Past concerts at Gallery 345.

Fernanda Cunha (vocal) & Camilla Dias (piano)
Wednesday June 30, 2010 at 8 pm
Admission: $20/$15 Seniors/$10 Students

Fernanda Cunha is well established singer on today’s Brazilian jazz scene, doing what comes naturally! Her debut album O tempo e o lugar was recorded in Ohio-USA in 2002. On her CD Dois Coracoes (2004), she’s in distinguished company, performing with esteemed Brazilian composers Johnny Alf and Sueli Costa, her aunt with arrangements from Camilla Dias. And her third Cd Zingaro (2007) she performs songs by Antonio Carlos Jobim.

She has toured in Brasil, USA, Portugal, Spain, Argentina and Canada.
Cunha has been performing in Canada once a year since 2005 (Edmonton Jazz festival, Vancouver International Jazz festival, Toronto Jazz Festival, Calgary, etc) .
Regular appearances at jazz festivals here and across Canada have helped to carve out a whole new fan base for Cunha’s post-bossa groove, and now she is repaying the compliment with her new CD Brasil-Canada.

Fernanda has researched the works of songwriters from both countries, to find the right link and movement between the two countries. Her choices reflect the musical affinities between Brazil and Canada. Songs represents important songwriters from both countries: Joni Mitchel , Alex Kramer, Shelton Brooks and Bruce Cockburn and Brazilian songs by Sueli Costa, Noel Rosa, Marcio Hallack .

Fernanda Cunha will be performing at Gallery 345 in June 30th in duo with her long time pianist Camilla Dias. The duo will play songs from Fernanda´s new CD and Brazilian standards by Jobim, Vinicius de Moraes, among others.

Genre: jazz, world
Website: www.fernandacunha.com.br
Contact information: : fernandaccc@hotmail.com

Jazz on Sunday at Gallery 345
Piano Jazz Masters: The Hilario Duran Trio
June 27 at 3:00
$20/$15 Seniors/$10 Students.

Hilario Duran/Piano, Mark Kelso/Drums, Roberto Occhipinti Bass.

Hilario Duran - Biography

Born in Havana, Cuba and based in Toronto, Canada, Hilario Duran is internationally renowned as pianist, composer, arranger, and orchestra leader. He is a winner of multiple Juno and National Jazz Awards, an American Grammy Award nominee and recipient of the 2007 Chico O’Farrill Lifetime Achievement Award. Latin Jazz Corner wrote that Hilario is one of the “contemporary Cuban pianists that moved jazz in the 21st century.” Hilario Duran and his Latin Jazz orchestra have been selected to perform at the Cultural Olympics 2010. Like many Cuban musicians, Hilario was born into a musical family surrounded by classical, jazz, and popular music. He joined Arturo Sandoval’s band for nine years (1981-1990), touring at major jazz festivals around the world and sharing stage with the late Dizzy Gillespie and Michael Legrand. In 1990, Hilario formed his own band Perspectiva which toured successfully through Latin America and Europe. One year later Hilario participated as a pianist in Jane Bunett’s Juno Award Winning CD Spirits of Havana. Hilario Duran is a member of the Jazz Faculty at Humber College, as adjunct Piano Professor and Ensemble Director.

Jazz on Sunday at Gallery 345
Piano Jazz Masters: The Mario Romano Quartet
June 20 at 3:00
$20/$15 Seniors/$10 Students.



Mario Romano/Piano, Mark Kelso/Drums, Roberto Occhipinti/Bass and special Guest Pat LaBarbera/Sax

Jazz on Sunday at Gallery 345
Piano Jazz Masters: The Matthew Shipp Trio
Sunday, June 13, 2010 at 8 PM
Admission $24 @ the Door

Matthew Shipp, piano; Mike Bisio, bass, Whit Dickey, drums.

Matthew Shipp was born December 7, 1960 in Wilmington, Delaware. He started piano at 5 years old with the regular piano lessons most kids have experienced. He fell in love with jazz at 12 years old. After moving to New York in 1984 he quickly became one of the leading lights in the New York jazz scene. He was a sideman in the David S. Ware quartet and also for Roscoe Mitchell’s Note Factory before making the decision to concentrate on his own music.

Mr Shipp has reached the holy grail of jazz in that he possesses a unique style on his instrument that is all of his own- and he’s one of the few in jazz that can say so. Mr. Shipp has recorded a lot of albums with many labels but his 2 most enduring relationships have been with two labels. In the 1990s he recorded a number of chamber jazz cds with Hatology, a group of cds that charted a new course for jazz that, to this day, the jazz world has not realized. In the 2000s Mr Shipp has been curator and director of the label Thirsty Ear’s “Blue Series” and has also recorded for them. In this collection of recordings he has generated a whole body of work that is visionary, far reaching and many faceted.

Matthew Shipp is truly one of the leading lights of a new generation of jazz giants.

The Art of the Piano: Roger Admiral
Tuesday, June 8, 2010 at 8pm
Admission $20/$15 Seniors/$10 Students

Roger Admiral plays contemporary music in the Edmonton area. He studied piano with Helmut Brauss, Peter Smith, and Virginia Blaha. Roger graduated with a Doctor of Music degree from the University of Alberta, after previous studies at the University of Western Ontario and through the Royal Conservatory of Music (Toronto). From 1990 to 1993 he was member of the two-piano and two-percussion Hammerhead Consort. Since 1997 he has been performing in Duo Kovalis with Montreal percussionist Philip Hornsey.

Past performance highlights include a concerto with New Music Concerts conducted by Robert Aitken, a recital with baritone Nathan Berg at Lincoln Center, and solo recitals at the Contemporary Polish Music Festival in Wroclaw. Roger also coaches contemporary chamber music at the University of Alberta.

Program:
Alfred Fisher - Fantasy Pieces (1981)
Linda Catlin Smith - The Underfolding (2001)
Chirstopher Butterfield - Pillar of Snails (1984-1987)
Howard Bashaw - Form Archimage (2001; revised 2010)

Duo Cornelia: Galina Zisk and Jean Sophie Kim
Sunday June 6, 2010 at 3 PM
$20/Seniors & Students $15

Please join us on Sunday afternoon as Zisk and Kim perform duos by Mozart, Debussy, Michael Pepa, Rachmaninov and Gershwin.

GALINA ZISK

Dr. Galina Zisk has garnered much acclaim from international audiences and critics alike for her powerful performances, often being praised for her impressive combination of virtuoso technique and colorful musicality. Called “a real musician, hearing the music as a whole conception and putting her part of it in absolute harmony and balance” by Canada’s Hamilton Spectator, and praised for her ability to “draw in the attention of the audience” by the New York Concert Review, Dr. Zisk has performed throughout Russia, Ukraine, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Italy, Canada and the U.S. as concerto soloist, chamber musician, and in solo recital.
In North America her performances have included Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, Klavierhaus, World Financial Center, the Juilliard School, Steinway Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, University of Buffalo Center for the Arts, Goethe Institute, and Roy Thomson Hall among many other prestigious venues. Dr. Zisk has also given numerous Master Classes and has adjudicated Music Competitions in Europe, North America, and Hong Kong. She is a member of the MTNA (Music Teachers National Association), and is a member of the College of Examiners at the Royal Conservatory of Music and National Music Certificate Program.

Dr. Zisk is a winner of numerous competitions including First Prizes from the Kiwanis Music Festival, Canadian Music Competition, and “Stars of Tomorrow” Concerto Competition. She is the recipient of the Yamaha Scholarship, Sinclair Radio Laboratories Ltd. Award, as well as the Artists International Presentations, Inc. Award.

Dr. Zisk has served on the piano faculty of Manhattan School of Music, Hartwick Summer Music Festival & Institute (Oneonta, NY), International School for Musical Arts (Canada), and was a Program Director of the Tchaikovsky Summer School (Cambridge, MA). She has also collaborated with the Boys Choir of Harlem, Inc., Songs of Solomon Academy for the Arts, Christine Jowers’ “Moving Arts Projects”, Tchaikovsky Music Society, and The New Stage Theater in an off-Broadway show “Some Historic/Some Hysteric.” Her solo recitals have been broadcast on CJRT-FM radio in Canada as well as the Bravo! TV channel, and her CD recording, Alexander Gedike’s arrangement for Piano Trio of Tchaikovsky’s Seasons, was released by Fidelis Records, Ltd. in 2002.

Galina Zisk holds a Doctor of Musical Arts and Master of Music Degrees in Piano Performance from the Manhattan School of Music, and a Bachelor of Music Degree in Piano Performance from the University of Toronto, Canada.

JEAN SOPHIE KIM

Canadian born pianist Jean Sophie Kim has performed as a concerto soloist, recitalist and chamber player in Korean, Italy, Belgium, Germany, Austria and North America. Some of the venues Ms. Kim has played include Weill Recital Hall, CAMI Hall, the Fine Arts Building in Chicago and the Banff Centre among others. As an accompanist she has performed at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall, Loren Maazel’s Chateauville Foundation in Virginia and has accompanied Deutsche Gramophone artist Measha Brueggergosman on WNYC. While in high school she worked for many years as an accompanist and improvisational pianist for several dance academies and has accompanied masterclasses taught by dancers Robert Morris and Margie Gillis.

