Recital with Julia Dawson Saturday Night in Cobourg

Tomorrow night I will be performing with soprano Julia Dawson at St. Andrews Presbyterian Church in Cobourg, Ontario. On the program: Mozart, Handel, Rossini, Bellini, Bolcom, and Granados, with a few Christmas favorites at the end of the program.

Event listing on Facebook (ID required)

Leslie Kinton w/ The Madawaska Quartet August 2nd at Festival of the Sound

Those of you able to get to Parry Sound this week might be interested in seeing pianist Leslie Kinton perform the Dvorak Piano Quintet with the Madawaska Quartet noon Thursday in the Charles W. Stockey Centre for the Performing Arts as part of this summer's Festival of the Sound. The Madawaska Quartet are: Sarah Fraser Raff, violin, Rebecca van der Post, violin, Anna Redekop, viola, and Amy Laing, cello. Also on the noon program is the Martinu Trio in F major with Suzanne Shulman, flute, Anssi Karttunen, cello, and Glen Montgomery, piano. Tickets are $19/16.

And that's not even Leslie Kinton's first performance of the day--at 10:30am he appears with fellow pianist James Anagnoson in a program of duo piano works by Dvorak and Martinu. Tickets are $15/12.

Kinton and the Madawaska Quartet will also be performing the Dvorak Quintet in Toronto at the RCM Great Artists series on Sept. 28.

More upcoming Madawaska Quartet events:

Aug. 11
Children's concert at Franklin Children's Garden, Toronto Centre Island.
11a.m. Free

Aug. 17
Summer concert series at St.Andrew-by-the-lake, Toronto Island.
7p.m. $15/$13 Janacek, Ives, Linda Smith

Piano Events at the Toronto Summer Music Academy and Festival

For those of you in the Toronto area looking for some chamber music and art song without leaving the city, the University of Toronto's Faculty of Music is hosting the Toronto Summer Music Academy and Festival, running from July 23-August 19.

Here is a brief run-down of some of the piano events coming up in the next few weeks:

Passionate String Music
Leipzig String Quartet with Menacham Pressler, piano

L. van Beethoven: Quartet in F minor, op.95
F. Mendelssohn: Quartet in A minor, op.13J.
Brahms: Piano Quintet in F minor, op.34

Saturday, July 28
Lecture 6:45pm, Room 330, Edward Johnson Building
Concert 8:00pm, MacMillan Theatre
Adults $35, Seniors/Students $25

German Songs and Letters Lorna Macdonald, soprano, Cameron Stowe, piano, with Barry Macgregor, narrator

Songs of Mozart, Schubert, Schumann, Strauss

Tuesday, July 31 at 8:00pm
Walter Hall
Adults $35, Seniors/Students $25

In a French Atmosphere Karina Gauvin, soprano, Michael McMahon, piano

Songs by Fauré, Debussy, Duparc, and Poulenc

Thursday, August 2
Lecture 6:45pm, Room 330, Edward Johnson Building
Concert 8:00pm, Walter Hall
Adults $35, Seniors/Students $25

A Celebration of Pianistic Masterpieces Andre Laplante, piano

J.S. Bach: Adagio in A minor, BWV 564
J. Haydn: Variations in F minor
L. van Beethoven: Sonata in C major, op.53 “Waldstein”
F. Schubert: Three Moments musicaux D.780
F. Chopin: Sonata in B-flat minor, op. 35 “Funeral March”

Thursday, August 9 at 8:00pm
MacMillan Theatre
Adults $35, Seniors/Students $25

Bohemian Treasures The Gryphon Trio (Annalee Patipatanakoon, violin, Roman Boris, cello, James Parker, piano)

A. Dvorak: Piano Trio in E minor, op. 90 “Dumky”
B. Smetana: Piano Trio in G minor, B.104, op. 15

Tuesday, August 14
Lecture 6:45pm, Room 330, Edward Johnson Building
Concert 8:00pm Walter Hall
Adults $35, Seniors/Students $25

The festival's finale will be two performances of Rossini's The Barber of Seville, directed by Michael Albano with musical director (and festival artistic director) Agnes Grossman.

