-
Recent Posts
Subjects
- Animals, domestic & wild
- Art, Architecture & Design
- Books & Literature
- Cinema, video & DVDs
- Dance, theatre & musicals
- Essays
- Food, Health and Nutrition
- guest blog
- Interviews
- Music and musicology
- My mother
- Opera
- Personal ruminations & essays
- Politics
- Popular music & culture
- Press Releases and Announcements
- Psychology and perception
- Reviews
- Spirituality & Religion
- Sports
- University life
- Against the Grain Theatre
- Alexander Neef
- Allyson McHardy
- Barbara Hannigan
- Beethoven
- Benjamin Britten
- Canadian Opera Company
- Canadian Stage
- Christopher Alden
- classical-music
- Claude Debussy
- Colin Ainsworth
- Crow's Theatre
- Das Rheingold
- David Fallis
- Felix Mendelssohn
- Four Seasons Centre
- Franz Liszt
- Franz Schubert
- Frederic Chopin
- George Frideric Handel
- Giacomo Puccini
- Giuseppe Verdi
- Glenn Gould
- Guillermo Silva-Marin
- Gustav Mahler
- Gustavo Gimeno
- Handel
- Hector Berlioz
- Holly Chaplin
- Ivars Taurins
- Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg
- Joel Ivany
- Johannes Debus
- Jonathan Crow
- JS Bach
- Koerner Hall
- Ludwig van Beethoven
- Marshall Pynkoski
- Maurice Ravel
- Meghan Lindsay
- Messiah
- Metropolitan Opera
- Mireille Asselin
- Mozart
- music
- opera
- Opera Atelier
- Pelleas et Melisande
- Peter Oundjian
- Philip Glass
- piano
- Puccini
- Richard Strauss
- Richard Wagner
- Rigoletto
- Robert Lepage
- Roy Thomson Hall
- Russell Braun
- Sky Gilbert
- Sondra Radvanovsky
- Stewart Goodyear
- Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra
- Tapestry Opera
- theatre
- Toronto Mendelssohn Choir
- Toronto Operetta Theatre
- Toronto Summer Music
- Toronto Symphony
- Toronto Symphony Orchestra
- Tristan und Isolde
- University of Toronto
- Wagner
- William Shakespeare
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Archives
- June 2026
- May 2026
- April 2026
- March 2026
- February 2026
- January 2026
- December 2025
- November 2025
- October 2025
- September 2025
- August 2025
- July 2025
- June 2025
- May 2025
- April 2025
- March 2025
- February 2025
- January 2025
- December 2024
- November 2024
- October 2024
- September 2024
- August 2024
- July 2024
- June 2024
- May 2024
- April 2024
- March 2024
- February 2024
- January 2024
- December 2023
- November 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- August 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- October 2019
- September 2019
- August 2019
- July 2019
- June 2019
- May 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- January 2019
- December 2018
- November 2018
- October 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- July 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- August 2017
- July 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
Meta
-
Join 368 other subscribers
Category Archives: Personal ruminations & essays
CBD, part the first
A loving family member cajoled me to try something new today. My chief pain management strategy for dealing with my arthritic symptoms could be summed up (before tonight) with the following quote: “Denial ain’t just a river in Egypt. It’s … Continue reading
Finding Dory and the symbolists
These days I am feeling a bit overwhelmed by emotions. I’ve had a death in the family (not a tragedy, when someone lives to a ripe old age, but still, it has stirred up a lot of feelings for me … Continue reading
Rite of Survival: a cheap drunk’s view
Let me first explain myself, why I’d admit (or even boast) that I’m a cheap drunk. Anyone wanting to cut to the part about the beer and avoid the theoretical talk, please skip down to the pictures. Our culture associates … Continue reading
The Walrus Talks: Spirituality or ymmv
A friend took me to Walrus Talks tonight. Evidently the magazine organizes these colloquia to investigate a topic such as tonight’s theme, spirituality. It seemed apt that we were at Trinity-St Paul’s, a space I think of as much for … Continue reading
April Fundraising Concert
From Vasilisa Atanackovic: ******* I am having a fundraising concert on Saturday, April 2 to raise money for my performance journeys in Italy through to New York. I have been given the lead roles in two musical productions in Sicily this summer with … Continue reading
Gábor Maté: When the Body Says No
Dr Gábor Maté keeps turning up in my life. I just published a review of betroffenheit, a hybrid dance-theatre piece at CanStage, a co-production of Kidd Pivot and Electric Company Theatre, and there at the end I mentioned a PTSD … Continue reading
Ephemerality seeks eternity
It’s early morning: after having seen a workshop of The Harvester last night before seeing Joel Ivany’s take on the Mozart Requiem with the Toronto Symphony tonight I just re-read what I wrote about the workshop last April to which … Continue reading
Posted in Personal ruminations & essays
Leave a comment
Goldhamer’s Schubert: where the music is
Where do you look during a concert? One can look out the window, as i often do when given the opportunity. I love the glass at the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre, or the glorious view at the Conservatory Theatre (seen below) … Continue reading
Posted in Personal ruminations & essays
Leave a comment
Labadie returns with TSO – Mozart @260
Conductor Bernard Labadie returned to the podium tonight for the first time since sickness stopped him for a year and a half of convalescence, to lead the Toronto Symphony Orchestra at Roy Thomson Hall as part of the Mozart @ … Continue reading
Posted in Personal ruminations & essays
Leave a comment
Amy’s Requiem, in the season of mourning
Ahead? the return of Bernard Labadie, who was sick and is getting better. Saturday he’ll conduct the first of the Mozart @ 260 concerts with the TSO, next week conducting their adventurous staging of the Mozart Requiem. Behind? A week … Continue reading