounds and Black Flies...
Who hasn't imagined being something they are not? My other lives include being a psychiatrist, a horse trainer, and arranging for big bands that no longer exist. So I like to find out about the lives of people who actually are shrinks/horse trainer/arrangers...in real life.
And for the fantasy string-quartet players among us -- here's your chance to get some good inside info.
The Banff International String Quartet in August is a biggie, featuring some of the world's best young string quartets. And CBC Radio 2 online is providing a behind-the-scenes glimpse into what it takes to get those fiddles to Banff, with a diary by members of both the Afiara and Tokai String Quartets.
It starts online now, and takes us to the competition itself at the end of August. Bonus, a photo gallery following preparations for the competition.
Well, you've probably heard about the M&M;'s with the brown ones removed. (Or was it the blue ones? It should have been, since blue is clearly an unnatural colour for an M&M; to be.)
And today's breaking news (on the concert-riders triva beat) is that Diana Krall gets real specific about what is and is not an acceptable vino, on a list that includes no wines from her native British Columbia.
But a rider that specifies popcorn type? Leave it to Prince to have a popcorn clause in his concert rider.
Just heard one of the Radio 2 promos saying that Isabel Bayrakdarian will be hosting Saturday Afternoon At The Opera this weekend. Very cool. And of course our own Bill Richardson will become the regular host in the autumn. (As well as hosting the new Sunday show...in case you missed this news when it broke, here's the cbc.ca piece about Bill's busy weekends come autumn.)
Last night there were people writhing, leaping and embracing behind the skating rink at my local park. Or to be more accurate, somewhere in between the place they make the ice and the place where you sit on an ancient wooden bench swearing at your skate laces.
Plus there was a guy playing electric guitar, vaguely Bill Frisellish type stuff. It sounded absolutely perfect, wafting through the leafy trees, past the grassy slope where several teenagers were pretending not to look or listen.
It was part of a thing called Dusk Dances, and it reminded me how fortunate we are to be living in an era when so many artists have gotten out of the traditional mindset about where music and dance can be seen and heard.
John Terauds writes about an upcoming project of this kind in today's Toronto Star, The Music (in) Galleries project, "the brainchild of freelance trombonist Scott Thomson." (Aren't MOST trombonists freelance? With the exception of those few in s.o.'s? Tom Allen, where are you when we need you?)
Anyway, it pairs improvising musicians with galleries. The idea was such a success last year that the freelance trombonist is doing it again.
I'm curious to know if there is much performance in unexpected places going on in anyone else's neck of the woods? Do tell -- comments are always welcome.
Read the whole story at Toronto Star
Funny that the band some are touting as surprise contenders for the prestigous (and lucrative) Polaris Prize made the shortlist (announced yesterday) for a recording called "The Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse."
The Polaris Prize, if you're not familiar with it, is a Canadian award for "best album of the year," decided by a large panel of music critics. Happens it's mainly indie bands and the like who made the cut this year though, so the concept of "best album," seems a tad narrow in definition.
Something tells me the Besnard Lakes -- yes, that's also the name of the band -- aren't too concerned. Besides, it's hard to believe that any band will defeat the two obvious frontrunners: Arcade Fire and Feist. (In fact here's a dollar saying somehow they decide it's a tie between the two. Arcade Feist?)
The winner will be announced on Sept. 24.
For the full list of nominees, go to: CBC.ca
The perpetual debate over what music really should be considered jazz, particularly when it comes to the programming at jazz festivals, continues to rage (or at the very least simmer).
If you haven't noticed raging or simmering, that's only because you've probably found more productive ways to spend your time than reading the natterings of discontented jazz musicians. (Though if anyone did watch The Singing Bee last night I'd really appreciate a review...)
Anyway, in light of the jazz gnashing I found it interesting to see that in a recent concert announcement, the music of B-3/pianist Denis Keldie was described as "including material from Robert Johnson, John Coltrane, the Yiddish labour movement, Newfoundland, Marvin Gaye, and much more."