Thursday, August 16 - Saturday, August 18 at 7:30 pm
Sunday, August 19 at 2:00 pm
MacMillan Theatre
Adults $50, Seniors/Students $30


Update 3:33pm

Ken Winters reviews Anton Kuerti's Tuesday night recital in today's Globe and Mail.

EVEolution with Heather Pawsey and Rachel Kiyo Iwaasa

An upcoming program by soprano Heather Pawsey and pianist Rachel Kiyo Iwaasa is definitely something to check out for those of you able to travel to Wells, British Columbia (just east of Quesnel). Here's the full press release:

Very first woman, and mother of us all,
Temptress of Adam? Cause of the Fall?
Eternally blessed, eternally cursed,
Curious at best – defiant at worst.

Cast of Characters:

God Adam
Eve The Serpent
Lilith All of us

Plot:

You think you know.

The garden, the tree, the apple, the Fall .... and we’ve been searching
for Eden ever since. Mad Eve, bad Eve, blame it all on sad Eve – but
what if there’s another story?

Soprano Heather Pawsey and pianist Rachel Kiyo Iwaasa strip away
millennia of misogyny and misunderstanding to look at Eve through a
multi-prismed and oftentimes humorous lens in a penetrating musical
exploration of this most mysterious - and fascinating - woman, and the
story that began it all. From French composer Gabriel Fauré’s lush
Romanticism to American Jake Heggie’s jazzy, syncopated rhythms,
through Canadian chris wind’s evocative soundscape and Vancouver
Symphony Orchestra Composer-in-Residence Jeffrey Ryan’s evocative
imagery, to noted B.C. composer Leslie Uyeda’s visceral and compelling
new song cycle The First Woman (with poetry by Lorna Crozier),
EVEolution ..... Another Look at Eden exposes a multiplicity of Eves,
compelling us to ask: who, really, is she? Symbol? Saint? Or Slut?

EVEolution ..... Another Look at Eden runs July 20-22 at 8:00 p.m.
(2:00 p.m. Sunday matineé), at the Sunset Theatre – British Columbia’s
most recently restored heritage, professional theatre – in Wells (1
hour west of Quesnel on Highway 26) in the heart of the Cariboo gold
fields. Tickets are $12.00 for adults / $10.00 children and seniors,
and are available at the door (cash only) or in advance from the Wells
Hotel, Wells Visitor Centre and the Bear’s Paw Cafe.

Vancouver-based soprano Heather Pawsey, First Prize winner of the
Eckhardt-Gramatté National Music Competition, has sung opera, oratorio,
chamber, symphonic and contemporary music across North America, Europe,
Russia, Singapore and Australia. Vancouver-based pianist Rachel Kiyo
Iwaasa holds a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of British
Columbia, and is particularly noted for her interpretations of
contemporary repertoire. Lighting is by Jessie Richardson Theatre
Award-winning designer Gerald King. The historic Sunset Theatre was
built in 1934 by Anderson/Stromberg in the gold rush town of Wells,
B.C. Completely renovated and restored by owners Karen and Dave
Jeffery, it offers a full program of professional theatre, live music
and films.

EVEolution .... Another Look at Eden runs July 20-22 at 8:00 p.m. (2:00
p.m. Sunday matineé) at the historic Sunset Theatre in Wells, B.C. (1
hour west of Quesnel on Highway 26). Tickets: $12..00 (adults) /
$10.00 (children and seniors), available at the door, the Wells Hotel,
Wells Visitor Centre and the Bear’s Paw Cafe.

Recital with Laure Valiquette-Talbot this Friday

Here is the program for Laure Valiquette-Talbot's recital this Friday. I will be playing works by Neuling and Gougeon on the program.

