Chor Amica is partnering with London Pro Musica at First-St. Andrew’s Church for its largest ever production — the London premiere (and second-only orchestral performance) of Canadian composer Stephanie Martin’s Water: An environmental oratorio on Saturday, May 23, at 7:00 pm.
(Pictured: Paul Ciufo.)
Written in collaboration with playwright and librettist Paul Ciufo and Anishinaabe scholar Vicki Monague, Water tells the story of a fictional Northern Ontario town and its pivotal decisions to protect its local freshwater resources for future generations.
(Pictured: Vicki Monague)
Performed by four exceptional vocal soloists — Katy Clark, soprano, Hillary Tufford, mezzo-soprano, Chris Fischer, tenor, and Paul Grambo, baritone — full orchestra, and the combined forces of three local adult choirs and a children’s choir under the baton of Chor Amica’s music director, Patrick Murray, this is a community musical collaboration not to be missed.
Synopsis:
Canadian composer Stephanie Martin’s new oratorio receives its London premiere with the combined forces of London Pro Musica, First-St. Andrew’s Senior Choir, Chor Amica, St. Mary School Children’s Choir, orchestra, and professional soloists.
It is the story of the importance of this precious resource (water) and a community’s efforts to protect it. In this modern-day oratorio, the Mayor of a small Canadian town must choose between an ambitious developer whose questionable plans for a clothing factory will endanger a pristine water source, and her environmentalist son who pleads for her to take a stand and protect Water. The Mayor is troubled by dreams in which WATER appears as a woman and is finally brought to her senses by the spectre of her future grandchild.
The composer Stephanie Martin’s wish is, “I hope ‘WATER: An Environmental Oratorio’ will bring people together to start a conversation about this very precious resource that sustains life on our planet but that we take for granted.”
This work disrupts stagnant modes of thinking and complacency around the importance of water by considering this Anishinaabe teaching: it is our sacred duty to protect water, as human existence depends on it. The music in this oratorio utilizes several styles to embrace all listeners. Some styles include opera, folk, jazz, classical choral, and orchestral music.
Soloists:
(Pictured: Katy Clark.)
Renowned for her versatility and captivating stage presence, Canadian soprano Katy Clark has appeared across North America as a soloist, chorister, teacher, lecturer, and director. She has appeared as a soloist with many groups, including the Amici Chamber Ensemble, the K-W and Windsor Symphonies, and Michigan Opera Theatre. She is a member of the Elora Singers and of Opus 8, and has sung with the Tafelmusik Chamber Choir and the Canadian Opera Company Chorus. An active teacher, lecturer, and clinician, Katy holds a DMA from the University of Toronto. She operates an active teaching studio in London, Ontario.
Canadian mezzo soprano Hillary Tufford is a versatile and engaging performer, a Graduate of Western University (M.Mus. Voice Performance) and Alumna of the Yulanda M. Faris Young Artist Program at Vancouver Opera. In 2024, Hillary debuted as Carmen with Toronto City Opera. She has performed as a soloist in Messiah with the Elmer Iseler Singers and Hamilton Philharmonic, and in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with Kingston. This summer, Hillary will perform with Festival d’opéra de Saint-Eustache in Quebec.
(Pictured: Chris Fischer.)
Tenor Chris Fischer has appeared as a soloist in more than two dozen major works for choir and orchestra. Operatic credits include the title role in Bernstein’s Candide, Nanki-Poo in Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Mikado, and Kaspar in Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors. Chris has sung with the Grammy and JUNO-nominated Elora Singers since 2012. They are also the collaborative pianist for the Rainbow Chorus of Waterloo-Wellington, and the Minister of Music at London’s First-St. Andrew’s United Church.
(Pictured: Paul Grambo.)
Baritone Paul Grambo is an active member of the local music and theatre community, having performed works at the London Fringe Festival and with local theatre companies, jazz and classical musicians, London Symphonia, and as a chorister and soloist with the Grammy and JUNO-nominated Elora Singers. Additionally, Paul is the artistic director of London Pro Musica Choir, conductor of the Canadian Celtic Choir, and assistant director of St. James Westminster Church choir. As a teacher, clinician and conductor, Paul maintains a vibrant private studio, regularly holding workshops in and around Southwestern Ontario. Paul holds a Masters of Music degree in Performance and Literature from Western University.
Tickets: $40 general admission | $10 students/children with ID
American singer-songwriter and musician Judy Collins brings her “Sweet Judy Blue Eyes” Farewell Tour to The Aeolian on Monday, May 25.
With a career spanning nearly seven decades, the Academy Award-nominated documentary director and Grammy Award-winning recording artist is known for her eclectic taste in the material she records, which has included folk music, country, show tunes, pop music, rock and roll, and standards.
Collins has inspired audiences for more than five decades with her luminous voice, deeply personal songwriting, and lifelong commitment to social activism. Emerging during the folk revival of the 1960s, she became a defining voice of a generation confronting social and environmental injustice. Today, her legacy spans more than 55 albums and continues to influence new audiences.
Collins is celebrated for her imaginative interpretations of traditional and contemporary folk songs as well as her own poetic compositions. Her recording of “Both Sides Now” by Joni Mitchell from the 1967 album Wildflowers was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, while her rendition of “Send in the Clowns” from A Little Night Music by Stephen Sondheim won Song of the Year at the 1975 Grammy Awards. Over the years, she has earned multiple top-ten hits and gold- and platinum-selling albums, and her influence has been celebrated by artists including Rufus Wainwright, Dolly Parton, Joan Baez, and Leonard Cohen.
Originally a classical piano prodigy performing works such as the “Concerto for Two Pianos”, Collins shifted toward folk music after discovering the songs of Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger. Her 1961 debut album, A Maid of Constant Sorrow, launched a long partnership with Elektra Records and helped establish her as a key tastemaker in the Greenwich Village folk scene, where she championed emerging songwriters including Cohen, Mitchell, and Randy Newman.
Still prolific, Collins continues to record and tour internationally. Recent projects include the collaborative albums Silver Skies Blue with Ari Hest and Winter Stories with Jonas Fjeld and Chatham County Line. An author, filmmaker, and activist for organizations such as UNICEF, she also speaks widely on mental health and recovery.
A true Renaissance artist, Judy Collins continues to create music of hope and healing while mentoring new talent and inspiring audiences around the world.
Judy Collins has inspired audiences with sublime vocals, boldly vulnerable songwriting, personal life triumphs, and a firm commitment to social activism. In the 1960s, she evoked both the idealism and steely determination of a generation united against social and environmental injustices.
Five decades later, her luminescent presence shines brightly as new generations bask in the glow of her iconic 55-album body of work, and heed inspiration from her spiritual discipline to thrive in the music industry for half a century.
Author’s Note: Since this story was published in The Byron Villager a few years back, I was commissioned by the City of London Culture Office to prepare an Interpretive Sign that visually tells the history of Wonderland Gardens from 1935 to its rebirth as Springbank Gardens. The plaque will be unveiled on Sunday, June 21, at 1:30 pm at The Guy Lombardo Pavilion in Springbank Gardens.
