Jessica Lewis

U of T's Nick Mount captures the boom of Canadian literature in his new book

rasbachn — Tue, 24 Oct 2017 19:38:39 +0000

U of T's Nick Mount captures the boom of Canadian literature in his new book

rasbachn Tue, 10/24/2017 - 15:38

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Nick Mount: "At the time of the [CanLit] boom, Canadian nationalism was at an all-time high, trying to figure out ways that we were not American" (photo by N. Maxwell Lander)

Jessica Lewis

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City & Culture

Books

Canada 150

English

Faculty of Arts & Science

Humanities

There was nothing, and then there was something.

That’s how Nick Mount describes the start of Canadian literature, but it’s also an apt way to explain his new book, Arrival: The Story of CanLit, on the country’s literary boom that began in the 1960s.

“Of course, there were Canadian books published before then,” says the associate professor of English in the Faculty of Arts & Science and former fiction editor of The Walrus. “But there was no critical mass. No sense of literature. They were just books. That’s what happened in the ’60s and ’70s – by 1974, nobody could look around and say there wasn’t Canadian literature, partly because Margaret Atwood had just written Survival: A Thematic Guide to Canadian Literature.”

While Atwood’s book was literary criticism, Mount’s is more like a puzzle with all the pieces put together.

“I wrote this book because it didn’t exist. We have many excellent biographies of the writers who emerged during what came to be called the CanLit boom. We also have some good histories of the publishing side of the story in both English and French Canada, and a great many books about the time itself. What we don’t have is a book that puts all those stories together,” Mount writes in Arrival.

Mount’s publisher, House of Anansi, agreed. Clearly, Mount was onto something: Arrival made the Canadian bestseller lists for non-fiction in early September during its first week of publication, right around the time that some of the country’s biggest literary awards – the Governor General’s Literary Awards, the Giller Prize, and the Writers’ Trust Awards – announced their shortlists for the year.

Arrival is a Canadian history: the story of how political, cultural and economic events in the mid-20^th century sparked a literary boom in this country. Mount provides a clearer understanding of how our literary awards, grants and funding came to be, and how Canada’s small presses have grown and bolstered Canadian publishing. He begins each chapter with short biographies of crucial Canadian writers such as Atwood, Dennis Lee, Gwendolyn MacEwen, Alice Munro, Al Purdy and Mordecai Richler. Mount even included mini-reviews throughout the book. “I read all the books so you don’t have to,” he says.

Arrival took Mount 12 years to research and write, while teaching full-time. It isn’t the academic text you might expect from a professor. It is meant to be accessible to a wide audience – including those who think of the term “CanLit” as a genre of quiet books that take place in rural Canada.

“CanLit is like any term,” says Mount. “It’s useful among professionals, but it doesn’t mean anything.”

“The notion that all Canadian literature is about dysfunctional, alcoholic mothers in the prairies with the wind blowing through their hair… it’s just not true. There’s a huge range of writers. CanLit was a thing almost self-consciously constructed by readers, marketers and government types. At the time of the boom, Canadian nationalism was at an all-time high, trying to figure out ways that we were not American.

“To me, CanLit refers to a particular thing that came to existence in the ’60s and faded out in the ’70s, faded out because it succeeded. It arrived. Now it’s just Canadian literature, and CanLit is just a term on Twitter. Canadian literature itself is simply an abstract concept. It’s the sum of its parts.”

Uncovering a forgotten neighbourhood: ��οresearcher explores Toronto’s ‘Greenwich Village’

ullahnor — Thu, 27 Jul 2017 18:20:51 +0000

Uncovering a forgotten neighbourhood: ��οresearcher explores Toronto’s ‘Greenwich Village’

ullahnor Thu, 07/27/2017 - 14:20

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A row of old brick houses is what remains of the area today (photo courtesy of Heather Murray/Sarah Galbraith-Murray)

Jessica Lewis

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Jessica Lewis

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English

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Cities

urban

As English Professor Heather Murray began digging into information on some of Toronto’s forgotten arts and literary history, she became fascinated in a neighbourhood once considered our very own “Greenwich Village.”

Located at the southeast corner of the University of Toronto's downtown Toronto campus, between Bay and Elizabeth streets on Gerrard Street West, the area was actually referred to as “Toronto's Greenwich Village” or even as “Greenwich Village” back in the early 1930s, Murray says.

