Joan Zarry in Concert: May 25

Joan Zarry will present a concert in celebration of the 99th birthday of her mother, Gladys Lafferty, on Friday, May 25 at 7:30 p.m. at the Heliconian Club. The concert will feature piano works by Bach, Albeniz, Debussy, Chopin, Mendlessohn and Gershwin (part of a program that Joan will perform in Vienna in July) PLUS three guest artists (aka great grandchildren) Madeleine and Samantha Zarry, and Jacob Adelman, playing works for violin and trumpet.

Tickets available at the door or in advance. Adults are $20 and $10 for students and seniors. All proceeds are being donated to COLINA, a free spaying and neutering facility for dogs and cats opening May 15, in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, by a granddaughter Colette, who lives there and is responding to a great need. This event will be a lot of fun!

Salut Printemps! Heliconian Choir & Orchestra Concert: May 27

We are excited to present the Heliconian Choir and Orchestra’s 2nd annual concert on Sunday afternoon May 27, 2pm at St. Clement’s Church in Toronto (70 St. Clement’s, off of Duplex north of Eglinton). The concert program is a parade of brilliant classical favorites juxtaposed with innovative musical works by Canadian female composers.

Featuring fellow Heliconians including renowned and dazzling vocal artists Janet Catherine Dea, Barbara Fris and Alison Hodsman, joined by HCO member mezzo soloist Catharin Carew. The program includes:

  • Mozart’s famous Symphony no. 40 in G minor 
  • Saint-Saëns’ children’s classic Carnival of the Animals,
  • Debussy’s Salut Printemps for women’s choir
  • Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater

In addition the well-loved classics, we will also be celebrating Canadian female composers by performing Sarah Quartel’s Songbird for a capella female voices and presenting a world premiere of Song for Abwoon by fellow Heliconian, Joanna Estelle, written for chamber ensemble, women’s choir and soloist, based on the Lord’s prayer in Aramaic.

We are also delighted to be presenting the world premiere of You Know Me written by Monica Pearce, winner of the 2012 Heliconian Choir and Orchestra Emerging Female Composer Competition. The piece is based on text by the late Gwendolyn MacEwen, and written for women’s choir and chamber ensemble.

Tickets are $25 General, $20 Students & Seniors, $15 youth under 18, free for children under 12. They can be purchased online http://hco.eventbrite.ca or at the club in advance by calling 416-922-3618. Tickets at the door can be purchased by cash only.

New Directions: May 24

"The Senator" by Peggy Dean, 16" x 20"

"Night Time in the City" by Brenda Bisiker, 13.5" x 17.5"

The exhibit explores two Heliconian artists’ immersion in new medium inspired by their own individual muses. Both have been working towards the show at Hag Atelier in the Distillery District with artist Heather Gentleman.

Brenda Bisiker has been working in oil glazing inspired by her muse, granddaughter Matlida. Her Encaustic work in non-objective abstraction is derivative of the medium’s tactile qualities.

Peggy Dean’s exploration of oil glazing is driven by her muse: her fascination with the North and passion for Polar Bears.

Please join us for the opening reception of an exhibition of paintings on Saturday May 12, 2012, 1-4pm and the closing reception on Thursday May 24, 2012, 5-8pm.

The art remains on display from May 12 until May 30. Gallery hours vary; please call 416-922-3618 to arrange a visit.

Peggy Mahon in 5th Annual Interval House Benefit Concert: May 17

At this 5th annual Interval House Benefit concert, we want to honour those who seek sanctuary from domestic violence at Canada’s first shelter for women and their children. Performed at the historic Heliconian club, we will also be celebrating the women who defied the odds, almost 100 years ago, and founded the Heliconian Club for women in the arts.

We hope you can join us this year! This is always a fabulous concert featuring Peggy Mahon‘s jazz quartet with Danny McErlain on Piano, Dave Field on Bass and Don Vickery on drums. Please stay for the reception following the show for some refreshments, and meet Peggy, her band mates, and all the hard working folks at Interval House.

