Adam Sherkin investigates the queer canon in upcoming Piano Lunaire concert COMPOSERS IN PLAY XVI.

Posted on May 12, 2025 by barczablog

Thursday night at 7:30 pm May 15th, at the Arts and Letters Club, Piano Lunaire will present COMPOSERS IN PLAY XVI, a concert subtitled “Sounding the Queer Canon”.

I asked Piano Lunaire founder Adam Sherkin a few questions about the program and its objectives.

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Barczablog: Who organized / curated this program?

Adam Sherkin: This program grew out of discussions between myself and baritone Nathaniel Sullivan, at least initially.

Adam Sherkin (photo: Evan Bergstra)

Nathaniel is one of those unique artists who brings care, intent and expertise to everything he touches. I was struck by his willingness to curate a program in collaboration that could be dynamic, compelling and enigmatic, all at the same time.

Nathaniel Sullivan at Carnegie Hall (photo: Tim Dwight)

We especially set out to find a musical space for celebrating queer composers of our time and not-too-distant past that didn’t have to answer EVERY question nor provide a definitive “take” on the meaning of, or the content within, such a queer musical canon. From the outset, Nathaniel and I were comfortable fashioning this recital from a neutral, investigative zone of origin, armed with the conviction that this could turn into a long-term project, spanning multiple song recital programmes, engaging several new composers and years of collaboration.

Michael Genese

It was Nathaniel who recommended mezzo-soprano Claire McCahan come on board to plan for COMPOSERS IN PLAY XVI, (originally slated to be presented in NYC).

Claire McCahan (photo: Maundy Mitchell)

In order to do justice to Michael Genese’s, A Boy with Baleen for Teeth for mezzo-soprano and baritone, a voice like Claire’s was an important piece of this project. Claire immediately took to task with enthusiasm and spirit: she has now expressly contributed to the crafting of the recital that we present on May 15th in Toronto.

Composer Caroline Shaw (photo: Kait Moreno)

Her particular recommendations include “How do I find you?” by Caroline Shaw, and the touching, intimate setting from Annika Socolofsky, “loves don’t /go.”

Annika Socolofsky (photo: Nadine Dyskant-Miller)

Claire is a good friend and colleague of Socolofsky.

BB: what is your understanding of “queer” and how should we understand it?

Adam Sherkin: The reclamation of the term “queer” that has evolved since the 1980’s by activists and members of the community proves inclusive, hopeful and empowering. As older generations will recall the pejorative context of the label “queer,” the LGBTQ+ community of today embraces the terminology and moves forward in vigilant efforts to include those historically marginalized. This has become part of the and fight for equality and human rights, not just in North America but throughout the globe’s countries that continue to criminalize queerness. As to how an audience at a contemporary classical song recital might understand the meaning of “queer,” each person will bring their own context (even one of unfamiliarity) as they take in new sounds. Culturally significant queer work is what we are seeking to share at this performance. We wish to present high quality music from the western classical tradition that is undeniably queer in its origin, its content, and its mode of being/mode of sounding. This is the spark — the initialization — of a larger discussion and experience of queer culture and, specifically, queer classical music as a sampling from the last thirty years in North America.

BB: The program title suggests questions. What is your understanding of the”𝐐𝐮𝐞𝐞𝐫 𝐂𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐧”. Please unpack that for us.

Adam Sherkin:  This is such an interesting question, and strikes at the very heart of what we are attempting to share and prompt here. The honest truth is: we don’t (yet) have a full understanding of the Queer Canon, at least not in classical music. The queer canon of, say, literature or visual art is more readily identifiable. The practice of music, for all sorts of reasons, remains aloof, abstract and somehow less quantifiable. Nevertheless, that should not deter one from exploring such possibilities, such riches. Let us begin with simple queries such as: what musical content makes a work queer? Extra musical content is more obvious to profile but how might queer text, for example, interact with a queer sense of harmony or line? Of the major five musical parameters (ie. melody, harmony, rhythm, dynamic spectrum and texture/sonority), which of these could be accurately identified as born of or integrated into a queer musical aesthetic? Indeed, what constitutes the queer musical aesthetic? 

If we infer that, through performance practice and audience feedback, academic research and sonic dissemination, that a canon of music can develop, then where and what is the queer musical canon? Arguably, composers such as Tchaikovsky or Schubert would never have identified in such a way. More than an anachronistic rub, their origin point for their creativity could not benefit from flourishing in a society that openly celebrated, let alone, accepted queerness on a wider stage. Benjamin Britten was out in private but existed, yet again in a different time. However, composers such as he could be singled in tracing a contemporary queer canon pursuing investigations into the nature of Britten’s craft and musical voice from a queer vantage point. 

A final consideration here (a mere graze of the surface on this vast ocean-topic), is trauma and suffering in a given community or self-identifying group. While the ravages of HIV/AIDS continue to affect parts of the world here in the 21st century, in the west it was the queer community in the 1980s that first confronted what was then a fatal disease and had to find a way to survive it and make sense of such cataclysm. These experiences – in a shared context – might also affect the canonic nature of art made by artists who lived or died in such punishing times.

BB: tell us more about the works on the program.

Adam Sherkin:  Two of the important centrepieces to this programme are cycles from David Del Tredici and Chris DeBlasio – both of whom, incidentally – are no longer with us. Del Tredici passed away less than two years ago in Fall of 2023 and DeBlasio left us far too young, aged 34 in 1990, dying from AIDS-related causes. Both works explicitly address American queer experience and in particular, historical incidents that were germane to a queer identity. For Del Tredici in the third song of his Baritone Cycle, “Matthew Shepard,” his own shock and experience of the murderous hate crime perpetrated against Matthew Shepard in 1998 along with the words of James Manrique moved him to create this inspired and significant piece (dirge-like in its story-telling and setting; there are musical references to Chopin’s Funeral March.) Del Tredici wrote, ‘Matthew Shepard’ by Jaime Manrique touched me. The brutal homophobic death of this innocent resonated with my own loss through AIDS of a young lover, Paul. To surround with music that moment when the soul leaves the body, that transformation of pain into bliss, was my inspiration and challenge.”

The song opens:
IN THE FINAL MOMENTS
when the station wagon
pulled away, I shivered
and was thankful to feel something
Blood glued my eyes
I thought: the last thing
I want to remember
is not the look of hatred
in their eyes.

Excerpt from “Matthew Shepard”
From “Blood and Tears, Poems for Matthew Shepard”
Copyright by Jaime Manrique
Published by Painted Leaf Press

For DeBlasio, the exquisite poetry by Perry Brass led him to this powerful yet intimate set, All the Way Through Evening (Five nocturnes for Baritone and Piano) about an all-too-common experience of losing young healthy men to HIV/AIDS and the unfair and seemingly indiscriminate nature of that fatal illness. In DeBlasio’s setting, we perceive the loss of a friend or lover, companion or family member with intimacy and the weight of personal tragedy. And yet such experience of death of HIV/AIDS in the queer community of the late 1980’s and 1990’s were so widespread and similar in its unjustness, that this cycle of Deblasio’s transcends the individual experience and speaks to an entire community in their grief, as a record of what happened during that terrible time period.

Acclaimed American poetry Perry Brass has had an impressive career and continues to write today. His work has been part of the AIDS Quilt Songbook and the five poems DeBlasio set from Brass have been an integral part to the poignancy of All the Way Through Evening. From the fifth (and final) song of the cycle:

Walt Whitman in 1989
by Perry Brass

Walt Whitman has come down
today to the hospital room;
he rocks back and forth in the crisis;

he says it’s good we haven’t lost
our closeness, and cries
as each one is taken

He has writen many lines
about these years: the disfigurement
of young men and the wars

of hard tongues and closed minds.
The body in pain will bear such nobility,
but words have the edge

of poison when spoken bitterly.
Now he takes a dying man
in his arms and tells him

how deeply flows the River
that takes the old man and his friends
this evening. It is the River

of dusk and lamentation.
“Flow.” Walt says. “dear River,
I will carry this young man

to your bank. I’ll put him myself
on one of your strong, flat boats,
and we’ll sail together all the way
through evening.”

The third significant item on this programme, one by a young, living composer is the lucid and stirring setting from Michael Genese, “A Boy with Baleen for Teeth.”

Michael Genese

This coming-of-age narrative unfolds over nearly ten minutes making expert use of both voices and piano textures. Genese takes much direction and inspiration from the wondrous text by Rajiv Mohabir:

Mohabir describes the main character as “a falling star into the abyss” as they leave their family in the middle of the poem. The piece concludes with them trembling mid-air, “stars shone through the holes of my body,” almost a beacon of light for those who later struggle with community and identity as they have. The long-lasting damage done to queer people by western colonization’s ever-encroaching philosophies of binary gender, nuclear family structure, and societal respectability has policed and estranged us from communities in this way for centuries. This harm extends at several intersections to the struggles of Indigenous people, Black people, and all who threaten what James Baldwin called the “stupendous delusion” of whiteness in America, queer or not.

BB: Who are the artists?

Adam Sherkin: As he self-proclaims, Nathaniel Sullivan, “is a musician, theatre artist, and writer devoted to holding space for reflection, understanding, and creative projects that champion change.” He is currently based in NYC and in demand both in the northeast and midwest where he grew up. Many highlights to note from his 2024-25 concert season. Check out his website (not to mention personal reading list!) and read his thoughtful and beautifully written blog.

Claire McCahan (note her social media “the wild mezzo”) seems to sing it all! Based in New Hampshire, her singing career continues to thrill and evolve: spanning baroque, recital, opera, and contemporary repertoire. She has a knack for narrative style and story-telling; she also composes and arranges songs herself! 

