It’s not that pianists of the time played better. From a technical point of view, we may be living in better than golden times. Rather, what pianists played in concert embodied all of music — from popular songs to opera to symphonies to the great works for other solo instruments.

The concerts — at Hamilton’s McNeil Baptist Church on Saturday at 2 p.m., at Toronto’s Bloor St United Church later that day at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at Kingston Rd United Church in Toronto — feature five singers and five instrumentalists, all people who should do a great job with this beautiful music.

Michael Vincent chats with RCM's Mervon Mehta about the New Canadian Global Music Orchestra, the first orchestra in Toronto comprised of recent immigrants to Canada.

Winter Songs gets its premiere at the Betty Oliphant Theatre (at 404 Jarvis St) tomorrow night in a concert that revolves around the cello — the instrument usually credited as being closest to the sound and expressiveness of the human voice.

Pianist Stewart Goodyear chats about his upcoming concert on Sunday, Dec. 4 at Koerner Hall featuring the premiere of his new work, “Acabris! Acabras! Acabram!”.

This isn’t drawn from the pages of Maclean’s or a Torontoist post of 2014, but a nearly 300-year-old line from The Beggar’s Opera, a musical by John Gay that took London by storm in 1728.

Both an arts administrator and a composer, Monica Pearce explains how she manages to find a balance.

Chat with just about any opera singer, and you’ll discover someone who fell in love with music and singing as a teenager, went to a music school, and then figured out how to convey the stories of opera on stage. But Honeywell was 32 when he decided to become a singer in 1999.

Canadian soprano Suzie LeBlanc is on a mission to reunite the real words with the possible music of Bishop’s universe. It’s a mission that has proven to be, like so many adventures, full of unexpected twists.

Talking to Adam Scime reveals a mind heavily concerned with harmonising artistic integrity and discipline in the creative process.