Music Appreciation and History Classes
Winter and Spring 2015
Course Calendar
Registration:
Online: rcmusic.ca/MusicAppreciation
By phone: 416-408-2825
In person: 273 Bloor St. West
Online: rcmusic.ca/MusicAppreciation
Music Appreciation and History The Royal Conservatory of Music
Opera in the City
Instructor: Eric Domville
Tuesdays, 1:00-3:00 • January 13 to February 3 (4 weeks) • $195
Calling all opera lovers! Whether you’re a seasoned opera-goer or new to this timeless art form,
before you take your seat in the theatre for another highly anticipated season of opera in the city, join
University of Toronto Professor Emeritus Eric Domville for an illuminating journey into operatic history
and enhance your experience of the following two operas scheduled to be performed in Toronto this
winter:
• Mozart’s darkly comedic Don Giovanni (COC; opens January 24)
• Wagner’s epic Die Walküre (COC; opens January 31)
Immerse yourself in the music, the plot, and the characters; hear arias sung by students of the Glenn
Gould School; and study excerpts from the libretto (English translations provided). We’ll explore the
place of each opera within the composer’s artistic output and its position within both the history of
opera and the socio-political context of the time. Questions and discussion will be encouraged as an
essential component of a communal introduction to these enduring works.
Eric Domville is a Professor Emeritus in English literature at the University of Toronto, where he
taught at all levels for 30 years. Since his retirement, he has concentrated on the relationship between
words and music in song and opera. He has given many pre-performance talks for the Canadian
Opera Company and Opera Atelier, and delivered lectures to opera guilds across Ontario. For the past
20 years, Eric has acted as commentator for the Music and Poetry series at the Faculty of Music,
University of Toronto. Currently, in addition to presenting opera courses at various institutions, he
appears as a guest presenter of programmes on classical music on the University of Toronto’s radio
station at 89.5 FM. Many of his articles on operas have appeared in the programme books of the
Canadian Opera Company.
Notes:
A spring session of this course will cover Berlioz's Orpheus and Eurydice, Rossini's Barber of Seville,
Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle, and Schoenberg's Erwartung (Tuesdays 1-3, March 24 to April 28). See
below for course details.
Students may purchase 2 tickets to The Glenn Gould School spring opera, Offenbach’s La Belle Hélène
conducted by Uri Mayer (Koerner Hall; Wednesday, March 18, 2015 at 7:30 pm OR Friday, March 20,
2015 at 7:30 pm) at 10% off, while quantities last. Call (416)408-0208 or visit the Weston Family Box
Office after registering.
Music Appreciation and History The Royal Conservatory of Music
How Music Works: A Practical Primer
Instructor: James Stager
Wednesdays, 10:00–12:00 • January 21 to March 11 (8 weeks) • $395
If you’ve always wanted to understand how music “works,” this practical course combining guided
listening and active participation in basic musicianship exercises is for you. Explore the building blocks
of music and how they create the magic of the music you love! We’ll deconstruct selections from
classical, folk, and popular repertoires—including Mozart’s “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik,” Pachelbel’s
“Canon,” Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus,” Bach’s cello suites, and pieces by Bernstein, the Beatles, B.B.
King, and Gershwin, among many others—and unlock the secrets of melody, rhythm, harmony,
texture, form, genre, and more. Along the way, we’ll cover topics such as basic staff notation, scales,
intervals, time signatures, note and rest values, meters, chords, and cadences. In the final class, we’ll
put all the pieces together and apply our cumulative learning to an enlightening study of Beethoven’s
monumental Symphony No. 5. Participants will emerge from this course with a deeper understanding
of the music they experience.
James Stager is a sought-after trombonist, pianist, and educator. He teaches music theory, music
history, low brass, and jazz improvisation at The Royal Conservatory as well as at several of Toronto’s
performing arts schools, and music theory at York University. He is frequently heard in concert halls,
festivals, and nightclubs in a wide variety of musical settings including symphony orchestras (Toronto
Philharmonia), musical theatre (Shaw Festival and Soulpepper Theatre), world music (Moda Eterna,
Caché), and jazz groups (Big Rude Jake, Red Hot Ramble). In addition to his teaching and performing
career, as a member of The Conservatory’s College of Examiners, James adjudicates woodwind,
brass, and percussion examinations throughout Canada and the United States, and evaluates written
examinations in music theory and history.
Notes:
Students may purchase 2 tickets to Sir Roger Norrington Conducts the Royal Conservatory Orchestra
(Koerner Hall; Friday, April 10, 2015 at 8pm), featuring Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, at 50% off, while
quantities last. Call (416)408-0208 or visit the Weston Family Box Office after registering.
