When 18-year-old pianist Yunchan Lim stunned the world at the 2022 Van Cliburn Competition, audiences saw a once-in-a-generation talent whose playing combined a rare poetry with ferocious technique. But Lim’s artistry didn’t come from nowhere. This is a musician who,
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In Praise of “Safe” Programmes July 12th, 2020 Should Organizers Focus on Popular Classical Repertoire During the Time of Corona? As concert venues, their managers, promoters and artists begin to emerge from lockdown and survey the devastation wrought on the industry by the coronavirus pandemic and governments’ responses -
The Music of Poetry
Cinq Poèmes de Baudelaire July 12th, 2020Setting the poetry of Baudelaire to music is a highly complex undertaking. His poems have a complexity of thought and a richness of verbal music that almost defy the composer to add anything. Francis Poulenc, who devoured Baudelaire’s verse avidly -
Exile Music—Even When the Body Is Quelled the Human Spirit Soars July 11th, 2020 Even under the worst of circumstances, when one group of people brutalizes another, despite oppression, the drive to make and create music cannot be suppressed. Research has shown that during the Holocaust, in the most heinous of conditions, the prisoners -
In Memoriam: Ida Haendel (1928-2020) July 10th, 2020 Hailed as one of the great violinists of the 20th century, Ida Haendel (1928-2020) “enthralled audiences around the world with a combination of classical rigor and romantic warmth—a mind-blowing mix of fire and ice.” Known for her gracious yet uninhibited -
Music as Art July 10th, 2020 How I find a musical voice from artworks Music in all its varied forms is the most accessible and affordable form of art we have today. The popularity of music as a recreational and active form of art participation for -
What Happens Next: Ching’s Buoso’s Ghost July 9th, 2020 In a sense, at the end of the opera, we’ve received closure for the story at hand (they marry, they die, they get their revenge, etc.) but sometimes there’s a large story that we are locked out of. Modern composers -
Meet James Anagnoson – Dean of The Glenn Gould School July 9th, 2020 James Anagnoson (Jim), one of Canada’s most esteemed pianists and pedagogues, is originally from Boston, but relocated in 1976 to Toronto, where he collaborated with Canadian pianist Leslie Kinton to form the “Anagnoson & Kinton” piano duo. Jim joined the -
Leopold Auer July 8th, 2020 “Art begins where technique ends” The Hungarian-born violinist, conductor and educator Leopold Auer (1845-1930) counted Jascha Heifetz, Nathan Milstein, Mischa Elman, Efrem Zimbalist, and numerous other great musicians as his students. In fact, he is rightfully referred to as the