Jean has been the recipient of numerous awards and grants including The Honor Scholarship from the Korean Embassy in Washington D.C., a Board of Governors Scholarship in London Canada and the University of Cincinnati Global Scholarship. Jean Kim is currently a doctoral candidate at the University of Cincinnati under the tutelage of James Tocco. She received her Master’s degree from the Manhattan School of Music and Bachelor of Music from the University of Western Ontario.

Ms. Kim is an adjunct faculty member at CUNY’s Borough of Manhattan Community College where she teaches history, theory and piano. She is also an associate conductor and pianist at the Brooklyn Youth Chorus. Her versatility as a musician has enabled her to adapt to many different roles; she has conducted the Brooklyn Youth Chorus at the televised Lighting of the UNICEF snowflake Ceremony in New York City as well as functioned as associate producer for several of their recording projects.

Ms. Kim has also worked as a voice over artist and sound consultant for a video tribute made for the Council of Fashion Design Arts Awards 2007.

Duo Cornelia – Program

W.A. Mozart Adagio and Fugue in C Minor, K. 426

Claude Debussy En blanc et noir
I. Avec emportement
II. Lent. Sombre
III. Scherzando

Michael Pepa Duello (*Canadian Premiere)
I. Arioso-Cantabile
II. Duello-Variazione
III. Tan-go

*Intermission*

Sergei Rachmaninov Fantasy, Opus 5
I. Barcarole
II. A Night For Love
III. Tears
IV. Russian Easter

George Gershwin Sweet And Low-Down

Drifting Along With The Tide

Kickin’ The Clouds Away

See Through Trio
June 4th, 2010 at 8pm
Admission: $20/$15 Seniors/$10 Students

See Through Trio is comprised of pianist Tania Gill, saxophonist Mark Laver, and bassist Pete Johnston. Formed in 2004, the members of the trio share a mutual interest in exploring collective improvisation. To this end, the group has focused on developing an ‘equal voiced’ approach to ensemble playing, where the roles traditionally assigned to these three instruments in a jazz ensemble are replaced by a more openended approach to ensemble interaction. The Trio’s compositions encompass a diverse range of styles and musical influences, from the 1960s jazz avantgarde of Carla Bley and Ornette Coleman to contemporary country and folk sounds. The playful deconstructionist spirit of jazz pervades the Trio’s music, as the three players take in the musical materials presented by their experiences playing other musics and reinterpret them in new and unexpected ways when playing together. In addition to regular performances in Toronto at venues such as the Tranzac Club and the ArrayMusic Studio, See Through Trio played in Vancouver and Victoria British Columbia in June 2008, and toured Nova Scotia in July 2007, culminating with a performance at the Atlantic Jazz Festival in Halifax. Other notable performances include: the 2005 Distillery Jazz Festival in Toronto and the 2005 University of Toronto Contemporary Music Festival. Their debut CD, Our Own Devices (independent), was released in June 2007. See Through Trio’s most recent CD is titled Lines And Spaces (Woods and Waters), and was released in April 2009.

Individual Biographies

Mark Laver, a Ph.D. student Musicology at the University of Toronto, is establishing a reputation as one of the most versatile young alto saxophonists in Toronto. He has performed everywhere from the George Westin Recital Hall, to the Glenn Gould Studio, to the Toronto Jazz Festival. He has performed with such jazz luminaries as Lee Konitz, Seamus Blake, Kurt Elling, Hugh Fraser, and Phil Nimmons. As a classical saxophonist, he won the gold medal for woodwind performance for the Royal Conservatory of Music’s ARCT exam in 2001. He has been a featured soloist with the Guelph Symphony Orchestra, the University of Toronto Wind Ensemble, and the Royal Conservatory Orchestra.

Tania Gill is a Toronto pianist, composer, arranger, and improviser known for her versatility and originality. She is a member of The Flying Bulgar Klezmer Band, Andrew Downing’s Melodeon, Runcible Spoon, Saint Dirt Elementary School, avante-rock group Deep Dark United, The See Through Trio, Bla Bla 666 and leads her own trio The Mighty Gill Show. Tania has worked with many great musicians including, Mary Margaret O’Hara, Gordon Downie, Phil Dwyer, Terry Clarke, Jean Derome, David Mott, Jesse Zubot, Justin Haynes, Dylan Van Der Schyff, The Rheostatics, Mia Sheard, Johnny Favourite, One Step Beyod, John Millard, Jake Langley, Dione Taylor, Soular, Chris Gale, The WoodChoppers Association, Rob Clutton, Doug Tielli, Ronda Rindone and German synth player Thomas Lehn. She has toured and performed in several major festivals internationally. Tania has a BMus in Jazz Performance from McGill University, studied classical piano at The University of Victoria, and has attended the Banff Centre for the Arts. She completed a Master’s of Music in Jazz Performance at the University of Toronto in 2008.

Pete Johnston was born in Windsor, Nova Scotia, Canada, the son of a high school music teacher and a Baptist Church pianist. He studied music composition and double bass at Dalhousie University, alternating scholarly endeavours with tours of North America as part of the Johnny Favourite Swing Orchestra. After completing his studies at Dalhousie, Pete moved to Toronto in 2001 and began working as a freelance musician, teacher and novel editor. Following several years in the part-time employment trenches in Toronto, Pete returned to the academic life, completing a Master’s degree in composition at York University in 2005. He recently graduated from York University yet again with a Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology, in which he wrote about the free improvisation scene in London, England. During his Ph.D. research Pete had the good fortune to live in London, where he performed for Queen Elizabeth II. Now back in Toronto, he has resumed his post behind the bass, and performs in numerous groups including Muskox, Sister, the AIM Toronto Orchestra, and See Through Trio.

Program Notes

See Through Trio has been together since 2004, and in that time has released two CDs of original compositions and toured the far coasts of Canada. Our first CD, titled Our Own Devices, was released in 2007, and Lines and Spaces in early 2009. The basic premise for our work is that we are interested in exploring the relationship between ensemble improvisation and composition, so each composition is designed to ask particular musical questions that we attempt to answer in the improvisations. Or perhaps it is the other way around. Either way, each of our recordings contains pieces that are written specifically for this group, and which we collectively shape in the course of performance. In the fall of 2009 the trio was fortunate to have an eight-week long residency at Somewhere There in Toronto, during which we worked on a collection of new compositions that build on the music we made on our previous recordings. See Through Trio’s performance at Gallery 345 will focus primarily on these new compositions, as they represent our most recent musical thoughts. We are looking forward to the rare opportunity to play with a grand piano, and the resonant space of Gallery 345 will no doubt provide us with sounds we don’t often get to hear.

See Through Trio In the Media

“[See Through Trio] bring off one of the most difficult ensemble styles in any music – they combine simplicity of line and texture with ensemble improvisation and solos whose transparency make every note count.”
Stephen Pederson, The Chronicle Herald, Halifax NS

“…the trio members have gifts for melody… and an ensemble cohesion that really shines.”
Graham Pilsworth, The Coast, Halifax NS

“...Tania Gill, Mark Laver and Pete Johnston extract sounds from every inch of their respective piano, alto sax and double bass for an endlessly inventive and entirely inclusive group improvisation.”
Chris Bilton, Eye Weekly, Toronto ON

“The See Through Trio take up the challenge of the Jimmy Giuffre 3, with interlocking piano and soprano sax lines that knit beautifully with the plucked bass commentary and chamber ensembles clarity and precision. Lines and Spaces is pensive music that unfolds like a lotus on a quiet pond.”
Glen Hall, Exclaim! Magazine.

Website: www.seethroughmusic.com

PORIN QUARTET of Zagreb, Croatia
Tuesday, May 25, 2010 at 8:00 p.m.
Admission: Adults $20 / Seniors & Students $15

Violinists: Ivan Novinc and Tamara Petir - Violist: Lucija Brnadi? - Cellist: Neva Begovi?

PROGRAMME

MICHAEL PEPA STRING QUARTET No. 1, "NEKUIA" (1974)

ERIMIA
XOROS
XOROIMANIA
IREMIA

BERISLAV SIPUS STRING QUARTET No. 2 (2010) - World Premiere

LENTO - PIU ANIMATO
ANDANTE
PRESTO, CON FORZA

DMITRI SOSTAKOVIC STRING QUARTET IN F - MAJOR, NO.3, OP.73

ALLEGRETTO
MODERATO CON MOTO
ALLEGRO NON TROPPO
ADAGIO
MODERATO

Porin String Quartet was founded in 1998 within the chamber music class of Professor Mladen Sedak at the Music Academy in Zagreb.

Alongside the dedicated work during their Academy days the quartet have participated in master seminars held by Professor Walter Dešpalj and a number of famous artists and members of the world's most renowned string quartets, such as the Amadeus, Alban Berg, Bartok, Jana?ek, Smetana and the Prague Quartet.

The young Porin String Quartet quickly emerged as one of the most distinguished Croatian chamber music ensembles with numerous successes at home and abroad, most notably in Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Italy, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Argentina.

The quartet had the honour to represent Croatian music during the Days of Croatian Culture at the Expo 2000 in Hannover. That same year they were invited by the Austrian Society for Contemporary Music to participate in a concert of young Austrian composers in Vienna, and they also performed in the Mozarteum Salzburg.