Mention the name Wonderland Gardens today, and most Londoners will probably respond, “Wonderland what”?
The site of the legendary dance hall, which burned down in 2005, is now called Springbank Gardens, and all that remains of the original venue is the outdoor bandshell.
(Original Outdoor Bandstand)
The story of Wonderland Gardens begins in the early 1930s, when Charles Jones signed a long-term lease for a small lot in Westminster Township, adjacent to the Thames River. His plan was to build a series of gardens, fountains, woods, ponds, and footpaths, including a luxurious swimming pool, all surrounding a 550-square-metre, open-air dance floor with a bandstand and Spanish Colonial-style pavilion.
(Wonderland Pool.)
Wonderland Summer Gardens opened on May 24, 1935, featuring Mickey McDougall and His 10-Piece Orchestra. It quickly became one of the city’s hot spots. Big Bands like Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians and those led by Glenn Miller, the Dorsey brothers, and local musicians like Johnny Downs and Lionel Thornton all graced the venue’s bandshell. Generations of Londoners danced and canoodled under the stars on the venue’s open-air dance floor.
A covered pavilion was built in 1941, and in 1959 it was fully enclosed and insulated to serve as a ballroom, enabling the venue to remain open year-round.
(Mickey McDougall and His 10-Piece Band opened Wonderland on May 24, 1935.)
As the decades passed and musical tastes changed, the venerable dance hall changed with the times. By the 1960s, Wonderland was London’s favourite concert/dance hall for the thousands of London area Boomers who flocked there to see major acts like Sly and the Family Stone, Deep Purple, The Mandala, Grant Smith and the Power, and many others too numerous to list.
(Grant Smith.)
Wonderland was also a jumping-off point for local bands like The Bluesmen Revue, A Small Experience, The New Set, and The Comic Opera, who mostly opened for the headliners.
For the late John Sharpe, The New Set’s former drummer, Wonderland held a special place in his musical career.
“A group could play any number of teen towns or private events, but everyone knew you had not really ‘made it’ until you played Wonderland,” recalled John. “It was a magical place that attracted hundreds of teens to its weekly rock ‘n’ roll shows, so every group in the area wanted in on the action.”
Jim Chapman, former bassist for The Bluesmen Revue, a very popular London R&B group, remembers headlining at Wonderland many times.
“The room had excellent acoustics both on the stage and in the hall. In those days, that was the exception rather than the norm,” Jim recalls. “And it had one of the smallest dressing rooms I ever saw in a venue that size. How the multi-person big bands ever managed to get their people dressed for a gig I cannot imagine!”
Ken Thorne, of A Small Experience, another London band that regularly played Wonderland, remembers the venue’s dressing rooms, too.
“The original dressing room walls were scrawled with the signatures of many of the artists who performed there. Whenever we played there, we used to try and find the new additions while waiting to go on stage,” says Ken.
On August 13 – 14, 1969, Wonderland hosted a two-day Pop Festival featuring Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, Alice Cooper, Cat Mother & The All Night News Boys, George Olliver & The Natural Gas, and others for the whopping price of $7.00! The event preceded the much larger Woodstock Music Festival that took place in New York State, August 15 – 18.
Apparently, Zappa was asked why he wasn’t playing Woodstock. His reply? “Because we don’t want to.”
Rumour had it that after his set, Zappa waterskied on the heavily polluted Thames River, which flowed behind Wonderland! The rumour was recently confirmed during an interview I did with Chuck Jones.
As the years progressed, touring acts moved to other venues in town, and Wonderland became more of a location for special events like company parties, conventions, rallies, and receptions.
“In its final days, the City of London had an active interest in Wonderland, but the council would not invest the money needed to refurbish it and keep it a top live performance venue,” Jim laments. “When Wonderland burned down, there was a lot of talk that something political and fishy had gone on, though I have no way of knowing if that was the case. Like many people, when I heard news of the fire, I shed a tear for all the great days and memories gone by.”
So next time you pedal or walk through Springbank Gardens, take a pause to see if you can hear some of the strains of great music that was once played on the site.
by Richard Young
Richard Young is a retired History teacher who taught with the Thames Valley District School Board for thirty years. Richard published The Beat Magazine, an independent print arts magazine, from 2009 to 2013. In 2025, he revived the magazine as an online publication. He is currently a member of the London Public Library Historic Sites Committee.
The Beat Magazine 2025 is thrilled to introduce its newest volunteer contributor, Renée Silberman, founder and director of London’s Serenata Music. Alongside Daina Janitis, who previews coming concerts, Renée will be reviewing selected Classical Music events. Renée offers a roundup of recent Classical Music concerts in her first story for The Beat Magazine.
Dear music-loving friends and those who wish to join this august circle of the concert-going public. I offer you a report on the final three events of the 2025-26 season and hope it will give cause to rejoice in the kind of offerings now regularly available here in London.
In quick succession, London Symphonia presented a pair of concerts showcasing the artistry of their musicians, who performed cleverly curated programs.
On April 18, Graham Lord, principal clarinet and London Symphonia’s String Quartet, explored works from the clarinet repertoire that represent the gamut of expressive language and technical complexity inherent in the instrument’s nature. Without question, musician, raconteur, CBC broadcaster Tom Allen, enriched the experience, having first of all helped shape the evening’s format, and then enlarged upon the historical development of the clarinet in its many aspects – discussing many of its uses, as an orchestral voice, as a solo instrument in art music and jazz, and more.
(Pictured: Tom Allen.)
The first half of the program took us on a tour of the musical magic the clarinet produces with samplings from works by four composers: Gerald Finzi (1901-1956), Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912), Mozart (1756-1791), and Steve Reich (b. 1936). Tom Allen elucidated the characteristics of each piece with his unique combination of knowledge and storytelling skill, always engaging, never didactic. Graham Lord’s consummate musicianship drew the audience in – his sensitivity to style, especially in the tenderness of the second movement, Larghetto of Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet and in the exhilarating New York Counterpoint multi-voiced tape plus live line – prepared us for the emotional heart of the concert, the Brahms Quintet for Clarinet and Strings in B Minor Op. 115. The Quintet, Brahms’ valedictory work written for Richard Mühlfeld, in Brahms’ opinion, the most outstanding wind player he had ever heard, traverses a grand range of feeling, mood, tones and textures.
There is an elegiac quality, a sense of retrospection, and yet, in this remarkable gift to the generations, the artist’s creative drive evidently had lost none of its energy. On hearing the Quintet, Clara Schumann wrote to Brahms, “The joy that I had survives in my heart, and for that I am grateful.” And so it is that we, too, find renewal in this epic, Protean composition.
On May 2, London Symphonia wrapped up its season with “Beethoven, Shostakovich, and Marsh,” a program of disparate compositional traditions and voices.
