Friday, December 31, 2010

Ontario Arts Review names BMF one of its top 10 performances of 2010

Thanks to Danny & Terry Gaisin for naming our performance of Firebird & Other Legends as one of Ontario Arts Reviews Top Ten Performances of 2010! Brott Festival would like to thank Danny and Terry for their unwavering and enthusiastic support of the arts scene in southern Ontario. We truly appreciate friends like you!


“THE FIREBIRD”Last year, the NATIONAL ACADEMY ORCHESTRA’s “Brott Summer Festival” hit a home run with Mussorgsky’s ‘Pictures at an Exhibition’. This year his [and their] Stravinsky Firebird was a multi-dimensional interpretation. Intrinsically, Firebird is an orchestral challenge because of the numerous solo instances. One individual screw-up and the entire attempt fails. Fortunately, the NAO musicians were faultless and the accompanying choreography by Ottawa’s School of Dance under Merrilee Hodgins visually presented the story of the Russian Prince & his birdie. This presentation alone was a Top-Ten shoo-in’ but Brott’s programme added projected works by Maxine Noel that accompanied a new First Nations composition by Malcolm Forsyth. The evening opened with the Beethoven ‘Creatures of Prometheus’ and was vocally interpreted by the incomparable Veronica Tennant who also insightfully revealed the story behind Swan Lake. The musical pas de deux by concertmaster Skazinetsky and the harp of Erica Goodman was a spine-tingling moment. The Canada Council for the Arts contribution to this event was more than a gift; it was an investment

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Friday, December 17, 2010

Boris Brott on The Agenda with Steve Paikin

A very fine interview conducted by one of Canada's best journalists, fellow Hamiltonian Steve Paikin.


Thursday, December 9, 2010

HAMILTON LIVE PREVIEWS MESSIAH WITH MIA LENNOX WILLIAMS

Tune into Cable 14 Hamilton Live tonight to catch a preview of Handel's Messiah with Hamilton's own fabulous Mia Lennox-Williams who just happens to be our alto soloist for our upcoming performances of Handel's Messiah.

Lennox Williams performs "O Thou That Tell Us Good Tidings to Zion"

The show, hosted and produced by Linda Rourke, runs every hour on the half hour beginning at 5:30 pm.

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

BORIS TALKS CONDUCTING WITH STEVE PAIKIN

Hamilton Maestro appears on TVOntario’s The Agenda on December 8th, 8 PM

HAMILTON – Brott Music Festival and National Academy Orchestra founding Artistic Director Boris Brott sits down to discuss music and his conducting career with TVOntario’s Steve Paikin on the station’s flagship current affairs program, The Agenda on Wednesday December 8, 2010.

Brott has a long and storied career transforming Canadian orchestras and in recent years has seen an explosion in guest conducting duties in Europe, particularly in Italy, where he is scheduled to conduct three fully staged operas in 2011. He is perhaps best known for leading the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra to international acclaim in the 1970s and 80s and for his charismatic style and innovative approach to programming classical concerts.

Paikin, a Hamilton native, is the anchor and senior editor of the program that he describes as featuring “more intelligent analysis, and more robust, thought-provoking debate and discussion among newsmakers and experts.”

The show airs weekdays on TVO at 8 and 11 pm. Content is available on demand online at tvo.org and through mobile media. http://www.tvo.org/cfmx/tvoorg/theagenda/

Monday, December 6, 2010

Letter: Every Child Deserves Music In Their Lives

Dear Maestro Brott:

I had the good fortune today to go to Hamilton Place with my daughter's grade 7 class. It was an " Ah Ha " full circle moment for me as a parent today.

Before there was an instrumental music program city wide in Hamilton ( Tweedsmuir was still new to the program) You brought each section or sent out each section of the orchestra to the schools to teach about the different musical instruments. ( I went to Prince of Wales) The year was 1975. Then at the end of the sessions, we were brought to Hamilton Place to see them all together in a concert setting. Because of that knowledge and experience, I went way out of my comfort zone and took the instrumental music in grade 9 at Scott Park Secondary. I learned the French Horn.

I also had the good fortune of playing in the HPYO with Mr. Mallory and went to Banff. Martin Beaver was our soloist. All that being said, I want to thank you for having and continuing these very important programs for the kids today. I sat in the audience today and watched the kids from our school R.A. Riddell watch laugh and learn about some of the best music out there and ask questions. I was able to share with them my experiences on playing an instrument. I took a 25 year break ( i did not have my own horn) and after all that time, bought a horn, practised more than when i was in school and now have the joy of playing again. My eldest daughter plays flute, and now my youngest is learning clarinet / alto sax.

In this day and age where cut backs seem to be the norm, the Arts programs always take the biggest hit. And most schools are barely hanging on to their instrumental programs. I am lucky that our school R.A. Riddell has a very strong program.

All of this being said , I just want to thank you for your dedication to the City of Hamilton, but more importantly to the children of Hamilton by bringing this wonderful opportunity to hear, experience, and enjoy classical music. It was very entertaining this afternoon and we learned a lot. In fact the kids wanted to hear more.

For me personally, thank you for this gift that I shared with my daughter. Just so you know too, I got to share with some of her classmates today on how you conducted me. You see when I was in the HPYO, you were our Conductor to prepare us for the joint concert we were doing with the "big" orchestra HPO, that was being taped for the Richard Gale show on CKDS as we were preparing to go to Banff for the first time. It truly was a learning experience although difficult you demanded the best from us and pushed us to strive to be the best.

You have a large heart sir and thank you for sharing your love of music and that every child deserves a chance for music in their lives.

Happiest of Holidays to you and yours and look forward to next year.
Respectfully Yours

Mrs. Debbie Burke

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Franz Liszt






FRANZ LISZT (1811-1886)
by Caspar Zumbusch

This bust of Franz Liszt was presented to the City of Hamilton by Dr. Alan Walker and Rev. Csaba Baksa on behalf of the Hungarian community residing in Southern Ontario.  It was unveiled by His Excellency Ambassador Sándor Papp during the Great Romantics Festival in October 1998, and may be viewed on the third floor of the city’s main concert auditorium, Hamilton Place. Flanked by the Hungarian and Canadian flags, the bust is an exact copy of the contemporary version sculpted by Caspar Zumbusch, which is on display at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, Budapest.  It is a worthy tribute to one of Hungary’s greatest composers. 

Monday, October 18, 2010

The Italian jobs: Boris Brott's career is expanding -and he is eating well

By ARTHUR KAPTAINIS
The Gazette October 16, 2010


Another Montreal institution that we should not take for granted is Boris Brott. Despite the conductor's identification hereabouts with the McGill Chamber Orchestra -the ensemble founded by Boris's father, Alexander Brott -this native Montrealer has his share of international dates. To judge by his schedule, he is eating well.

