More Rivers

More Rivers is a CD of piano music by Frank Horvat played by Christina Petrowska Quilico.  It’s a sort of sequel to Rivers a record of music by Ann Southam, released on Centrediscs in 2005.  It’s a set of seven pieces of various lengths.  “More Rvers 1 – for Ann” is the last piece on the album but it’s the longest piece of the set and sets up in various ways the others.  The music is a kind of looping minimalism but with quite a lot of harmonic complexity.  Different rhythms and speeds are encountered.  As Frank says in the notes “some rivers are long, some are short, some have rapids, and some have calm water”.  But all but the most benighted rivers flow and these pieces evoke natural streams; clean, pure and life giving.  Played with great virtuosity, discipline and control by Christina it’s a very pleasant way to spend 65 minutes. Continue reading

Traditional Butterfly at the COC

The Canadian Opera Company opened it’s “new to Toronto” production of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly on Friday night.  It’s a production that’s been around for a while having premiered in Houston in 2010.  It’s almost entirely traditional.  The one concession to critics of Puccini’s rather sordid tale is that Butterfly’s age is raised from fifteen to eighteen. The original concept was Michael Grandage’s but it’s revival directed here by Jordan Lee Braun. Continue reading

Games people play

Edward Albee’s 1962 classic Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? opened at Canadian Stage on Thursday evening in a production directed by Brendan Healy.  It’s a long (not far short of 3.5 hours with two short intervals) and complex play; heavily dependent on quick-fire dialogue and with occasional outbreaks of absurdism.  An older academic couple invite the “new man” and his wife back for drinks after a faculty party at a small New England college.  George, a historian of modest distinction, is married to Martha, the daughter of the college president.  The newcomers are Nick, a biologist, and his wife Honey.

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February 2025

Before looking forward to next month I want to mention a couple of things this weekend that I haven’t previously noticed.  Saturday (Jan 25th) at 12.30pm there is a Met HD broadcast of new production of Aida with a pretty interesting looking cast.  Later, at 6pm there’s a rather special concert at the Arts and letters Club to celebrate the 100th birthday of Morry Kernerman (former assistant concertmaster of both the TSO and OSM).  The concert is presented by Canzona Chamber Players and wiull feature Trio Uchida-Crozman-Chiu. Continue reading

The Journal of Helène Berr

Helène Berr was a student at the Sorbonne in the 1940s.  She was musical, well read and kept a journal.  One looks at her photograph and one sees exactly what one expects; regular features, not too much makeup, nicely cut hair.  All in all a typical young middle class Parisienne of the period.  But she was Jewish and, ultimately deported to Auschwitz and then Bergen-Belsen, where she was killed just days before British troops liberated the camp on 15th April 1945.

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Late night in Temerty

Always one of my favourite concerts, the annual late night one in Temerty Theatre which forms part of the 21C festival.  As usual on Saturday night Brian Current was conducting the GGS New Music Ensemble.  This time it was two new Canadian works plus a 1994 piece by Luca Francesconi. Continue reading

Imani Winds and Michelle Carr

The opening concert of this year’s 21C festival was given by the Imani Winds (Brandon George Rule – flutes, Toyin Spellman-Diaz – oboe, Mark over – clarinet, Kevin Newton – horn and Monica Ellis – bassoon) and pianist Michelle Carr in Mazzoleni Hall on Saturday evening.  It was a programme of 20th and 21st century works with a kind of French/jazz theme.

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Winter Solstice

Roland Schimmelpfennig’s play Winter Solstice in an English translation by David Tushingham opened at Canadian Stage’s Berkeley Street Theatre on Friday night.  It’s directed by Alan Dilworth of Necessary Angel theatre Company in collaboration with Birdland Theatre and Canadian Stage.

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Sara Schabas in the RBA

Wednesday’s lunchtime recital in the RBA was given by Wirth Vocal Prize winner Sara Schabas and pianist Alexey Shafirov.  It was a varied and virtuosic programme.  Five composers and five languages were involved and the works performed ranged in date from the 1815 to 2000.

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