Faites de l'air !

Innovations en concert

présente

Évolutions 2008 : Faites de l’air !

Une série sur la flûte du 21 au 25 octobre 2008, 20 h

Château Ramezay
280, rue Notre-Dame Est, Montréal
Métro Champ-de-Mars
Billets à la porte: 15$ régulier / 8$ étudiant – aîné
Informations: 514.252.8520

Montréal, 3 octobre 2008 – Faites de l’air ! Voilà ce que vous propose Innovations en concert dans le cadre de sa série automnale Évolutions qui offrira cette année quatre concerts autour de la flûte. À l’affiche, une fine sélection de virtuoses qui interpréteront des programmes variés, visitant la musique contemporaine écrite, la musique assistée par ordinateur et la musique improvisée, tout cela pour un instrument privilégié : la flûte.

La série Évolutions présente depuis 1997 des séries thématiques souvent articulées autour d’un instrument ou d’une famille d’instruments. Cette année, Michel Frigon, le directeur artistique de Innovations en concert, a choisi la flûte, qui, de tous les bois, est certainement le plus agile et celui qui possède le son le plus aérien.
La table est donc mise pour quatre concerts plus que prometteurs !

Mardi 21 octobre, 20 h ::: Robert Aitken
Pour ouvrir la série, Robert Aitken nous présentera entre autre, trois pièces de Toru Takemitsu, dont il était un ami très proche. C’est également lors de ce concert que nous pourrons entendre les résultats de notre volet Direction Jeunesse dans le cadre duquel neuf étudiants de l’université de Montréal se joindront à Robert Aitken pour interpréter Ghosts and Gargoyles de Henry Brant. Originaire de Montréal, Brant a vécu aux États-Unis et est devenu un compositeur marquant de l’avant-garde, parmi les John Cage, Milton Babbitt et Conlon Nancarow.

Mercredi 22 octobre, 20 h ::: MariEve Lauzon / Cléo Palacio-Quintin
Le concert de Cléo Palacio-Quintin et de MariEve Lauzon nous fera entendre des instruments peu communs, dont l’hyper-flûte basse, un instrument branché qui, grâce à une multitude de senseurs, peut jouer divers effets sonores commandés par l’interprète au moyen d’une interface MIDI, accédant ainsi aux traitements électroniques en direct. MariEve Lauzon créera Relax de Michel Frigon, écrite pour flûte en sol. Le point culminant de ce concert sera certainement le duo Palacio-Quintin/Lauzon qui interprétera Recombinant Landscape de Robert Dick, une première canadienne.

Jeudi 23 octobre, 20 h ::: Jocelyne Roy / Marie-Noëlle Choquette
Jocelyne Roy et Marie-Noëlle Choquette sont quant à elles deux flûtistes de la relève. Jocelyne Roy (Prix d’Europe 2005) interprétera entre autres Sequenza I de Luciano Berio, une des premières œuvres à laisser l’interprète libre de modifier la partition au moment de l’interprétation grâce à un jeu de durées variables. Marie-Noëlle Choquette pour sa part visitera la flûte et le multimédia, avec entre autre Dialogue du silence de Katia Makdissi-Warren, qui inclut une projection vidéo.

Vendredi 24 octobre, 20 h ::: Guy Pelletier / Jean Derome / Julien Grégoire /
Nous conclurons cette excitante série avec Guy Pelletier et Jean Derome, deux flûtistes montréalais qui n’ont plus besoin de présentation. Ils seront accompagnés pour l’occasion par le percussionniste Julien Grégoire. Au programme, des musiques improvisées, mais surtout, le plaisir de jouer, le bonheur de faire de la musique. Une soirée joyeuse que nous partageons avec vous.

Telarc Announces October New Releases

UPCOMING NEW RELEASE: October 28

Yolanda Kondonassis: Air

Featuring Debussy and Takemitsu

Music for Harp, Flute, and Strings

with Joshua Smith, flute, Cynthia Phelps, viola, and Oberlin 21

Telarc (CD-80694)

A portion of the proceeds from each purchase of Air will be donated to organizations devoted to worldwide environmental causes. For more information on ways we can all help, visit www.yolandaharp.com ..

