Monthly Archives: May 2016

Tapestry’s Winner

Posted on May 28, 2016 by

The DH Lawrence short story The Rocking Horse Winner is a recognizable image of modern life. I’m sad to say that I know people like this mother for whom no amount of money is ever enough, whose son’s mysterious gift … Continue reading →

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Popular genius: John Williams as seen by Steven Reineke

Posted on May 18, 2016 by

It shouldn’t surprise anyone to hear that tonight’s season-concluding Toronto Symphony Pops Concert, featuring the film music of John Williams conducted by Steven Reineke, played to a full house clamoring for more. And yet I was surprised.  Film music is … Continue reading →

Posted in Cinema, video & DVDs, Music and musicology, Reviews | 1 Comment

10 Questions for Danny Ghantous: Lemon

Posted on May 15, 2016 by

Danny Ghantous is a recent graduate of Ryerson University’s Performance Acting program, and recently starred as Sadiq in Factory Theatre’s acclaimed production of A Line in the Sand directed by Nigel Shawn Williams. “It will take me a long time … Continue reading →

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Questions for Steven Reineke: the film music of John Williams at the TSO

Posted on May 15, 2016 by

Steven Reineke is a pops conductor, an arranger, a composer, and very busy all over North America, as Music Director of The New York Pops at Carnegie Hall, Principal Pops Conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra at the John F. … Continue reading →

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Cozy Fantastic

Posted on May 14, 2016 by

I knew how it was going to work. I resisted and was still swept away by the conceptual brilliance of A Little too Cozy, Against the Grain’s latest transladaptation. Don’t let the word scare you, it merely means something that … Continue reading →

Posted in Opera, Popular music & culture, Reviews | 3 Comments

Lisiecki’s pianism: Chopin plays Schumann

Posted on May 10, 2016 by

In the film Impromptu we get interesting close-up looks at the personal lives of Chopin, Georges Sand, Liszt, Delacroix and a host of others.  At one point we see Liszt & Chopin playing a Beethoven transcription together, a fascinating thought … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Reviews | 1 Comment

Pisani: putting the “melos” in Melodrama

Posted on May 9, 2016 by

Everyone uses the word, yet few really know what it means. “Melodrama” is a label often attached to human behaviour, but the usage is a metaphor for something else. And I suspect that those who have studied drama or theatre … Continue reading →

Posted in Books & Literature, Dance, theatre & musicals, Music and musicology, Popular music & culture | 2 Comments

Braid or CASP at RBA

Posted on May 5, 2016 by

Art-song?  The concept didn’t immediately blow me away as a child growing up in the same house with an opera singer, craving the full-out commitment of opera.  The pleasures on record were sometimes esoteric and fleeting.  I think I grew … Continue reading →

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Ambitious TSO program

Posted on May 5, 2016 by

It wasn’t at all what I expected, this Toronto Symphony program of Beethoven, Brahms and Adams, to be taken on a Canadian tour this weekend (Ottawa Saturday and Montreal Sunday). Peter Oundjian did tell us that it’s unusual to program … Continue reading →

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Maometto II, Conquerer

Posted on May 2, 2016 by

That was a fast three hours and twenty minutes. While I expected Maometto II, the Rossini opera presented by the Canadian Opera Company at the Four Seasons Centre, to be full of spectacular singing, I did not expect to be … Continue reading →

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