Music Appreciation and History The Royal Conservatory of Music
Schubert’s Song Cycles: Love, Longing, and Despair
Instructor: Robert Loewen
Wednesdays, 1:30-3:00 • January 28 to February 18 (4 weeks) • $150
“I came here a stranger, as a stranger I depart …”
This four-week course illuminates the song cycles of Franz Schubert, considered the “father” of
German lieder and the most prolific of all German art song composers. Working in the early 19th
century, Schubert wrote more than 600 songs for piano and voice in which the poetry of contemporary
Romantic poets such as Goethe and Müller is set to music. The song cycle --- a grouping of songs
that comprise a narrative, or that are united by a common theme or idea --- was among the most
important musical genres of the 19th century. Through these intimate works, narratives unfold,
existential questions arise, and complex psychological and emotional states are explored.
Schubert took the song cycle to previously unknown --- and, many argue, unsurpassed --- heights. Die
schöne Müllerin, which Schubert composed in 1823, traces the trajectory of young love from optimism
to its tragic conclusion, while Winterreise, the proofs for which Schubert was correcting at the time of
his early death in 1827, follows the flight of a romantic hero from unrequired love. When Winterreise
was published in 1828, an Austrian journal remarked of the songs that “none can sing or hear them
without being touched to the heart.”
Discover the beauty of these works and contemplate their enduring themes through lecture, legendary
recordings, and live performances. The German mezzo-soprano Elena Gerhardt said of Winterreise,
“You have to be haunted by this cycle to be able to sing it.” On February, 26, hear the outstanding
German baritone Christian Gerhaher perform Winterreise live in Koerner Hall.
Dr. Robert Loewen teaches voice to a wide range of singers including high school and college
students, young professionals, and avocational mature individuals. His students have been accepted
into leading music programs, including The Curtis Institute, and are working in the profession. He has
also taught the choral scholars of Trinity College at the University of Toronto; served as presenter and
clinician for the Royal Conservatory Music Development Program; given presentations for Royal
Conservatory Examinations; and served as an adjudicator across Canada. Dr. Loewen is on the Voice
Faculty of the Royal Conservatory School, the Academic Faculty of the Glenn Gould School, and is a
Senior Voice Examiner for Royal Conservatory Examinations and Royal Conservatory Music
Development Program.
Notes:
Students may purchase 2 tickets to Christian Gerhaher & Gerold Huber (Koerner Hall; Thursday,
February 26, 2015 at 8pm), at 10% off, while quantities last. Call (416)408-0208 or visit the Weston
Family Box Office after registering.
Music Appreciation and History The Royal Conservatory of Music
The Intimate World of Chamber Music
Instructor: Rick Phillips
Thursdays, 10:00-12:00 • February 5 to March 12 (6 weeks) • $295
This course provides an introduction to and survey of chamber music, one of the most personal and
intimate forms of musical expression. Composed for small groups of instruments with one performer to
each part, chamber music is characterized by the expression and “conversation” among ensemble
members rather than by a focus on the virtuosity of a soloist or unity under a conductor’s baton. The
larger forms of opera, symphony, concerto, and oratorio all have an irresistible, inspirational grandeur
and majesty, but chamber music should never be overlooked for its ability to communicate ideas and
emotion. In the words of the German composer Hans Werner Henze: “The importance of chamber
music is that, in dealing with the intimate, it can attain the indescribable.”
Originally performed in a small space, such as a room in a palace or in a house, chamber music today
is alive in concert halls across the world, thrilling audiences and performers alike with its unique
charms and challenges. What skills---musical and non-musical---do chamber musicians require, and
how do these differ from those required to play solo or symphonic works? How are questions of
interpretation resolved among groups of musicians working together as equals? What special
considerations are involved in the rehearsal and performance of chamber music, and what are the
challenges and rewards? Through trios, quartets, quintets, and more by composers including Haydn,
Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Debussy, Bartók, and Shostakovich, we’ll trace the development of
chamber music starting in the 17th century through to the 20th. The Royal Conservatory’s quartet-in-
residence, the Afiara Quartet, will join us for a special glimpse into the workings of a real quartet and
an informal interview with course leader Rick Phillips.
Rick Phillips was affiliated with CBC Radio for 30 years, working in Montreal, Edmonton, Calgary,
and Toronto in a career that spanned production to management to on-air. For 14 years, he was the
Host and Producer of SOUND ADVICE, the weekly guide to classical music and recordings heard
across Canada on CBC Radio One and CBC Radio Two every weekend. As well as broadcasting and
webcasting, Rick is a busy freelance writer and reviewer, speaker, panel moderator, consultant,
musical tour guide, and concert host. He’s often a juror in the classical music categories for the Juno
Awards, and is the author of “The Essential Classical Recordings – 101 CDs,” published by
McClelland & Stewart. Rick delivers music history and appreciation courses at a range of institutions
and organizations across the city. He holds a B. Mus. from McGill University and an M. Mus. from the
University of Toronto.
Notes:
Students may purchase 2 tickets to either Kahane Swensen Brey Trio (Koerner Hall; Sunday, March,
2015 at 3pm) or The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (Koerner Hall; Wednesday, April 8, 2015
at 8pm) at 10% off, while quantities last. Call (416)408-0208 or visit the Weston Family Box Office after
registering.