Among their most notable performances are the String Quartet No. 2 by Krzysztof Penderecki at the Music Biennale Zagreb in 2007, attended by the composer himself, the concerts at Dubrovnik Summer Festival in 2008 and 2009, as well as the ones held in Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall in Zagreb (as part of the Lisinski Saturday cycle) in 2008.

Since 2006 the quartet have held concert cycles in Zagreb, first in the Illyrian Hall of the National House, followed by the Small hall in Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall.

The Porin String Quartet members are violinists Ivan Novinc and Tamara Petir, violist Lucija Brnadi? and cellist Neva Begovi?. They have cooperated with numerous prominent Croatian musicians; their repertoire consists of classic pieces of quartet music and notably works by Croatian composers.

The quartet have also won several prestigious awards: Ivo Vuljevi? Prize for the most accomplished young musicians of the year in 2002, first prize in the Darko Luki? Competition of Young Musicians, and first prize in Radio podij, the contest for young Croatian artists.

For their concert cycle held during the 2007/2008 season they received the greatest prize awarded to chamber music ensembles by the Croatian Music Artists Association, the Milka Trnina Award.

Steve Koven, piano
Rob Clutton, bass
Saturday May 29, 2010 at 8 pm
Admission $20/$15 Seniors/$10 Students

Steve Koven - Piano

Steve Koven was born in Toronto, Canada, and began playing piano at age seven. He has studied with various jazz artists including Benny Green, Geoff Keeser, and Bruce Barth.

Steve’s been a professional musician since earning a BFA in Contemporary Improvisation from York University in 1987. In addition to performing world-wide with his trio, he’s played solo throughout North America, Europe, and the Caribbean. When not on tour or in the studio, Steve composes music for film, television and conducts master classes and workshops which focus on the development of improvisational tools and musical self-expression.

Steve is currently on staff at York University where he teaches Contemporary Improvisation and Jazz Piano in the Faculty of Music. As an Educator, Koven has conducted master classes and workshops in China, Japan, Colombia, Barbados and Mexico.



Rob Clutton - Bass

Rob Clutton is a composer and double bassist who was born in Barrie, Ontario, Canada, and has made his home in Toronto for the last twenty years. He earned a Bachelor of Music in Performance at the University of Toronto in 1991 and is currently pursuing a PHD in Music at York University.

Rob is active in the creative and improvised scenes in Toronto with solo project and group projects and as a member of a burgeoning improvising community. His solo project involves composing, performing, and recording for solo bass, including the CD Dubious Pleasures on the Rat-drifting label. Rob has performed numerous solo concerts, including the Guelph Jazz Festival in 2005.

Group projects include the Rob Clutton Band, which has released two CDs of original compositions and performed numerous concerts including the Montreal Jazz Festival. The bassist is a member of Drumheller, N, The Steve Koven Trio, N.O.J.O., Jazzstory, Quorum, The Ryan Driver Quartet, the David Buchbinder Ensemble, and the David Mott Quintet and is a founding member of the Association of Improvising Musicians Toronto, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting local creative improvising musicians, and to facilitating events in Toronto that bring international visiting artists together with local improvisers.

www.stevekoven.com

Signposts
Friday May 7 at 8 pm
Admission: $20/$15 Seniors /$10 Students

“Signposts” is the collaboration between two composers Bill Gilliam & Charlie Ringas performing prepared piano and percussion with spoken word.

In this setting both artists draw upon their common background writing for related genres of New Music and Contemporary Jazz to integrate their compositional styles with open improvisations.

The pieces are based on the poetry and writings of Ivor Cutlor, Alan Lightman and Rumi. These spoken texts are the “Signposts” that initiate the direction, character and overall mood of the musical themes developed.

Bill Gilliam – composer / pianist
Bill is from London, England and moved to Toronto after completing his studies at Berklee College of Music in Boston. Has written scores for film, dance and theatre and new music ensembles presented at festivals and contemporary music venues. With the assistance of the Canada Council, the Ontario Arts Council and FACTOR he has released electronic music and contemporary jazz CDs and performed improvised / electro-acoustic music in collaboration with different performance artists at the Music Gallery, alternative music venues and jazz festivals.

His new music compositions include works for voice, spoken word, soloists and chamber ensembles and for Toronto’s 2007 Nuit Blanche all-night art event, Bill’s electro-acoustic, multi-media production Memory Vision was a featured installation at the Canadian Music Centre. In 2008 / 2009, he received grants from the Toronto Arts Council and Ontario Arts Council to create his work, Poems from a Love Triangle a 45 minute new music concert for voice, actors and chamber ensemble based on the erotic love poems of Irish poet W.R. Rodgers. This work was performed in May 2009 at the Music Gallery with poetry staged as a radio drama.
www.bill-gilliam.com

Charlie Ringas – composer / percussionist
Charlie Ringas has delved into progressive and experimental music and by contrast has also found inspiration from the jazz of all eras. His past ensembles and projects include a diverse group of musicians creating a melting pot of all genres.

Charlie is the co-founder of Supermono Records that has released 32 titles. His credits include his Ring Cycle project for new music chamber ensemble with chorus, Flame of Days (1997) and Heart Of Mind (2000). He also created the experimental Hermetic Music Commission, a new music sextet with spoken word that recorded his work In Sound Is (2002).

His project Gold of Hours is a full length score for chamber orchestra and chorus was performed October of 2004 and November 2005 at Premiere Dance Theatre. Charlie continues to compose and perform with different artists in Toronto.
www.supermono.ca

The Art of the Piano: Mary Kenedi
Sunday May 9, 2010 at 3 pm
Admission: $20 General Admission, $15 seniors, $10 students

Mary Kenedi is a pianist, who specializes in Hungarian and contemporary Canadian music. She has performed to great acclaim internationally, in Europe, the United States, New Zealand and Australia. Kenedi has premiered, performed and recorded eight CDs of this repertoire. Her latest CD on her own label, Echiquier, is one of several concerti, recorded both in performance and in studio, with the North Czech Philharmonic under Maestro Charles Olivieri-Munroe. In August, 2010, she will be recording the music of Nino Rota for the Naxos label. This CD will feature solo pieces, as well as chamber music, performed with musicians from the Toronto Symphony. Many of these will be premiere recordings. Also, she has commissioned through an Ontario Arts Council grant a "Choral Fantasy" from Abigail Richardson, for performance in 2012 with the Amadeus Choir and the Elmer Iseler Singers.

Several of the pieces on this concert are premieres: the Fantasia by Rota, and the Romantic Fantasy and the revised Sonata by Michael Conway Baker.

Spontaneous Compositions: A Concert with Kye Marshall and Thomas Baker
Sunday May 2 at 3 PM Admission $10 /$5 Kids

Kye Marshall (cello) and Thomas Baker (piano) perform spontaneous compositions - created entirely in the moment.

Their music features an exciting blend of traditional and contemporary classical and jazz, pop, rock and world music along with environmental sounds. Their eclecticism serves to create dynamic spontaneous compositions which join together melody, dissonance, cacophony and rhythm. This style of improvised music allows the freedom to express an emotional intensity that is vital and electrifying.

The Art of the Piano: Shoko Inoue
Tuesday, April 27, 2010 at 8:00 p.m.
Admission: Adults $20 / Seniors & Arts Workers $15 / Students $10

PROGRAM

G.F. Handel: "Chaconne" HWV.435
Bach Busoni: "Chaconne"
W.A. Mozart: Sonata in B flat Major KV.570
F. Chopin: Nocturne op.27-1 & 2
L.V.Beethoven: "Waldstein" Sonata op.53

Shoko Inoue is a prize-winner of the Cleveland International Piano Competition, first prize winner for contemporary music of the Frinna Awerbuch Competition and first prize winner of the Chopin Competition in New York where she made her Carnegie Hall debut. She is active as a soloist, chamber musician and recitalist throughout North America, Japan and Europe. Among her notable appearances are solo recitals at the 9th Annual World Piano Pedagogy Conference in Las Vegas and at the Shostakovich Festival in Rome's St. Cecilia Hall. She has had many solo concerts at the Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto, Ontario, where she makes her home.
Shoko Inoue was born in Tokyo, Japan, where she began playing the piano at the age of three. She studied with renowned teachers Shun Sato and Takashi Hironaka. Following her successful appearance at the Casadesus International Competition, she traveled to the United States to study at the Cleveland Institute of Music under full scholarship with Sergei Babayan, celebrated concert pianist, teacher, and artist in residence. Her studies continued with Marc Durand and John Perry in Toronto, Canada. As a student of Marc Durand, she received her M.A. in Piano Performance from the University of Montreal, Quebec.

Ms. Inoue is committed to enhancing life through music. Her intense performances and her broad and varied repertoire are remarkable. Sergei Babayan has noted that her "interpretations are born of utmost integrity and sincerity that set her apart from other musicians." She performed Prokofiev's Concerto #2 in G minor, opus 16 with the Oshawa Symphony this past January; a Trio Concert in Florida with Pinchas Zukerman and Amanda Forsyth in February; a Piano Duo concert with Sergei Babayan in Cleveland; a Piano and Cello Duo concert with Amanda Forsyth at the Glenn Gould Studio, broadcasted by CBC radio station in September; and a Piano Solo recital presented by the Embassy of Japan at the National Gallery in Ottawa in October 2008.

