The last Koerner Hall concert of this year’s Toronto Summer Music riffed off the Vienna Phil’s traditional New Year extravaganza with lots of Johann Strauss waltzes and the cheesiest fake Magyar (mezzo) soprano arias from operetta. I was skeptical when I first saw the programme but it turned out to be extremely enjoyable; partly on account of excellent musicianship and partly because everyone involved was having so much fun.
The last great castrato, we are told, was Vellutti who was a favourite with many early 19th century composers. Tuesday night’s concert at Koerner Hall as part of Toronto Summer Music was a tribute to him with counter-tenor Franco Fagioli accompanied by L’Orchestre de l’Opéra de Versailles and their flamboyant violinist/conductor Stefan Plewniak performing music associated with Vellutti interspersed with orchestral music from (mostly) the same operas.
My review of Thursday’s performance of Brian Current and Marie Clements’ MISSING at Toronto Summer Music is now up at La Scena Musicale.
Photo: Lucky Tang
Schmaltz and Pepper were back at Walter Hall on Wednesday night as part of Toronto Summer Music. It was a generous two hour programme featuring some of the music on their recently released CD; like “Mozart the Mensch” and “I’m Sorry Mama” plus plenty of new stuff.
British soprano Mary Bevan and pianist Roger Vignoles gave a recital of French chansons in Walter Hall on Monday night. The concept was that the songs were paired; one being a setting of Baudelaire by a male composer and the other song by a female composer of the the same period. With two exceptions all the composers were French and with one exception from roughly the fin de siècle. So Duparc, Déodat de Séverac, Fauré Debussy and de Bréville were paired variously with the predictable; les sœurs Boulanger and Pauline Viardot, and less predictable; Mel Bonis, Marguerite Canal, Amy Beach (American) and Jeanne Landry (Canadian and much later).
My review of the performance of Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea that opened Toronto Summer Music is now up at La Scena Musicale.
Photo:Lucky Tang
Baritone Micah Schroeder and pianist Stéphane Mayer gave a recital on Saturday night at the Tranzac called Everlastingness. It was a carefully curated mix of song recital classics, works by contemporary Canadian composers and some Armenian influences. The balance was such that a two hour plus recital seemed to fly by. I rather like the Tranzac for this kind of event. The acoustics are fine and the comparative intimacy of it gives a vibe somewhere between a concert hall and, say, Opera Pub. It’s certainly difficult to imagine anyone (furries aside) wearing tails there.
And so to the music… Matters kicked off with Danika Lorèn’s setting of Edna St.Vincent Millais’ Recuerdo no. 7 – A Few Figs From The Thistle. It’s a gentle setting of an appealing text and was a good atmosphere setter. Next was a foray into Ich bin ein ernsthafter deutscher Bariton territory with Schumann’s Lieder und Gesänge aus Wilhelm Meister. This was very nicely done with excellent diction, measured singing; balancing the dramatic and the sensitive aptly, and was beautifully accompanied. Proper Lieder singing in fact. Continue reading
The latest Happenstancers gig, which took place at 918 Bathurst on Thursday evening, was an exploration of the death of Ophelia and related ideas with works for assorted chamber ensembles plus/minus voices. Ten composers; all of whom could at a stretch be considered “contemporary”, were featured in a programme that, with interval, lasted two and three quarter hours. That’s a feat of stamina for performers and audience alike as none of the music performed was “easy” and no notes or introductions were provided.
Each half of the programme started off with a piece by Linda Catlin Smith, who was in the audience. Stare at the River for piano, string bass, trumpet, clarinet, violin and percussion was quite sparse and open textured while The River was more obviously lyrical with guitar, cello and Danika Lorèn replacing piano, trumpet and bass.
My review of William Finn’s Elegies as performed by the interns at Toronto Opera Festival is now up at La Scena Musicale.
Photo credit: Emily Ding Photography
Tim Crouch’s An Oak Tree has been around for 20 years and has been performed about 400 times and it still feels very experimental and rather weird in a good way. It mucks about with time and space and identity while layering on multiple meta-theatrical elements that create an experience that is simultaneously engrossing and somewhat disorienting.
operaramblings 