Music Appreciation and History The Royal Conservatory of Music
Bach’s St John Passion
Instructor: Tamara Bernstein
Tuesdays, 10:00-12:00 • February 10 to March 3 (4 weeks) • $195
This course provides an illuminating study of one of the most intensely dramatic oratorios in the
Western canon, J.S. Bach’s Passion According to St. John (BWV245), which will be performed by
Tafelmusik on March 20–22.
We begin with an overview of the tradition of Passion performances in German churches in Bach’s
time, sampling some settings by his contemporaries. We will look, too, at the operatic forms that Bach
and his contemporaries used in sacred oratorios. We will then look closely at selected arias, choruses,
recitatives, and chorales. Throughout, we will ask questions, such as: What elements of Bach’s setting
of the story of Christ’s last days were typical of the musical language of his day? Which ones would
give the work his personal imprint? How did the music address 18th-century Lutheran orthodoxy, and
how does it speak so powerfully to non-Christian, and even secular, audiences today? We will also
examine the discomfort among some modern performers and listeners with Bach’s all-too-vivid
capturing of anti-Semitic aspects of John’s Gospel. And, since the performance is the piece, we will
compare a typical performance from the early 20th century with several outstanding modern
recordings on period instruments, listening not only for stylistic approaches but also for the different
theological and human riches that each conductor finds and brings to life in Bach’s score.
Tamara Bernstein is one of Canada’s most distinguished music writers, broadcasters, teachers, and
concert curators. During her 25-year career writing for the Globe and Mail and National Post, she
published over 1,300 articles. She has made several documentaries for CBC Radio’s “Ideas” (on
Hildegard of Bingen, Dmitri Shostakovich, and Ethel Smyth), as well as numerous features on
legendary performers for CBC Radio Two. Tamara has presented guest lectures at Stanford
University, the Universities of Victoria and Manitoba, The Banff Centre, and for Vancouver’s Music in
the Morning series, among other venues. She has a Masters degree in Piano Literature and
Performance, having completed her advanced studies with Greta Kraus and Gyorgy Sebok, two
legends of the Austro–Hungarian/Jewish musical traditions. Since 2001, she has been Artistic Director
of the acclaimed Summer Music in the Garden, the free concerts held at the Toronto Music Garden.
Music Appreciation and History The Royal Conservatory of Music
The Classical Voice: Technique and Art
Instructor: Stephen R. Clarke
Tuesdays, 1:30-3:00 • February 17 to March 17 (5 weeks) • $185
Enhance your appreciation and understanding of the world’s oldest instrument in this 5-week course
that will focus on the fine points of listening to singing. What are the hallmarks of a great voice and of
great vocal technique? How has the aesthetic of classical singing developed through (recorded)
history? How can we compare one performance, one interpretation, to another, and describe what we
hear when we listen to art songs, arias, and other vocal works?
Through guided and comparative listening, participants will learn to recognize many of the technical
aspects of vocal music and what these contribute to the effect that a particular performance has on us
as listeners. We will also note some changes in performance style that have occurred over the last
115 years—the period for which we actually have the evidence of how people have sung—while
developing an expanded vocabulary of vocal music appreciation.
We’ll begin by looking at singing from a broad historical perspective, including chant, polyphony, the
dawn of opera, the popularization of concerts in the 19th century, and the semi-religious 20th century
experience of the Lieder concert. Next, we’ll explore the types of voices and their ranges—including
basses and baritones, tenors, altos and mezzos, and sopranos—and listen to examples of each. What
distinguishes these voice types, and what distinguishes the various fachs within them? Recordings
from the Stratton Collection, a collection of vocal recordings containing samples of all the great singers
of classical music who made recordings from the 1890s to the present, will be used both to illustrate
the concepts discussed in this course and to provide a springboard for consideration of how
technology has shaped and changed performance.
The final class will be held at 329 St George St. (St. George and Dupont), where the Stratton
Collection is held and where we will have an opportunity to experience selected recordings in their
original formats, including acoustic recordings made by singers of the Golden Age of Opera.
Stephen R. Clarke, chair of the board of Opera Canada magazine and a retired lawyer, has been
collecting records for over 50 years and is the custodian of the renowned Stratton Collection. A tenor
himself and an erstwhile pupil of Howell Glynne, Elizabeth Benson Guy, and Greta Kraus, Mr. Clarke
has dedicated much of his life to the study of singers and singing styles of the past. An avid educator,
he shares his extensive expertise and resources through regular classes with artists of the COC
Ensemble Studio and students in voice and opera at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Music. Mr.
Clarke has also lectured on several occasions as part of the noon-hour concert series in the Richard
Bradshaw Amphitheatre of the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, and taught courses for
the Canadian Opera Company. He is also chair of Historic Masters Ltd., a UK company that for the
past 30 years has issued rare and previously unpublished 78 rpm recordings to collectors worldwide.