Last night, he was conducting the orchestra of the Teatro Petruzzelli, a refurbished historical jewel in the coastal Italian city of Bari. On the program were two Fifth Symphonies, Beethoven's and Tchaikovsky's.

This concert followed the world premiere last Sunday, also in the Petruzzelli, of a violin concerto (titled Zephir) by noted American minimalist Terry Riley. Francesco D'Orazio, a young Italian, was soloist.

Boris Brott conducting a Terry Riley world premiere in Italy: You find that surprising? Maybe incredible? Check out the clip on YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch? v=LYtXBQ48UeA. There was also some Canadian music, Alexander Brott's Oracle, on this program.

The language of rehearsal for all this, necessarily, was Italian. "You can barely get along here with English," Brott writes from overseas.

People who hear this affable conductor introduce works bilingually at McGill Chamber concerts might be surprised to learn that he speaks Italian better than passably.


"When I was 17, I was inscribed in the Guido Cantelli Conducting Competition in Stresa, Italy," Brott explains. "My mother and father thought it was a good idea for me to be able to speak to the orchestra in Italian and sent me to a 9-to-5, six-days-a-week immersion course at Berlitz Language School.

"I took to the language very quickly as I had learned to speak Spanish when I spent nine months studying conducting with Igor Markevitch at Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes in Mexico City.

"I was 14 and was billeted there with the composer Tapia Coleman and his family of seven girls and one boy. He was also the developer of Acapulco and quite wealthy.

"Anyway, back to Italian, I enjoyed my courses very much as there was a very attractive teacher. I was still quite innocent at 17, but I wanted to impress her."

As for the Petruzzelli Theatre, Brott endorses its looks as well, to say nothing of its comfort and its acoustics. As for Bari and surrounding Puglia, they are unspoiled: beautiful scenery, great seafood and not a McDonald's in sight.

Brott is in California in mid-November, leading three concerts by his Los Angeles-area New West Symphony (another hit by Alexander Brott, Critic's Corner, is on the program). By Nov. 20, he is back in Italy, leading the orchestra of the Teatro Filarmonico in Verona through Beethoven's Second Symphony and Holst's The Planets (or "I pianeti," as the famous suite is known in the language of Galileo).

Brott's winter schedule includes chilly dates with the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa (where he is principal youth and family conductor) and the National Academy Orchestra in Hamilton, Ont. (where he actually lives). But in February, he resumes his burgeoning Italian career with a run of Saint-Saens's Samson et Dalila at the Teatro Lirico Giuseppe Verdi in Trieste. This major house has also hired Brott to conduct the Verdi Requiem -a job one might reasonably expect to go to a conductor who speaks Italian as a first language.

Back to Montreal. On Monday you can hear the Maestro concertatore e Direttore of the McGill Chamber Orchestra in Salle Claude Champagne, 220 Vincent D'Indy. On the program are Jacques Hetu's Poeme, the Double Concerto of Mendelssohn (Laurence Kayaleh, violin, and Stephane Lemelin, piano) and the Concert of Ernest Chausson.

This last item is conducted by Jean-Francois Rivest, professor of conducting at the Universite de Montreal. Tickets range from $11 (students) to $45. The concert starts at 7:30. Go to www.ocm-mco.org.

akaptainis@sympatico.ca

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Ancaster’s Valerie Tryon highlights Great Romantics Festival

By Mike Pearson, News Staff
Arts & Entertainment
Sep 23, 2010

Their music is as vibrant today as the day it was written.

Fryderyk Chopin, Robert Schumann, Franz Liszt, Johannes Brahms and Josef Wagner are some of the most celebrated musicians of the Romantic period.

Juno award-winning pianist Valerie Tryon will pay tribute to the Romantic era at next month’s Great Romantics Festival, a celebration of classical music from 1820 to 1910.

The festival returns for its 15th installment during the weekend of Oct. 7. For the first time ever, the festival welcomes the National Academy Orchestra of Canada, conducted by its founder and artistic director, Boris Brott.

Tryon, an Ancaster native, will perform selections by Franz Liszt including Totentanz (Dance of the Dead) and Les preludes, the third of Liszt's 12 symphonic poems. Tryon has performed for sell-out crowds around the world, including performances with the Royal Symphony Orchestra and the BBC Symphony. Her latest recording, released in May, includes a Mozart piano concerto performed with the London Symphony Orchestra.

Tryon is looking forward to her upcoming performance with Brott’s ensemble on Oct. 9.

“He always has absolutely fabulous players,” said Tryon. She will perform two concertos along with the orchestra on a Mason & Hamlin piano, known for its full, rich sound.

The theme of this year’s festival is Ovations. 2010 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Fryderyk Chopin and Robert Schumann. The Saturday afternoon program on Oct. 9 includes a presentation of Chopin’s 27 studies, performed by seven concert pianists.

Schumann is represented by his two major song-cycles Dichterliebe and Frauenliebe und–leben, along with some of his most recognized piano music. Saturday’s piano gala features 12 talented pianists, followed by a festival banquet at the Hamilton Convention Centre.

Tryon said next week’s event offers great variety, from piano concertos to song recitals, lectures, a piano gala and a closing festival banquet.

A fitting selection leading up to Halloween, Liszt’s Totentanz is one of Tryon’s favourite symphonic pieces.

“It’s been one of my favourites,” said Tryon. “It’s very macabre and sinister.”

Alan Walker, the festival’s artistic director, said this year’s event includes musicians from four Great Britain, the U. S., Spain and Canada. Like all good music, Walker said Romantic era composers produced music of a timeless quality that remains fresh and vibrant, nearly two centuries after it was written.

“Their music has endured so much repetition that it is timeless,” said Walker.

When Walker asked Boris Brott and the National Academy Orchestra of Canada to join the festival, Brott quickly obliged.

“I jumped at the chance to do a Tryon marathon,” said Brott. “Few pianists in the world would be capable of performing this repertoire in one evening and carry it off. Valerie can, and will.”

Brott said Tryon is a pianist who carries away audiences with her soulful interpretations.

“That's why she is in demand around the world. We are fortunate she calls our area home. Musically she is a citizen of the world.”

Brott has performed with Tryon several times in the past in England and Wales when Brott was the music director of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales.

“Valerie and I have made music together annually for the past 25 years at least,” said Brott.

Brott calls himself a Romantic by nature. He feels very much at home with music that examines emotion, feelings and events that are larger than life.

