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Vancouver Opera Announces 2019-2020 Season

By Newswire on 12 February 2019 Newswire, Opera

Vancouver, B.C. – Vancouver Opera announces their 2019—2020 season consisting of 4 opera productions and the 4th annual Vancouver Opera Festival, 9 days of opera, special events, speakers, family events, and more from April 23 to May 3, 2020. The season is completed by a full program of education and community engagement activities. “I am excited to announce our 2019—2020 Vancouver Opera season,” said Kim Gaynor, Vancouver Opera General Director. “Never has there been a more exciting time for Vancouver Opera as we prepare to welcome traditional and new work to our stages along with a West Coast premiere. With…

Review – Cassandra Miller by Bozzini Quartet

By Benjamin Goron on 11 February 2019 CD and Book Reviews, Contemporary

This release brings together works written between 2008 and 2015 by London-based Canadian Cassandra Miller. The Bozzini Quartet, who gave most of the premieres, is perhaps best placed to open the door to this delicate world. Four works reveal the manner of the composer, who, like the writer drawing inspiration from newspaper clippings, is on the lookout for the ambient musical material as the basis of her composition. Thus, Warblework starts with bird songs to offer us a world of changing textures with a treatment of silence and just intervals of remarkable efficiency. About Bach, which won the Jules Léger…

Sarah Brightman - Hymn

Concert Review – Sarah Brightman’s HYMN

By Vasyl Pawlowsky on 11 February 2019 Concert Reviews, Vocal

On Saturday February 9, 2019, Sarah Brightman launched her Canadian tour in support of her latest and twelfth album HYMN, a 13-track compilation. The venue, Place Bell, in Laval seemed just right. Overall, many of the fans, clearly long-time Sarah Brightman fans seemed to be relishing in the company of their soprano diva. Though it would be fair to say that the show was far from flawless. Even though there had been a warning outside for those with bright light sensitivity, particularly with photosensitive epilepsy, I thought we were much further along in society and moving away from the flash.…

Two Canadians Selected for First China International Music Competition

By Newswire on 11 February 2019 Classical Music, Newswire, Piano

FIRST CHINA INTERNATIONAL MUSIC COMPETITION ANNOUNCES THE TWENTY-TWO PIANISTS TO PARTICIPATE IN BEIJING, MAY 4–21 2019 BEIJING, CHINA, 11 February 2019—The First China International Music Competition, newly created by the Global Music Education League and China Conservatory of Music, has announced the twenty-two pianists who will participate in Beijing from May 4 to 21 2019. The competitors, all between seventeen and twenty-eight years of age, have been selected by the world’s foremost international music authorities and come from a total of ten countries: Australia, Belarus, Canada, China, Georgia, Italy, Kazakhstan, Russia, South Korea, and the United States. Several competitors currently attend…

A three-tiered set allows for separate or simultaneous action on all three levels as required by the story.

Austin Opera Presents Kevin Puts’ “Silent Night”

By Paul E. Robinson on 11 February 2019 Classical Music, Concert Reviews, Contemporary, Opera

SILENT NIGHT. Music by Kevin Puts & Libretto by Mark Campbell based on the screenplay by Christian Carion for the motion picture Joyeux Noël. An original production of Wexford Festival Opera in partnership with the Atlanta Opera and the Glimmerglass Festival. Scenic Design by Erhard Rom with costume design by Victoria Tzykun. Production by Tomer Zvulun. Hailey Clark (Anna Sörensen), Joseph Dennis (Nikolaus Sprink), Craig Verm (Lieutenant Gordon), Craig Irvin (Lieutenant Horstmayer), Troy Cook (Father Palmer), David Adam Moore (Lieutenant Audebert), Andrew Wilkowske (Ponchel). Austin Opera Chorus and Orchestra, Timothy Myers, conductor. Long Center for the Performing Arts, Austin, Texas.…

Tasmin Little (Chandos)

By Norman Lebrecht on 8 February 2019 CD and Book Reviews, Classical Music, Lebrecht Weekly

A letter from the English violinist Tasmin Little telling me she is giving up the circuit in a couple of years when she hits 55 arrives pretty much at the same time of her latest release on Chandos, itself a fairly regular occurrence in recent years. Tasmin Little is a prolific recording artist and her programmes often take a few strides off the beaten track. The latest consists of music by women – Amy Beach, Ethel Smyth and Clara Schumann – and the sense of an ending adds poignancy to its reception. Neither of the first two composers can claim…

Book Review – 40 ans de création musicale

By Benjamin Goron on 7 February 2019 CD and Book Reviews, Contemporary

La mémoire en acte : 40 ans de création musicale. (Memory in action: 40 years of musical creation.) / Editorial Committee: Laure Marcel-Berlioz, Omer Corlaix, and Bastien Gallet / CMDC, MF Publishing, 2017, 288 pages The Centre de Documentation de la Musique Contemporaine (CDMC) has been in existence since 1977. To celebrate its 40th anniversary, it has published a major work providing a panorama of current musical creation, through the words of various actors in the field, musicians, composers, producers, directors of record companies, musicologists… The first part reviews the history of the institution and the individual who ensured its founding,…

Book Review – Au cœur de la création musicale

By Benjamin Goron on 7 February 2019 CD and Book Reviews, Contemporary

Au cœur de la création musicale. Paroles de compositeurs recueillies par Myriam Tétaz-Gramegna. (At the heart of musical creation. Composer lyrics collected by Myriam Tétaz-Gramegna.) / La Bibliothèque des Arts, 2018, 184 pages “Owing to coincidences or appointments, these interviews were exceptional moments with artists who turned out to be impressive personalities, both in the extent of their culture and their sensitivity to the reality of the world.” This is how journalist Myriam Tétaz-Gramegna closes this book, which brings together interviews with 21 major composers of the 20th century, collected throughout her journalist’s career at a Swiss newspaper. Strong, brilliant,…

COC Explores Myths and Lore in 2019/2020 Season with International Opera Legends

By Newswire on 5 February 2019 Newswire, Opera

Toronto –The Canadian Opera Company offers three bold new productions in 2019/2020 that hone in on the stories and myths that shape our perceptions – and the ones that offer escape from all things ordinary. This 69th season features new productions of Puccini’s Turandot, Dvořák’s Rusalka, and Humperdinck’s Hansel & Gretel, as well as COC revivals of Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, Verdi’s Aida, and Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman. “The need to hear and share stories is essential to the human experience,” says COC General Director Alexander Neef. “It begins with the fairy tales told to us as children, is…

The beauty of the human voice in the West Island

By Newswire on 4 February 2019 Newswire

The beauty of the human voice in the West Island Hold the dates! Celebrate season 6 with outstanding international artists from around the world Vox Aeterna presents Festival de la Voix, 6th edition March 16-31, various dates and venues From March 16 to March 31 in the West Island (Lachine, Dorval, Beaconsfield, Pointe-Claire), Festival de la Voix brings communities and all ages together to enjoy music and the power of the human voice. This year’s 6th anniversary edition features seven exciting, varied concerts, as well as four outstanding workshops and two school concerts. The eclectic mix of styles and voices…