Music Appreciation and History The Royal Conservatory of Music
Cinematic Music: How We Hear Film
Instructor: Leslie Barcza
Wednesdays, 6:30-8:00 • February 18 to March 25 (6 weeks) • $225
Music is an important, often unacknowledged part of the film experience. A history of film music is
really a history of film. One can understand this from the audience’s side, appreciating movies as
finished works of art and the combined effect of all the components, or from the point of view of the
creators, especially the challenges facing musicians and composers, and/or producers.
In examining what music contributes to a movie, we’ll focus mostly on the practices of Hollywood
producers in the 20th century, beginning with silent films and moving through the classic scores of the
1930s, to our own time. In each era, music can be seen as a negotiation between several related
concerns, such as the purely creative and the commercial. By hearing and watching examples from
each era, we can see the stylistic assumptions, and seek to understand why music was used in
particular ways in certain films. Among the films we will examine are King Kong (1933), The
Magnificent Seven (1960), Psycho (1960), and 2001: A Space Odyssey (1967). Our goal is to seek a
better understanding of films and music in film, while discovering our own preferences.
Leslie Barcza is a musician and composer whose focus has been on music theatre and opera, as
well as some scores for film. Leslie’s academic study grew naturally out of his practical work, in
research on the dramaturgy of opera and film. Leslie maintains an arts and culture blog at
barczablog.com.
Music Appreciation and History The Royal Conservatory of Music
Music Theory 101
Instructor: Christopher Lencki
Mondays, 6:00-7:30 • February 23 to May 4 (10 weeks) • $385
Are you curious about music—how it’s put together, how it “works,” how it’s written down? Are you
starting to play a musical instrument, perhaps in one of the Conservatory School’s Learn to Play
classes? Or is your child studying an instrument and do you want to gain a foundation to better
support your child’s musical development at home? If so, this ten-week course delivered in an
engaging and interactive environment will provide you with a solid overview of the basic mechanics of
musical theory and the tools necessary to embark on further exploration or simply enjoy the music you
hear with new understanding. Through the use of examples drawn both from within and outside the
Western classical tradition, and through writing and listening exercises, we’ll explore topics including:
basic musical notation; clefs, note values, accidentals, and the placement of notes on the staff; tones
and semitones, major and minor scales, and key signatures; intervals; chords and chord progressions;
and pulse, rhythm, and meter.
Christopher Lencki has taught theory and history classes at The Royal Conservatory for over 15
years. He holds an ARCT in Piano Performance (The Royal Conservatory), Bachelor of Music, Music
Education (University of Toronto), and Master of Arts in Musicology and Ethnomusicology (York
University). He studied piano with Gordon Hallett, William Aide, and Andrew Markow, as well as
classical Indian drumming with Sharda Sahai and composition with Samuel Dolin. Christopher taught
privately for 13 years prior to joining The Royal Conservatory School faculty in 1991. He is also a
member of the Conservatory’s College of Examiners.
Music Appreciation and History The Royal Conservatory of Music
Mahler’s Romantic Landscape of Song and Symphony
Instructor: Stephen Cera
Thursdays, 1:30-3:30 • February 26 to March 19 (4 weeks) • $195
Almost without exception, Mahler’s 45 songs were the only music other than symphonies that he
composed. His entire body of work can be divided into three categories: songs, song cycles, and
symphonies. For Mahler, the inter-relationship between these three forms was close and complex. He
often used material from his songs to build and shape his symphonies. This is particularly true of his
first four symphonies, all of which are based to some degree on his songs. Mahler referred to those
songs as "fertile seeds" that only reached maturity within his symphonies. His Symphonies No. 1 to 4
are often called the "Wunderhorn Symphonies," because many of the melodies in these works come
from songs set to texts from Des Knaben Wunderhorn ("Youth’s Magic Horn"), a collection of German
folk poetry.
This four-part course surveys the fascinating connections and "inter-penetration" between Mahler’s
songs and song cycles and his first four symphonies, which themselves blazed new paths for the
symphonic form. They will be examined in the context of Mahler's astonishing career as both a
preeminent conductor---his "day job"---and a composer. Particular attention will be paid to Mahler’s
Second Symphony ("Resurrection"), which will be performed by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra,
Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, and vocal soloists in June 2015.
Stephen Cera served as the Artistic Director of the distinguished Concert Season in the George
Weston Recital Hall at the Ford Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto from 1991 to 2000. During
those years, the Ford Centre was celebrated as the scene of recitals and concerts by many of the
world’s foremost instrumental and vocal artists and ensembles. Prior to that, he was a Producer with
CBC Radio Music, and produced the Canadian Orchestral Sampler, which won a Financial Post
Award for Business in the Arts. He also served for seven years as the Music Critic of the Baltimore
Sun. His commentaries on music have been published in The Wall Street Journal, Congressional
Quarterly, the Los Angeles Times and Musical America, as well as the National Post, The Globe and
Mail, Huffington Post, and Maclean’s. Mr. Cera has been active as a concert pianist, and has
performed as soloist with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (Liszt E-flat Concerto), Winnipeg
Symphony, and other orchestras in the U.S. and Canada. Most recently, he was the Artistic Director of
the Music at Sharon festival for three years, and Director of Classical Programming for the Black
Creek Summer Music Festival, which presented concerts by Plácido Domingo, Sondra Radvanovsky,
and the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Lorin Maazel.