“The program we are performing -Liszt, Schumann, Chopin -this is a great program our emotional National Academy Orchestra and I can really sink our teeth into and bring to life for you, our audience.”

The Great Romantics Festival begins on Thursday, Oct. 7 and runs through Saturday, Oct. 9 with performances at McMaster University’s Convocation Hall, Mac-Nab Presbyterian Church and Christ’s Church Cathedral. The event is presented in conjunction with The American Liszt Society and The School of the Arts, McMaster University. During the event, Dr. Elyse Mach will receive the Medal of the American Liszt Society, the highest honour that the Society can bestow, in recognition of her writings in behalf of Franz Liszt.

All systems go for Great Romantics

By Leonard Turnevicius

THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR

Just when you thought Alan Walker's Great Romantics Festival was down and out for the count … Surprise! It's back as strong as ever.

That's right. All systems are go for the GRF, which was put on hold last year due to funding issues.

And what got the ball rolling to make the GRF happen instead of letting it become a warm and fuzzy memory for the region's classical music fans as well as the American Liszt Society, one of the festival's co-sponsors?

"We received this year an unexpectedly generous donation from an American benefactor and admirer of the GRFestival who had regretted its absence during 2009, " wrote Alan Walker in an e-mail response to The Spectator.

So, with someone gifting greenbacks to cover the bills, Walker set about organizing the three-day festival which will take place just prior to Thanksgiving.

Much of the GRF's schedule is familiar from previous years. Opening remarks on Thursday at McMaster's Con Hall, followed by a lecture. This being the Schumann bicentennial, Mark Ainley will share his insights on that composer. Louis Nagel will then present an all-Schumann piano recital. Then, in Christ's Church Cathedral, there's Ian Sadler's organ recital, plus soprano Janet Obermeyer's Lieder recital including Schumann's song cycle, Frauenliebe und –leben. Thursday night, it's the traditional orchestral concert in Hamilton Place. But this time, it won't be with the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra.

Citing "philosophical differences" coming "after 10 years of frictionless collaboration, " as Walker put it, the HPO and the GRF are parting company, for the time being.

So, Boris Brott and his National Academy Orchestra have accepted Walker's invitation to fill that void in what will be their GRF début. But it was Brott who suggested that the evening's soloist should be pianist Valerie Tryon. Walker, who had originally pencilled in Tryon for a daytime solo recital, gave her the choice between that and a concerto. Her decision was a no-brainer, all the more so since she and Brott have honed their musical rapport over the past 35 or so years.

With 2010 also being the Chopin bicentennial, Tryon will trot out Chopin's Second Piano Concerto as well as Liszt's Totentanz (Dance of Death) on a bill that also includes Schumann's Manfred Overture and Liszt's symphonic poem, Les Préludes.

But Walker won't have Tryon play on either of Hamilton Place's two grand pianos. Instead, he's having a 9-foot-6 Mason & Hamlin brought in from Burlington for the occasion.

"It produces an exceptionally large sound - essential for such a vast auditorium as the Great Hall, " wrote Walker of the Mason & Hamlin. "I have often been disappointed by the poor sound of the in-house pianos at Hamilton Place, which are neglected and not really good enough for a truly professional concert."

And for the concerts at MacNab Presbyterian, including Saturday afternoon's all-Chopin piano gala (you didn't think any other composer would do, did you?) featuring an array of local and international pianists, the GRF is importing a nine-foot Yamaha grand from Toronto.

And don't forget about the traditional Friday night Con Hall piano recital featuring this year's winner of the Hilton Head Competition, Lukas Vondracek, who'll perform in the presence of the Czech Republic Consul General, or the Saturday night Candlelight Banquet in the Convention Centre's Webster Room. For all the info, check www.artset.net/greatromantics.html.

This Saturday from 4 to 6 p.m., Alok and Abhisek Lahiri with Kiran Morarji on tabla present a sarod duet program with a Q&A session on Indian classical music in McMaster's Kenneth Taylor Hall, Room B135. Free admission. Call 905-525-9140, ext. 27289.

GRF schedule

THURSDAY, OCT. 7
McMaster, Convocation Hall
9:30 a.m.: Opening Remarks
10 a.m.: Mark Ainley's Schumann lecture
11 a.m.: Louis Nagel: Schumann recital

Christ's Church Cathedral, 252 James N.
2 p.m.: Ian Sadler, organ
3 p.m.: Janet Obermeyer, soprano

Hamilton Place
8 p.m.: Tryon, Brott & NAO, $20

FRIDAY, OCT. 8
MacNab Presbyterian, 116 MacNab St. S.
10 a.m.: Miriam Gomez-Moran, piano
11 a.m.: Lenard Whiting, tenor, Schumann's Dichterliebe
2 p.m.: Bill Aide, piano
3 p.m.: chamberWORKS! Wagner & Brahms
4 p.m.: reception

McMaster, Convocation Hall
8 p.m.: Vondracek recital, $20
10 p.m.: reception, CIBC Banquet Hall

SATURDAY, OCT. 9

MacNab Presbtyerian
10 a.m.: Jose Cueto & Nancy Roldan, violin/piano

2 p.m.: Donald Manildi on Chopin

2:30 p.m.: Chopin gala
Convention Centre, Webster Room

7:30 p.m.: Candlelight Banquet, $70

Tickets for a morning or an afternoon $15, student/senior $10. One day pass $25, student/senior $15. An evening concert $20. ‘Rose' package (incl. all events except Candlelight Banquet) $100. Candlelight Banquet $70. Call 905-525-9140 ext. 23674.

Leonard Turnevicius writes on classical music for The Spectator

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

SUNDAY SEPT 19 -- CLASSICAL CAFE AT ARTWORD ARTBAR CAFE

Classical Covers
SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 19 at 2 PM

Katherine Mrmak, violin & viola
Lorna Heidt, cello & vocals

A charming selection classical duets for violin and cello, as well as accompanied songs, both covers and originals. A lighthearted mix of serious, whimsical and popular music! Join these outstanding musicians for a relaxed and intimate afternoon of music in an artistic surrounding. Refreshments and food available for purchase. (Licenced LCBO)

Admission $10 (all proceeds go to performers)

Presented in co-operation with the Brott Music Festival and National Academy Orchestra of Canada. The NAO has graduated over 1,100 musicians into the fields of performance, teaching and entrepreneurship over the past 22 years. We are pleased and proud to have our alumni take part in these Artword Artbar performances and applaud owners Judith Sandiford and Ron Weihs for their dedication and foresight in founding this series.  Please support this most worthy cause. We promise it is a lovely way to spend a couple of hours on a Sunday afternoon!

