By Jenna Douglas on January 20, 2015
This past weekend, I attended The Opera Exchange, an event presented semi-regularly by the Canadian Opera Company to discuss relevant opera topics, structured around the COC's current season. With Dmitri Tcherniakov's production of Don Giovanni set to open on January 24th at the Four Seasons Centre, it was a good opportunity to chat about that polarizing topic, Regietheater, or director's theatre...
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By Tyler Versluis on January 19, 2015
Last week the Canadian Opera Company revealed a surprising series of commissions from Canadian composers: Barbara Monk Feldman’s Pyramus and Thisbe paired with Monteverdi’s Il Combattimento de Tancredi e Clorinda and Lamento d’Arianna in October and November 2015, Harry Somers’ monumental opera Louis Riel for the 2017-2018 season, and finally a new opera by Serbian-Canadian composer Ana Sokolović for the 2019-20 season...
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By Neil Crory on January 7, 2015
Early this past year, a new CD release on the Naïve label arrived in my mail. Glancing at the title - Arias for Caffarelli [sung by] Franco Fagioli - I reacted with as much enthusiasm as I could muster, "Good god! Not another countertenor!" And with that, I tossed it, unceremoniously, into a box overflowing with CDs to be auditioned...at a much later date...
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By Jenna Douglas on January 5, 2015
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By Robin Roger on December 22, 2014
My inner curmudgeon was pleasantly affirmed by Michael Vincent’s November 27th post on Composer insults. Nice to know that those demigods who have created the sounds that express our highest aspirations, tender sensitivities, and most profound perceptions are capable of being petty, envious, competitive and begrudging. Yet for me, there was a simultaneous dissonance (pun intended) because of attending a recent monthly gathering of Toronto composers called The Toronto Ravel.
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By Michael Vincent on December 15, 2014
At any given time during the holiday season, hundreds of choirs will amass in churches and various concert halls across the world, to perform Handel’s Messiah . With the exception of Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, no other choral work has been so fixed into western musical culture. In fact for many, the tradition of going to a performance of the Messiah is as dear as beautifying the Christmas tree in the family living room.
But why?
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By Jenna Douglas on December 13, 2014
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By Paul E. Robinson on December 4, 2014
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By Neil Crory on December 3, 2014
The dynamic Italian conductor, Gianandrea Noseda, needs little introduction to Torontonians. Since his local debut in April 2002, he has conducted nearly a dozen programmes with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. For his upcoming appearance, however, Noseda is bringing his own orchestra and chorus from the Teatro Regio Torino in Italy, together with twelve soloists for a single, not-to-be-missed performance of Rossini's epic William Tell (or, more appropriately, Guglielmo Tell).
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By Curtis Perry on December 2, 2014
Let’s presume this ‘indie-classical’ moniker isn’t going away. We have a cast of certain regular suspects: Nico Muhly, Bryce Dessner, Richard Reed Parry, Max Richter, Hauschka, and Jonny Greenwood. I enjoy these folks’ work as much as anyone, but unfortunately they represent, in aggregate, a systemic issue that listeners ought to leave behind in the classical world. This isn’t anyone’s fault in particular. Dismantling a patriarchal system that took hundreds of years to build is simply going to take some time. It’s why we hear about “women composers” in the papers, but never hear about “men composers.” It’s why there is a lopsided gender ratio among members at the Canadian Music Centre. It’s why we don’t ask men how their gender and maleness informs their music. And this all needs to be reconsidered.
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