Music Appreciation and History The Royal Conservatory of Music
Music and the Third Reich
Instructor: Simon Wynberg
Tuesdays, 6:00-7:30 • March 3 to March 24 (4 weeks) • $150
The rise of National Socialism and the war that followed had a seismic effect on the course of musical
history. Its reverberations are still felt today. The course will cover anti-Semitism and the early
exclusion of Jews from the music industry, the concept of "entartete" (degenerate) music, the creation
of the Reichsmusikkammer, and the predicament of German musicians and the artistic and moral
choices they were forced to make.
While the flight of thousands of Jewish musicians, conductors, composers, managers, and publishers
created new opportunities in Germany, it simultaneously refashioned and galvanized music and
musical institutions in the exiles' adoptive countries, particularly in America. This course will explore
this phenomenon and the music that was born in exile, as well as the works that were written in Nazi-
controlled Europe---by approved composers as well as by those in self-imposed exile and in camps.
Finally, we will examine the legacy of Nazism and the cultural and psychic damage it caused,
questions that surround artistic accountability and responsibility, and issues that relate to the
memorialization of the Holocaust as well its exploitation. Each lecture will feature musical illustrations
and a short performance by students of the Glenn Gould School.
Simon Wynberg is the artistic director of the ARC Ensemble (Artists of the Royal Conservatory), the
organization's ensemble-in-residence, and is responsible for its programming, touring, recording
projects, and overall development. He has directed chamber music festivals in Scotland (Music in Blair
Atholl) and the Caribbean, and was Artistic Director of Music at Speedside and the Guelph Spring
Festival from 1994 to 2002. In tandem with his work with the ARC Ensemble, he lectures and writes
on music under National Socialism, and is particularly involved in the research and performance of
works by composers who were exiled and marginalized because of it. As a performer, his entry in The
New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians describes him as “not only a virtuoso performer of
distinction but one of the guitar’s foremost scholars.” His work in this field has introduced guitarists to a
large body of hitherto unknown music.
Music Appreciation and History The Royal Conservatory of Music
Mozart: Man and Music
Instructor: David Bowser
Tuesdays, 10:00-12:00 • March 10 to April 14 (6 weeks) • $295
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is recognized as one of the greatest composers in the history of western
music. In the 21st century, more than two and a half centuries after his death, Mozart’s life continues
to fascinate and his vast repertoire of chamber, orchestral, and operatic works continues to hold a
universal appeal. His genius is revealed in his music: he embraced the musical language of his
century, yet was able to deliver works that transcend his own time through their exceptional originality
and depth of expression.
Join David Bowser, founder and artistic director of the Mozart Project and conductor of the Toronto
Mozart Players, for a series of engaging and informative lectures offering insights into the life,
personality, and music of this enigmatic and beloved composer. Drawing on primary sources including
letters, treatises, and musical manuscripts, we’ll delve into 18th-century Salzburg and Vienna (and
beyond) and explore the events that shaped Mozart’s remarkable life and creative output. Recordings
and live performances will enhance participants’ understanding and enjoyment of Mozart’s exceptional
oeuvre, including works that will be featured at the inaugural concert of the Toronto Mozart Players
with the winner of the Toronto Mozart Vocal Competition, presented by the Mozart Project on Sunday,
April 12, 2015 at St. Lawrence Hall.
David Bowser is Founder and Artistic Director of the Mozart Project and conducts the Toronto Mozart
Players. He is also Music Director and Conductor of the Hart House Chorus and the Oakville Choral
Society, and an active guest conductor, composer, university instructor, and vocal coach. He has
served as music director of the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, the Brantford
Symphony Orchestra, and the North York Concert Orchestra, and has conducted orchestras including
the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, and the National Youth
Orchestra. He holds a Master of Music degree in composition from the University of Toronto and a
Master of Music degree in conducting from the Conservatoire de Musique in Montreal, where he
studied conducting with Raffi Armenian and voice with Marie Daveluy. David is the recipient of
numerous grants and awards from the Ontario Arts Council, the Canada Council, and the University of
Toronto, where he is a doctoral candidate.