And was vastly amused when another of the nattering classes responded to this announcement by asking "What 'MORE' could there be?
I'm thinking throat singing, what about you?
P.S. If you're in T.O., you can hear for yourself tonight -- Denis Keldie is at The Courthouse...
Interesting that despite declining CD sales, (in the UK they dropped by 10% in the first half of 2007, as compared with the same period in 2006, according to BBC News), throat singing is on the rise. (So says the Globe and Mail.)
Maybe you're thinking, "Apples and oranges, baby. What have CD sales got to do with throat singing?"
Here's a theory. The more digital the dissemination of music gets, the more organic the creation of music can be. If samples of throat singing are heard in complicated "pop" music mixes available to all and any as a download, more people are drawn to the sound that gives that mix its kick, and more people aspire to create that sound, or use that instrument.
Like I say, it's a theory.
On the eve of another gala performance at the Montreal International Jazz Festival, acclaimed pianist Oliver Jones mused on Friday about his mentor Oscar Peterson and the state of jazz today.
Read the full story at CBC | Music News
Bill Frisell, in Canada for shows in Montréal, Toronto and Halifax, is an extraordinary guitar player who most often finds himself described as a jazz player and in the company of jazz musicians - but whose influences straddle genres, influences and even instruments.
Read an interview with Frisell at Globe and Mail | Music News.
A new lead violinist is expected to renew harmony in Ottawa's National Arts Centre Orchestra.
Read the full story at CBC | Music News
Former prime minister Jean Chrétien, pop singer Molly Johnson, award-winning writer Alistair MacLeod and broadcaster Pamela Wallin are among the latest distinguished Canadians set to receive the Order of Canada.
Read the full story at CBC | Arts
The "exotic lands" of Canada's North have captivated the White Stripes as much as the American rock duo has captivated thousands of fans this week with sold-out shows in Whitehorse, Yellowknife and Iqaluit.
Read more about the tour at CBC | Music News
The venerable Canadian actor and Stratford Festival stalwart died in a Stratford hospital this morning at age 87. The cause of death was listed as acute leukemia.
No further information seems to be available at the moment but I thought you might like to know.
Sam the Record Man, the iconic Toronto store where a generation of music lovers bought their first record, sells off its contents today.
I knew it was coming but I suppose I thought there would be some kind of reprieve. At least the giant spinning neon records will be preserved by the City of Toronto.
Read the full story at CBC | Music News.
A long-lost work by the American composer John Cage had its North American premiere in Vancouver Friday evening.
Read the whole story at CBC | Music News
The curtain goes up this evening in Milan, Italy, on Canadian director Robert Carsen's controversial production of Candide at the famed La Scala opera house for a nine-performance run.
Read the full story at Globe and Mail | Music News
Richard Bell was a Canadian multi-instrumentalist and songwriter who was there at the very beginning of the Canadian folk/rock scene in the Toronto Yorkville of the 1960's. It was there that he hooked up with Ronnie Hawkins and became one of his famous Hawks as keyboard player. From there, there were stints as piano player for Janis Joplin's Full Tilt Boogie Band, Joe Walsh, Paul Butterfield,, Bruce Cockburn, Judy Collins, Bonnie Raitt and others. In 1991 he took over the piano chair with The Band after the death of Stan Szelest.
He died last Friday after a long battle with cancer. His funeral will be held tomorrow at the Steamwhistle Brewery in Toronto, hosted by musician Colin Linden, for whom Bell wrote the song, "Out of the Wilderness".
Oskar Morawetz, one of Canada's best-known and frequently performed classical composers, died Thursday in Toronto at age 90.
Read the full obituary at CBC | Music News
The National Arts Centre Orchestra has commissioned a new orchestral work from Canadian composer R. Murray Schafer to premier on his 75th birthday in 2009. It's also the NAC's 40th season.
