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Category Archives: Reviews
Beethoven’s Eroica and Goodyear’s Callaloo: TSO’s triumph
Tonight the Toronto Symphony continue their winning streak, another wonderful program of diverse musical compositions, played brilliantly. A key contributor to our enjoyment was guest conductor Kristiina Poska. We heard three pieces tonight after the obligatory Oh Canada performance. Speaking … Continue reading
Tales of an Urban Indian in Toronto
I’m a bit late to the party, as far as Tales of an Urban Indian, by Darrell Dennis. I was aware of the show awhile ago, speaking as a regular at Talk is Free Theatre, a company that has done … Continue reading
Satisfying Comfort Food
I’ve just seen Comfort Food, Zorana Sadiq’s second play. It’s another creation supported by Crow’s Theatre, and quite different from MixTape (2021), her one-woman debut show. Zorana is a woman of many talents, a classical singer & actor whose reflections … Continue reading
Posted in Dance, theatre & musicals, Reviews
Tagged Comfort Food, Crow's Theatre, family, Mitchell Cushman, MixTape, Noah Grittani, writing, Zorana Sadiq
1 Comment
Tchaikovsky’s Pathétique from the Toronto Symphony
Tonight was entirely an orchestral night for the Toronto Symphony. No concerti, no soloists, just the virtuoso players of the TSO in two big works, one a world premiere. As Gustavo Gimeno suggested in his program note, tonight’s pieces “examine … Continue reading
COC gets Eugene Onegin
It seems like Tchaikovsky season in Toronto. Yuja Wang played his 1st piano concerto with the Toronto Symphony a couple of weeks ago, and the TSO play his 6th Symphony later this week. This weekend the Canadian Opera Company have … Continue reading
Posted in Opera, Reviews
Tagged Andrii Kymach, Canadian Opera Company, COC Chorus, COC Orchestra, Dimitry Ivashchenko, Emily Treigle, Eugene Onegin, Evan LeRoy Johnson, Krisztina Szabó, Lauren Fagan, Literaturoper, Lord Byron, Michael Levine, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovky, Robert Carsen, Speranza Scappucci, Toronto Symphony
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Scarborough Philharmonic season finale
Tonight’s concluding concert of Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra’s 2024-25 season is like a perfect mirror, as I reflect on questions of nationalism, artistic leadership and approaches to programming. This concert was the concluding evening of Linda Rogers’ tenure as the Executive … Continue reading
Posted in Music and musicology, Reviews
Tagged All Things Serve the Earth, Bruno Degazio, Canadian culture, Danielle MacMillan, David Smith, Dr. Paul Tichauer, Gustav Mahler, Helen Nestor, Linda Rogers, Maurice Ravel, Rachel MacFarlane, Ronald Royer, Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra, Shreya Jha, Sol Hurok, Songs of a Wayfarer, SPO, Walk With Me
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Soundstreams’ Garden of Vanished Pleasures on a dark Toronto weekend
In 2021 the COVID pandemic disrupted the plans by Soundstreams to present their original production Garden of Vanished Pleasures, a music-theatre work about Derek Jarman, the gay activist, film-maker & poet who died of AIDS related complications in 1994, devised … Continue reading
Posted in Dance, theatre & musicals, Music and musicology, Reviews
Tagged AIDS, Cameron Davis, Canadian Stage, Cecilia Livingston, Daniel Cabena, Danika Lorèn, David Jaeger, Derek Jarman, Donna McKevitt, Garden of Vanished Pleasures, gay activism, Hillary Tufford, Hyejin Kwon, Lawrence Cherney, Lord Byron, Mireille Asselin, Soundstreams, Tim Albery, woke culture
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Yuja Wang plays Tchaikovsky with the Toronto Symphony
I have never seen Roy Thomson Hall as full as it was tonight, Wednesday April 16th. They had a cop directing the cars out of the underground parking garage: because so many people came to see Yuja Wang play the … Continue reading
Posted in Music and musicology, Reviews
Tagged Arturo Márquez, classical-music, Gyorgy Ligeti, Jeremy EIchler, Jocelyn Morlock, Karel Ancerl, Leos Janacek, Lorne Michaels, Nutcracker, Philip Glass, piano, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovky, Roy Thomson Hall, Sinfonietta, Time's Echo, Toronto Symphony, Yuja Wang
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