Category Archives: Uncategorized

ALICE IN WONDERLAND AT THE SHAW FESTIVAL: SPECTACULAR SETTINGS, INTRIGUING CHARACTERS, CONSTANT FLUX

Posted on July 4, 2016 by strecker

In adapter-director Peter Hinton’s take on Alice in Wonderland at the Shaw Festival, Tara Rosling’s Alice brings an intriguing ambiguity of person to the table, with child and adult both decidedly present. Alice the intended child is unstoppable, a self-propelled … Continue reading →

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UNCLE VANYA AT THE SHAW FESTIVAL: VERY HUMAN AND POETIC AND REAL

Posted on June 29, 2016 by strecker

Moya O’Connell as Yelena and Neil Barclay as Vanya in Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya The Shaw Festival’s production of Uncle Vanya is top-notch for a number of reasons. We believe these lives before us as lives actually lived in what they … Continue reading →

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JAMES EHNES: AN INTERVIEW WITH THE ACCLAIMED VIRTUOSO VIOLINIST DUE TO APPEAR WITH THE TORONTO SYMPHONY ON JUNE 9, 10, 11

Posted on June 6, 2016 by strecker

Photo: Benjamin Ealovega James Strecker: You are certainly a presence as a musical figure in the media. Your concerts, recitals, and recordings are frequently reviewed and you often participate in detailed and probing interviews and presentations. Does your existence as … Continue reading →

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BUD ROACH: AN INTERVIEW (PART I) WITH AN EARLY MUSIC DYNAMO ABOUT HIS WIDE-RANGING MUSICAL CAREER AND HIS HAMILTON CONCERT SERIES “HAMMER BAROQUE” (TAFELMUSIK COMING ON MAY 25 AND LUTENIST SYLVAIN BERGERON ON MAY 28)

Posted on April 30, 2016 by strecker

James Strecker: I did quite a double take last year on discovering your Hammer Baroque series of musicians and singers all of international stature and just a mile from my home in Hamilton. Why exactly did you initially establish this … Continue reading →

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LEILA JOSEFOWICZ: AN INTERVIEW WITH THE CELEBRATED VIOLINIST AND PROMOTER OF NEW MUSIC, DUE TO PERFORM A CANADIAN PREMIERE WITH THE TORONTO SYMPHONY IN TORONTO, OTTAWA, AND MONTREAL IN MAY

Posted on April 21, 2016 by strecker

James Strecker: You’re widely respected as a champion of new works –compositions by Adams, Ades, Knussen, and conductor-composer Esa-Pekka Salonen, to name a few- so please tell us what such works bring that is distinctive to the canon of violin … Continue reading →

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ANGELA HEWITT: AN INTERVIEW WITH “THE PRE-EMINENT BACH PIANIST OF OUR TIME” JOINING THE TORONTO SYMPHONY FOR THREE CONCERTS ON APRIL 13, 14, 16 IN TORONTO AND APRIL 15 IN ROCHESTER

Posted on March 30, 2016 by strecker

James Strecker: You’ll be in Toronto and Rochester in April to perform the Bach Piano Concerto in F Minor BWV 1056 and the Bach Piano Concerto in D Minor BWV 1052. To begin, I’d love to know what each concerto … Continue reading →

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DIANA PANTON: AN INTERVIEW WITH THE CANADIAN JAZZ SINGER ON HER JUNO-WINNING CD “RED, HER LATEST CD “I BELIEVE IN LITTLE THINGS” AND ITS 2016 NATIONAL PARENTING PRODUCT AWARD

Posted on March 21, 2016 by strecker

James Strecker: Much has been written about the uniqueness of your voice and its emotional flexibility and truth with a lyric, so let’s ask you yourself to describe your voice and how you use it -in language that feels right … Continue reading →

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DIANA PANTON: THE JAZZ SINGER’S AWARD-WINNING CDS “RED” AND “I BELIEVE IN LITTLE THINGS” – A REVIEW

Posted on March 20, 2016 by strecker

One tends to believe Diana Panton when she sings. In a prevailing cultural environment of massively marketed popular singers who strain for effect in whining or blaring a single attitude, Panton the jazz singer gives a solid impression that what … Continue reading →

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DIANE ESTHER ON LIFE AFTER INCEST: AN INTERVIEW WITH THE WRITER, CONSULTANT, ACTIVIST, LECTURER AND POET WHOSE BOOK “OUT OF INCEST” IS NOW IN ITS 10TH PRINTING……..PARTS I & II

Posted on March 6, 2016 by strecker

James Strecker: We have so much to talk about regarding a very difficult subject which you know first-hand –incest. Okay, then, up to knowing you had to write a book, what happened in your life? Diane Esther: I didn’t meet … Continue reading →

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BRETT DEAN: THREE MAJOR WORKS BY THE CONTEMPORARY AUSTRALIAN COMPOSER, VIOLIST AND CONDUCTOR ARE FEATURED AT THE TORONTO SYMPHONY’S 2016 NEW CREATIONS FESTIVAL. HERE HE DISCUSSES EACH WORK AND HIS CREATIVE LIFE.

Posted on March 3, 2016 by strecker

Photo by Pawel Kopczynski James Strecker: The Toronto Symphony’s New Creations Festival this year features your Viola Concerto, your Trumpet Concerto, and a suite of excerpts from your 2010 opera Bliss. I’d like to give our readers the special privilege … Continue reading →

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