By Stephen Fogarty When the soloist was sitting down on Saturday night, I said to my concert companion, “He looks strong enough to break the piano!” The soloist in question was Denis Matsuev and I would not be surprised to learn that he was also a judoka on the Russian Olympic Team. So considering pure [...]
Category Archives: Culture
Rachmaninov’s 3rd rocks Montreal’s Maison symphonique
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Tagged Classical Music, Denis Matsuev, Mikhail Pletnev, Montreal Symphony, Piano Concerto, Rachmaninov
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Maxim Vengerov gives a fascinating Violin Master Class in Montreal
About 120 violin students and classical music fans of all ages were privileged to attend a fascinating Master Class given by the Russian violinist Maxim Vengerov in Montréal on Friday, October 26. Mr. Vengerov was in town performing in and conducting two concerts by the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (OSM). The program notes mentioned that [...]
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Tagged Classical Music, Culture, Maxim Vengerov, Montreal, Violin
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A heroic performance by the McGill Symphony Orchestra
An enthusiastic crowd packed Pollack Hall on a chilly November 1st evening to hear the McGill Symphony Orchestra (MGSO), which played three works, two rarely performed and one a cornerstone of modern Western culture. The concert began with the 1920 version of Stravinsky’s Symphonies of Wind Instruments. This rather sombre, one-movement work of some 10 minutes [...]
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Tagged Beethoven, Classical Music, Copland, McGill University, Schulich School of Music, Stravinsky
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Montreal Symphony also shines in non-French repertoire
Prior to Saturday night’s concert of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra (OSM), Maestro Nagano humorously warned certain members of the audience they might want to block their ears as the OSM’s brass section had been augmented by 12 additional trumpets distributed in the balconies at the sides of and behind the stage. He also mentioned that [...]
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Tagged Charles Dutoit, Classical Music, Kent Nagano, Montreal Symphony, Mozart, OSM
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Last chance to see a major exhibit of American Photography
Fans of photography and of 20th century art have one last chance to view a spectacular exhibit at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa until Sunday, April 1st, 2012. Made in America 1900-1950 features some 130 photographs of American masters such as by Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Steichen, Clarence White, Paul Strand, Walker Evans, Margaret [...]
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Tagged 20th century photography, American photography, Art, Culture
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