Amateur of the arts

Gabriela Montero

2011-06-04T13:50:00.004-04:00

Here is a video of Gabriela Montero's performance.
http://bit.ly/m0XCwy

Spontaneous Beauty

2011-06-04T13:47:00.004-04:00

It is an odd time to start my new blog talking about classical music when the regular performance season is coming to an end in Toronto. Yesterday (June 1) the soloist at the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Venezuelan pianist Gabriela Montero, delivered such a rare display of spontaneous virtuosity and beauty that she inspired me to think about a much discussed question this music season in North America - the future of classical music orchestra.

Ms. Montero played Rachmaninoff's Variations on a theme by Paganini, an all-time audience favourite. The audiences responded enthusiastically enough after her performance. However it was Ms. Montero's encore that truly brought the house down.

She told the audience that improvisation is her specialty and it's a pity that it's almost a lost art in the classical music world. She invited the audience to name a tune for her "playground" meaning the piano in front of her. Summertime was named and within a few bars she managed to turn a sultry, jazzy broadway number into a Bach-like fugue. Then the "Hockey Night" opening tune was called out and she turned these few bars of TV music into a fiery tango dance sending the audience to jump on our feet.

Judging from the enthusiasm of the audience last night, live classical music is alive and kicking but musicians have to give their audiences a reason to come, to listen to them performing live. Improvisation is probably as good a reason as I can imagine because literally no two performances would be alike. Of course no one can expect an orchestra to improvise constantly or deliver an entire program on improvisation. However, it is important to let loose and embrace a sense of spontaneity to give the music some freshness.

Ironically, the Rachmaninoff Rhapsody last night seemed restrictive compared to Ms. Montero's solo improvisation.

You can catch Ms. Montero's improvisation on YouTube. The clip I added here is very similar to the experience I had at the Roy Thomson Hall, home to the TSO, last night.

http://bit.ly/m0XCwy

My summer reading - fiction

2009-07-02T16:53:00.002-04:00

I try to compile a reading list for the summer months every year, often for pleasure, but sometimes for work as well. For my fiction list, here are my choices:

Netherlands - Joseph O'Neil
Shanghai Girls - Lisa See
Commencement - J. Courtney Sullivan
A Short History of Women - Kate Walbert
Suite Francaise - Irene Nemirovsky (carried over from last year's list)

What are your recommendations?

New music is alive and kicking

2009-03-12T00:25:00.007-04:00

I attended the last night of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra's New Creations Festival. Of the three pieces performed tonight, my favorite was Jennifer Higdon's Violin Concerto performed by Hilary Hahn.

The composer met Hahn when the violinist was a student at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. No doubt Higdon had immense confidence in Hahn's virtuosity, stamina and musical prowess to write such a demanding and beautiful concerto for her. The first moment started as a dialogue between the soloist, the first violinist and the orchestra. The rhythm was devilishly tricky with a cadenza not for the fainthearted.

The second movement reminded me a little of the pastoral romantic English music in early 20th century but the movement slowly progressed to this quasi-tonal/atonal modern feel towards the end. The piece finished with a breakneck speed movement titled "Fly Forward" and Higdon described her vision with Hahn crossing the finishing line in triumph.

What is even more amazing about this concert was the attendance. The house was almost packed and filled with young people. I'm sure the orchestra's TSOundcheck program and Facebook efforts account for some of the success in bringing in young people. Yet, clearly many of the audiences were there not because they were seeking cheap entertainment but they were serious about music by living composers. I even saw Chinese families bringing young children to the show and everyone had a good time.

Tonight's success shows orchestras and their leaders who are willing to take risks and to educate the public about contemporary music will be rewarded.

Next year at the New Creations Festival, the orchestra is featuring music by Osvaldo Golijov. You bet I'll be there.

Wynton Marsalis on integrity

2009-01-19T10:27:00.001-05:00

Came across the excerpt below in Alex Ross' blog: The Rest is Noise

Wynton Marsalis: "At the root of our current national dilemmas is an accepted lack of integrity. We are assaulted on all sides by corruption of such magnitude that it's hard to fathom. Almost everything and everyone seems to be for sale. Value is assessed solely in terms of dollars. Quality is sacrificed to commerce and truthful communication is supplanted by marketing. The type of gamesmanship that separates races, genders and ages by 'preferences' is a most cynical brand. The integrity and dedication shown by American artists throughout our history provides a most needed and unequivocal counterstatement. On the eve of Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday, let's recognize the pernicious effects of separating people by generic categories."

