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Photo: Patrick Beaudry

Le Fantôme de l’Opéra Opening Night Team Review

By La Scena Musicale Team on 15 January 2020 Concert Reviews

La Scena’s team attended the opening night of Fantôme de l’Opéra at Théâtre St-Denis last Wednesday. Here is what we thought. Team average on 10: Singing: 7.5 Orchestra: 8.5 Staging: 8 Overall rating: 8 What you missed The two main roles performed by Hugo Laporte and Anne-Marine Suire were wonderfully played. As The Phantom, Hugo Laporte stood out, with his thunderous voice. Everytime he sang, the room shook. His strong high notes made us wonder if we will ever hear him sing the title role in Verdi’s Otello in the future. As Christine, Anne-Marine Suire also shone, skillfully rendering her…

COC to Host Second Digital Arts Symposium on Performing Arts and New Technologies

By Newswire on 15 January 2020 Newswire

Toronto – The Canadian Opera Company invites Canadian performing arts organizations to participate in the second Digital Stage symposium on technological advances and challenges for the sector, happening on February 20, 2020 at the Joey and Toby Tanenbaum Opera Centre in Toronto. Last fall, the COC launched the Digital Stage, in partnership with The National Ballet of Canada and Sheridan College and its Screen Industries Research and Training Centre. Generously supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, the collaborative long-term project was created to explore technological possibilities for the performing arts sector, with a focus on harnessing available data, piloting new…

The honoraries (courtasy of rcmusic.com)

The Royal Conservatory of Music names Yannick Nézet-Séguin, James & Louise Temerty, and Chilly Gonzales new Honorary Fellows

By Newswire on 14 January 2020 Newswire

Yannick Nézet-Séguin, James & Louise Temerty, and Chilly Gonzales named Honorary Fellows of The Royal Conservatory of Music January 14, 2020 – Internationally acclaimed conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin, life-long philanthropists James and Louise Temerty, and genre-defying musician Chilly Gonzales have been named Honorary Fellows of The Royal Conservatory of Music, one of the largest and most respected music and arts education institutions in the world. “The Honorary Fellow is The Royal Conservatory’s highest designation and is awarded to those who have had a profound impact on society through their contributions to the arts,” said Dr. Peter Simon, Michael and Sonja Koerner…

Shostakovich: 13th symphony ‘Babi Yar’ (CSO.Resound)

By Norman Lebrecht on 10 January 2020 Classical Music, Lebrecht Weekly

Half a century ago, in January 1970, the young Riccardo Muti gave this symphony its western Europe premiere in Rome with the RAI orchestra and the wondeful bass Ruggiero Raimondi. The performance was semi-samizdat. A score had been smuggled out of Russia, where the work was suppressed for its denunciation of Soviet antisemitism, and Yevgeny Yevtushenko’s text was unofficially translated into Italian. Muti, who never forgot the occasion, revisited it 16 months ago with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Although unversed in Russian ironies, his interpretation has the authority of a leader who lived through the late-Soviet era and observed the…

Vancouver Symphony Orchestra Launches 7th Annual New Music Festival

By Newswire on 8 January 2020 Newswire

Vancouver, Canada (January 8, 2020) — Inspired by the theme of (re)creation, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra (VSO) is pleased to present the 7th Annual VSO New Music Festival featuring a concert of concerti performed by the artists who commissioned them. The 2020 VSO New Music Festival takes place January 11-16, 2020 at various venues throughout Vancouver and showcases works from critically acclaimed composers, performed by renowned artists from around the world. It all begins on January 11 with VSONMF01 (re)creations, presenting masterpieces by a trio of outstanding composers. Canadian star, Nicole Lizée, re-imagines scenes from The Sound of Music; celebrated Korean Unsuk…

Five Student Musicians Join Canadian Opera Company’s Orchestra Academy Training Program for 2020

By Newswire on 7 January 2020 Newswire

Toronto – The Canadian Opera Company Orchestra Academy welcomes five student musicians to join its seventh annual training intensive, taking place from January 16 – February 8, 2020. Led by COC Music Director Johannes Debus, the program offers its student musicians one-on-one mentorship and practical experience, including one-of-a-kind performance opportunities, opening the door to a career in an opera orchestra. This year’s cohort, currently studying at The Glenn Gould School at the Royal Conservatory of Music and the University of Toronto, hails from across Canada and around the world. They are: violinists Isabel Lago (GGS) and Ah Young Kim (GGS),…

Fewer and Knox first Canadians to record Vivaldi’s Manchester Sonatas

By Newswire on 7 January 2020 Newswire

For Immediate Release, January 7, 2020 … Leaf Music is proud to present a new recording of Vivaldi’s Manchester Sonatas featuring violinist Mark Fewer and harpsichordist Hank Knox. This is the first Canadian recording of the “Manchester” sonatas of Antonio Vivaldi (1678–1741), a masterful collection of 12 works brought to light only in 1973. A follow up to their acclaimed 2018 recording of the Sonatas for Violin and Harpsichord by J.S. Bach, this new recording from Fewer and Knox is available as of January 17, 2020. These remarkable sonatas changed a great many hands over the centuries. When Cardinal Ottoboni…

Photo: Warner Classics

From great prodigy to great tragedy: Tapestry Opera presents the story of legendary cellist Jacqueline du Pré

By Newswire on 7 January 2020 Newswire

Jacqueline runs at the Betty Oliphant Theatre from February 19 – 23, 2020 Who are you when all that you are and have known is taken from you? Toronto, ON (January 7, 2020): Tapestry Opera presents the world premiere of Jacqueline, a story of the battle between a world-famous virtuoso cellist and the Multiple Sclerosis (MS) that took her body and talent, robbing her of her breathtaking musical gift, her identity, and ultimately her life. Jacqueline runs at the Betty Oliphant Theatre from February 19 – 23, 2020. Considered among the best musicians in the world for her passionate interpretations…

The Red Army Choir in Montreal : A Highly Professional Concert Charged with Emotion

By Pierre Chénier on 6 January 2020 Concert Reviews

As part of an international tour celebrating its 90th anniversary the Red Army Choir, under the direction of its artistic director Gennadiy Sachenyuk, gave seven performances at the Maison symphonique de Montréal from December 26 to 30. For just over two hours the 75 singers and musicians, accompanied by Quebec songstress Isabelle Boulay for four songs, offered a program mainly composed of traditional Russian songs and Christmas tunes. Towards the concert’s end, in a beautiful and highly significant gesture, Isabelle Boulay interpreted L’Hymne à la beauté du monde (Hymn to the Beauty of the World) by Luc Plamondon, popularized by…

Poulenc/Koechlin: Piano and orchestra (Odradek)

By Norman Lebrecht on 3 January 2020 Lebrecht Weekly

****/** No happier way to start a year than Francis Poulenc, few grimmer than Charles Koechlin. This album opens with the little-played Poulenc Sinfonietta, originally intended as a string quartet and allegedly thrown in a Paris gutter when it did not work out. First heard in London in 1948, it’s a Mozart-meets-Stravinsky score, and none the worse for that. Even at his most neo-classical, Igor never got this light. The captivating Poulenc piano concerto was premiered by the composer himself in 1950. The Boston audience snubbed it as second-rate Rachmaninov, but Poulenc has much more joie-de-vivre and wears what he…