Under the leadership of Conductor Tania Miller, the orchestra produced a stimulating journey through time and spirit, a reflection of the type of programming that presents a combination of the contemporary with the tried and true. Moreover, London Symphonia provides a generous opportunity for its members to savour the limelight. This was notable in singling out Laura Chambers, Principal Flute, to take a solo turn in a World Premiere commissioned by the orchestra, with funding support from SOCAN Foundation and the Ohio Arts Council. Composer Alexis Dyan Marsh and flautist Laura Chambers became colleagues at the University of California and have continued a working relationship over the years.
(Pictured: Laura Chambers.)
View of a Cartwheel From An Ascending Plane for Flute Solo and Orchestra is written in six parts, “as a collage of lived experience. The work is woven from three distinct threads: the vastness of the Canadian West grounded in the Manitoban landscape, the evolution of human connection, and the vertical trajectory of personal ambition.” The composition is atmospheric, depicting landscapes and human connections. The element of friendship sets humans in the vast landscape, and may describe the friendship between Marsh and Chambers, linking people to place; furthermore, Marsh acknowledges her personal motivation in developing her artistry as a composer. Laura Chambers plays with great warmth and vitality, a strong personality within the wind section and in the orchestra.
(Pictured: Alexis Marsh.)
The Chamber Symphony in C Minor, Op. 110a (after String Quartet No. 8), orchestrated by Rudolf Barshai, inevitably reminds citizens of the 21st century of the tragic circumstances in which Dmitri Shostakovich lived. The tale of Shostakovich, and indeed of Rudolf Barshai, who was eventually declared persona non grata in the Soviet Union, is a cautionary one – to endure the horrors of authoritarianism is a problem not strictly relegated to the past. Tania Miller fielded this powerful work with deep understanding – her intellectual energy is supported by kinetic energy which pulsated through her body, a driving force that animated the orchestra. Maestra Miller spoke of the composer’s view that the Eighth String Quartet, the point of departure for Barshai’s orchestration, was in fact a requiem for himself. 1960, the year of the Quartet’s publication, was a time of distress and depression for Shostakovich, for although he believed he had betrayed his principles in joining the Communist Party, he lived in continuing fear of arrest or execution, incessantly hounded by the director of cultural policy, Andrei Zhdanov. No amount of abasement was enough for the Soviet authorities. Shostakovich was trapped in the Soviet Union, and his music conveys his pain. But in the devoted hands of Tania Miller, the music becomes the instrument for vindicating Shostakovich’s suffering.
Every good performance of a work by Shostakovich is an almost sacred act that validates yet again all those who were or are caught in a vortex of evil. By contrast, a performance of Beethoven’s Seventh, which he referred to as “a grand symphony in A Major (one of my most excellent works),” is essential life affirmation! Rhythmic intensity is written into the score, but still, there is a requirement that the conductor will truly sustain the orchestra’s propulsive momentum. Wagner identified the symphony as “the apotheosis of the dance.” Tania Miller danced in joy as she partnered with the buoyant musicians of London Symphonia! The dynamic range, the sophisticated play of key signatures, and the studied wildness of the Finale animated the finale of the orchestra’s 2025-26 season!
On Monday, May 4, The Jeffery Concerts brought its season to a remarkable conclusion with a recital by James Ehnes and Andrew Armstrong.
(Pictured: James Ehnes and Andrew Armstrong.)
Mr. Ehnes is billing the programs this year as a “50th Canada Birthday Tour,” and what a celebration it is! James Ehnes is Canada’s foremost violinist, a peerless artist, dedicated to his profession and a musical ambassador who is renowned for performing on major stages internationally and with a particular commitment to bringing music to communities across Canada.
Ehnes brought his wonderful vitality to a full house at the Wolf Performance Hall with works by Christian August Sinding (1856-1941), Johannes Brahms (1833-1897), Carmen Braden (b. 1985), and Bela Bartók (1881-1945). Each of these pieces is close to Ehnes’ heart, and each speaks in a distinctive voice.
The first movement of Sinding’s Suite for Violin in A Minor, op. 10, set the pace and tone for the recital, beginning as it did with a dizzyingly swiftly moving Presto. For an audience member who began studying the violin at an advanced age, it was both daunting and instructive to watch Ehnes’ bow glide efficiently across the strings. But there was more to the playing than mere technique – The Brahms Violin Sonata No. 3 in D Minor, op. 108, intense and dramatic, reveals a powerful side of Ehnes’ playing style. Two years ago, Mr. Ehnes performed the Brahms Violin Concerto with London Symphonia, and on that occasion, showed, as he did the other night, that these big works with significant content are well suited to his musical personality. The playing is both dazzling and refined.
And there is always an interest in the new, as evidenced in Carmen Braden’s Imaginal. Braden composed this piece in honour of James Ehnes’ fiftieth birthday, to celebrate “…anything that held us together in this crazy world, it’s music, friends, curiosity and caterpillars.” (“Imaginal” cells are the catalysts for the transformation of caterpillar cells into butterflies, according to Carmen Braden). And Bartók’s Rhapsody No. 1 for Violin and Piano, Sz. 86 makes full use of traditional Hungarian verbunkos dances, transforming folk music into high art.
Mssrs. Ehnes and Armstrong finished the program with three encores, which they announced from the stage. Scherzo-Tarentelle by Henryk Wieniawski; La Guitar by Moritz Moszkowski, arranged by Pablo de Sarasate; and La Ronde des Putins (The Dance of the Goblins) byAntonio Bazzini.
This scintillating, thrilling recital rounded out a remarkable season of music making!
I encourage one and all to discover the profound satisfaction of hearing extraordinary live performances here in London! There is first-class music to be enjoyed in our city! Come out to some of the wonderful concerts London offers! Support our city’s art scene!
(Pictured: London Symphonia Guest Conductor Tania Miller.)
If you recall the disaster of that season – and were part of the London spirit that helped to rebuild – you really should join in celebrating the spirit of resistance and revival that has taken London Symphonia toward its 10th anniversary.
And the program of the final concert of the 9th season – as well as the musicians – of Beethoven, Shostakovich, and Marsh will be an evening of three survival strategies: a spinning cartwheel, a searing letter from a war‑torn city, and a symphony that refuses to stop dancing.
I was the Volunteer Committee Chair in 2015 when Orchestra London formally filed for bankruptcy, ending decades of orchestral history in the city. And I had the joy of seeing London Symphonia incorporated later that year, picking up the tradition that began back in 1937 and continuing as the only professional orchestra to offer a full season in the region. Many current players, including concertmaster Joe Lanza, bridge both eras, having performed with Orchestra London and now with London Symphonia. And the community helped with trust and creativity. The glorious concert space of “The Met” would not have happened without Londoners’ belief in all the gifts of the spirit.
This concert is music about resilience, played by an orchestra that had to prove its own.
(Pictured: LS Principal Flute Laura Chambers.)
