55 stories by "Arthur Kaptainis"
Strong start, fab finish. All conductors strive for both, most pray for the latter, which is waht Peter Oundjian got Wednesday in Toronto
Whatever epithet might be attached to Einstein on the Beach " wellspring of minimalism, unrepeatable masterpiece of non-linear narrative, avant-garde epic, colossal waste of time " it remain…
For most of us, the year 1905 is much like the years before and after. For Dmitri Shostakovich it presented an opportunity to evoke a revolutionary uprising with elemental power and cinemati…
Choral programs come in a few flavours, including extroverted and extra-extroverted. The Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, with orchestra, gave us an example of the latter on Wednesday in Koerner H…
Grieg's Piano Concerto is a beautiful piece, almost to the point of having been demoted to pops status. Many thanks to Evgeny Kissin for restoring its classical credentials on Thursday with …
Sci-fi Spectacular: It sounds like an entertaining night in Roy Thomson Hall, and it surely was last week, as the TSO presented an array of themes and excerpts from movies and television sho…
There was a meeting of violinist-conductors Saturday night at Roy Thomson Hall, although Itzhak Perlman is still more violinist than conductor, and Peter Oundjian has long been more conducto…
Double bills come in a few flavours: contrasting, coordinating, heavy and light. The COC pairing of Alexander Zemlinsky's A Florentine Tragedy and Giacomo Puccini's Gianni Schicchi manages t…
The Toronto Symphony Orchestra has called on some good friends to celebrate its 90th season, including Itzhak Perlman, a violinist who was around for the 44th. Just like old times is not a b…
Superintendent of music for Louis XIV, Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-87) has a secure place in music history. Some might question his stature as a composer of viable operas, but the production o…
Can you hum the Barcarolle from The Tales of Hoffmann? Of course you can, even if you think you cannot. Can you provide a synopsis of the plot? Of course not, even if you suppose that you ca…
Bruckner-Schalk? You mean like Bach-Busoni (or Lennon-McCartney)? Everybody knows that Bruckner's not-so-well-meaning students Franz and Josef Schalk prevailed on the master to make unnecess…
The Toronto Symphony Orchestra has asked some former music directors back to mark the 90th season. Most recent among the returnees: Jukka-Pekka Saraste, who left under a cloud in 2001. Labou…
Playing all 32 of Beethoven's Piano Sonatas is a major undertaking, usually parceled out over a few weeks or even an entire season. Canadian pianist Stewart Goodyear plans to dispatch the fa…
The Toronto Symphony Orchestra always brings a fair balance of domestic and international content to its annual New Creations Festival. This year the principal import attraction was Peter E�…
From the Berlin to the Ontario Philharmonic, from Carnegie to Koerner Hall. This should be my cue to reflect on how the differences are not at vast as all that. But the plucky orchestra from…
Some wonderful things happened during Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6 (Pathétique) as performed Saturday night in the Maison symphonique. Among the longest-awaited and most miraculous: I…
Suspense grew steadily in the opening minutes of the concert Thursday night at Roy Thomson Hall. Would the Toronto Symphony Orchestra accomplish what it had lately failed so often to do, by …
Stop the presses: The Toronto Symphony plays Brahms's First Symphony. Not a likely reaction a few years ago, but Peter Oundjian is now getting into such a groove with his hometown band that …
There is no press release, but consider it official: The Canadian Opera Company is a European house. All the hallmarks are there: good soloists, a reliable orchestra, a sturdy chorus, intell…
All these years later, she can still pack them in. I mean Ofra Harnoy, the Israeli-born Toronto cellist who rose as high as the cover of Gramophone in the 1980s, then gave up her career for …
Exiled from his hometown opera house for 20 years, Robert Carsen has made a serious comeback, directing Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice at the end of last season and opening the 2011-2012 COC camp…
Shall I dispense with — or at least defer — the normally mandatory yak-yak about how long we have waited for it, how badly we need it, how much Kent Nagano and the MSO deserve it…
The Blackcreek Summer Music Festival came to a close on Saturday night, well ahead of schedule, and with less than a full crowd in the Rexall Centre, even after three concerts with the Londo…
Has the Gryphon Trio hit the big time? A full house greeted these Canadians on Thursday for the first of two Beethoven concerts in Walter Hall. Further evidence came from the energetic yet n…
