Tag Archives: Jonathan Crow

Gemma New, Kerson Leong and the TSO: “allez grand ou rentrez chez vous”

Last night I heard the first of the Toronto Symphony’s weekend of romantic works, responding passionately to their guest conductor, the New Zealand-born Gemma New. I noticed her intense display of commitment, yet so respectful of every collaborator in this … Continue reading

Posted in Dance, theatre & musicals, Music and musicology, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Electrifying opener for Gimeno and TSO

Tonight’s concert by the Toronto Symphony was a fitting beginning to their centennial season, a genuinely celebratory evening. The program message from Music Director Gustavo Gimeno is very promising: “The creation of contrast is at the heart of what I … Continue reading

Posted in Music and musicology, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Beethoven encore with Crow and Chiu

Toronto Summer Music’s 2021 Festival season concludes this weekend. In a year when theatre, opera & classical music have mostly been clinging to a precarious life through online presentations, this year’s festival was certainly a bit different, mixing vimeo links … Continue reading

Posted in Music and musicology, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Crow and Chiu play Beethoven live and in person

The performance is almost incidental to the miracle of live music. Please let me never become blasé, never lose my sense of wonder and gratitude, inured to magic. This is a privilege. I was stunned that not only the Toronto … Continue reading

Posted in Dance, theatre & musicals, Music and musicology | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Kreutzer rather than Bridgetower

2020 was to have been the Beethoven year, the 250th anniversary of the composer’s birth in 1770. But of course the plans for operas, plays or concerts collided with the restrictions imposed by the pandemic. Thank goodness Toronto Summer Music … Continue reading

Posted in Personal ruminations & essays | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

TSO Thais: via Massenet & Anatole France

The Toronto Symphony concert performance of Thaïs, recently released on Chandos, has me wishing we could see & hear more from Jules Massenet, the opera’s composer.  I begin to understand why the late Stuart Hamilton in his time with Opera … Continue reading

Posted in Books & Literature, Music and musicology, Opera, Reviews, Spirituality & Religion | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Framing the Pollyanna proposition

January is named for that two-headed god who is able to look ahead and back. As I ponder the wreckage of 2019 I wonder if Janus was too busy looking down at his phone and not watching where he was … Continue reading

Posted in Dance, theatre & musicals, Music and musicology, Personal ruminations & essays | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Song of the Earth

I can’t help noticing symmetry in 2019’s Toronto Summer Music and its Beyond Borders theme. The Festival opened July 12th with a concert featuring a Mozart sonata including the famous rondo “alla Turca” and a 20th century song cycle in … Continue reading

Posted in Music and musicology, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Crow Comes Out

Tonight’s concert at Walter Hall –“Europe and the New World”—in the Toronto Summer Music Festival put artistic director Jonathan Crow into the spotlight.  He seems very comfortable there. That’s what I’m getting at with the headline. Our concert was sold … Continue reading

Posted in Music and musicology, Opera, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

New Orford celebrate their first decade

Two for two. It’s the second night of the 2019 Toronto Summer Music Festival and again it felt like a special event, this time in celebration of the tenth anniversary of the New Orford String quartet.  There’s a natural connection … Continue reading

Posted in Music and musicology, Reviews, Spirituality & Religion | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment