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Lyle Lovett

Buddy Guy, CWOF, and Bettye LaVette plays The Black Keys this week in The Buzz: Sept 18-24

Posted by Stefania Paterak in  The Buzz  on  September 18, 2012

JUST ANNOUNCED
If you haven’t yet heard, Buddy Guy has confirmed that he will return to Toronto this spring! Legendary blues artist, Buddy Guy has become something of a Massey Hall institution, with this being his ninth annual appearance at the Grand Ol’ Lady of Shuter Street. Buddy Guy was also recently announced to be one of the latest recipients of Kennedy Center Honors, an award given annually for “lifetime achievement in the performing arts.” The Honors themselves will be held on December 1 and taped for a television broadcast to be aired later in December on CBS. All the details are over on the New York Times Arts Beat blog. Buddy Guy hits the Massey Hall stage on Saturday, April 20, 2012. Tickets for our FriendsFirst Members are available starting Wednesday and to the general public on Friday.

PERFORMANCES
Canada’s Walk of Fame Festival featuring Sarah McLachlan and K’NAAN (Thursday), Jann Arden (Saturday), and Johnny Reid (Sunday): The third annual iteration of the Festival returns to Toronto this week and includes three concerts at Massey Hall. If you aren’t familiar with the Canada’s Walk of Fame, you can read all about its history here and come check it out next time you’re in the Roy Thomson Hall neighbourhood. The organization celebrates Canadians “who have excelled in music, sport, film, television, as well as the literary, visual, performing arts, science and innovation.” Over the course of this week, performances at Massey Hall include Sarah McLachlan, K’Naan, Jann Arden, and Johnny Reid (who just won Fans’ Choice Award at the CCMAs for the fourth time in a row – you can see him perform at the Awards show here).

Joe Rogan (Friday): Joe Rogan returns to Massey Hall hosted by Just for Laughs. Rogan, known for his ‘colour commentary’ during Ultimate Fighting Championship games and as the host of Fear Factor, is one funny fellow and comes to Toronto to share with us, CONTINUE READING >

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Lyle Lovett returns to Toronto This Week in The Buzz: July 24-30

Posted by Stefania Paterak in  The Buzz  on  July 24, 2012

PERFORMANCES
Lyle Lovett and his Acoustic Group (Thursday): Lyle Lovett returns to Toronto, this time with His Acoustic Group at Roy Thomson Hall. The gentleman is in Toronto supporting his latest recording, Release Me, which includes both originals and covers. The Globe and Mail recently interviewed Mr. Lovett, who seems – from the transcribed conversation – to be genuinely excited to be on the road again. Of being on tour he says, “There’s something nice to being completely immersed in an experience. It’s liberating to be dedicated.” Watch video of Lyle Lovett and his acoustic group embedded above.

MISSING LINKS
Spinner reported recently that Patrick Watson (who performs with his band of the same name at Massey Hall this December) has declared CONTINUE READING >

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Lyle Lovett, Steve Earle, and TSO are Out of this World in The Buzz: May 1-7

Posted by Stefania Paterak in  The Buzz  on  May 1, 2012

JUST ANNOUNCED
We’re thrilled to welcome back Lyle Lovett to Toronto and are excited to see him perform on the Roy Thomson Hall stage in support of his latest album, Release Me. This special presentation on Thursday, July 26 will be with his Acoustic Group and is sure to knock your socks off. FriendsFirst Members have access to purchasing tickets starting tomorrow (May 2) and tickets for the general public go on sale on Monday, May 7. As if that’s not enough, Steve Earle & the Dukes will be hitting Massey Hall on Tuesday, August 14. For this one tickets go on sale to our FriendsFirst Members tomorrow (Wednesday) and to the public Friday, May 4.

