Monthly Archives: June 2011

Codex Nocturno

I suspect this is going to be a long review, so for those of you who need the executive summary up front, yes I liked it.  Go see Codex Nocturno!!   I will make an effort to see it again before … Continue reading

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Svadba-Wedding

I experienced one of the great joys tonight at a new opera.  For awhile I was lost.  In a world of GPS precision and universal surveillance, it’s very hard to be so engrossed as to not know where you are. … Continue reading

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Cosy and Hungarian

Following the uprising in 1956, we were blessed for a time with a neighbourhood of Hungarian restaurants. Magyar refugees poured into the downtown Toronto area, leaving their mark in Kensington Market, as well as the stretch of Bloor St West … Continue reading

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A genuine Bali high

There are nine musicians in Evergreen Club Contemporary Gamelan(aka “ECCG”), and judging by the works presented tonight, this is an ambitious group eagerly embracing new disciplines & styles, while welcoming a diverse assortment of collaborators. I was drawn to this … Continue reading

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Placido and Sondra

Tonight’s Toronto concert by Placido Domingo with Sondra Radvanosvky was the proverbial “happening”. Held in a converted tennis stadium enjoying its christening as a musical venue, we were watching their faces on a jumbotron, hearing a wall of amplified sound, … Continue reading

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Bohème against the grain

It’s been attempted before: taking that well-known and perhaps overly-familiar opera, Puccini’s La bohème, and reinventing it. Baz Luhrmann tried it with some success. So did Jonathan Larson, with Rent (another success). You can’t blame people for wanting to attempt … Continue reading

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