By Robin Roger on February 3, 2015
In Woody Allen’s film, The Purple Rose of Cairo, the heroine’s world is turned upside down when the matinée idol from the movie she is watching steps from the screen and enters her life. Recently I reversed Allen’s plot device by stepping into a film, when I travelled to New York City to have a piano lesson with Seymour Bernstein, the subject of a new documentary by Ethan Hawke: Seymour, An Introduction...
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By Neil Crory on February 2, 2015
On Saturday, January 31, the Canadian Opera Company officially launched the revival of its lauded 2006 production of Richard Wagner's epic Ring Cycle with seven performances of Die Walküre at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. The production runs through February 22nd...
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By Robin Roger on February 2, 2015
Presumably, the theme for the Feb 1 Syrinx Chamber Music Concert, “Passion, Possibility, and Pleasure” was chosen to dispel some of the deep winter gloom with which music patrons struggle, including the inertia that makes coming to the concert hall a challenge in itself. Passion is warm, pleasure is consoling and both can make these dark days seem endurable, and the possibility of a better season believable. Gathering in the intimate space of Helicon Hall can further create the sense of a community of like-minded music lovers huddling together to warm their spirits by listening to beautiful expressions of anticipation of brighter and happier days...
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By Michael Vincent on February 2, 2015
What if composers had different first names? Our friends at the Composers with Different First Names tumblr wondered just that. In an act of revisionist history, they dubbed Mozart, a "Jeff". Donizetti, a "Ryan". The internet grows stranger everyday...
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By Michael Vincent on January 31, 2015
Since announcing his retirement from the stage last April, (due to an "unreliability" in his voice), Canadian tenor, Ben Heppner seemed content with maintaining his role as announcer for CBC II's radio program “Backstage with Ben Happner”. But the question remained – what of his singing? Is that really it?
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By Neil Crory on January 31, 2015
Born in 1910, Olivero made her professional operatic debut in Turin in 1933, at the age of 23. Within a few years, she had established herself as one of Italy's hottest new talents, securing her reputation over the next few years by singing everything from Lauretta (her debut role), to heavier roles such as Cio-Cio San, Mimi, Manon Lescaut, and even Elsa. In the 1939/40 season, she also added Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur to her repertoire – a role which was to play an important part in her career...
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By Tyler Versluis on January 30, 2015
In general, I find the best concert-going experiences are when not only the music is excellent but when the experience delivers a revelation. A presumptuous attitude, perhaps, but I feel this is what divides an entertaining experience from an artistic one...
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By Michael Vincent on January 30, 2015
A lot of people talk about how lucky we are to have a boutique orchestra devoted to the performance of contemporary work. And we are. The problem is, Esprit Orchestra only produces four concert per season and, by those numbers, there is a lot riding on every show...
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By Michael Vincent on January 29, 2015
The TSO have just released details on their upcoming 2015/2016 season and it looks to be much more collaborative and dare I say "innovative" than previous years.
The season starts with a concert gala on September 24, 2015 with violinist Itzhak Perlman, who returns to Roy Thomson Hall to perform Bruch's Violin Concerto with Music Director Peter Oundjian leading, and music by Dukas and Grieg...
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By Paul E. Robinson on January 29, 2015
Ukraine has often been in the news lately, and for all the wrong reasons. It is not easy sharing a border with Russia, especially after gaining its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Russia under Vladimir Putin resents Ukraine’s aspirations to move closer to the West and has acted militarily to crush them. First it was Crimea and now it is eastern Ukraine. NATO has been acting to support Ukraine but whether its efforts will be enough remains to be seen...
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