Noteworthy
Media High Notes: February 2023
March 22, 2023From previews to reviews to interviews and more, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra regularly receives interesting and insightful media coverage from a wide variety of sources. Here’s a summary of our most recent and notable press:
In advance of our triumphant return to our original home of Massey Hall, The Globe and Mail’s Brad Wheeler interviewed long-time TSO musicians Leslie Dawn Knowles, Gary Labovitz, and David Kent about their memories of the storied venue. And in her review of the concert for Ludwig van Toronto, Paula Citron called it an “evening of music…so special that it is almost impossible to describe in words.”
- Ahead of their return to Massey Hall, TSO musicians recall strange odours, a sleeping superstar and an imperfect ancestral home (The Globe and Mail)
- Toronto Symphony Makes New Memories At Massey Hall (Ludwig van Toronto)
Cello virtuoso Sheku Kanneh-Mason’s TSO début exceeded sky-high expectations as part of “an impeccably-programmed (and nearly impeccably-performed) evening,” said the Toronto Guardian’s Jeremy Gee.
- Sheku Kanneh-Mason Joins the TSO For Elgar, Vaughan Williams, and a Canadian World Premiere (Toronto Guardian)
Our Shostakovich + Crow Plays Brahms program hit all the right notes, with Arlan Vriens of smART Magazine hailing Concertmaster Jonathan Crow’s performance of the Brahms Violin Concerto as “commanding” and “in the grand tradition of the 20th-century masters,” and La Scena Musicale’s Andrea Rush noting that “Listeners voted with their feet and the thunderous multiple standing ovations.”
- The TSO hosts Saariaho, Crow, and Shostakovich (smART Magazine)
- TSO: Tarmo Peltokoski and Jonathan Crow Memorable (La Scena Musicale)
In a two-part interview with Nicolas Haddad on Radio-Canada’s Y a pas deux matins pareils, renowned French pianist Louis Lortie spoke at length about his history with the TSO and imminent Mozart & Rachmaninoff concert, which Andrea Rush of La Scena Musicale said showcased a post-tour Orchestra that was “charged and ready for more stellar performances.”
- Culture : Louis Lortie de passage à l’Orchestre Symphonique (Partie 1) & Culture : Louis Lortie de passage à l’Orchestre Symphonique (Partie 2) (French-language interview on Y a pas deux matins pareils, Radio-Canada)
- TSO, Davis and Lortie Provide Wonderful Evening (La Scena Musicale)
Sunday Night at the TSO
Every Sunday evening at 8:00pm (ET) on The New Classical 96.3 FM, musician, teacher, and broadcaster Kathleen Kajioka speaks with members of the TSO family—including our artistic and administrative leaders, musicians, visiting artists, composers, and others—on Sunday Night at the TSO. Listen to last month’s interviews:
- Concertmaster Jonathan Crow previews the TSO’s North American Tour
- Principal Timpani David Kent & Violin Leslie Dawn Knowles share memories of Massey Hall
- Conductor Laureate Sir Andrew Davis discusses Mozart & Rachmaninoff
- Principal Double Bass Jeffrey Beecher talks about Mazzoli’s Dark with Excessive Bright