-
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
- Ambur Braid
- Andrew Haji
- Aria Umezawa
- Barbara Hannigan
- Beethoven
- Ben Heppner
- Benjamin Britten
- Canadian Opera Company
- Canadian Stage
- Carla Huhtanen
- Christopher Alden
- Claude Debussy
- COC
- Colin Ainsworth
- David Fallis
- Felix Mendelssohn
- Four Seasons Centre
- Francis Poulenc
- Franz Liszt
- Franz Schubert
- George Frideric Handel
- George Gershwin
- Giacomo Puccini
- Giuseppe Verdi
- Glenn Gould
- Guillermo Silva-Marin
- Gustav Mahler
- Handel
- Hector Berlioz
- Ivars Taurins
- Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg
- Joel Ivany
- Johannes Debus
- John Adams
- Jonathan Crow
- Koerner Hall
- Krisztina Szabo
- La Clemenza di Tito
- Les Troyens
- Linda Hutcheon
- Ludwig van Beethoven
- Marshall Pynkoski
- Meghan Lindsay
- Messiah
- Metropolitan Opera
- Mireille Asselin
- Mozart
- opera
- Opera Atelier
- Parsifal
- Pelleas et Melisande
- Peter Oundjian
- Philip Glass
- Puccini
- Richard Strauss
- Richard Wagner
- Rigoletto
- Robert Carsen
- Robert Lepage
- Roy Thomson Hall
- Russell Braun
- Sondra Radvanovsky
- Stewart Goodyear
- Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra
- Talk is Free Theatre
- Tapestry Opera
- Toronto Summer Music
- Toronto Symphony Orchestra
- Tristan und Isolde
- University of Toronto
- Wagner
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Archives
- 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
Category Archives: Politics
Art Canada Institute presents Kent Monkman
The title of the lecture was “Art Canada Institute presents: The Making of a Masterpiece– Kent Monkman.” Monkman is an enormous star, famous far beyond the immediate milieu of art dealers and galleries. But I have no real idea who … Continue reading
Ecology of Being –Duo Concertante
In childhood I heard musicians and performers protesting the Vietnam War or advocating as part of the Civil Rights Movement. Ever since I’ve admired activist artists. Music, film, satire, humour, painting, can all be powerful voices advocating change, moving emotions, … Continue reading
ARC Ensemble –Dmitri Klebanov Chamber Works
Exile doesn’t just occur when you’re distant from your homeland. What about artists ignored or silenced inside their country? I never thought of it that way before reading Simon Wynberg’s excellent essay in the liner notes to ARC Ensemble’s new … Continue reading
Posted in Cinema, video & DVDs, Dance, theatre & musicals, Music and musicology, Politics, Reviews, University life
Tagged anti-Semitism, ARC Ensemble, Bernard Herrmann, Dmitri Klebanov, Dmitri Shostakovich, Erika Raum, exile, Gustav Mahler, Kevin Ahfat, Marie Bérard, North by Northwest, Royal Conservatory of Music, Simon Wynberg, Steven Dann, Thomas Wiebe
Leave a comment
Nixon in China, 2021
The Metropolitan Opera feed of free streaming performances celebrate American composers the week of July 4th Independence Day. I was especially excited to get another look at John Adams’s Nixon in China, that we saw both via a production by … Continue reading
Posted in Cinema, video & DVDs, Dance, theatre & musicals, Music and musicology, Opera, Politics, Reviews
Tagged Alice Goodman, Canadian Opera Company, Carolyn Maule, Chou En-lai, James Maddalena, Janis Kelly, John Adams, Karl Marx, Kathleen Kim, Mao Tse-tung, Metropolitan Opera High Definition Broadcast, Nixon in China, Peter Sellars, Richard Paul Fink, Robert Brubaker, Russell Braun
Leave a comment
The Mission in 2021
It’s been a month of reflection for Canadians following the discovery of the remains of 215 children buried on the grounds of the Kamloops residential school, another discovery near Brandon residential school, and the possibility of more to come. The … Continue reading
Posted in Art, Architecture & Design, Cinema, video & DVDs, Dance, theatre & musicals, Music and musicology, Personal ruminations & essays, Politics, Spirituality & Religion, University life
Tagged Christianity, Ennio Morricone, Going Home Star, Gone With the Wind, Indigenous Genocide, Jesuit, Kent Monkman, Max Steiner, National Indigenous Peoples Day, Roland Joffe, Royal Winnipeg Ballet, The Mission, The Scream, Truth and Reconciliation Commission
2 Comments
Hermione Lee: Tom Stoppard A Life
I’m humbled reading Hermione Lee’s biography of Tom Stoppard. I was exalted by Alex Ross’s colossal Wagnerism study because I’m a typical grandiose Wagnerian, thinking I know something about the topic. Its 784 pages flew by, the book flattering my … Continue reading
Posted in Books & Literature, Cinema, video & DVDs, Dance, theatre & musicals, Opera, Politics, Popular music & culture, Reviews, University life
Tagged Alex Ross, Empire of the Sun, Hermione Lee, JG Ballard, Rosenkrantz & Guildenstern are Dead, Tom Stoppard, Tom Stoppard A Life, Wagnerism: Art and Politics in the Shadow of Music
Leave a comment
American Idol and popularity
Do you ever watch American Idol? I’d say it’s the best reality tv that you can find, unless you prefer one of the other performance shows where people sing or dance. There are really two parts to it. At the … Continue reading
Mr Smith wasn’t Born Yesterday
TV programming sometimes brings us serendipitous discoveries. TCM’s Good Friday offering was Mr Smith Goes to Washington. This morning we watched Born Yesterday. I never noticed how many similarities there are between the two films. An innocent recently come to … Continue reading
Irresistible
I’m not sure I understand the title, but it’s a perfect description all the same. I sat through Jon Stewart’s new film Irresistible tonight, sometimes moaning sometimes laughing but unable to tear myself away. So whatever it means, the title … Continue reading
Posted in Cinema, video & DVDs, Politics, Reviews
Tagged Chris Cooper, Daily Show, Despicable Me, Gru, Irresistible, Jon Stewart, Rose Byrne, Steve Carell
Leave a comment
Zappa
2020 ended with a pair of Z’s that could just as easily be seen as the start of 2021. After Fareed Zakaria’s book, it’s Zappa, a documentary released late in 2020. Where Fareed is analyzing historical trends with an eye … Continue reading