We are thrilled to have Michael Genese able to join us in person. Two of their works will be featured on this programme, including the solo piano piece with electronics, Meditation on Sphere of Influence, presented by Piano Lunaire in February of 2024 in New York. Michael is not just a composer – but a singer and multi-instrumentalist as well. They are also an Artist Ambassador with the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) and continue to pursue important justice work. 

BB: Is this the first time the program will be played?

Adam Sherkin: Very much a first outing for this repertoire. Piano Lunaire presented one of these songs in June of 2019 in Toronto: David Del Tredici’s “Matthew Shepard” at a fundraising event for Rainbow Railroad. Otherwise, this is an evening comprised of firsts, including several Canadian premieres. Composer Michael Genese (who has two works being featured on the program) will be heard for the first time by Canadian audiences: a true northern debut! We had hoped to perform this in NYC as well but we are sticking to Toronto only for the moment. With any luck, other presenters might pick it up and offer us further opportunity. There are more ideas where these came from and lots more repertoire from the canon to sound.

BB: Do you see this program as being educational and activist? 

Adam Sherkin: This programme is likely educational in nature, insofar as all new work can enlighten, challenge and surprise us; it should edify if we allow it. But there is nothing particularly activist about what we are doing. Simply put, we are story-telling: seeking for more historical context, more weight to music we believe is deserving of repeated listening and of occupying a rightful place in a larger musical canon. Importantly, any performer –  LGBTQ or otherwise – might like to take up this music and present it. Reciprocally, any listener, LGBTQ+ identifying or otherwise may find it compelling and worthy to listen to. This explicit framing of queer music is not a new thing. It’s been well considered and exceedingly well presented by various organizations and artists for decades now. Some of these presenters solely offer queer-based music at their events.If the very content of this programme moves the listener enough to take action – to leave the hall and want to know more, understand better and act in the interests of human rights and justice for marginalized members of the queer community, then one could term what we are doing here as activism. But really, any good art or music should compel and inspire, aspiring to change people’s lives for the better.

BB: Tell me how the program might encourage us to “reconsider identities of Queer artists in contemporary classical music”

Adam Sherkin: The encouragement here for reconsideration is perhaps an urging for renewed and unprejudiced listening: try, if you will, to listen afresh to (well, new!) music by composers you might know something about already. Why not perceive them in an immediate context of our world today with as little bias as we can muster as individuals? This is, of course, very challenging for us all, as we all bring our biases – political, musical and otherwise – with us into the concert hall experience. But finding a way to objectify (in the best sense) the work of queer musicians and attempt to discern the value – the currency, if you will – in their art might prove meaningful and even illuminating. This act of reconsideration then could create interest in our next PL program and begin to fulfill the vital role of critical mass/attentive listenership in the contribution to, and the (re)consideration of, a queer musical canon.

BB: Toronto feels like a safer place than NY or LA right now, at least for any possible travellers. Do you expect to welcome anyone from outside Toronto to attend?

Adam Sherkin: One must admit that Toronto is a far safer place than any major American city right now, even the traditionally LGBTQ+ friendly metropolises. This is, of course, due to the current federal government in Washington and its increasingly public battle against queer rights; what they term “gender ideology.” Members of the trans community have already been expressly targeted with an executive order recently upheld by the Supreme Court baring trans people from military service and restricting transgender care for minors. 

Towards travellers to Toronto, the queer community remains welcoming and evolved in its acceptance and integration. While we still have much work to do here in Canada, we can offer safety and inclusivity to those folks visiting from other countries. Piano Lunaire has endeavoured to be an increasingly active and contributory member of the Toronto LGBTQI+ network. Indeed, singers Nathaniel Sullivan, Claire McCahan and Michael Genese are each American nationals who relish the opportunity to present their artistry to a Toronto audience. 

(This program was originally conceived for Piano Lunaire’s NYC series, especially given the prevalence of New York-based composers on the programme. Due to the unraveling political situation in the US, we have opted to present the recital here in Toronto instead, at least for the time being, as some of the personnel felt unsafe being in the United States under the current administration.)

BB: Lest we get too cocky about Toronto, what should allies remember as far as how to approach attending such a concert.


Adam Sherkin: We all ought to remember how best to be allies for any other membership in our society that does not share the privileges we do. For allies of the LGBTQ+ community, all are welcome and remain important to what we are trying to achieve at PL’s Thursday night show. Generally speaking, it is the hope of nearly all creators that their work be received by a wider, even global, audience and that it might touch the ears and hearts of all human beings. That also holds true for queer creators in music: the stories we have to tell and the musical materials we work with are the food of love for all audiences who might value it and wish to share in its message. Music as an art form can sometimes seem non specific, even abstract. This could offer even a wider margin of acceptance to non LGBTQ+ audiences as the details for the queerness in this art need not be overstated. But such perception and profiling does a disservice to our community here. The explicit queerness of the art must be celebrated, highlighted and cherished, even in its most abstracted iterations. Let’s journey together into this canon and find meaningful notes and words that move us, bringing us together as humane individuals passionate about music, who adore art and love one other.

BB: Do you want to acknowledge any mentors or influences, making this possible?

Adam Sherkin: Our donors and patrons at Piano Lunaire have long supported such curatorial visions and continually encourage us to keep innovating in many realms of new music, including the realm explored here in COMPOSERS IN PLAY XVI.

The Arts & Letters Club, being an historic and long-standing Toronto institution founded by journalist Augustus Bridle as a gathering place for artists, writers, musicians, and performers, today increasingly looks to the future, welcoming younger generations through their doors. 

They have been most generous in partnering with us on all programmes, including this one. Piano Lunaire has been happy to support the work of Rainbow Railroad in the past and continues to do so. This Canadian-born, global non-profit organization remains a beacon of inspiration and hope, especially those members of the international LGBTQI+ community being persecuted and punished in their home countries and in urgent need of safe haven.

ChamberQueer in Brooklyn has been a great inspiration to our work on this programme, as has the Queer Poetry Collective, The NYC Gay’s Guys Book Club (under the exception stewardship of Jon Tomlinson), Counterpoint Community Orchestra, The Toronto Gay Men’s Literary and Arts Salon (led by the intrepid David Hallman), The ArQuives (Toronto), The 519, The Center (NYC), NYC LGBT Sites Project and OperaQ here in Toronto. (Be sure to check out their upcoming collaboration with New Music Concerts on June 11th, “Glimmer: a personal and shared exploration of Queerness. )

PROGRAMME:

CAROLINE SHAW – How do I find you? (2018) for mezzo-soprano and piano
DAVID Del TREDICI – Three Baritone Songs (1999): No. 3, “Matthew Sheperd; text by Jaime Manrique
EVE BEGLARIAN – Farther from the Heart (2018) for voice and piano
CHRIS DeBLASIO – All the way through the Evening (1990) for baritone and piano; text by Perry Brass
~ ~ ~
ANNIKA SOKOLOFKSY – loves don’t / go (2016) for mezzo and piano
SHERKIN – CARETAKEROFDREAMS* for baritone and piano; text by Fan Wu
MICHAEL GENESE – MeditatIon for Sphere of influence** (2022) for solo piano/electronics
GENESE – A Boy with Baleen for Teeth** (2023) for mezzo, baritone and piano; text by Rajiv Mohabir

* WORLD PREMIERE; Piano Lunaire commission
** CANADIAN PREMIERE

Thursday, May 15, 2025 at 7:30pm: The Arts & Letters Club. Doors open at 7:00 PM; performance at 7:30pm. $25 General admission; $30 Seniors and art workers; FREE for students. Cash Bar and refreshments available throughout the performance.

Direct link for tickets.

Posted in Interviews, Music and musicology, Press Releases and Announcements | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

First Mother’s Day since my mother passed away

Posted on May 12, 2025 by barczablog

I played the organ at Hillcrest Church Sunday, substituting for David Warrack. It was Mother’s Day, the first Mother’s Day since my mom passed away.

I played one of her favourite melodies as the Offertory. Ack Värmeland du sköna is a song we heard Jussi Björling sing, and a tune she sang the last time I saw her (she sang the melody, not the Swedish lyrics).

My version was simply an instrumental played on the organ. I remember being impressed that she heard the resemblance between this folk tune and the melody of Smetana’s tone poem about the Moldau.

I’ve been looking at old photos and books. I found an album with pictures from the 1990s reminding me of trips Zoe and I took to Ottawa, taking my mother along to visit her old friend Norma Freitag in Eganville Ontario (no wait…I realize it was at a cottage on Mink Lake, not actually in Eganville).

Norma Freitag, my mother Katherine Barcza and a dog whose name I’ve forgotten

Norma had helped my mom in the difficult period after my dad passed away in 1960, a fellow member of the Lutheran congregation in Toronto. The album of printed snapshots that my mom assembled includes Norma’s obituary from 2001.

I realize now that motherhood takes many forms. My mother was a single mom in 1960 with four children. Thank goodness for the help she received from people like Norma. This picture from the 1990s is long after the fact (I’m grown up with my own daughter), and my mom is the one taking most of the pictures, from a time when we printed pictures and kept them in albums.

Norma, me and Zoe at 9 or 10 years of age.

It all feels so remote from the present day.

Norma had a nephew (I think) who was at the opera school at the same time as Peter. George Reinke was in that same Ariadne that I wrote about a few months ago. I think his part (Officer) may have been as tiny as my brother’s (wig-maker), but please note I’m digging into my memory, fascinated by how little I can remember.

George Reinke was in the tv broadcast of Louis Riel. He’s one of the soldiers we see at the very beginning. If I recall correctly he gets the second or third line of the opera, as the soldiers encounter the fortifications of the rebels. He says/sings “it’s laced with wire”, and I think it was delivered in the same sprechstimme –a mix of speech and singing– that we encounter in the current COC production of Wozzeck that I saw again on Saturday. While I have lost touch with George (and can’t find him anywhere online) it’s very cool to think he has immortality in the CBC broadcast of Harry Somers’ centennial year opera.