The cultural scene began in the mid-1930s and continued through until the early 1970s, with the neighbourhood playing host to painters like Arthur Lismer, Albert Franck, Franz Johnston and studio artisans such as metal workers Nancy Meek (later to become Nancy Pocock) and Rudy Renzius.

Writer Morley Callaghan could be found there as well as sculptors Eugenia Berlin and Pauline Redsell. Later, the abstract-expressionist Painters Eleven group got its start with artists like Ray Mead, Kazuo Nakamura and Harold Town hanging out at the home of Albert Franck and Florence Vale.

The name Gerrard Street Village came along a little later and that is the name Murray is using for the book she's working on about the history of the area from 1925 to 1950, when many of the artists and artisans came as immigrants or refugees.

Today, what's left is a row of seven old brick houses that include a Tim Hortons, Jimmy’s Coffee and other small restaurants.

#UofTGrad17: Up-and-coming actor, playwright Augusto Bitter

Romi Levine — Thu, 22 Jun 2017 15:24:21 +0000

#UofTGrad17: Up-and-coming actor, playwright Augusto Bitter

Romi Levine Thu, 06/22/2017 - 11:24

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Augusto Bitter (photo by Diana Tyszko)

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Augusto Bitter knows he’s special. And yes, he knows how that statement sounds.

But he has to be special, if he wants to make a career out of his passion for theatre. Bitter, 22, was recently named one of the Toronto theatre artists on NOW Magazine’s radar for 2017, in which they wrote: “Even though he was still completing his studies... Bitter managed to impress us in a handful of shows.” He’s clearly hit on something.

“I'm a tricky combination of goofy and arrogant,” Bitter says. “I have to be arrogant enough about the work to survive the difficulty of the business and the creative process. But I also have to be goofy enough to laugh at how pretentious we can be as artists. I like laughing, a lot.”

In the last four years, Bitter has been developing his strengths in acting and playwriting as a drama specialist in the University of Toronto’s Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies as well as performing in productions and participating in programs across Toronto. Most recently, he’s been in Theatre Rusticle’s production of Our Town at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre and has been a part of Factory Theatre’s actor-training program for the 2016-2017 season.

For Bitter, the stage is his canvas as an artist – a place where he can learn, find expression and enjoy himself.

“As a performer, I have fun easily,” he says. “I have a high energy level by nature, so it's about channelling it in meaningful ways.”

Bitter was born in Venezuela and moved to Alberta with his family in 2004. Though he credits his first dive into theatre in Grade 12 to an inspiring teacher, he acknowledges that he’s been destined for the limelight all along, and that his everlasting supply of energy has always been his propeller.

“I was super hyperactive. I was never coordinated enough for sports,” he laughs. “So my hyperactivity always translated itself into performance. My dad’s a huge jokester, so I picked that up from him, and I’m the little brother in the family. Trying to make people laugh as a kid was always very important to me.”

Bitter credits the Centre for Drama, Theatre & Performance Studies for its breadth of opportunities, saying that because it’s not structured like a conservatory, he was able to study acting as well as history, criticism and performance in general. He’s also taken up playwriting. As a Resident Artist at Theatre Passe Muraille, he’s currently writing a full-length solo show called CHICHO. In it, a “man-boy on the cusp of manhood tries to reconcile three pillars of his identity: Venezuelan, Queer, and Catholic.” Chicho is obsessed with Miss Universe, plays the ukulele, and talks to an avocado.

Now that he’s graduating, Bitter wants to share what he’s learned with future students: find what makes you special.

“Coming out of school you’re going to find out there’s a lot of you,” he says. “You have to figure out early on what are the little things that set you apart, and perfect those things. It’s what you make of it.”

Bitter also recommends using the Toronto theatre scene as a textbook.

“Go see theatre! You can get student rates! Make it a part of your schedule. I considered that almost like studying. It’s really nice to see what kind of work is out there, and to see where it’s going and where I could fit in it.”

At the rate things are going for Bitter, it is likely that ��οdrama students will be seeing him on stage when they go out to the theatre to ‘study’.

