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New Adventures in Sound Art presents a sonic hologram of the waters under our concrete and glass

By John Terauds On June 14, 2013 · Add Comment
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The labyrinth space in Trinity Square.
We can create a semblance of a non-existent place with sound as much as with a hologram — and Darren Copeland, artistic director of New Adventures in Sound Art, is going to prove it in the last of his contributions to the NXNE festival. Participation is free.
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Big creativity in small things: How about an opera synopsis rendered as graphic novel?

By John Terauds On June 14, 2013 · 2 Comments
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Sinfini Music, the massive new classical music site operated by Universal, has posted a graphic plot synopsis by William Elliott of Benjamin Britten’s opera Peter Grimes. It’s a beautiful example of an alternative means to reach out to a different audience that does not change or dumb down the final artistic product.
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Keyboard Thursday album review: Nicolas Horvath’s brave journey through Franz Liszt’s Christus

By John Terauds On June 13, 2013 · Add Comment
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Nicolas Horvath at the American Church in Paris.
Although we celebrated Franz Liszt’s 200th two years ago, the vast majority of pianists, orchestras and choirs paid little attention to his later compositions — the ones concerned with emotional and spiritual matters depicted in sound. This is music that often has little momentum and none of the surface dazzle of an opera reminiscence or a Hungarian dance.
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Concert review: Yuja Wang a pianistic hummingbird in company of Toronto Symphony

By John Terauds On June 12, 2013 · Add Comment
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Yuja Wang with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and music director Peter Oundjian at Roy Thomson Hall on Wednesday night (Dale Wilcox photo).
The Toronto Symphony really is putting its best collective foot forward in its final serious concert programme of the 2012-13 season. It helps that its star guest this week is phenomenal 26-year-old Chinese pianist Yuja Wang.
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The long, agonizing process of bringing Massey Hall into the 21st century may be ready to start

By John Terauds On June 12, 2013 · Add Comment
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It may be 2013, but the top balcony seats at Massey Hall are battered wooden relics from 1894 (John Terauds phone photo).
We all love and hate Massey Hall. The grand old dame of Shuter Street has come pretty close to being a bag lady in recent years, what with the crumbling plaster and bumsprung seats. So, after much talk, an announcement yesterday that the first phase of redevelopment might be ready to start is welcome news.
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A visit with the Dumbells, Canadian sketch comedy pioneers from the trenches of World War I

By Open Submission On June 12, 2013 · Add Comment
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Toronto has a chance to experience a fascinating slice of Canadian history at Hugh’s Room on Saturday, when a group of local musicians, comedians and actors recreates the Vaudeville-inspired antics of World War I entertainer troupe the Dumbells, born in the muck and death-soaked trenches of Europe nearly a century ago.
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Album review: Attacca Quartet members prove themselves as John Adams’ fellow travelers

By John Terauds On June 11, 2013 · Add Comment
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Young New Yorkers the Attacca Quartet have found the ideal vehicle for channeling some of that city’s unbridled energy in a new album of works by John Adams, released by Azica records.
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Album review: Molinari Quartet brings out intimate power of R. Murray Schafer works

By John Terauds On June 11, 2013 · Add Comment
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The world loves grand gestures — big opera, loud rock concerts, tall-and-taller buildings. But those who meditate on happiness inevitably turn to the small, everyday gesture for sustenance — a smile, a pathside wildflower, a gentle nose-prod from the family dog. I want to add the string quartet to the latter list.
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Concert review: Euphonia finds right echoes of past and present at Lula Lounge

By John Terauds On June 10, 2013 · 2 Comments
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Conductor Simon Capet introduces flute soloist Christopher Lee at Lula Lounge on Monday night (Amy Buchwald iPhone photo).
Toronto classical ensemble Euphonia is all about bringing an informal, fun vibe to its concerts at Lula Lounge. But at its third concert there on Monday night, what impressed me the most was their risk-taking.
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The ultimate Rite of Spring comparison: 46 recording clips in 3-1/2 minutes