I am going to quote something my friend Carol said a few days ago that rang true (I almost said “wrung true”, but that gives the sentence and the metaphor a different direction). Carol said “Emmett’s kids aren’t going to know me.” Emmett is her grandson.

Lately my mind boggles as I contemplate history and the passage of time. My father died in 1960, and I have almost zero memory of him. I vaguely recall his voice from one thing he said, a very kind statement. Over the past five years I spent a lot of time with my mom, as a caregiver taking meals to her, transcribing her rhymes, watching films & tv with her, listening to her thoughts. And I feel already that she’s slipping away from me, even though she only passed away in December 2024.

It is in that spirit that I try to recall those visits to Norma in Eganville, peering at the pictures. Norma made us a dinner one night with deer that was road-kill. I recall her giggling about it, something about the Lord providing. And I remember she made the venison taste quite wonderful.

My mom’s photo of the view of Mink Lake from the cottage

The drives up to Eganville were a fun time with Zoe, when she and I drove my mom to visit Norma. We’re both so much older. I think it was roughly 30 years ago.

I looked at the photos, seeing my mom, Zoe, myself, Norma and her sister Elaine. I am humbled by the remoteness of the memories, so much more recent than what I recall of my father 65 years ago. I was reminded of my mom’s sports-car, a Datsun 240Z (or was it a 260?) by my friend David Wright in a recent email exchange. David was in the boys chorus in The Luck of Ginger Coffey, an opera presented in 1967. It was the other opera that nobody every talks about from Centennial Year, given that Louis Riel (that I mentioned) was revived for the Sesquicentennial, in 2017, while Ginger Coffee seems to have been forgotten. I vaguely recall the sound of Mignon Dunn singing the name “Ginger” to her operatic husband Harry Theyard in the opera. That’s all I recall. I remember even at the age of 12 thinking that Mignon Dunn was stunningly beautiful in the way a 12 year old boy notices such things. I think I also saw her sing Carmen. But while I recall that voice, until David mentioned the sports-car, I had forgotten about it. Music seems to stay with us, thinking of my mom’s Swedish tune, George Reinke’s or Mignon Dunn’s voices in my head.

How much else have I forgotten?

This morning as I was preparing for the church service I had an impulse, a kind of inspiration. I couldn’t figure out what to play for the postlude, and then thought of the song “Let it be”. It was 8:30 am, when I searched for the lyrics, printed them, practiced them. I went with the key of A major so it wouldn’t be too high for me to sing. The congregation seemed to enjoy it. My own private experience is irrelevant, I suppose, given that the song speaks to motherhood and reconciliation, universal themes appropriate for Mother’s Day. I feel so lucky to connect with the Hillcrest community.

I write these little blogs to help my memory. Whether it’s Speranza Scappucci or Yuja Wang or the COC, taking the time to analyze the experience and then to write about it makes it a deeper experience for me. My mom had a different relationship with each of her kids, as each of us brought out something different in her, so each of us has slightly different memories.

Erika and I had dinner today with Peter & Connie, including lots of conversation about opera and song cycles, and then we went downstairs where I coaxed Peter to sing a bit, including some of the Pagliacci Prologue and some of Siegmund from Act I of Die Walkuere. Peter wasn’t feeling great, perhaps getting over some sort of throat infection, but ha the piano lured him into singing, hitting the high A as Siegmund and the A-flat as Tonio. While he was a superb Silvio (a higher lyric baritone) in his day with the COC he’s much older now, with a sound that would work as Tonio: although I don’t think he’s planning to sing the role.

Too bad. He sounded really good.

And funnily enough while I have been harping on things we forget, Peter remembered the Italian & German lines and the notes really well, while I scrambled around at the piano. Fun.

I wondered if the reason I had the idea to sing Let it be was inspiration from my mom, whose presence I feel a lot lately. And I wondered too if Tonio was also her idea. What in heavens name led me to start playing those C-major chords that begin the Pagliacci prologue? But I feel my mother’s presence.

It was a really good day, and we were glad to have the visitors.

Posted in My mother, Opera, Personal ruminations & essays | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Asking Ardra Shephard about her Fallosophy

Posted on May 8, 2025 by barczablog

I dashed through Ardra Shephard’s memoir Fallosophy in a day, unable to put it down and laughing out loud regularly, the most entertaining book I have read in a long time. I am such a lucky guy that I get to write a review of something so wonderful, so inspiring, so full of laughter.

May is MS Awareness month. Author, former opera singer, podcaster, Ardra is also an MS activist, seeking to raise awareness.

I cannot lie. I pride myself on vulnerability, sharing the moments when I am excited, moved, teary- eyed. From time to time I encounter an artist who impresses me so much I am unsure how to proceed. I may be star-struck, or intimidated. Of course the problem with being so impressed with someone? when I had the chance to interview Ardra I was a bit too cautious, tongue-tied, over-thinking.

Slow.

But the interview is about her, not me. My job is to get out of the way, hoping you get a better perspective on Ardra and her work.

Voila.

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Barczablog: Are you more like your father or mother?

Ardra Shephard: I have qualities in common with both but I’m probably more like my mom – I share her can-do attitude, love of fashion and gossip. I have my dad’s green eyes and sardonic sense of humour. We can both make my mom laugh but no one cuts her up the way my dad does.

BB: What is the best or worst thing about what you do?

Ardra Shephard: The best thing about the kind of work I do (writing, podcasting, consulting, speaking) is getting to be creative and self-expressive. I’m my own boss and have the luxury of only committing to projects that interest and excite me. I make my own hours which feels essential when trying to accommodate the whims of chronic illness. The worst part is probably the math. I have income from multiple sources that comes in unreliable dribs and drabs. Accounting is a drag. I hate doing taxes, keeping receipts and navigating Quickbooks. Every year I decide it might actually be nice to get audited just so that someone who knows what they’re doing could sort things out for me.

BB: Who do you like to listen to or watch?

Ardra Shephard: I love TV but I am not a fan of having TV on in the background. I can only focus on one thing at a time. I tend to prefer smart comedies like Arrested Development, The Mindy Project and Veep. I loved Derry Girls. I recently watched CBC’s Small Achievable Goals and it’s the kind of story telling I’m passionate about. The way the show uses humour to disarm the audience is an unexpected education. There’s some intersection with disability in this show which features peri-menopausal and menopausal characters who remind us of how absurd our bodies are and the lengths we go to to hide what we’re going through just to get through the day, whether professionally or socially.

Like everyone, I just finished bingeing White Lotus. I am about to enter a period of
mourning because Righteous Gemstones is ending.

In terms of YouTube, Bliss Foster’s fashion journalism channel has filled the Jeanne
Beker-sized hole in my heart.

As for music, I appreciate lots of genres. Choral music, opera and 90s alternative are
my nostalgia jams. But I like to have fun with my playlists. If we’re having Chinese
takeout I’ll look for Chinese pop music on Spotify. Once we were having pierogies and I
discovered a truly awful song about borscht. I’m often looking for something I’ve never
heard before.

BB: What ability or skill do you wish you had, that you don’t have?

Ardra Shephard: I feel like I’m supposed to say accounting, but I don’t want to waste a wish on something so boring. I really love languages. The French I learned growing up isn’t going anywhere, but as an adult I got fairly proficient in Italian and Spanish. Those languages are slipping away from me now from lack of practice, but I expect to work on them again when the timing is right.

Lots of people “wish” they could play the piano or paint or sing or whatever without having to put in the work. But I enjoy the learning process. I’m often taking some kind of class. That said, I don’t stick with things I suck at. I took all of one knitting lesson then quit because knitting somehow gave me back pain. That is how athletic I am.

BB: When you’re just relaxing and not working, what is your favourite thing to do?

Ardra Shephard: Reading, when I’m being my best self, online shopping if I’m being real. Also, gossip. I talk on the phone several times a week with a couple of besties and my mom. Snuggles with the dog can be applied to all of these activities.

BB: What do we get wrong about MS? and what do we get right?

Ardra Shephard:The belief that disability is a fate worse than death. I certainly thought all my best days were behind me when I was diagnosed. MS sucks. Zero stars. Do not recommend. But it was a surprise for me to learn that a difficult life doesn’t have to be a joyless one.

As Canadians, we’re proud of our efforts toward diversity and inclusion but we often forget that diversity includes disability. We have a high tolerance for lack of accessibility in this country, whether in housing, public spaces, workplace accommodations, transportation…the list goes on. We’re more ignorant about inaccessibility than we are properly outraged.

Attitudes that reinforce the narrative that people are only worth what they can contribute financially or physically tend to get me fired up. I bristle about our cultural understanding of concepts like dignity and independence, but maybe these are things to explore in another book.

In terms of what we get right? Change is slow but we are making progress.

BB: Can glib questions about MS possibly capture what it’s like?

Ardra Shephard: Selma Blair (who was diagnosed with MS a few years ago), said something like
“MS is easier that I thought it would be. It’s also way worse,”
and I think that’s the absolute truth about MS, and possibly life in general. I don’t think anyone can really know what MS is like unless you have it. And thank God. It would be exhausting if we all had first-hand experience of everyone else’s pain. Giving people the benefit of the doubt, providing people with what they tell us they need is, I think, a more reasonable goal.

Rolling my eyes is an essential communication skill that I am unwilling to abandon (John Fanning once called it my most distinctive characteristic). But I would hate for my bad attitude to make anyone feel intimidated or worried they might say the wrong thing. I am a reasonable person with plenty of grace for putting one’s foot in one’s mouth. I do it too! It’s almost always better to ask questions than to assume.

BB: Did your vocal training prepare you for your current life?