Music Appreciation and History The Royal Conservatory of Music
Opera in the City
Instructor: Eric Domville
Tuesdays, 1:00-3:00 • March 24 to April 28 (6 weeks) • $295
Calling all opera lovers! Whether you’re a seasoned opera-goer or new to this timeless art form,
before you take your seat in the theatre for another highly anticipated season of opera in the city, join
University of Toronto Professor Emeritus Eric Domville for an illuminating journey into operatic history
and enhance your experience of the following four operas scheduled to be performed in Toronto this
spring:
• Berlioz’s version of Gluck’s Orpheus and Eurydice (Opera Atelier; opens April 9)
• Rossini’s comic masterpiece The Barber of Seville (COC; opens April 17)
• Bartók's psychologically thrilling Bluebeard's Castle and Schoenberg's seminal Erwartung
(COC; opens May 6)
Immerse yourself in the music, the plot, and the characters; hear arias sung by students of the Glenn
Gould School; and study excerpts from the libretto (English translations provided). We’ll explore the
place of each opera within the composer’s artistic output and its position within both the history of
opera and the socio-political context of the time. Questions and discussion will be encouraged as an
essential component of a communal introduction to these enduring works.
Eric Domville is a Professor Emeritus in English literature at the University of Toronto, where he
taught at all levels for 30 years. Since his retirement, he has concentrated on the relationship between
words and music in song and opera. He has given many pre-performance talks for the Canadian
Opera Company and Opera Atelier, and delivered lectures to opera guilds across Ontario. For the past
20 years, Eric has acted as commentator for the Music and Poetry series at the Faculty of Music,
University of Toronto. Currently, in addition to presenting opera courses at various institutions, he
appears as a guest presenter of programmes on classical music on the University of Toronto’s radio
station at 89.5 FM. Many of his articles on operas have appeared in the programme books of the
Canadian Opera Company.
Music Appreciation and History The Royal Conservatory of Music
Understanding 20th and 21st Century Music
Instructor: Dean Burry
Wednesdays, 1:00-3:00 • March 25 to May 13 (8 weeks) • $395
The 20th century was a time of tremendous upheaval and revolution. Two world wars, the onset of the
atomic age, space exploration, and an unprecedented level of globalization transformed the world
more in 100 years than had previously occurred in millennia. So, too, musical tradition cast off the
common practises of the past 300 years, striking out in brave new directions and challenging accepted
conventions in bold, unexpected ways.
This course explores the fascinating developments in art music from 1900 to the present. During these
years, composers experimented freely, and musical styles and forms developed at an unprecedented
pace. We’ll discover the various schools of composition through the music of such seminal composers
as Stravinsky, Bartók, Weill, Gershwin, Shostakovich, Copland, Britten, Cage, Glass, and more.
Cross-disciplinary parallels will also be made with visual arts, theatre, literature, dance, and film, as
well as with trends and practises in areas such as economics, politics, media, and technology.
Participants will emerge from this course with an enhanced ability to understand and appreciate the
music of this dynamic time---and of our own.
Suggested text: Alex Ross, The Rest Is Noise (ISBN-13: 978-0-312-42771-9)
Dean Burry is a Toronto-based composer, librettist, and educator. Following saxophone studies at
Mount Allison University, where he began composing operas and musicals, Burry studied composition
at the University of Toronto and began to immerse himself in the Canadian opera world. In 1997, he
was hired by the Canadian Opera Company to create the After-School Opera Program, a community
program which has met with great success and continues to this day. The following year, he was
commissioned to write The Brothers Grimm, which is believed to be the most performed Canadian
opera. He has also composed music for film and musicals; incidental, choral/scared, and chamber
music; and solo piano works. His many works for young people have been produced nationally and
internationally in cities including St. John’s, Charlottetown, Toronto, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Saskatoon,
Calgary, Edmonton, Victoria, Nashville, Sarasota, and Cardiff, Wales. His serial radio opera, Baby
Kintyre, commissioned by CBC Radio, was nominated for a Prix Italia International Broadcast Award,
and in 2011 Burry received the prestigious Louis Applebaum Composers Award. He teaches at the
Glenn Gould School.
Notes:
Students may purchase 2 passes to 21C Music Festival (May 20–24, 2015: 8 concerts, 5 nights) at 10%
off, while quantities last. Call (416)408-0208 or visit the Weston Family Box Office after registering.
Music Appreciation and History The Royal Conservatory of Music
The Requiem: Music of Rest, Peace, and Consolation
Instructor: Rick Phillips
Thursdays, 1:00-3:00 • March 26 to April 23 (5 weeks) • $250
The requiem has evolved from a composition intended to be performed during formal liturgical
services into a genre of its own, heard regularly in concert halls around the world. A requiem is the
musical setting of the ancient Mass for the Dead or Missa Pro Defunctis, so named because it begins
with the words “Requiem aeternam dona eis Domine” (“Give them eternal rest, O Lord”). For
centuries, composers have been inspired by this ancient text, reflecting upon the meaning and
message of life and death, as well as life after death, in different ways; while some have dealt with the
fear of death, others have concentrated more on the rest and peace that death brings, and still others
have focused on the consolation of the living.
This course will be a fascinating and uplifting survey of perspectives on our own human mortality---and
immortality---through music, from the Renaissance to the 20th century. Works studied will include
Mozart’s Requiem Mass, Brahms’s “German” Requiem, Verdi’s Requiem, Fauré’s Requiem, and
Britten’s War Requiem.
