The French horn is a notoriously finicky, treacherous instrument. Sure, orchestras all over the world are proud of their horn players — the Berlin Philharmonic’s personable fourth horn Sarah Willis even has a popular Youtube channel. But true solo virtuosos are so rare they can
Thirty years or so ago, Ann Cleeves sat down at a desk and wrote her very first mystery. She was living on Hilbre Island off the west coast of Wales. The only other person living on the island, which is a nature preserve, was her
Hannu Lintu doesn't mind travelling, not at all. The chief conductor of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra was in Dallas when he spoke about the relief he feels to be away from Helsinki, Finland, his hometown. Don't get him wring. He likes Helsinki and he loves
The 2017-18 season for Ottawa's chamber orchestra Thirteen Strings begins this month. In advance of the first concert called Metamorphoses on Oct. 15, ARTSFILE spoke with artistic director Kevin Mallon about his season of light. Tickets and information about the concert season can be found
On Monday the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra will open its new season with a programme packed full of Mozart. Included in the lineup will be the composer's Second Horn Concerto played by a young Canadian studying abroad. The performance by Martin Mangrum was made possible by an
Pina Bausch’s visceral, devastatingly beautiful setting of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring has trailed its muddy feet on stages all over the world. But Bausch’s company, Tanztheater Wuppertal, has only danced it to live orchestral accompaniment a handful of times. Ottawa joined that short list Thursday
Canada turns 150. Finland turns 100. Nothing like a couple of round numbers to focus the mind. The two anniversaries certainly did just that for Alexander Shelley and the musical team inside the National Arts Centre. And they started thinking big and in the direction of
When the National Arts Centre approached Drew Hayden Taylor a couple of years ago to write a sesquicentennial play about Sir John A. Macdonald from an Indigenous perspective, the First Nations playwright was initially bemused. “I don’t usually make a living writing about dead, white politicians,”
Canadian composer Matthew Whittall has made Finland his home for the past 16 years and has thrived. One of his most recent works is Nameless Seas and it was written as a commission for a Finnish festival. Angela Hewitt got involved and urged the National
On the eve of a major announcement about the future of Canadian cultural policy, a parade of homegrown performers, producers and creators were in the Sir John A. Macdonald building across Wellington Street from the Centre Block underlining the variety of the stories we tell to