Vibrant and skilled, with unlimited musical colour and an expressive spirit, Shoko Inoue is quickly becoming known for her unique communicative stage presence and her quality of drawing an audience into her innermost thoughts and philosophy on the music she is performing. Her successful performances attest to her ability to recreate for listeners, the transcendental world of the composers' vision. She is an avid reader of German literature, enjoys drawing, and being in Nature. Shoko has spent the last three months on Vancouver Island, spending lots of time in the "old growth forest" and the wilderness, while teaching at the University of Victoria.

John Graham, viola
April 11 Sunday at 3 PM
ADMISSION: $20/$15 seniors/$10 students

John Graham’s multi-faceted career as a soloist, chamber music ensemble artist and teacher has taken him throughout the U.S. and to Canada, Europe, China, Taiwan, Korea and Japan.

During his twenty-five years as a top free-lance violist in New York he performed as soloist, in chamber music ensembles, in new music groups, symphony, ballet, Broadway orchestras, and in film, TV, and commercial recording. During this period he was on the faculties of the State University of New York at Stony Brook and the Mannes College of Music.

He subsequently accepted the position of Professor of Viola at the Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester

Programme

Unspeakable Truths (2008) Caleb Burhans
viola and pre-recorded collage

Loure and Gavotte Rondeau (Partita #3) J.S. Bach

Compass (2009) Baljinder Sekhon
composed for John Graham

Baljinder Sekhon, percussion

Intermission

Calico Dances (2002) Nicolas Scherzinger

viola and electronic sounds
composed for John Graham

Siete Canciones populares espanolas Manuel de Falla

El pano moruno, Seguidilla murciana, Asturiana

Jota, Nana, Concion, Polo

Petar Kodzas, guitar


Caleb Burhans – resides in New York City, composing and performing as violist, violinist and counter-tenor. calebburhans.com

Baljinder Sekhon – resides in Rochester, NY where he is teaching at the Eastman school of Music and finishing a PHD in composition. sekhonmusic.com

Nicolas Scherzinger – from Vancouver, Canada and is Professor of composition at Syracuse University. scherzimusic.com

John Graham – Professor Emeritus, Eastman Eastman School of Music. grahamviola.com

Petar Kodzas - from Belgrad, Serbia, received his doctoral degree from the Eastman School of Music and is currently Chair of the String Department of the Eastman Community Music School. petarkodzas.com

Les AMIS Concerts
Tuesday, March 30, 2010 - 8:00 p.m.
Admission: Adults $20 / Seniors $15 / Students $10

W.A. Mozart Sonata for Piano and Violin in B flat major, K. 378
Claude Debussy Sonata for Violin and Piano
Olivier Messiaen In Praise of the Immortality of Jesus from
Quartet for the End of Time
Sergei Prokofiev Sonata for Violin and Piano in D major, Op. 94a

Ugly Beauties CD Launch
Marilyn Lerner-piano/Matt Brubeck-cello/Nick Fraser-drums
Friday March 12 at 8pm, Admission $10.00

Ugly Beauties is the self-titled debut CD of Toronto-based master improvisers pianist Marilyn Lerner, cellist Matt Brubeck and drummer Nick Fraser. Recorded in the summer of 2008 at the Glenn Gould Studios at CBC Toronto, the 15 tracks feature both partially written and totally improvised music with composition contributions from each member of the trio.

Ugly Beauties explores the terrain between jazz, contemporary classical music and improvisation. Piano, cello and drums interweave to create a boundless palette of texture and mood, and the breadth of sonic experimentation at times renders the three instruments indistinguishable from each other.

Lerner, Brubeck and Fraser possess an uncanny synergy and improvisational virtuosity, with allows the music to remain free as it circulates effortlessly around groove, abstract lyricism and harmonic exploration.
– Review by Ken Waxman in The WholeNote #15:2 (Canada), October 1, 2009 » 3886

An Evening of Free Improvised Music
Saturday, March 13, 8 p.m. - $10

Eve Egoyan, piano
Nicole Rampersaud, trumpet
Tilman Lewis, cello
Ronda Rindone, bass clarinet
Nilan Perera, guitar and effects
Joe Sorbara, percussion

A freely unfolding “conversation in sound” between six of Toronto’s creative musical voices, fresh from a two-month residency at Somewhere There.

Sorbara is an improviser, composer, and educator; director of the Leftover Daylight series; and a founding member of the Association of Improvising Musicians Toronto (AIMToronto). Rindone specializes in creative improvisation and new music; is a performer, composer, and educator; and has long been active on Toronto’s music scene with the ensembles Quorum and This Moment. Rampersaud is an original, versatile voice much sought after in jazz and improvised music; she is co-curator of Leftover Daylight and an AIMToronto board member. Perera’s practice spans two decades of sonic exploration in the fields of jazz/popular/electroacoustic-based new music and interdisciplinary work; he is on the AIMToronto board and reviews art music for xclaim! magazine. Lewis creatively pushes the cello past its classical confines and is a contributor to Musicworks. Egoyan’s musical curiosity has led her to explore improvisational collaborations, dance projects, interdisciplinary performance, film work, sound installations, solo interpretative recitals, and CD recording.

Finding creative spark in their diverse perspectives, the sextet conjures up a unique sound-world all their own.

More on the artists:
            www.eveegoyan.com
            www.nicolerampersaud.com
            www.ovalwindowmusic.org
            www.myspace.com/tilmanlewis

The Art of the Piano: David Virelles
Sunday March 14 at 3 PM

"The idea of creating art that expands consciousness is what interests me. Music has the potential to achieve exactly that. The Masters had deep knowledge of its architecture; they developed a kind of art of the highest order that was not only creative and original but also has that quality that opens the mind and exhorts to learn more about ourselves.

"Through composing, I try to come up with a representation in sound of different ideas that were used as a point of departure for generating the musical material, i.e. cycles found in Nature (orbits, night and day, etc), Afro Cuban mystic-religious concepts, dualism, geometry, visual arts, writing systems, language, and many other elements that are a central part of our experiences as human beings. My ultimate goal is to describe through music those experiences that are particular to the way each of us live and think, hopefully encouraging people that listen to it to keep looking for answers."
                                                               – DAVID VIRELLES

This highly skilled pianist has received several accolades recognizing his outstanding talent. In October of 2003, he was chosen as the recipient of the first Oscar Peterson Prize, presented by Peterson himself at the ceremony held at Humber College. Also, when he was only 15, Virelles won the first prize at the Concurso Jojazz in Havana, adjudicated by several of the most prestigious jazz musicians in Cuba. In 2006, David Virelles and his quintet won the Grand Prix de Jazz General Motors, the highest distinction awarded at the Montréal Jazz Festival. The same year, Virelles was nominated for the Canadian National Jazz Awards as Best Latin Jazz Artist, and he won the CBC Galaxy Award for Rising Star.

In 2007, the David Virelles Quintet released their debut album, Motion, on Justin Time. The CD features saxophonist Mark Turner, Brazilian musician Celso Machado as well as David's father, José Aquiles. Motion displays his virtuosity and his endeavor to create original music that is both an invitation to reflect as well as a sonic depiction of life’s experiences.

His rapidly growing reputation was confirmed with his winning the Louis Applebaum Composer’s Award in 2008. That award recognizes excellence in a body of work by an emerging artist in the field of jazz composition.

He will be playing with another great innovator, Steve Coleman, in 2010, as well as continuing to develop his own musical concepts and abilities.

www.myspace.com/davidvirellesquintet

2 Pianos 4 Hands:
John Farah & Attila Fias
Improvisations
Friday February 19, 2010 at 8pm

JOHN FARAH

Composer, pianist, electronic musician and visual artist John Kameel Farah studied composition and performance with William Aide at the University of Toronto, where he received the Glenn Gould Composition Award twice. Later he had private lessons with minimalist composer Terry Riley in California and furthered his interest in the music of the Middle-East at the Arabic Music Retreat in Hartford. He has performed with Arraymusic and Tapestry New Opera and has had the opportunity to collaborate with a great number of improvisors, jazz, classical, electronic and indie artists across Toronto's diverse music scenes. Though still active in classical music, he now focuses primarily on his own creative hybrid of composition, keyboard improvisation, Electronica, Jazz, Baroque and Middle-Eastern music, and enjoys being able to perform this music in concert halls, jazz festivals and electronic raves alike. NOW Magazine named Farah as Best Pianist 2006. In 1998, he performed the complete solo piano works of Arnold Schönberg. He has performed across Europe, USA, Canada, U.K., the Middle–East, South Korea and Mexico – in 2008 performing atop the Aztec Great Pyramid of Cholula along with galactic visuals by astronomer John Dubinski. In 1999 and 2002, he was guest artist at the Edward Said National Conservatory, giving performances and masterclasses in Ramallah, East Jerusalem and Bethlehem. This summer he released his new CD "Unfolding" on Dross:tik Records, which can be found at www.johnfarah.com.

