To describe conductor/educator Agnes Grossmann as a formidable presence is almost an understatement; the moment you step into her orbit you are swept up by her intense energy. Serious, forthright but not without a sense of humour, the Artistic Director of Toronto Summer Music has dedicated herself to putting this month-long academy and festival on the cultural map.
“Ontario has never had a summer music program like this,” she acknowledges. “Alberta has Banff, Quebec has Orford, but there was nothing like this in Ontario when we started five years ago. Initially, we wondered, are the people going to come? Are they going to stay in their cottages?”
Grossmann quickly discovered that she wasn’t just competing for the attentions of local music lovers; if she wanted to really establish Summer Music she would have to compete for the favours of international talents who can pick and choose which festivals they take part in.
The maestra has obviously done an excellent job. Beginning July 20 and running through August 14, Toronto Summer Music will host performances and master classes by superstar baritone Matthias Goerne with pianist Andreas Haefliger, Anton Kuerti, Menahem Pressler, Andre Leplante and Connie Shih, Pacifica String Quartet, Vienna Piano Trio, Andrew Burashko and the Art of Time Ensemble, and many, many more.
“The important thing to recognize,” stresses Grossmann, “is that Summer Music is a festival but also an academy. Young students come from all over the world to attend the academy; they attend the concerts for free, they can see and hear their masters perform. There are lectures before the concerts, it’s a wonderful atmosphere.”
Teaching and performing have always been the twin tenets of Grossmann’s practice. She first came to Canada from her native Vienna in 1981 to teach and conduct at the University of Ottawa and she’s been bouncing between teaching and conducting gigs in Europe, Asia and Canada ever since.
“Teaching without performing makes no sense,” she states. “The problem in Canada and in other countries as well, is that there is such a separation between education and performance. Education exists to enhance performance, to make it possible, in fact. So there is no separation between the two in actuality, one conditions the other.”
For the next month, Toronto Summer Music takes over the Edward Johnson building at UofT’s Faculty of Music, which is where I sat down with Grossmann earlier this week. “The location is perfect,” she says. “It’s empty during the summer; there are 40 studios for people to work in and two halls — the Walter Hall and MacMillan Theatre – for performances, plus Koerner Hall nearby.”
Grossmann is also dedicated to expanding music’s reach to include other art forms like theatre, dance and painting. “I think that the other arts are much better understood through classical music,” she says. Hence this year’s program includes Japanese Bunraku puppet performances (July 22 MacMillan Theatre), a film and music performance honouring the late choreographer Pina Bausch (August 5, Walter Hall) and a Gryphon Trio performance with a backdrop of paintings by Stephen Hutchings (August 12, MacMillan Theatre). There are also a number of free public performances in addition to the ticketed events (see website for details).
The evening of August 7 may or may not be bittersweet for Grossmann who will be feted at a farewell concert before taking her leave of Toronto after five years with Summer Music. She will be succeeded by violist Douglas McNabney.
“I will miss the warm atmosphere that I have found here in Toronto,” she says. “There has been such an exchange between the students, the faculty and the board. The board has been implicated in such an incredible way that it really is something like a family. That’s what I think I’ll miss the most, the personal atmosphere of music loving.”
Photos by Christopher Jones
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