And what a dazzling group of talents our London orchestra has brought together in these nine years. Laura Chambers is the LS Principal Flute. Her solo work, ensemble contributions, and innovations are renowned across Canada- but did you know …
She’s a lover of the outdoors. Her performance of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring for an audience of over 30,000 at sunset in the Nevada desert is her most memorable to date.
She’s a passionate educator. Laura’s studio of students spans in age from 5 to 85, and she is welcomed as a guest clinician at schools, music camps and festival workshops throughout Canada.
In addition to her performance and private teaching, Laura is a PhD candidate at York University, where her research is focused on the recontextualization and sustainability of classical music in today’s world.
She currently holds a sessional lecturer position at the University of Toronto and is a faculty member of the Royal Conservatory of Music’s Oscar Peterson’s School of Music.
And because you supported us for the last nine years, LYS has thrived. You can now be part of a world premiere- the flute concerto that Laura Chambers commissioned from Alexis Marsh just for Laura by London Symphonia.
(Pictured: Composer Alexis Marsh.)
Alexis Marsh, a Canadian composer from Winnipeg, built her career in Los Angeles, scoring films and series like TNT’s Animal Kingdom, animated feature Next Gen, and numerous indie projects. She’s used to writing music that lives inches away from the camera, following tiny facial expressions and shifts in mood. A concerto lets that language move into the open, onto a stage. You’ve heard Laura Chambers in countless moments this season—now imagine an entire work tailored to the way she phrases a single line. The concerto’s title, View of a Cartwheel from an Ascending Plane, sounds like a film shot: a spinning shape seen from above, slowly receding.
And Tania Miller is one of London Symphonia’s favourite guest conductors. Of course, the musicians like her; they know what it means to rebuild something, and so does she. In her writing on leadership, she talks about being “the fuel and the fire,” about creating a spark and then “sometimes letting them play and standing back to enjoy the performance. She sees orchestral work as a “collective search for the meaning in the music,” emphasizing fresh ideas and connection rather than top‑down control.
(Pictured: Tania Miller.)
She is a builder herself, renewing ensembles, most famously as music director of the Victoria Symphony for 14 years, where she developed a reputation as a visionary leader and innovator. She was the first woman to lead a major Canadian orchestra, appointed to Victoria at 33, and now directs the Brott Music Festival and its training programs, all of which underscore her comfort with change and institution‑building. She’s a creative risk-taker — leaving a secure position in Victoria to become, as one article suggested, a guest conductor for hire exploring ‘uncharted waters.
Beginning to sound like a feminist manifesto? No apologies from me- but even the Old White Dead Guy pieces chosen for this program are exciting expressions of resistance and revival.
Shostakovich’s Chamber Symphony Op. 110a came to life as a string quartet dashed off in three days in bombed‑out Dresden, dedicated ‘to the victims of fascism and war’ and packed with his own musical initials like a secret signature—a grief‑stricken protest from someone who knew all about other kinds of terror. It was a piece written amid literal rubble, carrying both an official dedication to war’s victims and a coded act of resistance from a composer who knew about other kinds of terror in his life under Stalin’s iron rule.
Ludwig Van’s Seventh? He composed it in 1811–12, and it was first heard in Vienna in 1813 at a benefit concert for soldiers wounded at the Battle of Hanau, one of the late‑war clashes that helped drive Napoleon’s army out of German territory. No wonder the symphony feels like resistance turned into rhythm—an entire orchestra insisting on life while a collapsing empire limps away in the background.
Its rhythms carry little melancholy. Wagner called it “the apotheosis of the dance” – and other musical worthies of the time said it was “exuberant,” “boisterous,” and “life-affirming”. Don’t we need something right now to remind us that we can choose to dance in the face of pointless war and the threat of domination?
Londoners … every ticket bought since 2015 has been a small act of faith, and on this night the orchestra pays that faith back in music about survival, defiance, and hard‑won joy. You helped the rebuilding – now come to the concert and celebrate this local source of pride.
IF YOU GO:
What: London Symphonia presents Beethoven, Shostakovich, and Marsh
When: Saturday, May 2, 2026, at 7:30pm.
Where: Metropolitan United Church, 468 Wellington Street, London, Ontario.
The Brahms Effect with Tom Allen, London Symphonia, Saturday, April 18, 2026, 7:30 PM
At a time when the world can feel heavy with noise, how comforting it is to gather for an evening devoted to listening — not only to music, but to the stories that live inside it. The Brahms Effect brings together two artists who understand that sound and story are human languages made from the same yearning: the desire to be understood.
Storyteller, broadcaster, and master communicator Tom Allen has long revealed the hidden pulse beneath great music, helping audiences hear composers not as distant figures but as people alive with wit, frailty, and imagination. Alongside Graham Lord, London Symphonia’s principal clarinetist, Allen explores the clarinet as perhaps the most human of instruments — an instrument that can sigh, laugh, ache, and console, often within a single breath.
(Pictured: Tom Allen.)
Tom Allen is well known to Canadians through his CBC story broadcasts – but did you know?
He planned to be a professional trombonist and worked hard at it into his late twenties
By around age 30, he realized that, in his own words, “storytelling and language were where my greatest strengths were,” so his career began to pivot toward radio and narration rather than full‑time performance.
A formative moment was a 1982 music history class at Boston University with John Daverio, whose vivid, funny stories about composers convinced Allen that classical music history could be anything but boring. That realization—that extraordinary music comes from very ordinary, messy human lives—became the core of his storytelling approach.
Tom and harpist Lori Gemmell are life partners (married), living in Toronto; their personal partnership is the foundation for the artistic one. Around 2010 they began creating staged shows together that mix storytelling, history, and chamber music, which they themselves started calling “chamber musicals.”
So, the honest answer is he didn’t so much abandon the trombone as discover that his strongest instrument was language. The trombone training, the practicing, and the orchestra life became the soil out of which the storyteller grew.
A native of the Vancouver area, clarinetist Graham Lord has made Southwestern Ontario his musical home as principal clarinetist of both London Symphonia and the Windsor Symphony Orchestra. A sought‑after guest principal with orchestras from Toronto and Vancouver to Winnipeg, Edmonton, Kitchener‑Waterloo, Nova Scotia, and Thunder Bay, he brings a national Canadian perspective to the clarinet’s most human voice.
(Pictured: Graham Lord.)
For The Brahms Effect, Graham Lord not only performs but also curates the program, guiding listeners through music that has shaped his own artistry — from the intimacy of Finzi and Mozart to the shimmering urban chorus of Steve Reich and the deep, autumnal glow of Brahms’s Clarinet Quintet.
And what an uncanny gift for curating- as well as performing- Graham Lord has. Tom Allen will involve you in the music before the clarinet begins, and I hope he tells you that Gerald Finzi’s Five Bagatelles for clarinet and piano were composed initially in 1941 as Finzi was drafted into war service. He added to the composition in 1943 and premiered it in London’s (the Big One) National Gallery during the Blitz. The clarinet is heard at its most versatile here – nostalgic, playful, and intimate.
