Soundstreams yesterday unveiled SoundMakers a website that extends the idea of a digital archive by making a substantial amount of the recorded content available for manipulation. It’s a beautiful showcase of creative possibilities placed at the fingertips of anyone who wants to actively engage with new music in the safety of their private environment.

TSO's live score to Ratatouille hits the mark for a well-timed family day weekend.

“Opera spelt backwards” is how tenor Jonathan MacArthur describes Belladonna - a queer techno opera, the latest experiment by Toronto indie opera company FAWN Chamber Creative.

The 2-CD set has just been released by Analekta, and gets its official launch at a Heliconian Hall concert on Nov. 1.

(CLARIFICATION: The first paragraph is changed, in response to the Canadian Opera Company’s objection that I had unjustifiably described the logs as showing signs of dry rot and termite damage.)

Classical music and opera events happening in and around Toronto for the week of Oct. 16 to 22.

What was then called Melbourne Concert Hall opened in 1982, the same year as the Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s new home. Two years earlier, a third symphony auditorium with acoustician Theodore Schultz’s stamp on in had opened in San Francisco.

Tiberghien, who grew up about 100 km north of Paris, has been playing professionally for about 20 years, winning over audience after audience, conductor after conductor. His success has taken hundreds of overnights, dozens of concertos, numerous collaborations and a handful of critically praised recordings.

There was an operatic theme and feel that ran through much of the music, which straddled the late-Romantic bloom of late-19th century orchestral writing and the colourful harmonic adventures of the early years of the 20th century.

Strong female musicians abound in this city, and the increased emphasis on the #MeToo and #TimesUp movement continues to expose and inspire female leadership and much-needed change in the arts.