Concert is on May 17th at 7:30pm, Heliconian Hall. Advanced tickets for $30 can be ordered by calling 416-698-2163.

Heliconians appear with The Kindred Spirits Orchestra

On April 1, Music Section members Christina Petrowska Quilico and Jaye Marsh Graham were both featured soloists at the recent concert given by The Kindred Spirits Orchestra in Markham. Christina is a renowned interpreter of the music of the late Anne Southam, a former member of the Club. She played a selection of Southam’s minimalist piano works, a new recording of which had been nominated for a Juno award. Jaye Marsh Graham, Principal Flutist for the orchestra introduced a very complicated Concertina for Flute and Strings, a recent work by emerging Canadian composer Brian Connor.

(Written by Charlotte Graham)

RSVP for June Buffalo Trip by May 18

The confirmed date for the “Shuffle off to Buffalo”  trip is for Thursday June 7. This is a fundraiser for the club.

We will leave the Club at 8:30 a.m. and drive in chartered bus to Trinity Episcopal Church to have a docent guided tour of this historic church and the famous Tiffany – LaFarge stained windows. From there, we will proceed to lunch and the Albright Knox Gallery for a docent guided tour of the current and scheduled hangings. Lunch at the Gallery is a treat, less than $25, either steak and salad or quiche and side salad, including a glass of wine, if you wish. We will aim to return to the club by 6 p.m.

This is open to members and guests. Cost $75, lunch is extra. Deadline for reservations is Friday, May 18. Reserve early through the office. Reminder: current passports are needed.

(Submitted by Sheila Hawks)

Renegade Bodies: Book launch and reception on April 24

Miriam Adams, Co-Founder and Director of Dance Collection Danse

The Heliconian Club in partnership with Dance Collection Danse (DCD) will be hosting a reception (5 to 7:30 p.m.) on Tuesday April 24, 2012 to celebrate DCD’s new book Renegade Bodies: Canadian Dance in the 1970s, edited by Allana C. Lindgren and Kaija Pepper. Four writers from among the book’s contributors will speak about their experiences in researching and mounting this publication. These are: Allana Lindgren, Johanna Householder, Susan Crean, and the Club’s own Selma Odom. Amy Bowring, DCD’s director of research, will speak about Canadian dance in the 70s. A special short video on this topic will also be shown. A reception will follow.

“History will record it as The Great Canadian Dance Explosion of the 1970s, the decade when a performing art form finally came to outsell a professional sport.” Max Wyman, Dance in Canada Magazine, 1979.

The planning committee consists of Mary Jane Warner and Kathleen Fraser for the Club and members of DCD. Discussions have been underway since early September. This event is open to Club members and guests, and DCD members and guests. Club members are urged to RSVP early for this sure-to-be fully booked evening.

Theatrical Music: April 26

McIntosh's alter ego, Maude Pilly.

Theatrical Music is a one-woman performance by heliconian, musician, composer and multi-media artist extraordinaire, Diana McIntosh (www.dianamcintosh.com).

Described on Bravo TV news as a “national treasure”, Diana Mclntosh has an active career as a distinctive, original, witty, and invocative composer and performer, inhabiting a unique space between two worlds.

On the program this evening is text from Markham’s book: Flying West with the Night. Mclntosh assumes the psyche of the colorful intrepid British woman who lived in Kenya and who, in 1936, became the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. You, Me and the Tree, a recent work commissioned by the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, was premiered by Mclntosh in their New Music Festival, January 2012. A “talking tree” becomes an alter-ego for Mclntosh’s inner artistic world as contrasted with her outer social world. Three connected sections comprise the piece – her inner world, her exterior world, and finally a synthesis of the two. Also on the program is Eliptosonics, an incredibly avant-garde, atonal piano piece which absolutely defies description.

This is a not to be missed performance! Concert begins at 8pm. Tickets are $20/$15 at the door. For more information, please call 416-922-3618 or email info@heliconianclub.org.