Tag Archives: mayo

A Love Song for Toronto

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carlahSoundstreams is the latest local organisation to make the return to live performance with an audience with a concert Thursday night at St. Andrew’s Church titled A Love Song to Toronto.  Three of the works on the program; Vivier’s Hymnen an dir Nacht and Lovesongs plus Christopher Mayo’s Oceana Nox, appeared in a streamed concert in November and I described them in some detail in reviewing that show.  The performers were the same as well bar one.  Pianist Serouj Kradjian replaced Gregory Oh .  I don’t think my impressions of the pieces have changed much but I really appreciated the greater immediacy of a genuinely live performance.

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Lovesongs

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Soundstreams’ on-line concert, Lovesongs, recorded in Koerner Hall and streamed (access codes are PWYC, min $7) features three works; two by and one “in homage” to Claude Vivier with an intro by Lawrence Cherney and David Fallis who conducts on the first and third pieces.

lovesongs

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Soundstreams 2020/21

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Soundstreams2021promo-photobyDahliaKatz-0960_back-cover-1-380x260Soundstreams have announced their 2020/21 season and hopefully we will get to see some of it!  As ever there’s loads of good stuff starting with Steve Reich being in Toronto for his 85th birthday in April 2021.  Other stuff that gets me excited includes:

  • Huang Ruo’s The Book of Mountain and Seas as part of 21C at Koerner in January 2021.  This features the vocal ensemble Ars Nova Copenhagen and puppets!
  • Chan Ka Nin’s A Dragon’s Tale.  It’s a co-pro with Tapestry and promises a waterfront extravaganza of western and eastern musical traditions.  That’s coming in June next year.
  • May 2021 sees a line up of Toronto’s finest performing works by Claude Vivier plus a new commission from Christopher Mayo.  That’s going to be in the very intimate Temerty Theatre at the RCM

Plus Electric Messiah, Encounters and more.  Full details here.

Soundstreams’ Seven Deadly Sins

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Humans seem to have a deep need to classify things.  Why else would one try to summarise the totality of human failings into a sevenfold taxonomy but Pope Gregory’s list of “Deadly Sins” seems to have the enduring ability to inspire artistic endeavour.  Weill’s ballet chanté and Anthony Powell’s description of a louche evening at Stourwater (The Kindly Ones) being but two of the most memorable.

Boschsevendeadlysins

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Tanya Tagaq at the TSO

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Last night saw the opening concert of the TSO’s New Creations Festival.  It opened with a sesquie by Andrew Staniland; Reflections on “O Canada” After Truth and Reconciliation.  Sesquies are two minute “fanfares” composed to commemorate Canada’s 150th.  Staniland’s version was a bold attempt to deal with the immensely complex subject of reconciliation between Canada and its native peoples and, of course, one can’t do that in two minutes in any medium.  Reflections was an interesting stab though.  It was structured as a very quiet canon for high strings in a minor key using the principal theme of O Canada and ending with an overblown fanfare in the winds.  You can apply your own political interpretation.

tanya-tagaq

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