Read the full story at CBC | Music News
Oscar Peterson had a Canada Post stamp issued in his honour on September 15th, 2005 (I got the first day cover!). Now, Canada Post is adding Joni Mitchell, Anne Murray and Gordon Lightfoot to the collection.
Read the full story at CBC | Music News
The show will go on, but Richard Bradshaw won't be conducting, because the Canadian Opera Company's general director is stranded in London without a passport. Bradshaw's British passport went missing on June 8, one week before he was to have led two concert performances of Verdi's "Giovanna D'Arco" in Budapest. A statement from the COC said that ''despite exhausting every possible resource,'' the English-born conductor has received ''little or no assistance from the British Identity and Passport Service,'' which has refused his request for an emergency 24-hour passport.
Read the full story at Globe and Mail | Music News
Toronto Luminato's Friday night opera concert might have been called the Drive From Home Gala, because almost all of the singers live in or near Toronto. Very convenient, you might think, but no doubt it still took quite some effort by producers Wende Cartwright and Neil Crory to get all of those eminent voices at home at once.
Read the full story at Globe and Mail | Music News
Although the great man himself was too ill to be there in person, the concert that launched the international career of a young Oscar Peterson was commemorated Friday night on stage where it started.
Read the full story at CBC | Music News
Luna, the opera-gala component of the Luminato Festival, took on a bit more lustre yesterday, as the event's producers rushed to find a place on the bill for Canadian soprano Marianne Fiset, who claimed the grand prize last week at Montreal's Concours Musical International de Montreal.
Read the full story at Globe and Mail | Music News
Toronto composer and conductor Alex Pauk has won the $50,000 Molson Prize from the Canada Council for the Arts.
Read the full story at CBC | Music News
Alcan Inc., the Canadian aluminum maker in the midst of a takeover fight, has donated $6 million to the Montreal International Jazz Festival.
Read the full story at CBC | Music News
Mitt Romney, the Massachussets governor currently running for the Republican leadership in the U.S. is a devout Mormon with long family ties to the church elite. Romney is downplaying his religion and the church leadership is taking an official "hands-off" approach to his candidacy (although Brigham Young University email lists were used for fundraising purposes). Romney is apparently trying to reach out across religious lines to "family-values" voters of all stripes.
With politics putting Mormonism under the microscope, the other most famous Mormon institution in the world is doing some outreach of its own. The 300 voices of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and its 60 accompanying musicians are on tour performing a varied program of classical choral masterworks, American folk songs, patriotic hymns, and selections from the Choir’s recent CD, "Showtime! Music from Broadway and Hollywood". (I'm guessing they don't do the theme from "The Exorcist")
The only Canadian stop on the tour will be June 22nd for two shows at Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto.
Back on May 11th, guitarists Derek Olive and Johnny Eden did a show in Powell River, BC. After the show, they packed up their instruments and gear, loaded it all onto their bikes and set off for Gabriola Island. They have followed the same pattern since then and will do so until they wind up in Petit Riviere Nova Scotia on - if all goes well - September 8th. That's 6500 kilometers, folks!
I'll check in periodically but you can follow their tour blog on your own if you like as well. Sounds like a great way to see the country.
Toronto's Luminato Festival is getting underway with a number of local and international highlights. Among them, a long-planned collaboration (of sorts) between composer Phillip Glass and poet Leonard Cohen.
Read more about the nature of this collaboration at Globe and Mail | Music News
No, this does not mean the COC will be performing Paul Ziemba's "Dracula: The Opera". However, eight up-and-coming opera artists will join the Canadian Opera Company's ensemble studio for its 2007-2008 season, the troupe announced Wednesday.
Read the full story at CBC | Music News
The Canadian Opera Company's new small box office did big business this year at the Four Seasons Centre, pulling in nearly $18-million for the COC's first season in its new Toronto home.
Read the full story at The Globe and Mail | Music News.
