Since last update – played in the NMC Ann Southam concert, did some outreach work with the amazing Julia Aplin at the Sweetwater Festival, played the penultimate concert in our Haydn Piano Trio Cycle (last concert is April 1st here), conducted and played in the John Cage show for Nuit Blanche Toronto, conducted Michael Gordon’s Trance with CONTACT at the Music Gallery’s X-Avant Festival, recreated Carole King’s Tapestry for the Global TV Cabaret Festival, music directed the revival of John Beckwith and James Reaney’s Crazy to Kill for Toronto Masque Theatre, did some reading and performing in the Young Centre’s Word Festival, Vinko Globokar came to town, did some work with the always fun Young Centre City Choir, which anyone can join and is free!.

Coming up soon – on January 29th, I’m playing in Thomas Kessler’s Piano Quintet – an hommage to Mozart’s, as well as the premiere of Omar Daniel’s new piece Mehetapja for three sopranos and ensemble, part of the New Music Concerts Legends show.  Details here.

February 10th and 11th at the Music Gallery is the Cold War Songbook, a weekend I’ve curated involving three of my favourite pianists, Vicky Chow, Simon Docking and Stephen Clarke.  Details here

On February 25th, I’ll be in Vancouver playing some four piano stuff with the Vancouver Bach Choir and some amazing klavierspielers – the Elizabeth and Marcel Bergmann and Kinza Tyrell.  Stravinsky’s Les Noces and Carl Orff’s Catulli Carmina.  Should be amazing.

In March, I’ll be playing with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra for the New Creations Festival.  Looking forward to working with Peter Eotvos.  I also wrote an article about the festival for the TSO magazine.  You can read it here.

Cheers, and happy new year!

1 – When I perform a new piece of music, culpability for my mistakes rests with the composer unless there is strong compelling evidence otherwise. A highway with well-designed signage and a smart physical layout makes it easy for travelers to get from A to B; if you have a clear idea of where you need to go and have ample advance warning along with the physical space to do so, then the civil engineers have done their job. Composers need to think about how they notate their ideas in a much more critical fashion than they currently do. Performance notation should give performers the best possible chance of creating the sounds a composer wants – this is distinct from compositional notation, which should be more about illustrating the ideas of the composer. Put it this way – if I’m adding extra lanes to a highway, a topographical survey is nice to have, but if I’m navigating the highway, do I really need kilometrage to two decimal places?

2 – I’m astonished by performers who complain about small score errors or lack of dynamics. As I play through Haydn’s piano trios, I laugh at the suppositions and errors that are fixed and forgiven. I also don’t hear the same standards of notational rigour applied to, say, Johnny Bach. 18th and 19th century performance practice is so ingrained in our training that we don’t think twice about these things. Couldn’t we at least extend a similar courtesy to the composers who represent us?

Do these ideas seem contradictory?

…

Definitely the latter.

The indy Carleton newspaper gave us a nice writeup here and you can get more info about the festival here and here.

Julia Aplin and I will also be performing Pattycake and messing around with Living Statues in the Waterway Soundfaire the same day at 1pm.

edit:  just found this. I wanna be disserted!

There’s also a Music Gallery show of her music tonight! Details below.

Also tonight, Pestova/Meyer duo at Gallery 345, if your not a Finn-o-phile.

Later – in the month – NMC, Continuum, Esprit, Emergents feat. Alex Samaras’ GREX and the Katelyn Clark/Patrick Dupuis duo, plus a cool show by CONTACT featuring composer/death metal hero Helmut Oehring.

May listings after the fold!

1/ MG – ON THE TRAIL OF KAIJA SAARIAHO – MAY 6

Post-Classical Series
A selection of sought-after solo works by the trailblazing Finnish composer by the trailblazing Finnish composer
Doors 7pm, concert 8pm
Tickets $20 regular, $15 member + senior, $10 student

From the Grammar of Dreams (1988) – texts by Sylvia Plath – for two female voices
NoaNoa (1992) for flute and electronics
Six Japanese Gardens (1994) – in memory of Toru Takemitsu – for percussion and electronics
Sept Papillions (2000) for solo cello
Dolce Tormento (2004) for solo piccolo

Performers:
Carla Huhtanen, soprano
Aiyun Huang, percussion
Rachel Mercer, cello
Marion Newman, mezzo-soprano
Camille Watts, flute/piccolo

Kaija Saariaho is one of Europe’s most recognizable composers, but her success hasn’t always translated to popular acquaintance on these shores. There are many who are trying to correct this oversight, including Carnegie Hall, where she will be Composer-in-Residence for the 2011-12 season, and the Canadian Opera Company, who will present her opera L’amour de loin in 2012. For those who are interested in getting to know her music, and for those who already do, the Music Gallery presents a selection of her solo works as interpreted by some of Toronto’s finest performers.