Alexander Graham Bell is calling – in a U of T-developed opera

lavende4 — Mon, 25 Apr 2016 14:10:34 +0000

Alexander Graham Bell is calling – in a U of T-developed opera lavende4 Mon, 04/25/2016 - 10:10

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Rehearsing The Bells of Baddeck: left, Geoffrey Sirett, right, Allison Angelo (photo Warren Gordon Photography)

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Though Cape Breton Island has recently made worldwide headlines for welcoming Americans fleeing Donald Trump, the Nova Scotia island has a long history of attracting Americans, including telephone inventor Alexander Graham Bell and his wife Mabel Hubbard, who made their summer home in Baddeck, Cape Breton in 1885.

And now a University of Toronto Faculty of Music professor has made the couple’s story of moving to Canada into an opera, The Bells of Baddeck – the Alexander Graham and Mabel Bell Story, thanks to the largest individual SSHRC grant the Faculty has ever received.

Lorna MacDonald, voice studies professor and the Lois Marshall Chair in Voice, created the music-drama, which will run for a second season in Baddeck, Nova Scotia in July. She wrote the libretto, produces the show, and commissioned doctoral candidate and composer Dean Burry to compose the music.

“Alec and Mabel came to Cape Breton to escape the heat of Washington, DC,” says MacDonald. “They had read about Cape Breton in a travel book, and because he was embroiled in lawsuits over the patent for the telephone, they were only too happy to escape to Cape Breton to get away from it all. Of course, little did they know that a summer visit would lead to 38 years!”

Bell is most well known for the telephone, but his innovations are legendary in aviation, teaching the deaf, the National Geographic Society and as MacDonald points out, “he was also an avid pianist.” Much of his work was influenced by Hubbard, who was deaf. The pair met as speech professor and pupil in 1873. Hubbard took charge of the finances in the early Bell Telephone business, and in Cape Breton, she established herself as a pioneer for women and education when she created opportunities for local women making rugs, started the second public library in eastern Canada and sponsored Canada’s first Montessori school.

The Bells and their children started vacationing in Cape Breton in 1885 and spent increasingly more time there until Bell’s death in 1922. The family left a mark on Baddeck, leaving a provincial heritage site called Beinn Bhreagh and a museum, the Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site, to their legacy. The museum is used as the opera’s theatre.

Thankfully, the Bell family kept great records of their lives – from photographs to letters to the music they loved to play in their home. MacDonald used that text and music in the opera. Burry, who has written numerous operas for the Canadian Opera Company and Canadian Children’s Opera Company, wrote most of the original music.

“The goal was to create something fun and accessible but with a certain level of sophistication,” Burry says. “Many people in the region would be seeing opera for the first time and I wanted it to be a positive experience. It was wonderful to bring these incredibly rich characters to life. It’s always magical to allow an audience to see people like that as more than just entries in a history book.”

As MacDonald developed the opera, she included as many ��οconnections as she could. Besides Burry, many of the cast is comprised of Faculty of Music students and alumni. Her former student Geoffrey Sirett (MMus 2011) plays Alexander Graham Bell and Allison Angelo, an alumna of voice studies and opera (MMus 2004, ArtDip 2002), plays Mabel Hubbard.

“I was in Lorna’s head when she was writing the libretto,” Angelo says. “You can’t overstate the importance of connections in the music industry – I feel so lucky to have had first-rate training at U of T. Lorna gave me the opportunity to create a role in a Canadian premiere, which is a rare and precious gift. It was inspiring to try to recreate Mabel’s thirst for knowledge and zest for life.”

MacDonald, who grew up in Cape Breton, has been enchanted with the successful entrepreneurial couple since she was a child. Opera Canada called its first season, “a tour de force production.”

“I think it was successful because it reached so many directions: they affected the sciences, arts and our entire culture,” she says. “Their love story is as interesting and operatic as any other.”

The Bells of Baddeck runs from July 2 to August 2 at the Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site. Vacationing to Nova Scotia this summer? Get your tickets now: http://www.bellsofbaddeck.com/tickets/

Music and Science converge at U of Tʼs Sounds of Science

vzaretski — Fri, 22 Apr 2016 19:57:10 +0000

Music and Science converge at U of Tʼs Sounds of Science vzaretski Fri, 04/22/2016 - 15:57

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Photo by Johnny Guatto

Jessica Lewis

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The intersection between music and science has never sounded so cool. On May 3, audience members will have the opportunity to discover the unexplored – from seeing how an opera singer’s larynx changes during performance, to how music influences functional recovery in diseases of the brain.

