The Buzz is taking a wee holiday break next week but will be back on January 10. This week we’ve included our New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day festivities and made provisions for your stocking up on festive cheer in music form. And if we may suggest an idea for those of you still on the hunt for the perfect gift – consider the gift of live music. By sharing or providing an experience to enjoy live music, you’re creating long-lasting memories. From all of us at Soundboard, Happy Holidays!
PERFORMANCES
Bravissimo! (December 31 at Roy Thomson Hall): Enjoy Opera’s Greatest Hits this New Year’s Eve at Roy Thomson Hall with an international cast of brilliantly talented performers including Canada’s own Isabel Bayrakdarian and Richard Margison.
New Year’s Eve Comedy Extravaganza (December 31 at Massey Hall): Last week, we let you know the full line-up for this hilarious night of comedy and it’s a gathering of great comedic minds. Hosted by Geri Hall and starring Jon Dore, the night begins at 7:30pm which means that you can laugh yourself silly and still make it to your venue of choice to ring in the New Year at midnight.
Salute to Vienna (January 1 at Roy Thomson Hall): Now in its 16th year, the annual Salute to Vienna concert is a North American tradition inspired by the annual concert celebration on New Year’s Day in Vienna. Read all about the history of the tradition here and the performers here (including Orchestra, soloists, and dancers from the Ballet St. Polten).
We are on tour in the US now before returning to Canada for a few shows. We started off in Stroudsburg, PA and then last night in Philadelphia, PA and tonight in Wilmington Delaware. We are so encouraged by the wonderful reactions from audiences (cheers and standing O’s every night!) Touring is a wonderful experience for us, especially as we are going over so well. I know that we’ll be firing on all guns for our much anticipated first time performance in my hometown of Toronto, next Friday!
Those of you who’ve seen BOWFIRE before know that we bring some of the best violinists and fiddlers in the world together from all musical genres… and our cast is all Canadian! We’ll be playing tunes from our just released CD Holiday Heart Strings – like the album, the show will be chock full of holiday nuggets that are a different take on well known Holiday material…we have created string arrangements of seasonal classics, old and new. There are even mashups, ranging from the classic favourites (Let it Snow / Ding Dong Merrily on High / Jingle Bells) to electric violin rock (Kashmir / Do You Hear what I Hear?).
As the Artistic Director, it’s my job to bring it all together. I wanted to get the whole flavour of the season, spiritual, secular and cultural, while showcasing the talents of my virtuoso cast. So we even have a sung “Feliz Navidad” bumping up against my own traditionally inspired “Dreydl Song Fantasy”. Overall, I am thrilled with this program and hope you are too!
Did you ever think it was possible to watch Mozart’s Papageno in the Magic Flute prance through the forest looking for his Papagena, and the very next minute become entranced by Calaf in Puccini’s Turandot performing Nessun Dorma? It didn’t even occur to me that I could until I found out about Bravissimo! Opera’s Greatest Hits. CONTINUE READING >
Happy Holidays everyone! Santa Claus may be visiting a chimney near you some time very soon – love the personal attention! – but it wasn’t too long ago that the big guy made an effort to say hello to us all at once at the annual Santa Claus Parade.
This year the route was changed a little bit: no longer heading onto Queen Street as in the past, this year the parade veered east at Dundas to Yonge-Dundas Square, and then south along Yonge to Front Street. This isn’t the first (and I’ll bet it’s not the last) route change for Jolly Old St. Nick’s annual visit to the Big Smoke. The event has gone through many incarnations: the very first parade involved Mr. Claus arriving at old Union Station by train, and in 1913 he was pulled by live reindeer – who had a dedicated veterinarian to ensure their safety! – while in 1919 Santa arrived by air. CONTINUE READING >
You might think that, because we spend our days at the Halls, we are chock-full of all manner of musical insight. Often, this is true. But faced with a long holiday shopping list, a year’s-worth of new album releases, and general seasonal chaos, we can be quite as much at a loss when it comes to musical gift-giving as everyone else. Fortunately, we have resident experts who can help. And so, in need of some last-minute stockingstuffers, we trekked upstairs to chat with John Slavik, the Music Store manager here at Roy Thomson Hall, for some sage advice.