Thousands of fans stood in heavy rain listening to rock acts such as My Chemical Romance and The Killers at Vancouver's first Virgin Music Festival.
Read the whole story at CBC | Music News:
I had lots of comments on my post about upcoming further changes to Radio Two - especially in regard to the new classical performance show planned for Sunday afternoons. You'll find a little more detail than I had to offer in this story on CBC | Arts online coverage.
The changes to the schedule here at CBC Radio Two in recent months (loved by some, loathed by others - but then that's inevitable, isn't it?) are just phase one of a three-part revamp of the service.
At a telemeeting yesterday attended by staff across the country, some details were offered as to the look and sound of Phase Two, which should be in effect by next fall. This set of changes only affects the weekends.
Among the changes, a brand new Sunday afternoon classical music performance programme to feature Canadian and international artists (mostly Canadian, actually) recorded live in venues across the country - kind of like a classical-only version of Canada Live with an emphasis on the heavyweights.
Canadian jazz great Oscar Peterson has cancelled a June 26 appearance at the Toronto Jazz Festival because of illness.
Read the story at CBC | Music News.
During a recent television appearance, British Prime Minister-in-waiting Gordon Brown appealed to Rufus for tickets to his upcoming concert.
Has he forgotten about the Arctic Monkeys, already?"
(Via Guardian Unlimited Music.)
OnStage is pre-empted today for a special broadcast from the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, hosted by Eric Friesen.
In celebration of the Canada Council's 50th anniversary, the Canada Council for the Arts and the National Arts Centre Orchestra (NAC Orchestra) put together a major concert featuring the twelve winners of the 2006 Musical Instrument Bank competition, together with cellist Denis Brott and the NAC Orchestra, under the direction of trombonist and conductor Alain Trudel. The 12 talented young winners obtained the loan of rare and historic musical instruments with a total value of almost 20 million dollars.
The concert features them in performance on the instruments they were awarded in works by Paganini, Brahms, Stravinsky, Popper, Bach, Champagne, Estacio, Handel and Dompierre.
Derek Olive and Johnny Eden are guitarists and songwriters and they're touring together this summer starting today. They're a musical odd couple but that's not the only thing odd about the tour. When they leave the show in Powell River BC tonight it will be by bicycle. They've got 6500km to cover before the final show of the tour on September 8th in Petite Riviere Nova Scotia.
I'll check in on them from time to time but you can follow the tour virtually on their blog.
Bon voyage, guys!
You've probably had moments when you've found yourself muttering, "Well, if I was in charge..."
I find they're usually shared with equally grumpy colleagues, kvetching about other people's decisions. Gripe gripe gripe.
Here's your chance not to fall into bad water cooler behavior, and actually take some positive action. The Canada Council for the Arts announced today it's seeking the public's input into what the future of our national arts funding agency should be. The public -- that's us. And for us who want musicians to continue touring across this vast country, and for musicians to develop innovative new projects for our enjoyment -- this stuff matters.
It's interesting watching how venerable music institutions develop and change. The Grammy Awards just announced they're branching out into a little sideline in honor of their upcoming 50th anniversary -- merchandising.
Among other things, they're planning to put out a coffee table book. According to the report this morning in the Globe and Mail, it will not eschew some of the Grammy's more difficult moments. (Think Milli Vanilli.)
Closer to home and considerably more uplifting: the recent announcement that roots rockers Blue Rodeo will be made Royal Conservatory of Music fellows. It's an annual award granted to Canadian artists who have made a lasting contribution. Blue Rodeo are in good company, predecessors include Isabel Bayrakdarian, Oscar Peterson, The Tragically Hip. (For the full story: CBC | Arts News.)
The RCM's view of what constitutes music worth recognizing in this country has also meant a broadening of its music education programmes in recent times, with the creation of a world music centre and an urban music department.
I wonder if you can get a silver medal in D.J. Fundamentals?
