Tag Archives: taylor

siofra lacks horror and doesn’t have much else to offer

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 síofra, by Natalia Bushnik and Kathleen Welch, is Act II of the ‘Dark Mother Trilogy’, a series of three horror-theatre plays exploring fertility and motherhood through the folklore of three different countries: Romania (SAMCA), Ireland (síofra), and Germany (spilleHOLLE). It’s presented by Spindle Collective at the diminutive Red Sandcastle Theatre. I didn’t see SAMCA but it got good reviews so I was well prepared to give siofra a shot. Frankly I was quite disappointed and I shall attempt to explain why.

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Satisfying Theodora from UoT

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Handel’s Theodora may just be his best oratorio, even if nowadays it’s better known in fully staged versions.  On Friday night it was presented by a combination of the Schola Cantorum, The Theatre of Early Music and assorted guests under the direction of Daniel Taylor at the Church of St. Mary Magdalene.

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Fauré Requiem at Metropolitan United

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Last Thursday lunchtime’s Noon at Met concert was given by the UoT’s Schola Cantorum conducted by Daniel Taylor with Jonathan Oldengarm at Met’s very impressive organ. The music was Fauré’s rather unusual Requiem op.45.  I say unusual because it’s much more gentle and lyrical  than most, not least because there’s no Dies Irae.  That’s cut except for the Pie Jesu section.  Also it finishes with the hopeful In Paradisum from the Burial Service.  Apparently this is because Fauré was most definitely not an orthodox Catholic rather lying somewhere on a spectrum from theist to agnostic but obviously still aware that we all die and we all grieve.

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An Ode to James Bowman

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bowman4Iconic British countertenor James Bowman passed away last March.  On Sunday night at Trinity-St. Pauls the Early Music folks at UoT presented a tribute to the man and his career.  It was very well done.  Music associated with Bowman; mostly Purcell and Britten, was interspersed with video and personal recollections/testimonials that fully reflected the considerable influence Bowman had on the English music scene and on the more widespread acceptance of the countertenor voice in the classical music world generally. Continue reading →

Dido danced

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Last night saw the first of two performances of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas at Trinity-St. Paul’s. It was a collaboration between the UoT Schola Cantorum and the Theatre of Early Music though where one starts and the other ends I’m none too sure! Before the Purcell we got a fine performance of an early solo violin piece; Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber’s Passacaglia in G Minor played by Adrian Butterfield.

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Leipzig cantatas

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The final concert of this year’s Toronto Bach Festival took place at Eastminster United Church yesterday afternoon.  It offered two of the cantatas Bach wrote in Leipzig in 1723; Die Elenden sollen essen and Die Himmel erzählen die Ehre Gottes  Each is written in two parts which, originally would have bookended a sermon (mercifully absent yesterday).  Each begins with a choral setting of a biblical verse and proceeds via recits on arias on related texts.  The second half of each starts with a Sinfonia and finishes with a chorale based on a Lutheran hymn.

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VOCES8 at St. James

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UK based vocal octet VOCES8 sang Tuesday night at St. James Anglican Cathedral.  The whole thing was arranged by Daniel Taylor of the Theatre of Early Music at the UoT and marked VOCES8’s Canadian debut.  I confess to a weakness for choral music in the Anglican tradition so this was a welcome opportunity to hear some very highly regarded performers.  They didn’t disappoint.  They are a finely tuned and highly skilled group.

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Uncle Vanya

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Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya is the sort of play that makes one wonder why the Russian Revolution didn’t happen much sooner.  If the land owning class were living such miserable lives it must have been absolute hell for the peasants.  Maybe they just couldn’t afford a guillotine?  Anyway it’s playing at Crow’s Theatre right now in a production directed by Chris Abraham which runs until October 2nd.

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Confluence’s Purcell

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Last night Confluence Concerts streamed their latest offering; a tribute to Henry Purcell, preceded by a pre-show interview between Larry Beckwith and Andrew Parrott.  There was beautifully played instrumental music from Victoria Baroque, songs from Lawrence Williford and Lucas Harris recorded at the Elora Festival and a couple of interesting takes on If Music Be the Food of Love plus Two Daughters of this Aged Stream featuring Daniel Taylor, Rebecca Genge and Sinéad White plus instrumentalists from the UoT Faculty of Music Historical Performance Department.  I was less taken with Duo Serenissima (Elizabeth Hetherington, soprano and David Mackor, theorbo).  I can’t tell whether it was the recording acoustic or a diction issue but the words were pretty much unintelligible which is a big problem with Purcell!.

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Voices Across the Atlantic

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Last night’s Toronto Summer Music concert at the Church of the redeemer was headlined by Daniel Taylor, Charles Daniels and Steven Philcox but, somewhat to my surprise, also featured multiple fellows from both the art song and chamber music programmes.

The “headliners” kicked things off with Britten’s canticle Abraham and Isaac, based on one of the Chester Mystery Plays.  I thought I knew this piece but soon realised I was confusing it with the setting of Owen’s The Parable of the Old Man and the Young in the War Requiem!  It’s an interesting piece with a very medieval Catholic take on an Old Testament story.  It was performed here with the delicacy and attention to detail I’d expect from these performers.

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