Exciting day at the Canadian Opera Company

2009-01-07T23:34:00.004-05:00

The Canadian Opera Company (COC) named Johannes Debus as its new music director and unveiled its new line up for 2009/2010 today.

I saw Debus last year when he conducted the COC in Prokofiev's War and Peace last October. The show was a co-production between COC and the English National Opera and I saw it for the first time at the ENO. What impressed me with the COC show was how all of a sudden the music, the plot and the direction all made intellectual sense. I finally understood why the music was written the way it was.

The rich sound from the orchestra and the chorus was filled with colours and nuances while maintaining absolute clarity. Debus somehow managed to let the music do the work for him and all he did was to channel his musicians' energy the way he wanted it.

Debus's appointment seemed swift but the new general manager Alexander Neef explained that he just knew Debus was the guy for the job after the War and Peace run in Toronto. I would agree with him.

The new maestro will conduct the Flying Dutchman in his debut season. Other shows that I can't wait to see include:
An Aix-en-Provence production of Stravinsky's Le Rossignol;
Paul Curran returning to direct Othello with Scott Hendricks singing Iago. Those who saw Hendricks' performance as Rodrigue in Don Carlos would understand why I'm excited.
Conductor Harry Bicket is returning to do Mozart's Idomaneo.
Eric Cutler will sing Roberto in Donizetti's Maria Stuarda. I saw him in Chicago last October in Pearl Fisher and he brought the house down.

Expressive voices

2008-12-14T11:42:00.002-05:00

As a chorister I spend more time singing than attending other choir concerts. I was therefore delighted to discover this all male A Capella group Clerestory yesterday in San Francisco during my short visit this weekend.

The nine fine singers presented a mix of French, German and English Christmas music. All pieces were divided into the typical SATB four part voices and they even managed to subdivide In dulci jubilo into eight parts for double choirs.

The male sopranos and counter tenors produce an incredible pure sound, blending beautifully with the head tone of the tenors and the bass.

The most unusual item in the program is Britten's A Ceremony of Carols, a piece written for boys and typically now sung by women choirs. Last night's presentation was accompanied by a harp. I was at first taken a little bit by surprise by the effect of all male voices for this piece, thinking it's a bit like watching Matthew Bourne's all male Swan Lake. The overall singing was impeccable. My only quibble was the blend of the lightness of the harp with the richness of the male voices. In some of the fast passages, the harp made the voices sound a little too heavy and difficult to dance with the music.

Clerestory sensibly puts its previous performances online for anyone interested. You can listen to this concert on their web site later this month.

YouTube orchestra

2008-12-04T13:15:00.000-05:00

YouTube announced this week that it is partnering with Chinese-born composer Tan Dun (an Academy Award winner for his soundtrack for the movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in 2000), San Francisco Orchestra conductor Michael Tilson Thomas, and the Carnegie Hall and London Symphony Orchestra, to create the world’s first YouTube orchestra. The objective is to seek and assemble talented musicians from around the world to form an orchestra to debut Tan’s new work in Carnegie Hall, conducted by Maestro Thomas.

The initiative is groundbreaking on two levels. First, most orchestras enforce a blind audition policy, requesting musicians to play behind a curtain, to eliminate bias against visible minorities and women. The YouTube initiative is inviting musicians to submit two video recordings to the committee for consideration.

Secondly, musicians are typically selected by the maestro of an orchestra, supported by a small professional committee. In this case, however, a group of leading musicians form a committee to shortlist the candidates who will then be voted by YouTube users.

One can expect this initiative is an attempt to attract younger audiences to the classical music world by using a medium and voting style that they embrace. It’s too early to tell how many candidates and voters YouTube will attract but already the project poses two interesting questions.

How valid is public opinion in the classical music world when a performance is the result of the singular vision of a conductor? Will public opinion contribute or hinder artistic excellence?

By asking the YouTube generation to select musicians for the YouTube orchestra, do we believe the younger generation truly embrace equality in a workplace?

Un poème de Rumi

2008-10-19T12:31:00.002-04:00

L'or n'a pas besoin de pierre philosophale, mais le cuivre oui.
Améliore-toi.
Ce qui est vivant, fais-le mourir: c'est ton corps.
Ce qui est mort, vivifie-le: c'est ton coeur.
Ce qui est présent, cache-le: c'est le monde d'ici-bas.
Ce qui est absent, fais-le venir: c'est le monde de la vie future.
Ce qui existe, anéantis-le; c'est la passion.
Ce qui n'existe pas, produis-le: c'est l'intention.

