RECORD KEEPING | Cataloguing Seiji Ozawa's Active Musical Legacy

By Paul E. Robinson on August 15, 2017

Still active at 83 as a conductor, Seiji Ozawa's musical activities are being actively documented and reissued as he goes.

SCRUTINY | The Hogwarts Express Stops By The Toronto Stage

By Brian Chang on June 29, 2017

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone stops by the Sony Centre on its North American live film concert tour. Brian Chang reviews the show, with insight from conductor Justin Freer.

INTERVIEW | How Two Toronto Composers Took Netflix’s Green Gables Adaptation Into The 21C

By Dan Moore on May 16, 2017

Toronto composers Amin Bhatia & Ari Posner discuss putting their own musical stamp on the famous “Anne of Green Gables” tale.

SCRUTINY | "E.T." Phones Home To Toronto

By Michael Vincent on January 1, 2017

"E.T." with a live symphony orchestra makes for a wonderful trip back to the 1980's.

THE SCOOP | The Sony Centre Announce Live Symphony Film Series Backed By The TSO

By Brian Chang on November 9, 2016

The Sony Centre starts a multi-year film concert series featuring the first two installments of the beloved Harry Potter Film collection.

SCRUTINY | Florence And Marguerite: Two Tales Of Dream And Delusion

By Joseph So on September 12, 2016

Two movies, two titles, inspired by the same real-life character, that of the American socialite Florence Foster Jenkins.

COFFEE BREAK | Toronto Symphony Orchestra Play Epic Game of Thrones Theme Song

By Ludwig Van on April 16, 2015

The Toronto Symphony Orchestra rehearse the Game of Thrones theme song from their "As Heard on TV" concerts.

FILM REVIEW | The Canadian Link Behind the Birth of the First New Opera House in Russia Since the Tsars

By Colin Eatock on February 12, 2015

Jack Diamond isn’t a musician – but he’s been a big influence on the classical music scene in Toronto. Many opera fans will recognize him as the architect of the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, where the Canadian Opera Company and the National Ballet of Canada perform...

DVD/BLU RAY REVIEW | Richard Strauss: Capriccio

By Paul E. Robinson on October 27, 2014

Capriccio was described by its creators – Richard Strauss and Clemens Krauss – as “a conversation piece for music in one act.” In fact, it was Strauss’ fifteenth and last opera, premiered in wartime Munich in 1942. As the work of a 78-year-old composer it is remarkable. Yet it will probably always be a work for connoisseurs rather than the general public. For a one-act opera at about two and a half hours it is excessively long, and the musical style is almost continuous recitative. And the subject matter is, depending on your point of view, either rarified art or pretentious chit-chat. Some critics have even suggested it is little more than a make-work project for an aging composer.

LINES OF ENQUIRY | Ottawa International Animation Festival Screens North American Premiere of Donald McWilliams Documentary, ‘Norman McLaren: Animated Musician’

By Curtis Perry on October 8, 2014