An American bass named Valerian Ruminski arrived in town to rehearse for a production of Puccini’s Tosca, presented by Opera Lyra Ottawa, in which he was cast as the Sacristan. And a few days ago, he posted on Facebook a photo and some caustic remarks about someone he saw on a local bus. The subject of his abuse, a man later identified as Jade London, had jewels glued to his fingernails.
There’s been a kerfuffle in Ottawa. Conflict is a common occurrence in Canada’s national capital, but this time it’s not about politics. Or is it?
An American bass named Valerian Ruminski arrived in town to rehearse for a production of Puccini’s Tosca, presented by Opera Lyra Ottawa, in which he was cast as the Sacristan. And a few days ago, he posted on Facebook a photo and some caustic remarks about someone he saw on a local bus. The subject of his abuse, a man later identified as Jade London, had jewels glued to his fingernails.
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I originally wrote this review for the Classical Voice North America website (See here). Koerner Hall, at Toronto’s Royal Conservatory of Music, is a small venue for a big orchestra. But on Aug. 12, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, under music director Peter Oundjian, shoehorned itself onto the stage to play the closing concert of the Toronto Summer Music festival. Now in its ninth season, Toronto Summer Music is an annual event of modest proportions: This year’s festival offered a dozen main concerts (plus some informal “shuffle” concerts and student performances), spread out over three weeks. Yet from the beginning, the event has taken a quality-over-quantity stance, presenting chamber and vocal programs by topflight musicians. This summer, the Emerson String Quartet opened the festival; other artists included the Orion and Modigliani quartets, pianist Peter Serkin and soprano Sondra Radvanovsky. For 2014, the festival’s theme was “The Modern Age,” and there was an emphasis on repertoire from the early 20th century. |
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I'm a composer based in Toronto – and this is my classical music blog, Eatock Daily. Archives
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