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Welcome to La Scena Musicale’s weekly Highlights, a roundup of classical music news from Canada and beyond. Canadian ensembles like Toronto Symphony Orchestra are feeling a wave of generosity this week after an influx of legacy donations. Decca Records has signed 2022’s Van Cliburn competition winner, Yunchan Lim. And Vancouver is being treated to a host of jazz and classical music concerts over the next month.
The Gift of Music
TMC’s artistic director, Jean Sébastien-Vallée (Photo: tmchoir.org)
Toronto Symphony Orchestra is receiving the largest donation in its 100-year history: a $14.7 million bequest from the estate of the late H. Beck (Globe and Mail), an ensemble board member of 22 years who passed away in 2016, and his late wife Mary Beck. This marks over $50 million donated by the Beck family since the 1950s. Around $13 million is being transferred to the Toronto Symphony Foundation “to be invested.”
Toronto Mendelssohn Choir is also receiving $400,000 from the bequest of Thomas Charles Messecar Logan (Ludwig Van), who sang with the ensemble for 25 years and passed away in March 2022.
Not to mention, The Nova Scotia Talent Trust recently announced a legacy bequest to the organization of $2.8 million from the late Judith Grant.
Recent and Upcoming Shows
Vancouver is being treated to plenty of local and international jazz performances. Coastal Jazz & Blues Society’s fourth annual IronFest, from Oct. 26 to 28, coincides with an Oct. 27 concert by Brazilian-American improvisational pianist Henrique Eisenmann, who’s bringing his multimedia collaborations to BlueShore to lead Capilano University jazz ensembles (Stir).
Tanika Charles is bringing her cabaret performance style and her latest album, 2022’s Papillon de Nuit: The Night Butterfly to Tay Meek Arts Centre Oct. 28 and 29. Meanwhile, at the Shadbolt Centre, Vancouver tenor saxophonist Cory Weeds will be performing with his quintet (Stir). Weeds is known as the founder of the province’s first underground jazz club, The Cellar.
Photo: Vancouver Opera
Jazz isn’t the only genre getting some love in Vancouver over the next few weeks. Vancouver Opera is kicking off its new season with Mozart’s The Magic Flute (Vancouver Sun), on from Oct. 21 to 29. Roots rocker Graham Brown (Vancouver Sun) is also joining the fray with three shows from Oct. 14 to 26. He’ll be showcasing his newest album, Solo, which sees him moving away from his typical Neil Young style to focus more on folk music.
Bruce Springsteen (Ottawa Citizen) is rescheduling his Ottawa concert for Nov. 9, and Liam Gallagher, the ex-singer for Oasis, has announced a 2024 international tour (La Presse) to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the album Definitely Maybe.
In December, Orchestre philharmonique du Québec, conducted by Alexandre Da Costa, will perform a symphonic version of classic Céline Dion songs (La Presse)!
Recordings
Yunchan Lim receives applause after performing a concerto with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra conducted by Marin Alsop (Photo by Richard Rodriguez)
Yunchan Lim, winner of the 2022 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, has been signed by Decca Records (Music Week). He’s expected to release his debut album with the label in spring 2024.
In a recent interview with ABC News, Lang Lang played Encanto’s “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” to promote his September 2023 documentary released on Disney+, “Lang Lang Plays Disney”. As part of his partnership with the media conglomerate, he’s also introduced a limited edition Steinway piano decorated with Mickey Mouse painting (Yahoo News).
Awards, Appointments, and Competitions
With its recently acquired funding, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra has named two new assistant concertmasters: Yolanda Bruno and Clare Semes (Violin Channel).
Canadian Opera Company will welcome seven singers, including Ontario bass Matthew Li and Quebec soprano Elisabeth St-Gelais, to the Centre Stage: Ensemble Studio Competition on Oct. 26, 2023. Watch them perform live and vote on your favourite for the Audience Choice Award at 7pm (coc.ca/centrestage)!
Baritone Navasard Hakobyan and pianist Brian Cho have won the $5,000 first place prize at the 2023 Music Academy’s Marilyn Horne Song Competition (Opera Wire). They will also get the chance to work with composer Joel Thompson.
The jury for the 56th LiedDuo International Vocal Competition in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, couldn’t choose just a single winner, so soprano Daria Brusova and pianist Mark Vaza both won the 3,500 euro Staetshuys Fund Prize.
After winning the Boston Symphony Concerto Competition (Violin Channel), violinist Keila Wakao will earn $1,000, and the chance to perform Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 2 on Oct. 28.
Local News
The Israel-Palestine war is still impacting the music scene. Israeli conductor Ilan Volkov withdrew from an upcoming show (Slipped Disc) with the BBC Symphony Orchestra due to what Slipped Disc’s Norman Lebrecht speculates is due to a lack of flights. Carnegie Hall’s director, Sir Clive Gillson, has condemned the Hamas attack (Slipped Disc) and expressed solidarity with the Jewish community.
The Metropolitan Opera’s free nightly opera (File photograph by Richard Hubert Smith)
The English National Opera announced that it’s planning to fire 19 of its staff, and putting “remaining staff on part-time contracts, which would see them lose 40 percent of their pay,” according to Classic FM. The ensemble cites Inflation and rising costs as the main factors. Music director Martyn Brabbins resigned in protest (Opera Wire), saying “the proposed changes would drive a coach and horses through the artistic integrity of the whole of ENO as a performing company, while also singularly failing to protect our musicians’ livelihoods.”
Brian Speck will be the new artistic administrator for the Metropolitan Opera (Slipped Disc), a position that’s been vacant for two years following Michael Heaston’s resignation. Meanwhile, the Maryland Lyric Opera is shutting down (Slipped Disc) after 10 years in operation.
Obituary
Thomas Wikman, who founded the Chicago choir and orchestra Music of the Baroque, has passed away at 81.
Akria Nishimura (Opera Wire), the Japanese composer behind the 2019 opera “Asters,” died at 69 in early September.
Violinist Hatto Beyerle (Slipped Disc) has passed away over 50 years after co-founding the Alban Berg Quartet.
Californian pianist Carla Bley (The Guardian), who composed many avant-garde works, has died at 87.
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