Sophie Dansereau, the VSO's Assistant Principal Bassoonist ran the Vancouver Marathon on the weekend, finishing with an impressive time: 3:25:45.
That's less than five minutes per kilometre, for 42 k's! (Ouch, knees hurt just thinking of it.)
Maybe she can start a whole new school of marathon training -- forget the treadmill, take up a woodwind?
Anyway, her performance means she qualifies for the Boston Marathon, good news for her running career.
Musically she's in shape too -- she's featured soloist in the upcoming "Symphony at the Roundhouse" program of contemporary music in Vancouver, called, “Perchance to Dream.”
The 12th edition of the Montreal Chamber Music Festival gets underway this week with an eclectic lineup that founder Denis Brott hopes will shock, awe and inspire concertgoers of all ages.
Read the whole story at CBC | Music News.
Jean-Pierre Gauthier and Mirko Sabatini treat us to another but rare reuniting of
Duo Travagliando.
J P Gauthier is an absorbing force on the contemporary art scene. His works are curiously kinetic visual and sonic sculptures that are often created to react to a spectator’s presence (triggered via motion detectors). This concert displays another facet of his sound art through an improvisation duet.
His Duo Travagliando partner, Mirko Sabatini, is an experimental musician and artist based in Bologna Italy. Here, he explores and expands the potential of electronic toys as his instruments of choice. Gauthier built his own unique electro-mechanical instruments (or ‘objects’) to coax and shape sounds unheard of before.
This was a feature performance within J P Gauthier’s exhibition at the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal. The duo set up in the middle of the performance space enclosed by the audience who were free to sit, stand and wander anywhere as the improvisation unfolded.
The resulting piece is a bartering of sounds between the two. In the French sense of the word, they chose to simply and aptly call it, ‘Troc’.
The Gauthier exhibition is on at the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal until 22 April 2007. You can hear this unique concert right now at Concerts On Demand.
A Serbian production of Beethoven's Fidelio set in Cold War Europe tops the list of the four operas on Vancouver Opera's agenda next year, details of which were announced by company director James W. Wright this week.
(Read the story at The Globe and Mail - Music News.)
So "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" will be re-made on 4-track tape. Lovely, appropriate and certainly a challenge.
Having said that, considerably more multi-channeled digital CBC recording mobiles are out and about again this week across the country. Among the shows on the docket:
Watch for all of these to show up on Canada Live and the Concerts On Demand panel here on this site.
The 6th Annual National Jazz Awards will be held tomorrow night at the legendary Palais Royale Ballroom on Toronto's waterfront. The gala will be hosted by Dione Taylor and David Clayton Thomas with performances by Oliver Jones, Peter Appleyard, Guido Basso, Holly Cole and many others.
Thomas and Taylor have been a musical item of late, having seemingly found their perfect duet partners in each other.
Speaking of finding the right partner.... CBC Calgary hosts a free noon-time series - kicking off its 4th season tomorrow - called "Combo To Go", which pairs up different artists for a little lunchtime collaboration. So if you're in Calgary, brown-bag it down to the Epcor Centre at noon to see Lullaby Baxter and the Lily String Quartet. If you can't make it, don't worry - stay tuned to Canada Live.
I thought last week's Symphony Hall / On Stage broadcast of the Calgary Symphony Orchestra with Jerusalem Ridge, the Edmonton bluegrass band, was a ton of fun and exactly the kind of collaboration that keeps creators and players vital and connected.
I encountered a couple of comments here that suggested it was some kind of denigration of the sacred halls of classical music. I find that point of view so troubling. Think of all the "revolutions" in classical music that never would have happened had composers and presenters not taken the chance on music that broke with strict conventions: Beethoven, Liszt, Bartok, et al. Heck, we'd still be listening to Gregorian chant instead of that dreadful, demonic polyphony!