Hailed by The New York Times for her "powerful playing and musicianly energy," Yolanda Kondonassis celebrates her fourteenth recording on the Telarc label with the October 28, 2008, release of Air. One of the world's foremost harpists, Yolanda has appeared all over the world as a concerto soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician. On this album, she is joined by friends and colleagues, flutist Joshua Smith, violist Cynthia Phelps, and the string orchestra, Oberlin 21 led by Bridget-Michaele Reischl.

"In selecting the music to include on this album, we were drawn to the luminous color and atmosphere that is so magical in these parallel works by Debussy and Takemitsu," says Kondonassis. The repertoire on this recording highlights Debussy's genius as well as his enduring inspiration and influence on Toru Takemitsu, who once said, that while he was technically self-taught, he considered his greatest teacher to be the music of Claude Debussy. In the liner notes, Richard Rodda writes, "Takemitsu, like Debussy, sought to transmute dreams, water, gardens, sky, birds, and the quiverings of the human heart into patterns of sounds and silence that would penetrate to the quiet, inner place where the spirit dwells."

In 1904, Debussy was commissioned by the instrument-making firm of Pleyel to create a work to showcase their new chromatic harp. The commission was to serve both as a test piece for students at the Brussels Conservatory and as a demonstration of their harp's potential to prospective buyers. The result was a matched pair of dances, one "sacred" and one "profane," for chromatic harp and string orchestra called Danses sacrée et profane for Harp and String Orchestra. It should be noted that the standard harp used today is not Pleyel's designer Lyon's chromatic harp but rather Erard's double-action pedal harp.

Takemitsu's And Then I Knew 'Twas Wind title is derived from a line of poetry by Emily Dickinson: "Like rain it sounded till it curved / And then I knew 'twas wind / It walked as wet as any wave / But swept as dry as sand." Takemitsu wrote that the work, composed in 1992, "has as its subject the signs of the wind in the natural world and of the soul, or unconscious mind (or we could even call it 'dream'), which continues to blow, like the wind, invisibly, through human consciousness."

This environmental theme continues through Takemitsu's other works on this album. Toward the Sea II is a short piece of pastoral music with three key notes taken from the word 'SEA' (E-flat [i.e., 'Es,' the conventional German designation for the pitch E-flat], E-natural, A-natural)." The titles of the work's three movements — The Night, Moby Dick and Cape Cod — imply programmatic associations, but the music, except for a slight animation in the second and third sections, is vague and equivocal, "more an expression of feeling than a painting," as Beethoven said of his "Pastoral" Symphony. If Toward the Sea is indeed an evocation of the New England shore, then it is not the New England of granite boulders and glinting sunlight and billowing sails running fast before the wind, but of first light and creeping mists and indistinct horizons, of undulant reflections in a tide pool, of distant buoy bells muffled by fog. The two solo flute pieces, one by each composer, are interspersed within the program. Takamitsu's Air is an introspective and unhurried piece. That lends its name to the title of the album. It is reminiscent of the French Impressionism heard in Debussy's Syrinx, about a nymph who was transformed into a reed to save her from the lusty pursuits of Pan, who then plucks that very reed and plays a song of longing for his loss of Syrinx.

Closing out the program is Debussy's Sonata for Flute, Viola, and Harp is one of most uncompromisingly modern creations, about which the composer himself expressed some uncertainty regarding its emotional effect: "[The music is] so terribly melancholy," he wrote to his friend the Swiss journalist Robert Godet, "that I can't say whether one should laugh or cry. Perhaps both at the same time?" Perhaps the colon cancer that would end Debussy's life three years later was already playing its part on his compositions.

Joshua Smith, known for his "gorgeous sound, bracing virtuosity, and breathtaking lyricism," enjoys a multi-faceted career as a leading soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, teacher, and clinician as well as his role as Principal Flutist of The Cleveland Orchestra, Joshua played on Yolanda's first release for Telarc, Scintillation (CD 80361). Making her Telarc debut, violist Cynthia Phelps enjoys a versatile career as an established chamber musician, solo artist, and Principal Violist of the New York Philharmonic, a position to which she was appointed in 1992. Founded in 2008, Oberlin 21 is an exceptional group of young artists from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, led by Oberlin's Director of Ensemble Programs and Music Director of the Green Bay Symphony Orchestra, Bridget-Michaele Reischl.

UPCOMING NEW RELEASE: October 28

Erich Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops: Vintage Cinema

Telarc (CD-80708 and SACD-60708)

Vintage Cinema, the newest release by Erich Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra on the Telarc label, chronicles the journey of classic film scores from 1933 to 1962 in sequence, highlighting the musical evolution of film scoring. Both the CD and SACD versions of the recording are due in stores on October 28, 2008.

