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Talisker Players: Songs of Travel
My own song of travel is not a purposeful one, but a bit of a spontaneous adventure. I hope I can be forgiven for meandering around this theme of wanderings. As of 6:00 p.m. I thought I was going to a...
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Extensions of Us 11.13.14 Questions and Answers
The program was created as a reaction to our experiences as recital performers and audience members. We come to this process with a great love for the art form, but also with a combined knowledge and...
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Dreams of the Vienna Woods
How can a place signify so much if you’ve never been there? But when we look forward to a promised land –whether it’s America for the immigrant, Mecca or Jerusalem for the pilgrim, or just a personal...
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10 Questions for Jan Lisiecki
This month the Toronto Symphony has a festival of five concerts between November 12th and 22nd, featuring Danish conductor Thomas Dausgaard and young Canadian pianist Jan Lisiecki commemorating Carl...
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Gerald Finley on the shelf
It’s November. October was Gerald Finley month in Toronto, as his Falstaff jumped up on the table that was our collective experience (and for the final scene of the opera). Don’t let the headline...
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Stewart Goodyear and Czerny’s four boxes
Do you read liner notes? I always begin to do so. If there’s something of substance, not only do I read them but I cherish them, making them part of the big conversation that is the work of art....
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Ambitious Extensions of Us
This is one of those crazy weeks when it’s difficult to know what to see. I’m missing the opening concerts of Jan Lisiecki’s mini-festival with the Toronto Symphony, a gala concert from Aprile Millo...
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Tapestry Briefs: Booster Shots
I took in Tapestry Opera’s latest experimental workshop “Tapestry Briefs: Booster Shots”. click for more info about Tapestry Opera The title plays on a few influences: Because Tapestry lives in the...
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Cinematic Music- How We Hear Film: a course at the Royal Conservatory
I’m teaching a course at the Royal Conservatory of Music called “Cinematic Music- How We Hear Film” (register here). There are many ways to teach the history of film. Do you see directors as the key to...
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Maghan McPhee: Portrait
I missed seeing Carmen on Tap last summer, a version of Bizet’s masterpiece seen around the province (including Toronto) last summer. If I’d known that Maghan McPhee was in the show I would have made...
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Beethoven, Nielsen and Mozart: TSO & Jan Lisiecki
Tonight was the last of the mini-festival of three programs / five concerts from the Toronto Symphony ostensibly featuring the music of Carl Nielsen & two of his big influences, namely Mozart &...
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A fit of Christmas musick against Christmas music: Toronto Consort’s The...
Come for the rant, stay for the review. If you’re like me, you’re conflicted about Advent, a period before Christmas. While the season of Advent isn’t quite here yet (meaning the four Sundays before...
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10 Questions for Brett Polegato
Baritone Brett Polegato as Rossini’s Figaro Brett Polegato is a baritone with a beautiful voice. He’s a capable interpreter of songs, for example, in the recent Canadian Art Song Project concert: “I...
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10 Questions for Colin Balzer
I’ve never seen tenor Colin Balzer in person, but I did watch his Don Ottavio twice in the broadcast of Tcherniakov’s Don Giovanni presented by TFO less than a year ago: when it was becoming evident...
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Glenn Gould: extra hands
Thank you Edward Johnson Building library, once again I found treasure in the collection that never disappoints. I’d grabbed a great mass of scores in anticipation of a couple of gigs, never knowing...
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Saying #Uncle: more on AtG’s latest
I barely scratched the surface in my review of Against the Grain’s #UncleJohn from late Thursday night. With one prominent exception I barely mentioned anyone. I am cocooning Saturday because of the...
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2014 CD and DVD reviews
I am way behind in reviewing the CDs & DVDs i have been receiving in the mail, or the ones i have been buying. This little summary may be too late for Christmas shopping although there are also...
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Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s Messiah opens
It’s Messiah season in Toronto. I understand there are other towns that present Handel’s oratorio, but does any city go quite as nuts as Toronto? Everywhere I turn it’s happening. I sang a bit at my...
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Toronto Operetta Theatre’s Mikado
Although I haven’t seen many shows from Toronto Operetta Theatre, tonight’s is timely, after the social media debates between armchair Artistic Directors concerning management strategies. In the years...
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Colorature: a CD from Marie-Eve Munger, soprano
My favourite lines in the film The Blues Brothers? The moment when The Brothers arrive at their gig, pretending to be “The Goodtime Boys”, and enquire what sort of music this establishment usually...
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