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Volume 7, Issue 3
Spring/Summer: June 2013
“I really liked Gabriela's
playing. It was very musical
and touching.... I hope to be
able to play like her in the
future. Thank you very much
for giving me this opportu-
nity.” - Erika
Erika’s mother was also
quick to add that concerts
like Ms. Martinez’s, help to
encourage and inspire her
daughter towards excellence.
The University Settlement
Music & Arts School was
also well represented by
more than twenty students
who attended the Roy Thom-
son Hall violin recital by
world-renowned violinist
Itzhak Perlman on Novem-
ber 18, 2013. For this event,
the pre-concert chat was
given by violinist Patricia
Ahern, a member of To-
ronto’s Tafelmusik Orches-
tra. Ms Ahern provided valu-
able insight about the reper-
(Continued on page 5)
nez. The concert took place at
the Glenn Gould Studio, in the
CBC building. Ms. Martinez
performed a recital of roman-
tic piano repertoire, focusing
on major works for solo piano
by composers such as Ludwig
van Beethoven, Sergei Rach-
maninoff and
Franz Liszt.
Share the
Music also
organized a
p re -concer t
chat hosted
by pianist-
e d u c a t o r
David Louie.
Mr. Louie, an
accomplished
local pianist
and peda-
gogue, per-
formed some
musical ex-
cerpts from
Ms. Marti-
nez’s pro-
gram on the
piano; pro-
viding Share
the Music
participants with guidance on
what to listen for in the recital.
In addition to his work on edu-
cational outreach initiatives
such as the Share the Music
program, Mr. Louie is a fac-
ulty member at the Royal Con-
servatory of Music’s (RCM)
Glenn Gould School.
Many Share the Music partici-
pants stayed late after the con-
cert, for the opportunity to
snag an autograph signing
with Ms. Martinez. The pro-
fessional pianist took a few
moments to sign autographs,
chat with and pose for photo-
graphs with her fans, including
her newest fan, Settlement
piano student, Erika Nari-
matsu.
Share the Music: Year in Review!
Hundreds of our music
students have enjoyed
Share the Music events
every year since 1999!
By Laraine Herzog, Coordi-
nator of the Share the Music
Program and piano teacher.
Since its inception in 1999,
hundreds of University Settle-
ment Music & Arts School
students (ages 11 to 18) have
attended performances at Roy
Thomson Hall, Massey Hall
and the Glenn Gould Studio,
compliments of the Share the
Music program. Share the
Music is a community out-
reach initiative of the Corpora-
tion of Massey Hall and Roy
Thomson Hall. Just by signing
up for the complimentary tick-
ets Share the Music offers,
students in the Greater To-
ronto area are given the oppor-
tunity to see world-famous
performers that the Toronto
area attracts, and participate in
related pre-concert educational
activities, completely free of
charge!
During this past year, more
than 100 Settlement students
signed up to attend the seven
scheduled 2012-2013 Share
the Music events, including
performances by Ladysmith
Black Mambazo, Paco Pena
Flamenco Dance Company,
Brazilian guitarist Gilberto
Gil, violinist Itzhak Perlman,
pianist Gabriela Martinez,
among others.
On one chilly February eve-
ning this winter, over twenty
Settlement students, parents
and teachers attended a recital
by the award-winning Vene-
zuelan pianist Gabriela Marti-
Music & Arts School piano student, Erika and pianist Gabriella Martinez, post-performance.
The Music & Arts School will be open for lessons during the summer months. This summer, we will be offering private instruction in the following:
Piano Drums/Percussion Violin Guitar Clarinet Beginner Cello . Viola Saxophone
Registration for summer music lessons began on Monday, June 3rd and is ongoing. Summer term lessons start the week of Monday, July 8th and run for 6 weeks. If you are interested in group music classes, they will resume in the fall semester. For further information, updates, or for registration please call: 416-598-3444 x243/244. Or check our website www.universitysettlement.ca.
Page 2 T U NE-I N!
Faculty News - Faculty Projects, Student RCM Results etc.
Summer Term Registration Information!
