Blog Archives

Christos Hatzis at 60

3/26/2013

Composer Christos Hatzis.

Yesterday, I stopped by the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Music to hear a program of chamber music by Christos Hatzis.

In case you don’t know, Hatzis is a Canadian composer of Greek origin who teaches at the U of T. He’s one of a very few Toronto-based composers with a truly international career – yet in some ways he is neglected in his adopted city. (The Toronto Symphony Orchestra has only ever once played one of his compositions.)

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An Interview with Hannu Lintu

3/19/2013

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Straight-talking conductor Hannu Lintu.

The Finnish conductor Hannu Lintu was in Texas last week, to lead the Houston Symphony. But before he arrived there, I managed to snag an interview with him for the Houston Chronicle. During our conversation, I was struck by his direct, no-nonsense answers to my questions. What follows is my article, as it appeared in the Chronicle.

What’s Finland known for? The sauna? Or perhaps Nokia phones?

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Stompin' Tom and the Dean of Canadian Music

3/8/2013

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John Weinzweig (1913-2006).

What do John Weinzweig and Tom Connors have in common?

John Weinzweig – who would turn 100 on Monday, if he were still alive – was a Canadian composer of classical music. As well, he taught for many years at the University of Toronto, and was a tireless advocate for contemporary music. (For more information, see here.)

“Stompin’ Tom” Connors was a Canadian singer-songwriter in the country music tradition. He passed away a few days ago, at the age of 77, and admiring obituaries have flooded the Canadian media. (You can read one here.)

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Japan and Canada Share Soundstreams’ Stage

3/6/2013

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Haruka, Rika and Mutsuko Fujii.

Soundstreams did what it does best last night at Koerner Hall. And what the Toronto-based new-music presenter does best is invite noteworthy foreign artists to Canada – not just to present music from their homelands, but also to bring Canadian artists and works into the mix.

And so it was with the Fujiis: a Japanese family of percussionists consisting of mother Mutusko, and daughters Haruka and Rika. They were joined by Canadian artists – percussionist Scott Ryan, pianist Gregory Oh and the Toronto Children’s Choir – in a program of Japanese and Canadian works.

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Wanted, Dead or Alive

3/4/2013

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We must thank the ever-vigilant Norman Lebrecht for drawing to our attention an essay written by Chiara Bottici, a New-York based philosophy professor. It’s called “The Death of Opera: a Funeral Eulogy,” and you’ll find it posted on the Al Jazeera website. (You can read it here.)

Does Bottici think there’s some kind of prize for being the one millionth person to declare opera or some other kind of classical music “dead”?

In recent years, “Opera/Classical RIP” articles have become a burgeoning literary subgenre. And I’ve noticed that these articles can usually be sorted into one of two categories. Let’s call them Category A and Category B.

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New Music I Like (No. 9): R. Murray Schafer

3/2/2013

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R. Murray Schafer.

Here’s another Canadian composer for my “New Music I Like” series of blogs: R. Murray Schafer.

For many readers, I expect Schafer needs no introduction. But for those who don’t know him, he’s not an easy man to introduce. That’s because there seem to be several Schafers – composer, poet, visual artist, pedagogue, ecologist, plus a few other métiers – inhabiting the same body.

He’s a study in contrasts and contradictions: intellectual with an anti-academic streak; cosmopolitan yet anti-urban; deeply Canadian but in many ways at odds with Canada. Last autumn he published an autobiography, My Life on Earth and Elsewhere, in which he tried to make sense of it all. It’s a good read. (You can find my review of it here.)

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Christos Hatzis at 60

An Interview with Hannu Lintu

Stompin' Tom and the Dean of Canadian Music

Japan and Canada Share Soundstreams’ Stage

Wanted, Dead or Alive

New Music I Like (No. 9): R. Murray Schafer

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