News from the President May 2020
Hello T.E.M.P.O. Members:
I am happy to announce that T.E.M.P.O. will have an exclusive online workshop on Sunday, May 31st starting at 3 p.m. and ending by 5 p.m. at the latest. Our coach will be Frances Blaker who is a wonderful recorder player who I’ve seen teach and perform at the Amherst Early Music Festival over the past several decades. Frances earned pedagogy and performance degrees in recorder from the Royal Danish Conservatory of Music in Copenhagen. She performs as a soloist and in ensembles including Vermillian Trio and Farallon Recorder Quartet. Frances has performed with Letitia Berlin in the Tibia Recorder Duo for which Matthias Maute has written music. She has performed as soloist with the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra, Ensemble Vita Nova, and numerous other groups in the U.S., Denmark, England, France, Italy and the Netherlands. She is the author of the acclaimed book "The Recorder Player's Companion" and the "Opening Measures" column in American Recorder Magazine. Frances can be heard on the Disc Continuo series of play-along recordings. She is on the Executive Advisory Board of Amherst Early Music and her compositions have been published by PRB Productions and Lost in Time Press.
Frances has created for us an extended and customized version of her baroque style workshop that she presented during the March spring break. It will be suitable for both woodwind and stringed instruments, and there will be a break in the middle during which will we hold our Annual General Meeting. I will send more information in the coming weeks, but here is a description of her original workshop to give you an idea what it is about (the music selections may change to accommodate stringed instruments):
“Beyond... Equals Baroque! The Art of Expression in Baroque Sonatas”
Explore the various means of musical expression within the context and styles of Baroque music. Discover mood and meaning in the music and how to bring these things forth in your playing. We will use our techniques to make music that speaks, music that sings, agile, acrobatic music, flowing, climbing and sinking music, all the while learning what is appropriate in Italian and French Baroque styles. We will focus on the following movements: F. Mancini: 1st movement, Adagio, from Sonata in d minor; J. Hotteterre: Allemande from Premiere Suite in F major (recorder transcr.) PDFs of the music will be sent in advance. Upper intermediate to advanced recorders, pitch A=440.
Cheers,
Frank Nevelo,
President,
Toronto Early Music Players’ Organization.
News from the President April 2020
Hello T.E.M.P.O. Members and Friends:
With an average of 570 daily new infections in Ontario over the past week, the COVID-19 virus has killed off our May 3rd workshop at St. Leonard’s Church and our June 7th fundraising tea at Grace Church on-the-Hill. In the meantime, we will attempt to offer one or two online internet workshops as a free benefit to members only, during which our annual general meeting will be held. If the summer heat does not kill off the virus, an online presence may be the only way T.E.M.P.O. will be able to provide programs in September. Stay safe and try to have a good summer!
Frank Nevelo,
President,
Toronto Early Music Players’ Organization.
News from the President March 2020
Hello T.E.M.P.O. Members and Friends:
In light of the ongoing COVID-19 virus pandemic, the T.E.M.P.O. Executive Committee has decided to cancel Vincent Lauzer’s April 5th workshop and not provide any kind of online internet substitute. We felt it was neither safe nor feasible to conduct a regular large ensemble workshop, and an online workshop would likely not be feasible for a large ensemble. Also, an online lecture/demonstration where attendees cannot play their instruments was felt to be unsatisfactory. We will try to reschedule Vincent for next season, and wait and see what we can offer in May and June of the remaining season.
In the meantime, Vincent is offering some online internet alternatives. Below, please see his message to us. I’ve been taking one-hour private clarinet lessons and my teacher has moved these online using Zoom software. It’s been working well so far. It has had the weird effect of reducing my clock watching even though there are more clocks in my home to look at than at the studio. There is also a one-second delay which might prevent us from doing clarinet duets. I’m curious if a small ensemble can use online software to properly play music with each other. If you’ve tried this already, please let me know if it works.
So stay well during this pandemic, and I hope we can get back to normal soon.
Frank Nevelo,
President,
Toronto Early Music Players’ Organization.
Dear TEMPO members,
I hope that you are all in good health! I am very sorry we won’t get to work together on April 5th. I was very much looking forward to meeting with you to make great music together!
It was brought to my attention that some people might be interested in courses online as we are all stuck at home! For the next couple weeks, I am offering private lessons online (via Skype, FaceTime, Zoom or Google Hangouts) and I would be happy to discuss possibilities with you if you are interested. Private lessons are possible. Unfortunately, group lessons with people in different homes are very difficult online! This might be a great opportunity to work on some technical difficulties or on some music you have been dreaming of playing!