The Sounds of Science: Music, Technology and Medicine, presented by the Faculty of Music, the Music and Health Research Collaboratory and Science and Engineering Engagement, will feature an interactive music science fair, five presentations in the style of TED Talks and a musical performance. The event will present new insight into neurologic and clinical music therapy, psychological perception, cognition processes, and the science behind elite music performance.

The Sounds of Science is a free event open to the public.

Register here

The event crystallized last year when Professor Molly Shoichet met with the Faculty of Music Dean Don McLean. As senior adviser on science and engineering engagement, Shoichet is excited to be working with the Faculty of Music to bring this incredible event to our community.

“I’m interested in highlighting science where it is unexpected, in exploring synergies at the intersection of different disciplines,” says Shoichet. “I myself did not realize how rich this intersection was until I embarked on this journey. I look forward to sharing it with Torontonians.”

Professor Lee Bartel, associate director of Music and Health Research Collaboratory, organized the event’s presentations to show a side of the school that the public may not have noticed before.

“Yes we’re a music school that does performance but we do performance informed by technology, performance that has impact on medicine and health,” he says. “People have always assumed that there is a link between music and health from the way music makes you feel. Now we can demonstrate that in a scientific way”.

Bartel says that there are new frontiers in standard medical research that involve music and sound in a way was never anticipated. “It’s not just ‘music makes me feel happy therefore I walk faster thus my heart gets healthier,’ but because we are very specifically making sound in a particular way that has an indirect music-medicine affect on your brain.”

The main stage performance will feature:

Linnea Thacker, who will perform Bach’s G Minor Presto on violin while her muscles and motions are synchronized with video and audio information provided by Dr. John Chong.
Adjunct Professor Jeff Wolpert, a multi JUNO award-winning engineer, and Dr. David Alter, who will demonstrate rhythmic auditory stimulation in exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation.
Professor Lee Bartel will show how medical conditions such as fibromyalgia, depression and Alzheimer’s Disease can respond to brain re-regulation with sound stimulation.
Professor Aaron Low will evaluate, in real-time, the anatomy of soprano singer, Sarah Forestieri, as she sings. Associate Professor Darryl Edwards will describe how a professional singer trains and maintains their voice.
Dr. Michael Thaut will cap off the presentations by showing how rhythm promotes healing in Parkinson’s Disease and how the last 20 years of breakthrough research in music-based neurorehabilitation impact current developments and applications.

Prior to performances, audience members are welcome to participate in a Science Music Fair in the main lobby foyer of the Edward Johnson Building, which will feature interactive demonstrations of new technological sound devices for therapy, gaming applications and more. Learn about the history of science in music, why our cars have been built to sound like us, and how digital audio coding works in real time. During this time, there will also be a performance of Christos Hatzis’ Harmonia with visual realization by Bruno Degazio.

��οstudent Dinuk Wijeratne wins Juno Award

sgupta — Tue, 05 Apr 2016 11:57:17 +0000

��οstudent Dinuk Wijeratne wins Juno Award sgupta Tue, 04/05/2016 - 07:57

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Dinuk Wijeratne (photo by Michelle Doucette)

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Dinuk Wijeratne, a current Doctor of Musical Arts candidate at the Faculty of Music, has won the Juno Award for Classical Composition of the Year with his piece “Two Pop Songs on Antique Poems,” which was featured on the Afiara Quartet’s nominated instrumental album, Spin Cycle.

“It was an honour to receive a Juno Award, and to be nominated amongst such esteemed composers in my category,” said Wijeratne said, following the ceremony this past weekend.

“The piece is very much about the collision of 'old and new,' and of very diverse influences. I felt very stimulated working on this music under the guidance of my dear mentor Professor Christos Hatzis, and I am so glad that at ��οI could feel free to explore the fusion of such disparate influences.”

Hatzis was equally excited for Wijeratne’s win.

“I am so proud of Dinuk’s Juno Award. He is a fabulous composer writing music full of energy, expressivity, rhythmic complexity and non-stop excitement,” he said. “As a composer, conductor, pianist, improviser and experimenter across various musical genres, Dinuk redefines what a classical musician is and does.

“To have one of our current DMA students be honoured by this top professional distinction is exceptional but, in Dinuk’s case, not surprising. It is also a testament about our composition program and the caliber of students it currently attracts.”