The disc showcases developing musical styles used in films spanning nearly 30 years, beginning with Max Steiner's theme to the original King Kong (1933), a classic fantasy adventure movie that has dazzled generations of fans and spawned two re-makes. From Skull Island, where the giant gorilla Kong rules, the listener is swept to merry old England for Eric Wolfgang Korngold's theme to the spectacular 1938 film, The Adventures of Robin Hood. As one of the most popular and influential movie directors of all time, Alfred Hitchcock understood the vital role music plays in film. Hitchcock film music appears twice on Vintage Cinema. Miklós Rózsa's suite from the 1945 thriller Spellbound captures the psychological suspense with the unique timbre of a theramin and Rózsa won his first Oscar for this score. Setting the stage for what is in store for Cary Grant, is legendary film composer Bernard Herrmann's overture to Hitchcock's "wrong man" thriller, North by Northwest (1959). Celebrated American composer Aaron Copland lent his considerable talents to Hollywood on several occasions, including the 1947 screen adaptation of John Steinbeck's The Red Pony. This Cincinnati Pops recording includes selections from the folk-like score. Two Oscar-winning scores by Franz Waxman, one from Billy Wilder's 1950 classic Sunset Boulevard, as well as A Place in the Sun the following year, deliver quintessential 50's film music. Composer Alex North captured the flavor of New Orleans in his 1951 score for A Streetcar Named Desire, the first important Hollywood score to incorporate jazz. The great Leonard Bernstein scored only one film, but On the Waterfront (1954) is widely regarded as cinematic classic. Vintage Cinema then turns to the 1960s in its three final tracks: Rózsa's Spanish-flavored overture to the lavish Charlton Heston epic, El Cid (1961), Elmer Bernstein's main title theme from To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), and the rousing "Ride of the Cossacks" from Taras Bulba, a 1962 film scored again by the inimitable Franz Waxman.

Vintage Cinema is the 87th Telarc recording by Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra. Their previous release, Bolero (CD-80703), was declared "another sonic blockbuster" by Audiophile Audition. The 2007 release of Tchaikovsky: Nutcracker Selections (CD-80674) was one of the most popular classical recordings of the Christmas season, while another 2007 release, Masters and Commanders (CD-80682), was lauded by American Record Guide as "a rousing program of nautical music, performed by a top-notch orchestra and conductor." A 2006 release, Russian Nights (CD-80657), was praised by Gramophone as "gorgeously played and sumptuously recorded."

RECENT RELEASE: September 23 (October 27 UK)

Cameron Carpenter: Revolutionary

Telarc (CD-80711/DVD / SACD-60711)

>>Sample the DVD HERE <<

The release of this CD coincides with glam organist Cameron Carpenter's 6-day Organ Exposé (Sept 23-28) at Middle Collegiate Church in New York City (www.organexpose.com), which features the Marshall & Olgetree virtual pipe organ he designed. Revolutionary is Carpenter's Telarc debut CD/DVD release and includes Demessieux's Etude in Octaves; Dupré's Prelude and Fugue in B major; Bach's chorale-prelude Now Come, Savior of the Gentiles; the world premiere recording of Carpenter's Love Song No. 1 (2008); Duke Ellington's Solitude (combined with Bach's Sheep May Safely Graze); Liszt's Mephisto Waltz; Horowitz's Carmen Variations; two Chopin Études; and Carpenter's Evolutionary Toccata and Fugue in D Minor.

"If I had to play the organ like they teach you to play it, like they want you to play it in the conservatory and the church, I'd go mad. I'd take up the electric guitar. Or law," opined Cameron Carpenter last March during a break in recording sessions for Revolutionary. "The organ is the darkest remnant of classical music's archest tradition… you don't see organists creating, really questioning boundaries like you see in dance, hip-hop, film." Until now, that is. Cameron Carpenter has been lauded as "the Maverick organist" (The New York Times), "madly original" (TheRestisNoise.com), and "a superstar of the 21st-century organ" (Departures Magazine).