Ardra Shephard: I’m in the middle of recording the audiobook (which will be out in July) and from a technical standpoint my vocal training is definitely helping me cope with fatigue and the dysarthria (an MS symptom) that sometimes shows up in my voice.

BB: Our paths crossed long ago, as I reviewed concerts such as a Messiah conducted by Kevin Mallon more than 10 years ago. Talk about your identity as an artist, and how you’ve reconciled yourself to MS as a singer.

Ardra Shephard: Wow, time flies. Messiah feels like a lifetime ago. It is remarkable and wonderful that you’ve been reviewing Toronto’s arts scene for so long!

I don’t consider myself a singer anymore and I’m actually surprised at how I’ve been able to make peace with this fact. Singing had a time and a place in my life and I’m so grateful I got to do it in any capacity but that chapter ended when singing started to cause me more grief and frustration than joy.

I have an awful lot of scores and sheet music if anyone wants it.

BB: Hello! I’m somewhere between “collector” & “hoarder”, … Yes (we’ll discuss later!).

Ardra Shephard: I think I’ve grieved singing sufficiently so that it’s not painful to discuss, but I did get a bit sucky last Christmas when I struggled to sing the hymns at church. In a past life I would have been belting out the descants. Now I’m one of those curmudgeons who refuses to sing Happy Birthday. I can let myself feel sad from time to time, but it’s generally easier to focus on what I have and can do. Plus, I feel lucky to live in Toronto where there is so much opportunity to participate in the arts from the comfort of the audience. It helps a lot that I am a better writer than I ever was a singer.

BB: If I may editorialize for a moment, it’s challenging for an artist to connect to the people portrayed in opera, but you’re speaking your truth as a writer, and eloquently. We’re lucky you found writing.

And so, at the risk of making me & my readers cry, I want to ask: do you still sing? Maybe you don’t hit the same high notes or have the same stamina for holding notes, but is there a way to keep singing, adjusting for MS, by drifting away from opera and singing lighter / easier rep?

Ardra Shephard: I see your threat to cry and raise you this pop ballad I recorded for my husband’s 40th birthday. It’s called Through Your Eyes and it’s about, well, have a listen.
(My friend Mike, who we meet in the book, produced this and sings backup vocals.)

BB: (….. listening……)

Ardra Shephard: My ability to sing was first impacted by my reduced stamina. Singing is so physical and even early in my diagnosis I could get breathless pretty quickly, though I do think that for a number of years singing was excellent physiotherapy. Gradually my core strength and balance deteriorated. When I started to need a cane about ten years ago, that was kind of the beginning of the end of singing for me.

In 2020 I had an MS relapse that impacted the quality of my voice and caused dysarthria (think Marge Simpson meets RFK). I had to do speech therapy just to be able to communicate. It took a couple of years for things to settle down. The dysarthria still shows up if I’m really tired, and I was worried it might impact my ability to work (on my podcast and as a host of AMI-TV’s Fashion Dis), but rehab helped and I’ve mostly been able to work around it. Phew. My book is literally about my voice (in various capacities), so I would have been heartbroken if we’d needed to get a voice actor for the audiobook.

BB: Your book FALLOSOPHY made me laugh so much that at one point in the review I said you reminded me of a stand-up comic like Chelsea Handler or Joan Rivers. The book is full of laughs even if much of the laughter is of the painful sort. Did you always have this sense of humour or is this an adaptation to reality, your way of coping?

Ardra Shephard: I was never the class-clown. I’m not really silly and I was kind of a serious, if somewhat sarcastic kid, but laughter has always been part of my life. I was raised on Monty Python and Fawlty Towers. The comedy of my teen years was SNL, Norm McDonald, Kids in the Hall, The Simpsons at their peak. My friends and I used to write our own irreverent, Letterman-style Top Ten Lists and draw cartoons to make each other laugh during choir practice. I remember making up ridiculous unrepeatably inappropriate operas with my cousins.

BB: When I told my arthritis doctor in 1997 that I was planning to get my PhD she said bluntly “why”? Her implication was that I should surrender to disease & aging. I took it as a challenge to defy, wanting to show her. Have you had any such moments when people or events were telling you to quit, and you defied that, wanting to show them you weren’t going to be defeated?

Ardra Shephard: I’ve always been driven by my own determination to build a full life for myself, even before I was diagnosed with MS. My parents never needed to tell me to study or do my homework. Anyone who’s ever told me to quit or slow down might have led me to feel frustrated or misunderstood, or even occasionally like I have permission to rest and not put so much pressure on myself. But I don’t think I’ve ever set out to prove anything to anyone other than myself. My goals have always been self-imposed.

BB: Everyone has things to cope with. Some people seem to cope with their challenges better than others. Do you laugh when you’re numb or in pain? How does your comic sensibility reflect your inner experience of MS?

Ardra Shephard: Coping well with anything means allowing yourself to feel whatever you’re feeling. I never use humour to deny what I’m going through. I believe in laughter, but I also believe in freaking out as necessary. Grieve and get on with it is kind of my MO. A comic sensibility can help make sense of the absurd, it can help you process suffering. It doesn’t prevent suffering, though it may take the edge off.

BB: What kind of exercises do you do?

Ardra Shephard: My physiotherapy routine includes a tedious series of toe curls, tiny movements, stretching, light weights and 3 squats if there’s time. The goal is to preserve function and increase balance and strength. Realistically though, it’s about getting worse slower than I would without an exercise routine, which sometimes makes it hard to stay motivated.

Fortunately I am also a rider at Toronto’s CARD (Community Association For Riders With Disabilities). If you saw me walk you’d never believe I could ride a horse, but equine therapy is fantastic for people with all kinds of disabilities. A horse’s gait mimics a healthy human gait, so when I’m riding my hips think I’m walking the way nature intended. Riding supports posture, cognition and mood. I love interacting with the volunteers. CARD has what they call their “mini-royal” coming up on June 14th where you can see rider demonstrations and learn about the organization. I will also be there signing books!

My day generally includes some reading, writing, and journaling. I’m a fan of the New York Times games. MS has taught me that wellness is holistic and so if I’m feeling like my legs are letting me down I can focus on, and feel good about, the other ways I’m supporting my health. Martin Short’s memoir helped me figure this out. Social capital, decent sleep, lots of water and ‘little treat culture’ all contribute to my overall conviction that life is worth living. I firmly believe that an MS diagnosis should come with a prescription for a puppy. Travelling as much as possible nourishes my soul.

BB: Is cannabis found in your medicine cabinet and do you have any thoughts on recreational drugs, given that recreation isn’t just fun but a way to make yourself healthy & happy.

Ardra Shephard: I’m not a recreational drug user, unless you count alcohol, in which case I most certainly am. But as much as I like a glass of wine or a gin-based cocktail, MS means I’m almost always two drinks ahead. An ounce of tequila can tame the spasticity in my legs, but two ounces means my shaky balance and wobbly gait will be negatively impacted, so I don’t drink nearly as much as I’d like to.

Cannabis helps many people with MS but it is not the substance for me. I tried to manage pain with CBD oil and ended up flat on the floor. My baseline blood pressure is quite low and certain drugs and medications make me incredibly dizzy. Anything that puts me at risk of falls is not a good fit for me.

BB: Every artistic discipline is impacted by the normal changes of a person aging. Our ears and eyes don’t work as well, arms and legs lose flexibility. Please share some of your thoughts about how you adjust to changes in the skills available to you.

Ardra Shephard: If you’re only as old as you feel, then my early 100s are off to a great start (though the calendar says I’m still in my 40s). I lost vision in my 20s, mobility in my 30s. I joke that I’m aging in dog years because loss of function has been part of my entire adult life. I’ve gotten good at adapting. Disability forces me to be creative and resourceful. You learn to find different ways of participating. It’s important not to have an all-or-nothing mentality or you will end up missing out on life.

Aging also brings wisdom, and so it must come with a positive impact on how we consume and interpret art.
(I really appreciate Julia Louis Dreyfus’ brilliant podcast Wiser Than Me for reminding me of this.)

BB: The effortless humour and wit of your book Fall-osophy blew me away. I see the same on your podcasts.

Ardra Shephard: Thank you. I was nervous to do a podcast because writing gives you time to say exactly what you want and a podcast is so off the cuff.

BB: We live in a culture that values youth & beauty telling stories about beautiful young people, while not always including the rest of us. As a fat kid who later lost weight, I never forgot the way I was perceived.

Ardra Shephard: Even within the disability community where limited stories are told, there seems to be a hierarchy of whose stories are shared. I too feel the pressure of maintaining a degree of youth and beauty and ironically, even physical function. I recognize the privileges that have made it easier for me to have a voice. Change is slow and I believe that social media is helping to level the playing field. Pride in identity is critical to advocating for inclusion and rights, and social media is a place where communities are forming and this is happening.

BB: Those of us who are disabled seem invisible sometimes, given that often the goal is simply to avoid calling attention, and to fit in as “competent”. Talk about how it impacts questions of representation and inclusiveness in the arts especially onstage in theatre & opera.

Ardra Shephard: I have tended to think of invisible illness in terms of the frustration that comes with having non-apparent symptoms not taken seriously as well as the challenges in advocating for accessibility and accommodations for conditions that are poorly understood.

But you’re right, there are more layers here and often invisibility is self-imposed–a defense mechanism, or attempt to avoid othering and discrimination. I write in the book about my own experience “passing” for non-disabled during the years when my MS symptoms were non-apparent. And even now that I am using mobility aids and am obviously disabled there is implicit pressure to blend-in and be low maintenance.