Les mots profonds

2008-10-12T16:52:00.001-04:00

Ton amour pour elle, il est à toi. Il t'appartient. Même elle le refuse, elle ne peut rien y changer. Elle n'en profite pas, c'est tout. Ce que tu donnes, c'est à toi pour toujours; ce que tu garde, c'est perdu à jamais! Éric Emmanuel Schmitt

Le coeur de l'homme est comme un oiseau enfermé dans la cage du corps. Quand tu danses, le coeur, il chante comme un oiseau qui aspire à se fondre en Dieu. Éric Emmanuel Schmitt

Black Watch

2008-06-16T00:20:00.006-04:00

Two years have passed since Gregory Burke’s play Black Watch debuted at the Edinburgh Festival in summer 2006. Public opinions on the war against Iraq are by now firmly formed. Burke has made a loud and clear statement on his view on the war. What pushes the play beyond a didactic commentary is Burke’s ability to experience the life of the Scottish soldiers in Iraq. The songs, the tears, the fights, the blood, the swearing and the sweat make it impossible to see the war as some far away, virtual reality on television.

The scenes are vignettes of different facets of these soldiers’ experiences in Iraq. Director John Tiffany has brought Burke’s words to live by packing the stage with action, music and sound. In Toronto, the production was presented in an indoor stadium where the audiences sat on both sides of a narrow and long stage floor. This setting gave the play a natural barrack feel. One could almost smell the gunpowder every time an explosion went off.

Through the bantering among the soldiers, the image-hungry journalist interview and the naive researcher’s discussion, the audience shares these young lads’ friendship, sense of purpose disintegrated to sense of boredom and above all their vulnerability. There’s one particularly touching scene when the soldiers read their letters from home and begin to use sign language to tell their story, a poignant reminder of the lives they have left behind for a war they no longer believe in.

History sadly often repeats itself. Only 80 years ago, RC Sherriff wrote Journey’s End to recall the horror of WWI in the trenches. Today, we have Black Watch.

Men eat fish world

2008-04-14T01:13:00.004-04:00

The Tsukiji Fish Market is serious business. Countless motored trolleys whiz around the isles, delivering identical white, sealed, styrofoam boxes to vendors. There is no bantering among the fishmongers. No haggling with shoppers. Everyone seems to be focused on the day ahead of him.

Then the drama begin at about 6 a.m. at the carefully orchestrated tuna auction.

Fish merchants inspect the fresh catch, assess their needs and make their decisions within minutes. There’s no RSS feeds, no graphs, charts or any aid to help them decide. They watch, they think, they listen and then hedge their bet for the day.

The second act belongs to the hungry shoppers and tourists. By 6:30 a.m. more than 20 people have lined up patiently outside a tiny sushi restaurant Daiwa, waiting impatiently to taste the fruit of the sea. The host speaks little English and you do what you’re told. Groups of twos, threes or however many, have to line up in a certain way, so that some order is formed out of the chaos. You don’t order, you don’t choose. You sit, smile and eat and everything is perfect.

Few people at the restaurant talk as we are all under the spell of the sushi master, handing out glistening uni, thick slabs of toro and assorted maki. If room temperature fish is too much for you, warm up with a bowl of fresh fish broth.

The blissful food adventure last all but 20 minutes before the wave of diners push though.

Tokyo's Razzle Dazzle

2008-04-10T07:13:00.002-04:00

Just got off the plane yesterday from Tokyo. The city's charm is probably best shown visually. See gallery.mac.com/echtang for photos. More thoughts to come.

Shanghai the precocious teenager

2008-01-08T19:41:00.000-05:00

My first impression of Shanghai...
To call Shanghai a precocious teenager may seem inaccurate as the city started to blossom in the 19th century when the several European countries neatly divided Shanghai into various concessions. French neo-renaissance, art deco and neo-classical buildings, popular during that era, can still be traced in today’s French Concession. Clubs that were once exclusive to Europeans are now luxurious hotels, restaurants, or bars, welcoming anyone who can pay. Commerce remains the heartbeat of the city and people from all over the country and all over the world are literally flocking to the new wide wide east to make their fortune.

The city that never slept went into a coma for 50 years and is now ready to party. Lady Shanghai has gone grey only because of the thin veil of smog she always wears. New cranes are erected everywhere. New subway lines materialize like caterpillars in spring. Shanghai is proud of its modern self, boasting more internationally acclaimed new buildings than any European cities.