RECENT RELEASE: September 23 (August 25 UK)

Moussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition; Night on Bald Mountain, Prelude to Khovanshchina

Paavo Järvi/Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra

Telarc (CD-80705 / SACD-60705)

The fourteenth Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra Telarc recording with Music Director Paavo Järvi is an all-Mussorgsky disc, in CD and SACD formats. The repertoire includes the Pictures at an Exhibition and Night on Bald Mountain, and closes with Prelude to Khovanshchina. "I have always wanted to record Pictures at Exhibition," said Järvi. "There's a good reason it has become one of the best known pieces in the world… It's such an irresistible concept – walking from one painting to another and describing not only what you're seeing, but the whole promenade experience of walking from frame to frame. This work is full of color."

RECENT RELEASE: September 23 (September 22 UK)

John O'Conor: Beethoven Piano Concertos Nos. 1, 3, and 4

Andreas Delfs/London Symphony Orchestra

Telarc (CD-80704)

In 2007, Irish pianist John O'Conor and the London Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Andreas Delfs recorded a brilliant version of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major, Op.19 and No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 73, "Emperor" (CD-80675). Gramophone heaped high praise on the Telarc recording: "…pianist John O'Conor and conductor Andreas Delfs invest these much-recorded scores with deep feeling relaxed yet never draggy tempi. The London Symphony Orchestra provides vibrant and unfailingly alive support under Delfs' caring leadership." O'Conor and Delfs return to complete the cycle with stunning interpretations of Nos. 1, 3 and 4. O'Conor first gained critical acclaim in the United States in 1986 with the release of the initial volume of the complete Beethoven Sonata cycle. This recording was made at the famed Abbey Road Studios, and produced by GRAMMY-Award-winning producer Elaine Martone and GRAMMY-Award-winning engineer Jack Renner.

RECENT RELEASE: August 26 (September 23 UK)

Simone Dinnerstein: The Berlin Concert

Telarc (CD-80715)

>>Watch a video of the Berlin concert HERE <<

American pianist Simone Dinnerstein's second solo recording for Telarc, The Berlin Concert, was released on August 26 worldwide and earned the No. 1 spot on the US Billboard Traditional Classical Chart during its first week of sales. Last year, Ms. Dinnerstein's debut solo album, a recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations, also topped the chart in its first week of sales in September 2007. The Berlin Concert is a live recording of Ms. Dinnerstein's recital debut at the Kammermusiksaal of the Philharmonie in Berlin, which took place on November 22, 2007. The program features J.S. Bach's French Suite No. 5 in G major, BWV 816; the world premiere recording of American composer Philip Lasser's Variations on a Bach Chorale; and Beethoven's landmark Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111. Grammy Award-winning engineer Adam Abeshouse is the producer for the CD. Of The Berlin Concert CD, International Piano raves, "Dinnerstein's subtly-inflected tonal purity and exquisite dynamic suppleness impart a sense of concentrated musical inevitability to the Bach French Suite rivalled only in my experience by Dinu Lipatti's incandescent reading of the B flat Partita. . . The Gigue finale is not only touch-perfect (how does she create such an exquisite, velvety staccato?) but also so mellifluously voiced and immaculately balanced that it is difficult to imagine the music being played with a more complete grasp of every parameter. . . Most remarkably of all one has the extraordinary sense of Beethoven's epic structures (particularly the theme and variations finale) not so much unravelling in time but emerging as one coexistent whole."

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Ondine October New Releases include Rautavaara 80th Birthday Two-Disc Set

Ondine Announces North American New Releases for October 2008

Einojuhani Rautavaara: Works for Male Choir

YL Male Voice Choir, Talla Ensemble

Matti Hyökki and Pasi Hyökki, conductors

ODE 1125-2D (2CDs)

Release date: October 14, 2008

Iconic Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara celebrates 80^th birthday on October 9, 2008!

Ondine pays tribute to its most longstanding and successful house composer, Einojuhani Rautavaara, with three major CD releases in 2008 and 2009. For the 80^th birthday of the great composer in October, Ondine will release a 2-CD recording of his complete works for male voice choir, including many premiere recordings. The new release features the YL Male Voice Choir and Talla Ensemble led by their respective conductors Matti Hyökki and Pasi Hyökki.

In March 2008, Ondine released a new recording of Rautavaara's Manhattan Trilogy, coupled with his Third Symphony, by Leif Segerstam and the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. Gramophone recommended the disc, writing, "Superbly recorded coupling of the new with the old from the Finnish master."