Their program is as emotionally varied as any engrossing story. You’ll be delighted by the lyrical ease of Mozart and the big-city tension of Steve Reich’s New York Counterpoint. Graham’s choices are a musical trip through history, genius, and feeling. Samuel Coleridge‑Taylor’s Clarinet Quintet sets the stage for Brahms’s late‑life masterwork — the Clarinet Quintet in B Minor, Op. 115 — music born from an unexpected friendship with a clarinetist that rekindled Brahms’s creativity and deepened his faith in beauty.
Graham Lord, principal clarinetist and curator of The Brahms Effect with Tom Allen and Andrew Chung, Artistic Producer of London Symphonia discuss why the clarinet is such a magical pairing with the string quartet, the genius of Brahms’ Clarinet Quintet, how Graham chose the repertoire for the concert, and Steve Reich’s rarely performed New York Counterpoint, which creates the texture of a clarinet choir of 11 voices: https://youtu.be/rlJgMLWSFX0?si=YE-TRUe7BtISTgBv
Through Lord’s expressive artistry and Allen’s narrative insight, the concert invites listeners to rediscover what music can do when it’s shared in real time — the way it draws us closer, reminding us of our capacity for empathy, wonder, and joy. By Saturday, April 18th, who can predict the noises of aggression, resentment, and hatred that will be filling our social media and news reports? What lies will we have to decipher and expose?
But in our London, a city that values its creators, The Brahms Effect will offer exquisite music and enchanting stories — a concert that reminds us that art, at its best, recalls to us our most human selves.
IF YOU GO:
What: London Symphonia presents The Brahms Effect with Tom Allen.
When: Saturday, April 18, 2026, at 7:30pm.
Where: Metropolitan United Church, 458 Wellington Street, London, ON.
Why I should NOT be writing about Classical Music for The Beat:
Well, judge for yourself from the photo. I’m 80. I took Latin in high school instead of keyboarding. I am not a performer or a specialist in classical music (a few curling RCM diplomas for Grade 8 and 9 Piano notwithstanding). I played Highwaymen CDs for my kids when they were in the bathtub, and I love Linda Ronstadt songs. I asked for a ticket to the Elvis Presley concert in Maple Leaf Gardens for my 12th birthday, and attended in my choir accompanist uniform, clutching my leather satchel of sheet music. A nerd.
Why I want to Write for The Beat Magazine 2025:
I miss it since the print version retired. I admire its hard-working, eclectic editor, Rick Young, and its many volunteer writers for the kind, informative, and enthusiastic pieces they wrote about our London arts scene.
What I Think I Can Bring:
I taught high school English for thirty-three years- and have been retired for over twenty. Because I was grateful for the people who provided my children experiences and adventures in school music- and in the London Youth Symphony and Amabile – I started volunteering for these heroic people with talents I couldn’t match. I’m on the board for LYS and Magisterra Soloists, I was on the AHMAA board for saving the Aeolian Hall, I assemble newsletters for my union and for the classical music events in London, and I attend every concert I can manage.
But to my mental peril, I have been caught up in the political turmoil of our time. In just the last few months, I’ve read in horror about the denigration of DEI, the turning of the Kennedy Center into a “massage music” emporium, the selling off of public education and public journalism, the incitement of hatred for immigrants, and the finest relief for this anger I feel is in classical music.
What is the source of that solace? It’s a living genius in the musicians who play classical music for us in London, Ontario. Attending a pop music concert is certainly enjoyable, but attending a classical concert is intellectually stimulating and emotionally immersive. It requires sustained focus, careful listening for structure and nuance, and an openness to delayed gratification and complexity. Your emotional responses can be profound and spiritual. The concert offers a contemplative experience, with less overt physical movement and a stronger emphasis on collective listening and silent appreciation. Thank you, London musicians, for the courage you put into your work.
Ethel: You look distraught. Whatever is the matter?
Maud: Have you SEEN the chamber group The Jeffery Concerts has brought to London for Friday, March 13th? AAAAARGH!!!
Previewed by Daina Janitis
(Pictured: The Poiesis Quartet.)
Ethel: Yes, Maud- and how lucky are we in London to have this Jeffery Foundation board of music lovers, music teachers, and music performers bringing amazing talents that we’d otherwise have to travel to see and hear. That’s the Poiesis Quartet. As the newly crowned winners of the 2025 Banff International String Quartet Competition, the Poiesis Quartet’s arrival in London is a momentous point in their career, bringing the kind of risk-taking, collaborative artistry that keeps chamber music alive for new generations.
Their Jeffery debut at Metropolitan United Church is not our grandmothers’ “subscription” recital, but a chance for Londoners of all ages to encounter four young musicians who treat the string quartet as a living laboratory for sound, story, and social connection.
Maud: But just LOOK at their outfits and piercings- and their use a mixed bag of pronouns. And the program? Chamber concerts are for the B’s- Bach and those other gentlemen of classical music! What kind of name is Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate?
Ethel: I don’t know where he was born- but the Jeffery Foundation bringing that music and those musicians to London, Ontario is enacting Canadian core values: public access to culture, support for emerging talent, and a belief that serious art belongs not in gated institutions but in the shared spaces of a city. In a world where U.S. arts centres are increasingly entangled with partisan politics and boycotts, the Jeffery series offers something different: a locally rooted, not-for-profit platform where excellence is measured in artistic integrity and community impact, not donor glamour.
Maud: Are they at least going to dress up in dignified concert black as they play?
Ethel: Oooh- I doubt it. And I hope they let their freedom in concert dress reflect the freedom in bending and improving traditions of all kinds, bring that beautiful stage at The Met to new life! Try meeting some of them first … look up their own website: Poiesis Quartet
Or, let’s let one of them tell us about him/her/they!
(Pictured: Drew Dansby.)
Drew Dansby, cello, Drew Dansby(he/him) is a recent double-degree graduate of Oberlin College and Conservatory, with degrees in cello performance under Darrett Adkins and chemistry with minors in Comparative American Studies and sociology. Drew joined the cello section of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra full-time beginning in the 2023-24 season, becoming the youngest member of the orchestra at 22. He has served as an acting cellist in the Charlotte Symphony, associate principal cellist of the New York String Orchestra, and principal cellist of the Verbier Festival Orchestra. Originally from Charlotte, NC, Drew made his solo debut with the Charlotte Symphony at age 15. Drew is also a founding member of the Charlotte Piano Trio, which has performed 14 concerts over 5 years across North Carolina, and was the founder and director of the 2022 Myers Park Summer Series. Drew has been recognized as a National YoungArts winner and gold medalist in the Cleveland Cello Society competition. Drew was a member of the National Youth Orchestra of the USA for three summers, including as a violinist in 2018 and as principal cellist in 2019, and he was the first member in the history of the orchestra to be accepted on two instruments. As a winner of Oberlin’s concerto competition, he performed David Baker’s Concerto for Cello and Jazz Band with the Oberlin Jazz Ensemble in April 2024.