ATTILA FIAS

Born in Budapest, Hungary, Attila Fias began studying music and playing piano at an early age with his father’s guidance. When his family moved to Canada, he studied with distinguished Canadian musician Dr. David Ouchterlony. He graduated with a performance degree in jazz from the University of Toronto. Attila has performed and recorded with people such as producer Oscar-winner A.R. Rahman (Slumdog Millionaire) and other Indian music stars, Jack Douglas (Aerosmith, John Lennon), New York Brazilian jazz harmonica virtuoso Hendrik Meurkens, tabla master Rajesh Rajbhatt and many fine Canadian musicians. Attila has produced, composed, arranged, and performed for Universal/MCA, Sony/BMG, EMI America and independent labels, on over 80 internationally distributed CDs. With over two million units sold worldwide, including a platinum and three gold-selling albums in Canada, they cover a diverse range of styles.

While rooted in modern jazz, the influences of Brazilian, Indian and Hungarian musical cultures can be heard in Attila’s music as well as elements of contemporary classical music and Electronica. Attila has just released a CD of his original jazz trio compositions entitled Stories, available through his website, www.attilafias.com

The Art of the Piano: Stephen Clarke
Saturday, February 20, 2010 at 8 PM

Stephen Clarke has performed in festivals in Europe, Canada, the U.S. and South America, among these the Donaueschinger Musiktage and the Berliner Festwochen. He has appeared as soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Group, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Esprit Orchestra, New Music Concerts, the Orchestra of the S.E.M. Ensemble and the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. He also plays in a duo with violinist Marc Sabat, is the pianist with Arraymusic and has worked with a number of other ensembles. Solo recordings include works by Giacinto Scelsi (Mode Records). Mr. Clarke studied composition at the University of Toronto and has written works for various ensembles.

PROGRAMME

Udo Kasemets (1919):
Piano Sonata (1951) (premiere)
Koch Curve (1996)
Kaikhosru Sorabji (1892-1988):
Two Piano Pieces: - In the Hothouse (1918)
- Toccata (1920)
Horatiu Radulescu (1942-2008)
Third Piano Sonata op.86 (1992/99)
"You Will Endure Forever"

Duo Cornelia:
Galina Zisk & Jean Sophie Kim
CANCELLED

The Art of the Piano: Marilyn Lerner
Saturday February 13 at 8pm

Songs for a midwinter night
An evening of solo piano improvisations, folk songs, jazz standards and original compositions ...

Marilyn Lerner - pianist/composer
‘with a breathtaking command of the piano, Lerner effortlessly ran through the instrument’s expansive palette of colours. It was delicate and probing, hard driving, witty and funny…
Graeme Pillsworth, Coda Magazine

Repeatedly, Lerner’s interpretations are enhanced by the engaging way she slips between limpid coolness and rhythmically-charged vibrancy. Pianists with a less finely calibrated touch would plough through passages that Lerner precisely etches.
Bill Shoemaker, Point of Departure

Marilyn Lerner Bio

Exhilarating jazz pianist/improviser Marilyn Lerner performs to acclaim internationally, from her native Montreal to Havana, from Jerusalem to Amsterdam and the Ukraine. Her groundbreaking recordings have garnered recognition, including "Best Western Jazz Recording 2004" for her "Special Angel" duo with legendary guitarist Sonny Greenwich.

Lerner's work spans the worlds of jazz, creative improvisation, klezmer and 20th century classical music. She composes for film, theatre, radio and television. She produced "Birds Are Returning", the first contemporary Canadian jazz recording to come out of Cuba, playing her compositions with greats Dafnis Prieto, Yosvanny Terry and Jane Bunnett.

Along with her innovative solo piano work, Lerner tours with The Queen Mab Trio (clarinettist Lori Freedman and Dutch violist Ig Henneman) across Canada, the U.S. and Europe. Their fall 2006 European tour included the prestigious Wels XX Music Unlimited Festival in Austria. Marilyn also performs with Sonny Greenwich, the Mad Satie Trio (Andrew Downing, David Occhipinti), Nick Frasier and Matt Brubeck, Lou Grassi and Ken Filiano, and in the Jewish scene with Adrienne Cooper, Frank London, Alicia Svigals, From Both Ends of the Earth, and David Wall. She has appeared with Steve Lacy, Tito Puente, Michael Vatcher and Gerry Hemingway.

Lerner's original music has garnered the Montreal International Jazz Festival award for best composition. Her audio art collages have been broadcast internationally. A recent commission by CBC in honour of composer Dmitri Shostakovitch's 100th birthday entitled "Meditations on Mitya" was performed by the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra and in November 2006.

A prolific recording artist, her most recent work includes the independently produced "Romanian Fantasy", a solo recording of improvisations on traditional Eastern European Jewish music recorded at the Glenn Gould Studio at CBC Toronto, "Thin Air" (WIG) the Queen Mab Trio's new release based on Hector Berloiz' Queen Mab Scherzo, "Luminance" (Ambiences Magnetiques), solo improvised piano music using different microphone techniques, "Special Angel" (C.B.C. records), duo with jazz guitar legend Sonny Greenwich, and, with singer David Wall, "Still Soft Voiced Heart" (Traditional Crossroads), original settings of contemporary Yiddish poetry.

Lerner conducts workshops on improvisation and on Jewish music throughout North America, Europe and the former Soviet Union. Current projects include both a recording and performances of "Shake My Heart Like a Copper Bell", Lerner's contemporary Yiddish song cycle on the poetry of Anna Margolin, scored for piano, cello, clarinet and singer Adrienne Cooper, for which she received a Hadassah-Brandeis research award, ongoing collaborations with poet Patrick Friesen, a new trio project with cellist Matt Brubeck and drummer Nick Fraser and numerous solo concerts.

Quintimacy with Special Guest Artist Kristin Mueller-Heaslip
Expressionists in the Melting Pot
Sunday January 31st at 4 PM
$25/$15 seniors and students

PROGRAM:
Korngold: Drei Lieder, Opus 22
Berg: Sieben Fruehe Lieder and an excerpt from Lulu,
Scriabin: Prelude and Nocturne for Left Hand Alone,
Schoenberg: Sechs Kleine Klavierstuecke
and other between-the-wars treats.

As always with Quintimacy, our concert will be followed by a brief reception and includes entertaining anecdotes mixed with the music. Check out our Facebook Page (under groups) for more information and reservations or call Gallery 345 at 416-822-9781.

Quintimacy is a Toronto-based group dedicated to rebuilding a close working relationship between composer, performer and audience through intimate salon-style performance of new, rare and beautiful chamber works. It was founded by Musicologist Eleanor Johnston, Composer Chad Martin and Performers: Ramona Carmelly, Joseph Ferreti and Elaine Lau in 2008.

Want a sneak peek? Quintimacy’s performance of Wagner’s “Wesendonck Lieder” and Chad Martin’s “I will open petal by petal myself” from our 2008 season is posted at:

http://www.instantencore.com/contributor/contributor.aspx?CId=5143176

II - Lynn Kuo Winona Zelenka
Admission: Adults $20 / Seniors $15 / Students $10
Tuesday, February 2, 2010 - 8:00 p.m.

Program:

Maurice Ravel: Sonata for Violin and Cello (1920-22)
I. Allegro
II. Très vif
III. Lent
IV. Vif, avec entrain

William Bolcom: Suite for Violin and Cello (1997)
I. Prelude – Very free and fast
II. With Energy
III. Stately, slow
IV. Very fast and skittish
V. Street dances

- INTERMISSION -

Beverly Grigsby: Dithyrambos for Violin and Cello (1974)

Michael Pepa: DUO for Violynn and Winoncello (2009)

Erwin Schulhoff: Duo for Violin and Cello (1925)
I. Moderato
II. Zingaresca: Allegro giocoso
III. Andantino
IV. Moderato

Lynn Kuo, violin

Photo credit: Elaine Ling

“…. Lynn Kuo’s violin is dramatic, both rousing and melancholy..." - Showtime Magazine

Violinist Lynn Kuo has performed as soloist and chamber musician across Canada, United States, Wales, Austria, Hungary, Serbia, Croatia, Bulgaria, and Romania. As guest soloist,she has performed with the Quebec Symphony Orchestra, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra of Bulgaria, Canadian Sinfonietta, Brandon Chamber Players, the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra, the Nexus percussion ensemble, and has also collaborated with artists such as Christoph Eschenbach, William Aide, the Gryphon Trio, and Penderecki String Quartet.

In demand as an interpreter of new music, Lynn has given numerous world premieres of acoustic and electroacoustic works written for her and various ensembles (Duo Vita, Les AMIS Ensemble): Canadian and European composers which include Michael Pepa, Dennis Patrick, Katarina Miljkovi?, Daniel Foley, Elizabeth Raum, Scott Godin, James Harley, John Oliver, Constantine Caravassilis, Avalon Rusk (Canada), Séan Clancy (Ireland), and Viktorija Cop (Croatia).

In 2008-09, Lynn gave the Canadian and European premieres of a fifth Michael Pepa work (ISOMORPHE), as soloist with the Cantus Ensemble of Croatia. Reprising her role as head of the Les AMIS Ensemble, Lynn embarked on a third European tour in April 2009 under the artistic direction of Michael Pepa. Among the performances: world premieres at the 2009 Music Biennale Festival in Zagreb, Croatia, the Mendelssohn Concerto in D minor with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra of Bulgaria and the Chausson Concerto for Piano, violin and String Quartet with Marianna Humetska, piano and the Penderecki String Quartet.