Stigma is a factor. Disability is often perceived as deficient (as opposed to different), and in a world where there are not enough opportunities for the most talented among us, any perceived lack of competence can be catastrophic. Disabled artists (disabled people in any profession, really) learn to blend into environments where it might otherwise be beneficial to stand out. We mask pain, fatigue and other symptoms as a response to a culture and workplace that punish vulnerability. (Nevermind that vulnerability is an asset to artistry.)

We’re getting better at creating structurally accessible spaces, particularly for audiences (ramps, captions, designated seating etc), but inclusion isn’t just about presence, it’s also about perspective. Disabled stories are often portrayed by non-disabled actors who go on to win awards, reinforcing the narrative that disability is something to imitate, not embody.

The cost to the arts is steep and stagnating when we fail to consider who is telling the story? Is disability a prop or a point of view?

There’s safety in numbers and we must resist invisibility in order to affect meaningful change. It’s not easy and advocacy doesn’t come without risk. Especially in under-resourced institutions. But just like with other marginalized communities, when disabled artists take up space on stage and behind the scenes, we expand not only who gets to perform but what performance means. Disability challenges the form. It encourages novel thinking and creativity. Accommodations can become artistic choices and isn’t that exciting? Audiences get to participate in something more raw, human, and honest.

BB: What are we getting wrong that adds to your challenges? In other words, is there anything about my perceptions as an average adult communicating with a person with MS that makes your life harder? what should I do differently, or how should i think differently,..?

Ardra Shephard: You’re overthinking it. We are more the same than we are different. Just be normal.

BB: Do you have any influences / teachers you would like to acknowledge.

Ardra Shephard: I don’t want to leave anyone out. My book is a bit of a love-letter to the people in my life who’ve encouraged, inspired and supported me, and who continue to do so, artistically
or otherwise.

I will add that for anyone interested in learning more about the themes in my book, I
would encourage you to read Rebekah Taussig’s book, Sitting Pretty. Watch Crip Camp
on Netflix. Add disabled content creators to your social media feeds. Support work that
prioritizes authentic representation. This doesn’t have to feel like homework. There’s
some brilliant work being done.

BB: Are you doing a book tour? Where can readers find you?

Ardra Shephard: I’ll be signing books at Indigo (Yorkdale Mall, Toronto) on May 24th from 12-3.

And doing a reading/signing/Q&A at TYPE Books Junction on May 25th at 6:30 as part of the
Junction Reads Festival. You can also attend this event virtually (register here).

I’ll be at the Saskatchewan Festival of Words in July, the Sunshine Coast festival in
August, in Whistler in October and I’ll be speaking for the Canadian Club of Halton in
November. You can follow me on Instagram for updates as events and appearances
are scheduled at @ms_trippingonair and on my website trippingonair.com.

The audiobook will be available in mid-July!

You can find my podcast on YouTube and stream Fashion Dis on AMI-plus.

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Tchaikovsky’s Pathétique from the Toronto Symphony

Posted on May 8, 2025 by barczablog

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 what it means to be human.”

Gastavo Gimeno leading the Toronto Symphony

And while they both offer a chance to showcase the orchestra, they contrast one from the other.

It was a large audience at Roy Thomson Hall, receptive to the exuberant new work by Daníel Bjarnason and totally ecstatic in response to Tchaikovsky’s valedictory symphony.

The world premiere before intermission I Want to Be Alive is a Trilogy for Orchestra. I remember hearing the opening segment in June of 2023, but it made much more sense now in the full context with the other two parts.

1-Echo (Man needs man)
2-Narcissus (We need mirrors)
3-Pandora’s Box

The program notes explained that Bjarnason was inspired by Stanislav Lem’s book Solaris as far as the first two titles, although artificial intelligence is a big part of the subtext. That being said, I simply listened to the music played by the TSO. The first two are similar ideas although not in the music we heard. Bjarnason assembled a huge orchestra with a big percussion contingent, provocatively erupting from the rear of the ensemble in the first segment. The second was much more soulful, softer, lyrical in its introspection. I was intrigued that at a time when the pathology associated with Narcissus is so frequently discussed in social media, that what I heard was something more sympathetic than I might have expected.

Gustavo with his eyes on the percussionists at the back of the TSO (Photo: Allan Cabral)

And then we came to the third impressive movement, very much what you’d expect from the title. Although Bjarnason tells us that the one thing left in the box is “hope”, for most of this movement he presents us with what we would expect. The first word that came to mind is “disorder”, or more accurately, complex rhythms to challenge the percussionists and the conductor. Pandora unleashes chaos on the world, and especially upon the conductor and his percussion section. I was reminded of Stravinsky’s Firebird, as the buildup to full orchestral tutti was polytonal, and remarkably flamboyant. Eventually things settle down, perhaps in the sense of the hope the composer sought to suggest, although in the wildest passages I was not afraid, but stimulated. It’s exciting stuff. Once again I wonder if Gustavo might someday record this with the TSO, showing off the excellent players.

Composer Daniel Bjarnason (photo: ©Saga Sig)

It was especially exciting to be able to applaud the composer on the occasion of the World Premiere.

Daniel Bjarnason and Gustavo Gimeno, before the Toronto Symphony (Photo: Allan Cabral)

After intermission it was time for the Pathétique.

I can’t help thinking of the Canadian Opera Company’s Tchaikovsky, Eugene Onegin conducted by Speranza Scappucci that opened last weekend, taking tempi faster, making dramatic climaxes bigger than I have ever heard them.

Ditto Gustavo Gimeno. I bring this up, mindful of Gustav Mahler: who was largely misunderstood for decades but only figured out much later. I wonder if maybe we are only starting to really understand Tchaikovsky a century later, after so much time when critics condescended to a composer, disparaged for seemingly wearing his heart on his sleeve. If your goal as an interpreter is to play up the cantabile, exploiting the melodic schmaltz without pushing the orchestra to its limit? perhaps you miss the point, captive of an obsolete tradition.

Gustavo gave us the most dramatic reading of this work that I have ever encountered. For most of the first movement that meant softer phrases, mezzo-forte or softer, until the big climactic passages near the end of the movement. The 5-4 second movement was done with great subtlety, very fast and very understated until climactic passages when Gustavo encouraged the brass to open up a bit more. Yes maybe this is a pattern, and it’s one I like.

The Allegro molto vivace was true to its name, faster than I’ve ever heard it. When it’s done a bit slower, it’s easier to play, but Gustavo is never looking for the easy path. I’m surprised at how clearly they articulated the inner voices. While there’s a positive energy to the movement it is followed immediately by one of the saddest things Tchaikovsky ever wrote, especially when the conductor makes no pause but presses forward. We go from a kind of manic macho exultation to sighs of despair in the closing movement.

It was Tchaikovsky’s birthday last night (also Brahms). I think Gustavo and the TSO gave us a proper celebration honouring a composer who continues to inspire amazing performances. The concert program is to be repeated Saturday night.

“Photos by Allan Cabral/Courtesy of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.”

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COC gets Eugene Onegin

Posted on May 5, 2025 by barczablog

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 revived the production of Tchaikovsky’s opera Eugene Onegin seen here in 2018. Opening night was last Friday and I attended the second performance on Sunday afternoon.

Onegin is better in 2025, as my headline should suggest. Much better. In a show originally directed by Robert Carsen and designed by Michael Levine, with revival Director Peter McClintock, assisted by Marilyn Gronsdal, surely the most valuable participant is Speranza Scappucci, who conducted the COC orchestra and chorus.

Conductor Speranza Scappucci

The COC orchestra could sound as soft as silk or build to a genuine ferocity when necessary. She found a level of passion in the Polonaise, the Cotillion or the Ecossaise, each a backdrop of the drama unfolding before us onstage.

At times Speranza dispensed with the baton, as in the aria that comes just before the duel between Lensky and Onegin, “kuda kuda”.

Zaretsky (Duncan Stenhouse), Eugene Onegin (Andrii Kymach) Lensky,
(Evan LeRoy Johnson; photo: Michael Cooper)

Speaking of kuda kuda, I was especially impressed with the singing of our Lensky this afternoon.

Evan LeRoy Johnson showed us a voice with remarkable capabilities that reminded me of the 20th century tenor Jussi Björling, with the ability to sing so gently that it verged on falsetto even as he properly supported the sound, or gradually making a crescendo to a big sound. He was very musical, wonderfully expressive.

Olga (Megan Marino), Lensky (Evan LeRoy Johnson; photo: Michael Cooper)

As I consider Jussi to be one of the greatest singers of all time, please assume that my comparison is meant as the highest praise.

Andrii Kymach in the title role had a very Russian sounding delivery, in the sense that I hear him making his voice darker than sounds entirely natural, even as he managed all the vocal challenges of the role. I wonder how the voice will sound in a decade as I worry that his darkening is not a choice conducive to longevity. Right now he sounds powerful. And his acting was a key to the success of the production.

Tatyana (Lauren Fagan) & Eugene Onegin (Andrii Kymach; photo: Michael Cooper)

Lauren Fagan as Tatyana is so much at the centre of the opera at the beginning that one might question the title of the work. I think it’s normal though, indeed we come to the end of the opera named for the man, but the woman is the one with our sympathies, every time. Tatyana is one of those roles that should be “can’t miss”, should be the one we care about at the end, especially if we saw youthful vulnerability in the letter scene, alongside dignified maturity in the passions she gives us in the last scene. I think Lauren’s Tatyana is more sympathetic than most, even as we admit that in this opera we always will like or love Tatyana.

Carsen addressed it in his director’s note: “When we first began to work on our production, we noticed that sometimes Tatyana tends to dominate the narrative.“

The first three scenes are really all about Tatyana and her response to Onegin (1-meeting him, 2-writing the letter to him and 3-humiliated by his polite words of rejection).

