Music

Life has a way of knocking on our door on the days we least expect it. For singer-songwriter Royal Wood, life knocked pretty damn hard. For in the same year that he lost his father to illness, he also fell in love and got married.

“I read once that you can’t get wet from the word water. That it isn’t the word that allows for the knowing to take place, but rather the experience itself that removes the veil. Life showed me first hand that I had never felt true grief before, nor did I understand love either until now. It’s been a year of true paradigm shifts.”

As an artist, Royal channelled these polar opposite emotions into his new album Ever After The Farewell. Recorded in London, UK, with Jamie Scott (known for his work with renowned artists like Rag’n Bone Man, Michael Kiwanuka, Niall Horan and Ed Sheeran), Royal’s album is not only deeply inspired by both loss and love, but is an ode to the classic styles of both Tin Pan Alley and Laurel Canyon.

“Jamie and I worked on the album over the course of three writing trips to the UK. The very first thing Jamie and I worked on was ‘Something About You’. It began with me playing the basic chord progression, and then Jamie started riffing on the idea that it should be about a girl you see and instantly fall for, and the lyrics should be based on the silly dialog you say to yourself in your head. We wrote the song in about 30 minutes from end to end. To me, it ended up being a call out to the Universe because 1 week later I met my wife for the first time and fell instantly in love.”

To capture the rawest possible sound, most of the songs on the album were recorded the day they were written, with Royal playing the majority of the instruments. As fate would have it, Royal recorded the album on the Beatles EMI console that made Abbey Road possible. “Every day I walked into the studio in London UK with the ghosts of my musical heroes sitting beside me,” said Royal. “All of my life I wanted to make music with the Beatles, and now I feel like I have,” he joked.

“All artists have their influences and sometimes I think we channel them more than others. For me, Lennon and McCartney were definitely with me when I wrote ‘Hardest Thing Of All’".

When asked about the album title and artwork, Royal said “I called the album ‘Ever After The Farewell’ because I wanted the title to encompass the polar opposite emotions I felt in my life while creating the music. I said farewell to my father, but I started the journey of ever after with my wife. We used the man and woman’s hands on the cover because they represent both my hand taking my wife’s hand in marriage, and my father’s leaving my mother’s.”

London-based chamber music ensemble Trio Moyen is the brainchild of Nova Scotia clarinettist and conductor Scott A. MacDonald. In the summer of 2017, MacDonald invited friends and fellow Don Wright Faculty of Music alumni Jeffrey Komar (viola) and Ethan Lacey (piano) to form the group, which gave its inaugural performance in September 2017 at Bishop Cronyn Memorial Church. All three musicians are heavily involved in the London classical music scene, collaborating with such groups as Magisterra Soloists, Little London Community Opera, London Community Orchestra, and the Forest City Wind Quintet. Through Trio Moyen, they aim to shed light on some hidden gems of the chamber music repertoire that were written for their particular instrumental combination. They would like to acknowledge the guidance and inspiration provided by Dr. Jana Starling, Prof. Sharon Wei, and Dr. John Hess of Western University. Special thanks also go out to the Don Wright Faculty of Music String Bank for the generous loan of the Nurnberger bow used in this performance.

Hommage à Tarrega ....................................... Joaquin Turina (1882-1949)
I. Garrotin
II. Soleares

Variations sur un thème de Scriabine ............ Alexandre Tansman (1897-1986)

Libra Sonatine ................................................. Roland Dyens (1955-2016)
I. India
II. Largo
III. Fuoco

London based guitarist Andy Cloutier has been performing music in a variety of styles for over 15 years. As a performer of classical music, he studied guitar with Robert Kubica at the University of Western Ontario, where he also focused on studies in music theory and composition. He has received awards and scholarships from the University of Western Ontario, the London Kiwanis Festival, and the OMFA provincial competition. He has also participated in public master classes with world-renowned artists, including Pepe Romero, Manuel Barrueco, Roland Dyens, Pavel Steidl, and the Assad Brothers.

