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Toronto articles, news, reviews

Toronto, ON (December 2, 2024) — Montreal-based lighting designer Sonoyo Nishikawa, acclaimed for her transformative and evocative lighting designs, is this year’s winner of Canada’s most valuable theatre award. Since 2001, the Siminovitch Prize has celebrated groundbreaking theatre artists whose work has strengthened the Canadian theatre landscape and advanced the art form. With a career spanning continents and collaborations with leading theatre artists, Nishikawa has established herself as a pioneering force in Canadian theatre. Sonoyo Nishikawa, the 2024 Siminovitch Prize Laureate, has selected Mayumi Ide-Bergeron as the Siminovitch Prize Protégé. “Sonoyo Nishikawa’s designs push the boundaries of what we expect lighting…

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Canadian soprano and 20/21st-century specialist extraordinaire, Barbara Hannigan, appeared at Toronto’s Koerner Hall on Nov. 28 with French pianist Bertrand Chamayou in a program they are currently touring across North America. This uncompromising, tightly-constructed 70 minute recital demonstrated why Hannigan is the current queen of ‘non-traditional’ vocal repertoire.   The evening opened with French composer Olivier Messiaen’s song cycle, Chants de terre et de ciel (1938). The text is the composer’s own and is his customary mix of fervent Catholicism combined with love for family. The opening song, “Bail avec Mi (pour ma femme),” celebrates the contract between husband and wife.…

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Esprit Orchestra, conducted by Alex Pauk, presented three works at Toronto’s Koerner Hall on Nov. 24th. The first was Gabriella Smith’s f(x)=sin^2x-i/x. This follows the shape of the function dynamically for x=0 to x=2;  so there’s a smallish crescendo, a quieter passage and then a big finish. The first part, using extended strings, winds and percussion, sounds rather like a train accelerating (to its doom?). The piece then goes much quieter and more melodic before the final build up with an almost Brahmsian quality in the brass leading to a very loud, cacophonic finish. Then silence! Bent Sørensen’s It is…

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November 19, 2024 -The Royal Conservatory of Music is thrilled to produce Into the Woods, its third Sondheim musical in concert, after the success of Follies in 2021 and A Little Night Music in 2023. This special 2024 holiday season production, suitable for the whole family, will run on December 28, 29, and 30 at 7pm, and 31 at 3pm. Richard Ouzounian, who has directed both Follies and A Little Night Music at The Royal Conservatory, said: “I am happy to be returning for the third time to Koerner Hall – my favourite venue – with a third work by Stephen Sondheim – my favourite composer. Into the Woods will provide a marvelous way for the whole family to round…

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Tuesday, November 12, 2024 21C MUSIC FESTIVAL  The twelfth edition of the 21C Music Festival, which spans from January to May of 2025, will consist of 8 concerts, including a production of The Journal of Hélène Berr, Measha Brueggergosman-Lee in Aaron Davis’s and Margaret Atwood’s Zombie Blizzard, Bruce Hornsby and yMusic presenting BrhyM, Michelle Cann and the Imani Winds, and a partnership with Continuum Contemporary Music. In total, the Festival will include more than 14 premieres: 2 world (Kalaisan Kalaichelvan’s C’est Pas Beau? and Kotoka Suzuki’s yet unnamed piece), 1 North American (Bernard Foccroulle’s The Journal of Hélène Berr), and…

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On Tour Barbara Hannigan & Bertrand Chamayou Photo: Luciano Romano Barbara Hannigan & Bertrand Chamayou In celebration of their recent “Messaien” album release, Juno and Grammy Award-winning soprano Barbara Hannigan and pianist Bertrand Chamayou will tour Canada and the U.S. in November and December. The concert opens with Messaien’s Chants de terre et de ciel, rich with complex rhythms and vibrant, vocal colours. In addition, Hannigan and Chamayou will perform Scriabin’s Poème-nocturne, and Vers la flamme alongside John Zorn’s Jumalattaret —a sign cycle using text from Finnish epic poetry. The tour stops in Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, Victoria, and Ottawa along…

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New Brunswick Fredericton Frostival Festival Fredericton, January 23 to February 9 www.frostival.ca Montréal Expozine Montréal, November 23 to 24 www.expozine.ca Lumino Montréal, November 28 to March 9 www.quartierdesspectacles.com Festival Noël dans le parc Montréal, December 6 to 31 www.noeldansleparc.com Salon des métiers d’art Montréal, December 12 to 22 www.metiersdart.ca Fête des Neiges de Montréal Montréal, December 26 to March 5 www.parcjeandrapeau.com Igloofest Montréal, January 16 to February 8 www.igloofest.ca Festival classique hivernal Laval, January 31 to February 2 www.osl.ca/festival-classique-hivernal For its 4th edition, the Orchestre symphonique de Laval invites you to its Winter Classical Festival, a three-day musical marathon to…

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MONTRÉAL BOURGIE HALL www.sallebourgie.ca Located in the heart of downtown, Bourgie Hall of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts is a must for Baroque music lovers. Nestled in a former heritage church, it provides exceptional acoustics as well as a splendid and intimate setting displaying some twenty Tiffany stained glass windows. In 2024-2025, Bourgie Hall is pleased to welcome the French ensembles Les Talens Lyrique and Près de votre oreille, as well as the renowned Quebec orchestra Les Violons du Roy. Vocal music will also be in the spotlight with prestigious British ensembles such as the Tallis Scholars, Stile Antico,…

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West Early Music Vancouver Dec. 22, Vancouver Under the direction of Alexander Weimann, Early Music Vancouver will present a pairing of “Festive Cantatas” featuring Gloria in excelsis Deo cantata by J.S. Bach and Missa Nativitatis Domini by Czech composer Jan Dismas Zelenka. www.earlymusic.bc.ca Vancouver Chamber Choir Dec. 12, 13, Vancouver Peace and tranquility is the theme of the Vancouver Chamber Choir’s holiday concert entitled “Christmas by Candlelight.” Under the direction of Kari Turunen, the choir will present a large selection of holiday classics and new works, including Laura Hawley’s Mary called it an angel and the world première of Chris…

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Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s Oct. 24th program featured two beloved Romantic works: Max Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in G major, and Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2 in E minor, with Italian conductor Gianandrea Noseda (Music Director of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, DC) at the helm. As with most TSO concerts, the evening opened with and introduced audiences to a rarely performed modern piece. Goffredo Petrassi’s Concerto for Orchestra No. 2 is one of six concerti for orchestra the TSO is spotlighting this season. Petrassi, a highly regarded composer, conductor and teacher in his home country of Italy, is…

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