And the rest of them are just as impressive in their achievements – so with the Poesis Quartet, we are getting a quadruple whammy of inspiration!
Maud: But the music? Will I be able to tolerate any of it?
Ethel: Listening to music of any era should not be centred on your pain threshold, honey. You may have to adjust your hearing aids and your expectations a bit, but the piece that won THE 2025 Banff Festival prize certainly didn’t scare those judges!
Maud: I didn’t know about that Banff Festival. Is it a big thing???
Ethel: A biggie, indeed. The Banff International String Quartet Competition was organized in 1983. It is now recognized as one of the world’s major string quartet competitions.
Ten quartets from around the world are selected to take part in the semi-final competition. All members of the quartets must be under the age of 35. After playing various styles of both traditional and modern chamber music before audiences over a period of several days, three finalist groups are chosen. After further performances, these are judged and a winner chosen.
And here’s a photo of them receiving the 2025 Banff award.
As arts reporter Keith Powers said about the 2025 competition, “Each repertoire choice had a tell: of a quartet’s confidence, technique, history — all subtle, all different. For the Poiesis Quartet, this competition was not only a test of mettle, but it was also a forum for identity. The eventual competition winner cemented a place in the finals with a spectacular performance at the conclusion of the open competition: Bartók’s String Quartet No. 5 (the first work the group ever learned!). Then Poiesis stole the finals with royally inclusive and distinctive choices: quartets by Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate, Brian Raphael Nabors, Ken Hisaishi, and Kevin Lau.
“The final round presents our ensemble, our values,” cellist Drew Dansby said. “We feel like everything we’ve done is being fulfilled with this.”
Want to hear the piece they played in the final round, Maud? Get ready …
Maud??? Maud??? Maud???
IF YOU GO:
What: The Jeffery Concerts presents the Poiesis Quartet
When: Friday, March 13, at 7:30pm.
Where: Metropolitan United Church, 468 Wellington Street, London, ON.
Here is the poster for Thursday night’s Magisterra Concert. So, you already know lots about it- but I’ll tell you more!!!
First, though, I’m going to come clean about what may keep people from flocking to some exquisite chamber music- and in THIS city, that is one opportunity among a flood of riches.
It’s PARKING, isn’t it???
Almost sixty years ago, when we came to London, I was vaguely amused by the horrified mentions of PARKING in the city- the warnings about downtown dying if those malls were built in the suburbs offering free space for cars. And now- I’ve also become the kind of Aged Karen who would hurl epithets at City Council from the gallery, bewailing what I must pay to park my Mazda close to the classical music event I want to attend.
I’m going to offer a few suggestions for the similarly enraged:
Point your car to Fullarton St. between Talbot and Ridout. Use the street- it’s after 6:00 p.m. and barely a block from Museum London
Make an evening of it. Yaya’s Café has replaced the Rhino- and offers an intriguing Thursday night African meal until 7:00 p.m.
Ask someone under 40 in your home about Uber. I watched the young’uns in my extended family use it all over Boston, Detroit, Toronto … and their summoning and paying for the service did not seem to impoverish them.
So, what else do you need to know?
Piano trios? Three pianos on that small auditorium stage?
Au contraire, mon frere… as famous poet George Carlin used to say.
A piano trio is a small chamber group of three musicians – piano, violin, and cello – playing together as equal musical partners. In a piano trio, each instrument has its own voice: the piano provides richness and colour, the violin often sings the melody, and the cello adds depth and warmth. Composers have admitted they love writing for piano trio because this intimate setting lets listeners hear every musical “voice” clearly, like three characters in a vivid, wordless conversation.
And the ones chosen for Thursday night are masterpieces:
Beethoven’s Piano Trio in E‑flat major is an early piece from his “new kid in town” years in Vienna. It’s bright and energetic, with clear tunes that bounce quickly between piano, violin, and cello, plus a gentle, slow movement and a witty, fast finish.
Brahms’s Piano Trio in B major is big, warm, and emotional. It opens with a long, singing melody, then moves through music that can feel stormy one moment and comforting the next, always with rich, lush harmonies.
Turina’s Piano Trio No. 2 is a short, colourful work with a strong Spanish flavour. In just three movements, it shifts between dreamy, atmospheric writing and lively, dance‑like rhythms that give the trio a vivid, distinctive character.
(Pictured: Magisterra Solists violinist and music director, Annette-Barbara Vogel.)
You know that violinist and music director, Annette-Barbara Vogel, is brilliant- but her guest musicians are certainly no slouches!
Anya Alexeyev, born in Moscow into a family of concert pianists, trained at the prestigious Gnessin School and Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory before earning a scholarship to the Royal College of Music in London, where she won major prizes. She has appeared as a soloist with leading orchestras, including the Royal Philharmonic, BBC Philharmonic, Moscow State Symphony, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, and Quebec Symphony.
(Pictured: pianist Anya Alexeyev.)
She is a genuine musical explorer who has recorded widely for international labels, yet she is equally passionate about unearthing hidden gems of the piano repertoire. In Magisterra’s trio, she brings the depth of a truly global career together with a restless musical curiosity.
Three things about Belgian cellist Tom Landschoot are especially intriguing for concertgoers: he has an international solo career, is a sought‑after teacher, and he has a deep chamber‑music pedigree.
Landschoot has appeared as a soloist with orchestras across Europe, North and South America, and Asia, including the National Orchestra of Belgium, the Frankfurt Chamber Orchestra, and symphonies from Taiwan to Ecuador, with performances broadcast on radio and television worldwide.
He has held a leading professorship at Arizona State University, is on faculty at elite summer institutions such as Meadowmount, and will join the Cleveland Institute of Music as Professor of Cello in 2026
And … be still my heart … Tom Landschoot has been involved in interdisciplinary public service projects through his music, such as raising funds and awareness for the need of building an orphanage and hospital in Tamil Nadu, India. As part of this humanitarian project, Landschoot was featured in a documentary film of a cellist performing across India, integrating photography, culinary, journalism and original music compositions.
(Pictured: cellist Tom Landschoot.)
And on this day, when wars are beginning yet again, when there is so much to mistrust and fear in our world, let’s be grateful for the wonderful people who bring us music in this chaos
IF YOU GO:
What: Magisterra Soloists present Masterworks featuring the Magisterra Piano Trio.
When: Thursday, March 5, at 7:00pm.
Where: Museum London, 421 Ridout St. North, London, ON.
In a 2023 profile I prepared of well-known London area singer-songwriter and Forest City London Music Awards recipient, Laura Gagnon, she told me, “I’m a road warrior at heart.” Since that story was published, the Port Stanley resident has kept up her busy schedule of live performances in and around London, throughout Canada, and abroad.
