Zenph Sound Innovations Follow-Up: The Thrill of Experiencing a Live Re-Performance®

By Penny Johnson, Contributing Author

(Penny Johnson pictured with Zenph founder, Dr. John Q. Walker at a recent re-performance® in Toronto following the announcement of The Ninth Glenn Gould Prize to Leonard Cohen).

A short while ago, I wrote an article about the tremendous advancements being made in the field of music technology by the North Carolina-based company, Zenph Sound Innovations. Up to that point however, my exposure to the Zenph historic re-performance® recordings of Glenn Gould, Sergei Rachmaninoff and Art Tatum, came by way of the compact discs which I located at the Toronto Public Library.

I had of course seen plenty of online video footage (this clip from Michael Lawrence’s film, Bach & Friends being a fine example) in which a Yamaha Disklavier Pro™ concert grand piano had been programmed to play back the performances of musical legends, nuance for nuance, and with a level of clarity and aural freshness never before achieved. (Joshua Bell’s live performance at Steinway Hall for Sony Masterworks, with the Zenph re-performance® of Rachmaninoff, featuring the second movement of the third violin sonata by Edvard Grieg, is another personal favourite – click here to view).

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“Transforming young minds and lives”: The Royal Conservatory to host symposium on music education

By Penny Johnson, Contributing Author

On May 13, 2011, The Royal Conservatory – which this year turns 125 years old – will play host to a one-day symposium on music education titled The Promise of Music. With the slogan, “Transforming young minds and lives,” POM (as it is more commonly known) will feature a day of inspirational keynote addresses, expert panel presentations, and uplifting performances all of which are designed to “raise awareness, impact policy and promote action.”

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Leonard Cohen to be showcased in TJFF Sidebar Series, “The Three Lennys”

By Penny Johnson, Contributing Author

As part of the Toronto Jewish Film Festival slated to run May 7-15 in Toronto, a nineteen-part Sidebar Series titled “The Three Lennys” will celebrate the lives and careers of Leonard Bernstein (conductor-composer) Lenny Bruce (comedian, social critic and satirist) and Leonard Cohen (singer, songwriter, poet, novelist, and laureate of The Ninth Glenn Gould Prize).

According to Ellie Skrow, Curator of Special Programmes, “The Three Lennys offers a rare opportunity to follow these artists at various stages of their lives and careers – through a series of rarely-screened documentaries, live-in-concert films, shorts and a feature biopic, as well as a live musical component and guest speakers.” Special guests include Alexander Bernstein (son of Leonard Bernstein, and founding Chairman of the Leonard Bernstein Center for Learning) and Kitty Bruce (daughter of Lenny Bruce). “The three ‘Lennys’ are linked, in part, by their mastery of language,” explains Skrow, and the similarities concerning “the role of the artist in the social/political realm.”

In addition to six free screenings, highlights of The Three Lennys include Leonard Cohen: Bird On A Wire (UK, 2010), Night Magic (Canada/France, 1985), The Making of West Side Story (UK/West Germany, 1985) and A Journey to Jerusalem (USA, 1968).

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Zenph Sound Innovations to release more Gould and new historic artist re-performances®

By Penny Johnson, Contributing Author

More than four years ago, on September 25, 2006 – what would have been the seventy-fourth birthday of Glenn Gould – Zenph Sound Innovations, a music technology company based in Durham, North Carolina, recorded its debut re-performance® of the pianist’s historic 1955 recording of the Goldberg Variations by J. S. Bach. Received with standing ovations, the event took place at the Glenn Gould Studio in downtown Toronto.

Originally released by Columbia Records more than fifty years ago, Gould’s famous recording has remained in circulation to this day. The recording however, was made in monaural format, just a year or so before stereo came out. In the film, Bach & Friends, by Michael R. Lawrence, Zenph founder, Dr. John Q. Walker explains that, “we’ve never had a chance to really experience what it sounds like to be in the room if Glenn Gould played, or to hear it from his point of view.” He adds that, “Glenn would have loved nothing better than to give live concerts without having to be there, and we make that possible.”

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Screening of Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould: TIFF Bell Lightbox celebrates 40th anniversary of JUNO Awards

By Penny Johnson, Contributing Author

Celebrating the fortieth anniversary of the JUNO Awards – “Canada’s Music Awards” – and their return to Toronto later this spring, TIFF Bell Lightbox will host seven days of “seminal music-themed films, featuring some of the greatest Canadian artists of the last forty years and showcasing the outstanding variety and vitality of the Canadian music scene.” A JUNO Award nominee or winner, filmmaker or artist will introduce each of the films. The films will run February 22 thru March 26, culminating in the JUNO Awards ceremony to be held at the Air Canada Centre on Sunday, March 27, 2011.

Among the list of films documenting such musical legends as Leonard Cohen, Neil Young, Rush, and Oscar Peterson (Laureate of The Third Glenn Gould Prize) is Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould (1993), a Genie Award-winning film directed by François Girard that stars Gemini Award-winning Canadian actor Colm Feore as the enigmatic Gould. Thirty Two Short Films and will screen on March 22, 2011 at 7pm and is a unique viewing opportunity because it is currently unavailable on DVD or home rental. TIFF last screened the film in 2008, as part of the Canadian Open Vault series.

“François Girard's breakthrough film is a compelling and striking exploration of the idiosyncratic world of Gould’s ideas and music, from his thoughts on technology and northern climates to his fondness for prescription drugs. Sumptuously photographed and designed as 32 separate visual and sound fragments, it uses drama, documentary, animation and performance art to provide insight into the life and work of the enigmatic Canadian genius.”

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