Toronto articles, news, reviews
Ensemble Classico-Moderne delivered on its promise of combining classic favorites and contemporary music during the first stop on its Toronto-Montréal-Quebec City tour.
Soprano Elisabeth St-Gelais took home First Prize and the Audience Choice Award at Canadian Opera Company’s 10th Centre Stage: Ensemble Studio Competition.
Canadian ensembles like Toronto Symphony Orchestra are feeling a wave of generosity this week after an influx of legacy donations, and Decca Records signs Yunchan Lim.
Toronto, October 10, 2023 – Seven of Canada’s most promising new opera singers have been selected to compete in the Canadian Opera Company’s Centre Stage: Ensemble Studio Competition on October 26, 2023 at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. The annual fundraiser and vocal competition showcases the very best in emerging opera talent, with all proceeds supporting the COC’s prestigious artistic career development program, the Ensemble Studio. 125 candidates applied to join the Ensemble Studio next season, with judges traveling all over Canada to hear nearly 90 young artists in-person, with stops in Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal, and Toronto. This…
Even nearly 100 years since Puccini’s death. La Bohème remains one of his most beloved and frequently performed operas. This COC revival production has now been staged three times in the past 10 years, yet it has a fresh feel. It also features the most diverse cast that has graced the Toronto stage in recent memory. Rodolfo, Marcello, Schaunard and Colline are four impoverished friends who share a flat they can barely afford. One Christmas eve, while Rodolfo is working alone, his neighbour, the beautiful but frail Mimi, knocks on his door asking for help to light her candle. The…
In her role as the 2023-24 composer-in-residence for the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir (TMChoir), Tracy Wong is not only thinking like a composer, she approaches her work with the mindset of an educator, a conductor, a vocalist, and a cultural translator. Under the baton of Artistic Director Jean-Sébastien Vallée, the TMChoir and the Toronto Children’s Chorus (TCC) will première Wong’s new composition, Patah Tumbuh, which translates from Malay to “broken – renewed,” alongside Orff’s Carmina Burana and Brahms’s Schicksalslied, as part of their Oct. 26 and Oct. 27 concerts at Roy Thomson Hall. As soon as the Ontario-based composer learned her…
When Montreal-based composer Jaap Nico Hamburger first read Dutch author Ariëlla Kornmehl’s debut novel De Familie Goldwasser (The Goldwasser Family) in the early aughts, he thought to himself, “this is opera.” Now, many years after that initial inspiration and over a decade since he began composing, he is finally seeing his vision come to life. On Oct. 22 (Koerner Hall), Oct. 28 (Maison symphonique), and Oct. 29 (Salle Raoul-Jobin), GFN Productions will present excerpts from Hamburger’s first opera Ariella, paired with Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2. The tour will be conducted by Francis Choinière and features the Ensemble Classico-Moderne and…
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…
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…
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…
