We have detected that you are using an adblocking plugin in your browser.
The revenue we earn by the advertisements is used to manage this website. Please whitelist our website in your adblocking plugin.
By Paul E. Robinson on March 6, 2015
On the day that I played this new DVD celebrating the opening of the new Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, world news networks were reporting that prominent Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov had been murdered on the street near the Kremlin in Moscow. Yet another example of the ruthlessness of the Putin regime? Perhaps...
(Continue reading)By Robin Roger on March 2, 2015
Marc-André Hamelin’s piano program for his afternoon concert at Koerner Hall on March 1 began with a piece by the highly seminal but under performed composer, John Fields, without whom we would not have the nocturne...
(Continue reading)By Paul E. Robinson on March 2, 2015
German baritone Christian Gerhaher recently performed in Toronto and those who heard him won’t have to be told what a fine artist he is. This new recording provides even more evidence, as if it were needed, of the beauty of his voice and the keen intelligence with which he uses it. This is somewhat esoteric repertoire, but the collaboration between Gerhaher and conductor Daniel Harding is consistently compelling...
(Continue reading)By Michael Vincent on February 27, 2015
The visual art world has been exploring the role of the Internet in our lives for over a decade but, in music, the concept has been slower to catch on...
(Continue reading)By Colin Eatock on February 27, 2015
Once in a blue moon, I hear a song recital that makes me question the purpose of all other forms and genres of music...
(Continue reading)By Paul E. Robinson on February 22, 2015
The most memorable performance of Ein Heldenleben I ever heard was in Washington, D.C. January 24, 1965 with Herbert von Karajan conducting the Berlin Philharmonic in a glorious performance. There was an extra-musical dimension to this performance which made it that much more special; Winston Churchill had passed away that morning and Karajan dedicated the performance to his memory. If ever a man had lived a hero’s life, Winston Churchill was surely that man, and watching a German conductor like Karajan, a one-time member of the Nazi party pay tribute to him with this piece engendered in me thoughts and emotions that would last a lifetime...
(Continue reading)By Arthur Kaptainis on February 19, 2015
New Works from East and West was the well-travelled theme of the New Music Concert Saturday at the Betty Oliphant Theatre. You could certainly tell them apart without a program, even if there were some instances of what sounded like cross-hemispheric dialogue...
(Continue reading)By Paul E. Robinson on February 15, 2015
San Antonio, Texas | Even part-time Texans like myself (my wife and I have been living part of each year in Austin since 2005) tend to forget that San Antonio is the second largest city in Texas. Houston is No. 1 with about 2.1 million people, but San Antonio is not far behind at 1.3 million. In the latest census, Dallas came in at 1.2 million. Actually, the Dallas-Ft.Worth Metroplex is over 2 million. That said, San Antonio is still one of the largest cities in Texas and growing rapidly...
(Continue reading)By Michael Vincent on February 12, 2015
If art is the decoration of space, then music is the decoration of time. And in mid-February, time can seem as bland as the three-month-old piles of brown-coloured snow at the corner of the driveway, which makes a concert at this time of year particularly decorative...
(Continue reading)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...
(Continue reading)