Carsen continues:
“But ultimately it is Eugene Onegin’s story, so we thought it would be interesting to tell it as much as possible from his point of view. To that end we shaped the production as a memory piece, with the action of the opening musical prelude beginning at the end, at the very moment in which Tatyana rejects and leaves Onegin.“

And so the first scene before the opera begins and after intermission give us a brief glimpses of Onegin miserably alone: as we shall see him at the conclusion of the opera.

Onegin is the classic Byronic figure, bored by his surroundings and distant from everyone around him. In this version Onegin is more objectionable, more blatantly misanthropic in his behaviour. Whether it’s due to directorial input or the singer’s idea, Andrii played the role in such a way as to emphasize the insincere mind-games in the party scene that lead up to his duel with his best friend. I find this choice makes him and the ensuing catastrophe more completely believable even as Onegin is made far less sympathetic as a result. I remember in the 2018 version Lensky seemed to be over-reacting to Onegin and indeed that is usually how I perceive him. This time I was intrigued to find myself sympathizing more fully with Lensky because Onegin seemed to be that much more of a deliberate jerk. I think too this means we are even more torn at the end, the outcome hitting extra hard because Onegin’s fall seems so totally self-inflicted.

Or maybe it’s just that the conducting and musical performances overwhelmed me so totally. And the audience seemed more fully persuaded than any performance I saw either in 2018 or before when I saw this production on the High Definition broadcast from the Metropolitan Opera. The blatancy of Andrii’s portrayal shifts the balance for me. I have always felt Tchaikovsky loves Tatyana and Lensky, the two whose music seems the most convincing, but past productions often felt false, not fully getting me there. I think between Speranza’s committed conducting and the darker reading of Onegin, that we were won over fully.

I found myself asking questions after.

When Prince Gremin sang about the blessings of age, having found and married Tatyana, it seemed astonishingly apt that someone sitting just in front of me had their telephone go off, ringing at least four times, while the owner (a senior like myself) was too ashamed to admit it, too inept to shut it off. As a senior I’m compulsive about my smartphone, believing that if I ever get too old to silence my own phone I’ve resigned from the community of live performance, having violated the social contract.

Eugene Onegin (Andrii Kymach) Prince Gremin (Dimitry Ivashchenko, photo: Michael Cooper)

Michael Colvin showed us his remarkable range singing the role of Monsieur Triquet. I don’t mean range in the usual operatic sense of how high or low they can sing, so much as dramatic capabilities. Michael is also seen in a few electrifying moments as the Fool in Wozzeck, having previously blown me away with his brilliance as Thomas Scott in Louis Riel. It’s great to see him having a good time onstage.

Monsieur Triquet (Michael Colvin; photo: Michael Cooper)

The choral set pieces were crisp and energetic, especially the delightful scene where a female chorus clear leaves from the centre of the stage.

What do the leaves signify? In the scene a few moments before Onegin comes to respond to Tatyana’s letter, the women sweep leaves to make a space on the stage. While these are surely dead they do suggest life. It’s a balletic scene that may not mean anything but is wonderful to watch.

COC Chorus (photo: Michael Cooper)

The opera does not carry the generic designation of “Literaturoper” as I mentioned in the Wozzeck review last week (a genre of literary text set to music without intervention of a librettist), but there are times when the absence of a real librettist is evident. As Carsen noticed, the opera seems to be about Tatyana at first, as the story only shifts focus to Onegin in the later scenes. Emily Treigle as Filipyevna and Krisztina Szabó as Madame Larina ground the opera in a calm normalcy, that sets up what’s to come. I love these opening scenes even if they’re not as fraught, not as Byronic, just pastoral and Russian. Olga (Megan Marino) is in the opening scenes, and comes to play a big part in the development of the conflict that leads to the opera’s catastrophe, although she is mostly on the sidelines once things get really serious.

Filipyevna (Emily Treigle) Madame Larina (Krisztina Szabó; photo: Michael Cooper)

Eugene Onegin continues with performances May 7, 9, 15, 17 & 24.

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Scarborough Philharmonic season finale

Posted on May 4, 2025 by barczablog

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 Director, a period of remarkable success for the SPO. She joked that “I think this is the 4th time I have retired,” a reflection of how indispensable she has been.

Dr. Paul Tichauer (SPO Chair & cellist), Linda Rogers, and Conductor Ron Royer

This time perhaps it will be different as Linda’s successor Helen Nestor has been officially announced.

Helen Nestor

The concert demonstrated again how brilliant Linda can be. Although Danielle MacMillan’s beautiful picture graced the cover of the program she was unwell, unable to perform tonight. And so Linda got on the phone to find a replacement at the last minute. Mezzo-soprano Hillary Tufford was called sometime between 11:00 am and noon, agreeing to undertake Mahler’s Songs of a Wayfarer with very little rehearsal on the day of the concert!

Mezzo-soprano Hillary Tufford

Yes Hillary was excellent, the SPO wonderfully attentive as conductor Ron Royer led a careful interpretation that was the highlight of the evening. Everyone seemed to be listening to one other. The cycle can sometimes sound a bit savage in places if an orchestra gets carried away: but Ron kept them in check.

But I wanted to just frame this around the evidence of organization and culture. We even had a visit from David Smith, the MPP for this Scarborough riding, a reminder of the superb support the SPO receives from multiple levels of government.

David Smith, MPP for Scarborough Centre

That’s Linda again, because she’s been the one filling out and sending in the grant applications.

As I think back on the concert we heard tonight, rebuilt slightly due to Danielle’s unfortunate illness, it’s clear that the SPO are superbly well-organized.

After we sang Oh Canada and heard from the MPP, we saw the short film originally meant for the second half of the evening, namely All Things Serve the Earth. I discovered that AI isn’t just plagiarism software but can sometimes do amazing creative things. In the film Brueghel’s paintings come to life, accompanied by the music of Bruno Degazio. Bruno’s music and the film were but the first original composition of the night.

The unfortunate casualty in the program was a performance of “Walk with me” from the Songs of Hope project, composed by Shreya Jha. Here’s a video showing what we lost.

So while we didn’t get to hear Danielle’s live performance of “Walk with me awhile”, we heard a bit of her singing in the video of Bruno’s song.

Before Hillary sang the Mahler cycle, we heard from the SPO playing the first of Ravel’s Valses nobles et sentimentales, and after they gave us the world premiere of Rachel MacFarlane’s La Danza Nocturna, an SPO commission. Rachel composed a fun piece reminding me of Rossini in its strong dramatic statements, its energy and melodic invention, larger than life in its playfulness.

After the intermission we heard Borodin’s 2nd Symphony, featuring a great many impressive solos from the wind players, particularly horn, oboe, flute & clarinet in the Andante movement.

I was thinking about Sol Hurok, a man who influenced the way entertainment was promoted in the 20th Century. I remember hearing from an architect that the big halls built around North America were meant for star attractions, based on assumptions and business models that may be now out of date. Bigger is not necessarily better. A small local venue such as the Salvation Army Scarborough Citadel might be ideal for some things, as we saw tonight. I am again bathed in the intense sounds of this orchestra, a richness of sound I can’t get in a bigger hall, able to see facial expressions and the emotions of the artists. The community of Scarborough is a big part of the experience.

We are hearing a lot about buying Canadian. Especially at a time like this one it’s good to feel that our tax dollars are truly supporting Canadian culture.

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COC’s Wozzeck, a relatable opera

Posted on April 28, 2025 by barczablog

This spring season of the Canadian Opera Company feels a bit like the second coming of Alexander Neef, their former General Director. Next week we’ll be seeing the revival of Robert Carsen’s Eugene Onegin, a production that Neef brought to Toronto in 2018. But this week it’s Wozzeck, a show I saw in the Metropolitan Opera’s High Definition series in 2020, announced this way:

“A co-production of the Metropolitan Opera;
Salzburg Festival; the Canadian Opera Company, Toronto; and Opera Australia.”

More than five years later, the co-pro has finally come to Toronto, long after Neef left Toronto and even his successor Perryn Leech left the COC.

The other fellow in the picture is even more important.

COC Music Director Johannes Debus and COC General Director Alexander Neef. (Photo: bohuang.ca)

Johannes Debus and the COC Orchestra met all the challenges of Alban Berg’s score, except perhaps one. In the scene when the Drum Major comes into the barracks, to boast about his conquest of Marie, the whistles weren’t easily audible. Except for that tiny silly detail, the orchestra and the chorus were absolutely perfect! I had to mention the whistle to underline my appreciation for what Debus and company accomplished. The lyrical last moments for each of Marie and Wozzeck were truly breath-taking, gorgeous and beautiful even if they were also eerie and grotesque.

Wozzeck is the pinnacle of 20th Century modernism, the top of a mountain first discerned by Liszt, shaped and climbed by Wagner, Strauss and Mahler. While there’s dissonance in the score, it’s not atonal, but the music is difficult.

But if you have seen this Wozzeck you’re probably ready to label me a music nerd, given that I am omitting the real key figure in this production, one of the most remarkable stagings I’ve ever seen on a COC stage, namely the director William Kentridge.

William Kentridge (photo: Norbert Miguletz)

Kentridge has a fascinating vision of the opera. We see a design that seems to relocate the story to the period of the First World War. Okay, that’s what I assumed: until I heard him explain on Youtube that what we’re seeing is “a premonition of the First World War”.

Wozzeck meets the Doctor in Act I, image from the Salzburg production

So the puppet child wears a gas mask.

Image from Salzburg production showing puppet wearing gas mask

Kentridge leads a brilliant team, presenting something different for the Toronto version of Wozzeck, including Co-Director Luc De Wit, Set Designer Sabine Theunissen, Costume Designer Greta Goiris, Original Lighting Designer Urs Schönebaum, Revival Lighting Designer Mikael Kangas, Projection Designer Catherine Meyburgh and Video Control Kim Gunning. Yes Wozzeck is played by the COC Orchestra and sung by a remarkable cast of singers, but first and foremost you will be immersed in the flamboyant images of Kentridge’s vision for Wozzeck.