Well, I'm sure those naysayers will be very much dismayed by the recently announced 2008 programme at the opera house Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. I find it tremendously exciting - possibly an enticement to move to Paris for a while.
Among the innovative new productions announced...
I still remember their first photocopied posters plastered on telephone poles on Queen St. in downtown Toronto. Just as the Toronto punk scene was imploding, a group of guys from the then-borough of Etobicoke arrived to remind us that Canada had something different to offer. They were called the Rheostatics and for the next 27 years they would come to epitomize the Canadian experience of the music biz.
Everything about them, from their subject matter, to their fondness for key and time signature changes, to their deep influence on other bands, to their connection to Canadian iconography, to their failure to click commercially outside of our borders, make them almost quintessentially Canadian.
They called it quits on March 30th with a show at Massey Hall and CBC was there with the mobile studio. The concert is sublime and it's been up on the Concerts On Demand panel for a few days now. Tonight, it gets its broadcast debut on Canada Live with Patti Schmidt.
A little bit of crowing here on behalf of CBC Records:
CBC Records had five nominations in three categories, and won in two. For the Best Vocal Choral category, the Mozart release, "Arie e Duetti" won in an extremely tough cateogory. This CD featured the incredible singing trio of soprano, Isabel Bayrakdarian, tenor Michael Schade and baritone Russell Braun with the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra conducted by Richard Bradshaw. Neil Crory, Doug Doctor and Peter Cook were the recording team beind the win. James Ehnes recording of the "Mozart Violin Concerti" won in the Large Ensemble category.
That makes for a total of 28 Junos over the years.
Congratulations to all the artists and recording teams involved.
Mallet-wielding xylophone players have struck a discordant note in staid downtown Victoria. Since Jan. 1, the city's revised entertainment licence has limited the size of ensembles that perform on the streets to five and prohibits performances by loud groups until 5:30 p.m. on weekdays. The new rule seems custom built to target two marimba bands, though city officials deny that's the point.
I would gladly keep the marimba bands. For me, it's the pan-flutes that have to go. Sorry Zamfir fans. What's your street music preference? Lemme know.The York County Court House, located at 57 Adelaide Street East in Toronto, was designed by Cumberland and Ridout and built in 1851-52. Cumberland and Ridout were also the architects responsible for the nearby St. James' Cathedral, built in 1853. While it hasn't been a courthouse for some time, it has a brand new identity that kicks off another busy recording week for the Canada Live/Concerts On Demand team across the country.
The building is now known as the Courthouse Market Grille and Live@Courthouse is the 5 times weekly jazz series headed by musician and former Downtown Jazz Festival founder Pat Taylor. The place has been open for just over a week but tonight will be the first time tape rolls there for CBC. The featured artist is improvisational pianist and band leader Glenn Buhr.
Meanwhile, tonight on Canada Live with Matt Galloway, you can hear the fruits of previous labour from Ottawa with the broadcast of Pinchas Zukerman & Friends. You can also stream it from the Concerts On Demand panel if you like.
Who'd a thunk it?
The brilliant young Canadian soprano, Juno winner Isabel Bayrakdarian, teamed up with Vancouver electronica outfit Delerium for a couple of tracks on their latest album "Nuages du Monde". The lead single "Angelicus" has recently reached Number 1 on the Billboard Dance Chart.
She appears in the video, which you can watch online.
The front pages and the radio headlines are filled with the big names from last night's Juno Awards winners list so I won't bother repeating those here. However, I will mention some of the names you'll otherwise have to turn the page for, starting with two Nova Scotians and ECMA Winners:
For the complete list, visit the Juno Awards website.
You know, I think these kinds of monikers are basically corny and mostly wishful thinking. I can't really get too wound up about Oscars or Grammys or Junos because they are, after all, just elaborately staged popularity contests. But I have to admit that the Junos have been effectively carving out a soft spot in my hardened heart over the last few years. And frankly, it's not because of the ceremony itself or even particularly the people that it honours...
