Tonight I'll hear the Toronto Symphony perform at Roy Thomson Hall, which looks like an enormous hairnet. Or humidifier filter. Or a Vornado fan on its side.
Ewa Podleś will be the soloist in a "Joan of Arc"-themed program. I'll post thoughts tomorrow if anything interesting to say occurs to me.
I saw Podleś in recital at Carnegie Hall a few years ago -- I THINK it was a few years ago. I remember liking her, and certainly enjoyed seeing a real, virtuoso contralto getting the spotlight. And one who looked sort of like an Upper West Side mom from the old days, at that. (Whatever that means... stream-of-consciousness is taking over) But I also remember that from my seat in the Orchestra section, the bottom of her range "disappeared," which was surprising. I blamed the acoustics at the time. We'll see what happens tonight.
I've only heard the Tchaikovsky aria and the Rossini cantata on CD, and can't remember much about them. So the experience will be fresh and.... unbiased? I'm also looking forward to hearing Symph.IV. The last time I heard it was also at Carnegie years ago, with an out-of-town band (which?) under Jesus Lopez-Cobos. He was terrific! I still remember how exciting it was.
Toronto's an okay town. Not much is going on this week, and a number of major tourist attractions are under heavy construction. So things are a bit ho-hum. I'm here to work with a voice teacher who is based in this city, to visit a friend, and to check out the lay of the land.
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