Accordion teacher, Tiina Kiik was quite busy this spring playing in the band of a new production of Beaumarchais’s Bar-ber of Seville. This Soulpepper Theatre show featured an English text and mod-ernized bluegrass-y arrangements of Ros-sini’s classical music from his operatic version of the play. After a well-deserved summer break, Tiina will return to her regular teaching schedule this fall. Speaking of returns, the Music & Arts School is very pleased to welcome back Elina Templin (piano). Elina will be re-turning to teaching in time for our sum-mer term. We are sad to announce the departure of voice teacher, Jeremy Ludwig who is moving to Calgary this summer and piano teacher, Aleksandar Gerun, who be leaving us at the end of the summer term. We wish them both lots of continued success! Michelle Simmons, (Part-Time Program Assistant), will be away on leave for most
of the month of July, performing new opera scenes in collaboration with Bicy-cle Opera Project of Toronto. The Project includes a week of shows in the City of Toronto during the first week of July, plus a cycling tour that will bring the troupe through several southern Ontario cities including stops in Hamilton, Elora, Fergus, Kitchener, Waterloo, Bayfield, London and Stratford! For more infor-mation, please visit http://bicycleopera.ca/ Adult piano student, Bodil Hougesen, successfully completed her Grade 5 RCM in January 2013. She studies with Alek-sandar Gerun. Congrats Bodil! The Music & Arts School is also proud to announce the following student results from recent Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM) Examinations: Youngche Kwon: Grade 3 Piano, 90%. Bubu Zhang: Grade 6 Piano, 92%
Vivid Ma: Grade 7 Piano, 95% Jack Liu: Grade 8 Piano, 95%
Youngche studies with Tiina Kiik. Bubu and Vivid are students of Susan Chemm and Jack studies piano with Ken Marple. A number of our string and piano stu-dents put in outstanding performances at various Music Festivals in the GTA this spring! Several of Alex Cheung’s violin students participated in the 2013 YIP’S Music Festival. Yip’s Canada was founded in 1990 by Dr. Wai Hong Yip, a renowned music educator, composer & conductor. Among our students’ accomplishments:
Jack Liu: 1st place, Grade 5 Allan Zhou: 1st place, Grade 1 Francis He: 2nd place, Grade 1
Maureen Chang: 2nd place, Grade 2. Delfin Onay: 3rd place, Grade 3
Gabriel Vargas: 2nd place, Suzuki Book 1
(Continued on page 3)
V OLU ME 7, IS SU E 3 Page 3
Music & Arts School
Concerts & Events Schedule
SUMMER TERM 2013SUMMER TERM 2013SUMMER TERM 2013
JUNE
Monday, June 3rd
REGISTRATION FOR SUMMER TERM BEGINS First come, first-served. In-person or phone registrations accepted.
Wednesday, June 12th at 7:00 pm End of Term Concert - St. George the Martyr
Saturday, June 15th at 12:00 & 2:00 pm End of Term Concerts- St. George the Martyr
Saturday, June 22nd at 2:15 pm Dance Recital – US Auditorium
Monday, June 17th SPRING TERM ENDS
JULY
Monday, July 1st CANADA DAY- BUILDING CLOSED
Monday, July 8th SUMMER TERM BEGINS (6 weeks)
July 22nd - 26th MUSIC FROM SCRATCH Program (for Youth)
AUGUST
Monday, August 5th CIVIC HOLIDAY – BUILDING CLOSED
Thursday, August 15th @ 7:00 pm Student Recital – US AUDITORIUM
Monday, August 19th SUMMER TERM ENDS
Jonathan Gin: 2nd place, Suzuki Book 3
Piano teacher Ken Marple’s students were quite successful in their recent per-formances at the local 2013 Kiwanis Mu-sic Festival.
Jeffery Zhu: Grade 9 piano Best of Class, a 1st place and two 2nd place results.
Jack Liu: Grade 8 piano Best of Class, and two 1st place results.
Lydia Wong: Grade 10 piano, two 1st place results!