Laure Valiquette-Talbot, horn

May 11^th 2007, 7 PM room 305
The Royal Conservatory of Music, 90 Croatia Street

Ludwig Van Beethoven (1770-1827)

Sextet op. 81b for 2 horns and string quartet (1794)

I- Allegro
II- Adagio
III- Rondo

Émilie Dupras-Langlais horn, Hanna Matthijsse violin,
Beckie Brown violin, Jane Levitt viola, Jonathan Glidden cello

Hermann Neuling (1897-1967)

Bagatelle for low horn and piano

Denis Gougeon (1951-

Six thèmes solaires: Jupiter for horn and piano(1990)

Christopher Foley, piano

Intermission

Benjamin Britten (1913-1976)

Serenade for tenor, horn and strings op.31(1943) --arranged for piano

Prologue
Pastoral
Nocturne
Élégie
Dirge
Hymne
Sonnet
Epilogue

Cory Knight tenor, Brahm Goldhamer, piano

Update 5.9.07

Laure's invite on Facebook now lists this event with the name "Beethoven VS Britten"!

Recital with Hilary Knox this Saturday

I will be performing with soprano Hilary Knox this Saturday, May 5 at 3pm in St. Anne's Anglican Church at 270 Gladstone Avenue in Toronto. Proceeds will go to The Gatehouse and daycare will also be available.

Here is the full program:


Dich, Theure halle (Tannhäuser) -- Richard Wagner (1813-1883)

At the River (1916) -- Charles Ives
Memories (1897)
The side Show (1921)

Knoxville: Summer of 1915 (1949) -- Samuel Barber

Intermission

Vissi D’arte, Vissi D’amore (from Tosca) -- Giacomo Puccini

Zueignung (op.10, no.1, 1882) -- Richard Strauss
Morgen (op.27, no.4, 1894)
Cäcilie (op.27, no.2, 1894)

Phidylè -- Henri Duparc
I’invitation au Voyage
Au Pays où se fait la guerre

Sole E Amore (1833) -- Giacomo Puccini
E L’Uccellino (1899)
Canto D’anime

Jacquelyn Familant to sing at Borderless Song this weekend

Christopher Burton's Borderless Song series, now in its second year, continues to bring in new and exciting performers. This weekend is no exception as New York soprano Jacquelyn Familant makes her Toronto debut in a program of works by Franz Schubert, Cole Porter, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Francis Poulenc, and Srul Irving Glick. Jacquelyn Familant appears with fellow Eastman alumni guitarist Alvin Tung and pianist Christopher Burton.

The performance will be held this Sunday, April 22nd at 7:30pm in Forest Grove United Church. Tickets are $25/15/free under 12.

Link to Jacquelyn's Myspace page

Writing program notes

I've always been a stickler about college-level students being able to write good program notes. Some of them succeed and go on to write in an engaging and informative style, some of them get bogged down in wooden prose, and others, well, let's hope they don't copy anything from Answers.com the next time around.

Enter Adam Baratz, who takes the art of program notes to the next level with this eloquent, candid and highly original offering from his recent senior recital at Eastman.

For those interested in writing program notes but don't know where to start, take a look at Writing Concert Program Notes by J. Michael Allsen at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.

Recital Wednesday with Laura Rodie at UWO

Here is the program of the recital I will be playing tomorrow evening in London, Ontario.

Laura Rodie, alto and soprano saxophone
Christopher Foley, piano
Wednesday, April 11, 8pm
Von Custer Hall, University of Western Ontario
Free admission

Sonata for Alto Saxophone and Piano by Robert Muczynski

Saxophone Concerto by Michael Torke

INTERMISSION

Distances Within Me for Alto Saxophone and Piano by John Anthony Lennon

She Sings, She Screams for Alto Saxophone and Tape by Mark Engebretson

Tango-Etude #3 by Astor Piazzolla

One busy weekend

This will be one of the busiest weekends in recent memory, which will find me shuttling between Tapestry New Opera Works (for this weekend's performances of The Shadow) and the Sheraton Centre for the MTNA conference. Today at the conference is Pedagogy Friday, which this year features information and workshops hosted by RCM Examinations.