Maintaining a busy performance schedule, Lynn is the Assistant Concertmaster of the National Ballet of Canada Orchestra, and has also served as guest concertmaster of orchestras including the National Arts Centre Orchestra. Lynn also performs with the Canadian Opera Company, Via Salzburg Chamber Orchestra, and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. In addition to performing, Lynn is a doctoral candidate in the Doctoral of Musical Arts program at the University of Toronto for which her dissertation research is on “Holistic Health and its Role in the Prevention of Musculoskeletal Disorders in Musicians.”

Lynn gratefully performs on a 1904 Riccardo Antoniazzi violin and Hill bow on loan from Steven Pepa.

www.lynnkuo.com

Winona Zelenka, cello

Photo credit: David Leyes

Winona Zelenka, known for her gorgeous, singing tone, is one of Canada’s finest cellists on the scene today. As a soloist, she has performed with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (Strauss’ Don Quixote Suite, with Thomas Dausgaard conducting, 2006), and performs often with conductor John Barnum. Their past collaborations include Lalo’s Cello Concerto in D Minor with the Mississauga Symphony (2008) and Saint-Saëns’ Cello Concerto No. 1, with both the Scarborough Philharmonic (2007) and the Huronia Sinfonietta (2006). She has also performed Haydn’s Concerto No. 2 in D Major with the Canadian Sinfonietta (2007), conducted by Tak Ng Lai. At this same concert, Ms. Zelenka, a proponent of new music, performed the world premiere of “Invocation II’” for cello and orchestra, a work written for her by Canadian composer Michael Pepa. In 2008, Ms. Zelenka performed as guest Principal Cellist for the Canadian Opera Company’s production of Tosca. She has been Assistant Principal of the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra since 2005, and served as Principal during the summers of 2007 and 2008. She is currently serving as Acting Principal of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and has held that position since the 2004/2005 season.

Winona is a dedicated recitalist and chamber musician, who regularly performs on the Les AMIS, Syrinx, Amici, Art of Time and Offcentre series in Toronto. She collaborates regularly with many of Canada’s finest musicians including violinists Stephen Sitarski and Erika Raum; violist Steven Dann; bassist Joel Quarrington, pianist Andrew Burashko, and countless others. This summer ( 2009) she performed at the Ottawa Chamberfest with, among others, soprano Donna Brown and pianist/composer Heather Schmidt. The 2009/2010 season sees Winona performing with the Zuckerman ChamberPlayers at the Royal Conservatory’s new Koerner Hall as well as at the 92nd St. Y in New York.

Ms. Zelenka recently formed Trio Arkel with violinist Marie Bérard and violist Teng Li, with whom she will perform at the Four Seasons Amphitheatre in February of 2010. She will also be performing at the Amphitheatre with long-time duo partner Jacques Israelievitch in December 2009. In the 2009/2010 season, Ms. Zelenka is very pleased to work with Mr. Pepa again, who will compose a work for cello, violin and percussion for his Les AMIS series in Toronto.

Since the summer of 2004, Ms. Zelenka began performing in the Music Garden Series at Toronto’s waterfront. Every year, she has performed a different Bach cello suite. In 2006, she performed Canadian composer Chris Paul Harman’s “After the Sixth Suite”, also a composition written for her, which, as the title suggests, she performed in tandem with Bach’s Cello Suite No. 6. For her performance of the Suite No. 4 in September of 2009 she was joined by dancer Claudia Moore who added beautiful movements choreographed by Carol Anderson. Winona was also the cello soloist of such notable film scores as Atom Egoyan’s “Adoration” (2008), István Szabó’s “Being Julia” (2004), and the IMAX film “Under The Sea” (2009).

Exciting new projects include the recently-released films in HD of the Suite for Solo Cello by Gaspar Cassado, filmed by Moving Head Productions and available on Youtube. Winona will also be releasing the complete Bach Cello Suites in the spring of 2010; all projects are recorded by CBC recording engineer Ron Searles , whose credits include I Furiosi and the Eybler Quartet as well as film scores by Mychael Danna and Andrew Lockington.

Winona Zelenka began her career at age 22 as Associate Principal in the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and won orchestra jobs with the National Ballet Orchestra and the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester. She obtained her Bachelor of Music and Artist Diploma at the University of Indiana, and studied with the legendary Janos Starker. Ontario born and raised, Ms. Zelenka’s other main teachers include William Findlay, Vladimir Orloff, and William Pleeth.

Winona plays on the “Starker Guanerius”, which was made in 1707 by Giuseppe Guarneri, the father of the legendary “Guanerius del Gesù”. This instrument, formerly owned by Janos Starker for 30 years, is on loan to the TSO for Ms. Zelenka’s use thanks to the generosity of Dr. Edward Pong.

“Their swords were their bows, and their victory was in forgetting about their individual status in their main jobs … and deliver a gorgeous, and intellectually stimulating program…Bérard, Li and Zelenka carved into [Beethoven’s Trio Op. 9, No. 2] with glee, coming up with a full-blooded reading that never rode roughshod over quiet passages.”
John Terauds, The Toronto Star, January 2009

(Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2 in B Flat Major, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin)
"Her account of the famous cello prologue and epilogue in the andante movement was ravishing and deserved its special ovation."
Ken Winters, The Globe and Mail, May 2008

www.winonazelenka.com

Jane Bunnett and Hilario Duran
Wednesday, January 20, 2010 AT 8 PM

Please join us on Wednesday night, January 20th as we bring some heat to a cold January. Jane and Hilario are continuing their work in progress, performing early 20th century and contemporary Cuban composers, including compositions by Hilario, and the duos they created for piano and flute/sax. This is a reprise of their performance last month at Hart House, but in the warm and welcoming salon environment of Gallery 345. Call in advance to reserve a seat. (416-822-9781)

JANE BUNNETT, BIO

Jane Bunnett the soprano saxophonist, flutist and bandleader, has built her career at the crossroads between Cuban music and jazz. Twice nominated for Grammy Awards (Best Latin Jazz Recording 2002 for Alma de Santiago and 2003 for Cuban Odyssey), a fixture of nominations for Canada’s Juno Awards, and winner at Canada’s Urban Music Awards for Best Global Recording in 2003 for Cuban Odyssey, Toronto’s own jazz virtuoso has turned her bands into showcases for the finest musical talent from Canada, the United States and Cuba.

Honoured with an appointment to the Order of Canada in 2004, Jane Bunnett is truly one of Canada’s most valuable artistic resources.

HILARIO DURAN, BIO

Born in Havana, Cuba and based in Toronto, Canada, Hilario Duran is internationally renowned as pianist, composer, arranger, and orchestra leader. He is a winner of multiple Juno and National Jazz Awards, an American Grammy Award nominee and recipient of the 2007 Chico O’Farrill Lifetime Achievement Award. Latin Jazz Corner wrote that Hilario is one of the “contemporary Cuban pianists that moved jazz in the 21st century.” Hilario Duran and his Latin Jazz orchestra have been selected to perform at the Cultural Olympics 2010.

Like many Cuban musicians, Hilario was born into a musical family surrounded by classical, jazz, and popular music. He joined Arturo Sandoval’s band for nine years (1981-1990), touring at major jazz festivals around the world and sharing stage with the late Dizzy Gillespie and Michel Legrand. In 1990, Hilario formed his own band Perspectiva which toured successfully through Latin America and Europe. One year later Hilario participated as a pianist in Jane Bunett’s Juno Award Winning CD Spirits of Havana.

Hilario Duran is a member of the Jazz Faculty at Humber College, as adjunct Piano Professor and Ensemble Director.

Program

1. Almendra – (Abelardo Valdes)
2. Tres Lindas Cubanas – (Guillermo Caotillo)
3. Longina – (Manuel Corona) 1920
4. Contradanza #2 – (Jose Maria Vitier)
5. Esto Si Tiene Que Ver – (Hilario Duran)
6. Danza Lucumi – (Ernesto Lecuona)
7. Quiriño con Sus Tres – (Eliseo Grenet)

Intermission

1. El Manisero – (Moises Simon)
2. Suite Contradanza
I. Contradanza #1 – (Cervantes)
II. Contradanza #2 – (Saumell)
III. Contradanza #3 – (Saumell))
IV. Los Tres Golpes – (Ignacio Cervantes)

Chrysalis
Sunday January 24, 2-6 pm

Freshly hatched sounds. Step inside the creative process in a concert/workshop led by the insightful Victoria composer Christopher Butterfield and featuring new works by Toronto’s most promising emerging composers. Having performed workshops at UBC, Banff, U of T, York University, University of Aberdeen (Scotland) and Trinity College of Music (England), Continuum’s experience and unique ensemble chemistry promise a memorable event for participants and audience alike.