Wijeratne joins other winners from the Faculty – alumnus John Maharaj (BMusPerf 2003) contributed to two winning albums: Vocal Jazz Album of the Year (Emilie Claire Barlow’s Clear Day) and Jazz Album of the Year: Group (Forest Grove by the Allison Au Quartet). Alumnus Chris Donnelly (MMus 2007, BMusPerf 2005) and faculty members Kelly Jefferson, Jason Logue, Kevin Turcotte, Terry Promane and Kelsey Grant also appear on the Vocal Jazz Album of the Year.

“It’s inspiring to see the continued presence of ��οMusic’s faculty, students and alumni in the Juno nominations,” said Dean Don McLean. “The Faculty continues to be an engine for the creative arts culture in Canada. It’s a testimony to the excellence of teaching and training for professional musicians that the Faculty is known for.”

Read about all the ��οnominees for this year's Juno awards

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U of T’s Emily D’Angelo wins Metropolitan Opera National Council audition finals

sgupta — Mon, 28 Mar 2016 11:34:03 +0000

U of T’s Emily D’Angelo wins Metropolitan Opera National Council audition finals sgupta Mon, 03/28/2016 - 07:34

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Undergrad Emily D'Angelo in recital at the Canadian Opera Company (photo © Dragonfly Imagery)

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Undergrad is one of the youngest winners in the history of the prestigious competition

“Voice hued like polished teak,” “vivacious and nimble” and “arrestingly vulnerable” are just a few of the phrases The New York Times used to describe mezzo-soprano Emily D’Angelo on her win at the Metropolitan Opera National Council Audition Finals.

“I felt honoured and privileged to represent ��οand Canada in New York,” says D’Angelo. “And I felt incredibly lucky to have the experience of being surrounded by people who care about making amazing art at such a high level – which was as exciting as winning.”

Arguably the most prestigious competition for emerging vocal talent, the Met win was the latest in a series of accomplishments for the fourth-year undergraduate in the voice studies program at the University of Toronto's Faculty of Music.

The $15,000 prize follows a packed year of resumé toppers, including the first prize and audience choice award at the Canadian Opera Company’s Ensemble Studio Competition - Centre Stage, which led to her induction in the company’s 2016-2017 Young Artist Ensemble Studio.

Born to be Blue: the ��οmusic experts who helped Ethan Hawke play Chet Baker

sgupta — Fri, 11 Mar 2016 09:08:07 +0000

Born to be Blue: the ��οmusic experts who helped Ethan Hawke play Chet Baker sgupta Fri, 03/11/2016 - 04:08

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Alumnus Ben Promane coached Ethan Hawke (above) on how to portray Chet Baker while alumnus Kevin Turcotte was the principal trumpet player for the studio recordings (photos of Hawke courtesy of IFC Films)

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Hawke was “a natural” says recent grad Ben Promane

Before Ethan Hawke could play legendary jazz artist Chet Baker in the new movie Born to Be Blue, he had to learn how to play the trumpet.

Fortunately, Ben Promane, a recent graduate of the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Music, was ready to help.

Hawke’s agent found Promane, who graduated with a degree in music performance in 2012, when researching Toronto instructors. The actor and Promane met up twice a week for the next six weeks at the Four Seasons Hotel.

“He was a great student because he was so interested,” says Promane. “He actually taught me a lot because he was so receptive and wanted to know as much as possible.”

Read the Globe and Mail article

Hawke didn’t have much musical training, but his classical acting background came in handy.

“He’s a natural, so he could match pitch. He was very receptive and things happened quickly,” says Promane. “He was trying to internalize the music in order to reproduce it. He really wanted to go as far as he could so he could be a trumpet player.”

The pair went over scales, explored Baker’s music and techniques such as how to hold the trumpet the way Baker would. Hawke even tackled how he’d have to play if he lost his front teeth, as Baker had in a fight in 1968.

Promane wasn’t the only ��οmusician involved in the production. Artist-in-Residence David Braid (also an alumnus) was one of the musical partners for the film, brought on by Canadian director Robert Budreau; the pair worked together on short films in the early 2000s. To create the soundtrack, Braid (pictured at right) had to research, transcribe, compose, orchestrate, arrange, produce and record the music.

