| Date and venue | Title |
|---|---|
| 3-Feb-2013 The Royal Conservatory of Music, TELUS Centre, Koerner Hall | Louis Lortie and Hélène Mercier in Toronto |
 When French-Canadian pianists Louis Lortie and Hélène Mercier entered the stage of the Koerner Hall on Sunday, the 800-plus audience participated with an unprecedented level of attention. An episode also occurred to enforce this attention. When an anonymous concert-goer repeatedly started coughing during the recital, Lortie, feeling irritated, signalled a halt during the performance before commencing again. From then on, an aura surrounded these two pianists and the music they produced.Read full review... | |
| 29-Jan-2013 The Royal Conservatory of Music, TELUS Centre, Koerner Hall | Angela Meade debuts at Koerner Hall with the Ontario Philharmonic in Strauss' Four Last Songs |
 Richard Strauss’ Four Last Songs hold an important place in the musical canon for voice and orchestra. The 81-year-old composer wrote them in 1948 from his post-war home in Switzerland, setting poetry by Hermann Hesse and Joseph von Eichendorff. Devotees of Strauss’ music often consider these songs the summit of the composer’s entire output, revealing a tremendously colourful inner world reminiscent of the final chapter in the life of their creator.Read full review... | |
| 23-Jan-2013 Roy Thomson Hall | An evening of Mahler brings bitter-sweetness to heightened grounds at the Roy Thomson Hall |
.jpg) “What makes Mahler’s music like opium,” I once got asked. If you enjoy listening to lush melodies and pompous brass calls in fine Wagnerian traditions, or get stimulated sonically by a large orchestra, you have got a foot in the door. To be a full Mahler convert, if you belong to a cohort of listeners curious in the forces of life or the wonders of nature decoded in music, and can tolerate long durations of musical materials in the form of contrasts and repetition, then welcome to the world of Gustav Mahler. The musical challenges are as great to musicians as they are to listeners.Read full review... | |
| 9-Dec-2012 The Royal Conservatory of Music, TELUS Centre, Koerner Hall | Valentina Lisitsa captivates her Toronto audience with poise and electricity |
 With one week’s notice, Horacio Gutiérrez was indisposed and cancelled his much-anticipated piano recital at Toronto’s Koerner Hall. In his place, it was Valentina Lisitsa to the rescue, the sensational pianist who has now had over 50 million views on her YouTube channel, giving her the status of a rock star. Lisitsa is also one of few to have her solo recital streamed live from the Royal Albert Hall.Read full review... | |
| 4-Dec-2012 The Royal Conservatory of Music, TELUS Centre, Koerner Hall | An evening of Brahms with the Ontario Phil and Anton Kuerti |
 The Ontario Philharmonic Orchestra is a regional orchestra that has 56 years of history in the province of Ontario. Led by music director Marco Parisotto, the Ontario Phil enjoys local community support to performances given chiefly at the Regent Theater in Oshawa, Ontario. Recently, they have expanded their concerts to include the venue at Koerner Hall in Toronto, partly to take advantage of its fine acoustics and transparency of sound. They also appear to want to make themselves more accessible to the growing Toronto population.Read full review... | |
| 29-Nov-2012 Roy Thomson Hall | Sir Andrew Davis and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in Schumann and Strauss |
_SMALL.jpg) Canada has been taking an active role to build concert programs featuring its own musical talents. One proponent organization of this is the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Led by a team of dedicated administrative individuals, volunteers and musicians, the TSO provides an indispensable platform to showcase our Canadian talents to the community at large.Read full review... | |
| 19-Nov-2012 Hong Kong Cultural Centre: Concert Hall | The soundworld of Bach and Schumann according to Piotr Anderszewski in Hong Kong |
.jpg) At age 43, Polish pianist Piotr Anderszewski is known for his sensitive touch, technical versatility and probing musicianship, with a wide repertory that spans the works of Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Janáček, Schumann and Szymanowski, among others. As part of the Leisure and Culture Services Department’s “Encore” series, Anderszewski made an important return to Hong Kong in a solo recital last month, devoted to the works of Bach and Schumann.
Read full review... | |
| 7-Nov-2012 Hong Kong Cultural Centre: Concert Hall | Krystian Zimerman plays Debussy, Szymanowski and Brahms in Hong Kong |
 Hong Kong has had the good fortune to present Krystian Zimerman several times in recent years, thanks to presenters at the Leisure and Cultural Services Department. Those who have been following Zimerman’s concert engagements will realize much of his activities today are focused in Europe and Asia. Flying in from Canada, in part for this occasion, Zimerman’s recital was one that I highly anticipated since his last appearance in Hong Kong in June 2010. Over 90% of the Culture Center seats were filled in this highlight recital of the 2012/13 concert season.
Read full review... | |
| 20-Oct-2012 Roy Thomson Hall | Maxim Vengerov as violinist and conductor in Toronto |
 Four years ago, Maxim Vengerov suffered a shoulder injury that temporarily incapacitated him as a performing violinist. After four years of recuperation and in his one-night-only appearance in Toronto, Mr Vengerov took on a dual identity – as a violin soloist in the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto and then as a violinist–conductor in Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade, with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.
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| 17-Oct-2012 Roy Thomson Hall | Lise de la Salle and Douglas Boyd with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra |
 It was a year ago at the Jane Mallett Theatre when the 24-year-old French pianist Lise de la Salle made her Toronto debut in a solo recital of Debussy, Liszt and Ravel. That recital was a sensation and left lasting impression in the hearts of many Torontonians. Making her Toronto Symphony Orchestra debut with the Piano Concerto in G major by Maurice Ravel was a natural choice to echo Miss de la Salle’s prestigious lineage in the French piano school.
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| 4-Oct-2012 The Royal Conservatory of Music, TELUS Centre, Koerner Hall | Hong Kong Sinfonietta and Yip Wing-sie in a fine Toronto debut at Koerner Hall |
 To mark the 15th anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover to China, the Hong Kong Sinfonietta was invited to kick-start the Koerner Hall’s chamber music series as part of their debut tour in North American. Despite competing concerts held downtown that very same evening, those who supported the HKS were rewarded by their fine performances.
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