By Lev Bratishenko on December 7, 2014
How do you bring a 188-member orchestra and chorus, their equipment and a dozen soloists from Italy to North America? You buy a ship, crew it, and like the Ark, stock two of every musician. Half will be eaten on the journey. Though historical precedents suggest it may be unsustainable, such extravagance was worth it. To the families of the eaten: we salute you. William Tell was a triumph.
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By Paul E. Robinson on December 4, 2014
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By Michael Vincent on December 2, 2014
Itzhak Perlman is one of the last of the Violin Rat Pack — an exclusive club with members including Jascha Heifetz, Yehudi Menuhin, David Oistrakh and Isaac Stern. It is a club in decline, making virtuosi like Perlman all the more valuable.
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By Paul E. Robinson on December 1, 2014
Just over a month ago the London Philharmonic and its music director Vladimir Jurowski gave a concert in Roy Thomson Hall that elicited rave reviews. The major work on the program was the Symphony No. 8 by Shostakovich. Clearly, Jurowski had a special affinity for the music of this composer. Here they are again, on a new CD on the orchestra’s own label, and again playing symphonic music by Shostakovich. And again it would be appropriate to reach for the superlatives.
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By Colin Eatock on November 30, 2014
Who makes classical music funny? Victor Borge did it, and so did Anna Russell. The violin-piano duo of Aleksey Igudesman and Richard Hyung-ki Joo are also funny. Ted Dykstra and Richard Greenblatt are hilarious in their show Two Pianos Four Hands. And let’s not forget Peter Schikele (a.k.a. “PDQ Bach”), Dudley Moore, Steve Martin, Bugs Bunny and Monty Python.
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By Paul E. Robinson on November 26, 2014
In the spring of 2012 the Philadelphia Orchestra presented a “Stokowski Celebration” in the orchestra’s old home, the Academy of Music. The programs consisted of music associated with Stokowski, the longtime music director of the orchestra, and there was a well-curated display of Stokowski memorabilia in the lobby and on the orchestra’s website. Yannick Nezet-Seguin conducted all the concerts and in one remarkable moment Stokowski “passed” the baton to Yannick by means of lifelike holograms on either side of the proscenium. A year later Yannick made his first recording with the Philadelphia Orchestra and it included several of the works played at the Stokowski Celebration.
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By Michael Vincent on November 24, 2014
What do you get when you combine one of the world’s great violin virtuosos with a string orchestra of young green hopefuls? A masterclass for certain, but how on earth were they going to keep up?
Since 1997, Anne-Sophie Mutter has been dedicated to fostering the Mutter Virtuosi, a small string orchestra formed as a way to give real-world performance experience to young hand picked players from the Mutter Foundation. Guided by Ms. Mutter, the idea is to give them a taste of what it means to tour, and perform in some of the world’s finest concert halls.
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By Paul E. Robinson on November 19, 2014
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By John Terauds on November 18, 2014
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By Paul E. Robinson on November 17, 2014
One might be forgiven for thinking that the strong Canadian presence in this performance is the key to its success. Baritone Russell Braun and conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin are both in top form. And director Des McAnuff, formerly the artistic director of the Stratford Festival, has produced a fresh and powerful interpretation of Gounod’s perennial favourite.
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