PERFORMANCES
TSO – Sci-Fi Spectacular (Tuesday & Wednesday): Meme-making sensation (and, of course, actor who played Captain Sulu of the Starship Enterprise), George Takei plays host for this Pops Concert offered by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. The program is set to feature suites from Star Trek (obviously), Star Wars, E.T., Avatar, and classic Close Encounters of the Third Kind (I, for one, am curious to the treatment of its essential “five tone motif”).

Layla Claire (Thursday): Soprano Layla Claire provides us with the conclusion to the inaugural Canadian Voices vocal recitals series at Glenn Gould Studio. The recital will showcase a program featuring Purcell, Britten, Strauss, Debussy, and more (you can see the full program here). Worth checking out in advance, CBC Music, calls the concert a Hot Ticket this week and includes an excerpt from the Dame Kiri te Kanawa-hosted BBC documentary, “What Makes a Great Soprano.”

The Priests With Special Guest Patricia O’Callaghan (Friday): The “singing priests of Belfast” make their long awaited appearance on the stage of Roy Thomson Hall. The singers, Roman Catholic priests, hail from Northern Ireland and have been highly successful in their music careers in both religious and secular communities and, in fact, their self-titled debut album earned a Guiness World Record as the “fastest selling classical debut of all time.” Check out their blog (including audio-entries from the road) here.

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The Buzz: Aug 10-16

Posted by Stefania Paterak in  The Buzz  on  August 10, 2010

JUST ANNOUNCED

Yesterday we announced our 2010-2011 Season. While, of course, everything  that made it into this year’s Season Brochure is most awesome, I’m particularly excited about the concerts coming to the smaller spaces in which we’re presenting this year: Glenn Gould Studio and the Queen Elizabeth Theatre.

For me, Amelia Curran and Bahamas are among the Glenn Gould Studio highlights. While their sounds are totally different, they’ve been going head to head for accolades over the last year: both were nominated for the JUNO award for Roots and Traditional Album of the Year (solo) (and Amelia took the hardware home) and both were long-listed for the prestigious Polaris Music Prize. You might recognize Amelia Curran from her appearance on our Canadian Songbook event honouring Bruce Cockburn in June – enjoy a flashback here care of CBC Concerts on Demand.

Bahamas’ music includes original songs that are beautiful in their simplicity (try “Lonely Loves“ or “Till The Morning”) and I’m perfectly enchanted by his cover of “Whole Wide World.” Also, this guy keeps some fine company; he was a touring member of Jason Collett’s band and then Feist’s band and his album, Pink Strat includes guest appearances from members of Zeus and The Great Lake Swimmers.

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The Buzz: June 15-21

Posted by Stefania Paterak in  The Buzz  on  June 15, 2010

Bruce Cockburn with Music Director Colin Linden (on guitar), rehearsing for Canadian Songbook

PERFORMANCES

The Canadian Songbook: 40 Years of Bruce Cockburn (Wednesday): Can we just talk about how awesome the line-up is for this event? Not only will Bruce Cockburn himself perform, we’ll also hear from Amelia Curran, Barenaked Ladies, Blackie and the Rodeo Kings, Buck 65, Hawksley Workman, Jason Fowler, Michael Occhipinti, Sylvia Tyson, and The Wailin’ Jennys. Oh, and as if that wasn’t enough, Jian Ghomeshi hosts. Check out this article from the Toronto Star to get the inside scoop on how Cockburn feels about the fete.

TSO Goes Late Night (Saturday): This week, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra performs Beethoven Symphony No. 9 and to mix it up, they are featuring one very special late night performance of the symphony on Saturday starting at 11pm. PLUS: stick around after the concert for a fantastic party in the Lobby!

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The Buzz: June 8-14

Posted by Stefania Paterak in  The Buzz  on  June 7, 2010

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgohBw0hL-k

JUST ANNOUNCED

This has been a very exciting week for show announcements as Belle and Sebastian , Lyle Lovett and Peter Frampton announced visits to our own Massey Hall.