Arcade Fire's front man Win Butler blew a gasket at a show in Stockholm a couple of nights ago. Apparently, doctors had told him to suspend performing but he adopted that old "show-must-go-on" thing and did some serious damage to his sinuses. He is now facing surgery and the nine remaining dates on the band's European Tour have been postponed.
If you haven't already, check out their latest, "Neon Bible". So many people, I think, were waiting to see how they could ever possibly follow up the extraordinary year they had last year with the brilliant "Funeral" and the ensuing circus. They've really done it. This thing glitters and crackles like....well.... like a Las Vegas Neon Bible, I guess.
Have you heard the new EP from Feist? Picked it up at the iTunes store last week and loving it. It's called "My Moon Man". She'll be touring across Canada starting May 15th in Victoria. Tonight on The Signal, Laurie Brown features a couple of very familiar Fiest hits, redone in surprising ways.
Plus, you'll hear a Silent Shout from The Knife, and we'll learn about the fascinating history of rust with Do Make Say Think.
I had a wonderful time in Calgary this week, capped with a couple of brilliant sessions yesterday. In the afternoon I took in the Alberta Sessions songwriter's circle at the Epcor Centre with Steve Pineo (you've got to hear his song "Canadian Man"), Jeff Landeen, Lionel Rault, the sweet-voiced Amy Seeley and the unlike-anyone-else Shane Ghostkeeper. Then, I followed Shane to the Ironwood Stage and Grill for another great show featuring Calgary musicians. It was a packed house for Shane, Anne Loree, Jay Crocker, Lorrie Matheson and multi-string-player Craig Korth. Later today I'm going to take a drive out to Canmore to see Shari Ulrich with the In The Pink women's choir. For some crazy reason, I agreed to hook up with Bill Bourne for breakfast in Edmonton tomorrow morning, which means a long drive tonight but I'm looking forward to seeing Bill, the serene prince of Canadian songwriting, who's just released a new album called "Boon Tang". Here's a snippet of a review from Penguin Eggs magazine:
The one thing Bill Bourne could never be accused of is following the cliché approach to a career. From the early days of his partnership with Jim Morison in the duo Sweetgrass, through his expeditions with the Tannahill Weavers, Alan MacLeod, Shannon Johnson, Tri-Continental, Eivør Pálsdóttir to name a few, each collaboration has been an intriguing experiment. In between his various musical adventures, he pulls in to a rest stop and releases a solo work. Boon Tang is the newest such rest stop along the way. This collection of 11 songs includes what you've come to expect from Mr. Bill and a few surprises. Continuing to use Eivør's wonderful voice as a backdrop to 4 of the songs, along with a new protégé called Laurelle on two others, Boon Tang is definitely Mr. Bill at his core, as he chants and weaves his own path through the English language. What this collection does contain, in addition to the expected, are two fabulous cover versions. One of 'No Woman No Cry' and then a superb rendition of Gordon Lightfoot's 'For Lovin' Me'. Boon Tang is Bill Bourne at his quirky and reassuring best.What's that? Haven't heard of Penguin Eggs Magazine? It's a wonderful folk and world music quarterly published out of Edmonton. Check it out.
It's certainly been a subtext of some of the comments and discussions coming in through this little portal as listeners get first impressions and make first assessments of changes on Radio Two. Many people are commenting on a sense of revitalization and probably an equal number argue that it wasn't broke and shouldn't have been fixed.
What is it OK to mess around with and what should be left alone? What is the obligation of the force making the change to reflect what has come before? Should any change be handled slowly to allow people to adjust to the transition or should the band-aid be ripped of quickly?
I haven't been to a public event where the national anthem has been sung where people don't get all mumbly in the middle where the changes were made.
At least composer Stephen Chatman didn't have to worry about meddling with the lyrics on his latest re-arrangement.