I caught up with Laura as she was in the throes of organizing and preparing for The International Women’s Day – Women In Music Showcase, being held at London’s Palasad Social Bowl on Sunday, March 8th.
What follows is an updated Q&A Interview with Laura about her career and the March 8th event. (The Interview has been edited for length and clarity.)
Q. Tell me a little bit about your upbringing. Was yours a musical home?
Very much a musical home! My parents are both professional musicians, and once a week, they’d have band rehearsals at our home in the garage when I was very young. The garage was connected to our kitchen, so you can imagine me singing all the tunes in the kitchen at the top of my lungs while they’re practising. Ha-ha!
Q. Do you remember the moment when you made the decision that music was going to be a big part of your life?
In our previous interview, I talked about Grade 10, but the more I reflect on my life and career, I realize it was much earlier than that. Recently, I discovered old VHS tapes of me singing and playing piano, and I could see how much I loved it. I was shy but determined! My first TV appearance was on “Rogers TV” for the Salvation Army. You can actually watch these on my Instagram account. The glimmer in my eyes really says it all.
Q. Has the piano always been your primary instrument? Do you play any other instruments?
I definitely started with piano, and then singing came not too long afterwards. It gave me the foundation for pitch and how notes worked together. The sound was beautiful to me. I then tried to learn the sax and trumpet, but that didn’t stick. Ha-ha. Then I picked up the drums. I can jam pretty well with musicians but not well enough to play a big show. I’ve recently picked up the flute, so we’ll see how that goes!
Q. What have your musical influences been over the years?
Going way back to when I was eight years old, it started with the Wizard of Oz and “Somewhere Over The Rainbow.” I was enchanted by Judy Garland. It grew into a love for Disney songs. My favourites were Snow White, The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast. Then along came Alicia Keys, who introduced me to soul and a female artist who could play and sing piano. The sassiness of Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera followed, and then the range and sensitive tone of Mariah Carey really started to shape my musical world.
Q. Tell me about the various groups and musicians you have played with since you started playing professionally.
I’ve had the privilege of playing with some pretty exceptional musicians, but also some really amazing groups like the Extreme Tour, based on guiding the lost out of the dark with music. I’ve written with Guess Who Guitarist, Dale Russell (may he rest in peace). An incredible producer, songwriter and human. Gary Martin of the Touring Funk Brothers is another exceptional musician who taught me how to better connect with an audience through just one single note. These three stick out to me because they’ve had an incredible impact on my career.
Q. What types of gigs have you played over the years?
Oh wow! I’ve played festivals like CMW, VENUEXVENUE, World Fest, Ribfest and conferences. I sang the Canadian and American national anthems in France for a tree planting ceremony for the 100th Anniversary of Vimy Ridge. At MMA events, London, ON City Council, Ottawa, ON City Council, baseball games, hockey games, soccer games. Performed in Nashville at Rocket Town for an industry showcase and many songwriter showcases around Canada.
Q. Tell me a little bit about any recordings you have made in your career.
It all started with writing a song for Remembrance Day, “In Our Hearts”. I wrote it based on many veteran ceremonies I’ve sung at. I wanted to give something back to the community that had supported me for so long. Two days before their ceremony, I asked if I could perform “In Our Hearts,” and they said yes, absolutely.
Now, at this point in time, the song hadn’t been recorded yet, and I wanted to see if it was worth diving into, and it was. There was an overwhelming need and feeling to get this song professionally done. I recorded the song at Prevail Media Group, and they brought it to life! Fast forward a year, and I get a message in my Facebook inbox from a woman asking if I have sheet music for the song. I didn’t at that moment, but I quickly wrote a lead sheet for her and sent it off.
I asked her if she could send me clips of her singing group practising and performing it. I also wanted to come see the performance and hear them in person. I asked where they were based, and she said Australia!! Darn, that’s a bit far! Ha-ha!. But I was so honoured that they picked my song to sing for their Remembrance Day ceremony. They found it on YouTube! Thank you, Moss Vale High!
Q. Other than the March 8th International Women’s Day – Women In Music Showcase, what projects are you currently pursuing?
Right now, I’m working on a couple of singles, one to be released in about five weeks called “Blue Eyes”. It’s a soft, stripped-down, cuddle vibes kinda song. The song feels like a warm hug, chicken soup for the soul and the feeling of getting tucked into bed as a kid. I remember that feeling well. I’m really excited for this one and honoured to be working with a really amazing producer, Randy Mead, out of London. After that single, I’ll be releasing another single, then an album.
Q. Is there anything else you think our readers should know about Laura Gagnon, the musician and Laura Gagnon the individual?
Since we last chatted, a lot has changed, and it’s been an amazing adventure and gift. 2025 was a big year for me. I was signed to an indie label, Big Records World (Canadian label), signed to a Management/Booking label, Grace Musicians Management Group (NYC Label), and toured the United States performing and helping the homeless with a group called The Extreme Tour, as I mentioned earlier. I’d like to expand on “The Extreme Tour” because it was the pivotal point of my career. It took me out of business mode and reminded me that I’m an artist and I have a bigger mission than just playing show to show, hoping to increase my followers.
I forgot to connect with my audience and be warm for them, be gentle with myself. I forgot that silliness is okay and actually inspires humans to be themselves. That tour reminded me why I started this career in the first place. I think it’s our job as musicians to help, heal and be kind to those who aren’t kind to themselves. To give them permission to be themselves. When lost, you help them find their way. The amazing part about that is that, in turn, sometimes in helping them, they help you. Selflessness is the key to success. Being YOU and no one else and just showing up. TRUST. I will be going back on tour with this amazing team, but also be touring a string of shows in New York City soon.
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The Doll House Showcase Presents International Women’s Day –Women IN MusicShowcase
Q. The Facebook post for the event suggests that it has been 10 years since you have done one of these showcases. Why is that? What has motivated you to revive the showcase in 2026?
I organized and ran The Doll House, a showcase for female musicians from 2016 to 2018, which allowed me to play with many amazing female musicians like Sarah Smith, Nikki James, Carly Thomas, and many others. It was all about empowering female musicians and working as a team to accomplish our goals and being there for one another when things got tough.
The past couple of years, I’ve been asked if I’m going to be bringing this showcase back to the city by multiple musicians and showcase goers from the previous years. I thought, as it has been ten years, this would be the perfect time to bring it back.
Q. Do you have any other partners in organizing and staging this event?
I have been doing all the organizing and staging. I’ve done all the marketing, posters, video and picture promo, radio interviews, TV interviews, including setting up the flow of the artists and booking the venue.
Q. Are similar events taking place in other communities?
Yes! It’s quite amazing! Ottawa has two of them, “Girls To The Front” and “Vox Femme”, and Burlington has “Harmonia”. I know of many others, but those are the ones that stick out in my mind. I’ve performed at two of them.