2/PESTOVA/MEYER @ 345 – MAY 6

The Art of the Duo Piano:
Xenia Pestova and Pascal Meyer
Friday May 6, 2011 at 8 PM
Tickets $20/$15 Seniors/$10 Students

Dugal McKinnon (B. 1972): Diktat, Ditty, Half-life
Steve Reich (b. 1936): Piano Phase (1967)
Henri Dutilleux (b. 1916): Figures de résonances (1970)
Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971): The Rite of Spring (1913),

Xenia Pestova (New Zealand/Canada) and Pascal Meyer (Luxembourg) formed a piano duo in 2003. Since their studies at the Conservatory of Amsterdam, the two pianists went on to develop international solo performing careers. As a piano duo, they combine their shared aesthetics of sound with their commitment to programming new and non-standard works.

3/ TOY PIANOS+JUNQ @ 345 – MAY 7

The Toy Piano Composers present Mini-uet
May 7, 2011 at 8pm
$20; $15 Seniors; $10 students

New works by the Toy Piano Ensemble featuring the junctQín Keyboard Collective.

4/ NMC – MALAYSIAN VOICES @ MG – MAY 8

Doors 7pm, concert 8pm
Tickets $25 regular, $15 member, student + senior
New Music Concerts Ensemble
Robert Aitken, flute and direction
Aiyun Huang, solo percussion

Programme:
Kee Yong Chong – Bellstone (2011)*
Kee Yong Chong – Mourning the murder of an old banyan tree (2002)**
Kee Yong Chong – Flute Concerto (2011)*
Chow Jun Yi – A Night Without Voices (2009)**
Yii Kah Hoe – Wild Cursive (2010)**
Tazul Izan Tajuddin – Sebuah Tenunan IV (2003)**
Neo Nai Wen – The Forgotten Sound (2009)**
Continuum Contemporary Music: Mechanical Advantage
Turning a glitch to its advantage, Continuum reprogrammes its May 9 concert as an exploration of process in music
8:00pm

5/ CONTINUUM – MECHANICAL ADV @ MG – MAY 9

Monday May 9, Doors 7pm, concert 8pm
Tickets $25 regular, $15 member, student + senior

Ann Southam – Four In Hand
Anthony Genge – Hockets II
Aldo Clementi – Madrigale
Louis Andriessen – Zilver

Continuum Contemporary Music Ensemble
Jennifer Waring, Artistic Director
Anne Thompson, flute
Max Christie, clarinet
Carol Lynn Fujino, violin
Paul Widner, cello
Laurent Philippe, piano
Gregory Oh, piano
Ryan Scott, percussion

6/ EMERGENTS IV @ MG – MAY 12

Thursday, May 12, 2011,Doors 7pm, concert 8pm
Katelyn Clark & Patrick Dupuis + GREX
A unique Montréal duo of harpsichord & electric bass, followed by an audacious Toronto vocal ensemble
Tickets $10 regular, $5 member, senior + student

Part One:
Katelyn Clark, harpsichord
Patrick Dupuis, electric bass

François Couperin — La reine des coeurs (1730/2011)* arr. by Clark/Dupuis for amplified harpsichord, electric bass and fixed media
Christian Wolff — Snowdrop (1970)
J. Chang — Transcription I (2006)**
* World Premiere
** Canadian Premiere

Part Two:
GREX

Braid 2 — Meredith Monk
Hocket — Meredith Monk
Memento — Arvo Pärt
Sing, My Soul — Ned Rorem
Georgian folk songs
Gamelan — R. Murray Schafer

For the two promising ensembles featured in this iteration of Emergents, boundaries are sometimes embraced, sometimes stretched and occasionally ignored altogether.

