This week Massey Hall was in the headlines with the exciting news of the revitalization of the Theatre Block, the block on Yonge Street, north of Queen that includes Massey Hall and the Elgin Winter Garden Theatre. Toronto developer MOD Developments Inc.announced on Monday the purchase of 197-201 Yonge Street, a 20,000 square foot parcel of land that includes the historically designated CIBC bank building. The land, which has been owned by Parasuco Jeans of Montreal since the early nineties, extends to Victoria Street and MOD Developments will be generously donating to Massey Hall the portion directly south of Massey, from the backstage area to the back of the Elgin Winter Garden Theatre.
What this gift of additional land permits us to do is now expand Massey Hall, a project we have been working on for years. Numerous studies have been done: planning, architectural, heritage, mechanical — all with the objective of improving operational efficiencies, patron and artists amenities. But until now we were unable to proceed due to the limitations of our existing property.
The “Grand Old Lady of Shuter Street” was built in 1894, a time when the current day’s uses could not have been foreseen. The concert hall, which hosts over 100 public events each year in its 2,753 seat auditorium, has been renovated on several occasions throughout its history. Extensive alterations last took place in 1933 reducing the number of seats from 3500 to 2,753. In 1948, several operational renovations were undertaken rebuilding the stage and adding an annex to the backstage. In the last 60 years, there have been no significant architectural improvements.
With the addition of property behind the Hall, we are now looking forward to addressing the modern day needs of Massey Hall, while protecting the Hall’s concert intimacy so beloved by artists and patrons. We will be sharing news with you about the project as our planning unfolds. Stay tuned!
Heather Clark is Director of Marketing and Development at Massey Hall & Roy Thomson Hall
It’s no longer unusual for opera singers to be seen in fashion publications. Alexandra Deshorties who makes her Canadian vocal recital debut at Roy Thomson Hall on Sunday was featured last year in a 18 page photo editorial of W Magazine. The feature was appropriately entitled “Aria” and in it Alexandra modelled Ralph Lauren, Yves St. Laurent, Calvin Klein, Lanvin, Oscar de la Renta, Prada, and Armani. You can view the video footage of the photo shoot and listen to Alexandra singing arias from La Traviata, Don Giovanni, and Idomeneo. We don’t know what she will be wearing on Sunday but we have high expectations!
You can hear Alexandra on CBC Radio 2 Saturday talk about her recital and career following the broadcast of the Met’s Tosca.
Portrait of Mozart painted posthumously by Barbara Kraft, 1819.
Five years ago, when Peter Oundjian was relatively new in his position as the Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s Music Director, he announced the Mozart@249 festival at the TSO’s annual season media conference. He explained that he didn’t think we had to wait until the all important 250th birthday to have an excuse to have a Mozart festival so he was going to get a head start on everybody else. It was rather endearing, although we all knew it was really just clever marketing. But who cares? What’s not to love about Mozart, especially in the dark cold days of January?
Well here we are five years later and the annual January Mozart Festival is so popular that the TSO artistic team just keep programming it – hence Mozart@254. The festival opened last night and runs until January 24 at Roy Thomson Hall and CONTINUE READING >
Sir Colin Davis, who was a conductor at the London Symphony Orchestra for fifty years, discusses Handel’s Messiah.
There’s an excellent chance at this time of year of seeing people on the subway or in your local coffee shop with bright orange (usually tattered) choir books tucked under their arms. What are those books? If you have ever sung in a choir, you know – it’s time for Handel’s Messiah and across the land thousands of choral enthusiasts are dusting off their scores for the annual Christmas rite. I admit it. I am an unabashed Messiah enthusiast. I have been singing it (badly) since I was a 12-year-old church chorister and Christmas just isn’t Christmas without it.
What gives Messiah its enduring popular appeal at Christmastime? Well, the first thing you should know – it wasn’t written for Christmas. Handel wrote it for Lent, but because the story includes the advent and birth of Christ (Part 1 of 3), over the years choirs, especially in North America, have adopted it as the choral work at Christmas. In continental Europe you are more likely to hear Bach’s Christmas Oratorio at this time of year and Messiah at Easter. Handel probably doesn’t mind either way. He was a masterful marketer in his day. When he conducted the premiere in Dublin on April 3, 1742, he cannily arranged for a public rehearsal to take place the day before. It caused a sensation. As a result, hundreds of eager listeners had to be turned away from the official performance. CONTINUE READING >
Photo of Franz Welser-Möst leading the Cleveland Orchestra by MITO SettembreMusica
How is it that a small Midwestern city, known more for its blue collar industry than anything artistic, produced one of the great orchestras of the world? Far from the cultural centres on the east and west coasts, Cleveland has always been known for its fiercely blue collar ethos and an urban environment so toxic that back in the 1970s the Cuyahoga River actually caught on fire. Back then Clevelanders were famous for their T-shirts reading “You Gotta be Tough.” These days, given the early and lasting impact of the recession on the city, there are still reasons to be tough. CONTINUE READING >
When I was an undergraduate music major at McGill years ago, my roommate was the principal clarinetist of the McGill Symphony Orchestra. Susan practiced every day for hours: if she wasn’t in one of the small practice rooms at the Faculty of Music she was practicing in our apartment a few blocks away. Oh, did I become very familiar with the clarinet repertoire, not to mention the daily tribulations associated with those finicky reeds! Susan’s career plan was simple: she wanted to play professionally in a major orchestra, and to do that she needed to be accepted into the National Youth Orchestra of Canada. The NYOC is a summer training orchestra whose players come from across the country to intensively rehearse, play chamber music, and then tour. The NYOC is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, and they are playing Roy Thomson Hall tonight.
The NYOC’s audition process is highly competitive: each year hundreds of musicians aged fourteen to twenty-eight apply for roughly one hundred slots. This includes alumni from previous years — just because you get in one year doesn’t mean you’re automatically back the next. Live auditions are held in the depth of winter in every major Canadian city; the auditions are recorded and sent to NYOC faculty members so they can make their selections.
Susan, I’m glad to report, made the cut. She was ecstatic when she got her acceptance letter…and anxious at the thought of playing with the best young musicians from across the country. (She needn’t have been.) She packed her bags (and plenty of reeds!) and departed full of excitement. CONTINUE READING >
Soundboard is the official community of musicians, music fans, and friends of Massey Hall and Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto, Canada. It’s your behind-the-scenes source for related music news, recommendations, and rewards.
This week Massey Hall was in the headlines with the exciting news of the revitalization of the Theatre Block, the block on Yonge Street, north of Queen that includes Massey Hall and the Elgin Winter Garden Theatre. Toronto developer MOD Developments Inc. announced on Monday the purchase of 197-201 Yonge Street, a 20,000 square foot parcel of land that includes the historically designated CIBC bank building. The land, which has been owned by Parasuco Jeans of Montreal since the early nineties, extends to Victoria Street and MOD Developments will be generously donating to Massey Hall the portion directly south of Massey, from the backstage area to the back of the Elgin Winter Garden Theatre.