It’s been a while since we saw the fine folks that make up Belle and Sebastian – they last played Toronto in 2006 at the Sound Academy and before that it was 2003 at Massey Hall and now, come October 12 they return to what Chrome Waves calls “the only room where they belong.” Until they arrive in said room this October, we’ll be spending A Summer Wasting or waiting, rather, for the album that is predicted to be dropping in the not too distant future.

It is always a delight to welcome back Lyle Lovett to Toronto and this occasion is no different. On August 10, Mr. Lovett takes the stage at Massey Hall with his Large Band. Take in some classic Lyle Lovett with a few of his videos here.

Remember Homerpallooza? Well according to BBC, it’s one of the most memorable episodes of the Simpsons and I tend to agree. That’s no doubt in large part to the stellar line-up on the festival bill including Peter Frampton, who performs at Massey Hall this summer on July 22.

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Charlie’s Cuts

Posted by Soundboard in  The Scene  on  December 31, 2009

Charlie Cutts is the President and CEO of the Corporation of Roy Thomson Hall and Massey Hall. In our ongoing quest to highlight the year’s best shows and brightest artists, we thought we’d go straight to the top for our New Year’s Eve finale.

Gabriela Montero

Gabriela Montero

Through the course of the year I see a lot of shows: many at our Halls, and many more at other venues. Rather than offer a standard list of the best performances of 2009, I though I’d venture a bit off the beaten path and give you my favourite shows with a twist – ones that brought a dash of the unexpected, that took me a bit by surprise.

  1. Gabriela Montero: a wonderfully interesting pianist from Venezuela, with a huge repertoire and incredible skill at improvisation. She has said, “When improvising, I connect with my audience in a completely unique way – and they connect with me.” Entirely true.
  2. Buddy Guy: Because he “brings it” every single night! (If you didn’t get a chance to see him in 2009 I recommend you come out to Massey Hall this April: the five-time Grammy winner and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee has a return engagement.
  3. Pink Martini: Whatever you are expecting, they deliver more. Thomas Lauderdale and China Forbes are incredibly interesting and personable, on stage and off.
  4. Canadian Songbook: Harry Manx gave an incredible interpretation of Neil Young’s “Down by the River” and Colin Linden stood out for his incredible guitar work.
  5. Lyle Lovett: I spoke to him backstage. I felt like I was the only person in the room with him – what a gentleman. What an incredible, witty sense of humour. What a delight!

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The Buzz: November 10 – 16

Posted by Stefania Paterak in  The Buzz  on  November 10, 2009

Kailash Kher comes to Massey Hall on Thursday.

Kailash Kher comes to Massey Hall on Thursday.

The lowdown on this week…

Bollywood sensation Kailash Kher’s Kailasa takes the stage at Massey Hall Thursday night – you can read all about it in the cross-post we featured from Mybindi.com yesterday. Meanwhile, Canadian blues sensation Downchild Blues Band celebrates its fortieth anniversary with a concert at Massey
Hall on Saturday featuring one of the original Blues Brothers himself, Dan Aykroyd. And next
Monday we have the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, with conductor Long Yu and piano soloist Yuja Wang, at Roy Thomson Hall.

Lyle Lovett – who is performing at Massey Hall on Friday – just released a new album at the end of last month called Natural Forces. The album includes a number of original tunes and some covers of numbers by the likes of Eric Taylor, Don Sanders, and Townes van Zandt. The BBC is
calling it the “most satisfying record he’s made in many a year” and “a treat from start to finish.” Lyle, we can’t wait to see you on stage crooning the artful sounds of Americana at its finest.

Speaking of stuff newly out, Jenn Grant (who plays at the Glenn Gould Studio at the end of this month) just released a video for her track “You’ll Go Far.” Jenn’s website explains that she travelled to northern Newfoundland to shoot these beautiful scenes. And while you’re on the Six Shooter YouTube channel, check out some live clips of Royal Wood – who plays the Gould in April – performing at Capital Music Hall here and here.

Stefania Paterak is the Programming Coordinator for Massey Hall and Roy Thomson Hall.

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