The Artword Artbar Cafe is located at 15 Colbourne Street Hamilton ON L8R 2G2 Call 905-543-8512 or cell 905-912-9083 email artword “at” artword.net. By car: from the 403, take the York Blvd exit, go east on York Blvd. Turn left at James Street North. Turn left at Colbourne. We’re right there.By car from the east: from Cannon, turn right at James Street North, and left at Colbourne. Or from Barton turn south.

A Letter from a Patron to Genevieve Leclair

Burlington, ON
August 26, 2010

Dear Genevieve Leclair,
This summer I have been lucky attending four beautiful concerts during the Brott Music Festival's season.
I want to send you this special thank you letter because I enjoyed very much your conucting with so much grace and precision and I liked your neat programme notes. Their details are enjoyable to read. It's worth it to come early to the concerts to have enought time to read them, the historical facts and the depth of their musical expressions.
By the way I had never heard anything by Glick so far, but next to Cimarosa's piece I liked the two movements by Glick the best at the last concert of this summer.
I wish you a happy and successful continuation of your career as a conductor and each day brings joyful musical experiences. Greetings!
Signed,
---- from an old person who loves music.

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Beethoven's Ninth: More Pics

Thanks to our own Diane Clark for her fabulous photos all season:

Letter from Scarborough: " I was all teary-eyed listening"

Aug. 28/2010


Dear Friends of Classical 96 FM,

As winner of the Brott Festival prize [tickets to a performance of Beethoven's Ninth, dinner and a hotel stay], I’m delighted to say that I had a FABULOUS weekend, my daughter Catherine and I. Everything was superb!

Our stay at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, lovely staff and room, dinner at the Pepperwood Bistro in Burlington. I’m still revelling in the taste of the lovely Roast Beef dinner – the ambiance, friendly, delightful.

Sara Chazin, violin

Best of all, the National Academy Orchestra, conductor Boris Brott, one of my favourite Maestros was superb. The choir, Leslie Fagan, Lauren Segal as usual, were wonderful. Two Flautists Gloria Huh and Jennifer Brimson were delightful and Sara Chazin, violinist!!!! SARA CHAZIN – excellent playing! I was all teary-eyed listening to her play.

Of course I did some shopping and got a real bargain on 2010 Soccer Shirts. I strolled around the main streets of Hamilton and wished I had more time to re-visit Mohawk College. Such a beautiful setting up the Mountain – it reminded me of my drive up to Niko, Japan.

Thanks to you all at Classical 96 FM you give me PLEASURE every day. I’ve been a listener from the first of the wonderful station.

Bill Anderson, Alexa, Kerry Stratton, Jean Stillwell, Marilyn Lightstone -- good health to you all and thanks again in helping me stay so happy to be alive and enjoying life.

Sincerely,

Collis Kelly

Scarborough, ON

Sunday, August 22, 2010

From Ontario Arts Review: The Ninth: A Magnificent Piece; Performed Magnificently

Review by Danny Gaisin
Aug. 21st. ‘10

I admit it- I’m prejudiced in favour of all nine Beethoven symphonic creations. Each has its own character; mood and focus. Conductor Boris Brott bestows his personal impression whenever he and his NAO perform any of these masterpieces. My own notion or inkling may differ, but we both find each piece irresistible. Closing the 2rd Brott Festival season: - the brilliant incomparable ‘Chorale’ Ninth.

Beethoven was totally deaf when he composed the work in 1824. To conceptualize a man creating such a work without the ability to hum the themes, codas, cadenzas and motifs boggles the imagination. From the almost hesitant opening notes of the Allegro that segues into its familiar theme,  Brott & the NAO appeared to be exquisitely caressing every note with fondness and warmth. The Vivace was enhanced by extended pauses that added a facet of drama to the interpretation. The third movement – the adagio molto, whose theme is introduced by the violas -- was so exquisitely performed as to bring on a wetness about the eyes of this enthralled listener.

For the final movement, the combined Arcady & Brott Festival singers under the direction of Stéphane Potvin, and soloists Leslie Fagan; Lauren Segal; Michael Colvin & Daniel Lichti offered the ‘Ode to Joy’ with faultless tones, vocal clarity and excitement. For novice audience-members (and there were some who required ‘shusshing’ after the allegro), Brott had a projected translation of Schiller’s ‘An die freude’ on screens stage left & right. The program notes, while concise and didactic, did not mention that the work was adopted as the anthem of the European Union, both for its beauty and for an optimistic prayer that someday alle menschen warden brüder – ‘all mankind will consider themselves brothers’.

The four soloists are possessors of magnificent voices. Fagan’s soprano has a honey-smoothness that aurally coats the listener. Tenor Michael Colvin seizes each lyric as though it is his own creation and imparted this  every time he sang. There is a power in Segal’s mezzo that belies her stature. The timbre and range she imparted reflected soul. Daniel Lichti is a bass-baritone whose comfort with the normal range of low F to mid C is only equalled by his projection and faultless idiom. The blend of soloists with the 90-member choir appeared seamless.

The other items that comprised the total concert were equally spectacular. Brahms' only violin concerto is a three-movement work, and we were fortunate to hear Sara Chazin (no relative!) perform the opening Allegro movement. The work is so challenging as to be oftimes subtitled concerto against violin for the humiliation it can confer on its attempters. Chazin aced it!

Flautists Jennifer Brimson & Gloria Huh offered Cimarosa’s concerto in G major under the baton of Geneviève Leclair. The facial delight and confidence exhibited by these two talented young ladies is a positive reflection of what Brott’s N.A.O. accomplishes.

S.I. Glick’s ‘Triumph of the Spirit’ is a major work by a composer it was our privilege to know personally. I never had the chance to audaciously ask if its title was a deliberate repudiation of the Riefenstahl 1934 propaganda movie. Like Lightfoot and some other contemporary composers, Glick was overly repetitious but in this piece, it might have been an acknowledgment of traditional Chassidic liturgical mode. Hearing the choir’s Hebraic pronunciation of "Avinu Malkeinu" -- Our Father, Our King --  was especially gratifying with the Jewish High Holidays so close at hand. Like the prayers to be traditionally recited, thanks given, vows renewed, and prayers offered for us as individuals and for the world itself… may alle menschen warden brüder!

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Enduring love It lives on, and gets passed on down

Suzy Zucker and her brother Martin have sponsored the final concert of the Brott Music Festival, in memory of their father, Hamilton businessman and philanthropist Irving Zucker, for the past few years. This year, it will be Beethoven's Ninth, taking place tomorrow


Suzy Zucker with her father Irving in 1997 when he received the Order of Canada.