As a performer of popular music, Andy has been actively involved in London’s music scene since the early 2000’s, playing and recording with numerous bands and ensembles. Honours include awards from the London Music Awards, and the Jack Richardson Music Awards. Andy currently resides in London, where he maintains an active private teaching studio, and works as organist and music director at Strathroy United Church. Andy performs on a guitar built by Canadian Luthier Bruno Boutin.

PROGRAM:

Violin Sonata No. 1, Op. 78 "Regensonate"....................................... Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
I. Vivace ma non troppo
II. Adagio - Più andante - Adagio
III. Allegro molto moderato

Violinist Hua-Chu Huang, a youthful and versatile musician, brings a wealth of experience in solo, chamber, and orchestral playing. As a passionate performer of new works in addition to the canonized repertoire, Mr. Huang recently collaborated with flautist Carol Wincenc in the Canadian premiere of Yuko Uebeyashi’s Misericordia at the Banff Centre, and also presented Andrew Norman’s Gran Turismo at Toronto’s New Music Festival, 21C. Mr. Huang has appeared in concert with Philippe Djokic, Lynn Stodola, Denise Djokic, Barry Shiffman, and the new music ensemble suddenlyLISTEN; he is also the founder of Asterisk*, a Toronto-based conductorless chamber orchestra. In April, Mr. Huang was a recent winner of the 2017 Glenn Gould School Chamber Competition placing first in the duo category with Chu-Yi Duo, and was awarded a performance with the Montrose Trio in their debut in Koener Hall. Mr. Huang also placed second and third in the chamber category with the Louise String Quartet and the Eastern Trio.

An alumnus of the Canadian Opera Company Academy. Mr. Huang performed in the Canadian Opera Company's 2016 season premiere of Wagner's Siegfried. He performs regularly with Symphony Nova Scotia, an orchestra with which he has also appeared as soloist. Mr. Huang has also been featured as soloist with the Chebucto Symphony Orchestra, Dalhousie Symphony Orchestra, and Nova Scotia Youth Orchestra. The second prize winner of the 2015 Canadian Music Competition and the 2013 Kiwanis Rosebowl, Mr. Huang has also won numerous national competitions in Taiwan. In the Dalhousie Universiry Concerto Competition and the Nova Scotia Youth Orchestra Competition, he won top prizes.

Mr. Huang has recently received his Artist Diploma as a Temerty Family Fellow at The Glenn Gould School of The Royal Conservatory of Music, studied with Paul Kantor and Barry Shiffman; having previously earned his Bachelor of Music from Dalhousie University under the tutelage of Philippe Djokic.

First prize winner at the International Competition "Franz Schubert" in Rousse, pianist Petya Stavreva is working on her DMA at Western with Prof. Leslie Kinton. She finished her Master's Degree with Prof. Anton Nel at the University of Texas at Austin, where she received full scholarship and grant support from Canada Arts Council and the Webb Trust Fund from the Glenn Gould School. Before that, she was an artist-in-residence at the Banff Centre for ten weeks. At Western, she is a two-time recipient of the Ontario Graduate Scholarship, as well as the Don Wright Graduate Entrance scholarship, and the Sherwood Fox Music scholarship.

Petya has been an active solo and collaborative pianist in Toronto over the last decade. She completed her Artist Diploma with James Anagnoson at the Glenn Gould School on full scholarship, and obtained a Bachelor's degree at the University of Toronto with James Parker and Marietta Orlov. She also attended the Taylor Performance Academy in Toronto with full scholarship, studying with Arshalouis Nersessian. As an educator, Petya has been an adjudicator for the Kiwanis Festival in Toronto in 2014, as well as the Ontario Music Festival Association in Hamilton in 2017. She will be joining the Royal Conservatory College of Examiners in 2018. She currently maintains an active teaching studio in both London and Toronto.

