by Paul E. Robinson

I doubt that Gioachino Rossini had airplanes and hot-air balloons in mind when he wrote his comic opera “L’Italiana in Algeri” in 1813 – but why not? There is so much craziness in the opera as written,  that a little more just adds to the fun. And there was plenty of [...]

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by Paul E. Robinson

Classical Travels
Roy Thomson Hall, Toronto
October, 2010
The Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO) has the good fortune to enjoy good relations with several of its former music directors. While current music director Peter Oundjian is now well-established, conductor laureate Andrew Davis is a frequent and welcome guest conductor, and less often, maestro Jukka-Pekka Saraste. Saraste, [...]

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by Paul E. Robinson

Whatever else he may be as a man and a musician, Kent Nagano is insatiably curious. So far, his Montreal audiences have not only accepted, but embraced, his voyages of discovery.
Last month, Maestro Nagano and the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (OSM) gave Place des Arts concert-goers a feast of the familiar and [...]

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