In 2009, Ondine will release the premiere recording of Rautavaara's latest orchestral composition, A Tapestry of Life (2007), coupled with Before the Icons (2005), performed by the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra under Leif Segerstam. The new work will be given its Finnish premiere performance during a celebratory concert on October 9, 2008, with Olli Mustonen conducting the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra.

Einojuhani Rautavaara (born October 9, 1928) was hailed by The New York Times as "the patriarch of contemporary Finnish composers." Ondine has had a long and fruitful association with this iconic composer, having recorded the premieres of many of his works and garnering many awards along the way, including a Cannes Classical Award 1998 for his Violin Concerto and a Grammy nomination in 1997 for Angel of Light, his seventh symphony.

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SOILE ISOKOSKI

Scene d'amore

Helsinki Philharmonic, Mikko Franck, conductor

ODE 1126-2

Release date: October 14, 2008

Audiences and critics hail the Finnish soprano Soile Isokoski as one of the finest singers today. Her recent orchestral albums on Ondine (Sibelius's Luonnotar and orchestral songs; Mozart Arias; R. Strauss's Four Last Songs and other orchestral songs) have been praised as top-choice recordings and earned the highest distinctions such as the BBC Music Magazine Disc of the Year 2007 Award, a 2007 MIDEM Classical Award, and a 2002 Gramophone Award. The Guardian has proclaimed, "Her voice is one of the greatest in the world."

This disc features popular scenes and arias from the late-19^th century Italian, French and Russian opera marking Soile Isokoski's greatest successes on stage. Included is the famous aria "Sì. Mi chiamano Mimì" from Puccini's La Bohème (the role of Mimì marked Soile Isokoski's opera début in 1989), as well as the famous Letter scene from Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin – Tatyana being her latest new role, which she sang in 2006 at the Finnish National Opera to international acclaim.

Soile Isokoski is accompanied by the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of young star conductor Mikko Franck.

Ms. Isokoski performs a recital at Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall on March 31, with pianist Marita Viitasalo. She appears as Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni at The Metropolitan Opera from April 13-24, 2009.

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Recent Ondine releases …

KAIJA SAARIAHO

Notes on Light, Orion Mirage

Karita Mattila, Anssi Karttunen

Orchestra de Paris, Christoph Eschenbach

ODE 1130-2

Release date: September 9, 2008

Soprano Karita Mattila and female composer Kaija Saariaho share not only popular star status in the classical musical world (with respective awards by Musical America as Musician of the Year 2005 and as Composer of the Year 2008), but also a fruitful musical collaboration and friendship. Its latest output – after the acclaimed song cycle Quatre Instants in 2006 – is Mirage, the setting of a trance-induced incantation text by the Mexican healer María Sabina (1894–1985). This recording features the work's world première performance in Paris, France on March 13, 2008.

The ecstatic 15-minute piece is written for the unprecedented combination of soprano, cello and orchestra, featuring cellist Anssi Karttunen and the Orchestre de Paris under its music director Christoph Eschenbach. Mr. Eschenbach – who for the Ondine label also records with The Philadelphia Orchestra – is known as one of the top champions of contemporary music among the world's leading conductors. The disc also includes Anssi Karttunen performing Notes on Light, a cello concerto Saariaho wrote for him in 2006 and which he gave its New York premiere during the 2008 Lincoln Center Mostly Mozart Festival; and Orion, the largest orchestral work Saariaho has written to date.

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JUHA UUSITALO

The Wagner Album

Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Leif Segerstam

ODE 1121-2

Release date: September 23, 2008

Bass-baritone Juha Uusitalo's first aria album features the outstanding Finnish newcomer performing the best-known arias for male voice from Wagner's operas, including "Song to the Evening Star" ("O du, mein holder Abendstern") from Tannhäuser. Juha Uusitalo is accompanied by the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of its Emeritus Chief Conductor Leif Segerstam.

The September 23 release date coincided with the opening night performance by Mr. Uusitalo, in his Metropolitan Opera debut as Jochanaan in Richard Strauss's Salome. Salome also features Ondine soprano Karita Mattila. The production runs through October 16, 2008, and the October 11, 1 pm ET performance will be broadcast in high definition at movie theaters around the world, as part of The Metropolitan Opera Live in HD series.

On October 30, 31 and November 1, 2008 Juha Uusitalo will perform an all-Wagner program with the National Symphony Orchestra, led by Iván Fischer, at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC. Under the direction of Franz Welser-Moest, he will star in the complete Ring cycle in May and June 2009 at the Vienna Staatsoper.

