Music bridges the world’s differences
Posted: November 04, 2011
Reciprocity is one of those words ordinarily associated with trade and politics. Lawrence Cherney, artistic director of Soundstreams, is in the business of broadening it to include music.
Norwegian trio breathes new life into old music
Posted: March 25, 2011
Recycling was an ordinary part of life long before we gave it a name. Thrifty monks in 13th-century England used pieces of old music manuscripts in the bindings of newer books, which is how a wonderful trove of medieval songs was preserved.
Tan Dun Ghost Opera a culture-crossing patchwork
Posted: January 25, 2011
There was a rare meeting of cultures at Koerner Hall on Tuesday night, as traditional Chinese music met Western art music. The result was an emotionally, intellectually and aurally satisfying exploration of some very different ways of making and listening to music.
Soundstreams, a producer with the goal of exploring new aural frontiers, brought together East – the Chai Found Music Workshop from Taiwan – and West – Toronto’s Accordes String Quartet, along with a sextet of other local instrumentalists — in a program of recent works by composers with a connection to Chinese culture.
Soundstreams beats the drum for new music
Posted: October 20, 2010
The evening's headliners were Mexico's Tambuco Percussion Ensemble, a 17-year-old quartet that crowded the Koerner Hall stage with its full arsenal of sonic tools. Joining them were four fine Canadian singers, three from Toronto: sopranos Virginia Hatfield and Eve-Lyn de la Haye, mezzo Krisztina Szabó and bass-baritone Giles Tomkins. John Hess acted as conductor, when needed.
Steve Reich: a beacon of hipness in classical world
Posted: April 28, 2010
American composer Steve Reich has received many awards, including a Pulitzer Prize for Music, a Polar Music Prize and a Grammy, but one honour that speaks volumes is the high praise he has received in the Village Voice. When the trendy New York weekly declares someone "America's greatest living composer," you can be sure that the composer in question isn't just a remarkable musician, but also a pretty cool guy.