By John Terauds On June 10, 2013 · Add Comment
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The fine minds at Q2, the new music skunkworks at New York City broadcaster WQXR this morning posted an absolutely brilliant 3-1/2-minute compilation of 46 continuous clips of the “Augurs of Spring” section of Igor Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. Here is ultimate proof of the diversity of interpretation — even for a piece that the composer didn’t believe needed “interpretration,” [...]
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  • Three new albums proudly flaunt the fine art of properly singing the music of J.S. Bach
  • This evening: A 'short little sundowner' of new works by composer Andrew Ager
  • Album review: Young Czech violinist Josef Spacek's easy grace, awesome control in music of Janácek, Smetana and Prokofiev
  • Canadian Opera Company attendance continued sustained slide during 2012-13 season
  • The real lessons of music? Life is not a video game but a lot of cumulative work
  • Video: Comedian Bill Bailey on Cockney influences in classical music
  • Three Toronto live music suggestions for the last Sunday of spring
  • Online: Benjamin Britten's War Requiem with Simon Rattle and Berlin Philharmonic
  • Tonight: Pianist Frank Horvat combines music and images at Gallery 345
  • Luminato review: Fine card tricks the essence of Piano and Pasteboards
  • New Adventures in Sound Art presents a sonic hologram of the waters under our concrete and glass
  • Big creativity in small things: How about an opera synopsis rendered as graphic novel?
  • Keyboard Thursday album review: Nicolas Horvath's brave journey through Franz Liszt's Christus
  • Concert review: Yuja Wang a pianistic hummingbird in company of Toronto Symphony
  • The long, agonizing process of bringing Massey Hall into the 21st century may be ready to start
  • A visit with the Dumbells, Canadian sketch comedy pioneers from the trenches of World War I
  • Album review: Attacca Quartet members prove themselves as John Adams' fellow travelers
  • Album review: Molinari Quartet brings out intimate power of R. Murray Schafer works
  • Concert review: Euphonia finds right echoes of past and present at Lula Lounge
  • The ultimate Rite of Spring comparison: 46 recording clips in 3-1/2 minutes
  • One last week of Toronto concert critic's picks for the 2012-13 season -- for June 10 to 16
  • Video: Toronto Symphony composer Kevin Lau pulls back curtain on pre-premiere prep
  • Video: Toronto pianist Catherine Wilson on truth, art and Astor Piazzolla
  • Today's 'In Concert' on CBC Radio 2 devoted to late conductor Mario Bernardi
  • Weekend watch and listen: The 'beating heart and a soul underneath the wig' of J.S. Bach
  • Execrable Giacomo Variations highlights richness and vitality of Toronto opera ecosystem
  • 'One can never fully experience the real glory of the music unless it is heard live'
  • Canadian army presents latest manifestation of a country's cultural inferiority complex
  • Keyboard Thursday album review: The baroque organ riches of Louis Marchand
  • Keyboard Thursday album review: Fine work from Anagnoson and Kinton piano duo
  • Concert review: Joshua Bell re-earns his star's stripes in Toronto Symphony visit
  • Met Opera tenor and new music fest part of Royal Conservatory of Music 2013-14 season
  • Krystian Zimmerman, YouTube, audience phones and the end of concertgoing as we know it
  • Album review: Impeccably wrought Mahler from Kent Nagano, Montreal Symphony and Christian Gerhaher
  • Video: Konzerthaus Dortmund sells 'The Yannick Experience'
  • Toronto Masque Theatre and Volcano Theatre a welcome presence in 2013 Dora nominations
  • Conductor Mario Bernardi, a huge force in Canadian music, dead at age 82
  • Critic's picks: Toronto concerts and opera for June 3 to 9
  • Sunday listening: Incendiary Haydn opera for marionettes an engrossing rarity
  • Concert appreciation: New Recitals at Rosedale series aims to fill yawning vocal gap in Toronto
  • Call for submissions: Share your Toronto musical story and get Roy Thomson Hall's story in return
  • A brave new world of entertainment and learning in Touch Press app of Beethoven's Ninth
  • Contact festival finale: Patent Pending leaves us in satisfying shadows of doubt
  • Children celebrate community and cooperation while learning to sing in Toronto's choirs
  • China goes from new frontier to land of potential partnerships for classical musicians
  • Concert review: Transformative Chopin with Janina Fialkowska and Tafelmusik at Koerner Hall
  • Niagara-on-the-Lake the setting for Elizabeth II coronation re-enactment on Sunday
  • Opera updates fail because they don't go far enough, not because they're too radical
  • Opera review: Raise a glass and toss some confetti for amazing Figaro's Wedding
  • New book by Robert Craft reminds us of Igor Stravinsky's Toronto connections, including Glenn Gould
  • Album review: A fine sampler of music by hot young American composer Mohammed Fairouz
  • Album review: Beethoven symphonies even more present and insistent with period instruments
  • Ontario Philharmonic unveils Koerner Hall concerts for 2013-14 season
  • Critic's picks: Toronto concerts and opera for May 27 to June 2
  • Concert review: Aldeburgh Connection says a golden goodbye with Benjamin Britten
  • There is a lot more to composer Charles Gounod than the opera Faust
  • Wedding season warning: Just because they say they're an organist and God is supposed to be in the room...
  • Observation: Familiarity breeds content and finer performances in new music and old
  • Concert review: Toronto Consort's tribute to women's voices greater than sum of interesting parts
  • Saturday: Organized Crime plays serious organ music for laughs at Metropolitan United
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