My teaching studio has been one happy place the last few days, as I was given a large number of free tickets to distribute for tomorrow's recital by Yefim Bronfman at Massey Hall.

Up at 5:45 this morning in order to catch the 7:15 express train to Toronto to catch the RCM Examiner's breafast (I'm currently an Apprentice Examiner but get to attend the events nonetheless), then to the morning's events. Time allowing, I should hopefully have some time to post about the weeked's activities. Also be sure to check my new Twitter feed on the sidebar for quick updates.

Prouvost and Sévilla to perform at Borderless Song this weekend

The latest installment of Christopher Burton's Borderless Song series features violinist (and former Zino Francescatti pupil) Gaëtane Prouvost performing with pianist Jean-Paul Sévilla at Forest Grove United Church on Sunday, March 11 at 7:30. The recital will feature works by Hahn, Franck, and Ravel. Tickets are $25, free to children under 12.

For more information, contact borderless_song [at] yahoo dot see eh

With some technical problems happening at the Borderless Song website, artistic director Christopher Burton has kindly asked me to post Prouvost's and Sevilla's bios on this site, which I have done below:

Violinist Gaetane Prouvost studied at the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique of Paris where, at the age of sixteen, she unanimously won the First Prize in violin and chamber music. Later she was named laureate of the Carl Flesch International Violin Competition of London and following the advice of Zino Francescatti, she went to New York to study with Ivan Galamian at the Juilliard School of Music. Invited to play in numerous locations in the United States, in particular Carnegie Hall, she started her international career under the direction of orchestra directors such as James Colon, Michai Bredichianou, and Serge Baudo. She participated in television and radio shows both in France and abroad. Olivier Messiaen personally chose her for a performance in the former Soviet Union of his "Quartet for the End of Time."

Her activities are divided between her career as a soloist and her position as a teacher at Paris Conservatory. She also teaches at the CGFC in Paris.

Her exceptional technique allows her to approach the modern repertoire with great ease. Many recent works have been dedicated to her. She is frequently invited to the Ensemble Intercontemporain under the direction of Pierre Boulez, Gary Bertini, or Kent Nagano. Her recordings of the two sonatas by Sergei Prokofiev with Abdel-Rahman El Bacha were enthusiastically greeted by critics, notably by Gramaphone, Diapason, and Le Monde de la Musique,, “L’ame et la corde” which was described as “a stupefying recording of great sound beauty.”

French pianist Jean-Paul Sevilla gave his first recital at the age of nine. At the age of fourteen entered the National Conservatory of Music of Paris where he obtained the First Prize in piano, as well as a unanimous Prix d'honneur which has not been awarded since. He also received the First Prize in chamber music.
In 1959 he captured, also unanimously, the First Prize at the Geneva International Competition. His numerous tours, as soloist and chamber musician, have taken him from Europe and Africa to both Americas and Asia. Now a Canadian citizen as well, he was bom in Algeria, of Spanish descent.

For more than twenty years Jean-Paul Sévilla lived in Ottawa where he is now Professor Emeritus, after being full professer of piano, chamber music and piano literature at the University of Ottawa, while continuing his successful career as a concert pianist, lecturer and clinician. He even taught a course in Opera! He has produced many talented young artists, many of whom have won top awards at different international competitions. His musical and intellectual culture have made him in high demand for courses, lectures and master classes alike. As a writer, he has had many articles published in musical journals in the United States. He is a noted expert on Fauré and Ravel, whose complete works he has often performed.