In addition to these achievements, Jack and Jeffrey be representing Toronto in the Ontario Provincial Finals in Peterbor-ough in June. Congratulations!!
(Continued from page 2)
To longtime students of the Music & Arts School, the name Humphreys might ring a bell. Martin Humphreys taught piano at University Settlement in the 1990’s. He left the School to take work out west in Vancouver, British Columbia, but in 2009 returned to Toronto and resumed teaching at Settlement. During his ‘second stint’ at the Music & Arts School, Martin taught piano for almost two years, until he was forced to take leave due to ill health. He suffered a brief bat-tle with cancer, passing away less than half a year after his initial diagnosis. By chance, Music & Arts School accor-dion teacher, Tiina Kiik happened to pick up a recent issue of Chatelaine which featured a book review of "Nocturne" by Helen Humphreys about the life of her brother Martin Humphreys. Below is the
Nocturne: A Posthumous Tribute
___
____
_____ _1_ =
____
publisher’s synopsis, as reproduced from Chapters Indigo’s website.
Nocturne: On The Life And
Death Of My Brother
by Helen Humphreys HarperCollins Publishers Ltd | March 19,
2013 | Hardcover
Helen Humphreys' younger brother was
gone before she could come to terms
with the fact that he had terminal cancer.
Diagnosed with stage 4B pancreatic can-
cer at the age of forty-five, he died four
months later, leaving behind a grieving
family. Martin was an extraordinary pi-
anist who debuted at the Royal Festival
Hall in London at the age of twenty, later
becoming a piano teacher and senior ex-
aminer at the Royal Conservatory of Mu-
sic. The two siblings, though often living
far apart, were bonded on many levels.
Now Humphreys has written a deeply
felt, haunting memoir both about and for
her brother. Speaking directly to him, she
lays bare their secrets, their disagree-
ments, their early childhood together,
their intense though unspoken love for
each other. A memoir of grief, an honest
self-examination in the face of profound
pain, this poetic, candid and intimate
book is an offering not only to the mem-
ory of Martin but to all those who are
living through the death of family and
friends.
————————————————-——
Editors’ Note: Martin made several recordings, some of which are available to borrow from the School’s library.
KIDZ KORNER:
MUSICAL MATHEMATHICS
Help us complete
our musical clock!
Fill in the empty hours
with the correct number
of notes! Sometimes the
entire hour is missing,
sometimes it only needs
to be completed.
Remember:
we are in 4/4 time!
The beat is a quarter
note, and it equals 1.
Good luck!
Page 4
A Performer’s Life! By Christopher Burton, DMA
I was pleased recently, to be able to donate a CD recording of Edward Elgar's Violin Concerto to the Audio-visual col-lection at the University Settlement Mu-sic & Arts School. What makes this par-ticular recording so special to me is that it features violinist Catherine Manoukian and conductor Stefan Solyom, two of my dearest friends.
I first met Catherine about six years ago. I received a phone message indicat-ing she was in need of a pianist with whom to perform a recital the very next day! I suggested that it was a very tall order to ask someone to perform such difficult repertoire on less than one day's notice, but being one to never back down from a challenge, I accepted the engagement. We played well together on that occasion, and I have always maintained that that was a life-changing event for me, since it was the beginning of a beautiful friendship in addition to being a very gratifying performance.
Catherine and I became very close friends, and we performed together, learned lots of repertoire together, and simply hung out together. I would often assist her in preparation for concert en-gagements as well.
Then, she met Stefan, moved to Ger-many, and they got married. Three times now they have invited me over to their home in the famous city of Wei-
Share the Music: Yearly Recap
toire to be performed, which included
works by Mozart, Faure and Stravinsky.
This time, counted amongst those who
attended was violin teacher Alex Cheung
and many of his violin students.
“It was an experience the students and I
will always remember! For his encore,
Perlman pulled out his entire repertoire
that he had performed at Roy Thomason
Hall during the last 40 years! He starting
picking pieces from that pile with his
(Continued from page 1) pianist and they proceed to
play six or seven wonderful,
short pieces, including fa-
vourites such as The theme
from the movie Schindler’s
List.”
