Remembering Glenn Mallory
Glenn loved music — Glenn loved people. A fitting epitaph for the late Glenn Mallory who touched so many lives as the founder and conductor of the Hamilton Philharmonic Youth Orchestra (19652006) as well as a teacher and later supervisor of music (19671990) for the Hamilton Board of Education.
But as the Rev. Dr. Wayne Soble humorously highlighted in his sermon at the service of celebration and thanksgiving for the life of Glenn last May 27 in Burlington Baptist Church, Glenn also loved to talk. And most of the anecdotes Glenn told his many friends invariably involved himself.
One that Glenn particularly enjoyed retelling dates back to 1980 when a then 13-year-old Martin Beaver — who’d go on to a stellar international career as a soloist, chamber musician, and teacher — had been selected to perform the first movement of Mozart’s “Violin Concerto in G” with the HPYO at the Canadian Festival of Youth Orchestras in the Banff Centre. In case you’re wondering, the date of that concert was April 1. We’ll let Martin pick it up from here.
“The temptation for mischief on April Fools’ Day proved too much for a couple of my orchestra colleagues who approached me with an idea to fool Mr. Mallory,” wrote Martin in an email to The Spec from the Los Angeles area where he teaches at the Colburn School. “They suggested that I show up at our dress rehearsal in the morning with a Tensor band around one of my
arms and tell Mr. Mallory that I had hurt my arm and that I couldn’t play. I hesitated at first but was convinced to play along with the trick. I was instructed to look miserable and to try to ham it up.”
Which is exactly what Martin did. When it was time to rehearse the Mozart, Martin mounted the stage and said, “Excuse me, Mr. Mallory ...”
“I can still remember the blood draining from his face,” said Martin about Glenn’s reaction. “There was no need for hamming
it up at all.
“Mr. Mallory later confided that his first thought was ‘What on earth am I going to tell his parents?’” wrote Martin. “My parents were back in Hamilton, and Mr. Mallory had promised to watch over me during our trip. Very quickly, the April Fools’ joke was revealed and Mr. Mallory regained his colour. We laughed about this together for years and years.”
Martin will be returning to Hamilton, where he lived from 1979 to 1985, to perform in a tribute concert for Glenn that’s being put on by music director Colin Clarke and his 80 or so musicians in the HPYO’s two orchestras on Saturday, March 3 at 1 p.m. in Mohawk College’s McIntyre Performing Arts Centre. Yup, Martin will be playing the first movement from Mozart’s “Violin Concerto in G,” without the Tensor band, we trust. The bill also includes some of Glenn’s other favourites such as Ridout’s “Fall Fair,” Rossini’s “Overture to the
Barber of Seville,” Sibelius’s “Finlandia,” and of course, “Nimrod” from Elgar’s “Enigma Variations,” the latter including HPYO alumni. The concert will also feature a multimedia presentation celebrating Glenn’s legacy.
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Saturday, Feb. 24 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Feb. 25 at 3 p.m. in the Cotton Factory, 270 Sherman Ave. N., Alex Cann and the Bach Elgar Choir perform a theatrical presentation with costumes and lighting of excerpts from Gilbert & Sullivan operettas “Trial by Jury,” “HMS Pinafore,” “The Pirates of Penzance,” “Iolanthe,” “Ruddigore,” “The Gondoliers” and “The Mikado.” Tickets: $35, senior (60-plus) $30, student $15. Call 905-527-5995. bachelgar.com.
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Sunday, Feb. 25 at 2:30 p.m. Melrose United, 86 Homewood Ave., the Duet Club presents pianists Erika Reiman, Ken Gee and Jianhan Wu in recital. Tickets: $18, student/senior $15, 12
and under free. Call 905-304-8945.
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Sunday at 3:30 p.m. in The Church of St. John the Evangelist, 320 Charlton Ave. W., Roger Bergs’s Musicata and Spectrum New Music present “Return to Innocence,” a program of jazzy chamber choir works by Jay Vazquez, Chelsea McBride, Tiffany Hanus and others with pianist Chris Pruden, Jesse Dietschi on bass and percussionist Bryan Allen. Tickets: $25, senior $20, student $5. jls.yapsody.com.
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Sunday at 7 p.m. in the Hamilton Conservatory, 126 James St. S., Guitar Hamilton presents Trio Tangere — guitarists Jérôme Ducharme, Louis Trépanier, and violinist Marc Djokic — in works by Piazzolla, Debussy, and others. Tickets: $25, student/ senior $15. Call 905-807-4792.