This lady is brash, direct and abrasive. If you stand still, the crowd will push you forward. If you tell the lady to mind her manners, she’ll tell you to mind your business.

Late to the party

2007-11-06T23:53:00.000-05:00

It took me a long time to start this blog this summer. Now this week, I discovered the power of Facebook. I know most of you will laugh because it's so last millennium's news. I got interested after the Microsoft announcement of the company's investment in Facebook and wondered what the fuss was about.

Facebook may not be directly related to the arts but I can see it can be a very useful tool for arts organizations to promote their local activities. Exactly how remains to be explored.

La vie, l’amour, la mort

2007-10-26T21:12:00.001-04:00

Qu’est on fait après la mort de son mari? Comment on recommence sa vie quand son mariage a échoué? Quelle sont les choses les plus importantes dans les dernières mois de sa vie?

Ce sont les questions que le réalisateur François Ozon a exploré dans ses films “Sous le sable”, “Cinq fois deux” et “Le temps qui reste.”

Dans le film “Sous le sable”, Marie Drillon a eu environ 40 ans. Le mari de Marie s’est noyé quand ils étaient en vacances. La police n’a pas trouvée le corps de Monsieur Drillon. Après sa mort, Marie a continué sa vie à Paris mais elle n’a pas accepté la réalité.

On voit comment Marie s’est débattu pour se garder la mémoire de son mari. Elle parlait comme, si elle partageait encore sa vie avec Monsieur Drillon. Elle faisait l’amour mais elle ne tombait pas amoureuse. Finalement deux ans plus tard, la police a trouvée un corps avec une montre identique à la description faite par Marie. Elle n’a pas accepté la nouvelle. Dans la dernière scène, Marie a pleurée pour la première fois, sur la plage où elle a perdu son mari. On n’est pas sûr qu’est elle aura faite.

"Cinq fois deux" raconte l’échec du mariage de Marion et Gilles. Dans la première scène, ils sont tous les deux chez un avocat pour leur divorce. Ils ne savaient plus quoi faire. Le chronologie de l’histoire est inversée. Quand on voit les noces de Marion et Gilles, on comprend bien les problèmes du mariage mais l’échec est comme une mort naturelle. Il n’y a pas de solution ni pour d’un, ni pour l’autre.

C’est comme le maladie de Romain dans Le temps qui reste. Romain était un jeune photographe de mode. Il a appris qu’il a eu une tumeur maligne et qu’il n’a que quelques mois de vivre. Contrairement à Marie dans "Sous le Sable", il a accepté sa mort. Il se souvient de son enfance et le bon temps passé avec son ami. Il a demandé pardon à sa soeur et à son ami, il rend visite à sa grand mère pour la dernière fois et avant de partir, il veut réaliser des choses importantes pour lui - il a trouvé la paix.

The Dame, the Diz and the Dangerous

2007-10-09T01:30:00.000-04:00

I received a link from a friend to a British online talk show Culture Clash presented by 18 Doughty Street. http://doughty.gdbtv.com/player.php

The show perked my interest, in part, because the former partner of my friend Damian Thompson, a journalist for the Daily Telegraph, was on the panel, and also because the discussion was about the popular exhibition First Emperor in the British Museum.

The panel members included:

Peter Whittle, The New Culture Forum, moderator
Dame Jessica Rawson, Merton College, Oxford, history advisor to the exhibition
Munira Mirza, founder Manifesto Club
Igor Toronyi-Lalic, contributing editor, Catholic Herald
Damian Thompson, Leader Writer, Daily Telegraph

The moderator explained that the panel was to explore why the exhibition was popular and what it could tell visitors about China.

The half hour show turned out to be a poorly led dialogue by a moderator who admitted on air that he was no expert in Chinese culture or history. However, from a media study perspective, the show was a brilliant case study of the danger of our pundit-driven media culture.

The panelists were successful individuals in their own fields. Peter Whittle is a veteran journalist who has written for The Sunday Times, Daily Telegraph and LA Times.

Professor Dame Jessica Rawson is a scholar who has dedicated 35 years of her career studying Chinese art and history. She has written a number of books and papers on Chinese art, archaeology and rituals.

Damian Thompson, a historian by education, holds a Ph.D in sociology of religion. He has written three religion related books and airs his comments often on cultural, religious and political issues in the British media. He was also the former editor of The Catholic Herald.

