Browsing: Classical

Author : (Eva Stone-Barney)

  Adam Zinatelli started playing the trumpet when he was in Grade 7. Some years later, when he was in Grade 12, he heard Mahler’s third symphony at the Glenn Gould School. “When I left that concert,” he says, “I knew that this was what I wanted to do.” The eager trumpet player went on to study at both the Glenn Gould School (Royal Conservatory of Music), and the Cleveland Institute of Music. He has since appeared with orchestras across Canada, and has held the position of principal trumpet with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra (CPO) since 2009.  Ever since he…

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Author : (Eva Stone-Barney)

Against the Grain Theatre (AtG) is a pillar of the Canadian opera scene. The award-winning company has been pushing boundaries and challenging audiences to experience opera in exciting, new ways since its founding in 2010 by director, librettist, educator, and administrator Joel Ivany, and his partner, soprano Miriam Khalil.  Ivany didn’t grow up with opera. He recalls watching La Bohème, starring Pavarotti, on Laser Disk, and later, going to the Canadian Opera Company (COC) for the first time, in Grade 13. Entranced by the “big stage, big sound, big … everything,” he remembers thinking: “How are we going to…

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Concerto Antico: à travers un miroir fumé Jaap Nico Hamburger, composer; Orchestre classique de Montréal; Ensemble Caprice Leaf Music, April 2023 Jaap Nico Hamburger brilliantly explores centuries of musical history in a powerful 11 minutes on Concerto Antico. Hamburger suggests in the album’s booklet that just as Nostradamus “stared into a smoke covered mirror to look at the future,” Hamburger himself is “star(ing) into the mirror of our times to look at the past.” Split into five concise tracks, Concerto Antico addresses modern, romantic, baroque, and classical eras through a variety of styles. An airy flute conjures the image of…

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Author : (Eva Stone-Barney)

Esprit Orchestra has a big season ahead of it—in every sense of the word. Conducted by Maestro Alex Pauk, the orchestra will perform five concerts featuring challenging repertoire, composed for large orchestral configurations. It will honour the legacies of some of the 20th and 21st centuries’ most influential compositional voices, including the late R. Murray Schafer, György Ligeti, and Kaija Saariaho, and will also spotlight the work of new and emerging composers.  This ambitious season starts on Oct. 15 with a concert titled X Marks the Spot, featuring works by Anna Meredith, Iannis Xenakis, Ligeti, and Schafer. Following this first…

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Author : (Eva Stone-Barney)

Although Davóne Tines may have “tumbled his way into the opera world” somewhat accidentally, his artistic output has been deliberate ever since. As a young person, he says, he didn’t know where he would end up. Tines completed undergraduate studies in sociology at Harvard University, and worked at a series of arts organizations as an administrator, before considering the prospect of life as a professional musician. Tines grew up singing – in the Black Baptist church, growing up in Virginia; at college, in a Renaissance polyphony ensemble; in the professional choir at the National Shrine in DC; and in a…

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Author : (Eva Stone-Barney)

Your Brain on Music: Montreal Neurological Institute The Neuro, as it is commonly called, is hosting Your Brain on Music as part of their Amazing Brain Week (Oct. 13-19). Leading neuroscientists Robert Zatorre and Simone Dalla Bella will join musicians from the Montreal Symphony Orchestra for an event that combines performance and conversation, exploring music’s impact on the brain. Michel Rochon, scientific journalist and author, will host a conversation on topics ranging from our emotional responses to music, the impact of musical activities on brain plasticity, and the human perception of rhythm (Oct. 16). www.amazingbrainweek.ca Les jours heureux After…

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Author : (Eva Stone-Barney)

Nurhan Arman came to Toronto at just the right time. The Chamber Players of Toronto had just ceased operations, and the city was in want of a chamber orchestra. Fortunately, Arman, who was conductor of Symphony New Brunswick at the time, felt up to the task of starting a new organization, and so Sinfonia Toronto was born. Now entering their 25th season, the organization touts an impressive history that includes local performances, concert tours, and six recording projects. The orchestra’s international appearances stand out as highlights for Arman. “Repeating the same repertoire night after night on tour, you have the…

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Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal (OSM) Led by conductor Rafael Payare, the OSM celebrates the orchestra’s 90th anniversary this season, along with the 10th anniversary of the Grand Orgue Pierre-Béique. The orchestra will start the year with an electric performance of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring (Sept. 12-14). Payare and OSM concertmaster Andrew Wan will later take the stage to interpret Beethoven’s Violin Concerto. Webern’s Passacaglia, and Mozart’s “Haffner’’ Symphony (Oct. 25, 26). Come November, Christoph Eschenbach will conduct Alban Berg’s Concerto “To the Memory of an Angel” and Beethoven’s Symphony No.7 (Nov. 8, 9). The orchestra will get in the…

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Jeunesses Musicales Canada Jeunesses Musicales Canada is back with another action-packed season of programming for a wide variety of ages. The holiday season kicks off the concerts this year with Bal de L’Halloween. Children can enjoy a costume party and magnificent ball full of witches, animals, and unique creatures, all while dancing to traditional Halloween music (Oct. 22, 29). Soon after Halloween, young ones and their families can return for the Christmas show, Un Monde pour Noël. This show, a co-production with the Ensemble Alkemia, follows the journey of a mischievous little girl in search of her presents. Along her…

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