Author Archives: admin

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18January

SCRUTINY | Lucas Debargue Dazzles Sold-Out Audience In His Toronto Recital Debut

Lucas Debargue, piano. Scarlatti, six Sonatas; Ravel, Gaspard de la nuit; Nicolai Medtner, Sonata in G Minor, Op. 22; Liszt’s After a Reading of Dante: Fantasia quasi Sonata, S.109. Koerner Hall, Jan. 16, 2020. Every once in a while a young pianist emerges who can challenge established ideas of performance and interpretation. It is usually […]

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07January

INTERVIEW | Pianist Lucas Debargue On His Musical Life – And His Meteoric Rise To Fame

“I never thought of music as a job,” says pianist Lucas Debargue. Job? No. Glittering career? Most certainly, for the 29-year-old French pianist who is something of a media sensation. He’s kicking off 2020 with concert dates in Toronto, Montreal, and New York City, bouncing across the Atlantic from Boston to France and Italy, and […]

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02December

Lucas Debargue: Clearly a Pianist to Contend with

It was one of a few surprising comments. Lucas Debargue, speaking from his home in Paris, said he was not particularly disappointed by his failure to win the International Tchaikovsky Competition of 2015. He was, indeed, rather happy with his fourth-place finish – behind five other contestants, keeping in mind the ex-aequo results – regardless of the […]

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05November

SCRUTINY | Diva Hibla Gerzmava Makes A Grand Entrance In Toronto Solo Recital Debut

Songs by Glinka, Rimsky-Korsakov, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Hahn, and Faure; arias by Donizetti, Verdi, and Bellini. Hibla Gerzmava, soprano; Ekaterina Ganelina, piano. Show One Productions. 7 p.m. Koerner Hall, Toronto, November 3, 2019. “She came, she sang, she conquered” may sound a bit like the PR hyperbole of an artist agency, but to those of us […]

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18October

SCRUTINY | Russian Pianist Denis Matsuev Dazzles In Impressive Program Of Liszt And Tchaikovsky

Liszt: Sonata in B minor; Liszt: Mephisto Waltz; Tchaikovsky: Dumka “Scenes from a Russian Village” opus 59; Tchaikovsky: Grand Sonata in G major, opus 37. Denis Matsuev, piano. Koerner Hall, 8 p.m., Oct. 17, 2019. Renowned Russian pianist Denis Matsuev was back in Toronto Thursday night, but instead of coming to conquer the audience, as he so […]

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06May

Boris Eifman delves into another Russian artist’s torment in Tchaikovsky. PRO et CONTRA

Ballet and opera fans, be forewarned. You may never be able to look at such classics as The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Eugene Onegin and The Queen of Spades quite the same way after witnessing celebrated Boris Eifman’s searing dance psychodrama, Tchaikovsky. PRO et CONTRA. But that’s no reason to deny yourselves the thrill of experiencing the celebrated Russian choreographer’s unique blend of […]

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02May

Eifman’s Ballet – Symphony of Passion

И снова – Чайковский… Tрудно представить себе человека, которому не было бы знакомо имя Петра Ильича Чайковского. Музыкальные произведения, созданные гением великого русского композитора, стали частью мировой культуры. Но дано ли нам, живущим ныне, понять, что творилось в его мятущейся душе? Как пытался он выразить это в музыке, почти два столетия поражающей воображение слушателей? Ответ на […]

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30September

Love, possession & sacrifice in Gesher Theatre’s mystical, compelling The Dybbuk, or Between Two Worlds

Company, with Israel (Sasha) Demidov (bottom left) & Efrat Ben-Tzur (top centre). Set design by Simon Pastukh. Costume design by Stephanie Graurogkayte. Lighting design by Igor Kapustin. Photo by Daniel Kaminski. Show One Productions presents the North American premiere of Gesher Theatre’s production of The Dybbuk, or Between Two Worlds, inspired by S. Ansky and […]

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25April

Gesher Theater’s The Dybbuk – North American Premiere

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 25, 2018 Show One Productions Presents ISRAEL’S GESHER THEATRE IN NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE OF ITS ACCLAIMED PRODUCTION OF The Dybbuk September 29-30 in Toronto  Eerily beautiful. Powerfully haunting. An exquisite spectacle of love beyond death,from Israel’s acclaimed theatre company Performed in Hebrew with English and Russian Subtitles Toronto, ON –  Show One […]

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12November

SCRUTINY | Mariinsky Orchestra Invades Toronto In A Night To Remember

The Mariinsky Orchestra with Valery Gergiev (conductor) Denis Matsuev (soloist) at Roy Thomson Hall on Friday. Many of us had waited for months anticipating conductor Valery Gergiev’s return to Roy Thomson Hall Friday night to pilot the sleek-engined Mariinsky Orchestra through an all-Russian program.  Gergiev is not only arguably the foremost Russian conductor of our time, with […]

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