Munira Mirza is a Ph.D student at the University of Kent and arts consultant for the London East Research Institute. Like Mr. Thompson, she also has made a name for herself as a pundit through her work for the Manifesto Club and her BBC Radio Four appearances.

Igor Toronyi-Lalic, is 25-years old, a friend of Mr. Thompson (according to Thompson’s blog) and a freelance arts journalist.

The composition of this panel presented a problem. Only Professor Rawson was a Chinese scholar on the program who had the breadth and depth of knowledge to discuss the relevance of the terracotta army of China’s first emperor. Unfortunately, unlike Thompson, Toronyi-Lalic or the moderator, Professor Rawson does not work in the media professionally. Despite her calm, intelligent answers to some painfully ignorant questions and comments, she was put in a defensive position within minutes of the program.

When Toronyi-Lalic dismissed the exhibition as media hype and claimed that the terracotta figures had little artistic values compared to Greek sculptures, Rawson explained to her colleagues that one has to better understand the artistic and historical context of these figures to appreciate their value. She defended the administrative skills and the achievements of the First Emperor to explain why she claimed the discovery of the terracotta army to be the most important in the 20th century.

The importance of any achievement of course is relative and has to be put in the appropriate context. Professor Rawson’s mistake was making such a high claim on camera, leaving herself vulnerable to be the prey of Thompson, who quickly dismissed her claim as self-serving because she is an academic. Such a cheap shot is simply hypocritical, especially coming from Thompson, when as a self-established media pundit, his opinion is his only currency and he would do anything to inflate the value of his opinion over others.

In face of a moderator who failed to lead and two commentators who did not have the expertise to contribute to a meaningful dialogue, Thompson turned the interview to his advantage, addressing well rehearsed topics that he was comfortable with. On this blog, he reiterated the attack against Professor Rawson:

...if we were to follow Dame Jessica’s advice and ditch our "Western" artistic criteria when judging Chinese artifacts, we might soon end up ditching our "Western" critique of China’s human rights record. Which is precisely what Beijing hopes will happen.

This argument is simply nonsense when any Chinese school children and anyone who has rudimentary knowledge of Chinese history, would understand the First Emperor was no Gandhi. In fact, the ambition and achievements of the emperor which were so clearly illustrated by the terracotta army, provide us with a lot of insight into the Chinese culture. This cultural sensitivity is crucial for the West to work better and closer with the current Chinese government on pressing issues such as human rights, the environment and economic expansion.

Despite the uncouth bullying that Professor experienced in the studio, she left the audience with one piece of sound advice - learning takes effort.

Anyone can be a pundit but it takes years of hard work and training to be an expert.

Stars and music

2007-09-30T23:31:00.000-04:00

What makes an outstanding performer a star? Let's be clear there is a distinct difference between a star and a celebrity. Celebrities are pure products of publicity and marketing. They shine and fade as quickly as this year's patent shoes on the runway. A star has talent that can endure the test of time. Of course their stardom is also built upon signficant marketing investment but their achievements are cherished long after their recording companies, agent and marketing manager have shifted their focus onto the next big talent.

Unfortunately, in our celebrity-crazed culture, many people consume stars like they consume any global brands. A case in point, when Mutter played Brahm's violin concerto with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra last Friday, the hall was full and the audience cheered her warmly. After the intermission, the rows in the auditorium were punctured by empty seats. The people who left clearly decided Mutter was the only reason to attend the concert that evening.

Such attitude was very unfortunate because as it turned out, the orchestra gave a much more brilliant performance on their own, as if they were liberated from the shadow of an international star. People seem to forget a star does not necessarily guarantee a good show. In the case of last Friday's concert, Mutter's performance was exquisite. Every line, every turn of phrase and even every pause was thoughtful, masterful and personal. Yet even a genius could not establish rapport with a 100 musicians in a matter of hours, which was typically how much rehearsal time an international artist would have on tour.

On their own, the orchestra delivered a bold, robust and engaging Picture at Exhibition. One could feel their love for the music and their exhilarating enthusiam from across the hall. Those who stayed for only the first half of the show saw their star and missed the music.

Farewell Maestro Bradshaw

2007-08-22T01:07:00.000-04:00

The St. James's Cathedral bells were tolling this morning, as they always do, when I was on my way to work. The difference was I noticed the unusual crowd outside the Cathedral lawn, all in formal attire. Then I remembered it was Maestro Bradshaw's funeral today. Instead of paying my tribute publicly, I have chosen to do so privately and hopefully share my sentiment beyond the church doors.