The Dupuis/Clark Duo combines two seemingly disparate instruments and finds itself melding four centuries in its singular identity. The this technological divide may be the tie that binds, if one considers the rhythm section (drums+bass+chording) as the modern descendant of the continuo group (harpsichord+viol+lute/theorbo). Many listeners will remember Katelyn from her appearance with the Contemporary Keyboard Society at the Music Gallery in 2008.

GREX is a vocal octet that defies comfortable description. Many of its members are firmly rooted in the vocal jazz tradition, but all boast a surprising breadth of range and craft. Founder and artistic director Alex Samaras is a case in point; a graduate of the University of Toronto Jazz Performance program, he also spent time in the U of T Chainsaw Ensemble and went on to work in NYC with contemporary arts icon Meredith Monk and her ensemble. Their program features some of Monk’s compositions, the hypnotic murmurings of Part, the contemporary Americana of Rorem, Schafer’s alliterative Gamelan and some steel-core Georgian singing.

7/ ESPRIT WAVES FESTIVAL – MAY 12-MAY 15

May 12 -Drake Hotel – 8 pm CHERCHER NOISE Esprit Wild & Wired at the Drake (Lounge & Underground) featuring works of Jimmie LeBlanc, Eric Ross, Akira Nishimura, Elisha Denburg, Ashkan Behzadi, John Cage and Claude Vivier with Wallace Halladay/Saxes, Stephen Clarke/piano/ Esprit Percussion Ensemble, Alex Pauk Conductor, and the Cybernetic Orchestra from McMaster University, David Ogborn, Director.

May 13 – Fleck Dance Theatre, Harbourfront Centre- 8 pm – Rising Star Composers Concert in association with the Canadian League of Composers featuring works of Matthew Ricketts, Zoshi Di Castri, Anthony Tan and the winning compositions of the CLC Emerging Composers Competition and the Members Composition Competition.

May 14 – Hart House Music Room, U of T – Young Composers Round Table and Open Forum hosted by Dr. Glenn Buhr, Professor, Composition; Director, Improvisation Concerts Ensemble.

May 15 – Koerner Hall – MUSICAL OFFERINGS, Esprit’s 4th Subscription Series Concert featuring works by Gubaidulina, Pauk and Gougeon and the world premiere of Chris Paul Harman’s Coyote Soul. Presentation of The Canadian Music Centre’s Toronto Emerging Composer Award will take place during the concert.

May 30 -Glenn Gould Studio 12:00 pm -Creative Sparks Student Compositions Concert (free)

8/ CONTACT – HELMUT OEHRING – MAY 14

Contact presents the music of Helmut Oehring, featuring the world premier of The Lake
Saturday May 14
Doors 7pm, concert 8pm
Tickets $20 regular, $10 member, student + senior

Contact Contemporary Music Ensemble
Jerry Pergolesi, Artistic Director and percussion
Rob MacDonald, guitar
Mary Katherine Finch, cello
Wallace Halladay, saxophones
Allison Wiebe, piano
Sarah Fraser Raff, violin
Peter Pavlovsky, double bass/bass

9/ ADAM SCIME – FUZE @ 345 – MAY 22

Adam Scime presents “FUZE”
Sunday May 22, 2011 at 8pm
$20; $15 Seniors; $10 students

Fuze – An evening of new Canadian works featuring Electronics

People Are Not Cars, Suite for Tape – Alex Eddington
Lilies, for Flute and Electronics – Riho Esko Maimets
Devotion, for Tape and Video – Emilie Lebel
River, for Flute and Electronics – Caleb Chan
Fuze, for amplified violin and audiofile playback – Paul Frehner
Corona, for Flute, Cello and Elextronics – Adam Scime
Event Details

10/ EVE EGOYAN + 4ETTO GRAPHICA @ MG – MAY 28

FROM EYE TO EAR
featuring EVE EGOYAN + QUARTETTO GRAPHICA
Shining the spotlight on graphic scores: music as sound and image
Doors 7pm, concert 8pm
Tickets $25 regular, $15 member + senior, $10 student

Gyorgy Ligeti — Artikulation (1958)

Quartetto Graphica
Mike Hansen, record player + electronics
Arnd Jorgenson, guitar
Guy LeBlanc, no-input mixing board + toys
Pau Torres, laptop

Malcolm Goldstein — Beginning Articulations (1973)
Gordon Monahan — Voices Emerging Along High Tension Wires (1984)
James Tenney — Three Pages in the Shape of a Pear (1995)
John Oswald — ∆88 (2011, World Premiere)
Chiyoko Szlavnics — New work (2011, World Premiere)

