Archive for Press & Features – Page 2
Posted November 30, 2013
[Excerpted below – Read full article at MusicalToronto.org]
On Tuesday [December 3, 2013] night at Lula Lounge, Toronto-based clarinetist Kornel Wolak joins a clutch of Canadian musicians recreating a celebratory concert held in Rome last July. There such is a circle of ironies behind the event that you have to laugh as well as cheer their success.
The local irony is an old one: We all know you can’t be a true Canadian star unless you have made it big somewhere else.
…
I want to fold a third irony into this little equation: of an immigrant who actually knows how great this place is and how much cultural potential it has arriving to discover that he will find more work outside Canada, leading him — and us — straight back to Irony Number One.
Anne Summers Dossena, who divides her time between Canada and Italy, has for more than 20 years run the non-profit, Toronto-based International Resource Centre for Performing Artists. She managed to get a roster of Canadians together last for a July 5 concert in Rome celebrating this country as part of a larger international musical event.
…
The concert helps us celebrate the music we end up making, rather than the struggles of getting there.
Wolak’s big, sleepy eyes open wider and he laughs as he realises he is getting more work in his native Poland now that he lives in Canada. ”Isn’t that funny; I had to leave so that I could get work there,” he says of an adventure that began nearly 10 years ago.
Back in Poland, Wolak has been asked to play solo, in ensembles, as well as act with his clarinet in a play about Witold Lutoslawski, the Polish conductor and composer whose 100th birth anniversary fell at the start of this year.
The High Park-area resident has also made a significant foray into Central and South America, giving orchestral and solo concerts as well as masterclasses in Ecuador and Chile earlier this fall.
In Canada, he continues to tour with Toronto jazz pianist Chris Donnelly, boosted by their excellent recent album, Common Ground. And, on February 15, he is soloist with the Ontario Philharmonic in an all-Mozart programme.
The touring not only re-energized Wolak, it introduced him to a clarinet maker in Chile who has just made a new set of instruments for him.
“It’s like getting a new life,” Wolak beams. He has been looking for years for a handmade clarinet that has more character in its sound than one can get from a mass-produced instrument. “It’s so important to be able to talk to the maker himself and to explore his philosophy of sound,” says Wolak.
The musician, who is still in his early 30s, says that solo-concert options are pretty limited no matter how great you are, so he has also started something he calls the Wolak Clarinet Extravaganza, which extends his genre-busting duo work into quartet form — with accordion or piano, a vocalist and guitar.
So the Brahms, Schubert, Rossini and Eatock-playing clarinetist we’ll hear on Tuesday represents only one side of an artist trying to find every available opportunity to make music — and make a living.
You’ll find the details of Tuesday night’s programme as well as all sorts of other related information here.
– John Terauds, MusicalToronto.org, November 30, 2013
Read full article
Review Posted Monday, November 18, 2013
[Excerpted below – View the complete article here.]
The concert on November 17th, Rhapsody in Blue, was a marrying of two genres—classical and jazz. On stage with the Orchestra were guests maestro Airat Ichmouratov, clarinetist Kornel Wolak and pianist Chris Donnelly. It was an immensely energetic, comedic and virtuoso display of musical talent.
Some of the most timeless and ever-popular works played were Oscar Peterson’s “Hymn to Freedom”, Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons Concerto No. 2 in G minor “Summer” and, my personal favorite, George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue”. Wolak and Donnelly were witty and charming with hilarious banter between their shared performances. Together they took a Bach piece to the next level with, none other than, spoons. That’s right—two stainless steel Ikea spoons! Donnelly could get himself a second Juno-nomination for his amazing percussion abilities. He held on to a variety of intricate rhythms while Wolak played illustrious Bach melodies, while managing not to pass out from a lack of oxygen. The crowd loved every second of it.
Each song was carefully curated for that specific concert. Audience members were treated with the first-ever live playing of Torontonian Hilario Duran’s “Suite Latinoamericana”, a piece that was specifically commissioned for the show…
By James Reaney, The London Free Press
A duo ready to play anything and everything from Vivaldi to Oscar Peterson joins forces with Orchestra London this weekend.
“The music we perform reflects our individual histories, but also what happens when you put two distinct artists together,” pianist Chris Donnelly said in media material.
“This program is our common ground. What makes this collaboration special is that two artists, with vastly different musical histories, can still share the stage together, connect with each other, and (presumably) connect with audiences. Hence, the wide variety of musical styles.”
Juno-nominated Canadian pianist Donnelly is a master of jazz and classical music. His Wolak/Donnelly Duo mate is acclaimed clarinet player Kornel Wolak, who was born in Poland.
“I notice that after working with Chris for the past two years, I have gained a more relaxed or spontaneous approach to the classical compositions we play and I know that Chris says the exact opposite,” Wolak said. “His approach has become more systematic. It is a great learning curve for both of us. Most important is that our audiences seem to truly enjoy our concerts.”
Sunday [November 17th] afternoon’s program at Centennial Hall is to include Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, Canadian icon Peterson’s Hymn to Freedom, works by Vivaldi, Rossini andmore.
The Wolak/Donnelly Duo’s 2013 album Common Ground is on Alma Records.
Dynamic duo Kornel Wolak and Chris Donnelly have released their debut album Common Ground with Alma Records!