Like many opera lovers in Toronto, I witnessed Maestro Bradshaw's achievements in the past decade, so much so that my partner and I decided to show our support by hosting our wedding at the Canadian Opera Company (COC) headquarters garden and subsequently became the company's supporting members. We met Mr. Bradshaw at several member and fundraising events and I had expressed in person my appreciation of his gifts and contributions to Toronto, including his leadership to bring us a new production of the Ring Cycle and to build a world-class opera house for the company.

In my note to the COC the morning when I learned about his sudden death, I said how Mr. Bradshaw taught his audiences to think, see and listen for themselves. I can still remember when I saw the COC for the first time in 1997, performing Madama Butterfly, I had my reservations. The show was a revival at the Hummingbird Centre and I left the theatre thinking, this was at best adequate.

Then the following year, I saw Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex and after that Bartok's Bluebeard's Castle and Schoenberg's Erwartung and I was hooked. Over the years, my musical appreciation ability grew with the company's expanded artistic achievement. By the time I saw the company's new production of La Traviata, which received abundant poor press reviews, I had formed my independent opinion. The production was the first La Traviata that made me weep. If one could look beyond the S&M scenes and the postmodern pastiche design, one would feel the pain of a woman who sacrificed herself for an ideal.

The Maestro may be a consummate politician but he never needed a stunt to win his audiences. By giving Toronto the Ring, the opera house and even the most seemingly controversial productions, he showed what it meant to believe, to take a stance and to deliver.

And for once, the press got it right in their obituaries. He was a superhero in the opera world, and beyond. Let's hope the COC, its audiences and our city will extend his legacy and learn from his courage to provoke, inspire and create.

Five senses of France - Voir chapitre 2

2007-08-13T01:47:00.000-04:00

Got some photos organized at last. France 2007

Five senses of France - Gouter chapitre 1

2007-08-10T19:52:00.000-04:00

Few people believe me when I say you don't need to remortgage your home to eat well in Paris. Certainly there are enough Michelin restaurants and new upscale brasseries to burn a hole in your wallet but often the best gems can be found in some hidden back alleys or areas outside the manicured first four arrondissements.

During my week long stay in Paris, I managed to try a wide variety of places, from the perfectly old fashioned Benoit (now owned by Alan Ducesse) to the innovative (Gaya in St Germaine) to a hole in the wall (a Vietnamese joint just outside Oberkampf in the 11th arrondissement). My verdict? Sometimes a dive can be as pleasant as a haut cuisine restaurant.

An old family friend used to say either you go to a restaurant for the food or the decor. With due respect to the dead, I disagree. On Gaya's web site, the chef Pierre Gagnaire http://www.pierre-gagnaire.com/ expresses his mission to satisfy the five senses of his customers. And that he does. From the decor to the open kitchen, Gaya is clearly a restaurant theatre. Unlike a traditional bistro, Gaya makes you feel relaxed. The first amuse boche is nothing more than fresh radish, followed by some tiny boiled shrimps, while you ponder over wine and real food. My limited French wasn't good enough to understand the different species of fish, so I picked a Dourard, thinking it was Dory. It turned out to be a roasted seabream served on a bed of couscous flavored with minced sardines. So while nothing fussy was done to the gorgeous sea fish, it was complemented by a startling side dish.

George may seem like a tourist trap since it is perched on the top of the Pompidou Centre, except the food is actually as good as the view. With the building rules, there arent' many places in Paris where you can dine with the city under your feet. At evening,a few friends from Toronto happened to be in town for the first time and I thought it was the ideal place to start their holiday. I didn't expect to find Peking Duck on the menu. Joy to globalization!

Five senses: Seeing Paris

2007-07-30T23:34:00.000-04:00

Last week I took a mental vacation in Potterville. Now that I have exhausted the final magical moment of Potter's saga, I'm back to my own Never Never Land in cyberspace.

My vacation in France completely indulged all my five senses, experiences that cannot be completely captured by a snapshot or a souvenir.

Voir: The natural grace of the River Seine, the grand public squares and monuments and the charm of the prewar residential buildings with elaborate railings and onings all invite one to slow down one's pace and set one's imagination free. Having visited the major tourist attractions in my previous visits, this summer I had a chance to really make acquaintance with Paris.

Apart from meandering around Jardin du Luxembourg, getting a glimpse of the concert hall in La Cité and discovering the little waterfalls in Parc des Buttes Chaumont, I saw two exceptional exhibitions: the retrospective of Pierre et Gilles at Jeu de Paume and Airs de Paris at Pomidou Centre.