Eve Egoyan, piano

Graphic notation refers to a musical score that employs non-traditional symbols and text to convey information about the performance of a piece of music — a practice which first emerged in the mid-20th century, and has been used by many of the world’s most innovative composers, from Cage to Braxton, Stockhausen to Kagel, Penderecki to Cardew. From Eye to Ear shines the spotlight on this re-emerging movement in contemporary music. Since many of these scores are works of art unto themselves, a live video feed will allow the audience to view each score as it is performed. Meanwhile, scores by Canadian composer Chyoko Szlavnics, on loan from the Canadian Music Centre, will be on display in the Fellowship Room.

PLUS!
Free preview lecture / demo of “From Eye to Ear”
Monday May 16
Beeton Auditorium, Toronto Reference Library, 789 Yonge St.
With host, John Terauds (Toronto Star)
7pm • FREE

It’s good to have spring back, yes? Yes.

TONIGHT: A new music battle of the bands, but all friendly like. RCM New Music Ensemble, U of T Sax Ensemble and U of T Chainsaw Ensemble play Steve Reich, Sean Griffin and world premieres by Robert Lemay at the Music Gallery, tonight, Sat March 26, at 8pm. $10/$5. Students free.

Via Salzburg has a an emerging composer competition. Deadline Apr 29.

http://www.viasalzburg.com/?page_id=500

It’s happening out of town, but check out Kitchener’s Open Ears Festival if you get a chance. April 27-May 1. Susanna Hood does John Oswald’s Spinvolver, Princeton Laptop Orchestra, Nicole Lizee, Tony Conrad, Tanya Tagaq, Toca Loca CD Release, Eve Egoyan and more more more!!!

http://www.openears.ca/index.htm

I’m breaking my own rule here (no pop), but it’s my rule. My super favourite songwriter, Christine Fellows, will be having her CD release at the Music Gallery on March 26. If you saw her show with Shary Boyle at the closing of the Images Festival last year, you’ll be as excited as I am. http://musicgallery.org/node/405

Lots of great concerts this month. Norma Beecroft show (17th), the AMP boys come to town (10th) and Terry Riley’s Cactus Rosary (16th).
And now, listings for April! (after the jump)

1/ MERCER-PARK DUO PLAY KEVIN LAU @ WALTER HALL, APR 3

April 3, 7:30 p.m. Walter Hall
Free admission
Rachel Mercer, cello
Angela Park, piano
and the Karen Kieser Prize-winning composition by Kevin Lau

Prokofiev: Sonata for Cello and Piano in C major Opus 119
Kevin Lau: Starsail (winner of the Karen Kieser Prize in Canadian Music)
Rachmaninov: Sonata for Cello and Piano in g minor Opus 19

2/ RCM NEW MUSIC ENSEMBLE – APR 5 @ COC, APR 8 @ MAZZOLENI

Brian Current, director
Tuesday, April 5, 2011, 12 – 1 p.m.
Bradshaw Ampitheatre, Free
Friday April 8, 2011, 7:30 PM
Mazzoleni Concert Hall, $10

Under the direction of Brian Current, the young artists of The Glenn Gould School New Music Ensemble present an eclectic and exciting program including works by Magnus Lindberg, Vincent Ho, Linda Catlin Smith, and R. Murray Schafer’s Arcana for mezzo-soprano and chamber ensemble.

3/ ALLISON CAMERON + PAUL CLIPSON: LIVE IMAGES @ MUSIC GALLERY, APR 8

Friday, April 8, 2011
An American filmmaker and a Canadian composer improvise a live A/V mash-up
Co-presented as part of the Images Festival
Doors at 8pm, concert and screening at 9pm
Tickets $15 general admission, $12 students, seniors + members
Available via www.imagesfestival.com

The Images Festival and the Music Gallery are pleased to present a collaborative film projection and live music performance by Toronto composer Allison Cameron and San Francisco filmmaker Paul Clipson. We are delighted to bring these two accomplished artists together for the first time to create a new work especially for this event.