2:00-3:15 - score critique session
3:30-6:00 - workshop

Click the title for a composer bio and program note (not in performance order)

Christopher Butterfield – 4 pearls
Anna Höstman – ghosts of swallows
Lan-Chee Lam – La Défense
William Peltier – Springtime for Gentle Risings within Gridlock
Chris Thornborrow – Music for Marionettes
Hiroki Tsurumoto – Code Thumbnail 1

Performers: Continuum’s ensemble

Free admission; open to the public

SPECIAL BENEFIT RECITAL FOR NEW MUSIC CONCERTS
Performance by Zygmunt Krause
Monday, Jaunary 11, 2010, 7 PM
$50 Charitable Donation
Wine and Cheese

Poland has long enjoyed the reputation of spawning some of the world’s most successful and controversial composers. We have invited distinguished pianist and composer Zygmunt Krauze to curate a program of Canadian premieres on January 10 at Glenn Gould Studio by Polish composers including Pawel Szymanski, who has proved himself one of the most uncompromising voices of our time. While in Toronto Mr. Krauze offers a special benefit recital for New Music Concerts (a non-subscription event on January 11 at Gallery 345, 345 Sorauren Avenue) in which he will improvise on the music Chopin and Lutos?awski, as well asa free public lecture at the Faculty of Music, University of Toronto on January 12. The Polish mini-festival ends on a high note with Agata Zubel, an electrifying performer who is enjoying a rising double career as composer and soprano, in music for solo voice with piano and electroacoustic accompaniment on January 13 at the Music Gallery. For reservations and further information please call our office at 416.961.9594. Our January Polish festival events are proudly sponsored by the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Toronto.

Winona Zelenka: Cello
Monday December 7th at 8pm

Hindemith Sonata for Solo Cello
Bach Suite No. 5 in C minor
Intermission
Britten- Suite for Solo Cello, No. 1
Cassado- Suite

Winona Zelenka, known for her gorgeous, singing tone, is one of Canada’s finest cellists on the scene today. As a soloist, she has performed with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (Strauss’ Don Quixote Suite, with Thomas Dausgaard conducting, 2006), and performs often with conductor John Barnum. Their past collaborations include Lalo’s Cello Concerto in D Minor with the Mississauga Symphony (2008) and Saint-Saëns’ Cello Concerto No. 1, with both the Scarborough Philharmonic (2007) and the Huronia Sinfonietta (2006). She has also performed Haydn’s Concerto No. 2 in D Major with the Canadian Sinfonietta (2007), conducted by Tak Ng Lai. At this same concert, Ms. Zelenka, a proponent of new music, performed the world premiere of “Invocation II’” for cello and orchestra, a work written for her by Canadian composer Michael Pepa.

In 2008, Ms. Zelenka performed as guest Principal Cellist for the Canadian Opera Company’s production of Tosca. She has been Assistant Principal of the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra since 2005, and served as Principal during the summers of 2007 and 2008. She is currently serving as Acting Principal of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and has held that position since the 2004/2005 season.

Winona is a dedicated recitalist and chamber musician, who regularly performs on the Les Amis, Syrinx, Amici, Art of Time and Offcentre series in Toronto. She collaborates regularly with many of Canada’s finest musicians including violinists Stephen Sitarski and Erika Raum; violist Steven Dann; bassist Joel Quarrington, pianist Andrew Burashko, and countless others. This summer ( 2009) she performed at the Ottawa Chamberfest with, among others, soprano Donna Brown and pianist/composer Heather Schmidt. The 2009/2010 season sees Winona performing with the Zuckerman ChamberPlayers at the Royal Conservatory’s new Koerner Hall and at the 92nd St. Y in New York.

Ms. Zelenka recently formed Trio Arkel with violinist Marie Bérard and violist Teng Li, with whom she will perform at the Four Seasons Amphitheatre in February of 2010. She will also be performing at the Amphitheatre with long-time duo partner Jacques Israelievitch in December 2009. In the 2009/2010 season, Ms. Zelenka is very pleased to work with Mr. Pepa again, who will compose a work for cello, violin and percussion for his Les Amis series in Toronto.

Since the summer of 2004, Ms. Zelenka began performing in the Music Garden Series at Toronto’s waterfront. Every year, she has performed a different Bach cello suite. In 2006, she performed Canadian composer Chris Paul Harman’s “After the Sixth Suite”, also a composition written for her, which, as the title suggests, she performed in tandem with Bach’s Cello Suite No. 6. For her performance of the Suite No. 4 in September of 2009 she was joined by dancer Claudia Moore who added beautiful movements choreographed by Carol Anderson. Winona was also the cello soloist of such notable film scores as Atom Egoyan’s “Adoration” (2008), István Szabó’s “Being Julia” (2004), and the IMAX film “Under The Sea” (2009).

Exciting new projects include the recently-released films in HD of the Suite for Solo Cello by Gaspar Cassado, filmed by Moving Head Productions and available on Youtube: to find all three videos, search “Winonacellist” on Youtube.. Winona will also be releasing the complete Bach Cello Suites in the spring of 2010; all projects are recorded by CBC recording engineer Ron Searles , whose credits include I Furiosi and the Eybler Quartet as well as film scores by Mychael Danna and Andrew Lockington. Fans can now visit www.winonazelenka.com for highlights and updates, as well as links to her videos.

Winona Zelenka began her career at age 22 as Associate Principal in the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and won orchestra jobs with the National Ballet Orchestra and the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester. She obtained her Bachelor of Music and Artist Diploma at the University of Indiana, and studied with the legendary Janos Starker. Ontario born and raised, Ms. Zelenka’s other main teachers include William Findlay, Vladimir Orloff, and William Pleeth.

Winona plays on the “Starker Guanerius”, which was made in 1707 by Giuseppe Guarneri, the father of the legendary “Guanerius del Gesù”. This instrument, formerly owned by Janos Starker for 30 years, is on loan to the TSO for Ms. Zelenka’s use thanks to the generosity of Dr. Edward Pong.

Fuocoso Saxophone Quartet
Sunday December 6th at 8 PM
$15/$10 seniors and students

PROGRAM:
“Three Preludes for Saxophone Quartet” – composed by George Gershwin (arr. Wolfgang Schlei)
“Carpathian Dance” – Mike Romaniak’s transcription of a ballet performed by the Virsky Symphony Orchestra.
“Wilderness” – composed by Mike Romaniak
“Ragtime Suite” – Arthur Frackenpohl’s transcription of ragtime piano solos by Tom Turpin, Scott Hayden, and Scott Joplin.

Fuocoso Saxophone Quartet is a newly formed chamber ensemble that is based in Toronto, London, and Hamilton. The ensemble strives to maintain a healthy balance between standard repertoire and new music. They encourage composers of all shapes and sizes to write for this lovely genre. Fuocoso Saxophone Quartet is: Jen Blackwell (soprano/alto sax), Julian Lam (alto sax), Mike Romaniak (tenor sax), and Alex Espinosa (baritone sax).

Steve Koven, piano
Rob Clutton, bass
Saturday December 5th at 8pm


Steve Koven - Piano

Steve Koven was born in Toronto, Canada, and began playing piano at age seven. He has studied with various jazz artists including Benny Green, Geoff Keeser, and Bruce Barth.

Steve’s been a professional musician since earning a BFA in Contemporary Improvisation from York University in 1987. In addition to performing world-wide with his trio, he’s played solo throughout North America, Europe, and the Caribbean. When not on tour or in the studio, Steve composes music for film, television and conducts master classes and workshops which focus on the development of improvisational tools and musical self-expression.

Steve is currently on staff at York University where he teaches Contemporary Improvisation and Jazz Piano in the Faculty of Music. As an Educator, Koven has conducted master classes and workshops in China, Japan, Colombia, Barbados and Mexico.

Rob Clutton - Bass

Rob Clutton is a composer and double bassist who was born in Barrie, Ontario, Canada, and has made his home in Toronto for the last twenty years. He earned a Bachelor of Music in Performance at the University of Toronto in 1991 and is currently pursuing a PHD in Music at York University.

Rob is active in the creative and improvised scenes in Toronto with solo project and group projects and as a member of a burgeoning improvising community. His solo project involves composing, performing, and recording for solo bass, including the CD Dubious Pleasures on the Rat-drifting label. Rob has performed numerous solo concerts, including the Guelph Jazz Festival in 2005.

Group projects include the Rob Clutton Band, which has released two CDs of original compositions and performed numerous concerts including the Montreal Jazz Festival. The bassist is a member of Drumheller, N, The Steve Koven Trio, N.O.J.O., Jazzstory, Quorum, The Ryan Driver Quartet, the David Buchbinder Ensemble, and the David Mott Quintet and is a founding member of the Association of Improvising Musicians Toronto, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting local creative improvising musicians, and to facilitating events in Toronto that bring international visiting artists together with local improvisers.

www.stevekoven.com

Les Amis presents:
Lynn Kuo, violin,
Winona Zelenka, cello
Tuesday, December 1, 2009 at 8 pm Details >


Lynn Kuo, Winona Zelenka
Photo credit: Dvid Leyes Photo credit: Elaine Ling

Charlotte Mundy and the Earwax Ensemble
Friday November 27th at 8pm
$15, $7 for students and seniors

PROSE COLLECTION AND SONGS BY CHRISTIAN WOLFF

Christian Wolff (b.1934) is an American composer who has been associated with John Cage, Morton Feldman and Merce Cunningham. He wrote Prose Collection using only
words, no music notation, requiring the musicians to decide how to interpret his instructions. His songs, on the other hand, are notated. They are expressive, often politically charged, and highly original.

The Earwax Ensemble is a group of talented, adventurous young musicians and improvisers on a mission to perform adventurous music, with little regard for genre
or convention. They are Bram Gielen (bass), Peter Hart (guitar), Charlotte Mundy (voice), Patrick Power (guitar), Mike Romaniak (saxophone), and Chris Willes
(clarinet/electronics).