In 1986 he spent one year as guest professor at the Musashino University in Tokyo, and has since returned every year to Asia, adding Korea, the Philippines, Indonesia and Hong Kong to his tours. Jean-Paul Sévilla has directed summer courses in Europe (Aix en Provence, Perpignan, Toulon, Nice, Poitiers, Saint Jean de Luz, Flaine, Courchevel) in Canada (Orford, Banff , Victoria) and in Korea. From 1997 to 2001 Jean-Paul Sevilla has been teaching at the Schola Cantorum in Paris, and from September to December 1999, he was guest Professor at the Oberlin (Ohio) Conservatory of Music. He is regularly invited as a jury member at national and international competitions such as Munich, Lisbon, Porto, Cleveland, Marsala, Senigallia, Jaen, Orléans, Cagliari, Moscow, Leipzig as well as the Paris Conservatoire, The Pro Musicis Competition, Le Concours des Grands Amateurs, the Canada Art Council, the Canadian Music Competitions etc.

Jean-Paul Sévilla has released a C.D. featuring works of Vincent d'Indy and Albert Roussel and an album of two CDs entitled "Homage to childhood" with works of Debussy, Prokovief, Ibert, Grovlez, and the world premiere of works by Pierné and Soulima Stravinsky. More recently, he has recorded works by Fauré in Japan and in France (Préludes op.103).
A recent CD of the world premiere of Gabriel Pierné's Variations in C minor has just been awarded a Diapason d'Or, the highest award given by the French music magazine "Diapason". A new album including Fauré's complete Nocturnes has just been released and critically acclaimed.

Jean-Paul Sévilla is an Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters (France).

Recital tomorrow with James Langridge

Here is the program for the recital I will be playing tomorrow with trumpeter James Langridge at the Royal Conservatory.

James Langridge, trumpet
ADO Year 1 Recital
with Christopher Foley, Piano,
Angela Burns, Soprano,
and the Glenn Gould Brass
8:00 PM, March 9th, 2007
Rm 305, The Royal Conservatory of Music

Legend by Georges Enesco

Six Songs, Op. 48 by Edvard Grieg
-Lauf der Welt
-Zur Rosenzeit
-Ein Traum

Opening Aria from “Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen”, BWV 51 by J.S. Bach
with Angela Burns, Soprano

Intermission

Sonata by Halsey Stevens
I. Allegro Moderato
II. Adagio tenero
III. Allegro

Street Song by Michael Tilson Thomas
with the Glenn Gould Brass: James Langridge, trumpet, Stéphanie Lavoie, trumpet, Joel Green, trombone, Laure Valiquette-Talbot, horn, and Adam More, bass trombone.

Admission is free. Hope to see you there!

FWD:Music just over a month away

It's just over a month until the concert I've been organizing at the Royal Conservatory finally happens. If audience and revenues support such a venture, it's the goal of the RCM Faculty Association (under whose auspices this recital is happening) to create an ongoing series that will fund a projected scholarship for the Community School on behalf of the Faculty Association. Judging by the lineup for the first concert (see poster), it should be a fascinating evening.

FWD:Music will be happening on Saturday, April 7th at 8pm in the Concert Hall of the RCM. Tickets are $15/10 and families are $30.

Wendy to perform in Duruflé Requiem this weekend with Ottawa Choral Society

It's off to Ottawa tomorrow morning for Wendy's appearance as soloist in the Duruflé Requiem with the Ottawa Choral Society. Alexandre Sylvestre will be the baritone soloist. Matthew Larkin will conduct the OCS Chamber Symphony in both the Duruflé Requiem and the Morten Lauridsen Lux Aeterna. The performance is this Sunday February 25 at 8pm in St. Joseph's Church in Ottawa. Tickets are $30/10.

Link to concert details
Link to ticket info

Recital tomorrow with Vanessa Fralick

Here is the program:

Vanessa Fralick, trombone
Christopher Foley, piano

3:15pm, February 16, 2007
Walter Hall, Edward Johnson Building
University of Toronto
Free Admission

Fantasy for Trombone - Malcolm Arnold

Concert pour trombone et piano - Launy Groendahl

Misty - Errol Garner

Sonata Vox Gabrieli - Stjepan Sulek

Cousins - Herbert L. Clarke with Stephen Hum, trumpet

Cheap classical music ideas in Toronto

The Torontoist (recently nominated for a 2007 Bloggie award) lists ways in a recent posting to see the TSO, COC, National Ballet, and various recital series without paying full price. Read the comments as well for additional ideas.

