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Welcome to La Scena Musicale’s weekly Highlights, a roundup of classical music news from Canada and beyond. We’ve been keeping up with Koerner Hall and TSO performances through a series of concert reviews written by our talented reporters. Carnegie Hall is also starting a new streaming service, and the China International Music Competition has announced its prize winners.
La Scena Musicale Reviews Toronto Concerts
The TSO’s remembrance show, led by conductor Sir Andrew Davis, did an excellent job at communicating loss through music, says reviewer Andrea Rush.
Django Festival Allstars, a jazz group dedicated to Romani-French guitarist Django Reinhardt, impressed the crowd at Koerner Hall with many original “gypsy jazz,” says reviewer Paul Robinson.
Also at Koerner Hall performing for Paul Robinson were the Danish String Quartet – could they take up the torch from the recently disbanded Emerson String Quartet? – and András Schiff – do his performances hold up after so many years?
András Schiff at Koerner Hall (Photo courtesy of the Royal Conservatory/Korner Hall; Lisa Sakulensky)
Recent and Upcoming Shows
From Nov. 17 to 19, Vancouver Opera and re:Naissance Opera will play the world première of the opera Sanctuary & Storm (Stir).
Also this weekend, Chutzpah! Festival will present I Have My Mother’s Eyes: A Holocaust Memoir Across Generations, a musical theatre production composed by Rita Ueda (Stir).
On Dec. 1, Vancouver Bach Choir will perform (Stir) the Pulitzer Prize-winning choir piece composed by David Lang, The Little Match Girl Passion. Vancouver Bach Family of Choirs will also host a concert on Dec. 3 (Stir) featuring 400 simultaneous voices.
Debuts
Photo: Courtesy of Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is launching a new streaming platform (Ludwig Van), Carnegie Hall+, as an $8 add-on for Amazon Prime.
“The Queen of Carthage” documentary, produced by Early Music Vancouver and re:Naissance Opera, premièred in an online format on Nov. 16 (Opera Wire). It’s a multidisciplinary retelling of the story of Dido that combines “opera and Baroque music with contemporary song, dance, and projected images.”
American soprano Erin Morley made her Royal Opera House debut singing Gilda in their current production of Rigoletto.
Recordings
Quatuor Molinari’s latest ATMA Classique recording, Philip Glass – Complete String Quartets vol. 2, will be released Nov. 24.
Maria Callas, whose centenary we covered with features in our Nov/Dec issue, is being celebrated with the restoration and colorization of her 1958 Paris gala performance.
Quatuor Molinari
Pianist Christopher Glynn, baritone Roderick Williams, and soprano Rowan Pierce have recorded the fourth volume of Schubert in English for Signum Classics. The record label is also releasing Wonderland, a collection of myth- and magic-based works commissioned by The King’s Singers.
Tower Records has released a 2023 vinyl pressing of The Beatles’s The Red Album, which includes new mixes, some of George Harris’s earliest songs, and a jacket note by journalist and author John Harris. They are also selling a 2023 vinyl pressing of The Blue Album.
Awards, Appointments, and Competitions
US-based violinist Joshua Brown has won the China International Music Competition (The Voilin Channel), also known as the Global Music Education League Violin Competition. He will take home a $100,000 USD prize. US-based Ellie Choi won second prize, valued at $65,000 USD, and Chaowen Luo, from China, won third prize and $30,000 USD.
Cellist Leland Ko has won the 2023 OSM Competition’s Barbara Bronfman Prize ($20,000), along with a residency at the Chapelle Musicale Reine Élisabeth de Belgique. Justin Saulnier was awarded second place, while Emad Zolfaghari came in third.
Leland Ko on stage during the cello auditions. (Photo by Donna Santos)
Local News
Montreal Jazz Festival has announced the lineup for its 44th season, which will take place June and July 2024. Featured artists include Icelandic singer-songwriter Laufey, Inuk musician Elisapie, and London jazz band Ill Considered. Tickets are on sale as of Nov. 17.
Spotify will no longer pay royalties for songs with less than 1,000 plays, according to Music Business Worldwide.
The radio channel for the Metropolitan Opera, once offered on Sirius XM radio stations, will now be exclusive to the app (Opera Wire). Over 350 people have signed a petition urging the company to reverse this decision.
The company Musicianly has opened a Kickstarter for FretboardGPS, a new project that promises to provide a dynamic list of guitar chord options for players using unfamiliar tunings.
Obituary
Lutz Rath (Slipped Disc), Washington Square Music Festival’s artistic director, has died at 78.
Ensemble intercontemporain member and Parrenin Quartet second violinist Jacques Ghestem (Slipped Disc) has passed away.
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