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Concert Previews

By Eva Stone-Barney on 6 October 2023 Chamber Music, Classical, Classical Music, Contemporary, Orchestral, Toronto

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…

Sinfonia Toronto: Ushering in the Next 25

By Eva Stone-Barney on 6 October 2023 Chamber Music, Classical, Classical Music, Contemporary, Orchestral, Toronto

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…

Davóne Tines, Photo by Noah Morrison

Fall Highlights: Orchestras, Chamber, Solo

By Eva Stone-Barney on 1 September 2023 Art Song, Baroque and Early, Canadian Music, Chamber Music, Classical, Classical Music, Montreal

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…

Marton and Bruno in Rythmo-Rigolo

Fall Highlights: Youth

By Kristen Whittle on 1 September 2023 Canadian Music, Classical, Montreal, Orchestral, Toronto

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…

2023 Glimmerglass Festival production of Candide: (L to R) Bradley Dean, Jonathan Pierce Rhodes, Brian Vu, Katrina Gulka, and Meredith Arwady with members of the Ensemble. Photo credit: Evan Zimmerman/The Glimmerglass Festival.

Fated Couples Face the Music at Glimmerglass 2023

By Charles Geyer on 16 August 2023 Baroque and Early, Classical, Classical Music, Musical Theatre, Opera, Theatre, Vocal

REVIEW: of the Glimmerglass 2023 Season, including: Roméo et Juliette, the 1867 opera composed by Charles Gounod, with a libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré adapting Shakespeare; viewed August 4, 2023; Candide, with a musical score by Leonard Bernstein and book and lyrics by an assortment of heavy-hitters; viewed August 5, 2023; and Rinaldo, composed by George Frideric Handel, with a libretto by Giacomo Rossi; viewed August 6, 2023. Passing the Baton… The Glimmerglass Festival, with the arcadian charm of its lakeside setting and the surrounding splendor of its central New York “Leatherstocking Region” setting – not to mention…

CD Review | Clara, Robert, Johannes: Atmosphere and Mastery (Analekta, 2023)

By Kristen Whittle on 31 July 2023 CD and Book Reviews, Classical, Orchestral, Romantic

Clara, Robert, Johannes: Atmosphere and Mastery National Arts Centre Orchestra (directed by Alexander Shelley) Analekta, 2023 Conductor Alexander Shelley and the National Arts Centre Orchestra present the third recording of a four-volume collection featuring three of the most iconic composers in the romantic-era: Clara Schuman, Robert Schuman and Johannes Brahms. Bru Zane is devoted to the rediscovery and international promotion of French repertoire dating from 1780-1920. Les Nuits de Paris is the French equivalent of the Vienna Philharmonic’s New Year’s Concert, devoted to music by Johann Strauss and his Viennese contemporaries. The opening, Robert Schumann’s Symphony No. 3 in E-flat…

CD Review | Art Choral Vol. 4 Classique (Atma Classique, 2023)

By Kristen Whittle on 31 July 2023 CD and Book Reviews, Classical, Classical Music

Art Choral Vol. 4 Classique Ensemble Artchoral (conducted by Matthias Maute) Atma Classique, 2023 This album is the fourth release by Ensemble Artchoral, previously known as Ensemble vocal Arts-Québec, focusing on composers and music from the early 18th-century. In their “Classique” volume, Ensemble Artchoral provides stunning renditions of early classical-era liturgical music. The album marries choral music and the nuances of the 18th- century German enlightenment in a modern way, particularly with the addition of singing Gottlob Benedict Bierey’s “Kyrie for four voices’’ over the first movement of Beethoven’s infamous Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, Op. 27, No.…

CD Review | Hommage à François Dompierre (Atma Classique, 2023)

By Justin Bernard on 31 July 2023 CD and Book Reviews, Classical

Hommage à François Dompierre Louise Bessette, piano; François Dompierre, composer and piano Atma Classique, 2023 We rarely hear Louise Bessette in this light. To celebrate François Dompierre’s 80th birthday, the pianist offers us arrangements of film music, and other selections, all of which played a role in establishing the reputation of the Quebec composer, himself a pianist. “Most are piano reductions (…); others are adaptations of radio improvisations. Finally, a few were written especially for her, and are dedicated to her,” explains the composer, in the album’s booklet. These include Entre mer et chanterelles, written in honour of his former…

Review | J’Nai Bridges Dazzles Toronto Audience with Canadian Recital Debut

By Eva Stone-Barney on 28 July 2023 Art Song, Classical, Concert Reviews

Earlier this week, Toronto Summer Music announced that Canadian Soprano Sondra Radvanovsky had been forced to cancel her performance as part of this year’s festival due to unforeseen illness. Miraculously, the festival was able to secure a replacement of the highest caliber on just short of a week’s notice: Grammy Award winning American Mezzo Soprano, J’Nai Bridges. Bridges stepped in with grace and poise, dutifully acknowledging Ms. Radvanovsky’s absence at the concert’s outset. Joined by pianist Rachael Kerr, she opened the first half of her recital with a musical setting of the Lord’s Prayer (uncredited on the program). This was…

John Rutter (Photo provided)

Music and Beyond: The Big Comeback!

By Charles Geyer on 26 May 2023 Classical, Contemporary, Indigenous, Ottawa

It’s back! And it promises to be as big and bold as ever. It’s Music and Beyond, Ottawa’s summer music and arts festival which—every July since its inception in 2010—has blossomed across the capital in a gloriously scatter-cast profusion of musical sounds, styles and intriguing interdisciplinary programming. “The public is ready to return,” says Julian Armour, the festival’s plucky and indefatigable founder and artistic and executive director. “We’re doing a big festival! We’re going to do about 64 different major concerts.” It’s a bracing and welcome assertion of renewal, after the scaled-back famine years of global pandemic. Rock and a…

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