By Suzy Zucker
SPECIAL TO THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR
(Aug 19, 2010)

The last time I saw my father alive was when he was being rolled into the elevator on his way up to the operating room. He was still taking care of us all, right up until the end, giving us tasks to do. He pointed at me.

"You hold on to me, Suzy."

"OK, Dad," I nodded, "I will." I had brought in a healer, and after she had worked on him, she told me that I could continue on with what she had done by "holding on to him." So I imagined myself holding him, keeping him here, as best I could.

We all knew it was a long shot. The day before the operation, the surgeon had met with me, my two brothers and my father's longtime girlfriend.

"I have to tell you now," she said, "that there is a only about a 20 per cent chance that he will fully recover."

We all stared at her.

"What do you mean?" somebody asked.

"The aneurysm is very close to his heart. First, he needs to survive the operation. After that, the following three days will be critical. But even if he makes it through, there will still be the possibility of brain damage."

There was a long pause.

"Oh."

I went home that night to my two-year-old daughter and my failing marriage. My husband and I had been in counselling for a year, to no avail, and the stress of my father's recent illness had our relationship completely unravelling. I vaguely remember us watching a comedy on television, but the words sounded garbled, nothing made sense. Everything was surreal, far away, gauzy. The only thing that I could hear with crisp clarity was 20 per cent, 20 per cent, like a loop.

The next day we gathered in the waiting room after my father was taken to surgery. I thought about the way he had been the night before: anxious, agitated, with a drawn, hunted look in his eyes. I wish I could go back now, and sit with him, caress him, tell him over and over again, I love you, Dad, I love you. Or even try to joke with him, anything to soothe his fear, my fear, the unspoken. But a virus had recently shut this hospital down, and I had started to feel sick a few days previous. So I had worn a mask, and stayed a good distance away from him. I busied myself by setting up the power of attorney papers, the only affairs he had not attended to, the ones signifying incapacitation and the relinquishment of control. Control had been a common thread between us.

"Everything under control on your end, Suzy?" he would frequently ask.

"Yes, Dad," I'd lie into the phone, protecting him, protecting myself. "How about you?"

"Yup, everything's under control over here, Suzy."

We stayed in that waiting room for over 12 hours, alongside all of the other families that came and went, huddled together, awaiting news of their loved one's fate. It was as if time stood still. I had noticed this phenomenon the last time my father had been in the hospital, 10 years earlier, undergoing a quadruple bypass. Hospitals seem to exist in a world unto themselves when a loved one is critically ill. You get up from your chair to go buy a coffee, then go outside for a guilty cigarette, only to return back. Over and over again. Life and death consume you; all else fades and is made inconsequential. Then there is, of course, the magical thinking. I start to make a deal with God that if he saves him, I will quit smoking. But then I stop myself, panicking. What if, when it comes down to it, I can't follow through with it?

Finally, his surgeon comes in and reports that there had been a lot of bleeding, and she thought that she had lost him at one point, but he had held on and was still alive. He was being sewn up right now, but in a while we could go see him, although he would be unconscious.

We filed into the ICCU and were led into his room. I looked at him, the fallen giant, strapped up to tubes and machines.

I had a job. I stood at the foot of the bed and pushed the sheet up off of his feet. I took hold of his ankles. "I've got you, Dad. I'm holding onto you," I said.

I was sure I felt his leg move.

Over the course of the next two days he never regained consciousness, but we kept up our vigil, orbiting around him, as we always had done. It was four o'clock in the morning, and I was at home trying to sleep, when the call came.

"I think you should come to the hospital. Your father is dying; all of his major organs are shutting down."

We convened around him. The nurse explained to us that after they put a heavy dose of morphine into his IV, the life support would be turned off.

Then he was gone.

We sat Shiva for seven days, saying the prayers every morning and every night. People came and went through my father's house in a blur, sharing their condolences and their memories, and eating the food that magically appeared every day.

Two of my friends came to visit. We went into the den and shut the door.

Shiny black suits, they were the Men in Black. I sat down on the couch in the same blue jeans and T-shirt I'd worn for days. Therapists, the two of them, they encircled me: a tag team, one in front, one by my side.

"How are you doing, Suzy?"

I burst into tears. "All I can think of is that I didn't hold on to him well enough."

I am wailing as they shoot closer.

"We love you Suzy, we love you." They embrace me; hold onto me, keeping me here, as best they can.

* * *

Seven years have come and gone since we buried my father. At first, the pain was unbearable. Crying every day, I tried to explain to my daughter why Mommy was so sad. She in turn became the ballast that I clung to. I would often gaze at the picture taken a month before my father died, a picture of him with my daughter on his knee, and it gave me great comfort. He had lived to see his grandchild.

I see my father in her: her energy and infectious smile, her zaniness and creativity, her warmth and generosity of spirit. Over time I have also come to see my father more clearly, including the challenges that he struggled with in his life, as we all do.

I realize that at 46, under the very best of circumstances, I am half way through my life. When the time comes, and it is my daughter's time to grieve, I only hope that she will know that she loved and was loved by me. We are all complex creatures who fall short in one way or another. And when you have a child, those failings do not magically pack up their bags and leave. We pass on the good and the not-so-good to our children. But now I think to myself that maybe that's OK, as long as we pass on a heavy dose of love with it all.

Song cycle transforms composer's shooting

What: Srul Irving Glick's Triumph of the Spirit
With: Boris Brott, National Academy Orchestra, Arcady Singers, Brott Festival Choir
When: Friday, Aug. 20, at 7:30 p.m.
Where: McIntyre Theatre, Mohawk College, 135 Fennell Ave. W.
Cost: $27, senior $22, student $10 (plus HST)
Call: 905-525-7664, ext. 16

By Leonard Turnevicius
THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR



January 7, 1993. 10:50 p.m. Srul Irving Glick walked out of Beth Tikvah Synagogue in North York just as he'd done so many times before. But this wouldn't turn out to be just another night.

Glick, then 58 and the synagogue's music director, had earlier wrapped up Thursday evening choir practice and was ready to climb into his car when he was approached by a man sporting a ponytail. Without uttering a word, the man opened his coat, pulled out a gun and fired.

Glick turned and ran. The shooter gave chase, firing four more shots. One of them hit Glick. A nearby female resident heard gunfire and wailing. She called 911. By the time police and emergency personnel arrived, the gunman had long fled. Glick was rushed to Sunnybrook hospital, where surgeons removed a 9-mm bullet from his right calf.

Who would want to do this to Glick? He was a prolific composer in various media including more than 200 liturgical works, a former producer at the CBC, Beth Tikvah's choir director since 1969 and its composer-in-residence from 1978.