Ambur Braid as Marie continues her winning streak at the COC, inevitably the most sympathetic person onstage regardless of the composer or the style she’s required to play. I never doubted her for a moment as the mother of a puppet-child, indeed she will move you to tears. I think Michael Kupfer-Radecky is a more believable Wozzeck than the Met’s star Peter Mattei, a singer whose ambition to be an artist got in the way of the credibility of his portrayal of this sad everyman in the High Def broadcast (which gives us extreme closeups).

Peter Mattei in Wozzeck at the Met. (Photo: Paola Kudacki/Met Opera)

Michael felt so much more direct, and wonderfully musical. I’m not sure whether I was crying in the scene between him & Marie in Act II where he gives her some money because of Ambur’s response or the way he sang his lines, before his exit. OMG, so gorgeous. I guess it helps Ambur to be hearing that exquisite unaffected delivery. I’m envious, they get to hear each other every show.

Michael Kupfer-Radecky as Wozzeck and Ambur Braid as Marie (photo: Michael Cooper)

The first voice we hear is Michael Schade as the Captain, berating Wozzeck in the opening scene. We’ve seen so many superb portrayals from Michael, it’s no surprise he gives us such a fascinating Captain. In Kentridge’s theatrical world it’s a caricature such as we might find in Commedia dell’Arte, a self-consistent wooden stock figure that bounces back and forth between quirky and grotesque. There are other comic stock figures who torment Wozzeck. Anthony Robin Schneider is the Doctor, whose experiments will lead to immortality and possibly kill his subject.

Anthony Robin Schneider as the Doctor and Michael Schade as The Captain (photo: Michael Cooper)

And the other tormentor is a Miles Gloriosus, the bullying Drum Major of Matthew Cairns.

Ambur Braid as Marie and Matthew Cairns as The Drum Major (photo: Michael Cooper)

Wozzeck also has a friend named Andres although the scene where we might see Andres as upbeat, in contrast to the torment Wozzeck is getting in the other scenes, is rather dark in Kentridge’s interpretation. Owen McCausland handled all its challenges including the high C in the tavern scene, effortlessly.

Owen McCausland as Andres and Michael Kupfer-Radecky as Wozzeck (photo: Michael Cooper)

In the conversation after seeing this new Wozzeck we were somewhat perplexed. Alas the theatre was not full, even though what we saw is a powerfully cinematic experience, an overwhelming combination of images and performances. My friend Alexander Cappellazzo thought it was the most completely relatable combination of story, action and music that you will find on an operatic stage.

Alexander Cappellazzo

He compared it to Taxi Driver, suggesting that maybe it shouldn’t be promoted as a conventional opera: because of course that’s not what it is. We wonder: how do we get this across to the potential audience? What should the COC do differently to promote this absolute jewel of a production? I feel sad, seeing the best opera performance today that I’ve seen in a long time in a half-empty theatre. I’m reminded of the conversations I’ve been having about popularity, a tricky concept. I believe Wozzeck could be sold out if the audience knew what they were getting. Maybe we need to see Kentridge’s edgy designs, the overpowering stage picture, rather than the usual operatic sales-job with its focus on the singers. It’s more like a movie than an opera, and it sweeps you away.

Okay a bit more nerdy stuff, then I’m done. Wozzeck is an example of a genre called “literaturoper”, a genre that isn’t terribly well-known. If the opera is an adaptation from a play or work of literature one could make the case that it’s a literaturoper. Salome and Elektra by Richard Strauss, Pelléas et Mélisande by Debussy take a play and adapt it without the intervening step of a libretto, such as you’d find with La boheme or Traviata or Carmen. Wozzeck is a fascinating case given that the original is a framentary play reassembled by Karl Emil Franzos, who has a dubious claim to fame. He’s responsible for mistaking the title of Georg Büchner’s fragmentary play Woyzeck as Wozzeck instead. I am not surprised, speaking as someone whose handwriting used to be pretty terrible in the days before I started using laptops & smartphones instead. And while I have never seen Eugene Onegin mentioned for inclusion in the list of literaturopern, maybe it also belongs there given that Tchaikovsky adapted the work from Pushkin’s poem. Or maybe the designation doesn’t mean much of anything.

I’m looking forward to seeing Onegin next week, as we come up on the renewal deadline for COC subscriptions mid-week. Yes I will renew my subscription. I’m looking forward to seeing Wozzeck again later in the run, but this time sitting up close. Kentridge’s production makes this opera fabulous to watch from any distance, exciting from any seat in the house.

Wozzeck continues with performances May 3, 8, 10, 14, 16.

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Soundstreams’ Garden of Vanished Pleasures on a dark Toronto weekend

Posted on April 27, 2025 by barczablog

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 by director Tim Albery. Soundstreams gave us a virtual version online that I reviewed here.

This weekend Soundstreams premiered a live version meant to realize Albery’s original intentions at Canadian Stage’s Marilyn & Charles Baillie Theatre. There is a final Sunday matinee remaining
(for information).

I expected more of a difference between the online work (which I loved) and its new live version, presented by four singers (Mireille Asselin, soprano, Danika Lorèn, soprano, Hillary Tufford, mezzo-soprano & Daniel Cabena, counter-tenor), three live musicians (Hyejin Kwon, music director & piano, Brenna Hardy-Kavanagh, viola, Amahl Arulanandam, cello) and a lot of CGI effects projected on the back wall of the Berkeley St Theatre. I thought I was watching exactly what I had seen in 2021, which was actually an exciting work.

To open my review back in 2021 I said “I wondered whether one needs to know Derek Jarman, as I watched Garden of Vanished Pleasures for the first time.” Today I feel even more certain that it is not necessarily an advantage to be a Derek Jarman fan, coming to something like this. I recall my frustrations encountering the poetry of Lord Byron, noting the discrepancy between the phenomenon of Byronism and his actual poems. Jarman is a similar larger than life phenomenon whose actual films & poems are largely unknown. But that doesn’t matter when you come to Albery’s music theatre piece. I call it Albery’s even though there are other creatives, including two composers and several poets, who contributed to the piece.

Composer Cecilia Livingston
Composer Donna McKevitt

Sometimes I use questions of genre to try to get a sense of what I have seen and heard but I am hesitant in this case. The printed program gave us names for 22 segments. Let me show you and forgive me if this starts to seem reductive.

1 Sweet Wisdom Music: Donna McKevitt
2 What If Music: Donna McKevitt; Text: Derek Jarman
3 Silver Music: Cecilia Livingston; Text: Walter de la Mare
4 Translucense Music: Donna McKevitt; Text: Derek Jarman
5 Parting Music: Cecilia Livingston; Text: Janey Lew
6 Nature Music: Donna McKevitt; Text: Derek Jarman
7 Kalypso Music: Cecilia Livingston; Text: Duncan McFarlane
8 I sit here immobile Music: Donna McKevitt; Text: Derek Jarman
9 Two Dreams Music: Cecilia Livingston; Text: Cecilia Livingston
10 Prelude to Sebastiane Music: Donna McKevitt
11 Sebastiane Music: Donna McKevitt; Text: Derek Jarman
12 I am a mannish muff diving size queen Music: Donna McKevitt; Text: Derek Jarman
13 Adam & Eve & Punch-Me-Not Music: Donna McKevitt; Text: Derek Jarman
14 Impatient Youths Music: Donna McKevitt; Text: Derek Jarman
15 Mercy Music: Cecilia Livingston; Text: Duncan McFarlane
16 The System Music: Donna McKevitt; Text: Derek Jarman
17 No Dragons Music: Donna McKevitt; Text: Derek Jarman
18 Kiss Goodnight Music: Cecilia Livingston; Text: Cecilia Livingston
19 Snow Music: Cecilia Livingston; Text: Walter de la Mare
20 A Prelude Music: Donna McKevitt
21 I walk in this garden Music: Donna McKevitt; Text: Derek Jarman
22 February Music: Donna McKevitt

I have been hesitant to speak of authorship except to mention Albery. In the program note by David Jaeger, where I’ve read about Albery’s process assembling music from Donna McKevitt and Cecilia Livingston, it reminded me of a film scoring process, where the music feels subordinate to text & image. The presentation onstage reminded me of a song cycle, sometimes sung by a soloist, sometimes by several of the singers. I heard some people speak of this as opera. Maybe.

When I recall the seminal words of Richard Wagner in Opera and Drama, he summarized the history of opera as a medium meant to employ music for dramatic purposes (to make theatre), that usually used drama for musical purposes (to make music). And there’s nothing wrong with doing the usual operatic thing, to make music that gives us the chance to hear wonderful voices and musicians, whether we call it a song cycle or opera or music-theatre. I think that’s really what Garden of Vanished Pleasures does, showing off the four fabulous voices under the careful leadership of the conductor.

Hyejin Kwon, music director & pianist (photo: Cylla von Tiedemann)

We’re in the last few days before a federal election causing varying degrees of derangement and stress. Friday night I escaped to a Toronto Symphony concert. You can’t trust reviews from someone who is going mad, which is why I want to frame my experience seeing Saturday’s matinee of Garden of Vanished Pleasures from Soundstreams.

MPP Kristin Wong-Tam, violist Brenna Hardy-Kavanagh, cellist Amahl Arulanandam, Soundstreams Artistic Director Lawrence Cherney, David Parsons Ontario Arts Council.

Before the show began we were reminded of how fortunate we are here in Toronto, in a little pre-show talk from MPP Kristin Wong-Tam. While there was no explicit mention of our neighbors to the south but yes, we are lucky and the election is Monday. “Woke culture” is still mentioned by one of the political parties seeking to run the country. While Jarman’s story may be a dark one it serves as genuine escapism, validating norms that some seek to challenge and even to erase.