If you are interested in lessons in the next couple weeks, you can contact me via email : lauzerv@gmail.com . We will then be able to discuss schedules, fees and other details.
Best wishes to you all! Stay safe!
Vincent
News from the President February 2020
Hello T.E.M.P.O. Members and Friends:
The next T.E.M.P.O. workshop is coming up in a couple of Sundays on March 1st. We welcome back gambist/bassist Joëlle Morton to lead the workshop. Joëlle is the artistic director of Scaramella, and she also plays violone. Joëlle works in the U.S., Canada, Brazil, and Europe, and appears regularly with Tafelmusik, I Furiosi, and the Musicians in Ordinary. She teaches viol and double bass at the University of Toronto.
Joëlle has put together a Madrigal Mystery Tour of ten madigrals by ten renaissance and early baroque composers, covering a century of music from Festa to Gibbons. Vocalists as well as instrumentalists are welcome to attend, and you may choose to sing or play as you like, even at the same time if you’re a string player! Since the scores take up almost thirty pages, I have attached a PDF of the scores so that you can print them at home and also practise them ahead of time. If you would like a printed copy available for you at the workshop, please let me know and I will have a copy with your name on it ready for you.
The workshop runs from 1:30 to 4:00 p.m. at Armour Heights Community Centre, 2140 Avenue Road. Please print your music at home and bring it with you if you can. Instrumentalists, please bring your early instruments and a music stand.
Cheers,
Frank Nevelo,
President,
Toronto Early Music Players’ Organization.
News from the President January 2020
Hello T.E.M.P.O. Members and Friends:
At our T.E.M.P.O. meeting this Sunday, February 2nd, we will welcome back baroque flute and recorder virtuoso Francis Colpron from Montreal! Francis is the founder and artistic director of Les Boréades de Montréal. He has toured extensively and has recorded more than 40 CD’s for ATMA. He teaches at the Université de Montréal and at prestigious music camps in Canada and the U.S. We’re at our usual location of Armour Heights Community Centre, 2140 Avenue Road (you may have seen St. Leonard’s Church advertised as the venue, but I personally do the bookings for St. Leonard’s and it is not until May 3rd that we are St. Leonard’s). The workshop will run from 1:30 to 4:00 p.m. Bring your early instruments and a music stand. Here is Francis’s proposed program:
Pierre-Francisque Caroubel (?-1611), Danses françaises
Giaches de Wert (1535-1596), De que sirven ojos morenos
W.A Mozart (1751-1796), Trio in G major and Ave Verum corpus KV 618
Moni Schönfelder (1967-), Flauto con Spirito: Girls, Girls, Girls; Dance of Elements; Come Dance with Me
Cheers,
Frank Nevelo,
President,
Toronto Early Music Players’ Organization.
News from the President - December 2019
Hello T.E.M.P.O. Members and Friends:
I hope you are having a great holiday. I wish to thank the ten brave souls who successfully made the voyage through ice pellets to attend the December workshop with Colin Savage. The weather for this Sunday’s workshop is looking to be much better, with some sunny breaks and not-quite-freezing temperatures.
Valerie Sylvester, viola da gamba, will lead TEMPO’s first workshop of 2020 on Sunday, January 5, from 1:30 to 4 p.m., at Armour Heights Community Centre, 2140 Avenue Road. Concertmaster of the Niagara Symphony Orchestra, Valerie plays violin and viola, as well as Baroque violin and bass viola da gamba, and enjoys an eclectic musical career. She tours frequently both within Canada and internationally and has been a member of the onstage band for Canadian Idol for its last five seasons. Valerie is a member of The Cardinal Consort of Viols, Ontario's only performing viol consort. She maintains a small violin teaching studio, enjoys adjudicating music festivals and workshops, and coaches in an arts-focused high school.
Valerie says that “Women” will be the workshop theme—as apt a theme for this age as any! She says it is kind of inspired by the news that several big-name orchestras in the U.S. have committed to programming at least one female composer per concert this season. Valerie will focus on the seven consorts of Leonora Duarte, 1610-c.1678. Duarte was a member of a prominent Flemish musical family and whose musical friends included the Bassano family Constantijn Huygens, and Nicolas Lanier. Then we'll round out the afternoon with works of a few other female composers and also works simply dedicated or inspired by female figures.
Bring your early instruments and a music stand!
Cheers and Happy New Year,
Frank Nevelo,
President,
Toronto Early Music Players’ Organization.
President's Message August 2018
President’s Message
The organizational aspect of this season has not been going
as well for me as I had hoped due to a series of mini-crises.
I am the treasurer of a choir who changed its membership structure
starting this past September and the choir’s budget became unworkable in early
October. After solving the budget
problem, my computer died in November, forcing me to recall all my plans,
schedules, and tasks from my feeble memory.
