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Best of 2022
I enjoy recalling the best moments of the past 12 months. There’s a fork in the road, however. One pathway leads towards that which is truly “new”, while the other relies on what we’ve seen before....
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TSO – TMC Mozart Requiem: Best Concert of the Year
The headline is only partly in jest. Yes it was the best concert so far in 2023, as of January 11th. Many are still saying “Happy New Year” and writing the wrong date on cheques (if they even write...
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Questions for Colin Eatock at 65
The invitation from Colin Eatock caught my eye: “I’m organizing a concert in Toronto on February 20 (my 65th birthday).The programme will include a new piece by me.Admission is by donation — I hope...
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NACO Songs for Murdered Sisters
Every year at this time, the Toronto Symphony and National Arts Centre Orchestras visit one another as part of a tour. NACO and Joshua Hopkins brought the cycle Songs for Murdered Sisters by Jake...
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Colin Eatock’s Birthday concert
No there was no cake or champagne but I’m watching my weight and can’t drive home to Scarborough if I’ve been drinking. Yet it was truly like a party, a celebration of our host Colin Eatock on the...
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Opera York’s Magic Flute
It was worth the drive to Richmond Hill yesterday to see Opera York’s production of The Magic Flute, their first in-person return to the stage since the pandemic. While Friday night’s snow-storm...
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Gimeno conducts Beethoven 5
Wednesday night was the latest example of the remarkable chemistry we see, hear and feel between the Toronto Symphony and their new music director Gustavo Gimeno, continuing the magic of their 100th...
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Mass in B minor from Toronto Mendelssohn Choir
Last night’s performance of the Bach B minor Mass by the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir at Koerner Hall with a baroque orchestra led by their new artistic director Jean-Sébastien Vallée has put us on...
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Visions of Spain, Glimpses of Gimeno
This past week’s Toronto Symphony concert offering “Visions of Spain” also gave a few interesting perspectives on their new Spanish-born music director Gustavo Gimeno. After two rather obscure pieces...
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Worship in a Time of Plague: Capella Intima and the Gallery Players of Niagara
Worship in a Time of Plague is a recording project by Capella Intima and the Gallery Players of Niagara. The title seems especially fitting for Holy Week in 2023, three years into our own pandemic....
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Philadelphia pairs from Jonathan Demme
We watched Philadelphia (1993) last night for the first time in awhile. I’m just writing this to call attention to a pattern I think I’ve observed in the work of director Jonathan Demme. I haven’t...
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Bud Roach’s provocative new recording Affetti Amorosi
Although I listened twice through to Affetti Amorosi, Bud Roach’s new CD of 17th century songs in his light tenor voice accompanying himself on the theorbo, I took a break for holy week as I turned to...
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Spring Renewal: Scarborough Philharmonic with Ventanas
If it seems as though spring has suddenly come back, thank Scarborough Philharmonic and Ventanas for their concert “Spring Renewal” on April 22nd. The first half featured popular classical pieces. We...
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Gimeno Conducts Messiaen’s Epic Turangalila
Roy Thomson Hall was quite full tonight for the first of two Toronto Symphony concerts undertaking Olivier Messiaen’s Turangalila-Symphonie. But for such an event one wants a full house. The response...
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Macbeth closing performance: women have it harder
Three weeks ago I reviewed the powerful opening night of the new Sir David McVicar production of Verdi’s Macbeth from the Canadian Opera Company. Today I came full circle watching the last show of the...
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Apocryphonia: A Cabinet of Curiosities
There’s so much one can say about last night’s Apocryphonia concert “A Cabinet of Curiosities”, but I’ll try to keep it under control. I talked my head off with tenor Alexander Cappellazzo, who is the...
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Gimeno and TSO: old music made new
I will quietly keep calling Gustavo Gimeno the Toronto Symphony’s “new” music director in my head, but maybe not for the reason you think. Yes he started in 2021, delayed over a year by the pandemic’s...
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Yuja Wang’s Rachmaninoff
What’s in a name. “Yuja Wang’s Rachmaninoff” was the title of the final program to bring the Toronto Symphony 100th Anniversary Season to a powerful close. All three concerts were sold out. We knew...
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Rossini’s Otello from Opera By Request
Last night I watched a concert presentation of Rossini’s Otello from Opera By Request, a company who demonstrate their importance with every outing. Bill Shookhoff leads from the piano working...
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Black Panther in concert with the Toronto Symphony
This was a Toronto Symphony performance like no other. The idea of presenting a film with live accompaniment isn’t new, indeed that’s how they used to do it in the old days. At one time –thinking of...
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