Tenor Bud Roach (http://www.budroach.com) has organized two concerts during Toronto Pride to benefit The ArQuives. Here are more details in his own words: Benefit Concerts for The ArQuives June 26th and 27th, 2013, 8pm Chalmers House, Canadian Music Centre, 20 St. Joseph St., Toronto Bud Roach, tenor; Gordon Cleland, cello; Erika Reiman, piano Admission by donation- Pay what you can. All proceeds go directly to the Archives. For some time now I have been looking for a performance opportunity for Jeffrey Ryan’s song cycle “Of Passion’s Tide”, with text by C. P. Cavafy, considered one of the finest modern Greek poets. Back in 2010, I had given the Canadian premiere of Andrew Staniland’s setting of Walt Whitman’s Calamus 6 for Voice and Cello at the Canadian Music Centre during Nuit Blanche. Earlier this year, Andrew sent me a brand new Calamus setting, so now I had material for a “mini-programme” that would be fitting for Pride Week celebrations! Although Whitman’s sexuality has been debated at great length, his Calamus poems have generally been accepted as expressions of same-sex attraction, particularly in his references to “adhesive” love (a term borrowed from phrenology). The two poems Andrew has set are “Not heaving from my ribb’d breast only” and “No labor-saving machine”, both for tenor and cello. Jeffrey Ryan has written about his cycle “Of Passion’s Tide”: Years ago, I read a review of a recording of Schumann songs by mezzo-soprano Brigitte Fassbaender. Several songs had texts in a “male voice”, and the reviewer discussed at length the double standard that allows women to sing songs intended for male singers, while disapproving of the reverse. Furthermore, while men and women can sing about each other, and women can sing about women, there are few works in which men sing about men. Of Passion’s Tide is my contribution to this scant repertoire. The poems were written in the 1910s and ’20s by C. P. Cavafy, used here in Rae Dalven’s English translation from the original Greek. I selected these particular poems from Cavafy’s collected works because they fell nicely into an umbrella storyline of an older man reflecting on a relationship from his youth. The first song, Desires, expresses the importance of acting on one’s feelings while one has the chance. In the second song, The Next Table, he sees a young man at a café who reminds him of his past love. The next three songs chronicle that relationship from its rapturous beginning to its unavoidable ending. Finally, Return expresses his yearning to rediscover those sensations of his youth. These concerts last about 45 minutes, with lots of time to walk from Chalmers House to the Archives building at 34 Isabella St. to take in the current exhibits. If you are not familiar with the valuable work of the Archives, more information can be found here: https://arquives.ca/news Thank you Bud for organizing these concerts to benefit The ArQuives!