Rick Phillips was affiliated with CBC Radio for 30 years, working in Montreal, Edmonton, Calgary,
and Toronto in a career that spanned production to management to on-air. For 14 years, he was the
Host and Producer of SOUND ADVICE, the weekly guide to classical music and recordings heard
across Canada on CBC Radio One and CBC Radio Two every weekend. As well as broadcasting and
webcasting, Rick is a busy freelance writer and reviewer, speaker, panel moderator, consultant,
musical tour guide, and concert host. He’s often a juror in the classical music categories for the Juno
Awards, and is the author of “The Essential Classical Recordings – 101 CDs,” published by
McClelland & Stewart. Rick delivers music history and appreciation courses at a range of institutions
and organizations across the city. He holds a B. Mus. from McGill University and an M. Mus. from the
University of Toronto.
www.soundadvice1.com
Music Appreciation and History The Royal Conservatory of Music
Troubadours, Tudors, and Beyond:
Music of the Middle Ages, Renaissance, and Early Baroque
Instructor: Alison Melville
Wednesdays, 10:00-12:00 • April 8 to April 29 (4 weeks) • $195
What exactly was the “volta” that Queen Elizabeth I danced for her pre-breakfast exercise? Is
“Gregorian” the only kind of chant? What’s a “shawm”? This course offers an introductory survey of
the intriguing, evocative music of the Medieval, Renaissance, and early Baroque periods of European
music. Participants will explore the major instrumental and vocal forms of music, from 13th-century
Spanish pilgrimage songs and the chant of Hildegard of Bingen, to the birth of opera in late 16th-
century Italy. In between, we will consider the dances and instrumental music of the Tudor court, the
Arabic origins of many musical instruments, sacred music by Jewish as well as Christian composers,
and much more. Through active listening, visual examples, short readings from contemporary
sources, and animated discussion, participants will enrich their appreciation of this intriguing repertoire
and broaden their musical horizons!
Special guest mezzo-soprano Laura Pudwell will visit to share her thoughts on the differences
between “early” and “modern” singing, and at the final class Toronto Consort Artistic Director David
Fallis will set the stage for The Toronto Consort’s presentation of the 13th-century Play of Daniel, one
of the most important works of medieval liturgical theatre.
Long recognized as one of Canada’s bright lights on historical flutes and recorders, Toronto-born
Alison Melville’s career as a soloist, chamber, and orchestral musician with many ensembles has
taken her across North America and to New Zealand, Iceland, Japan, and Europe. A member of the
Toronto Consort, Ensemble Polaris, and Artistic Director of the mixed media Bird Project, Alison
appears regularly as a soloist and orchestral player with with Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, and as a
guest with other ensembles across North America. She was Artistic Co-Director for 22 years of the
chamber concert series Baroque Music Beside the Grange. Some memorable career moments
include playing for The Tudors, CBC-TV’s The Friendly Giant, and Atom Egoyan’s The Sweet
Hereafter; solo shows in inner-city London (UK) junior schools; a recent recital in sunny southern
Spain; and, oh yes, a summer of concerts in Ontario prisons. Alison has been heard on CBC/Radio-
Canada, BBC, RNZ, NPR, and Iceland State Broadcast Service, and on over 55 CDs, including five
critically acclaimed solo recordings. A professor at the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music (USA)
from 1999 to 2010, she now teaches at the University of Toronto and Wilfrid Laurier University.
Notes:
Students receive a complimentary ticket to the May 24 performance of The Play of Daniel by The
Toronto Consort, at 3:30 pm at Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre, Jeanne Lamon Hall, 427 Bloor St. West (at
Spadina).
Music Appreciation and History The Royal Conservatory of Music
Music Through the Ages: Romantic Era
Instructor: Clayton Scott
Thursdays, 10:00-12:00 • April 16 to May 14 (5 weeks) • $250
Take a musical “stroll” through the Romantic era and discover (or rediscover!) the music and the world
of this fascinating historical period. How were the key composers and their most enduring works
shaped both by the political and social contexts of the time and by other arts such as drama, literature,
and architecture? In this lively presentation/performance series, the great masterworks will come alive
as we investigate: Who wrote them? When? Where? Why? Who was the first audience? And, why
have these works endured?
We will begin with a spirited investigation of the concrete: the social history, manners, clothing, art,
and politics of the era; and then move to the abstract: components of musicianship found in specific
works by composers such as Schubert, Chopin, Mendelssohn, Berlioz, Tchaikovsky, and more. Key
passages—what in the music makes it a “masterwork”—will be demonstrated at the piano and
discussed. Occasionally, Ms. Scott will present a dramatic performance of a specific work over music
recorded by world-class orchestras and singers. Classes will include active listening with “guided tour”
commentary, interactive components related to understanding the music we hear, opportunities for
score study (no experience necessary!), and class discussion.