Petya has been a prize winner of numerous competitions in Canada and Europe, and has performed concertos with the Toronto Sinfonietta Orchestra. Her upcoming projects include concerts in London, as well as a recording project to be completed by 2019. She also collaborates with pianist Todd Yaniw for duo concerts.

She has played in masterclasses for artists such as Vadym Kholodenko, John Perry, Mark Steinberg, Christian Tetzlaff, Andre Laplante and Jon Kimura Parker, among others. Past festivals include Bowdoin Music Festival as a collaborative Fellow, Young Artist Program in Ottawa, the Banff Chamber and Solo Residencies, Nice Academy in France, and Toronto Summer Music Festival.

Recorded over 3 nights in December 2017, production work is nearing completion and release is expected for February 2018. Invited guests will be able to participate in a Listening Party on Thursday, January 18, 2018, at Aeolian Hall.

Guests of Clark Bryan, Artistic & Executive Director will include members of Prime Time Big Band, the sound and engineering team, Aeolian Volunteers, Board of Directors and the staff team, recording pre-sale purchasers AND existing and new donors to the GoFundMe campaign.

Donate to the project by clicking HERE.

Lorraine Klaasen, the daughter of legendary South African jazz singer Thandie Klaasen, is one of the few artists who have preserved classic Township Music, which continues to be the most distinctive sound to come out of South Africa.  Born and raised in Soweto, Lorraine has electrified audiences worldwide with her dynamic stage presence and showmanship. The Montreal Gazette raves: “Klaasen’s energy is infectious and it comes through in everything she touches”.

In 2008, Lorraine released the highly charged album Africa Calling, produced by South African record producer Mongezi Chris Ntaka, and featuring bassist Bakhiti Khumalo (who appeared on Paul Simon’s Graceland). Her follow-up CD, A Tribute to Miriam Makeba, won the 2013 JUNO Award for “World Music Album of the Year”.  It’s a tribute to the iconic songstress, who remains South Africa’s most revered female artist.

Klaasen’s latest and most ambitious recording, Nouvelle Journée, was also co-produced by Mongezi; it showcases some of the musical styles that she has not yet recorded in her long music career.  On this album, Lorraine sings in the Tsonga, Sotho, isiZulu and Xhosa languages of South Africa, as well as in English and French.  It’s an optimistic and danceable work, but also lucid, sincere and engaging, with thought-provoking repertoire stressing the importance of family, empathy, love and hope.

The singer has always enjoyed a special bond with her mother, but was also brought up by a grandmother who gave her valuable advice on life. “My grandmother always said: ‘You set your own standards. Never let anyone tell you that you are raising the bar too high. Set goals for yourself, and work towards them. When you don’t succeed in reaching them, you tell yourself before you go to bed: ‘Lorraine, I tried’. Then you lay your head on the pillow and you sleep because you have a clear conscience’.” READ MORE

Lorraine Klaasen made her TD Sunfest debut in 2014.  Her April 13th return performance is doubly special because it celebrates London Music Week and welcomes the former Montrealer as one of the Forest City’s newest residents.

Join Ellen Doty and her trio to celebrate the launch of her sophomore album, "Come Fall" in London. Ellen Doty is a soulful Canadian vocalist and songwriter with a world-class voice. Her music incorporates everything from jazz to soul, folk, pop and indie music: a sound that is uniquely hers. A true storyteller whose works are as intimate and as personal as their handwritten lyrics, Ellen's immense talent for songwriting is only complemented by her stunning vocals. Originally from Okotoks, AB, she currently makes her home in Calgary.