Glick wondered this himself. And was this shooting linked to an attempted home burglary eight months earlier in which he fought off an intruder armed with an axe? Glick had suffered head injuries in that incident.

Needless to say, these events had a profound effect on Glick's psyche and music. His Second String Quartet was written some months after the shooting. Glick admitted that he was taken aback at the aggressive drive, the vehemence, and the bitterness of the music that poured out of him.

That, however, would change in another commission, this one from Elmer Iseler and the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir. Iseler wanted a choral work with which to celebrate the TMC's centennial and asked if Glick's piece would also include some Jewish hymns.

For texts, Glick chose Avinu Malkeinu (Our Father, Our King) and Adonai, Adonai (The Lord, The Eternal from Exodus 34:6-7). He framed those by opening with Thus Saith the Lord (Jeremiah 6:16), placing Donia Clenman's poem Rainbow Symphony as the third movement, and ending with Rabbi Abraham Kook's Radiant is the World Soul. Glick titled his song cycle Triumph of the Spirit.

In his program notes for the 1996 publication of the work, Glick explained the effect of the shooting on his world view. "The sheer perverseness and unexpectedness of this event forced me to re-examine my deepest feelings about life and my place in it. It was then I realized, and with great impact, that everybody in some way or another struggles against the hardships and adversities in life, and that each personal and spiritual success becomes a 'triumph of the spirit.'

"The origin of this work, as with so many of my compositions, comes from a faith found deep within my soul; the purposefulness, the beauty, the richness, and the indwelling love in our world, is the most precious and wondrous gift of God. That is not to say that I am unaware of the pain and suffering and the evil in this world; rather, it's a turning, an illumination of a totality which makes every moment priceless."

Make no mistake, Triumph of the Spirit is no 30-minute-long, c'mon-let's-get-happy, soporific singfest. Glick poured out music that was in turn reverential, wistful, high-spirited and gentle, culminating in a grand Mahlerian climax on the phrase, "Come find peace, embrace delight and taste of the goodness of God." Glick passed away in 2002 after a long battle with multiple myeloma.

Glick's Triumph of the Spirit will be performed at tomorrow night's Brott Summer Festival closing concert in Mohawk College's McIntyre Theatre. Also on the bill, several concerto competition winners whose performances were bumped from a July concert, plus the paean of all paeans to humanity, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.

Read Leonard Turnevicius's reports from some of Europe's classical music festivals at
http://www.jamilton.ca/.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Brott Firebird Project: An Outstanding and Creative Evening

Legends:- Prometheus, Coyote, Swan Lake & Firebird


Review by Danny Gaisin
Aug. 15th ‘10

The muse and I attend between 160 & 220 concerts or theatre events a year; Each December we list our TOP TEN most memorable; educational, or entertaining. As memories oftimes fail, we directly record candidates on a whiteboard. Last evening’s incredible N.A.O./Brott Festival offering was immediately added to the list. Titled ‘Famous Firebird & Other Legends’, this was one outstanding & creative evening. Stating that we and the McIntyre Theatre audience were impressed would be an understatement.

Beethoven’s ‘Creatures of Prometheus’ is a compositional phenomenon. Looking at the repetitional score, then hearing the exquisite melodic ballet music seems almost oxymoronic. Introduced and elucidated by the incomparable Veronica Tennant, the three selected movements gave us a pastiche of the mythological character that angered Zeus in order to obtain gifts for mankind. Brott’s interpretation of the adagio permitted unbridled flexibility for Skazinetsky’s violin solo & Goodman’s enchantingly resonant harp.

The melody introduced by the cello was acknowledged by the conductor’s appreciative facial countenance. The finale, more familiar as the theme from the composer’s ‘Eroica’ was performed technically faultless and emotionally charged.

Then an inspiring and emotional premiere:- renowned Canadian composer Malcolm Forsyth was commissioned by Tara-Louise Montour to create a musical interpretation of the First Nations legends surrounding the coyote. His four movements were accompanied by construal projected-animation by David Paseika featuring the art of Maxine Noel. Between listening to Ms. Montour’s violin & the NAO musicians, and being visually impacted by the creative artwork, senses were overwhelmed. The twenty minute piece seemed to pass in mere moments. This is a magical work.

Post-interval, Geneviève Leclair took the podium for Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake. Again, Ms. Tennant elucidated the plot, coupled with delightful personal asides from her performing days. Her devotion to the music as well as her insight into both the Siegfried and Odile/Odette roles brought a potent visuality to Leclair’s interpretation. An impacting opening scène was followed by a superb pas de Deux that again demonstrated the expertise of Skazinetsky & Goodman. There was a noticeable tight-reining during the second of the dances, but each of the others received spontaneous applause.

The highpoint of the evening undoubtedly was the Stravinsky ‘Firebird’. Not presented as a suite but rather as an in-concert format of the ballet. Ottawa’s School of Dance & choreographer Merrilee Hodgins visually presented the story of a Russian prince saved from a neighbouring tyrant by the feather given from a captured & released firebird. Conquering the tyrant’s minions & rescuing his beloved princess was enacted by a terpsichorially-talented octet that mesmerized the audience as they danced or acrobatically struggled across the stage. This was a magnificent interpretation, and certainly something theatrically memorable. Post-concert for a brief photo-op, I had the chutzpah to ask maestro Brott how his NAO could afford to stage such a creative but certainly extremely expensive opus. I too, read through the list of sponsors, but this performance seemed a definite financial envelope-pusher. His brief response:- “Thank God for the Canada Council for the Arts!”

On behalf of all of us cultural types, our thanks too! It’s certainly monies well-invested, well-contributed and definitely well-spent.

Today's Spectator Front Page: This Ain't Hollywood, Maestro

August 18, 2010
by Graham Rockingham
THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR
This Ain't Hollywood, Maestro
Teenage Head, Johnny Cash and now ... Boris Brott

1970 promotional poster for the Hamilton Philharmonic A young Boris Brott, in 1970 a new arrival to the Hamilton Philharmonic, is seen in a promotional poster meant to give the HPO a 'hip' look. A signed...

The walls of This Ain't Hollywood have accumulated a lot of rock 'n' roll memorabilia. The bar displays photos of Johnny Rotten and Johnny Thunders, a bust of Johnny Cash, and posters of the Forgotten Rebels and Teenage Head.

But there's a new member of the collection that definitely stands out from the rest.

Placed right next to a window lined with 33 empty bottles of Jagermeister hangs a 40-year-old promotional poster featuring a very young and hip Boris Brott surrounded by women.

That's right, Boris Brott -- musical director for the National Academy Orchestra of Canada and former conductor of the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra.

