Outreach

High school students gain inspiration from a WMCT-sponsored workshop with Midori Marsh

2 Comments / Career Development Award, Outreach / / ,

On Monday, April 14 room 130 at the Faculty of Music, U of T, was alive with the sound of music – a group of high school students from RH King Academy in Scarborough attended a workshop by the WMCT’s most recent Career Development Award winner, soprano Midori Marsh, who performed her sisterhood-themed concert for Music in the Afternoon on April 3. Like the concert, the workshop was a truly magical occasion!

Several students had the opportunity to perform solo and showcase their amazing vocal and acting talents while receiving a wealth of constructive feedback from Midori, whom they clearly loved! Her suggestions for improvements included working on breathing techniques, refining facial expressions, relaxing the head and neck, and maintaining one’s presence through to the end of a song even if one has stopped singing. For the students it was their first time performing with a piano accompanist (the amazing Andrew Ball) and they clearly felt this was a very special occasion while still feeling completely comfortable and supported both by their peers and by Midori. The students felt honoured and privileged to be working with a professional singer, and Midori relished the opportunity to inspire and encourage young musicians with whom she had a great rapport.

Warmest thanks to everyone – the students, their teacher Heather Shaw, Midori and Andrew, and WMCT volunteers and donors who all made this wonderful musical gathering possible.

Annette Sanger
CDA Chair

Students perform at a workshop led by soprano Midori Marsh.
Students perform at a workshop led by soprano Midori Marsh.
Soprano Midori Marsh leads a workshop with high school students.
Students perform at a workshop led by soprano Midori Marsh.
Students perform at a workshop led by soprano Midori Marsh.
Soprano Midori Marsh with students from RH King Academy in Scarborough.

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The Icing on the Cake

Leave a Comment / 125th season, Outreach / / ,

A Glorious 125th Season Finale

Students from Unionville HS, R.H. King, and the Peel Region Strings program enjoyed the brilliant program played by Mark Fewer, Chris Whitley, the Thalea String Quartet, and Jeanie Chung.

After the concert came the Book Launch party for Robin Elliott’s third installment of the history of the WMCT: Counterpoint Three, with his promise to keep documenting us until the 150th!

The party included Kathy Halliday’s astonishing cupcakes. For more photos, check our Facebook page.

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Mariam Batsashvili reviewed by Joseph So and by UHS students

Leave a Comment / 121st Season, Master Classes, Outreach / / ,

Review by Joseph So published on Ludwig-van

Her master class at UHS

The day before her Music in the Afternoon recital, Mariam gave a master class for advanced piano students at Unionville High School for the Arts. She listened to three young performers, then offered guidance and advice. One of them wrote:

“Learning under the tutelage of a great pianist is always a pleasure, but my master class with the fantastic Mariam Batsashvilli was an entirely different experience altogether. Her deep understanding of music and effortless charm made for not only one of the best lessons I’ve ever received, but also one of the most enjoyable. Her insights about my piece, Liszt’s Sonetto 104 del Petrarca, were profound and unbelievably helpful, whilst being delivered lightheartedly with both humility and a great sense of humor. My gratitude to Ms. Batsashvilli for coming and offering her expertise and both the Women’s Musical Club of Toronto and the Arts Unionville program for offering me this incredible opportunity is ineffable; it is truly an experience that I won’t forget.​”

The class attended Walter Hall on April 4, and offered some feedback:

“I am beyond grateful to have been given this opportunity. I thoroughly enjoyed the programme and the musical nuances that Mariam brought to life – it was as if the audience was part of the story woven in her music. Her interpretation of Liszt is awe-inspiring, expressive and sensitive. Combined with her technical brilliance, it made for an unforgettable concert. Thank you for this amazing experience!”

“I enjoyed Mariam’s expression for each piece she played. She was able to capture the mood and feeling of a character… it felt like she was telling a story in her pieces. Her technique was so effortless, clean and smooth, I really liked the soft trills and the crisp turns from the impeccable articulation she used.”

Students from Unionville H.S. and Cawthra Park Secondary School were in the overflow audience.

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Music in the Afternoon invites New Canadians

Leave a Comment / 120th Season, Outreach / /

Music in the Afternoon has just become a performing arts partner in the Cultural Access Pass (CAP) program.  CAP is available to all new Canadians over 18, following their citizenship ceremony, and lasts for one year.  It’s a year of free admission to more than 1,400 Canadian museums, art galleries, and historical sites, plus opportunities to attend concerts, dance and other events by performing arts partners right across Canada.
CAP is delivered by the Institute for Canadian Citizenship (ICC), a national charity co-founded in 2006 by WMCT Patron the Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson and John Ralston Saul.  ICC programs and projects inspire inclusion, and the practice of active citizenship, including ownership of our collective culture and spaces.

 

 

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Jens Lindemann Triumph

117th Season, Outreach / / , ,

Jens Lindemann Triumph

Jens Lindemann Makes History at the Women’s Musical Club of Toronto
Read Review in Musical Toronto

jenslindemann_sPresident Annette Sanger discusses
the Jens Lindemann concert

Although I am President of the WMCT, I assure you that the following is written from the bottom of my heart and not simply to promote the WMCT. I feel strongly that we should have a record of this unusual and quite marvellous concert in the 117th season of Music in the Afternoon.

In all honesty, I hadn’t really known exactly what to expect, though Simon Fryer, our superb Artistic Director, assured us that it would be a wonderful event, if a little different from the usual WMCT concert fare. However, with a concert not just on trumpet but accompanied by drum set and even electric guitar, we certainly seemed to be testing the waters, to put it mildly. Moreover, when I learned of the musical program I didn’t see a lot of tried-and-true “classical” composers in the mix – other than two very short pieces by J.S. Bach and Debussy.

It turned out to be absolutely mesmerizing from start to finish! Not only a brilliant musician, Jens is a consummate performer who draws in his audience from the moment he walks onto the stage. He was warm and very funny in his introductions (for example, noting that this was the first time in 117 years a drum set had graced the WMCT concert stage). His pacing and timing – in music and speech – was just perfect, not to mention his landing into the splits on the climactic last note of the piece before intermission, Suite Hellenique by Pedro Iturralde, with Jens arrangements.

In fact, this concert was full of surprises: his initial entry from the back of the hall as he played La fille aux cheveux de lin; positioning the Earl Haig Secondary School students around the hall as additional “sound” with long, brightly coloured whirly tubes in Gilliland’s piece; and the very touching final piece Prayer by Kristian Alexandrov that segued into Louis Armstrong’s signature song What a Wonderful World, which I know brought tears to the eyes of a few WMCT members.

Most importantly, this concert was a resounding success for its superb musicianship and delightful choice of repertoire. Jens’s collaborators were first class, and all worked together as a tightly-knit team smoothly transitioning in and out of composed and improvised musical zones. In particular, I was impressed by the young (41 seems young to me!) pianist/composer/percussionist Kristian Alexandrov who was featured in nearly every piece.

All in all it was a musically joyous occasion led by the stunning musicianship and personality of Jens Lindemann. The title of the concert, Brassfire, was certainly no exaggeration!

Annette Sanger, WMCT President

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Unionville students at Dyachkov & Saulnier concert

116th Season, Commissioned Composer, Outreach / / , ,

Students and musicians

Students from Unionville High School music program with Yegor Dyachkov and Jean Saulnier after the March 20 concert.   Teacher Bob Leonard (far right) has been bringing students to Music in the Afternoon concerts for 14 years as part of the WMCT Student Outreach programme.

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