Clayton Scott, ARCT (Piano Performance, RCM), BA (University of Toronto), has taught piano,
harmony, and music history since 1969. She is a Member of the College of Examiners, Royal
Conservatory of Music. In 1992, Ms. Scott developed the lecture/performance series Music Through
the Ages, a music appreciation and history course now consisting of over 75 titles that she has
presented in Canada and the United States. Ms. Scott has a particular interest and expertise in
working with the adult learner both individually at the piano and in group workshop classes such as
Perform with Poise and Pizzazz!, which help musicians of all ages and stages gain comfort, security,
and joy in sharing their music. In addition to her teaching, Ms. Scott adjudicates piano festivals;
conducts piano master classes; gives professional development and motivational lectures for
teachers, parents, and students; and presents opera, ballet, and music history workshops for a range
of associations and institutions across North America.
http://www.claytonscottmusic.com/
Music Appreciation and History The Royal Conservatory of Music
Klezmer Music
Instructor: Mike Anklewicz
Wednesdays, 7:00-8:30 • April 15 to May 6 (4 weeks) • $150
When most people hear the word “klezmer,” they immediately think of the popular Broadway (and
movie) musical Fiddler on the Roof. However, Klezmer’s history and distinctive sound goes back much
farther. Where did Klezmer begin, what were its influences, and what are the musical and cultural
characteristics that define the genre? This four-week survey course will delve into Klezmer’s rich
history, starting from its roots as Jewish instrumental celebration music from Eastern Europe, through
its Golden Age in North America from the 1920s to the 1940s, to the revival of Klezmer that began in
the mid-1970s after decades of disinterest and neglect. We’ll hear some of Klezmer’s early stars,
including Belf, Dave Tarras, Abe Schwartz, and Naftule Brandwein, and learn about the strong
influence of the Yiddish Swing movement in the 1930s and 1940s that led to the creation of enduring
hit songs like “Bei Mir Bistu Sheyn.” Finally, the course will conclude with an examination of the
diverse and exciting international Klezmer music scene, in which Canada, Canadians, and Toronto
play a big role.
Mike Anklewicz is a successful performer and teacher of klezmer, classical, and jazz music. He holds
a PhD in ethnomusicology from York University, where he studied the fusion of klezmer with other
styles of music; a Master of Music degree in saxophone performance from the New England
Conservatory in Boston, Massachusetts; and a Bachelor of Music in composition and saxophone
performance from Queen’s University. Mike has been performing, recording, and lecturing in Toronto
and around the world, with performances in Canada, the US, Germany, and the UK; he has recorded
with several groups in Canada, the US, and the Czech Republic. Mike is the founder of KlezFactor,
whose two recordings have garnered critical acclaim; the group has performed in Canada, the US,
and Germany, and their music has been heard on CBC Radio and on the Global Television Network.
Another career highlight for Mike was his appearance on the TV series Kenny vs. Spenny. He is
currently the saxophone instructor at the Royal Conservatory of Music.
Music Appreciation and History The Royal Conservatory of Music
Impressionism: Painting in Sound
Instructor: James Stager
Mondays, 1:00-3:00 • April 13 to May 4 (4 weeks) • $195
The late 19th century was a time of great artistic experimentation in France. Painters such as Claude
Monet and August Renoir were searching for new ways to capture the luminous haze of the changing
light on natural scenes, while poets such as Charles Baudelaire and Paul Verlaine were seeking a
more suggestive mode of expression in their free verse. A similar spirit of innovation was found in the
music of French composers Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, and others. Their works, which
emphasize atmosphere and suggestion, express ideals similar to those to which artists in these other
artistic domains aspired. What inspired the experimentation that marked this fascinating period, in
music and beyond? What key characteristics unite the music of these composers, and in what ways
does their music represent a departure from what came before? This course will examine the artistic
currents that led to what is now called Impressionist music --- a term that was rejected by those to
whom it was applied --- including Impressionist painting and Symbolist poetry, and the principal
composers and their most important masterworks.
On Sunday, April 19 at 3pm, the French pianist Hélène Grimaud performs a programme that includes
a number of impressionist works in Koerner Hall. See the special ticket offer below.
James Stager is a sought-after trombonist, pianist, and educator. He teaches music theory, music
history, low brass, and jazz improvisation at The Royal Conservatory as well as at several of Toronto’s
performing arts schools, and music theory at York University. He is frequently heard in concert halls,
festivals, and nightclubs in a wide variety of musical settings including symphony orchestras (Toronto
Philharmonia), musical theatre (Shaw Festival and Soulpepper Theatre), world music (Moda Eterna,
Caché), and jazz groups (Big Rude Jake, Red Hot Ramble). In addition to his teaching and performing
career, as a member of The Conservatory’s College of Examiners, James adjudicates woodwind,
brass, and percussion examinations throughout Canada and the United States, and evaluates written
examinations in music theory and history.
Notes:
Students may purchase 2 tickets to Hélène Grimaud (Koerner Hall; Sunday, April 19 at 3pm) at
10% off, while quantities last. Call (416)408-0208 or visit the Weston Family Box Office after
registering.