Daniel Beland writes:

>>In general, Americans just don't care much about Canada, which is
>>often perceived as a quiet but boring place.  This is not *only* about
>>music!

Don Satz:

>on the contrary, I think most Americans love Canada; having a country to
>our north which is more like our own than any other on the planet is very
>reassuring.

Concerning Canada, you're probably right:  Americans love this country
because they think it's exactly like the US (and they are not very from
the truth!)...  But I feel that *some* Canadian composers (from Schafer to
Evangelista and Louie) have something original to offer, not because they
are Canadians, but because they have an interesting artistic personality!
I could say the same thing concerning Croatian or Estonian composers as
well...  But perhaps Canadian musicians should make more effort to "export"
their art down South!

Don Satz:

>True, Americans may not love Canadian classical music, but
>they don't love their own either.

Do you really think that Americans still don't like their music? It seems
that there's a growing interest in the US (and abroad) for American art
music.  The success of the Naxos' fantastic "American Classics" collection
provides ground to this claim.  And, sooner or later, most US classical
music lovers will know about Barati, Druckman and Larsen (among many, many
other great composers):-)

Daniel Beland
Calgary, Alberta (almost American)