He also had to contract the musicians. The studio band included ��οjazz instructors Mike Murley (baritone saxophone), David Neill (saxophone), drummer Terry Clarke (who has actually performed with Baker) as well as alumni Kevin Turcotte (trumpet) and Todor Kobakov (piano). Braid also coached Carmen Ejogo (who plays Baker’s love interest) on piano.

See Braid and Turcotte on the Morning Show

“Our jazz composer David Braid created a unique arrangement of this Guys and Dolls songbook classic, which combines a vintage 1960s sound with hints of modernism,” director Robert Budreau told Rolling Stone magazine.

In an interview with the magazine, Braid said, “The original 'I've Never Been In Love Before' from the musical Guys and Dolls is a light and sweet reflection on newfound love, but in Born to Be Blue, the lyrics transform meaning entirely to become dark and ironic.

“Ethan's spellbinding performance of this song at the climax of the film effectively communicates the essence of Chet's performance style as well as gives this 66-year-old song a new life with contemporary audiences.”

Hear the song at Rolling Stone magazine

“A jazz-specific movie such as Born to Be Blue requires a score that is representative of the mood and period of the film. David Braid is as sure-footed as a composer as he is a performer and brings the correct jazz sensibility to the production,” says Terry Promane, head of the Faculty of Music’s jazz department (and father of Ben).

“I was also pleased that so many of our current teachers and alumni – world class musicians – graced the soundtrack. It’s a wonderful testament to the jazz department.”

For a band full of experts, the most challenging part was finding the right formula to compose flaws in the music so it would reflect the story of Baker rebuilding his technique and confidence after his injury – and not only just make audible slip-ups, but make sure Baker’s wariness is reflected in the arrangement of the music and in Hawke's and Ejogo’s acting.

“The formula had to be such that both general audiences and jazz audiences could recognize the flaws without the music being unpleasant to listen to,” says Braid. “I’m sure the audience would not want to hear vulgar squawking trumpet!”

Alumnus Turcotte was the principal trumpet player for the studio recordings; besides providing the music you hear when Hawke plays, he also played as both Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie in one scene.

“He did this perfectly and tirelessly,” says Braid. “I’m going to make him an Academy Award if he doesn’t win one.”

Born to be Blue premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival last fall. The historical drama looks at a turbulent period in Baker’s life with drug addiction and an attempted comeback. March 11 is the Canadian release date for the film, from eOne Entertainment and IFC Films International. The soundtrack will be released through Warner Bros. and Rhino.

See the trailer below:

Jessica Lewis is a writer with the Faculty of Music at the University of Toronto

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16 reasons to watch the Junos this year

sgupta — Thu, 04 Feb 2016 16:13:56 +0000

16 reasons to watch the Junos this year sgupta Thu, 02/04/2016 - 11:13

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Faculty of Music student Dinuk Wijeratne is one of three ��οcomposers nominated for Classical Composition of the Year (photo by Michelle Doucette)

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43 Faculty of Music alumni, students and faculty from ��οnominated in 8 categories

Forty-three University of Toronto musicians, from jazz to classical to world music, have received 16 Juno nominations.

Three ��οcomposers – one student and two alumni – have Classical Composition of the Year-nominated pieces. Dinuk Wijeratne, a Doctor of Musical Arts candidate, John Burge (MMus 1984, BMus 1983) and Jordan Pal (DMA 2011) join only two other candidates in this category.

The Classical Album of the Year categories – Solo or Chamber Ensemble and Vocal or Choral Performance – are also strong with ��οalumni, such as the Cecilia String Quartet (currently the Faculty of Music’s Ensemble-in-Residence and performing a student-composed piece tomorrow at noon). The Aradia Ensemble worked with soprano Claire de Sévigné (MMus 2011) on Vivaldi: Sacred Music, Vol. 4.

“I am so excited to be nominated,” says de Sévigné. “I initially signed on to this album as a passion project since I wasn’t sure I could do Vivaldi’s music justice at the time. But I was encouraged to make the music my own. I am so proud to say that I was included in this project with a wonderful group of Canadian musicians.”

Five nominations are in jazz categories – Vocal Jazz Album of the Year, Jazz Album of the Year: Solo and Jazz Album of the Year: Group – including recent alumna Tara Kannangara (pictured below in a photo by Vanessa Paxton) nominated for her vocal album Some Version of the Truth.