In December, my house cleanup for Christmas dinner caused most of my
notes for TEMPO newsletter articles to go missing.
In January, I had back-to-back colds, and I had deadlines to meet in
February for a grant application and a CRA filing.
Happily, these things cleared up for me in March when I finally found my
lost newsletter article notes.
Now things are moving forward once again! Angelique Davies and Janos
Ungvary are planning a recorder demonstration at a public school sometime in
late May or early June. TEMPO members participated in a similar event in
December 2013, so if you missed it then, you have another chance to play
recorders for and with young students.
It's a wonderful opportunity for students to perform in an
intergenerational concert and to become acquainted with associations for early
music enthusiasts who, in turn, have a special opportunity to encourage the next
generation of recorder players. As a
side note, schools in general sometimes like demonstrations of early music and
early instruments for their students, so if you have experience organizing such
a demonstration or would like to perform in one, please let me know and I will
compile a list of names for future reference.
This is the second season where our nine workshops have been held at two
different venues, with seven at Armour Heights Community Centre and two at a
church. The reason is that Armour
Heights is no longer charging for room rentals for qualifying groups such as
ourselves, and this creates a high demand for rooms.
If there is a conflict with the dates we submit, a lottery system is used
in June to resolve the conflict. This means we might not get all the dates we
applied for months in advance of the June lottery.
I am looking into different locations to see if there is a more stable
venue and also for other venues we could use as an emergency backup.
We have used two different rooms in St. Leonard’s Church so far. Please
let me know what you think of St. Leonard’s. With the number of rentable areas
they have, it is unlikely we will ever encounter a conflict with dates, but it
comes at a price! The TEMPO Tea
comes up on Sunday, May 27th at Grace Church on-the-Hill.
We will need help serving snacks and refreshments, and setting up and
running the sales tables and silent auction tables.
Please let me know if you can volunteer.
Also, please think of things you could donate for sale or auction, and
please think about forming a chamber group to perform at the tea.
Frank Nevelo President, TEMPO
Welcome to a new season of TEMPO after an August of chilly weather! I was camping in Brighton in late August and the temperature in my tent repeatedly reached down to 12 and 13 Celsius each night. My week there started with summery high temperatures of 27, but after 20 mm of rain fell, the highs dropped to around 21 for the remainder of the week. Other campers were dressed in shorts and T-shirts but were probably not enjoying the cold. I ended up wearing the very small amount of autumn clothing I had brought, and my summer clothes were largely left unworn. We welcome two brand new coaches to TEMPO this season, Stéphane Potvin and Justin Haynes! Stéphane Potvin is a vocal coach and conductor as well as a baroque specialist. He directs such groups as the Rosewood Consort of recorders, Villanella and Musikay vocal ensembles, and the Brott Festival Singers. He is a stickler for tuning individual notes in a piece, so we will have a good opportunity to see just how he tunes those notes. Justin Haynes is a founding member of Elixir Baroque Ensemble and has performed on viola da gamba with Tafelmusik, Opera Atelier, Les Voix Humaines, Toronto Masque Theatre, and the Toronto Consort. He studied instrument making in London and has constructed the viola da gamba he performs on. Over the summer, TEMPO was able to help out with a weeklong music camp in Jamaica by purchasing 30 plastic soprano recorders for students attending the camp, which were afterward donated to local schools. The Maggotty Music Day Camp Mission Trip was held August 6-14 and allowed rural southwest Jamaican primary and high school students to learn music literacy and theory, and learn how to play a musical instrument, some for the first time and some who are in a grade at school where they have no access to music resources. The organization Equip to Serve, based in Oakville, assembled a team of musicians to teach various instruments at the camp. One of these musicians was a student studying recorder at Wilfrid Laurier University who was selected to teach recorder technique. A man from Vancouver used two 40-foot steel shipping containers to create practice cubicles, a classroom, and an amphitheatre for this camp. Throughout most of the summer, preparations for the new TEMPO season were running smoothly up until the end of August when our Treasurer, Sharon Geens, had to undergo some emergency back surgery, and then two of the venue bookings she made at Armour Heights Community Centre were overturned to allow some other event to use our space. Sharon had a successful surgery and she will need about two months of recovery time at home. We hope to see her again at workshops later in 2017. At the moment, I have found a new venue for our October 1st workshop. It will be in the sanctuary of St. Leonard’s Anglican Church, 25 Wanless Avenue, 2 blocks north of Yonge/Lawrence and Lawrence subway station. Depending on how we like the venue, we might book it again for our April 8th workshop