By Michael Vincent on March 13, 2015
Nicole Lizée is a Montreal based composer who has been called a “brilliant musical scientist”. Her voice is inspired by an eclectic mix of influences including old MTV videos, turntablism, rave culture, Hitchcock, Kubrick, 1960s psychedelia and 1960s modernism. She is fascinated by forgotten sounds, analogue technology and, "glitches", which she weaves throughout her work...
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By Michael Vincent on March 12, 2015
The internet can be a fun, but weird place sometimes. Especially these shred video memes where they take the original sound and satirize it with an entirely different soundtrack. No one is safe, not even Alfred Brendel...
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By Michael Vincent on March 12, 2015
There’s a funny thing that happens to us in Toronto. After a number of very long, dim winter months, there comes a threshold where we can hardly fathom a landscape not encased by snow and ice. It becomes the norm. But then it happens: a miraculous spring thaw that reminds us it is possible...
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By Dan Reitz on March 12, 2015
The verdict is in. Marvin Gaye owns a certain “style” of music. And now thanks to legal precedent, in the US anyway, if you re-create it like Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams did, you could end up owing a mountain of money to the Gaye estate – in this case $7.4 million...
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By Michael Vincent on March 11, 2015
Musical Toronto’s weekly Critic’s Picks are a fully curated list of some of the best concerts happening now through the end of the week. Of course this is not to say we are the provocateurs of taste, but simply seek to provide a good weekly summary. For a look at the full breadth of what’s available in and around Toronto, check out the comprehensive concert listings from our friends at Wholenote Magazine...
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By Jenna Douglas on March 10, 2015
I loved my time in university. For the first time in my life, I was surrounded with everything I needed to do exactly what I wanted: make music, listen to music, scour libraries for music, nerd out about music. I even found like-minded friends, and our relationships grew out of our mutual love of our work. I still remember those inspiring times, even when I look back with exasperation on the disproportionate amount of training for the amount of payback (financial and otherwise)...
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By Robin Roger on March 9, 2015
The onset of daylight savings time is usually a bit disorienting but it has been particularly peculiar since 2007, when it was moved to the second Sunday in March . In Toronto this means a misfit between late afternoon and early evening light that evokes a sense of summer (or used to) occurring when the weather remains frigid. One might call this climactic dissonance...
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By Ludwig Van on March 9, 2015
Maestro | noun | \ˈmī-(ˌ)strō\ | The term originates from the Italian "maestro", meaning "master" or "teacher"). It is used as an honorific for prominent classical music and opera conductors, and less so for solosts, and teachers. In Italian opera, the term is used for musicians who act as répétiteurs (accompanist, tutor or coaches) as well as assistant conductors during performances (maestro sostituto or maestro collaboratore)...
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By Michael Vincent on March 9, 2015
An analysis of the contents of a musician’s pockets...
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By Michael Vincent on March 8, 2015
It’s early March, which means it’s time to step out of the winter boots and into a season where the air no longer hurts your face. This time of year also marks the annual New Creations Festival, which included one of the most-talked-about and hippest operas going: Written on Skin by British composer George Benjamin...
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