“The nomination was a complete surprise, definitely unexpected as we are just emerging on to the Canadian Jazz scene,” says Kannangara, who graduated in 2013. “That being said, I'm very proud of the work that my group put into the album; it was a true labour of love. I'm thrilled that our hard work is being recognized, and I'm happy that the Junos took a chance on us.”

The Afiara Quartet’s album Spin Cycle, nominated for Instrumental Album of the Year, features compositions by three alumni and Wijeratne, including the piece nominated for Composition of the Year, while the Lemon Bucket Orkestra (with two alumni) were nominated for World Music Album of the Year with Moorka.

As well, another of the pieces nominated for Best Classical Composition, Centennials by Michael Oesterle, was commissioned and recorded by the Gryphon Trio, which includes Professor James Parker, Rupert E. Edwards Chair in Piano and Associate Professor Annalee Patipatanakoon

“It’s inspiring to see the continued presence of ��οMusic’s faculty, students and alumni in the Juno nominations,” says Dean Don McLean. “The Faculty continues to be an engine for the creative arts culture in Canada. It’s a testimony to the excellence of teaching and training for professional musicians that the Faculty is known for.”

Listen to Wijeratne's composition:

The 2016 Juno Awards will broadcast on Sunday, April 3 in Calgary. Here is the full list of nominees:

Vocal Jazz Album of the Year

1. Clear Day – Emilie Claire Barlow – Members Jon Maharaj, bass (BMusPerf 2003), Chris Donnelly, piano (MMus 2007, BMusPerf 2005), Kelly Jefferson, tenor saxophone (faculty), Jason Logue, trumpet (faculty), Kevin Turcotte, trumpet (faculty), Terry Promane, trombone (faculty) and Kelsey Grant, trombone (faculty)

2. Some Version of the Truth – Tara Kannangara, trumpet and vocals (BMusPerf 2013) with members Colin Story, guitar (BMusPerf 2010), Chris Pruden, piano (BMusPerf 2010) and Mackenzie Longpre, drums (BMusPerf 2010)

Jazz Album of the Year: Solo

3. Duets – Tara Davidson, alto and soprano saxes (BMusPerf 2002), with members Trevor Hogg, tenor saxophone (BMusPerf 1998), David Occhipinti, guitar (instructor), David Braid (BMusPerf 1998, faculty), Mike Murley (faculty) and Andrew Downing, acoustic bass and cello (MMus 2008, BMusPerf 1996)

4. What I Hear Now – Jerry Granelli trio featuring Lecturer Mike Murley, tenor saxophone, and DMA candidate Dani Oore, tenor and soprano.

Jazz Album of the Year: Group

5. Forest Grove – Allison Au Quartet – John Maharaj, bassist (BMusPErf 2003)

6. Sheer Tyranny of Will – Peripheral Vision – Don Scott, guitar (BMusPerf 2001), Michael Herring (BMusPerf 2000), Trevor Hogg, tenor saxophone (BMusPerf 1998)

Instrumental Album Of The Year

7. Spin Cycle – The Afiara Quartet – Features compositions by Kevin Lau (DMus 2012, MMus 2007, BMus 2005), Laura Sgroi (DMA 2014, MMus 2010, BMus 2008), Rob Teehan (BMusPerf 2005) and Dinuk Wijeratne (current DMA student)

Classical Album of the Year: Solo or Chamber Ensemble

8. Mendelssohn: Op. 44 nos. 1,2 – Cecilia String Quartet – Members Min-Jeong Koh (DMA 2014, BMusPerf 2007), Sarah Nematallah (MA Music 2013, BMusPerf 2006), Caitlin Boyle (DMA 2015)

9. Chamber World by Jerzy Fitelberg – ARC Ensemble – Members Marie Berard (ArtDip 1983 and faculty), Steven Dann (BMusPerf 1977), Erika Raum (BMusPerf 1993 and faculty), Joaquin Valdepenas (faculty), Dianne Werner (BMusPerf 1979)

Classical Album Of The Year: Vocal Or Choral Performance

10. Vivaldi: Sacred Music, Vol. 4 – Claire de Sévigné (MMus 2011), Maria Soulis (BMus 1986), and Aradia Ensemble members Nadina Mackie Jackson (faculty), Ed Reifel (DMA 2011), Paul Zevenhuizens (BMusPerf 1984), Paul Jenkins (MMus 1988, BMusPerf 1986) and Elyssa Lefurgey-Smith (BMus 2004)