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About Ondine: Ondine was founded more than twenty years ago in Helsinki, Finland, where the company is still based and today offers an extremely eclectic catalogue of both contemporary Finnish music, as well as recordings with major Finnish and international artists.

Ondine's extensive catalogue includes more than four hundred recordings (two hundred and fifty of which are available physically) of artists and ensembles such as conductor and pianist Christoph Eschenbach, conductors Vladimir Ashkenazy, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Sakari Oramo, Leif Segerstam, John Storgårds and Mikko Franck, orchestras such as The Philadelphia Orchestra, the Orchestre de Paris, the London Sinfonietta, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Czech Philharmonic, the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Helsinki Philharmonic, sopranos Karita Mattila and Soile Isokoski, pianist Olli Mustonen, violinist Pekka Kuusisto and clarinettist Kari Kriikku. The label has also had a long and fruitful association with the Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara, having recorded the premieres of many of his works and garnering many awards along the way.

The roots of Ondine date back to 1985 when founder Reijo Kiilunen released the very first Ondine album under the auspices of the renowned Finnish Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival. The label's initial mission was to produce one live album at the Festival each season. The fourth album, however, featured Einojuhani Rautavaara's opera Thomas (ODE 704-2), raising major international attention and opening up the possibility for North American distribution. Kiilunen, who was running the Festival's concert agency and had begun the recording activity part-time, soon decided to devote himself fully to the development of this new business, producing and editing the first 50 releases himself. In 1991, Seppo Siirala joined as producer, and the Helsinki-based company has been expanding steadily since, currently numbering six full-time employees. Today, Ondine continues to uphold its reputation as one of the most respected labels in classical music, and its products have received numerous prizes at the Cannes (MIDEM) Classical Awards, the Gramophone Awards, the BBC Music Magazine Awards and the Classical Internet Awards.

Universal Music Classical and Ondine entered into a distribution agreement that began on January 1, 2008. Both physical and digital distribution in the United States and Canada are covered under the agreement. Universal Music Classical comprises the Decca, Deutsche Grammophon, Philips, and ECM labels and is a division of the Universal Music Group. For more information about Ondine, visit www.ondine.net.

KoSA 13 Announces Camp Scholarship Winners

Castleton, Vermont August 7, 2008 — The thirteenth edition of the KoSA
International Percussion Workshops and Festivals was held July 30th to
August 3rd 2008 at Castleton State College in Castleton, Vermont.

For the fourth consecutive year, KoSA awarded full scholarships to
attend their annual event. This was done as an international contest
in collaboration with Modern Drummer Magazine.

The prize package included full tuition, as well as room and board.
Winning entries were chosen on the basis of the excellence of their
200-word essay describing why attending KoSA's Workshop was important
to them.

Five full-time scholarships were awarded to: David Cifelli (NJ,
USA...photo at left), Maxwill Gratzer (NC, USA), Adam Jones (MI, USA),
Tony Mortillaro (CA, USA) and Daniel Reiff (Ont.Canada). The 2008 KoSA
Scholarships are courtesy of the following companies: Evans, Hudson
Music, Mapex, ProMark, and Tama

This year's winners experienced a thrilling week of intense, hands-on
percussion training with some of the finest artists in the world,
including: Memo Acevedo, Cyro Baptista, Ignacio Berroa, Mario
DeCiutiis, Kenwood Dennard, Marc Dicciani, Dom Famularo, Gordon
Gottlieb, Arnie Lang, Marco Lienhard, Aldo Mazza, Allan Molnar,
Jonathan Mover, Emil Richards, Jim Royle, Bobby Sanabria, Rajna
Swaminathan, Chester Thompson, Glen Velez, Michael Wimberly with
Mamadou Dahoué and Nancy Zeltsman. Winners also were able to perform
with the KoSA rhythm section: Oscar Stagnaro on bass and Rafael Alcala
on piano.

U of T Opera Division presents Il Matrimonio Segreto

TORONTO - The Faculty of Music’s Opera Division will present four performances of Domenico Cimarosa’s comic opera Il Matrimonio Segreto (The Secret Marriage) on October 30, 31 & November 1 at 7:30 pm and November 2 at 2:30 pm in the MacMillan Theatre. The opera marks the Toronto conducting debut of Miah Im, recently appointed to the Opera Division, and is directed by Allison Grant with production design by Fred Perruzza. Tickets ($26 adults and $16 senior/student) can be purchased at the Box Office or by calling 416-978-3744. The Box Office is located in the Edward Johnson Building and is open Monday to Friday, 1 pm to 7 pm.