4/ NEW MUSIC CONCERTS: ART MUSIC PROMOTION @ MUSIC GALLERY, APR 10

Sunday, April 10, 2011, Introductions at 7:15pm, concert at 8pm
Old-fashioned virtuosity embraces electronic pioneering as the NMC ensemble tackles new Canadian repertoire
Tickets $35 regular admission, $25 member + arts worker, $10 student
Available via www.newmusiconcerts.com

Paul Steenhuisen – New work (2011)*
Keith Hamel – New work (2011)*
Andre Ristic – New work (2011)*
Robert Pritchard – New work (2011)*
Gordon Fitzell – Evanescence (2001/2006)
* World Premiere

New Music Concerts presents a new consortium of Canadian composers in a programme of works combining instrumental virtuosity with cutting edge technology. We are of course familiar with the individual members of this group – all have been a part of our series at one point or another – but are intrigued by their new collective approach to promoting their art. The concert they have proposed includes new interactive works by Keith Hamel and Robert Pritchard. Jules Léger Prize winning composer André Ristic has promised a new work for string quartet “plus”, and Paul Steenhuisen is creating an extended work for female voice, bass flute, bass clarinet, horn, string quartet, percussion, piano, harp, and electronics involving source recordings made on his recent trip to India. Gordon Fitzell, who first appeared on New Music Concerts’ series as part of “Generation 2000″ with the Ensemble contemporain de Montreal, contributes Evanescence, an existing work for chamber ensemble and interactive electronics. Performers include the Accordes string quartet, Robert Aitken and core members of the New Music Concerts Ensemble.

5/ ARRAYMUSIC: ELECTRIQUE @ MUSIC GALLERY, APR 16

Saturday, April 16, 2011, Introductions at 7:30pm, concert at 8pm
An offering of three new commissions, including the latest by Nicole Lizée

Tickets $20 regular, $15 member, senior + student
Available via www.arraymusic.com

Nicloe Lizée – New Work (2011)
Darren Copeland – New Work (2011)
Terry Riley – Cactus Rosary (1993)

Electrique features a new work by Montréal composer Nicole Lizée for turntables ensemble commissioned by Array. Nicole, Array’s guest performer on turntables, works with scratch DJ techniques that are fully notated and integrated into a concert music setting. Along with turntables, she has written for many of Canada’s top orchestras and ensembles employing other unorthodox instrument combinations that include the Atari 2600 video game console, Simon and Merlin hand held games and karaoke tapes.

6/ MUSIC GALLERY: THE MUSIC OF NORMA BEECROFT, APR 17

Sunday April 17 • The Music Gallery presents
Celebrating the career of a 20th century Canadian music pioneer
Doors 7pm, concert 8pm
Plus! Pre-concert, on-stage interview with Norma Beecroft at 7:15pm
Tickets $20 regular, $15 member + senior, $10 student — BUY NOW!

Programme:
The Living Flame of Love (1968) for SATB choir
Tre Pezzi Brevi (1961) for flute and harp
Hommage à Debussy (2010) for flute and harp
New commission for flute, harp and percussion
Troissonts (1982) for viola and two percussionists
Amplified String Quartet (1991) for string quartet and tape

Performers:
Univox Choir, Dallas Bergen, dir.
Stephen Tam, flute
Sanya Eng, harp
Ryan Scott, percussion
Douglas Perry, viola
Accordes String Quartet

One of the most remarkable figures of her generation, Norma Beecroft has built a career not only based on her award-winning compositions and pioneering work in the electroacoustic community, but also as a producer, radio host and advocate.

In addition, she co-founded New Music Concerts in 1971, was president of the Canadian Music Associates and Ten Centuries Concerts, won a Major Armstrong Award for excellence in broadcasting for her documentary The Computer in Music and also made documentaries about Jean Coulthard, Harry Freedman, Bruce Mather, Barbara Pentland, Harry Somers, Gilles Tremblay, John Weinzweig, Murray Adaskin and Violet Archer.

In the words of the musicologist Jennifer Bain, “to recount the musical and professional life of Norma Beecroft is to provide a fascinating perspective on new music in the latter half of the twentieth century in Canada and abroad.” Beecroft studied composition with John Weinzweig in Toronto, and with Aaron Copland and Lukas Foss at Tanglewood. While at Darmstadt, she heard a live performance (possibly the premiere) of Stockhausen’s Kontakte and was introduced to the ideas of John Cage when she fell upon a class being led by David Tudor.

This program features works spanning six decades, including her classic Tre Pezzi Brevi, published by Vienna’s Universal Edition, and the more recent Amplified String Quartet.