11. Sacred Reflections of Canada – A Canadian Mass – Canadian Chamber Choir – Jeff Reilly, producer (BMusPerf 1983)

12. Peter-Anthony Togni: Responsio – Jeff Reilly (BMusPerf 1983) with Andrea Ludwig (OpDip 2001)

Classical Composition Of The Year

13. Two Pop Songs on Antique Poems – Dinuk Wijeratne (current DMA student)

14. Piano Quartet – John Burge (MMus 1984, BMus 1983)

15. The Afar – Jordan Pal (DMA 2011)

World Music Album Of The Year

16. Moorka – Lemon Bucket Orkestra – Members Mike Romaniak, sopilka (BMus 2011), John David William, clarinet (BMusPerf 2008)

Jessica Lewis is a writer with the Faculty of Music at the University of Toronto

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International soprano sensation and conductor revisits her ��οroots

sgupta — Fri, 15 Jan 2016 13:53:10 +0000

International soprano sensation and conductor revisits her ��οroots sgupta Fri, 01/15/2016 - 08:53

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“Music is like food for me. I am willing to try new things, but it has to be good for me, and I need to enjoy it. I love to be in the kitchen,” says Barbara Hannigan.

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Internationally acclaimed soprano to share her love of music with ��ο

She’s a singer, she’s a conductor, she even sings when she conducts. Barbara Hannigan is an international soprano sensation known for her penchant for taking part in unique contemporary classical music in numerous ways.

Hannigan, a graduate from the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Music, will be visiting ��οnext week for a handful of free public events – a lecture, master classes, an interactive session and a concert with faculty and students – from Jan. 19 to Jan. 22 as the John R. Stratton Visitor in Music.

“The Faculty is proud to have Barbara as an alumna,” says Dean Don McLean. “When she visits, she shares her gifts as an artist and mentor with our students and concertgoers. It’s these kinds of experiences that transform the lives of the next generation of young artists.”

Hannigan’s stop comes between a highly praised run of Francis Poulenc’s opera La Voix Humaine at the Paris Opera, performing Hans Abrahamsen’s let me tell you, a Berlin Philharmonic commission of the Paul Griffith novella based on Ophelia from Hamlet with the Cleveland Orchestra, and an evening with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra later this month to present Henri Dutilleux’s Correspondances – a song cycle referring to synesthesia and letters.

Hannigan has found worldwide success as a soprano and conductor in the opera, classical, contemporary and baroque genres. She has given over 80 world premieres, including let me tell you, which Abrahamsen wrote for her.

Her conducting debut at the Concertgebouw with Ludwig Orchestra won the Ovatie 2014 award for best classical concert of the year in the Netherlands. Last October, she made her North American conducting debut with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. And recently, she was featured on the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group’s recording of Gerald Barry’s The Importance of Being Earnest, which was nominated for a Best Contemporary Classical Composition Grammy Award.

Hannigan is quick to credit her busy and exciting career as evolving from her time at U of T, only now she hops all over the world instead of making the rounds through the Toronto music scenes.

“As a young performer, I sang everything I had the chance to sing,” says Hannigan. “In the following years, I became more tuned into what music moved and excited me, and my career choices became mainly repertoire-driven. I was not looking for the location, not even the conductor or orchestra, but the repertoire. Music is like food for me. I am willing to try new things, but it has to be good for me, and I need to enjoy it. I love to be in the kitchen.”

This year, Hannigan will lead a lecture about living as an artist, master classes for opera and chamber vocalists, an interactive session with the gamUT contemporary music ensemble and a concert with students and faculty.

“I hope to help my younger colleagues to further develop their own ears, discover how and what they can give to this profession, realize that their mistakes are at least as important as their triumphs,” says Hannigan. “I will try and share with them my experiences as a performer and how I have been able to grow and develop over the years since I finished at U of T.”

Second-year opera master’s student Danika Loren, recently a new member of the Canadian Opera Company’s Ensemble Studio, will be one of the performers in the opera master class.

“It's such an exciting opportunity because she is such an icon,” Loren says. “Barbara is the perfect example of why we should all continue to push every boundary that is placed on us. Amazing art can happen when we're fearless."

Jessica Lewis is a writer with the Faculty of Music at the University of Toronto

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