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Andrew Davis’ big beautiful Messiah
Today I was fortunate to attend the last of the Toronto Symphony’s annual performances of the Messiah with the Mendelssohn Choir, employing Andrew Davis’ new (2010) orchestration. I missed it when they...
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Donald Trump: crossover artist
What is the rationale behind crossover and why is it attractive? Sometimes it’s an escape, no longer being required to follow the rules of your old realm, as you visit a new one. Sometimes it’s the...
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Toronto Symphony goes to Florida
It’s a story with many players, and not just those who play musical instruments. If it were the first time it would be more dramatic. But by now it seems that they’ve figured out how to do it, after...
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Pollyanna looks back at 2015
The year isn’t quite over yet, but already we’re looking back at 2015 as 2016 draws closer. When we remember Pollyanna’s credo –“if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all”—no wonder...
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10 Questions for Chris Walroth
The Toronto Symphony’s new year begins on tour in Florida. click photo for more info It’s tough enough when a hundred well-rehearsed players take the stage at Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto, where we all...
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Questions for Brahm Goldhamer: playing Schubert
I know Brahm Goldhamer as a collaborative pianist of exceptional sensitivity. Of all the Toronto pianists I’ve heard in the concert-opera mode—where piano must stand in for all the instruments of the...
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TSO: road to Miami
As I try to find a parallel to my experiences tonight, I’m thinking back to the hockey series I saw on TV in September 1972 (when Canada defeated the Soviets). It’s not hockey but music, and the only...
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Orpheus in the underworld: Lisiecki’s romance
From the headline you might never guess that this is an analysis of musical performance. Friday I had my second listen to Jan Lisiecki playing Beethoven’s 4th piano concerto with the Toronto Symphony...
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The TSO 100, alongside the speedway
Daytona Beach was the location for the latest instalment of the Toronto Symphony tour. I heard them play at Peabody Auditorium, not far from the famous speedway that’s the site of the Daytona 500. In...
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TSO Announcement: good days for Canadian composers
The official announcements are still to come. It’s a great year, or will be a great year to be Canadian, as we celebrate 150 years of Confederation in 2017. Anticipation is a big part of the fun. On...
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Amy’s Requiem, in the season of mourning
Ahead? the return of Bernard Labadie, who was sick and is getting better. Saturday he’ll conduct the first of the Mozart @ 260 concerts with the TSO, next week conducting their adventurous staging of...
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La bonne chanson @ RBA
Today’s noon-hour concert at the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre was the first collaboration between the Canadian Opera Company’s Ensemble Studio and the COC Orchestra Academy. As I so often do I’ll...
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The Harvester: an operatic workshop
Soprano Stacie Dunlop The Harvester is a play by Paul van Dyck, identified as an intriguing story for adaptation into an opera by soprano Stacie Dunlop, who was looking for a new piece to share the...
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TSO Stage Mozart Requiem
We were all invested with a sense of community. As I sat making notes afterwards, Joseph Johnson’s solo cello kept playing away, as though he didn’t want to go home. I think it’s fair to say that so...
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Tafelmusik: Season Launch 16/17
Tis the season. At a time of year when it can be so cold that one prefers to dream of next year (even if it’s been unseasonably warm to begin 2016), the major classical music organizations make their...
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Love, Death and the TSO
Tonight was my first look at the Toronto Symphony playing under Peter Oundjian since their Florida tour. On the trip I saw an ensemble who were playing with commitment and passion. Oundjian’s...
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COC Siegfried: Love on the rocks in white PJs
Of the four operas in Richard Wagner’s Ring Cycle the closest thing to a comedy is Siegfried. Yes we do have a couple of deaths and a couple of would-be rulers of the world thwarted but it’s got a...
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TSO in 2016/17
If each season announcement by a major Toronto company is a demonstration of core values, the Toronto Symphony were in perhaps the most challenging position, having declared their intention to be the...
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COC Figaro: memories of Don JianGhomeshi
The media have brutalized us the past few weeks. It’s not enough to be watching Dumb and Dumber, aka the GOP’s epic displays of bigotry. And if they aren’t reporting on the cop who emptied his gun into...
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RWB Going Home Star: the language of truth and reconciliation
I witnessed something extraordinary and beautiful. The Royal Winnipeg Ballet created a full-length work titled Going Home Star: Truth and Reconciliation, one of the most ambitious pieces of theatre...
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