Happy Birth Day Diane!

Classical Comedy: French and Saunders Opera Spoof

Haut Canada Trio Makes Impressive Debut

Congratulations to the brand new Haut Canada Trio ontheir memorable debut performance at last week's Artbar Classical Cafe.

The trio, featuring oboist Marc Gibbons (NAO '09) Spencer deMan (NAO bassoon '08-'09) and Talisa Blackman combined their exceptional level of musicianship with humour and engaging background information on the works they performed.

Marc did a great job on their logo, didn't he?

Judith Sandiford from the Artword Artbar Cafe was thrilled, writing to us that "I wanted to let you and everyone at Brott Music Festival know that the concert by Haut-Canada Trio yesterday afternoon at Artword Artbar was absolutely extraordinary!

"Marc Gibbons and his colleagues Talisa Blackman and Spencer DeMan are superb players, and very focussed on making some wonderful music with an unusual isntrumentation. The sounds of the oboe, bassoon and piano work beautifully together.

"This was their debut performance as a trio, and we are very proud that it happened at Artword. We hope to see more of them."

Bravo Haut Canada!

The Unbelievable Derek Paravicini

It isn't every day that a news story can literally restore your faith in the human spirit and make you realize the sheer brilliance and extraordinary mysteries which are contained in the human mind. That's the way we felt after viewing 60 Minutes' piece on British musical savant Derek Paravicini which aired this past Sunday.



Though autism is thought to be the source of Derek's extraordinary musical ability, his blindness may contribute. Because Derek is blind, the part of his brain that would normally be used for sight and light detection could be used for extra auditory ability. Derek is able – with a great deal of precision and accuracy – to detect and recognise not just one but multiple notes played at once (so far he can distinguish over 20 notes). Watch the complete 60 Minutes documentary.

Derek's story will make your day, we promise.

Boris: The Birthday Week Report

The two conductors: Valery Gergiev & the birthday boy, March 14, 2010

Boris likes to infuriate his entire staff a few times each year by guest conducting (and eating!) in that most fabulous place on Earth: Italy. Boris had a busy birthday week, beginning with a return to the newly rebuilt Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari, Italy.

Though you may not think of the historic port city (on the heel of “the boot” in the region of Puglia) as one of the major cultural centres in Italy, it most certainly is. Its magnificent Petruzzelli Theatre is one of the grandest opera houses in the country after La Scala in Milan and the San Carlo Theatre in Naples. Host to many famous opera and ballet greats throughout the 20th century, it was nearly destroyed by arson in October 1991. Eighteen years later -- just this past October 2009 -- refurbishments were finally completed and it was reopened.

Boris conducted Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade and Tchaikovsky’s Third Symphony to a sold out audience. He says the players were fantastic and of course, so was the Italian hospitality and FOOD!

Post concert meal featuring risotto, roasted snapper, seafood salad and then some...

To make matters worse for all of us salivating at the office, Boris is invited back to Bari this Autumn to conduct La Traviata and some other programs. Not to mention Trieste and Verona AND Bari in 2011. It's really not fair!

And it was back to his birthplace, Montreal for his actual b-day – March 14, which he shared with his late father, conductor and composer Alexander Brott -- where he attended the Montreal debut of the great Russian conductor Valery Gergiev, who conducted the Mariinsky Orchestra. The two Maestros reconnected backstage at Place des Arts.

Happy Birthday, Boris!

Very Cool, Google...Happy B Day Vivaldi

 

We are always excited when the Google Doodle is devoted to a legend of classical music. Antonio Lucio Vivaldi, a Baroque composer who would have turned 332 years-old today.   Another recent memorable doodle was in honour of Igor Stravinsky, the Russian composer – turned naturalized American citizen – who died in 1971.

But back to Vivaldi. Here are some fun facts about him:

He was born March 4, 1678 in Venice, the same day an earthquake rocked that city.