by Stephen Cera L. to R.: Tony Siqi Yun (1st Prize), Yunchan Lim (3rd Prize), Kai-Min Chang (2nd Prize) photo: Roger Mastroianni OBERLIN, OHIO -- My colleague, Joseph Horowitz, once termed international piano competitions “The Ivory Trade.” Iv...
by Stephen Cera Co-Artistic Directors, pianists Boris Zarankin and Inna Perkis Very little was “off” at the Off Centre Music Salon concert Sunday afternoon (June 17) in Toronto, except air conditioning in Trinity St. Paul’s Centre. This enterprising serie...
by Stephen Cera Felix Mendelssohn (1809 - 1847) Music has been called “the only cheap and unpunished rapture on earth” -- but for those who don’t respond to music there is little or no use. For others, it’s next to impossible to imagine life without i...
by Stephen Cera above: portrait of Beethoven (1823) by Ferdinand Waldmüller After recently experiencing live performances of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto and his late Quartet in c-sharp minor, in the acoustical splendor of Toronto's Koerner Hall, I thought m...
by Stephen Cera WASHINGTON – Both this city and New York were my destinations last week for musical theater. Leonard Bernstein’s “Candide,” which I attended at the Kennedy Center Opera House, seems destined to be a "problem-child" of the Bern...
by Stephen Cera One expects violinist Itzhak Perlman to go first-class, and he does with the superb new documentary “Itzhak,” which I viewed at the tail end of Toronto’s recent Hot Docs Festival. The wide-ranging film, which enlighten...
by Stephen Cera TORONTO – Chinese pianist Yuja Wang is a true phenomenon. Her Sunday afternoon (May 13) recital in Koerner Hall was my first “live” encounter with the 31-year-old artist who is setting the music world on fire. More than anyone else, she reminds me...
Bel canto opera has never quite been essential to my metabolism...though recently I attended the new Canadian Opera Company production of Donizetti's "Anna Bolena" in the acoustically superb (and purpose-built) Toronto opera house ... directed by Stephen Lawless (UK) and starring...
Stephen Cera TORONTO – The Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra closed its season Sunday afternoon with Beethoven on period instruments. It was the last of four performances of this program and nearly filled 1,100-seat Koerner Hall. The concert was guest-conducted ...
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