Category Archives: Concert

TBSO Launches Into the Wonder of Mozart & Martinis Reply

by • Concert, Orchestra

Review by Sylvie Di Leonardo
The Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra hosted their annual cocktail fundraiser Mozart and Martinis at Bight Restaurant last week. The symphony musicians appeared in chamber groups to perform the works of Mozart and his contemporaries in an intimate, elegantly decorated setting at the waterfront. Carefully-crafted cocktails including the Salzburg Spritz and Salieri’s Revenge were accompanied by artisanal appetizers, curated specially for the event by Bight’s Bianca Garofalo.
This evening’s program began with the overture course and Salzburg Symphonies No. 1 followed by the Flute Quartet in D, K. 285. The uplifting melodies of the third movement Rondeau  were accompanied by aperol and orange flavors,

The Thunder Bay orchestra patrons enjoying the wines, nibbles & food

More…

Advertisements

Legacy of Healey Willan, a special Bach Elgar concert Reply

by • Choir, Concert

Review by Judith Caldwell

The Bach Elgar Choir presented a program entitled ‘The Legacy of Healey Willan’. Next year will mark the 50th anniversary of his death so Healey Willan concerts will abound, but Bach Elgar got in first. Although he was born and grew up in England, Willan has been claimed as a great Canadian composer because he moved to Toronto in 1913 to take up a position as Head of Theory at the Conservatory of Music. He then became organist at St. Paul’s on Bloor Street where he composed, taught and performed leaving a very large legacy of musical achievement.

 stamps honoring Emma Albani & Healey Willan

More…

“HPO Remembers”, consulare tenebris, solennes adque arcebant * Reply

by • Choir, Concert, Orchestra

Review by Danny & Terry Gaisin
The serendipitous alignment of Nov. 11th ’17 falling on a Saturday meant having the Hamilton Philharmonic present it’s traditional Remembrance Day event after the emotional catharsis of the city’s & (Country’s conventional) recognizance of the day’s significance. With the ritual and pomp of the Regimental Band of the ‘RHLI’s’ accompanied by a pipe band opening the evening, the two novel and contemporary compositions, the mood and mind-set of the audience was posited and ready for Mozart’s Requiem Mass, performed by the orchestra; 4 soloists and the Bach-Elgar Choir.

l-r: – Mercer; Nesrallah; New; Wiliford & Fanning performing the ‘Tuba Mirum’

More…

Winter is coming… and so is the TBSO! Reply

by • Concert, Orchestra

By Sylvie Di Leonardo
Hey, Northerners [Norwesters?]; are you looking for music that hits a little closer to home? The TBSO has you covered. Each year, the musicians of the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra set out on two regional tours, to bring as much music as possible to as many people as possible. This year’s tour, thoughtfully arranged by TBSO musician and tour manager Damian Rivers-More, will take our new Musical Director, Paul Haas, and Conductor-in-Residence, Simon Rivard, East of the city. This tour herald’s the TBSO’s return to Terrace Bay after many years, and its annual visit to the Pic River First Nation. More…

“Puccini & the H.P.O.”; 2017 Reply

by • Concert, Opera, Orchestra

Review by Terry Gaisin
We’re democratic (in the social -non-political way) so we respect folks right to different opinions than ours. This is especially true of opera. Unlike many other ambiguous items, this particular genus seems to elicit, like piano keys, either a black or white response – no grey area. We understand this because opera is more than just listening to music it’s experiencing the entire presentation; sight, sound and ethos. When we attend an in-concert opera performance our minds recall the whole libretto, the rationale and the scenario behind each presented aria. Non-aficionados may thus not appreciate the piece as part of an entirety.

Benedikt & Jackson interpreting “O Soave Fanciulla” from La Boheme

More…

“Ensemble, Made in Canada”, 1

by • Concert

Review by Judith Caldwell
HCA Concert series offered a dream chamber music concert on the afternoon of October 15th, “Ensemble Made in Canada” – Angela Park, piano; cellist Rachel Mercer; Elissa Lee, violin and Sharon Wei, viola, -plus Scott St. John played two mighty piano quintets. The first half of the program showcased the first quintet for this combination ever written, Robert Schumann’s Piano Quintet in Eb major. Written for his wife Clara it was first tried out privately with Mendelssohn substituting for a heavily pregnant Clara, who loved it and later performed it many times. 
“Made in Canada”, post-concert More…