His sideburns are long, his curly dark hair thick. He's wearing a double-breasted jacket that could have been cut on Carnaby Street and a piece of silk tied around his neck in the then-stylish "apache scarf" fashion. He's leaning on a dump truck, looking ... er ... sexy.

The poster, taken in 1970 in a Stoney Creek quarry, carries a simple written message -- "Boris Brott: Music Power."

Yesterday, Brott stopped by the James Street North rock bar to autograph the poster for the owners -- Lou Molinaro and Glen (The Hamilton Kid) Faulman.

"My goodness, you've had it mounted," Brott exclaims as he first sets eyes on the poster.

Brott, now 66, then points to the blond standing to his right in the photo.

"That young lady is Ardyth, my wife," he says with a smile. "I probably had met her only once when that photo was taken, but we married a few years later. We've now been married 34 years ..."

Brott turns and asks the bar owners: "Where did you get this?"

Molinaro explains the poster was donated to the club by Teenage Head bassist Steve Mahon, who found it at his sister's house.

"Steve's sister was apparently a big fan of yours, Boris," Molinaro says.

The poster was made shortly after he was hired by the HPO. At the time, Brott was a musical prodigy in his mid-20s coming to Hamilton from Montreal via New York City.

Local lawyer Herman Turkstra, an HPO board member, was pushing to give the symphony orchestra a new youthful image.

The poster was Turkstra's idea, Brott says.

"The goal was to say that classical music was not boring and not just for old people," Brott says.

"And we've been trying to say that same message for the last 40 years."


Two weeks ago, Brott took the stage with the National Academy Orchestra wearing an Elvis wig and costume for a special Brott Festival tribute to the king of rock 'n' roll.

On Friday night, the Brott Festival closes its season at the Mohawk College's McIntyre Theatre in a more traditional fashion -- a performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.

grockingham@thespec.com

905-526-3331

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Fantasia: The Inextinguishable Firebird

A Letter from composer Jordan Pal

I am writing to express my enthusiastic support and appreciation for Boris Brott and the National Academy Orchestra.


Through both the NAO and his summer festival, Mr. Brott has clearly established a highly professional and extremely valuable voice in the Hamilton music community. His artistic team consists of distinguished mentors from the TSO, COC Orchestra, Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony to name a few, apprentice conductors Samuel Tam and Geneviève Leclair, and an orchestra of exceptional young-professional musicians. The National Academy Orchestra represents what I believe to be one of the top training orchestra institutions in the country.

I was extremely fortunate to have had the recent opportunity to work with Mr. Brott and his orchestra during their 2010 summer festival. I first contacted Mr. Brott back in September of 2009. He was very receptive to my work as a composer and took a kind interest in programming my concert overture, On the Double. It is a privilege to have gained support from one of Canada’s most distinguished music professionals. Through both my direct communication with Mr. Brott and his work with the NAO, it is very clear that he believes strongly in supporting and fostering young emerging talent.

My experience with Mr. Brott and his creative team while working on On the Double was very positive. Apprentice conductor Samuel Tam, Mr. Brott, the mentors and the orchestra took an active and engaged interest in working towards producing desired results during the rehearsals of the work. This created a very encouraging environment where an open dialogue was established between the conductor, the orchestra and myself.

It is often assumed that young musicians lack the experience and know-how to properly perform contemporary music. This was not the case with the NAO. The musicians that make up the body of this orchestra represent some of the best and brightest across Canada. The orchestra, under Samuel Tam, and as coached by the mentors and Mr. Brott himself, responded very well to the piece. Often more than not, it is our experience as composers that there is only enough time in rehearsals to focus on producing a ‘reading-type’ quality performance of the work. Through the professionalism of the musicians, Mr. Brott’s intimate understanding of the orchestra, and Samuel Tam’s efficient and sensitive approach, the entire team worked towards producing an inspired performance of the work.

Through my experience with the NAO, it is very apparent that Mr. Brott has developed an invaluable learning experience for the orchestral conductors and musicians of Canada’s future, which in turn enriches Canadian culture.
With best regards,
Jordan Pal,

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Gulenco, Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky, NAO - Russian Romanticism at its Best

Review by Kamara Hennessey
The Ontario Arts Review
Born in Toronto; 27-year-old ‘new kid on the block’ Canadian composer Jordan Pal’s “On the Double: Concert Overture for Orchestra” is up first on yesterday evening’s Brott Summer Music Festival’s Rocky 3 Meets Tchaikovsky concert program. In the program notes, the composer himself describes his work as “a fast and furious adrenaline-pumping roller coaster of an overture...” Need I say more? However, at the end of NAO’s relatively ‘stable’ performance guided by apprentice conductor, Samuel Tam’s baton; staying on track, I am still trying to peg this composition’s genre. In this 21st C. can it be defined as “neo ‘neo Classical’ / neo ‘neo Romantic’ / neo ‘neo Impressionist’ / neo ‘neo early 20th C’- ‘Avant Garde’? Perhaps it’s ‘Neo all of the above’ But, I must admit it was a very interesting piece. Like most modern compositions this composition will take some getting used to as it grows on one’s aesthetic sensibilities.

Featured attraction / headliner Alexei Gulenco, pianist, submerges into an alter ego’s stage presence to his Russian counterpart- Sergei Rachmaninoff. Quite robust in stature; and guessing that Gulenco is close to 6’ 4” in height, he strides on stage with a very upright military carriage that’s emphasized by his all black attire. With his entrance on stage, I can’t help thinking that two ‘Giants” are about to meld into Russian Romanticism in all its glory. In all of Rachmaninoff’s piano concerto repertoire, his Piano Concerto No. 3 in D Minor, op 30 is reputed to be one of his most difficult concertos for a pianist; especially in the Finale movement! Both Gulenco, and NAO - conducted by Maestro Brott - came through their collaborative performances of each movement – [Allegro ma non tanto; Intermezzo; Finale] - with equal mastery. The highly romantic expressionism is exposed through all its dynamic shadings of the composer’s lush harmonies; often excitable rhythms; rippling and soaring lyrical melodies. With some time to spare before intermission, Gulenco returned to feed the audience thirst for more with an encore number Moments Musicaux (3) Op. 16 by none other than “Rocky” himself. However, it showed another side of the composer as having created a work, to my ear, that had an overall ‘religious’ pace in tempo as well as revealed a somewhat meditative quality in the chordal harmonic progressions.

