Tag Archives: Ivars Taurins

Time to Lift Up Your Heads

Posted on April 5, 2020 by

Come along with me as I muse about one of my favorite pieces of music, on a day when it seems especially apt. There are good years when we’re rolling along enjoying springtime pleasures. And there are years when it’s … Continue reading →

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Tribal Messiah

Posted on December 22, 2019 by

I’m trying to find the right word, so please bear with me. For someone who goes to see concerts & theatre more often than most people, you might never guess that I’m sometimes frustrated. My mantra is “I’m a lucky … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Opera, Personal ruminations & essays, Reviews, Spirituality & Religion | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

How to Singalong

Posted on December 13, 2019 by

I don’t presume to know how one does the Singalong Messiah thing.  I am no expert. [morning after emendation… There are different sorts of experts. Singers? organists, conductors, musicians? or the textual scholars, people who really know Handel?  I avoid … Continue reading →

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St Matthew Passion: Bach at 334

Posted on March 22, 2019 by

Tonight was the first of four performances of the St Matthew Passion from Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, Tafelmusik Chamber Choir, with members of the Toronto Children’s Chorus, all led by Masaaki Suzuki. By coincidence it was JS Bach’s 334th birthday. While … Continue reading →

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Sing-Along Messiah 2018

Posted on December 23, 2018 by

You can change the location but the song remains the same. Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra & Chamber Choir led by Herr Handel himself gave us their annual sing-along Messiah. The previous 37 have been at Massey Hall, but this time renovation … Continue reading →

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Steffani: more devotion than drama

Posted on November 9, 2018 by

I am grateful for the gift of a new voice, a new composer introduced to me by Tafelmusik, Ivars Taurins, and Krisztina Szabo. It’s truly a magical thing. I was pondering the experience of classical music, how so much of … Continue reading →

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Tafelmusik record Beethoven’s Ninth

Posted on February 7, 2016 by

Tonight’s Koerner Hall concert was recorded, one of a series. But it seemed like a pair of concerts. Before intermission we watched the Tafelmusik Chamber Choir, led by their founding director Ivars Taurins. This is a choir he built, piece by … Continue reading →

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Tafelmusik: Season Launch 16/17

Posted on January 27, 2016 by

Tis the season. At a time of year when it can be so cold that one prefers to dream of next year (even if it’s been unseasonably warm to begin 2016), the major classical music organizations make their big announcements. … Continue reading →

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10 Questions for Joanne Lunn

Posted on December 14, 2015 by

Joanne Lunn is one of Britain’s leading Baroque sopranos, in great demand around the world.   Fortunately Toronto’s Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra is among the important ensembles with whom she collaborates.  Lunn rejoins Tafelmusik this week for Handel’s Messiah Dec 16-19 … Continue reading →

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10 questions for James Gilchrist

Posted on November 23, 2015 by

Here is the “informal biography” from James Gilchrist’s website, and offers a much better portrait than anything I could attempt. At the age of eight I came home from school one day and informed my parents that I was now in the … Continue reading →

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