“The choice of album title for this debut release by the duo of Kornel Wolak and Chris Donnelly is a fitting one. You see, pianist Donnelly is an acclaimed Juno-nominated jazz artist, while Polish-born clarinettist Wolak (formerly with Quarteto Gelato) is in demand internationally as a classical player. Together, they forge a beautifully melodic sound encompassing both worlds.
Their repertoire ranges from Brahms to Gershwin (a “Porgy and Bess” medley) to Oscar Peterson’s “Hymn To Freedom”, all given a fresh twist. The production work of Peter Cardinali is typically clean. The duo has already toured the Maritimes and Western Canada with real distinction, and will launch the disc with a May 2 Toronto performance at Steinway Hall.”
– Kerry Doole, NewCanadianMusic.ca
“On the album are the first and final movements of Johannes Brahms’ great Clarinet Sonata, Op. 120. The light-fingered Donnelly finds the right gravitas for this music, while never letting it get too heavy. He then turns around and gives a sparkling and touching rendition of Oscar Peterson’s great Hymn to Freedom.
Wolak’s clarinet is pure silk in a medley of tunes from Porgy and Bess, jazzy in Rhapsody in Blue, also by George Gershwin, and virtuosically rambunctious in the pop chestnut Tico-Tico No Fuba.
The eight tracks make for a short visit with this winsome twosome, and the mix of styles speaks directly to lighter summer listening — right for right now.”
– John Terauds, Musical Toronto
The album was produced by Peter Cardinali and recorded and mixed by John “Beetle” Bailey at the Drive Shed, Toronto with photography by Olivia Cardinali, design by Marianne Van de Leygraaf and piano Technician Akos Prekop.
Purchase and sample now on iTunes or order a CD at www.grigorian.com. Visit wolak-donnelly.com for more information.
Musician’s busy schedule devoted to personal projects like Sunday’s Reed Blowout.
John Terauds, Music Critic, Published on Wed Aug 03 2011
The mix of old and hip in the Junction fills Kornel Wolak with pride.
As he walks along the west-end neighbourhood’s main artery, Dundas St. W., he points out how the new arrivals to this gentrifying district strive for handmade-style authenticity.
Fair-trade coffee? There are several tasty options. Artisanal cheeses? No problem. Each new business is boldly going somewhere the big-chain brands can’t take us.
It’s a metaphor for the clarinetist himself. Since arriving in Toronto about six years ago, he has resolutely charted his own course.
Now in his early 30s, the Polish-born woodwind player has worked as a classical soloist. He is on the Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s list of regular clarinet fill-ins during the music season. He spent two seasons working with Toronto-based crossover group Quartetto Gelato.
But, despite the security it may offer, Wolak is not interested in a full-time job with any organization right now. “I’m totally devoted to my own projects,” he insists.
Here is a mixture of classical training and a curious spirit that has guided him into a number of fascinating collaborations.
“My landlord and the phone company are my biggest inspirations,” says the smiling freelancer, who has a number of projects in the works.
One of these is coming up this weekend.
In what they are calling a “Reed Blowout in the Music Garden,” Wolak and Toronto accordion master Joseph Macerollo pair up for an afternoon concert at the western fringe of Harbourfront on Sunday afternoon. Wolak says there will be classical pieces by Mozart and Rossini on the program — alongside arrangements by big-band legend Benny Goodman “to lighten the atmosphere.”
Also in keeping with Wolak’s desire to nurture a living music tradition, the Music Garden centrepiece is the world premiere of Quai Quodlibet, a new piece for accordion and clarinet by Toronto composer Norbert Palej.
The 4 p.m. free Music Garden concert is a prelude to a hectic close to 2011. On Wolak’s calendar are concerts and master classes in Poland, Ecuador and Brazil.
This fall, Wolak teams up with Toronto jazz-piano hotshot Chris Donnelly. They’ll be touring Atlantic Canada, southern Ontario and the Prairies, including making a stop for a Canadian opera Company free lunchtime concert on Nov. 1 at the Four Seasons Centre.
“We’re playing the whole program from memory,” boasts Wolak of his collaboration with Donnelly. Wolak relates how they were one of four groups performing simultaneously at a programmers’ showcase earlier this year: “The power went out, and we were the only ones left playing.”
Both the accordion and the piano can stand in for a full orchestra. In the case of the collaboration with Donnelly, this means the duo can program Mozart’s gorgeous Clarinet Concerto and George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue — a piece that begins with a long, sensuous clarinet solo.
Donnelly and Wolak also came up with their own, highly unusual take on the music of Bach: Wolak transcribed some of the Partitas for Solo Violin into something playable on clarinet. Meanwhile, Donnelly devised a percussion accompaniment on — wait for it — spoons.
Wolak laughs. “Chris is crazy. We were at this showcase, and he saw some folk musicians playing the spoons. He resolved then and there to learn how to do it.”
That can-do spirit is sprucing up the classical concert world . . . just like young entrepreneurs freshening up an old neighbourhood.
Just the Facts:
WHO: Kornel Wolak, with Joe Macerollo
WHERE: Toronto Music Garden, 475 Queens Quay W.
WHEN: Sunday @ 4 p.m.
ADMISSION: Free