7/ COC ENSEMBLE: SOKOLOVIC @ COC, APR 28
Thursday, April 28, 2011
12 – 1 p.m.
Artists of the COC Ensemble Studio
with a new work by Ana Sokolovic

The Telephone/A Hand of Bridge
Celebrating the centenary of the birth of Giancarlo Menotti, young artists of the COC Ensemble Studio present a double-bill of two witty and entertaining one-acters: Menotti’s comic two-hander, The Telephone, and Barber’s A Hand of Bridge, with libretto by Menotti. The program opens with a new work by Canadian composer Ana Sokolovic—a whimsical ode to the telephone: Dring, dring.

8/ HAUSCHKA @ MUSIC GALLERY, APR 28
Doors 7pm, Concert 8pm
Tickets $30.00 + S/C, on sale SATURDAY NOVEMBER 20 at 10am at UnionEvents.com, Ticketmaster, Rotate This & Soundscapes

Hauschka is the alias of Düsseldorf-based Volker Bertelmann, who signed to FatCat’s in 2007. Having studied classical piano for ten years, his work as Hauschka is based upon an exploration of the possibili-ties of the ‘prepared’ piano. Creatively undermining the preconceived idea of the piano as a pure-toned, perfected instrument waiting for a gifted virtuoso to play on it, Bertelmann instead modifies it by placing an assortment of material (gaffa tape, kitchen foil, felt wedges, bottle tops, ping pong balls, guitar string, etc) within its innards.

What results are vivid, unconventional pieces made in a spirit of playful research-enthusiasm. Two well-received albums, 2007’s Room To Expand and 2008’s Ferndorf backed by an engaging series of live shows have seen the artist’s profile steadily rise.

9/ AMIR AMIRI: NEW ANCIENT STRINGS @ MUSIC GALLERY, APR 30
Saturday April 30, 2011 • The Music Gallery presents
Amir Amiri / Ziya Tabassian + Araz Salek
Exploring pathways through the past and future of Persian music
Doors 7pm, concert 8pm
Tickets $15 regular, $10 member, senior + student

New Ancient Strings is the title of an album by kora masters Toumani Diabate and Ballake Sissoko, in which they reconsidered the range and musicality of their instruments. The Music Gallery transplants this concept eastward to Iran to journey through the past and future of Persian music.

Amir Amiri / Ziya Tabassian
The Montreal-based duo of Amir Amiri (santur) and Ziya Tabassian (percussion) are accomplished solo performers who have worked together once before at the Banff Centre. Amiri brings vast knowledge and technique to his instrument, investigating every aspect of its dulcimer-like tones. While he is classically trained, Amiri has always sought to explore the limits of his music, stretching beyond the constraints of classical thought. Tabassian demonstrates a similar fearlessness with his art. His solo album Tombak (Ambiances Magnetiques, 2006) featured composition and performance for solo hand drums that is both highly rhythmic and electro-acoustic in its subtle use of timbre. Together they use Persian motifs as a starting point for intense improvisation.

Other COD’s recently posted: Toca Loca @ Music Mars in Montreal and Brian’s Picks by New Music Concerts, where I played piano on Analia Llugdar’s piece and Fabien Levy’s work, as well as the killer organ part in the killer piece “Salz” by Enno Poppe.

My favourite moment working with her was during a lesson of a young mezzo. The student was explaining how she was doing an audition, “for the experience”. Without the slightest trace of arrogance or ill-spirit, she gently replied to the student, “Back in my student days, I never once entered a competition or sang an audition unless I knew I was going to win. And you know what? I always did.”

So thankful for the lucky studio time I had with Miss Verrett. Going around in my head are the words that Stewart Goodyear set in his choral work, Go Down, Death by James Weldon Johnson:

Weep not, weep not,
She is not dead;
She’s resting in the bosom of Jesus.
Heart-broken husband–weep no more;
Grief-stricken son–weep no more;
Left-lonesome daughter –weep no more;
She only just gone home.

(If you’ve never heard the amazing voice of Shirley Verrett, do yourself a favour and watch this video.)

Also, nice interviews with the Torontoist and EYE WEEKLY. An interview in the Globe and Mail was print edition only, but you can read it below the fold:

MUSIC
Weekend Review
Supersoldiers, satire and a Renaissance madrigal; X Avant programmer Gregory Oh discusses how several of the Toronto festival’s performers have wrestled with this year’s theme: What is real?
ROBERT EVERETT-GREEN
652 words
16 October 2010
The Globe and Mail
GLOB
R19
English
2010 CTVglobemedia Publishing Inc. All Rights Reserved.

