At age 10, Stéphane Tétreault self-identified as a “cello warrior”, including the phrase in his very first e-mail address. Today, at 25, he still sees himself that way.
Eric Friesen
Sarah Brightman
The musical phenomenon that is soprano Sarah Brightman has embarked on yet another world tour. In celebration of her latest studio album, Hymn , she is will visit her legion of fans in three Canadian cities.
Brooklyn Rider
What’s in a name? Everything when it comes to Brooklyn Rider.
The Odyssey of Madeleine Thien
Over her 20-year-career, Madeleine Thien has rooted her storytelling in the personal and the political of Asian communities. In her latest novel, music became the point of departure.
Chris Botti
FROM THE ARCHIVE: In the beginning is the sound, an unearthly, beautiful signature trumpet sound. A sound that blooms warm, velvety, broad, majestic, sure. A sound that can bite when it wants to, can riff molto allegro, but is never icy, never shrill, never crackly. A sound that breathes romance, sophistication, and style.
Daydreamer, Ian McEwan
FROM THE ARCHIVE: Ian McEwan, the acclaimed author of Amsterdam, Atonement, and Saturday, among many other works, talks about his youthful “reckless pessimism”, his currently optimistic world view, and what it means to live a good life.
Simone Osborne
Twenty-five-year-old soprano Simone Osborne has just finished eight performances at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto, each time stopping the show by singing “O mio babbino caro” in the Canadian Opera Company’s recent production of Puccini’s opera Gianni Schicchi. “I’ve been there,” she says, laughing.
Yo-Yo Ma
Even for a classical musician as adventurous as Yo-Yo Ma, his latest project might have you scratching your head: The Goat Rodeo Sessions. Huh? Ma laughs in sheer delight when asked about it. “We call ourselves ‘the goats,’ ” he says, referring to the other players on this record.
Joseph Boyden
Over morning coffee at Balzac’s in Toronto’s Distillery District, Joseph Boyden muses about where he feels most at home. “There’s something called the ‘two-spirit person’ in a lot of First Nations cultures,” he says, “meaning somebody who is never completely in one physical place, in one mental place, and I think I’m a bit of a two-spirit person.”
