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By Colin Eatock on January 21, 2015
Latvian violinist Gidon Kremer is more than four decades older than the young Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov – but they saw eye-to-eye in their Thursday evening recital at Koerner Hall. The varied program started well, and only got better when the duo was joined by cellist Giedre Dirvanauskaite...
(Continue reading)By Michael Vincent on January 21, 2015
There is so much that goes into making a film score, from the collaboration between the composer and director, to the recording process. This 13 minute documentary outlines the incredible journey of scoring the three-part CBC documentary, the Great Human Odyssey. Footage includes composer-conductor Darren Fung, the Edmonton Symphony & some truly gorgeous music...
(Continue reading)By Michael Vincent on January 21, 2015
Around this time last year, Opera Hamilton made the announcement that due to a lack of funding, it was closing its doors for good. It wasn’t the first time Hamilton has lost an opera company. Opera Hamilton’s predecessor, Opera Ontario, went bankrupt in 2008, and despite moving from Hamilton Place to the Dofasco Theatre —(a smaller venue designed to cut costs) it wasn’t enough to balance the books...
(Continue reading)By Michael Vincent on January 20, 2015
Musical Toronto’s weekly Critic’s Picks are a fully curated list of some of the best concerts happening now through the end of the week. Of course this is not to say we are the provocateurs of taste, but simply seek to provide a good weekly summary. For a look at the full breadth of what’s available in and around Toronto, check out the comprehensive concert listings from our friends at Wholenote Magazine...
(Continue reading)By Jenna Douglas on January 20, 2015
This past weekend, I attended The Opera Exchange, an event presented semi-regularly by the Canadian Opera Company to discuss relevant opera topics, structured around the COC's current season. With Dmitri Tcherniakov's production of Don Giovanni set to open on January 24th at the Four Seasons Centre, it was a good opportunity to chat about that polarizing topic, Regietheater, or director's theatre...
(Continue reading)By Tyler Versluis on January 19, 2015
Last week the Canadian Opera Company revealed a surprising series of commissions from Canadian composers: Barbara Monk Feldman’s Pyramus and Thisbe paired with Monteverdi’s Il Combattimento de Tancredi e Clorinda and Lamento d’Arianna in October and November 2015, Harry Somers’ monumental opera Louis Riel for the 2017-2018 season, and finally a new opera by Serbian-Canadian composer Ana Sokolović for the 2019-20 season...
(Continue reading)By Michael Vincent on January 19, 2015
(via) Sometimes opera in concert can get a little dry, but after watching this video of Finnish soprano Sirkka Lampimäki, performing with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra we were left speechless. The surprise starts at about 50 seconds in. Though her tone suffers for it - the audience explodes with applause...
(Continue reading)By Michael Vincent on January 17, 2015
There may have been no birthday cake served for Mozart’s party on Thursday night, but patrons at Roy Thomson Hall were treated to fulsome cuisine, complete with one serenade, one piano concerto, one sonata and, for dessert (flambéed, of course), a symphony...
(Continue reading)By Neil Crory on January 16, 2015
On Wednesday evening the Canadian Opera Company announced its 2015-2016 season in Grand Opera style. No exclusive little cocktail party for a handful of press here – instead General Director, Alexander Neef went straight to his public and pulled out all the stops. Over a 90 minute programme he offered the crowd of over 1700 an 'event' overflowing with informal chat, Q & As, video segments, interviews, live music, surprise guest singers, a full orchestra conducted by COC Music Director, Johannes Debus - and the complete Act II finale of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro. Brent Bambury, the affable CBC Radio One host, functioned as moderator and kept the various elements moving along in a quick and orderly fashion. With the massive set for Richard Wagner's Die Walküre in the background, all that was missing was the chorus...
(Continue reading)By Paul E. Robinson on January 15, 2015
Most music-lovers and performers too take it for granted that they know pretty much what Brahms should sound like. No need for the historically informed folks to get involved. In fact, however, there are still issues to be considered and we do need to look at period performance practice. Neither of these new sets claims to be “historically informed” but one in particular – the Chailly with the Gewandhausorchestra – shows that a lot of thinking and research has gone into the preparation and rehearsal process...
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