Tag Archives: tapestry

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.

Tapestry redux

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If you missed the livestream of Tapestry Songbook X it’s on again tonight.  And it appears there is going to be a virtual party.  Here’s what’s up…. (according to Tapestry):

Two weeks ago, we livestreamed Songbook X, a concert featuring Krisztina Szabó, mezzo-soprano, and Chris Foley, collaborative pianist. This reimagined concert united us in community at a time when we needed it most.  We heard from folks who had a candle-light dinner as they watched and others who recognized friends in the livechat who they hadn’t heard from in a while. Join us for the show and get social! Invite a friend, plan your snacks and drinks, and join us for a night of beautiful piano and vocal music.

To attend, click here and select ‘Get Reminder’ – the streaming party will start on Facebook this Saturday at 8PM EST/5PM PST.

Be well, and see you online!

Concert Programme – Songbook X Livestream

7:00pm – Chill your refreshments
7:15pm – Break out the snacks
7:30pm – Home system sound check (make sure your speakers work!)
7:45pm – Start your video chat party
7:50pm – Pour libations
7:55pm – Pre-show toast with Artistic Director Michael Mori…everybody raise your glasses!
8:00pm – Concert time!

 

If you want to know what to expect you could always read my review.

Cancellation update

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closedYesterday I received seven assorted emails about cancellations in Toronto plus news from the Metropolitan Opera.  Essentially all the major orchestras and music theatre organisations in Toronto are shuttered until at least the end of the month.  Events are also being called off elsewhere so check your location situation.  Here’s a quick run down:

 

  • The Four Seasons Centre is closed until the end of the first week of April.  So, the ballet is off, as is the free concert series.  The COC is still planning to run its spring season but we’ll see.
  • Tafelmusik and the TSO have cancelled performances until the end of the month.
  • After tomorrow the UoT and the Conservatory are cancelling public events until the end of the month.
  • Tapestry Songbook on March 21st is sort of cancelled.  There will be no live audience but the show will be live streamed at 8pm and the performers are being paid.  Go Tapestry!
  • Amici Chamber Ensemble’s show on the 29th is off.
  • The Metropolitan Opera is closed so no Live in HD but they are doing free nightly web casts of the HD back catalogue.  Details here.

More news when I have any…. Stay safe!

 

Into March

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MansfieldParkImage-e1563379878710March is looking a bit thin right now.  Both UoT Opera and the Glenn Gould School have shows though.  From the 12th to the 15th in the MacMilan Theatre (7.30pm, Sunday 2.30pm) the university is doing Jonathan Dove’s Mansfield Park in a production by Tim Albery.  I’m not familiar with this work but generally I’ve been very impressed with Dove’s vocal music.  Casting etc is here.  On the 18th and 20th the GGS is putting on Ravel’s L’heure espagnole and Puccini’s Suor Angelica which is certainly an unusual pairing.  The double bill plays at Koerner Hall at 7.30pm.  Casting and creative team details are here.  UoT also have a show on the 27th at 5pm in Walter Hall called Parlami d’Amore.  In non university gigs, Tapestry Songbook X is at the Ernest Balmer Studio on the 20th at 8pm.

In free events there are a couple of noon hour concerts in the RBA.  On the 17th the Ensemble Studio have a March Break “Opera for All Ages” concert and on the 31st transgender soprano Brianna Sinclair is appearing.  And of course there’s Opera Pub in its usual time and place on the 5th.

Jacqueline

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Jacqueline is a new opera by librettist Royce Vavrek and composer Luna Pearl Woolf.  It will premiere at Tapestry next month.  It deals with the life and career of cellist Jacqueline du Pré.  Du Pré was a celebrity in her own life time.  She made her Wigmore Hall debut at age 16 in 1961 and quickly established herself as one of the all time greatest exponents of her instrument with a rather special relationship with the Elgar concerto.  Marriage to Daniel Barenboim, conversion to Judaism and “membership” in the rather remarkable circle of musical Jews in New York followed.  Her physical ability to play the cello though began to decline in 1971 and a formal diagnosis of multiple sclerosis was made in 1973.  She lived for another 14 years but never played again in public.

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Best of 2019

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Last night marked the last performance I plan on seeing before the holidays so it’s time for the annual “best of” posting.  So what did your scribe enjoy or admire the most in 2019?  Let’s look at it by categories.

Fully staged opera with orchestra

19-20-02-MC-D-855The COC had a decent year but two of their shows stood out for me.  David McVicar’s production of Rusalka in October was perhaps all round the best thing the COC have done in years.  The production was clever in that interrogated the material enough to ask lots of questions for those willing to think about them without doing anything to upset those not so interested.  Musically one really can’t imagine hearing Rusalka sung or played better anywhere in the world.  The other winner was Elektra in January.  The orchestra and the singing was the winner here, especially Christine Goerke, but the production was better than average and we don’t see enough of the great modern classics in the Four Seasons stage.

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News round up

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Various bits and pieces from the in basket:

The dynamic duo of Teija Kasahara and Aria Umezawa have a new project; Amplified Opera.  They are kicking off with a series of three concerts called Amplify! and it takes place Ocober 10th to 12th at the Ernest Balmer Studio.  The theme is diversity and equity.

  •  October 10th, 2019: The Way I See It – American mezzo-soprano and author Laurie Rubin (Do You Dream in Color: Insights from a Girl Without Sight), and pianist Liz Upchurch will speak to their unique experiences as individuals with blindness and vision loss navigating the world of opera, and how this element of their identity has informed their creative process. The concert will be directed by Aria Umezawa. As you can imagine this particularly resonates with me.
  • October 11th, 2019: The Queen in Me – An exploration of the ways in which the classical music world tries to control and limit queerness, gender expressions, and identities. This one-person show features soprano Teiya Kasahara as the Queen of the Night who, after 228 years, has finally decided to reclaim their narrative and challenge the patriarchy. The show is accompanied by Trevor Chartrand, and directed by Andrea Donaldson.
  • October 12th, 2019: What’s Known to Me is Endless – A look at the African diaspora, and how experiences of Black identity differ in Canada and the United States. African American baritone Kenneth Overton is joined by Canadian pianist Rich Coburn to speak to how their understanding of Black identity was challenged while working on both sides of the Canadian-US border. Canadian American, Michael Mohammed, will direct the show.

Tickets are $25 for each show at the door or from the website.

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A second look at Shanawdithit

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We went back last night for a second look at Shanawdithit.  We were sitting up much closer to the stage area this time and that did bring out some things I hadn’t noticed so much before.  It also made the role of the chorus much clearer.  That said I don’t think I’d write anything much different to my original review if I were doing so again.  But there are some additional thoughts that I want to share:

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May listings

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Mayday-1So May Day greetings and hello again.  And here are some things you might care to see this month during your eight hours for “what you will”. It’s a bit belated for reasons previously announced but it’s here and I’m back.

Tonight at Lula Lounge at 7pm Tongue in Cheek productions have Democracy in Action.  Several noted singers (Krisztina Szabo, Julie Nesrallah, Natalya Gennadi, Teiya Kasahara, Asitha Tennekoon, Romulo Delgado, Alexander Hajek and Stephen Hegedus) will perform pieces based on audience voting.

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