Her debut album Gold reached the top ten on the college jazz radio charts in Canada, and she followed up the release with a crowd-funded, self-booked 40 stop Canadian tour. In the past year, Doty has continued to tour extensively in Canada. She had the opportunity to open for two-time Grammy-winner Gregory Porter, and recently completed a concert theatre tour with award-winning saxophonist Eli Bennett from Vancouver. Doty was recently named one of the top 35 under 35 jazz artists in Canada by CBC Music along with BadBadNotGood, Larnell Lewis, Nikki Yanosky, and more: With an honesty and warmth that sets her apart from so many artists, Doty is an emerging Canadian talent who is clearly one to watch for 2017 and beyond.

Doty signed a record deal with Toronto-based label Alma Records, and her new album will come out on Universal Music in Canada on March 2nd, 2018 with a Canadian tour to follow. On the tour, she will be joined by Edmonton-born Efa Etoroma (Moonchild) on drums, and pianist Eric Haynes from Montreal (Busty and the Bass). The new album features solely the sounds of the trio: voice, piano, and drums. It seeks to strip the music down to its bare bones, in a powerful minimalist approach.

Séan McCann bought his first guitar in 1989 which he affectionately calls "Old Brown". Old Brown has been around. He was there for the first song Séan ever wrote. He was there as Séan founded the acclaimed and multi-million selling band that would change his life. He was there to hold Séan up many a night as he struggled with alcoholism, and he has been there to help guide Séan out of the darkness with music as his medicine.

John Lennon once sang "You can live a lie until you die. One thing you can't hide is when you're crippled inside." After exiting the internationally renowned folk group Great Big Sea and publicly admitting a secret past in which he used alcohol to mask the pain of sexaual abuse by a priest, Séan stopped lying to himself and found his truth and his voice. With the release of his 5th solo album, "There's a Place", he continues his journey as a singer, songwriter, and now a sought-after speaker and mental health advocate with Old Brown by his side and a simple message: "You are not alone."

His 2014 album "Help Your Self" was a battle cry; a line in the sand which announced that he was ready to change and it resonated with people in a way Séan never could have expected. It helped him understand that he wasn't alone and that telling his story could help others as much as it helped him. 2015's "You Know I Love You" was inspired by the love he found in sharing that story and an attempt to find a new and real connection in a world that had turned inward to its smartphones. Now comes "There's a Place", produced by Jeremy Fisher and featuring the beautiful voice of Nova Scotia singer/songwriter Meaghan Smith, a collection of songs from a man who is trying to keep his head up when we are tempted to keep them buried in our screens; it's the story of a man no longer crippled by a lie and who has changed his narrative by not letting his history define him and never forgetting ...... that he is not alone.

Terry Bozzio “Reality Tour” 2018 North America

Los Angeles, CA – Drum legend Terry Bozzio is known for his work with Frank Zappa, Jeff Beck, Korn, UK, Missing Persons, Mick Jagger, Robbie Robertson, Alan Holdsworth, Tony Levin, Steve Vai, Quincy Jones, Ken Scott, Metropole Orkest - as well as Film score composers Basil Poledouris, Mark Isham & Patrick O'Hearn. He is a Grammy Winner, RockWalk Honoree, Modern Drummer Magazine's Hall of Fame Award, & is in Rolling Stone's Top 5 Drummers of All Time! (See more at www.terrybozzio.com)

Unless you have seen Terry, you have no idea what you are in for. Bozzio is an enigmatic, evocative, and engaging musician whose instrument just happens to be the drums. Terry Bozzio is able to accompany himself with bass note patterns and, at the same time, melodically solo with highly developed coordination skills to express a “complete musical statement” on the drum set alone. Drawing from jazz, classical, & ethnic percussion styles from around the world, Terry Bozzio is “a storyteller,” able to weave a hypnotic spell over audiences and enthrall them with an eclectic experience filled with emotion, contrast, variety, intimacy, excitement, & passion.

His is a unique, intense, dynamic, spiritualistic, melodic, orchestral, atmospheric, and musical performance on the largest tuned drum & percussion set in the world. Please note that this is not a bombastic 2 hour drum solo. This is MUSIC on drums. There is space, classical forms & structures, ambient electronic loops, and atmospheric percussion effects, as well as some exciting & fiery drumming that brings audiences to their feet!