‘Frankly, I believe a lot of Mozart’s piano music is crap,” says Gregory Oh, pianist and programmer of this season’s X Avant festival at the Music Gallery. But we all know Mozart was a genius, and the glow of that status burnishes everything he did, to the point at which we may no longer trust our ears when we hear his weaker compositions. “There’s a real loss of our critical listening skills,” Oh says. We want the real Mozart – that’s why we bother with period instruments and such – but we’re often distracted by the image, or (in other cases) the genre, or the performance tradition.

The tussle between the real and the apparent is at the heart of Oh’s X Avant, the theme of which is: What Is Real? Here’s how some of the programs get at this puzzle, with comments from the guy who put the shows together:

Jeff Mills

Oh first encountered the Detroit techno DJ at a club in Berlin, and was stunned to hear him open his set with a lengthy, virtually arrhythmic wash of sound that could have come from an electronic music lab. “I was ready to hear techno, and I got something completely different,” Oh says. Saturday, SPK (206 Beverley St.)

Complete Récitations of Georges Aperghis

Most contemporary composers try to lock everything down in their notation, just as music scholars strive to come up with the definitive edition of everything written by Bach or Beethoven. “But Aphergis wants to be the vessel for the performer,” says Oh, referring to the French composer’s open-source attitude to his major musico-theatrical work, Récitations, here performed as a one-woman marathon by Montreal singer Donatienne Michel-Dansac. Music Gallery, Sunday

Will the Real Pierrot Please Stand Up? Arnold Schoenberg’s arch cabaret cycle Pierrot Lunaire is such a modernist classic, it may as well have dried in amber. “If you start taking liberties with it, it becomes much more interesting,” says Oh. His three-part, multilingual production recasts one-third of the piece as a Renaissance madrigal (arranged and performed by the Dallas Bergen Renaissance Madrigal Group), and another as a makeover project for the indie-classical-freestyle band, Deep Dark United. Music Gallery, Oct. 22

The 50-Minute Ring Even people who are bowled over by Wagner’s Ring cycle usually find something unsettling in its power-worshipping myths and incestuous family melodrama. Myra Davies is a multimedia storyteller who looks at the epic four-part music drama with a sympathetic yet satirical eye, somewhat in the tradition of Anna Russell. Her 50-minute retelling, told with video, performance, a sound environment and excerpts from Wagner’s music “doesn’t condense the Ring, so much as it exposes it,” says Oh. “Even if you’ve sat through the Ring, I don’t think you know it unless you’ve seen this piece.” Music Gallery, Oct. 23

Dance Dance Revolution

Halo is a madly successful series of video games in which a cybernetic supersoldier battles aliens and other hazardous beings. Oh, a determined player, had a hunch that the realistic yet stylized movements of the hero and his foes could support a kind of ballet, performed not by actual dancers but by game figures run by four veteran players following the instructions of a choreographer. Julia Aplin devised the movement, and Aaron Gervais provided a new score. “When it’s live, to live music, it adds an element of danger,” says Oh, for whom futuristic virtual combat is obviously not thrills enough. Music Gallery, Oct. 24

X Avant runs at the Music Gallery and other locations through Oct. 24. See musicgallery.org

.

We got a nice review from the Kitchener-Waterloo record here

X Avant V is happening Oct 16-24. I curated this year’s festival and I’m pretty excited about the lineup. I highly recommend the Jeff Mills/Big Zang show on Oct 16 for anyone who is a techno fan, percussion aficionado or anyone with an interest in musique concrete. I heard Jeff do something wondrous strange in Berlin last year. Also, Donatienne Michel-Dansac is performing the complete Aperghis Recitations on the 17th. She is phenomenal. The shows on the 23rd (50-minute ring) and 24th (Halo Ballet) are co-productions with Toca Loca. Complete festival details at musicgallery.org

Blurbs in pitchfork, the Globe and Mail and a strong Book it now! recommendation from NOW Magazine.

I’m playing with Quatuor Arthur-Leblanc in the Syrinx Salon Concerts on February 6th. Dvorak piano quintet, which should be serious fun. Details here.