Lawrence Cherney, Founding Artistic Director of Soundstreams has announced Keyed Up! a three-day festival that takes place in Toronto from April 18 to 20 as a showcase for exceptional artists and keyboard instruments.
The works of composers from J.S. Bach to Steve Reich, Ann Southam, Terry Riley, Ana Sokolović, and more will be featured, including four world premieres. A range of performers will play the piano, harpsichord, electronic keyboards and digital organ.
We spoke to Australian composer and musician Paul Grabowsky about his work in the festival, which is inspired by Bach’s Goldberg Variations.
Paul Grabowsky
Composer and pianist Paul Grabowsky is well known in his home base of Australia, where he’s been a popular musician across multiple genres for decades. He began to play the piano at the age of five, and studied classical repertoire at the Conservatorium of Music at the University of Melbourne from age seven.
Later, studying at Wesley College, he learned jazz, which took him from Australia to New York City to study at Juilliard. After his studies, he embarked on a performing career as a jazz pianist, adding movie score composing to his résumé in the 1980s.
He founded the Australian Art Orchestra in 1994, an ensemble that began with a focus on jazz, but gradually blurred the lines between cultural traditions and genres. One of their projects under his leadership revolved around Bach’s St. Matthew’s Passion. Grabowsky left AAO in 2013 to pursue his solo work.
Paul Grabowsky: The Q&A
What is it about Bach’s Goldberg Variations that we still find so interesting — and such fruitful territory for new work — even today?
The Goldbergs are fascinating in so many ways. They represent a summa of late baroque keyboard music, demonstrating in their considerable technical demands what a wonderful keyboardist JSB must have been. They demonstrate remarkable playfulness throughout, with the full array of contrapuntal wizardry and harmonic sophistication, all realised within the restrictions of the Aria’s elegant structure.
As an improviser, using this theme as a springboard, even a provocation, is an exhilarating challenge. The Goldbergs are a distillation of JSB’s genius, and continue to inspire composers and performers across many fields. They speak, like all great art, across time and space.
Perhaps along the same lines — your music practice is very broad in scope. What led you to create a piece based on Bach?
As an improviser, I draw inspiration from any and every source. The jazz tradition taught me a language of kinesis, a forward motion of equal parts in a constant interrelationship. JSB was a renowned improviser, so I regard the act of performing this concert as an homage.
How do you see the fusion of jazz and classical music idioms — which are, as they have evolved today, very different in approach? Would you say that, in some respects, it actually goes back to the roots of the music that Bach himself played?
Jazz can be seen from a number of different perspectives. I understand the word as providing a world of possibility in which the improvisational moment is a constant, ephemeral reality. In classical music (an expression, like jazz, which is not necessarily a 21st Century one), the textual aspect of music, its ability to be reproduced according to sets of carefully ordered instructions, is paramount. Of course, improvisation is present in the performance of any piece of music if the performer is open to spontaneous decisions. It is a question of intention, degree and aesthetic context.
What are you hoping the audience takes from your work and your performance?
I never try and second-guess my listeners. I can only hope they are satisfied.
Being a festival with keyboards as its theme, I’m wondering about your own keyboard collection — how many do you have? Which is your favourite?
I really only perform on piano. I have a Bösendorfer at home, slightly shorter than an Imperial, but with a 92 note keyboard. It was built in 1980 and I’ve had it since 1991. I love it. I have keyboards, but they are mostly used for composing.
The Festival in Brief
A Prelude to Keyed Up! | April 3: Piano Works of Unsung Masters
This prelude to the three main concerts puts the work of little known masters of the 20th and 21st centuries under the spotlight.
Rising stars of The Royal Conservatory of Music’s Glenn Gould School and Taylor Academy in Toronto and McGill University’s Schulich School of Music in Montreal will perform a program of new music. That includes: Fantasie Négre by Florence Price, and In The Bottoms – IV: Barcarolle by R. Nathaniel Dett, both performed by Elijah Stevens; Frozen Road by Ian Cusson performed by Jesse Plessis; and Troubled Water by Margaret Bonds performed by Irene Huang. More information, and register for your free ticket here.
The three festival concerts take place at the Jane Mallett Theatre with resident ensemble: Gregory Oh (electronic keyboard), Wesley Shen (harpsichord), Jackie Leung (piano), and John Paul Farahat (digital organ).
Keyed Up! Opening Night | April 18: Variations on Goldberg Variations
The festival opener presents the world premieres of four variations on J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations by Canadian composers Taylor Brook, Dorothy Chang, Emily Doolittle and André Ristic, each preceded by Bach’s original aria. The other half of the program is the North American premiere of Australian composer/pianist Paul Grabowsky’s jazz-inflected take on Bach’s masterpiece. Grabowsky will perform his own works.
Keyed Up! #2 | April 19: Notations (RBC BRIDGES Composer Showcase)
This showcase concert premieres six keyboard works for keyboards by emerging composers who participated in this year’s RBC Bridges program: Uko Abara, Alexandra Gorlin-Crenshaw, Gustav Knudson, Maria-Eduarda Mendes Martins, Prokhor Protasoff, and Hsiu-Ping Patrick Wu. Their pieces will be performed by the resident ensemble.
The second half of the free concert will feature four short works: T. REX by Ana Sokolović (North
American premiere) performed by John Paul Farahat; Mutations by Alvin Singleton performed
by Jackie Leung; Toile de Jouy by Monica Pearce performed by Wesley Shen; and Glass Houses
(#5) by Ann Southam performed by Gregory Oh.
Keyed Up! #3 | April 20: 6 Pianos 12 Hands
Works for six grand pianos are on the program for this concert, including: Steve Reich’s iconic Six Pianos, Terry Riley’s A Rainbow in Curved Air, André Ristic’s Vivaldi Variations. The concert rounds out with works for two pianos by Ana Sokolović and Julia Wolfe.
Pianists performing in this concert include: Stephanie Chua, Geoffrey Conquer, Simon Docking,
Gregory Oh, Midori Koga and Wesley Shen.
Find out more about the Keyed Up! Festival, and tickets, [HERE].
Are you looking to promote an event? Have a news tip? Need to know the best events happening this weekend? Send us a note.
#LUDWIGVAN
Get the daily arts news straight to your inbox.
Sign up for the Ludwig Van Toronto e-Blast! — local classical music and opera news straight to your inbox HERE.
- INTERVIEW | Composer Ari Kinarthy And Director Jeff Lee Petry Talk About Ari’s Theme, Premiering At Hot Docs - April 26, 2024
- PREVIEW | Creators & Performers Natalya Gennadi And Kristine Dandavino Talk About Grandma’s Shawl - April 26, 2024
- PREVIEW | Artistic Director Emily Cheung Dives Into Little Pear Garden Dance Company’s History & 30th Anniversary Peformance - April 26, 2024