The Art of the Piano:
Glenn Buhr
Monday November 23rd at 8pm

PROGRAM

Glenn Buhr premiered his semi-improvisational 2nd Piano Concerto with the Esprit Orchestra in 2006; a second performance with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra on 2007. The work is dedicated to Casey Sokol. On this recital, he presents the world premiere of the solo piano version.

He'll also be performing a selection from his full length ballet Beauty and the Beast, which was commissioned by the Birmingham Royal Ballet, along with some of his improvisational Jazz/Blues/Hiphop Etudes; and a few of his other creative works for piano.

Dr. Glenn Buhr’s works have been performed by chamber ensembles, soloists, and orchestras all over the world. He became well known in Canada as co-founder with Bramwell Tovey of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra’s New Music Festival. In March 1996, the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra created the position of Artist Laureate for Dr. Buhr. He has also toured extensively as a jazz pianist with various ensembles, and his own ensemble has just released its second CD. Buhr has received composition awards, including first prize in the prestigious Italian Pro Loco Corciano Competition for Epigrams, a work for wind orchestra. In 1998, he was named University Research Professor at Wilfrid Laurier University, the first time that honour had been given to a creative artist. He has also received a number of commissions from important performers and ensembles such as the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. His music has been performed by such diverse ensembles as the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Symphony, and the National Arts Centre Orchestra. His full length ballet Beauty and The Beast premiered in England in 2003 with the Birmingham Royal Ballet. The work continued on tour in 2004 for a total of 50 performances. Dr. Buhr’s music is often heard on the CBC and is available on CD on the Marquis Classics and CBC labels.

Rob MacDonald

Madawaska String Quartet

IMAGES CD RELEASE CONCERT

Rob MacDonald, guitar
Madawaska String Quartet
Rebecca van der Post, Sarah Fraser Raff, violins
Anna Redekop, viola
Amber Ghent, cello
ChromaDuo, Tracy Anne Smith and Rob MacDonald, guitars

Concert program:
Full Circle (solo guitar) - Andrew Staniland
Into The Woods - Toru Takemitsu
Nocturne for viola, guitar, cello - Omar Daniel
Images for guitar and string quartet - Christopher William Pierce
...and ChromaDuo will perform as a preview for their upcoming Music Gallery concert

Tickets at door: $20 (adults) $10 (seniors/students)

Ensemble Made in Canada
Thursday October 29th at 8pm

Angela Park, piano Judy Kang, violin Sharon Wei, viola Rachel Mercer, cello

“What do you get when you take four young and extremely talented female Canadian musicians who: studied across the United States and Canada; have each won several prestigious awards; developed into stellar soloists in their own right; and joined together to form a piano quartet?

You get Made in Canada, this country's newest up-and-coming chamber group, quickly making its mark on the Canadian music scene.” - Gwenda Nemerofsky, Winnipeg Free Press, 2007

ONTARIO TOUR
Music by Dvorak, Brahms, Coulthard
Recent winners of the Canada Council Instrument Bank Competition, Judy and Rachel will be playing on Strads from the 17th century.

Tickets at the door: adult $20/senior $15/student $10

Music of Riccardo Malipiero and David Lidov
Saturday, October 24th at 7:30

Sonatina (1964) David Lidov
Sinfonia, Arioso, Joropo, Ballade
Zachary Ebin, violin, David Lidov, piano.

Fantasy Ricardo Malipiero
Phases of Courtship II: Under the Spell of Decorum David Lidov
Lora Wilcox, viola, Jose R. Lopez, piano
- - - I N T E R M I S S I O N - - -

Three Songs of Duty (1984) David Lidov
“At midnight’s hour” (H. Thoreau)
“I approve every wild action” (R.W. Emerson)
“Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening” (R. Frost)
Kristin Heaslip Muller, soprano, David Lidov, piano
Sonata (1965) Ricardo Malipiero
Jose R. Lopez, piano

T256 (Music and Game)
VIDEOSPREAD – Laurent Chambert
NUIT BLANCHE Toronto
Saturday October 3rd 2009 Details >

The Grace Trio
Journey with Classical Groove
September 12th 2009, 8pm   Details >

Dan Tepfer, Piano
Goldberg Variations/Improvisations
New Series: The Art of the Piano
September 14th, 8pm

Critics have called New York-based pianist/composer Dan Tepfer “brilliant” (NY Times), “impressive” (Boston Globe) and “certainly among those clearly willing to play with familiar formulas and take new approaches” (Jazzreview.com). While he has played with some of the great names in jazz, he strives to create music that is distinctly of our time. He tours internationally in support of several diverse projects, and his breadth and talent have won him international recognition and prizes, leading him to be named the 2007-2009 Cole Porter Fellow in Jazz.

Dan Tepfer is a New York-based jazz pianist and composer. Born in 1982 in Paris, France, in an American family, he earned a bachelor's degree in astrophysics from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, before settling down in the United States. Today he divides his time between sideman work with some of the great jazz musicians of our time (Lee Konitz, Charles McPherson, Paul Motian, Ralph Towner to name a few), and a busy touring schedule with his own solo, duo and trio projects. One of his compositions was recently premiered at Carnegie Hall. He is the winner of both the first prize and audience prize of the 2006 Montreux Jazz Festival Solo Piano Competition and is the current Cole Porter Fellow of the American Pianists Association.

10 Beethoven Sonatas in Eight Hours
VIOLINIST JACQUES ISRAELIEVITCH
& PIANIST KANAE MATSUMOTO
Sunday, June 21 Details >
“It’s like running a marathon,” exclaims violinist Jacques Israelievitch. “Actually, like running two!”

...and then my brain exploded.
Improvised music by The Toy Piano Composers as performed by Digital Prowess
Saturday, May 30, 8pm

The Goldberg Variations
by J.S. Bach, String Trio Transcription.
Sunday, May 31, 3pm
Tickets at the door - $20 / $15 seniors and students

Coenraad Bloemendal, Cello
Uri Mayer, Viola
Deborah Kirshner, Violin

Current classics concert
Array Ensemble performs music by Jean Derome, Jan-Bas Bolen + Walter Zimmerman Details >
Friday, April 24, 7pm

Jurg Wyttenbach lecture/recital
"Beethoven: The Avant-Garde Composer"
Monday, April 20, 2009 at 7pm



Featuring Jürg Wyttenbach’s lecture “Beethoven the Avant-Garde Composer” and his performance of Beethoven’s piano sonatas opp.90 and 109; Beethoven’s Sketches for op.109 and Wyttenbach’s own Trio to the “Prestissimo” and Six “new” Variations to the third movement of that sonata.


Dear Friends of New Music Concerts,

Fundraising is a year-round activity for most non-profit music ensembles. This year is more important than in the past because of the severe economic recession. We need your support more than ever. If you can attend the fundraiser on April 20th, please do so. It should be both entertaining and educational, especially if you love Beethoven. If you cannot attend, your donations are vitally important for keeping us in the game. Go to the New Music Concerts website to make a donation.

We hope to see a full house at the concert on Saturday night at the Glenn Gould Studio and on Monday night for the fundraiser at Gallery 345.

Thanks for you support. Bring a friend that hasn't been to a NMC event, help build our audience for this wonderful ensemble.

Edward Epstein
President, New Music Concerts
Gallery 345

New Music Concernts Presents Jurg Wyttenbach
April 18, 2009 / www.newmusicconcerts.com

The playful and iconic Swiss composer Jürg Wyttenbach conducts the New Music Concerts Ensemble in a varied program including rarely heard folksong settings by Beethoven, a number of Wyttenbach's own theatrical works and his arrangement for large ensemble of Mussorgsky's Kinderstube (The Nursery). Soloists include sopranos Melinda Delorme and Xin Wang, Kate Promane (mezzo-soprano), Jürg Wyttenbach (piano), Robert Aitken (flute) and Max Christie (clarinet).
Illuminating introduction in the lobby at 7:15

Les Amis: Preview / Fundraising Concert
Tuesday, April 14, 2009 at 8 pm  Details >

Music of Jean Derome and Jan Bas Bollen

The Toy Piano Composers
Friday, February 13th at 8 pm  Details >

"Cage the Bird"
The Toy Piano Composers present premieres of compositions for string quartet.

Thunder Bay ensemble on tour in Toronto

Tuesday, March 18, 2009 at 8 pm

Shift Festival - Continuum Music
Wednesday, February 25th at 9 pm  Details >

Performance by Dutch Pianist/Composer GUUS JANSSEN

A Tale of 2 Tenors
Sunday, January 11, 2009 at 3:00 PM  Details >

New Series: LES AMIS
Tuesdays at Gallery 345

Tuesday, February 17th/09
Duo Vita - Lyn Kuo, violin and John Oliver, guitar

Tuesday, December 9/08
Shoko Inoue, Piano Recital  Details >

Tuesday, October 21st/08
Mary Kenedi, Piano

The Toy Piano Composers
Friday, October 24th at 8 pm

Monica Clorey and friends present premieres of compositions for toy and grand pianos.

Fund raising gala for the Canadian Musicians Centre, with special performances by the St. Lawrence String Quartet, Eve Egoyan and Gregory Oh.  Press release >