We’ve got quite a few goodies here in the store, but I would say that my favourite is the new Magdalena Kozena release of the Ryba Czech Christmas Mass. Kozena has a wonderfully silken voice which really shows off in the “3 Pastorellas” that open the CD. Another great recording is John Rutter’s A Christmas Festival. It’s a big seller, and it has quite a beautiful cover too! (Not that that affects the sound, but it’s always a nice touch.) Rounding out the holiday-themed choices would have to be Chet Baker’s Have Yourself a Jazzy Little Christmas: it’s very fun and smoothly jazzy. (And a bargain at $9.95!) CONTINUE READING >
Ivars Taurins as Herr Handel. Photo by Johnnie Eisen and courtesy of Tafelmusik.
The first time I heard about Tafelmusik‘s Sing-Along Messiah was last year when I was on the subway and I noticed a poster. I thought “hmmm, sounds interesting,” but the holidays swept me up and I never made it to the concert.
The world is a funny place, and this year I found myself in the position where I was the one ordering those same posters for Tafelmusik, and negotiating the signage for the subway ad campaign as Tafelmusik’s Marketing Coordinator. From the day I started working here I’ve been Messiah crazed, in fact, coordinating the advertising campaign for a Toronto tradition that I have yet to see!
Tafelmusik’s Messiah concerts and Sing-Along Messiah are the heart of Tafelmusik’s Toronto performance season. We have an audience of dedicated Sing-Alongers who have been coming annually for as many as eighteen years. These dedicated followers stand in line outside Massey Hall in the cold, sometimes for hours, to ensure that they get the seats they want with their friends and family. We handed out flyers recently at Union Station, and had people thank us for reminding them to buy a ticket. That’s what really convinced me there has to be something magical about this – being thanked for a flyer! CONTINUE READING >
Il Divo performs “White Christmas” on Good Morning America.
I don’t know about you, but I LOVE the holidays – there is always something magical about this time of the year. It may not be snowing just yet, but the lights are up, the ice rinks are freezing over, and I am anxiously waiting for Rudolph to make his highly anticipated appearance on my television. And what better way to get into the Christmas spirit than to spend a chilly winter’s night with four handsome men and some classic holiday songs? Throw in an orchestra and special guest artists and you have Christmas with Il Divo. CONTINUE READING >
We are now into the first week of December and that means only one thing: fabulous holiday-themed movies that are fun for the whole family! One such fantastic film is the newer but destined-to-be-canonized Elf. Why, you might ask, would you bring up such a thing on this, the Soundboard blog? Why because one of our favourite comedians plays a very important role in the film: Papa Elf is played by none other than Bob Newhart, who will be performing his signature stand-up material right here at Roy Thomson Hall on Friday.
While we don’t anticipate that Papa Elf will be making an appearance on Friday, it’s interesting to note Newhart’s versatility. I won’t bother you with the premise of the film (if you don’t already know it and therefore love it to pieces) – instead I’ll let Papa Elf himself provide a little exposition:
In honour of the long weekend, and to help you get geared up for the upcoming presentation by Jamie Oliver, we’ve got a sneak peak from his new book, Jamie’s Food Revolution. (Conveniently, a copy of the book comes free with every ticket purchased to see Jamie in November, too.)
And by “sneak peak” we mean “yummy and easy recipe,” of course.
The book is not only gorgeous but is all about simplicity. Jamie has taken it upon himself to create a real revolution, teaching people to cook in their kitchens with fresh food again instead of relying on the processed stuff. What better time to get this cookery party started than Thanksgiving? Happy cooking! CONTINUE READING >
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We’ve got quite a few goodies here in the store, but I would say that my favourite is the new Magdalena Kozena release of the Ryba Czech Christmas Mass. Kozena has a wonderfully silken voice which really shows off in the “3 Pastorellas” that open the CD. Another great recording is John Rutter’s A Christmas Festival. It’s a big seller, and it has quite a beautiful cover too! (Not that that affects the sound, but it’s always a nice touch.) Rounding out the holiday-themed choices would have to be Chet Baker’s Have Yourself a Jazzy Little Christmas: it’s very fun and smoothly jazzy. (And a bargain at $9.95!) 