Link

Recital with Ashley Bedard on Wednesday

Here is the program for the recital I will be playing with Ashley Bedard this Wednesday:

Ashley Bedard, soprano
Christopher Foley, piano
Princess Margaret Hospital Mezzanine
610 University Avenue
12pm October 2, 2006
Free Admission

Music for a While (Purcell)
An die Musik (Schubert)

Chanson triste (Duparc)

from Fiançailles pour rire (Poulenc)
La dame d’André
Violon
Fleurs

Jewel Aria from Faust (Gounod)

from Gypsy Songs (Dvorak)
Kdyz mne stara matka
Struna naladena
Siroke rukavy
Dejte klec jestrabu

Vilja (Lehar)

Come in quest’aura bruna from Simon Boccanegra (Verdi)
Ave Maria from Otello

Cäcilie (R. Strauss)

March 23 Recital with Tess Menet

Here is the program for this Thursday:

Tess Menet, oboe and english horn
Christopher Foley, piano

Thursday, March 23, 8pm
Victoria Chapel, University of Toronto

Concerto in C minor by Benedetto Marcello

I. Allegro moderato
II. Adagio
III. Allegro

Sonatine pour piano by Maurice Ravel, arranged for oboe and piano by David Walter

I. Modéré
II. Mouvement de Menuet
III. Animé

Fantasia for oboe by Georg Philippe Telemann

Intermission

Parable for English Horn by Vincent Persichetti

Six Metamorphoses after Ovid for solo oboe by Benjamin Britten

I. PAN who played upon the reed pipe which was Syrinx, his beloved
II. PHAETON who rode upon the chariot of the sun for one day and was hurled into the river Padus by a thunderbolt.
III. NIOBE who, lamenting the death of her fourteen children, was turned into stone.
IV. BACCHUS at whose feasts is heard the noise of gaggling women's tattling tongues and shouting out of boys.
V. NARCISSUS who fell in love with his own image and became a flower.
VI. ARETHUSA who, flying from the love of Alpheus the river god, was turned into a fountain.

Nocturne for english horn and piano by Andre Jutras

Concertante for oboe and piano by Emile Paladilhe

Rochester Weekend

For the last two days, I've been frantically rehearsing 2 piano 8 hand works with Jean Barr and others for Jean's faculty recital this afternoon. It was Jean's intention to create a recital of works for piano in ensemble with some of her dearest colleagues from Eastman along with 6 and 8 hand works with a few of her former students. I'm playing on two 2P8H works, both by Mack Wilberg--his Carmen fantasy and a new work entitled Les Contes d'Offenbach composed for the occasion and dedicated to Jean Barr.

It has certainly been a weekend of memories, and a pleasure to get reacquainted with Judy Kehler Siebert, Diane Birr, and Sylvie Beaudette and relive the early years of Jean's ACM program at Eastman.

On the other hand, we've all been getting a crash course on playing multi-piano works, much of which involves keeping down while someone else has the tune or trying to make the tune heard against the others. There is a huge accumulation of sound with 1 piano 6 hand and 2 piano 8 hand works, and controlling it (via pedal especially) has been one of our rehearsal goals. I really can't remember when I've had such fun rehearsing a program and this afternoon's program will hopefully be quite a hit. We are told that the concert is widely expected to sell out.

After last night's dress rehearsal, a few of us made a quick side trip to stock up on some beans.

-----

Back to Toronto after the concert as on Monday morning OTG production rehearsals begin.
No Bathroom Divas recap this weekend, as the show does not air in the United States. I taped the episode and will take a look at it either Tuesday or Wednesday.

Image hosted by the Eastman School of Music

Road Trip

This weekend will prove to be an interesting one, with a trip to Rochester for the Lotte Lenya Competition and Jean Barr's recital on Sunday, both at Eastman. Much music to learn before then...