Camp is an accurate but probably not adequate description of the works by this painter/photographer couple. Their detailed, highly processed and staged images are not just eye candy. Many of them are overt political statement, as you can see above. Others are simply disturbing, violent but never overtly gruesome.

The title Airs de Paris is a tribute to Marcel Duchamp's installation of the same title first show in Paris. The installation is a collection of tiny black beads suspended from the ceiling, creating a nonchalant and poetic touch. This exhibition includes select artists reponses to modern Paris and the modern world. One of the most memorable installations was by Louise Bourgeois with the same light touches of Duchamp.

La Belle France

2007-07-19T23:07:00.000-04:00

As much as I thought I was addicted to my mac computer, France had to be the best Betty Ford clinic for computer addicts like me. I didn't see or touch a computer screen for two weeks when I was on vacation in Paris and Provence and I didn't miss a minute of it.

Of course now paradoxically my faithful mac will hopefully cure for my post vacation depression. If I can't sit lazily in the lush and quiet Jardin du Luxembourg thinking about nothing, or catch up with my friend in cafes in Marais, then at least I can savour some treasured moments here in my cyberspace.

Paris encourages one to explore, to "flâner." The ancient architecture, the manicured gardens, not to mention the countless boutiques, cafes, bars in meandering narrow lanes, are bound to yield charming and memorable moments for anyone who cares to look, smell, listen and taste this bountiful city. Unlike the grid system in North America, which is efficient but predictable, Paris seems to promise nothing and offers everything.

Season finale

2007-06-23T10:48:00.000-04:00

My singing performance season ended this week. It has been a remarkable year for the choir and a great learning experience for me as a singer.

In February, we presented Oratorio Terezin in Carnegie Hall, New York. Canadian composer Ruth Fazal came across a book of poems written by children in Terezin, the half-way house camp in Czech Republic for the Jews during the holocaust before their deportation to Auschwitz. In 2003, Oratorio Terezin was born, in memory of the talent and courage of the victims.

Our performance in New York was the American premiere of the piece and it was a true honour to pay tribute to the music and to the history in one of the most gracious music halls in North America.

In April, we presented several beautiiful but rarely performed choral pieces by Brahms - Schicksalslied, op.54 (Song of Destiny) and Nänie, op. 82. as well as the Alto Rhapsody with soloist Susan Platts. We also sang Mendelssohn's Lobgesang (Hymn of Praise), a very popular piece in its epoch, and often regarded as inspired by Beethoven's Symphony no. 9. The concert arguably was one of our best in my three years with the choir. One could feel the concentration, the passion and the discipline shared by 150 of us on stage, responding to the most subtle gesture of the maestro Noel Edison.

Fellow choir members often say our singing commitment is like a second job. Well, it is and the reward we get every year - the friendship in the choir, the training and discipline and the sheer joy of music making - makes many of us go back for more.

Famine Remembrance

2007-06-20T13:48:00.000-04:00

Tonight, I'll be performing with the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir in a fund raising concert to support the Ireland Park Foundation. The Foundation is setting up a new memorial park in Toronto in honour of the Irish people who escaped the plague and came to Canada to help build this country.

President Mary McAleese will be the guest of honour this evening and we'll present Famine Remembrance, a modern oratorio by Patrick Cassidy.

Serenade to Music

2007-06-18T22:59:00.000-04:00

I know summer is here when our Toronto Mendelssohn Choir is getting ready for the Proms. Our choir collaborates with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra every year on this concert, along with Handel's Messiah during the Christmas season.

Bramwell Tovey returns this year to raise his baton tomorrow at the Roy Thomson Hall. The concert is a tribute to the Proms summer festival in London England. In Toronto, we present three performances, all British and Canadian music, starting tomorrow. We'll begin the concert with Vaughan William's Serenade to Music. What a great piece to set the tone for an evening of fine music making.

So happy Tovey is bringing back We'll gather Lilacs and other unabashed tear jerkers! Visit TSO.ca for info and tickets.

La Môme (ou La Vie en Rose à l’Amérique du Nord)

2007-06-17T23:07:00.000-04:00

Le film « La Môme » est sorti cette fin de semaine à Toronto. Il raconte la vie de la chanteuse française le plus célèbre, Edith Piaf. Les amoureux de Piaf, ses dépendances de la drogue et l’alcool et sa mauvaise humeur sont bien connus. Le réalisateur Oliver Dahan nous présent la chanteuse absolument candide mais il nous aide de comprendre Piaf, une orpheline qui ne pouvait jamais aimer elle-même, sauf que le personnage de chanteuse ce qui le monde adoraient.

