(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).

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.”

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.”

A pioneer in the field of total serialism and an enthusiast of synthesized sounds, the American avant-garde composer and teacher, Milton Babbitt, passed away on January 29, 2011 in Princeton, New Jersey. He was ninety-four years old.

Commencing his academic studies in the field of mathematics in 1931 at the University of Pennsylvania, Babbitt turned his attention shortly thereafter to music, where as a student at New York University, he became interested in the music of the Second Viennese School. Rooted in the twelve-tone style espoused by Arnold Schoenberg, Anton Webern, and Alban Berg, Babbitt elevated this rational compositional process – one which uses a prescribed ordering of the twelve pitches – to a degree at which every aspect of a composition (dynamics, timbre, duration and registration) is subjected to the same rigorous principles of ordering. Composers such as Pierre Boulez (Laureate of The Sixth Glenn Gould Prize) and Luigi Nono later adopted the total serialist principles explored by Babbitt.

Thinking about the decision Glenn Gould made to leave his estate to the Salvation Army and the Toronto Humane Society at the time of his death in 1982, I began contemplating the humanitarian efforts of other well-known pianists. In compiling a list of names, I used as a reference point, the 200-CD box set titled, Great Pianists of the 20th Century, which was released by Philips Records in 1999 and sponsored by Steinway & Sons. The following represents a sampling of humanitarian acts by some of our greatest pianists, acts that – by way of their diversity – offer a unique glimpse into the values held dear by each artist.

Awarded annually by The White House – as selected by the US President, based on recommendations from the Distinguished Civilian Service Awards Board – the Presidential Medal of Freedom honours individuals who have made “especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to a cultural or other significant public or private endeavor.” In early 2011, cellist, Yo-Yo Ma will be one of fifteen recipients of the national honour, to be awarded by President Barack Obama. The Presidential Medal of Freedom is regarded as the country’s highest civilian honor.

A winner of multiple Grammy Awards – for which his recordings of the Bach Cello Suites garnered particular recognition – and a performer of the highest rank who has soloed with most major symphony orchestras, in addition to having an extensive career as a chamber musician, the fifty-five year old Ma was chosen by President Obama in 2009 to serve on the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities. Regarded for his continual search for new ways of communicating with audiences, Ma has been actively involved in such projects as El Sistema (the Venezuelan miracle system of music education founded by Dr. José Antonio Abreu, former laureate of The Glenn Gould Prize) and the Silk Road Project that he initiated in 1998.