News

Each summer, WholeNote Magazine invites contributions from the local music community for a feature entitled “On The Road”. Read On the Road: Kerry Stratton.

Next year will be the 100th anniversary of the birth of composer Jean Francaix, who died in 1997. Next month, Kerry will be recording two previously unrecorded works by Jean Francaix, with the Sir George Solti Chamber Orchestra in Budapest.  This is very exciting, as Kerry has been in communication for some time with the late composer’s son, who has suggested some truly marvellous scores.  The plan is to release these recordings in the Francaix centennial year of 2012.

Wish Opera’s 2011 Season is fast approaching: on April 15/16, Kerry will conduct the operetta Rose Marie, music by Friml and Stothart, lyrics by Hammerstein II.

Listen to Maestro Kerry Stratton on Rose Marie: A Canadian Love Story.

Opera Week is presented in celebration of the reopening of La Scala by Toscanini, May 11, 1946 by The International Resource Centre for Performing Artists (IRCPA) in collaboration with The Toronto Centre for the Arts, The Italian Cultural Institute & The New Classical 96.3FM.

Call to Opera Singers, Coaches, Pianists, Conductors, Directors
Here’s a great chance to work with coaches Vincenzo Scalera, Teatro alla Scala (May 5/6) Joan Dornemann, Metropolitan Opera (May 7/9/10). Applicants: Please send audition tape or DVD before April 10 to: IRCPA, 43 Bright Street, Toronto ON M5A 3H5. For more information: 416-362-1422, sumintl@rogers.com, or InternationalResourceCentreForPerformingArtists.com

Observers welcome $20 per session, at the door, Gallery Theatre Space, Toronto Centre for the Arts

Opera Week Celebration Concert
Presenting top artists from Opera Week coaching sessions on WEDNESDAY, MAY 11 at 8 PM, at Toronto Centre for the Arts, 5040 Yonge Street. $30, $25 seniors/students.
Box Office 416-872-1111 – www.ticketmaster.ca

On April 1 at 8pm, Kerry will be conducting the Toronto Concert Orchestra in a performance of Dvorak’s New World Symphony, and Rachmaninov’s Piano concerto number 2 in C minor, with soloist Michael Kim.

This event happens at the Phoenix Concert Theatre, 410 Sherbourne St (1 block north of Carlton).

Call Ticketmaster: 416-872-1111.

Sponsored by the New Classical 96.3, Audio Centre Oakville, Jeannie Kim (Korean Cultural Committee) and Ambiente.

(Updated April 15: Paisley Jura, who plays double bass with the TCO, offers her thoughts about our April 1 concert.)

Once again, Maestro Stratton hosts A Little Night Music in the Art Gallery at the Toronto Centre for the Arts. This is a weekly series of informal discussions on various music and composers, with live performances by prominent artists.

Kornel Wolak

Adam Żukiewicz

Jonathan Craig

 
April 4 through May 30. For individual tickets or subscriptions call 416-733-0545.

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Wish Opera’s 2011 Season commences April 15/16 with the operetta Rose Marie, music by Friml and Stothart, lyrics by Hammerstein II. Set in the Canadian Rockies, Rose Marie La Flemme, a French Canadian girl, loves miner Jim Kenyon – Mounties, music and mayhem ensue! The work premiered on Broadway in 1924, running for 557 performances. It was the longest-running Broadway musical of the 1920s until it was surpassed by The Student Prince in 1926. The charming score is full of popular melodies, including the much loved Indian Love Call – “When I’m calling you…”
Tickets can be ordered online, or call 1-877-700-3130.

Maestro Stratton brings over 30 years experience to Wish Opera. Founded in the spring of 2010, Wish Opera is a young company with a mature vision. Wish Opera’s 2011 Season will be presented at their new home, the John Bassett Theatre (MTCC) and will commence April 15/16 with the Operetta Rose Marie, music by Friml and Stothart, lyrics by Hammerstein II. Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette will be presented October 28/29.

Maestro Stratton has two new CDs which were released in October, on the Artist’s Choice label, both with the Slovak Sinfonietta:

• Beethoven’s Symphony No. 8 and the Emperor Concerto, with pianist Haiou Zhang
• Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto with clarinetist Kornel Wolak.

Now available for sale: by mail or download.

On November 23, at George Weston Recital Hall, the Toronto Concert Orchestra will feature prizewinning Quebec artist Maxim Bernard in Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1. winner of the 2005 Indiana University Concerto Competition. Bernard has performed with major Canadian orchestras and on CBC Radio, and is currently working on his master’s degree with renowned pianist Menahem Pressler. The concert is presented by the Canadian Music Competition of Ontario.

In 2011, Toronto Concert Orchestra will perform in Barrie (April 2) and Milton (April 29).