Tag Archives: tso

A Tribute to Maureen Forrester

Posted on by
Reply

Last night’s TSO concert was billed as a Tribute to Maureen Forrester with Ben Heppner MCing.  Inevitably the main even was Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde but first there was a sesquie and the premiere of a new piece; L’Aube, for mezzo and orchestra by Howard Shore (he of Lord of the Rings etc).  This was a setting of five poems by Elizabeth Cotnoir. It was retro, lush, tonal and, in a sense, well crafted but with very little variation between the movements, all of which were very slow.  Susan Platts rich mezzo added to the rather soporific effect. Call me an unreformed modernist if you like but I’m really not sure what a piece like this adds to the symphonic repertoire.

Susan Platts, Peter Oundjian (@Jag Gundu)

Continue reading →

Coming right up

Posted on by
Reply

Simone-Osborne-Gordon-Bintner-3And in the week ahead…

There are still tickets available for Erin Wall and Asitha Tennekoon at Mazzoleni on Sunday.

On Monday evening at 7.30pm in Walter Hall veteran Canadian mezzo Judith Forst is giving a free master class.

Thursday is the big day.  At lunchtime in the RBA you can catch Simone Osborne and Gordon Bintner, currently headlining in L’elisir d’amore on the COC main stage, accompanied by Liz Upchurch (free of course).  Later, at 8pm there’s A Tribute to Maureen Forrester at the Symphony.  That program features, inter alia, Michael Schade and Susan Platts in Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde.  The program will be repeated on Friday at 7.30pm.  Last I checked there were still $25 tickets available.

Photo courtesy of the lady herself.

 

 

Adizokan

Posted on by
Reply

Adizokan is a collaboration between indigenous production company Red Sky and the TSO.  The program last night kicked off with a “sesquie”.  This time it was Blood Echo by Carmen Braden.  It was about as memorable as most of the sesquies have been.  This was followed by Fara Palmer singing her own composition My Roots about the residential school system and cultural survival.  It’s in a pop idiom with native drumming and while musically it’s not my thing it had to be there.

Adizokan_TSO 2 (@Jag Gundu)

 

Continue reading →

Coming up…

Posted on by
1

And in the coming week…  On Tuesday there is a treat for fans of contemporary music.  Krisztina Szabó will be performing the Berio Folksongs in the RBA at noon.  She will be accompanied by members of the Esprit Orchestra and the programme also includes Andrew Staniland’s Orion Constellation Theory and Alexina Louie’s From the Eastern Gate.

Thursday sees the opening of the COC season with Strauss’ Arabella in a production by Tim Albery starring Erin Wall, Jane Archibald and Tomasz Konieczny.  Check out this article by Lydia Perovic for a South Slav’s take on an opera with South Slav references including that hardy Strauss perennial; hunting bears in Croatia.  Arabella runs until the 28th at the Four Seasons Centre.

On Saturday, indigenous production company Red Sky Productions are collaborating with the TSO in a new piece by Eliot Britton; Adizokan.  It’s a fusion of dance, video electro-acoustics and music in both western symphonic and indigenous traditions.  7.30pm at Roy Thomson Hall.

adizokan

A German Requiem

Posted on by
Reply

It was an unusual double bill at the TSO last night; the premiere of Alexina Louie’s Triple Violin Concerto and Brahms’ A German Requiem.  The concerto is an interesting piece.  It’s got a layered, shimmery quality that sounds quite modern without going off into territory that would frighten the punters.  It also makes excellent use of the three virtuoso soloists for whom it was written; Jonathon Crow, Yosuke Kawasaki and Andrew Wan; concertmasters respectively of the the TSO, the NAC Orchestra and l’Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal.  It clever plays the combinations of having soloist dialogue with soloist and soloists dialoguing individually and collectively with the orchestra.  Very enjoyable.

Jonathan Crow, Yosuke Kawasaki, Andrew Wan, Peter Oundjian (@Jag Gundu)

Continue reading →

And off we go again

Posted on by
Reply

Giulio_Cesare_di_AsterixAfter the usual summer hiatus the Toronto music scene starts to get back into gear in the coming week.  Tonight there’s the final concert of the Fall Baroque Academy at Trinity College Chapel.  It features excerpts from Handel’s Giulio Cesare.  It’s at 7.30pm and it’s free.

There are two Ensemble Studio lunchtime concerts in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre.  Tuesday is the traditional “Meet the Artists” gig where everyone gets to do an opera aria and Wednesday celebrates the Invictus Games.  It’s a predictably war themed program with the expected like Butterworth (good) and Ives (the appalling He is there) and the less expected with works by Somers and Argento among others.  Both concerts are at noon and free.

Continue reading →

Carmina Burana

Posted on by
Reply

Last night the TSO gave the last concert of the Decades Project.  Starting, inevitably, with a sesqui, the first half continued with a fine performance of Szymanowski’s Violin Concerto No. 2 with Nicola Benedetti as soloist.  In some ways it’s an odd piece to use to characterise the 1930s (but then so is Carmina Burana!).  It’s high romantic in tone and style.  Lush even.  It’s also extremely well crafted with a rather luscious part for the soloist played quite beautifully by Ms. Benedetti.

Nicola Benedetti, Peter Oundjian @Jag Gundu

Continue reading →

Seven Sins at the Symphony

Posted on by
3

Last night’s Decades series concert featured three works from the 1930s plus a sesqui.  The sesqui, Andrew Balfour’s Kiwetin-acahkos; Fanfare for the Peoples of the North was definitely one of the more interesting of these short pieces.  There were elements of minimalism combined with a nod to Cree/Métis fiddle music.  Quite complex and enjoyable.  It was followed by Barber’s rather bleak Adagio for Strings and the Bartók Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta.  It’s familiar enough fare and was well played by the orchestra under Peter Oundjian.  I particularly enjoyed some of the weird percussion/celesta effects in the third movement of the Bartók.  But really I was there for the second half of the program.

sds3

Continue reading →

Decades – the 1930s

Posted on by
Reply

The TSO’s Decades project has now reached the 1930s; very much home ground for me musically.  Last night’s program explored different aspects of the music making of the period, including serialism, in a varied show of why this is not “music to be scared of”.  It was also Sir Andrew Davis’ first appearance in his role of interim music director and supreme leader for life of the TSO.

Continue reading →

Looking ahead to June

Posted on by
Reply

Suffragette-Banner-4-e1486152573698Usually this is when things start to quieten down. Not so much this year.  On the opera front it does go a bit flat though Opera 5 have their Ethel Smyth double bill opening at Theatre Passe Muraille on the 22nd.  There’s also an evening of opera improv; Whose opera is it anyways?! at the Bad Dog Theatre on the 16th organised by Loose TEA theatre.  And there’s quite a bit more of interest.  Continue reading →