Though originally set in 18th century Bologna, the Opera Division’s production of IL MATRIMONIO SEGRETO has been updated to the 1920s – a period which echoes the madcap complications of the plot which includes a concealed marriage, a zany love triangle and a shoe factory! In the tradition of comic opera, after much scheming and amorous intrigue, the “secret marriage” is revealed and all ends in celebration.

The Opera Division will present two previews of the opera featuring excerpts performed by member of the cast:

Friday, October 10, 12:10 pm in Geiger Torel Room, Faculty of Music, 80 Queen’s Park. Free
Thursday, October 16, from 5:30 to 5:40 pm and 6:00 to 6:15 pm at the Bata Shoe Museum, 327 Bloor St. West. For more information about this preview, visit the Bata Shoe Museum website or call 416-979-7799 x 242.

Part of Canada’s top university, the University of Toronto Faculty of Music has an illustrious history as one of North America’s leading centres for the scholarly and professional study of music, offering a rich array of degree and diploma programs from the undergraduate to post-graduate levels. The Faculty of Music presents an annual concert season of over 100 public events. Highlights of the 2008-09 season include cellists Steven Isserlis and Shauna Rolston, baritone Sherrill Milnes, composer Maria Schneider, conductors David Briskin and Miah Im, jazz great Phil Nimmons, the Miró, and St. Lawrence String Quartets, the Gryphon Trio and Nexus. For more information, please visit our website at www.music.utoronto.ca or contact the Box Office at 416-978-3744.

The Faculty of Music 2008-2009 concert season is made possible by the generous support of our pillar sponsors: Manulife Financial, MBNA Canada, and TD Meloche Monnex Insurance.

For more information on this or other Faculty of Music concert series, please visit our website at www.music.utoronto.ca or contact the Box Office at 416-978-3744.

Italian Orchestra makes Canadian Debut

GALA ITALIA: NOVEMBER 3 AT ROY THOMSON HALL FEATURES

CANADIAN DEBUT OF ORCHESTRA INTERNAZIONALE D’ITALIA

WITH OPERA SINGER & CLASSICAL GUITARIST

On the occasion of the 13^th edition of the annual Italian Wine-Tasting, the Orchestra Internazionale d’Italia - Italy’s flagship ensemble – will perform at Roy Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe Street, Toronto, as part of its Canadian debut tour, Monday, November 3 at 8 p.m. Canadian maestro Kerry Stratton will conduct the Orchestra in a concert called Gala Italia – featuring operatic arias and orchestral masterworks mainly celebrating the 150^th anniversary of the great Italian opera composer, Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924).

Tickets, $35; $25 seniors and students; and $20 group rate, are available through the Roy Thomson Hall Box Office, 416-872-4255, or via www.roythomson.com. For more information, call 416-362-1422 or visit www.sumarts.com.

The performance is supported by the Italian Trade Office, Italian Cultural Institute, International Touring Productions, the International Resource Centre for Performing Artists, and The New Classical 96.3 FM.

Joining Maestro Stratton and the Orchestra is soprano Francesca Ruospo from Italy’s Accademia Teatro alla Scala in Milan, in her Canadian debut. Award-winning Italian classical guitarist and recording artist Claudio Marcotulli also makes his Canadian debut, in the famed work for guitar and orchestra, Concierto de Aranjuez by Spanish composer Joaquin Rodrigo.

Among the musical highlights are Capriccio Sinfonico by Puccini and favorite arias from his operas. As well, the tour features the premieres of two new works by Italian composers, commissioned by Rai Trade, a branch of Italian Radio and Television network – Carlo Boccadoro’s Fasi Lunari (Lunar Phases) and Gianluca Podio’s Di Fedro il gioco nascosto (Phaedrus’ Hidden Game).

This is the fourth tour in the International Visiting Orchestra Series, designed to bring world ensembles to the Canadian public.

With Maestro Stratton directing, the Canadian debut tour of the Orchestra Internazionale d’Italia comprises performances in eight Ontario locations and a concluding concert in Montreal on November 10. Besides the November 3 Toronto concert, the Ontario dates are Port Hope (November 2), Welland (November 4), Orillia (November 5), Markham (November 6), Milton (November 7), Barrie (November 8), and Richmond Hill (November 9).

