The Toronto Symphony Orchestra welcomed audiences back to Roy Thomson Hall last week with a short intermission-less concert of contemporary classical music chosen to honour what we’ve lost, celebrate where we are, and welcome the company’s new music director Gustavo Gimeno whose 2020 grand debut was the victim of almost uncannily terrible timing. The […]
Like any self respecting Taylor Swift aficionado, I’ve been anxiously awaiting this week’s release of her re-recorded Red album from 2012. I’m a big fan of the Taylor’s Version project even though I already spent money on the original versions of all her albums. The two released thus far- Fearless and Red– are two of […]
About a year ago, I bought a sweet record cabinet from an elderly lady off Kijiji. Along with it came a whole whack of records, all of which I kept. …
October 10th was the first time Frank Turner has performed in Toronto since I started listening to Frank Turner. I’ve never been to one of the high-energy concerts at the Phoenix or the Danforth Music Hall that explain his being so closely associated with the punk scene for someone who sings songs about his mom. But […]
James Ehnes is a thrilling violinist, a brilliant technician who…
When conductor Steven Reineke led the Toronto Symphony Orchestra through the Phantom of the Opera overture to kick off Monday night’s performance of “Modern Broadway”- the first of four performances through Wednesday that mark the end of the TSO’s Pops season- part of me worried that the evening’s selections would, like the film scores concert […]
The Toronto Symphony Orchestra is world-class and their recent infusion of young new players really livens things up down at Roy Thomson Hall (always a fun venue to visit). I’m partial to new associate principal bassoon Darren Hicks and our recent spotlightee principal flute Kelly Zimba. And if you haven’t googled associate principal clarinet Eric […]
Billed as “music theatre”, Njo Kong Kie’s first production in his residency with Canadian Stage is more of a concert with multimedia aspects than it is a piece of theatre. Inspired by his experiences picnicking in Mount Pleasant Cemetery, composer-pianist Njo Kong Kie cleverly uses this juxtaposition of life and death to create music that […]