It's one of the country's most recognizable tunes, but Vancouver composer Stephen Chatman was shocked to discover a lack of a "decent" piano arrangement of O Canada. Chatman, head of music composition at the University of British Columbia, will premiere his new arrangement of Canada's national anthem in Toronto Monday as part of the Collaborative Conference, an annual meeting of the Music Teachers National Association that is being held outside of the U.S. for the first time.
Read the full story at CBC Arts online.
I'm really excited about my trip to Calgary. I have to admit, I usually just pass through Calgary on my way to the Banff Centre. This time I get to stay in the city, hang out with friends, meet people and - of course - hear some great music.
Saturday afternoon, I'll be at the Epcor Centre for the Alberta Sessions songwriter's circle with Steve Pineo, Amy Seeley, Jeff Landeen, Shane Ghostkeeper and Lionel Rault. Saturday night it's the Ironwood Stage and Grill for a show with Shane again, Anne Loree, Lorrie Matheson, Craig Korth and Jay Crocker. Sunday I head up to Canmore to see Shari Ulrich with the local women's choir.
Opera fans are bound to be Alberta bound as well this year as Calgary Opera has announced its 2007/08 season - including a September 26th appearance by the Maori soprano Kiri Te Kanawa as part of her farewell tour.
There's a lot more too. Check out the story at cbc.ca
According to Nettwerk Records boss Terry McBride, Avril Lavigne sells more music in Asia than she does in all of the western hemisphere combined. Which may be why her new single features a chorus in a multitude of languages.
Aside from English, the chorus to Girlfriend has been recorded in Mandarin and Japanese for her massive Asian fanbase, as well as Spanish, French, German, Italian and Portuguese. "We tried Hindi twice but the diction and the meter of how you sing Hindi versus the western rhythms just didn't match and we just couldn't pull it off," McBride, also the CEO of Nettwerk Music Group, said in an interview on Thursday.My question is: how do you spell SK8RBOI in Japanese?
from CBC.ca
Such a hive of activity is my building. I'd arranged with Ed, who runs Gallery 345 on the main floor of my building, to borrow the space one afternoon to do a photo session for another project of mine. I went down a little early to scout where to put the backdrop and - as there so often is these days - vigorous piano sounds were coming from behind the door. I waited until those sounds were replaced by talking, knocked and let myself in. Who should be there at matched grand pianos (one 7' Steinway, one 9' Baldwin) but Casey Sokol and Andrew Craig! They were rehearsing for a prepared-piano tribute to John Cage held last Saturday night at York University in Toronto.
Well, at least we got to hear the Stooges sing (Curley, Larry, Moe and Shemp in a couple of episodes and later Iggy Pop for a whole career). But I've always wondered about the stars of the silent era - many of whom must have had talents beyond the pantomime in which they specialized. Charlie Chaplin, of course, was a great composer - penning many of his own scores and writing the heavenly "Smile", made so famous by Nat King Cole. A new Vancouver production of a Strauss opera is at least temporarily uniting these disparate worlds. According to director David Gately, his aim is to emphasize both the comedy and the tragedy in Ariadne auf Naxos. This actually reminds me of a funny story. My cousin moved to Germany where she met and married an Austrian conductor and pianist named Gunther. On their first return trip to Canada, the extended family gathered at grandma and grandpa's cottage to meet the illustrious addition to the clan. The neighbours were curious too, of course, so they were invited to come to the big meet and greet. Poor Gunther might as well have been a trained monkey, sitting at the piano pumping out the requests. Mrs. McLaren from across the way had something she wanted to hear but could quite put her finger on the title or composer. "You know," she said,, "it's by that Austrian fellow - part of a father and son team. They had their own TV show." After a few baffled moments, Gunther ventured, "Strauss?" "Yes, that's it! Strauss!" The Strauss Family Variety Hour? I guess we didn't get that channel. Vancouver Opera stages Ariadne auf Naxos March 3, 6, 8 and 10 at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, 600-block Hamilton.
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