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Juno-nominated Professor Christina Petrowska Quilico to launch two CDs

fmaquito — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 08:00:00 +0000

Juno-nominated pianist and 91��ɫ music Professor Christina Petrowska Quilico will launch her 24th and 25th CD, Glass Houses Revisited and The Liszt Anniversary Collection, at a concert Thursday at the Glenn Gould Studio.

The CD launch and recital will take place at 7:30pm, March 17, at the Glenn Gould Studio, CBC Building, 250 Front St. W. in Toronto.

Petrowska Quilico will perform recently revised work by the late composer Ann Southam (1937-2010). Glass Houses Revisited is being released by the on its Centrediscs label. The Liszt Anniversary Collection, on the Welspringe label, includes well-known pieces, operatic paraphrases and later works for the Liszt bicentennial. Both CDs were recorded at the Glenn Gould Studio and produced by David Jaeger.

Right: Christina Petrowska Quilico

Southam had revised the 15 pieces of the cycle for Petrowska Quilico, who then chose nine, which she edited and revised. “The score is made up of patterns, numbers and melodies, and I had to make sure they came out right. They are fiendishly difficult, especially at the tempo. You need to count each pattern. Each hand plays a different pattern with a different meter. Ann wrote how she wanted them to end, but I had to work things out to ensure the correct number of repetitions,” says Petrowska Quilico.

Fiendishly difficult "etudes" is how she describes the nine selections that she and the composer chose from Southam’s 1981 Glass Houses. She compares the cycle of fast pieces to the lightning-speed fingering of Liszt’s Transcendental Etudes and the complexity of Bach’s counterpoint, while containing “no indications of dynamics, phrasing, fingering, pedalling, or other directions in the score.”

Southam was a leading composer of minimalist music and a trailblazer amongst Canadian women composers. Glass Houses Revisited marks ’s third CD title devoted entirely to Southam’s music. The earlier two – the 2005 three-CD set Rivers and two-CD set Pond Life (2009) – were critically well received. She has also recorded Glass Houses No. 5 on her earlier CDs Ings, as well as other works by Southam on Northern Sirens, Virtuoso Piano Music of Our Own Time and Mystic Streams.

As for the 2011 Juno nomination, Larysa Kuzmenko's Piano Concerto, written for and performed by Petrowska Quilico on her 3 Concerti CD, has been nominated in the category. Petrowska Quilico performed it with the Toronto Symphony with Jukka Pekka Saraste conducting. This is her second Juno nomination; her first was for a performance of Glenn Buhr's piano concerto with the Winnipeg Symphony conducted by Bramwell Tovey. The Juno Awards will be announced from March 21 to 27, when the week will culminate in the live broadcast on CTV.

Tickets for the CD launch and recital cost $25 for adults and $20 for students and seniors, and are available from the or by calling 416-872-4255.

Republished courtesy of YFile – 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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Jazz Professor Barry Elmes launches CD with performance at the Rex Jazz Bar

fmaquito — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 10:00:00 +0000

91��ɫ jazz Professor Barry Elmes has been a mainstay of the Canadian jazz scene since the early 1980s. A drummer, composer, producer, recording artist and educator, he has performed all over the world and his work has been documented on more than 60 CDs.

On Thursday and Friday, the renowned jazz musician will perform at the in downtown Toronto with the members of his critically acclaimed group, the Barry Elmes Quintet. The performance celebrates the group's 20th anniversary and marks the of their newest CD REDSHIFT

This is the group’s first new release in a decade. REDSHIFT features nine songs, including seven new compositions by Elmes, a Wayne Shorter composition plus an arrangement of a traditional hymn.

Right: Barry Elmes

The music is performed by the quintet’s regular members, a who’s who of the best jazz artists from Canada, including Elmes' colleagues from 91��ɫ's Department of Music, faculty members Mike Murley on tenor saxophone and Kevin Turcotte on trumpet and flugelhorn, Reg Schwager on guitar, Steve Wallace on bass, Elmes on drums and special guest artists 91��ɫ faculty member Kelly Jefferson on flute and tenor saxophone, and Vanessa Rodrigues on the Hammond organ.

The CD's title REDSHIFT harkens back to Elmes' love of reading and fascination with astronomy. "Composed in honour of the astronomer Edwin Hubble and his associates whose work in the early 1900s provided convincing evidence that there are galaxies other than our own and that the universe is indeed expanding," says Elmes. "Photographing the light of stars in distant galaxies Hubble measured the spectral shift toward the red end of the spectrum, or the 'redshift'. The bigger the redshift, the faster the galaxy is speeding away from us.

"Hubble's work also provided a practical demonstration of the relationship between time and distance in space and offered substantial evidence for the Big Bang Theory," says Elmes. "Or put another way, I still experience a sense of wonder when I look up at stars in the sky knowing that everything I see happened a long time ago."

Elmes has played and/or recorded with many renowned jazz artists including: Tommy Flanagan, Charlie Haden, Hank Crawford, Diana Krall, Joe Henderson, John Abercrombie, Oliver Jones, Phil Nimmons, Dizzy Gillespie and the Moe Koffman Quintet.

His discography includes four previous recordings by the Barry Elmes Quintet (two-time winner of Acoustic Jazz Group of the Year), and recordings by the contemporary jazz quartet Time Warp, which he co-founded and co-leads with 91��ɫ music Professor Al Henderson. His honours include five Jazz Report Awards, two of which are for Jazz Musician of the Year.

