He said/she said: Mozart's Requiem at TSO

Review

Greg Finney and I went to see one of Toronto's most anticipated concert events, presented by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Maestro Bernard Labadie returns to the TSO to conduct Mozart's Requiem, in an unique presentation led by director Joel Ivany, of Against the Grain Theatre.

Album review: Gino Quilico's Secrets of Christmas

Review

Quilico sings with a lazy ease that sounds fittingly cozy for a Christmas album. His voice is straightforward, clean, but with personality and an air of improvisation. In the more popular, crooning numbers, he made me think of Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, and those Lawrence Welk Show Christmas specials.

In review: Sondra Radvanovsky at Koerner Hall

Review

She spent the aria pouring her voice out into Koerner Hall, showing us the steel in her sound that travels up to her warm, thrilling top. Radvanovsky is one of those singers that seems of another generation, of the old-guard of bel canto, the never-ending sound, hold-that-note-forever style that's truly a rare find (in any generation, really).

In review: Elektra

Review

L'Opéra de Montréal is in the middle of a four-show run of Strauss' Elektra, the opera that I'm still waiting to see as a double bill on steroids with Salome, for a full night entitled, Women Who Behave Horrendously. It was a thrill to watch Yannick Nézet-Séguin conduct Strauss' delicious score with the huge amounts of energy he brings. He became somewhat of a meta-principal character in the show; it seems appriopriate, since the music speaks so much detail in this story of revenge.

He said/she said: Tap:Ex Metallurgy

Review

Contributor Greg Finney and I went to Tapestry Opera's opening of Tap:Ex Metallurgy last night. It was one of those shows where one review didn't seem to do it justice. So, here's our She said/He said account of one of the coolest operatic events we'd ever seen.

In review: Julie

Review

Last night Soundstreams and Canadian Stage opened their collaborative production of Julie, the fourth opera by Belgian composer Philippe Boesmans. There was a good amount of hype leading up to this opening, and for good reason. Julie is adapted by librettists Luc Bondy and Marie-Louise Bischofberger from the controversial play by August Strindberg, Miss Julie; its three-singer cast is a cross-section of the rising stars of our current generation.

Powerful stuff: the Elizabeth Krehm Memorial Concert

Review

Last night's Elizabeth Krehm Memorial Concert at Metropolitan United Church was a grand, cathartic experience. Elizabeth Krehm passed away in 2012, after spending a month in St. Michael's Hospital Intensive Care Unit; since 2013, the Krehm family has been holding benefit concerts, donating 100% of the money raised to the ICU in Elizabeth Krehm's name. This year was Mahler's 2nd, his "Resurrection" Symphony, with Evan Mitchell leading the Canzona Chamber Players Orchestra, the Pax Christi Chorale, and soloists Michèle Bogdanowicz and Rachel Krehm.

In review: Puss in Boots & Berio's Folk Songs

Review

The Glenn Gould School presented its fall opera this week, a double bill of Xavier Montsalvatge's El gato con botas (Puss in Boots), and Luciano Berio's Folk Songs. The two shows are objectively different in musical style and dramatic inspiration, but director Liza Balkan writes that pairing El gato and Folk Songs "is a desire for storytelling that embraces surprise, humour, truth, freedom of play, and a willingness to be fearless and intimate with you, the audience."

A great show at the AGO

Review

Last night I went to the Art Gallery of Ontario for their AGO Friday Nights series; this month, Friday Nights includes a little music with your art. Complementing the AGO's current exhibition of works by J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851), Painting Set Free, is a series of concerts curated by Tapestry Opera's artistic director, Michael Mori, entitled Music Set Free.

In review: Mahler & other beauties at the TSO

Review

I took a break from straight-up opera last night, and headed to Roy Thomson Hall to hear the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in the latest instalment of their ongoing Decades Project, in partnership with the AGO, which looks deeply at the music of the early 20th century, last night in particular, 1900-1909. These years brought us a large orchestra, with lush, creative sound palates that are a clear predecessor to soon-to-come film scores. It's the culmination of all the Romantic music coming out of the 19th century, and all the experimentation and industry of the early 1900s. A simplified way of describing it is, "more is more".