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The Birthday Salon | MacMillan Theatre, Toronto
A celebration of twenty years of the Aldeburgh Connection

date: January 13, 2002

The Aldeburgh Connection’s first concert took place in the Great Hall of Hart House, University of Toronto, on Sunday afternoon, February 21, 1982.  For our twentieth anniversary concert, we moved upstairs in the Faculty of Music’s Edward Johnson Building, from Walter Hall, our normal venue, to the larger MacMillan Theatre; there we attracted a capacity audience.  Halfway through, we programmed Vaughan Williams’s Serenade to Music in its original version for 17 solo voices.  This large group of soloists was joined in the final item, the closing fugue of Verdi’s Falstaff, by the University of Toronto’s Opera Chorus.  Other partsong choices included Schubert’s Nachthelle in a ravishing performance by Michael Schade as tenor soloist.  Most of the second half was taken up by the premiere performance of Liebesleid-Lieder for four voices and piano-duet, composed for the occasion by John Greer.  The afternoon featured three comperes:  Rosemarie Landry, Mary Lou Fallis and Christopher Newton, the latter two also contributing a hilarious performance of Lord Berners’s music-hall song, Come on, Algernon.

Song Artist Composer Poet
If music be the food of love, 3rd setting Robbin, Catherine, mezzo; Ubukata, Bruce, piano Purcell, Henry, real. Britten, Benjamin Heveningham, Henry
La passeggiata (Péchés de vieillesse) Brett, Kathleen, soprano; Krause, Anita, mezzo; Colvin, Michael, tenor; Pedrotti, Mark, baritone; Ralls, Stephen / Ubukata, Bruce, piano Rossini, Gioachino anon.
Italien, Op.8/3 Fallis, Mary Lou, soprano; Ubukata, Bruce, piano Mendelssohn, Fanny Grillparzer, Franz
Excelsior! Butterfield, Benjamin, tenor; Finley, Gerald, baritone; Ubukata, Bruce, piano Balfe, Michael Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth
Pavane, Op.50 Whicher, Monica, soprano; Burgess, Norine, mezzo; Ainsworth, Colin, tenor; Braun, Russell, baritone; Ralls, Stephen / Ubukata, Bruce, piano Fauré, Gabriel Montesquiou, Robert de
Don Juan’s Serenade, Op.38/1 Pedrotti, Mark, baritone; Ralls, Stephen, piano Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich Tolstoy, Alexey
En sourdine, Op.58/2 (Cinq Mélodies de Venise) Robbin, Catherine, mezzo; Ubukata, Bruce, piano Fauré, Gabriel Verlaine, Paul
La barcheta (Venezia) Schade, Michael, tenor; Ralls, Stephen, piano Hahn, Reynaldo Buratti, Pietro
Entr’acte, Op.57/2 (Shylock) Ralls, Stephen / Ubukata, Bruce, piano Fauré, Gabriel n/a
Serenade to Music Brett, Kathleen / Fallis, Mary Lou / Huhtanen, Carla / Whicher, Monica / Landry, Rosemarie, sopranos; Burgess, Norine / Krause, Anita / Robbin, Catherine, mezzos; Ainsworth, Colin / Butterfield, Benjamin / Colvin, Michael / Schade, Michael, tenors; Braun, Russell / Finley, Gerald / Pedrotti, Mark / Tomkins, Giles, baritones; Fewer, Mark, violin; Loewen, Che Anne / Ubukata, Bruce, 2 pianos; Ralls, Stephen, conductor Vaughan Williams, Ralph Shakespeare, William
INTERMISSION
Nachthelle, D892 Schade, Michael, tenor; University of Toronto Opera Chorus; Ubukata, Bruce, piano; Ralls, Stephen, conductor Schubert, Franz Seidl, Johann Gabriel
Sehnsucht, D636 Braun, Russell, baritone; Ralls, Stephen, piano Schubert, Franz Schiller, Friedrich von
Ständchen, D920 Robbin, Catherine, mezzo; University of Toronto Opera Chorus; Ubukata, Bruce, piano; Ralls, Stephen, conductor Schubert, Franz Grillparzer, Franz
Ein kleiner hübscher Vogel, Op.52/6 (Liebeslieder-Walzer) Brett, Kathleen, soprano; Robbin, Catherine, mezzo; Schade, Michael, tenor; Braun, Russell, baritone; Ralls, Stephen / Ubukata, Bruce, piano Brahms, Johannes Daumer, Georg Friedrich
Life and Love: Waltz (Liebesleid-Lieder) Whicher, Monica, soprano; Burgess, Norine, mezzo; Butterfield, Benjamin, tenor; Pedrotti, Mark, baritone; Ralls, Stephen / Ubukata, Bruce, piano Greer, John Parker, Dorothy
