By Paul E. Robinson on January 30, 2016
This week, I would like to draw your attention to a new CD featuring Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburg Symphony. Honeck, who used to play violin with the Vienna Philharmonic, has recently emerged as a major conductor. The Pittsburg Symphony, which has an illustrious history playing under legendary figures such as Fritz Reiner, William Steinberg, Lorin Maazel, Andre Previn and Mariss Jansons, has already made some exceptionally good recordings of music by Richard Strauss, Dvořák, Janáček and Bruckner under Honeck’s direction.
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By Michael Vincent on January 29, 2016
Daniel Hope and pianist Sebastian Knauer perform an evening of Menuhin-inspired works in celebration his 100th birthday.
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By Michael Vincent on January 28, 2016
With a brew of composers rarely mixed, soprano Barbara Hannigan joined the Toronto Symphony last night to perform Henri Dutilleux's "Correspondances" – a 22-minute song cycle which she has remained loyal since first recording it with Esa-Pekka Salonen, in 2013.
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By Tyler Versluis on January 27, 2016
Enter Esprit Orchestra on January 24th in Koerner Hall, where a varied programme of music in by Samuel Andreyev, Daníel Bjarnason, Alexina Louie and R. Murray Schafer demonstrated how wide and multi-faceted these creative executions have become in 2016.
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By Joseph So on January 25, 2016
Now that I consider myself a “Ring Nut” many times over, I’ve learned to appreciate Siegfried for what it is, a kind of necessary dramatic exposition that sets up the action culminating in Götterdammerung.
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By Paul E. Robinson on January 23, 2016
Most of the music on these two new CDs by Louis Lortie And Hélène Mercier is repertoire that the average music-lover will rarely encounter in a lifetime of concert-going. And what a loss! This is glorious music for the most part, that has given me enormous pleasure over the years.
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By Michael Vincent on January 22, 2016
Not really theatre. Not really a symphony performance. Not really Mozart’s Requiem either.
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By Joseph So on January 22, 2016
Each year, Music Toronto presents a relatively unfamiliar artist to the Toronto audience, as part of its Discovery Series. Often it’s a young artist on the cusp of stardom. It can be either an instrumentalist or a singer. Among the singers I’ve heard the past few seasons were Erin Wall and Elliott Madore. This season it’s Ukrainian Canadian soprano Andriana Chuchman.
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By Joseph So on January 21, 2016
COC kicks off Vocal Series with two of Canada’s finest singers: Gordon Bintner, bass-baritone and Andrew Haji, tenor.
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By Arthur Kaptainis on January 17, 2016
The engagement of Bernard Labadie as the conductor of two January Mozart programs (and five concerts) had been on the Toronto Symphony Orchestra books for years. There was nevertheless an aura of suspense Saturday at Roy Thomson Hall – this evening representing Labadie’s first public appearance in Canada after a long and grueling convalescence from lymphoma that included a month in an induced coma.
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