Most of the proceeds are going towards My Sisters Place – a vital London, Ontario charity operated by CMHA Thames Valley that provides a safe, welcoming centre and essential services for women experiencing trauma, mental health challenges, addiction, and homelessness – and the participating musicians. In true Doll House Tradition, there will be a tip jar for all musicians to share. “It’s A Doll House Tradition To Tip The Musician!”
My Sisters Place has the same mission as the Doll House, which is to protect and create awareness of the dangers of one’s surroundings. It advocates for women to speak out and be heard. To work together and heal through music and community. When we first started this event, that was the main purpose, so women in the music scene weren’t alone and could call on each other. It was created as a safe space, like My Sisters Place.
Q. Tell me about the artists who will be performing on March 8th. What genres of music will be represented?
The artists are women who have been busting their butts in the music scene worldwide. They aren’t just local heroes but international inspirations. They come from all walks of life. Some have been with the Showcase from the beginning, and some I have met in the past year. They come from Quebec, Guelph, Port Dover, London, Kincardine, Port Stanley and Toronto. Each musician is pushing boundaries every day to create that safe space for the young musicians coming up. Easy to talk to, open to tell you anything and help you where it’s needed. Sometimes an in confidence ear.
The lineup includes myself, Anne Moniz, Cinzia and the Eclipse, D’eve Archer, Gillian Davies, Angelina MacKinnon, Felicia McMinn, Rachel Dara, Andrea Matchett, and Kate Channer. Musical genres presented will include Pop, Folk, R&B, and Rock. (Editor’s Note: Photos of the participating musicians appear below.)
Q. Where can readers get more information about the individual artists?
Each artist has an Instagram account and a website. They’re all on social media, so they’re easy to find. I urge you to follow them, comment on their pages and tell them what inspired you when you saw them perform.
Q. Do you plan on making this an annual event again?
That’s a great question. I haven’t decided yet. But I think this is a great idea.
Q. Is there anything else you think our readers should know about the March 8th event?
This isn’t just a showcase. These events have always been about networking and connection, storytelling, and just making sure we all get a little bit of love. There will be merch for sale, so please bring cash. That goes directly to the artists. We have an amazing host named TIA G, who is a champion of women owning their energy, advocating for being yourself, and is a bright light in our sometimes very dark community. We are so excited to have her!
IF YOU GO:
What: The Doll House Showcase Presents: International Women’s Day – Women in Music.
When: Sunday, March 8th at 6:00pm.
Where: Palasad Socialbowl, 777 Adelaide Street N., London, ON.
Tickets: $10 cover charge at the Door. An All Ages Event.
Q&A Interview with Laura Gagnon conducted by Richard Young, Publisher & Content Manager of The Beat Magazine 2025.
If you have a story idea or would like to become a Volunteer Writer for The Beat Magazine 2025, you can reach Richard at richardyoung@thebeatmagazine2025.ca
“In an orchestra, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Together, we can create something truly extraordinary.” – Yo-Yo Ma
And with the London Community Orchestra, you get COOKIES!!!
No, not the kind you have to accept, reject, or manage, the kind you can share with musicians and audience members at Dundas Street Centre United Church after each concert. Because, as all great musical experiences are, it’s a community event, one in which we are participants, even if we sit on the church benches and applaud our hearts out while some of London’s good people enrich our lives with exquisite music.
WE ALL share in the opportunity to quicken our minds and deepen our emotions.
Yes, this organization has been around for fifty-two years, encouraging talented non-professionals to endow their busy lives with the discipline and rewards of symphonic music. And in those fifty-two years, most of the faces have changed, but the quality of performance has evolved to make every season better than the last.
Len Ingrao has conducted LCO since 1998 and has built this city’s large symphonic ensemble to take on artistic challenges and share them graciously with Londoners- for a very reasonable ticket price.
(Pictured: London Community Orchestra Conductor, Len Ingrao,)
I’ll bet you know many of them.
Carolyn Martinelli, who has taught generations of young people at Catholic Central High School, has been a lovely concertmaster since 2005.
(Pictured: Carolyn Martinelli, London Community Orchestra, Concertmaster.)
Steve, who adds fire to the local community orchestra while completing his epidemiology degrees.
Ana, who is a dedicated therapist but still plays her violin in LCO.
Mary, the oboist and member of the FIRST London Youth Symphony over 60 years ago, who still often sets that tuning A for the community orchestra.
Some local music teachers and profs, continuing to aspire and learn with material they love.
And one of those teachers will be the soloist for the March 1st program – Brian Donohue.
(Pictured: Brian Donohue, London Community Orchestra Soloist.)
Brian is the kind of teacher who does the profession proud:
He’s been a member of LCO for twelve years, while teaching at Sir Frederick Banting High School, conducting bands, starting a French horn choir, and teaching the board’s first Music and Math combo course.
He’s always ready to help other musical ensembles with coaching and standing in when he’s needed- and devotes time to raising his three kids with his wife, Christine.
To keep his musical skills growing, he has long-standing involvement in London community ensembles, including playing French horn with the London Community Orchestra and Encore: The Concert Band.
He has taught private horn through Western University’s New Horizons Band program, which focuses on adult and lifelong learners returning to music—he really believes that music is for everyone.
No, no gold medal in hockey – but he has won the Dawson Memorial Award in Music Education, Western Music Award in his final undergraduate year. Chamber of Commerce Award for excellence in Western’s Wind Ensemble, Kiwanis Music Award (festival recognition).
And he is performing music that he LOVES, from the “easy listening” Camille Saint-Saens.
(Pictured: Caricature of Camille Saint-Saens.)
Andromaque: Overture and Prelude to Act IV is a film score before there were films! S-S wrote it in 1902 for Sarah Benrhardt to bring the Trojan War story to life, politics, grief, unwanted suitors – daily stuff in Troy, 17th-century France, and in our current relationship with the US.
And the Morceau de Concert is going to be a showstopper. S-S originally wrote it for a horn that is no more … the “cor omnitonique,” with four pistons that promised to play easily in any key. The gadget did not survive, but the virtuoso showpiece it gives to a great horn player – with lots of dazzling acrobatics – will hold your attention on Sunday.
Speaking of virtuosi, the full orchestra will be giving us Franz Liszt and his Tasso: Lament and Triumph. Liszt was pioneering the symphonic poem by 1849 – telling a story in a single, continuous movement (so no more worries about when to clap!).
(Pictured: Caricature of Franz Liszt.)
The poem is apparently based on the tortured life of Torquato Tasso in the 16th century as he goes through instability in Ferrara, wanders – in a boat, I presume – on the lagoons of Venice, and finally receives recognition in Rome after his death. All of this tumult is conveyed by the constant transforming of a gondolier’s song that Liszt once heard in Venice.
And after the concert? COOKIES and the chance to tell the musicians what generous, inspiring Londoners they are!
IF YOU GO:
What: London Community Orchestra presents Romantic Echoes.
When: Sunday, March 1, at 3:00pm.
Where: Dundas Street Centre United Church, 482 Dundas Street, London, ON.
The Beat Magazine 2025 