Diasporic Bridges

Diasporic Bridges, at Trinity St. Paul’s on Sunday afternoon, was the Amici Chamber Ensemble’s final concert of the season.  It celebrated the way that music binds emigrant communities together and provides a link to “home”.  Most, though not all, of the pieces performed were by composers of diverse styles and backgrounds living and working in Canada and the live music was preceded by an excerpt from Amici’s upcoming film on the same topic.  I’ll save writing about that until I’ve seen the whole thing.

diasporicbridges

Continue reading

OPUS IV part2

The second concert in the OPUS IV series, which took place on Tuesday evening at the Arts and Letters Club, had a similar structure to Sunday evening.  The concert was anchored around a major, well known, work.  In this case Beethoven’s Kreutzer Sonata with the rest of the programme featuring less familiar material.  It was given by the same five instrumentalists as Sunday; Stella Chen and Isabella Perron – violins, Matthew Lipman – viola, Brannon Cho – cello and Kevin Ahfat – piano.

opusiv_2

Continue reading

A modern take on Gay’s classic

John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera has been around since 1728 and is revived with some regularity but has never quite made into the opera canon. The latest incarnation is a version heavily rewritten by Robert Carsen and Ian Burton with a musical concept by William Christie. It first saw light at the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord in 2018 before touring extensively.

1.peachums

Continue reading

Tapestry and Pride

pride-art-with-logosTapestry Opera is collaborating with Toronto Pride Week to put on a “queerated opera series” called Pride Toronto, Tap This.  There are three shows:

  • Cocktales with Maria showcases Drag Chanteuse / Contralto Profundo Maria Toilette (Joel Klein) and her small motley crew (the Gutter Opera Collective).  They will present Isaiah Bell’s settings of Cocktales: rapacious and tender 1st person retellings of early sexual experiences.  June 8th and 9th at 9pm.
  • Queer of the Night features Soprano Teiya Kasahara subverting the tropes of women in opera with her trademark butch couture and powerful coloratura in cooperation with collaborative pianist, David Eliakis.  June 7th at 9pm and June 9th at 4pm.
  • Tap This: Queers Crash the Opera is a selection of queer-themed opera curated by David Eliakis. It features selections from the classics as well as Tapestry original works.  June 7th and 8th at 8pm.

All shows are at the Ernest Balmer Studio.  More info and tickets here.