The 2nd half of the concert program is devoted entirely to Tchaikovsky’s lengthy Fifth Symphony in E minor, op. 64. The stage was shared by Genevieve Leclair, who conducts M1: Andante - Allegro con anima and M2: Andante Cantabile, con alcuna licenza. Maestro Brott conducted M3: Valse; Allegro moderato and M4: Finale: Andante maestoso - Allegro vivace. Both conductors and NAO gave it their all to release this powerhouse of Russian Romantic expressionism. Since this particular symphonic work by Tchaikovsky has now become a much performed and loved standard, it is considered a gem that sparkles with timeless beauty. The opening melody in the Andante cantabile that is expressed out by solo French horn and reiterated by solo oboe and clarinet is so hauntingly beautiful. The NAO performers on the above instruments conveyed it as such. The orchestra presented a very expressive performance that showcased Romanticism at its best throughout the entire concert, thereby showing that oftimes- “the whole is greater than just the sum of its parts”.

Monday, August 9, 2010

A Ravishing Performance from Brott's NAO

By Hugh Fraser

HAMILTON - It happens from time to time although, come to think of it, not all that often.


It's that muffled roary whoosh at the end of a piece of music. It tells you that the audience has been holding its breath in awed amazement and can finally expel the pent up air. Soon, of course, it turns into shouts of Bravo, Brava or Bravi depending on circumstances. “Encore” is another favourite. Then a small clump rise while shouting and applauding, which draws another clump to its feet across the aisle and soon the whole lot of them are banging away and yelling to beat the band.

That's exactly what happened as the young (everything's young to me except water and dirt) Russian (Moldovian) pianist Alexei Gulenco brought a grand piano back to earth on the stage of Mohawk College's concert hall after a sparkling flight through Rachmaninoff's Third Piano Concerto.

In the true Russian pianistic tradition Gulenco took absolutely no guff at all from what seemed, at first, a rather dull instrument and soon had it singing. Bits I had felt were tacked on for effect seemed apt and unified and it really was a very satisfying performance indeed.

And that orchestra! I kept having to count the strings to make sure it wasn't double the size, because what I was hearing was double the size. Brott proved, as he effortlessly does, that he is the complete accompanist.

Then Rachmaninoff's date, Tchaikovsky – the Festival billed the concert as Rocky 3 Meets Tchaikovsky -- showed up with his Fifth Symphony.

Brott split the work in half with his apprentice conductor Genevieve Leclair. Leclair took the first two movements, while Brott took the Valse and Finale. I must say it is a tribute to Brott's command of the podium that he voluntarily followed such a brilliant student.

Leclair drew an absolutely ravishing performance from the National Academy Orchestra and the Andante cantabile sang and danced like a choir of angels and cherubim. The electricity crackled when Brott took over and what a brass section! They could have called the cattle home from across the Pacific ocean let alone the Sands of Dee and yet it was all balanced.

That huge string sound - most startlingly from the lower strings - had my ears calling my eyes foolish. The woodwinds too were magnificent - clarinets, oboes, flutes and bassoons all played their parts to great avail, which is I suppose a little silly to mention, as it is as an orchestra - a very, very fine one - that the NAO excels and I am not going to omit the drums from my praise.

Apprentice conductor Samuel Tak-Ho Tam opened the concert with Jordan Pal's On The Double: Concert Overture for Orchestra. Pal, a composer for the concert hall and film, had a thesaurus of contemporary musical language for us to interpret and its fragments bustled about pushing each other out of the way before each had the space to really establish itself. There so much that was attractive and I would love to see him expand this work to let the contrapuntal, as well as the other "bits" develop into what they clearly could become.

Tam organized everything with brisk efficiency and sensitivity.

Friday, August 6, 2010

Ontario Arts Review: The King returns to riff with the N.A.O.!

Review by Danny Gaisin
Aug. 6th ‘10

♫ On a cold and grey (1969) Chicago morning ♪ - Elvis recorded ‘Vicious Circle”… no kiddies he didn’t write it – Mac Davis did & it was the Colonel who changed the title to “In The Ghetto”. Now, you have the true story when the question comes up on Jeopardy!

I and the other almost six billion earthlings (except for Iranians & North Koreans) who anointed Presley as the king of rockabilly (early rock & roll) still can feel that excitement and quiver we all experienced during his two decades on the throne. Another such opportunity came last night when Boris Brott’s N.A.O. presented Stephen Kabakos and his entourage in a tribute performance. Like any artistic caricatures; exaggeration is tantamount- think of the editorial cartoons of Joe Clark [the mittens]; Trudeau [the rat-faced teeth] or Mulroney & ‘the jaw’. Ditto when entertainers do Elvis. The gyrations; costumes; perambulations and last -syllable slurring are obligatory. Kabakos is no excluder, but he does possess a marvellous jazz baritone voice and certainly better lyrical diction than the original.

Serendipity enabled us to sit right beside the enormous sound control panels being operated by engineers Brian & Robert. Watching them making the continual minute adjustments to mikes, monitors and electric guitar output was a little like observing Kuerti at his keyboard. From the opening Strauss ‘Also Sprach’ that segued into Cee Cee Rider, until the encore end, both gentlemen were narrowly focused, and I admit, were a fascinating distraction for this humble writer.

The soloist gave us the requisite ‘Teddy Bear’; Jailhouse Rock; Don’t Be Cruel etc. with change-of-pace selections like ‘Peace In the Valley’ and the Elvis interpretation of ‘O sole Mio’ (he did write the English lyrics himself); and of course – Love me Tender. Biggest audience response by far: – the aforementioned “In the Ghetto” to which Kabakos added an extra dimension of heartfelt compassion, and Paul Simon’s “Bridge over troubled water”. For the latter, he seemed to modify his persona into something a little more comfortable, and no pun intended.

The N.A.O. ensemble performed under Brott, Tam & Leclair without the usual mentoring professionals. Seemingly more relaxed, their technical talents were in no way diminished and there were obvious signs of a connection with the jazz style & taste of their parent’s era. Boris looked stunning in a white jacket embellished with a flashing gold lame scarf…but the wig!!! I understand Conway Twitty suffered an embolism; and Jack Lord spun in his grave.


This was one very fun evening. The sold-out McIntyre audience, in a most un-Hamiltonian manner, exchanged verbiage, traded osculations, even humorously heckled the guest soloist. Obviously, a social connection was established over the footlights; in this case – the monitors. The obligatory encore was ‘Suspicious Minds”. Kabakos took it to a new level, even more expansive than the Dwight Yoakum version of a few years back. To me, it was over the top; sort of a Jumping the Shark moment, but hey, that’s what it’s all about. To Kabakos, Brott, & the NAO....thank ya ---thank ya veer mush !

Comments, email me at dgaisin@ontarioartsreview.caThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Elvis: Stephen Kabakos & The NAO in rehearsal

More Elvis Pics!