That made Garden of Vanished Pleasures feel especially cathartic, accompanied by superb visuals, projections designed by Cameron Davis. All four singers sounded wonderful and intelligible too.

Daniel Cabena, Mireille Asselin, Danika Lorèn, Hillary Tufford (photo: Cylla von Tiedemann)
Mireille Asselin, Hillary Tufford, Daniel Cabena (photo: Cylla von Tiedemann)
Mireille Asselin (photo: Cylla von Tiedemann)
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Celebración hispana from Gimeno, Gomyo & TSO

Posted on April 26, 2025 by barczablog

Tonight is the first of three voyages into the heart of the hispanic as imagined in music, guided by Toronto Symphony Music Director Gustavo Gimeno, a program to be repeated Saturday and Sunday that feels like a genuine celebration.

Gustavo Gimeno conducting the Toronto Symphony

While Roy Thomson Hall was completely sold out last week for concerts featuring guest soloist Yuja Wang, tonight there were still tickets available but then again we can’t expect Yuja every night. Last week is was the glory of Slavic composers Janacek & Tchaikovsky, but I am especially happy to trust Gustavo showing us his Hispanic roots. as he did tonight.

Yet there were no weak spots in the pieces curated for our pleasure tonight:

Perú Negro by Jimmy López
The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires by Astor Piazzolla (arranged by Leonid Desyatnikov)
–intermission–
Dance Scenes from the Living Room by Liam Ritz
Suites No. 1 & 2 from Carmen by Georges Bizet (arranged by Fritz Hoffmann)

The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires resembles a baroque violin concerto at first glance, played by soloist Karen Gomyo, with a small string orchestra backing her. That is until you hear the work, the strings sometimes powerfully rhythmic in their attacks, sometimes making sounds as if they had concealed percussion among them, taking us into something much more fun. The musical idiom dances on the edge of something classical and something like a popular dance both in its energetic vitality and the variety of ways the instruments were used, especially Karen’s solo part.

Violinist Karen Gomyo

But of course this is not Vivaldi’s familiar old Four Seasons even if each of the four movements offers a witty quotation from the baroque violin concerti. Although we giggled aloud when we recognized the familiar music it was subtly done.

Karen followed with a superb encore, Tango etude #3 by Piazzolla.

And unlike Yuja last week, she told us what she was playing which is a big help.

The evening’s title was Bizet’s Carmen Suites, as we closed with a pair of suites running roughly half an hour. For me the biggest tragedy of Carmen is that Bizet died without any inkling of the success the opera would find. The premiere and the composer’s death happened 150 years ago. In that half hour we didn’t exhaust the melodic riches of the score. Gustavo has such a superb rapport with the TSO that we were spellbound. I heard no phones going off, a silent audience enraptured by what we were hearing.

Jimmy Lopez’s Perú Negro started our evening with another flavour of music that, while recognizably hispanic in its rhythms, took us into a much more modernist idiom than what was to follow.

After the intermission came a piece that I thought of as the highlight of the night, as it was a great pleasure to applaud the young composer himself on the occasion of the world premiere, namely Liam Ritz’s Dance Scenes from the Living Room, a TSO commission. I saw when I googled that he was born 1996, in other words he’s not yet 30 years old.

Liam Ritz

It is refreshing to read a program note about a modern composition that is accurately described and evoked. I only wish I could hear it again to delve deeper. (And I quote) The piece
“reimagines the freedom of dancing in one’s living room, lost within the music, carefree, and without inhibitions. It’s not just a celebration of that inner child, but an invitation to rediscover that same joy and freedom as an adult”.

Gustavo turned the TSO loose for eight minutes of flamboyant fun. Arguably every composer wants to show us who they are, to win us over with their music, right? Well consider me won.

The TSO will be back with the same gorgeous pieces Saturday and Sunday.

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Yuja Wang plays Tchaikovsky with the Toronto Symphony

Posted on April 17, 2025 by barczablog

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 piano with the Toronto Symphony conducted by Gustavo Gimeno.

No wonder. Is she more or less acknowledged as the best piano player in the world right now? Forgive me, it’s absurd to try to compare as though there were a competition.

Yuja Wang rehearsing with Gustavo Gimeno and the TSO

Speaking of competitions, tensions were thawed when Van Cliburn won the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow at the height of the Cold War in 1958 playing Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto. Hard hearts accomplish nothing, let us open our hearts to beauty, whatever its nationality.

But I saw on social media that Yuja’s teacher Gary Graffman doesn’t allow his students to enter competitions, doesn’t believe in them. In a post I saw on Slipped Disc, Graffman said
“‘I was totally against competitions,’ he says. ‘I didn’t allow Lang Lang or Yuja Wang to compete.’“

And they’re fine without competitions. She is simply the best.

Gustavo Gimeno, Yuja Wang (photo: Allan Cabral)

We’re having a bit of a Tchaikovsky Festival in Toronto. The Canadian Opera Company will be presenting Eugene Onegin next month, and the TSO and Gustavo will be giving us Tchaikovsky’s Pathetique Symphony (aka #6) in a couple of weeks. That’s on top of the ballet season built around his Nutcracker, Tchaikovsky’s annual gift to their bottom line.

Tonight though it was a concert featuring Yuja Wang playing Tchaikovsky’s 1st Piano Concerto in a sold-out hall. As the program note observed, Tchaikovsky has often been met by condescension: perhaps because he’s popular, wearing his heart on his sleeve. The academics will someday catch up to the public who know beauty when they hear it.

Cartoon by Jessica Mariko @caffeinatedkeyboardist

Yuja’s Tchaikovsky is unique. The soft passages are shaped so beautifully, so clearly articulated, sometimes so soft you lean forward to hear them, for instance in the cadenza to the first movement, the piano sounding like a singer’s meditation, sometimes arriving with great power. Don’t let her size fool you, she has an athlete’s stamina and reserves of power. The TSO responded under Gustavo’s baton, held in reserve until the climactic passages ending the first and last movement,

Yuja Wang and the TSO in rehearsal

There was an explosion of applause and in response Yuja gave us three wonderful encores.

I think the first one was Danzon #2 by the Mexican composer Arturo Márquez. I only knew this because of my friend Yoel Becquer, the lovely young trombone-player sitting beside me at the concert. I took a selfie to properly credit him.

Leslie & Yoel after the concert

Second encore? I don’t know, I’m guessing it’s a Ligeti etude because it was similarly virtuosic & challenging as that first amazing Márquez piece, and I know that Yuja has played & recorded several of them. Beyond that, I’m just guessing. [next day I was told by TSO “SHOSTAKOVICH/arr. Yuja Wang: String Quartet No 8 (Met. 2)”]

So at this point Yuja had already given us the concerto and two remarkable encores.

And she came back for a third, the sixth Philip Glass Etude. While I’ve played the piece it does NOT sound this way when I play it (cue the laughter). Not even close.

There was a whole other half to the program before intermission.

Jocelyn Morlock’s My Name is Amanda Todd is a surprisingly powerful piece. I am of two minds about it, given that its subject is so powerful. When I heard it the first time, at a National Arts Centre concert a few years ago, I was very moved (and tearful): but likely was impacted by the powerful story of Amanda Todd that underlies the composition. Tonight I had another strong response, with additional sadness over the recent untimely death of the composer.

Jocelyn Morlock

I have been reading Time’s Echo, Jeremy Eichler’s 2023 book about music and the Holocaust, that suggests that music can help preserve histories & messages after the eye-witnesses have died: an idea I find interesting yet troubling. Can Morlock’s music tell us about Amanda Todd? I’m not sure, and I think the question is kind of complex, perhaps asking too much of the composition, taking us to the limits of what any music can do. All I do know is that Gustavo brought energy and inspiration to the work. I found myself intrigued and moved by a vulnerability I experienced in the beginning part, music that had me asking myself what I was feeling. At times the voices interact, the different parts seeming to quarrel, discuss, even fight, and eventually find something more unified by the end. I couldn’t help myself, reading Amanda Todd’s story into the music. Gustavo honours the piece, a fascinating emotional tone poem to begin our evening.

Speaking of music with powerful associations, the next work was Janacek’s Sinfonietta, a piece that will enjoy its centennial next year, and that I associate with former TSO music director Karel Ancerl, having heard his recording of the piece with the Czech Philharmonic. I love this piece. I was overwhelmed by what the TSO accomplished under Gustavo’s direction tonight, and hope someday that the TSO records this piece. Oh my God. I think Ancerl always pushed the pedal to the metal in the big brass sections, asking for fortissimo whenever there was an option, while Gustavo is subtler, going for a gradual build-up to the radiant ending. This is one of those times when Roy Thomson Hall’s acoustic sounded really good, the huge brass complement filling the hall perfectly.

Toronto Symphony trumpets (photo: Allan Cabral)

Gustavo invited all the inner voices to come through regardless of whether they were dissonant or not.

Maybe I’m a bit sentimental but when I thought of Ancerl who survived Auschwitz to come to the Toronto Symphony in 1969, I imagined him listening in the stunning perfect last few minutes, as my tears flooded down my face. Yes flooded.

Yuja and Gustavo and the TSO will be back to play the Tchaikovsky and Morlock and Janacek again Thursday and Saturday at 8;00 pm at Roy Thomson Hall. I believe they’re also sold out.

Lorne Michaels

I was thinking Saturday Night Live should get Yuja as their musical guest. Lizzo sang two decent songs this past week, better than the usual. Years ago SNL had Luciano Pavarotti on and surely could afford Yuja.

There’s nobody better.

Come on Lorne!

Gustavo Gimeno, Yuja Wang, Toronto Symphony (photo: Allan Cabral)
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