ORCHESTRA INTERNAZIONALE D’ITALIA – www.oidi.com

Founded in 1986, the Orchestra Internazionale d’Italia grew out of the international orchestra of Jeunesses Musicales. It has gone on to perform throughout Europe, in Central and South America and in Asia, in festivals and concert halls, giving more than 900 symphonic concerts and performing for important opera festival productions. Many of the world’s greatest conductors and soloists have appeared as guests. In 1997, it received the European Prize for Culture as Symphonic Orchestra. Home base is the ancient and beautiful city of Fermo near the Adriatic Sea in central Italy’s Marche region. Since 2003, it has been resident orchestra of the Ventidio Basso Theatre in Ascoli Piceno.

The Orchestra comes to Canada direct from Italy, where it is giving a number of concerts under Maestro Stratton, performances that include Ascoli Piceno, October 24; Pesaro, October 25; and Fermo, October 26.

FRANCESCA RUOSPO, SOPRANO

Still in her 20s, soprano FRANCESCA RUOSPO comes to Canada directly from La Scala, Milan, where she is starring at the Countess in Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro in October. Born near the southern Italian city of Bari, she switched from piano studies to voice, going on to win scholarships, and top prizes in the Mario Lanza, Tito Schipa and Leyla Gencer international competitions. Having completed the two-year training at the Accademia Teatro alla Scala, she has sung operatic roles in Italy, and appeared internationally, performing in Chicago, in Strasbourg for the European Parliament, and in London, Abu Dhabi and Beijing.

CLAUDIO MARCOTULLI, GUITAR – www.claudiomarcotulli.it/ (Italian); www.claudiomarcotulli.it/english.html (English).

Italian guitarist Claudio Marcotulli, soloist for the Canadian tour, is considered one of the most distinguished guitarists of his generation, both for the quality of his performances and his intriguing choice of repertoire. He won the 1984 Concours René Bartoli in France and first prize in Spain’s F. Tarrega Competition. Marcotulli has enjoyed worldwide tours and recorded CDs of operatic melodies and Vivaldi concertos on the Ópera Tres label. Among his performances with the Orchestra Internazionale d’Italia were several involving the late tenor Luciano Pavarotti.

PING!

PING!

CREATING NEW MUSIC FOR YOUNG MUSICIANS

A celebration in support of the Norman Burgess Fund

Music, Food & Wine at Gallery 345

Sunday, October 26, 2008 (2-4PM)

TORONTO, ON, October 2, 2008: On Sunday, October 26, 2008 at Gallery 345 in Toronto, the Canadian Music Centre (Ontario Regional Office) proudly presents PING!, a celebration of new music for young musicians. In a rare Toronto appearance The St. Lawrence String Quartet — “remarkable not simply for the quality of their music making, exalted as it is, but for the joy they take in the act of connection" (The New Yorker) — performs R. Murray Schafer's notorious and sublime Quartet no. 3. From outbursts of yelling to spell-binding mysticism, the work is a landmark of the contemporary repertoire and a favourite of the St. Lawrence String Quartet. Eve Egoyan — “a player of incredible, often very quiet intensity” (The Wire) and the mesmerizing Gregory Oh perform Linda Smith's entrancing piano duo Velvet. The afternoon features world premieres of the 2007 Fund commissions by Andrew Staniland and Abigail Richardson performed by Daniel Lee (guitar) and the SOCMI orchestra with conductor Michael Schulte. Two young composers going places, Andrew Staniland’s music has been described as “beautiful and terrifying” by New Yorker magazine while Abigail Richardson won top prize in the under-30 division of the prestigious International Rostrum of Composers in Paris.

Norman Burgess: a legacy of creativity and innovation.

Throughout his career Norman Burgess worked passionately to foster innovation, creativity and excellence in music education. As Director of the Conservatory at Mount Royal College he launched the internationally renowned Academy for Gifted Children and the Calgary Fiddlers. At the Royal Conservatory in Toronto he served as Dean and helped found the Centre for Learning Through the Arts.

Musician, educator, administrator and proud advocate of Canadian music, Norman Burgess dreamed of expanding the repertoire for young string players. The Norman Burgess Memorial Fund makes this vision possible. The Fund selects and commissions Canadian composers to work in partnership with professional string educators and their students with the goal of creating enriching new musical works for study and performance.

PING!