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The Lost Karaoke Tapes
I’m impressed. Nicole Lizée has more reason to be pompous & full of herself than any composer or performer I know. But she seems to be totally unpretentious. Exhibit “A”: the piece we saw &...
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Traces of Raffaello: Marco Delogu Faces the Camera
The re-building of University of Toronto Schools gapes at me like an open wound as I walk up Huron St. Today was my second visit to the show that’s at the Istituto Italiano di Cultura Gallery, at 496...
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Lepage’s Coriolanus: a video sandwich
There’s a particular magic to live theatre that you can almost glimpse in an online transmission, but it’s not really the same, not quite so magical. When I see Coriolanus get into a car onstage that...
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Douglas Chambers – Stonyground
I heard today that Douglas Chambers passed away this past weekend, and that the cause of his passing was COVID-19. I sometimes make big long preambles when I’m avoiding something. I can’t deny this...
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Musical Gentrification
I don’t know about you, but I’ve got lots of time to think, to ponder questions old & new. One of my oldest questions is the conundrum of popularity in music. It’s a complicated phenomenon, and I’m...
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Walking the University of Toronto Campus Guide
I shouldn’t have needed a book to wake me up to the nuances & subtleties of my many connections to the University of Toronto. But it’s a bit like a family album, these beautiful pictures of loved...
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Remembering Elfriede Meindl
I was talking to my mother about the Meindls, namely Rolf & Elfriede. Reverend Rolf passed back in 2012, while Elfriede left us a just a few days ago. Although I know very little about them, they...
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Brand new sound: a moving experience
I stumbled upon something quite by accident and want to share the good news. No I can’t take credit. We’re fixing some old windows, and needed to work with the contractor, who was blocked off by the...
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Beethoven 250: which incarnation?
I hope it isn’t a radical idea to suggest that each of us is really several people, depending on context. The people around me, the places I visit, even the time of day might influence how I act. I’m...
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Wagner, Mendelssohn, Korngold & beyond with Sam
Sam appears to be feeling a lot better. Last week began with her staggering weakly, doing a scary impersonation of a carcass (lying on her side so forlorn in appearance that a couple of times I was...
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Mandala: The Beauty of Impermanence
I heard from Larry Beckwith, who is Artistic Producer of Confluence Concerts, that they’re offering something titled Mandala: The Beauty of Impermanence: “Premiering OnlineWednesday,January 27,...
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François Girard’s Flying Dutchman
François Girard’s production of Richard Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman is tonight’s free opera on the Metropolitan Opera website, available also tomorrow until the early evening when Rigoletto takes...
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SFO Rheingold
As I ponder the future of streaming performances & concerts, I’m checking out Wagner’s Ring Cycle as produced by the San Francisco Opera in 2018 in their co-production with the Washington Opera....
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Melisande and Sam
The picture is a bit of whimsy, Sam seeming to float with the flower. If you don’t have your glasses on (hello! That was how I took the photo), the alignment of dog + flower is much easier to do,...
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Opera Atelier’s Resurrection
When you study theatre history one of the first things you may encounter is the quem quaeritis trope. It’s so short that I can quote it in its entirety, a tiny four line drama re-enacted at Easter in...
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The Mission in 2021
It’s been a month of reflection for Canadians following the discovery of the remains of 215 children buried on the grounds of the Kamloops residential school, another discovery near Brandon...
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Nicole Lizée Undisrupted: A Guide to The Orchestra
Is “undisrupted” a word? We have disturbed and undisturbed, disputable and indisputable. As far as I can tell the best way to understand undisrupted is in its use as the title of a series on CBC...
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Bold Angel from Opera Atelier
Opera Atelier’s new film of Angel –fully-staged and filmed at St. Lawrence Hall—will be streaming until Friday, November 12. Angel is a bold experiment. I’m not sure how to describe the work, an...
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Cheryl is back with a new team
I had my first salon hair-cut in over a year. While the pandemic helped some billionaires increase their billions, as some businesses increased profits—so long as they were able to use the word...
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Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun
This is more appreciation than review. If you’ve never seen a Wes Anderson film this will read differently than to those familiar with his style. The title, subject and structure of Wes Anderson’s...
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