In 1992, Elmes represented Canada with Time Warp at the Venezuela International Jazz Festival and was featured with the Oliver Jones Trio on the Governor-General's Tour of China, Japan and Korea in 1994. In 1996 he performed in Brazil and toured South Africa with the Canadian Jazz Giants. He toured Chile in 2000 with the Barry Elmes Quintet, and celebrated the ensemble’s 10th anniversary with a cross-Canada tour in 2001. He presides over the independent jazz label, , and performs frequently at major festivals and jazz clubs.

The performances at the Rex begin at 9:30pm on Thursday and 9:45pm on Friday. There is a cover charge of $9 on Thursday and $10 on Friday.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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Ron Westray appointed as Oscar Peterson Chair

fmaquito — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 08:00:00 +0000

Performer, composer and educator Ron Westray has been appointed as the Oscar Peterson Chair in Jazz Performance at 91��ɫ.

“We’re excited and honoured to have an artist of Ron Westray’s calibre as the Chair,” said 91��ɫ President & Vice-Chancellor Mamdouh Shoukri. “This Chair will enable us to further advance the quality of education for our fine arts students and carry on the legacy of Oscar Peterson at 91��ɫ.”

Left: Ron Westray

Westray is best known for his work as lead trombonist with the legendary Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra (JLCO), and his collaborations with Wycliffe Gordon. He has appeared in concert with such luminaries as Ray Charles, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Stevie Wonder, Benny Carter, Dewey Redman, Roy Haynes, Randy Brecker and a host of other pre-eminent artists.

A regular on the New 91��ɫ City club circuit, he has played premier jazz venues such as the Village Vanguard, Blue Note, Sweet Basil, Iridium, Jazz Standard and Smalls, and is a standing member of the acclaimed Mingus Band. In addition to his concerts and recordings with the JLCO, Westray has recorded as a sideman on such major labels as Columbia Records, Sony Classical and RCA Novus. His latest CD as leader, Medical Cures for the Chromatic Commands of the Inner City (Blue Canoe Records, 2008), garnered a No. 1 listening rating on eMusic.com.

As a composer, Westray’s personal catalogue comprises dozens of original compositions and arrangements for big band and mixed ensembles. Among his numerous commissions for the JLCO is his monumental score, Chivalrous Misdemeanors – Select Tales from Don Quixote (2005), as well as arrangements of the works of Charles Mingus and Ornette Coleman. His charts were recently published by Walrus Music. His bibliography includes reviews and citations in DownBeat, JazzTimes, The New 91��ɫ Times and The New 91��ɫer.

The Oscar Peterson Chair in Jazz Performance was made possible by a $4-million endowment announced by the Ontario government in January 2008, along with $1 million to establish music scholarships for talented students from underprivileged backgrounds.

“I want to congratulate Ron Westray on this new appointment. He brings a wealth of talent and experience to the jazz performance program at 91��ɫ and its students. Our government is happy to do its part to honour the memory of Oscar Peterson by helping gifted music students pursue their own dreams,” said Premier Dalton McGuinty.

Barbara Sellers-Young, dean of 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Fine Arts, said the Chair, under Westray, will expand and strengthen the program Peterson championed throughout his tenure at 91��ɫ.

“We’re delighted to launch this important new academic initiative with Professor Westray,” said Sellers-Young. “As the Oscar Peterson Chair, he will be working with the jazz faculty in our music department to develop a special student outreach and support program named for Peterson, to encourage talented aspiring jazz artists who might not otherwise have the opportunity to pursue university studies.”

An adjunct professor in 91��ɫ's Department of Music from 1984 to the late 1990s, Peterson was among Canada's most celebrated jazz artists. He was committed to teaching young people and established several student awards in the jazz program. Recipient of an honorary doctor of letters from 91��ɫ in 1982, Peterson was installed as 91��ɫ's eighth chancellor in September 1991 and served the University with distinction until February 1994. He was made an honorary governor of 91��ɫ in 1995 and was a Fellow of McLaughlin College. He died in Mississauga on Dec. 23, 2007.

“The appointment of Ron Westray as the Oscar Peterson Chair in Jazz Performance will give students and faculty in 91��ɫ’s outstanding jazz program the opportunity to learn from an extremely talented and prolific artist. It will also help to ensure that Oscar Peterson’s tremendous legacy lives on through the development of a new generation of jazz artists,” said John Milloy, minister of training, colleges & universities and minister of research & innovation.

91��ɫ offers jazz at all levels of undergraduate and graduate study, including a master and PhD in the field. The curriculum includes instrumental and vocal performance, history, theory, composition and arranging. Performance studies centre on small ensembles, plus jazz choirs and the 91��ɫ Jazz Orchestra. Repertoire spans jazz standards, big band, improvisation and contemporary jazz, enriched by world music traditions including Brazilian samba, Cuban jazz, gospel, West African drums, steel-pan and Afro-American music.

Westray joins colleagues at 91��ɫ who are among Canada’s pre-eminent jazz artists. Almost 40 full- and part-time faculty teach in the jazz program, including percussionist and music department chair Barry Elmes; bassist Al Henderson; saxophonists David Mott, Mike Murley and Kelly Jefferson; pianist Mark Eisenman; guitarist Lorne Lofsky; trumpeter Kevin Turcotte; multi-instrumentalist Sundar Viswanathan; and vocalists Bonnie Brett and Sacha Williamson.

Westray holds a BA in music from South Carolina State University and an MA from Eastern Illinois University. He comes to 91��ɫ from the University of Texas at Austin's Butler School of Music, where he was assistant professor in the Jazz Studies Program.

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