He has spent the last 30 years performing Solo Drum Music for Sold Out Audiences all Around the World, from India to Japan, from Europe to North America.

This show is 19+ ONLY!

Since 1978, Sharon Hampson and Bram Morrison have been pre-eminent in all aspects of family entertainment across North America as members of the trio “Sharon, Lois & Bram”. Together, the threesome produced over twenty recordings, beginning with their iconic 'One Elephant, Deux Elephants', three song-books, six national TV specials, sixty-five episodes of The Elephant Show, and fifty-two of Skinnamarink TV. They have appeared in every major concert hall in Canada, and many in the United States including Carnegie Hall, The Lincoln Center and the White House in Washington just to name a few. They have received countless awards, including Gold and Platinum Records and JUNO awards for Best Children’s Album. To date, they have sold over 3 million albums worldwide.

Sharon and Bram have carried on together since Lois Lillenstein stepped aside from performing live in 2000. This incarnation of one of North America’s most popular family acts ranges from a “sweet and simple” folksy duo performance, to a larger production featuring members of the versatile Skinnamarink Band.

A Sharon and Bram show is a sing-along concert for the entire family, featuring such well-loved favourites as “She’ll Be Coming ‘Round the Mountain", “Five Little Monkeys", “One Elephant", “Tingalayo", and, of course, “Skinnamarink".
“We love singing with our audiences; the sound of families singing together and the expressions of delight on the faces of parents and children as they share the music, bring us deep satisfaction”, say Sharon and Bram.
Sharon and Bram, with Lois, have supported many social welfare programmes in Canada and the US, such as school breakfasts for learning, encouraging parents to inoculate their children and, internationally, as Goodwill Ambassadors for UNICEF in North and South America, for which they received the Danny Kaye Humanitarian Award.

For their years of work providing the best in participatory music for children and their families, Sharon and Bram have been inducted into The Order of Canada, the highest honour in the country.

TICKETS AVAILABLE FRIDAY DECEMBER 15 AT NOON.

Children under 12 months may sit on laps. All other children need their own ticket.

Since 1978, Sharon Hampson and Bram Morrison have been pre-eminent in all aspects of family entertainment across North America as members of the trio “Sharon, Lois & Bram”. Together, the threesome produced over twenty recordings, beginning with their iconic 'One Elephant, Deux Elephants', three song-books, six national TV specials, sixty-five episodes of The Elephant Show, and fifty-two of Skinnamarink TV. They have appeared in every major concert hall in Canada, and many in the United States including Carnegie Hall, The Lincoln Center and the White House in Washington just to name a few. They have received countless awards, including Gold and Platinum Records and JUNO awards for Best Children’s Album. To date, they have sold over 3 million albums worldwide.

Sharon and Bram have carried on together since Lois Lillenstein stepped aside from performing live in 2000. This incarnation of one of North America’s most popular family acts ranges from a “sweet and simple” folksy duo performance to a larger production featuring members of the versatile Skinnamarink Band.

A Sharon and Bram show is a sing-along concert for the entire family, featuring such well-loved favourites as “She’ll Be Coming ‘Round the Mountain", “Five Little Monkeys", “One Elephant", “Tingalayo", and, of course, “Skinnamarink".
“We love singing with our audiences; the sound of families singing together and the expressions of delight on the faces of parents and children as they share the music, bring us deep satisfaction”, say Sharon and Bram.
Sharon and Bram, with Lois, have supported many social welfare programmes in Canada and the US, such as school breakfasts for learning, encouraging parents to inoculate their children and, internationally, as Goodwill Ambassadors for UNICEF in North and South America, for which they received the Danny Kaye Humanitarian Award.

For their years of work providing the best in participatory music for children and their families, Sharon and Bram have been inducted into The Order of Canada, the highest honour in the country.