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Blues dialogues (Cedille)

By Norman Lebrecht on 23 November 2018 CD and Book Reviews, Lebrecht Weekly

Here’s cause for thanksgiving. The Chicago violinist Rachel Barton Pine has filled an album with music by Black American composers, most of them shamefully little-known. Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, for instance, no relation to the British composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, but named after him at birth. C-T’s set of blues for solo violin strikes me as having a dual purpose of being truly enjoyable for the listener and perfect warm-up riffs for the player if Bach is too cold to start with on a winter’s morning. William Grant Still is the most familiar name here, probably because he was a cause celebre after…

Concert Review – St. Lawrence Choir’s: Slava! – Glory!

By Vasyl Pawlowsky on 20 November 2018 Choral, Concert Reviews, Vocal

On Saturday November 17, the St. Lawrence Choir performed its Slava! programme at the St Sophie Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral. The programme featured the premiere of two works. Alelouya 2 by Armenian-born Petros Shoujouian, currently of Montreal, and Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal by Larysa Kuzmenko, a Toronto-based composer, pianist and Juno nominee. What you missed The St Lawrence Choir’s mixed voice ensemble under the direction of Phillipe Bourque could not have chosen a more fitting venue for their performance of their programme Slava!, which means “glory” in Ukrainian. The space itself did honour to the multitude of tonalities of…

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Celebrating a Century of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn with Poetry and Music

By Charles Geyer on 19 November 2018 Chamber Music, Classical, Classical Music, Concert Reviews, Education, Interviews, La Scena Online, La Scena Spotlight, Literature, Piano, Scena Arts

PREVIEW: of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn at 100, at New York City’s 92nd Street Y, Monday, November 19, 7:30 p.m.; and INTERVIEW: with pianist and conductor Ignat Solzhenitsyn, son of Nobel Prize-winning author Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, the heroic anti-Soviet dissident whose vital and uncompromising documentation of the horrors of the Stalinist police state won the 1970 Nobel Prize for literature and provided indispensable impetus to the forces that brought on the communist regime’s late 20th-century downfall, would have turned 100 this December 11. In what promises to be an especially rich, personal and heartfelt early celebration of that centenary, New York City’s…

Cello concertos (Pentatone/Myrios)

By Norman Lebrecht on 16 November 2018 CD and Book Reviews, Lebrecht Weekly

Mstislav Rostropovich commissioned more than 100 works for his instrument and performed some of them more than once. Aside from the two Shostakovich concertos and the symphony-concerto by Prokofiev, only the Britten Cello Symphony and the concertos by Lutoslawki and Dutilleux get heard much these days. The latter pair are performed by Johannes Moser on a new Pentatone release and the gulf in quality between them is striking. Lutoslawski opens with several minutes of cello meditation, as if he has bought the complete TM package or forgotten he booked an orchestra. The concerto does not get much more communicative, dickering…

Tafelmusik Announces New Executive Director Carol Kehoe

By Newswire on 14 November 2018 Arts Industry, Baroque and Early, Canadian Music, Newswire

Toronto, November 13, 2018 … David Kilburn, Chair of the Board of Directors of Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Chamber Choir, is pleased to announce the appointment of Carol Kehoe to the position of Executive Director. Ms. Kehoe is an accomplished leader with more than 25 years of management experience at senior levels, most recently as the Executive Director of the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra, where she led the organization through an impressive financial turnaround. Carol came to Tafelmusik in August as Interim Executive Director and will transition to her permanent role immediately. “We are delighted to have Carol join Tafelmusik as…

Weekend Opera Roundup in Montreal (Nov. 9-11)

By Adrian Rodriguez on 11 November 2018 Choral, Concert Reviews, Opera, Romantic

This past weekend (Friday, Nov. 9 to Sunday, Nov. 11), I attended four vocal music performances (three operas and one oratorio) which shows that Montreal is a vibrant city for voice lovers. Friday: Opera McGill presented a hilarious Albert Herring by Benjamin Britten. Sadly, this comic opera is not produced enough nowadays. This score is worth discovering. The highlight was the simple yet very effective stage directing by Patrick Hansen. The second cast was generally good. Unlike some previous Opera McGill productions, there were no surtitles and many of the jokes were lost as many of the words were not…

Nathan Berg (Alberich) © Yves Renaud

Baritone Nathan Berg Shines in Opéra de Montréal’s Das Rheingold

By Adrian Rodriguez on 11 November 2018 Concert Reviews, Opera, Romantic

Last Saturday, November 10, Opéra de Montréal premiered Der Rheingold, the first instalment from Wagner’s tetralogy Der Ring des Nibellungen. It marked the first time that this work is staged in the history of the opera company. What you missed The highlight of the show was the performance by Canadian bass-baritone Nathan Berg. The native from Saskatchewan struck gold with his dramatic stage presence and his steely voice. He incarnated Alberich in body and voice, colouring every sound to match the meaning of the words he was singing. A good example was the contrast in his vocal and physical attitude…

Review: Mozart’s Requiem by Mundia Productions

By Adrian Rodriguez on 11 November 2018 Choral, Concert Reviews, Piano

Last Saturday, November 10, Mundia Productions presented Mozart’s Requiem and the Piano Concerto #20 in d minor k.466 performed by the Orchestre philharmonique du Nouveau Monde conducted by Michel Brousseau, along with the participation of the Société philharmonique du Nouveau Monde choir and guest pianist Vasyl Kotys. What you missed If we were able to travel 1000 years forward, my guess is that Mozart’s Requiem would still be performed somewhere in a distant galaxy. This work is a masterpiece that is worth attending anytime we have the chance. The highlight was the performance from Société philarmonique du Nouveau Monde choir.…

Nathan Berg (Alberich) © Yves Renaud

Review: Montreal Premiere of Wagner’s Das Rheingold a Must See

By Wah Keung Chan on 11 November 2018 Concert Reviews, Opera, Romantic

What you missed The first time Wagner’s Das Rheingold is staged in Montreal is a success. As a whole, this is Opéra de Montréal’s best production in the last two and a half years, riveting from beginning to the end. The production from Minnesota Opera worked quite well, mixing multimedia projections with placement of the orchestra on stage, an elevated bridge for the gods and using the pit for the Rhein and the underworld. The singing was excellent with some reservation. Canadian bass-baritone Nathan Berg’s commanding portrayal of Alberich along with an imposing voice is worth the price of admission…

Photo: Kirsten Miccoli

Soprano Sara Schabas Wins IRCPA’s “Career Blueprint”

By Newswire on 9 November 2018 Newswire, Vocal

SOPRANO SARA SCHABAS GOES TO NEW YORK RECEIVES IRCPA’S “CAREER BLUEPRINT” AFTER NEW SINGING STARS PERFORMANCE AT ZOOMER HALL Soprano Sara Schabas of Toronto has been named recipient of a valuable “Career Blueprint”. The announcement was made Monday night at Zoomer Hall in Toronto after the concert New Singing Stars, featuring 11 young professional singers, presented by the International Resource Centre for Performing Artists (http://ircpa.net), and broadcast live on The New Classical FM with host Jean Stilwell. As a result of receiving the Career Blueprint, Ms. Schabas, 28 (www.saraschabas.com), will spend three days at the National Opera Center in New…