Plutôt que raconter une histoire chronologique, M Dahan utilise les chansons de Piaf populaires pour souligner les expériences de l’orpheline, la chanteuse et l’amoureuse. Par exemple, la chanson Milord n’est pas seulement une jolie mélodie de cabaret, mais un conte de la vie qu’elle a vu quand elle a passé son enfance dans la maison de prostitution de sa grand-mère.

Marion Cotillard nous présent d’abord la jeune Piaf, une musicienne de la rue, jusqu'à la vieille qui s’est détruite pars les drogues et pars un cœur cassé. L'actrice est vraiment formidable.

Piaf composait le poème « la vie en rose » après elle a été tombée d’amour pour le boxeur Marcel Cerdon. La chanson est encore populaire, je pense, c’est parce qu’elle représente la force de Piaf : sa passion et s’amour pour la musique, ses amateurs et pour Marcel, son vrai amoureux.

Housekeeping

2007-06-13T18:12:00.000-04:00

Made some small adjustments to the blog. You can now leave your comments without a G-mail account. Do share your thoughts with me.

Visual highlights from LuminaTO - encore

2007-06-13T01:07:00.000-04:00

Pulse Front by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Montreal-based artist, at Harbour Front Centre

More images can be found on my partner's blog: getjealous.com/jamesmiller

Visual highlights from LuminaTO

2007-06-13T00:59:00.000-04:00

Le Grand Mobile by Xavier Veilhan in the BCE Place, designed by Santiago Calatrava

Did Luminato enlighten TO?

2007-06-13T00:45:00.000-04:00

LuminaTO, the 10-day arts festival in Toronto, came to an end last weekend, although some of the theatre shows and exhibitions will continue for a few more weeks.

One of the major achievements of the festival was the city's success in putting arts back into the public domain and encouraged Torontonians and visitors to embrace the arts as part of our daily cultural diet. The artificial divisions between high, classical and popular culture have alienated many people from essentially quality entertainment, leaving them to binge on voyeuristic reality shows or mindless sitcoms.

If $12 million can take our collective minds away from the play-by-play of Paris Hilton's vacuous life, then it's money well spent.

Book of Longing

2007-06-05T23:04:00.000-04:00

Leonard Cohen's Book of Longing is a collection of the Canadian poet's previously unpublished works and new poems. The collection was released in 2006 and American minimalist composer Philip Glass created a song cycle based on Cohen's text.

The collection of poems is a pot pourri of Cohen's views on love, desire, death, divinity and politics. Glass's music matches Cohen's sentiment with a wide range of colours from the cabaret style song titled A Sip of Wine to light hearted Mother Mother to the ballad You Came to Me This Morning. The composer also puts some structure to the seemingly random collection by punctuating each section with hauntingly beautiful instrumental solo passages - oboe, violin, cello and double bass.

The Canadians in the audience were familliar with Cohen's wit and certainly showed their appreciation for lines such as:

I enjoyed the laughter old poets
as you welcomed me

but I won't be staying here for long
You won't be either

For all the references to age and death, the poet's love for life and women was evident. Glass's mix of his signature arppegios and lyrical passages fittingly highlights the inevitable cycles in life and the poet's ability to create and appreciate beauty.

LuminaTO

2007-06-03T00:17:00.000-04:00

LuminaTO is a 10-day arts festival in Toronto, in conjunction with the opening of the new wing of the Royal Ontario Museum, designed by Daniel Libeskind. The new wing is named the Michael Lee Chin Crystal, in recognition of the lead donor for the project and in acknowledgement of the design of the facade.

The design of the new wing has been a favorite topic of debate among art lovers in this city. The mixed reaction has been quite similar to the responses when the Sainsbury Wing of the National Gallery of London, UK, designed by Robert Venturi, was erected.

Judging from the thousands of people who attended the opening ceremony of the Michael Lee Chin Crystal tonight, it was evident that Torontonians have been wanting innovative and world-class public art and buildings for some time.

Visit www.rom.on.ca for images and more details.

A new start

2007-06-01T00:42:00.000-04:00

This is my first attempt to establish a voice in the world of Web 2.0 to talk about the things I love - opera, classical music, literature, films, paintings, food, wine, etc.

I hope like-minded readers will also share their passion with me in this little sanctuary.