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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

Tune-In! is issued three times per School year:

October, February, and June.

Suggestions are welcome.

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Quarter Page $50/ issue

CALL FOR OUR REDUCED RATES

WHEN YOUR BUSINESS SIGNS ON FOR

THREE ISSUES!

The Music & Arts School gratefully

acknowledges support from the United Way

and the Toronto Arts Council

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www.universitysettlement.ca

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