Photo: Patricia Ahern
(seated) posed with Alex and
several Music & Arts School
students who attended the chat
and Itzhak Perlman recital.
mar, to again assist in preparation for performances and recordings. The first of these three occasions was in May, 2011. Catherine asked if I would take a
trip over to Germany and rehearse with her intensely for a week or so, on Ed-ward Elgar’s famous Violin Concerto. I, of course, agreed: it is fantastic music, Catherine is a great player, and it was an opportunity to visit a very important city in the history of music and literature. Pianist and composer Franz Liszt lived there, as did Bach, Goethe, Schiller, among others!
As Catherine’s rehearsal pianist, I ‘filled in’ for the orchestra, helping her prepare for a live performance and recording
with the Staatskapelle Weimar orches-tra, which is conducted by her husband, Stefan. The recording she went on to make of the concerto is quite special in
itself. It is not a studio re-cording, where many takes of small sections of are re-corded, but a recording of a live performance in June of 2011. Catherine maintains that Edward Elgar’s concerto is the most difficult in the entire repertoire. To achieve such a perfect performance of it is absolutely remarkable. I am very happy and honoured to have had a part in it. For those of you interested in learning more, please follow this link to a YouTube clip of Catherine and Stefan, discuss-ing the background of the
recording: www.youtube.com/watch?v = Q o U A t 6 i O h V Y I hope having the CD in the library brings enjoyment to many at University Settle-ment!
—————————————————— -Editor’s Note: The School has received sev-eral new and exciting donations during the past year. Keep an eye out in our school lobby for signs announcing new items!
Christopher Burton “at work” during the May Faculty Recital
Page 5
and other cognitive abilities. Now we learn, as found in a Globe and Mail article dated April 3rd 2013 in a new study conducted by scientists at the Baycrest Health Sciences’ Rotman Research Institute and the University of Toronto, that the opposite is also true. Understanding this relationship between music and language may be useful for developing rehabilitation programs for stroke and aphasia pa-tients. In fact, many years ago a dear friend of mine, a singer, had a major stroke. He was left unable to speak, how-ever, he was still able to sing songs and articulate the words when they were combined with the music. He
Here is something a little different and interesting for you. How many of you who are reading this speak Mandarin, Cantonese or Thai? I bet there are quite a few of you. Did you know that as speakers of these languages, you may have an advantage when it comes to hearing and understanding music? These lan-guages, along with some other Asian languages and some African and Na-tive Indian languages are “tonal” lan-guages, meaning that the pitch a word is spoken at can change its meaning. As has already been proven, the study of music enhances language
was not able to speak the words- only sing them. I believe it will be only a matter of time before science will find a way to understand this separa-tion of spoken word from sung word, to help stroke victims like my friend John. Anne Yardley Director, Music & Arts School
Director’s Message
Founded in 1921, the University Settlement Music and Arts School
is one of North America’s oldest community music schools!
Located in the heart of downtown Toronto, the School provides
an open house of learning and a welcoming, familial atmosphere.
We offer quality lessons to everyone regardless of age, ethnicity,
perceived talent, or ability to pay.
Fees for Group Classes at the Music School are calculated by the term
and vary depending on the length of classes, the number of weeks and,
in some cases, the cost of materials.
Individual lessons are offered on a variety of instruments.
Fees for individual study are as follows: $20.00 per half hour,
$30.00 per 45 minute lesson, and $40.00 per one-hour lesson.
A yearly $20 registration fee is added to cost of all programs.
Financial assistance is available for those who qualify.
Please call the Music & Arts School for more detailed
information, or drop by and pick up one of our flyers!
A NEWSLET TER OF UNIV ERSITY
SET TLEMENT MUSI C & A RTS SCHOOL
For more information, please contact:
Music & Arts School 23 Grange Road
Toronto, ON M5T 1C3 Phone: 416-598-3444 ext 243/244
Fax: 416-598-4401
Registered Charitable number # 11927 9412 RR0001
Director: Anne Yardley Program Assistant: Michelle Simmons
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