Miss Twye: Ragtime (Liebesleid-Lieder) Whicher, Monica, soprano; Burgess, Norine, mezzo; Butterfield, Benjamin, tenor; Pedrotti, Mark, baritone; Ralls, Stephen / Ubukata, Bruce, piano Greer, John Ewart, Gavin
A Lady with Technique & Frustrated Male: Foxtrot and Charleston (Liebesleid-Lieder) Burgess, Norine, mezzo; Pedrotti, Mark, baritone; Ralls, Stephen / Ubukata, Bruce, piano Greer, John Mearns, William Hughes
Monogamy: Pavane (Liebesleid-Lieder) Whicher, Monica, soprano; Burgess, Norine, mezzo; Butterfield, Benjamin, tenor; Pedrotti, Mark, baritone; Ralls, Stephen / Ubukata, Bruce, piano Greer, John Parker, Dorothy
The Good Girl: Minuet (Liebesleid-Lieder) Whicher, Monica, soprano; Ralls, Stephen / Ubukata, Bruce, piano Greer, John Parker, Dorothy
The Garter: Schottische (Liebesleid-Lieder) Butterfield, Benjamin, tenor; Ralls, Stephen / Ubukata, Bruce, piano Greer, John anon.
Chastity: Tango (Liebesleid-Lieder) Whicher, Monica, soprano; Burgess, Norine, mezzo; Butterfield, Benjamin, tenor; Pedrotti, Mark, baritone; Ralls, Stephen / Ubukata, Bruce, piano Greer, John Prior, Matthew
To the Moon: Bolero (Liebesleid-Lieder) Whicher, Monica, soprano; Burgess, Norine, mezzo; Butterfield, Benjamin, tenor; Pedrotti, Mark, baritone; Ralls, Stephen / Ubukata, Bruce, piano Greer, John anon.
The Sex Situation: Polonaise (Liebesleid-Lieder) Whicher, Monica, soprano; Burgess, Norine, mezzo; Butterfield, Benjamin, tenor; Pedrotti, Mark, baritone; Ralls, Stephen / Ubukata, Bruce, piano Greer, John Parker, Dorothy
Anecdote: Gavotte (Liebesleid-Lieder) Whicher, Monica, soprano; Burgess, Norine, mezzo; Butterfield, Benjamin, tenor; Pedrotti, Mark, baritone; Ralls, Stephen / Ubukata, Bruce, piano Greer, John Parker, Dorothy
Unfortunate Coincidence: Rumba (Liebesleid-Lieder) Whicher, Monica, soprano; Burgess, Norine, mezzo; Butterfield, Benjamin, tenor; Pedrotti, Mark, baritone; Ralls, Stephen / Ubukata, Bruce, piano Greer, John Parker, Dorothy
Superfluous Advice: Can-Can (Liebesleid-Lieder) Whicher, Monica, soprano; Burgess, Norine, mezzo; Ralls, Stephen / Ubukata, Bruce, piano Greer, John Parker, Dorothy
Superfluous Response: Tarantella (Liebesleid-Lieder) Butterfield, Benjamin, tenor; Braun, Russell, baritone; Ralls, Stephen / Ubukata, Bruce, piano Greer, John anon.
A Very Short Song: Sarabande (Liebesleid-Lieder) Whicher, Monica, soprano; Burgess, Norine, mezzo; Butterfield, Benjamin, tenor; Pedrotti, Mark, baritone; Ralls, Stephen / Ubukata, Bruce, piano Greer, John Parker, Dorothy
The Dance of Love and Romance: Ländler (Liebesleid-Lieder) Whicher, Monica, soprano; Burgess, Norine, mezzo; Butterfield, Benjamin, tenor; Pedrotti, Mark, baritone; Ralls, Stephen / Ubukata, Bruce, piano Greer, John anon.
The Canadian Sleigh Song Krause, Anita, mezzo; Braun, Russell, baritone; Ralls, Stephen / Ubukata, Bruce, piano Russell, Henry Mackay, Charles
Dear harp of my country Finley, Gerald, baritone; Ralls, Stephen, piano Irish folksong, arr. Britten, Benjamin Moore, Thomas
Come on, Algernon Fallis, Mary Lou, soprano; Newton, Christopher, baritone; Ralls, Stephen / Ubukata, Bruce, piano Berners, Gerald Hugh Tyrwhitt-Wilson, Lord Clarke, Thomas Ernest Bennett
Tutto nel mondo è burla (Falstaff) Brett, Kathleen / Fallis, Mary Lou / Huhtanen, Carla / Whicher, Monica / Landry, Rosemarie, sopranos; Burgess, Norine / Krause, Anita / Robbin, Catherine, mezzos; Ainsworth, Colin / Butterfield, Benjamin / Colvin, Michael / Schade, Michael, tenors; Braun, Russell / Finley, Gerald / Pedrotti, Mark / Tomkins, Giles, baritones; University of Toronto Opera Chorus; Loewen, Che Anne / Ubukata, Bruce, 2 pianos; Ralls, Stephen, conductor Verdi, Giuseppe Boito, Arrigo
Happy Birthday! – ENCORE Brett, Kathleen / Fallis, Mary Lou / Huhtanen, Carla / Whicher, Monica / Landry, Rosemarie, sopranos; Burgess, Norine / Krause, Anita / Robbin, Catherine, mezzos; Ainsworth, Colin / Butterfield, Benjamin / Colvin, Michael / Schade, Michael, tenors; Braun, Russell / Finley, Gerald / Pedrotti, Mark / Tomkins, Giles, baritones; University of Toronto Opera Chorus; Loewen, Che Anne, piano anon. anon.