Toronto Suite

(in memory of Gavin Relly)

Writing a history of Toronto has proven to be the most challenging assignment I have ever undertaken.  This, in large part, has to do with the richness and complexity of the subject.  All cities are complicated, multi-dimensional organisms, but the almost un-paralleled diversity of Toronto makes it especially so. 

A city is, in essence, a collection of stories, and I found that as I wrote mine, I was haunted by how many stories, how many interpretations, and how many meanings of Toronto there are.  Some are stories that I was able to draw upon.  Others remain out of reach.

This is the nature of a city: fragmented, tangled, incalculable, and constantly in flux.  Which is why, as I worked on writing Toronto’s history, I found myself wondering:  What other media could capture the kaleidoscope of urban life?  What could take on the multiple layers of culture, history, and experience that are encountered on almost any street in Toronto?

Eventually, I realized that it was music that I had in mind.  Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that it was music that I longed-for.  It seemed to me that a musical portrait of Toronto could have the same multi-faceted dynamic as the city itself.  And it seemed to me that the perfect composer to take on this idea is Phil Dwyer.

Phil Dwyer and I first worked together on a tribute to the celebrated film director, Bernardo Bertolucci, at Toronto’s Harbourfront.  Phil’s score was able to bring my script, and Albert Schultz’s narration, to vivid musical life.  Some years later, Phil and I collaborated on a tribute to Mordecai Richler, performed in Montreal and New York.  Phil’s genius brilliantly evoked both Mordecai Richler and his work.

What Phil and I have been talking about since last March is a musical composition that will reflect both the past and the present of Toronto.  Phil’s approach will be cross-genre.  He intends to work with jazz artists and classical musicians.  What he is envisioning is a suite of some thirty minutes that will utilize twenty or so musicians from a wide range of backgrounds.  The musicians on stage, and the cultures and traditions they represent, will be a musical image of multi-cultural, multi-racial, multi-ethnic Toronto. 

The Toronto Suite will be as contemporary as a streetcar passing through the crowded intersection of Spadina and Dundas.  It will be as evocative of the past as the forest that once loomed over the native encampments.   The stories of First Nations precedent, European contact, colonial settlement, urban growth and development, and immigration are the threads of Toronto’s rich story that Phil will weave into his musical tapestry.  I expect The Toronto Suite to be a creation of lasting beauty and significance.

– David Macfarlane

“Toronto Suite” will be performed at Via Salzburg’s “Tradition and Change” concert on October 15/16, 2009.