Music Arts Reviews

Violinist Corey Cerovsek gets graceful with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra

Violinist Corey Cerovsek gets graceful with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra

By Lloyd Dykk | January 9, 2012
The jury still seems to be out on Erich Korngold, who was at one time a nine-year-old Moravian prodigy who astonished Gustav Mahler, as well as Giacomo Puccini and Richard Strauss.
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Soloists shine in German Requiem

Soloists shine in German Requiem

By Lloyd Dykk | December 5, 2011
Isabel Bayrakdarian and Hugh Russell were superb, along with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and Vancouver Bach Choir, in Johannes Brahms's work.
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Vancouver Opera's Roméo et Juliette is a stunning achievement

Vancouver Opera's Roméo et Juliette is a stunning achievement

By Lloyd Dykk | November 28, 2011
For those still wondering what West Side Story has to do with opera, Vancouver Opera is now running a real one, Charles Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette.
Pianist Lilya Zilberstein dazzles with rarely-heard Chopin

Pianist Lilya Zilberstein dazzles with rarely-heard Chopin

By Lloyd Dykk | November 21, 2011
The Moscow-born, Hamburg-based pianist played early Chopin pieces, such as Rondo in C Minor, Op. 1, which was written when he was 15 years old.
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UBC Opera's The Crucible shows off some promising voices

UBC Opera's The Crucible shows off some promising voices

By Lloyd Dykk | November 14, 2011
I was hoping to say The Crucible makes a better opera than a play. It doesn’t. But it was worth seeing it try.
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Kronos Quartet's collective curiosity takes audiences all over the map

Kronos Quartet's collective curiosity takes audiences all over the map

By Alexander Varty | November 7, 2011
What makes Kronos special is that they're willing to try anything, although it does help that they're generally capable of pulling it off.
Cirque du Soleil's Michael Jackson THE IMMORTAL World Tour spans the absurd to the shallow

Cirque du Soleil's Michael Jackson THE IMMORTAL World Tour spans the absurd to the shallow

By Alexander Varty | November 5, 2011
It would be easy to lay the blame on the narrow shoulders of the hip-hop dancer and mime playing the Jackson role, but that would be unfair to Salah Benlemqawanssa.
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Juho Pohjonen brings sense of peril to his piano playing at Vancouver Playhouse

Juho Pohjonen brings sense of peril to his piano playing at Vancouver Playhouse

By Lloyd Dykk | October 31, 2011
He made an event of the preludes, and this is just what they should be.
Vancouver New Music Festival bravely takes on Iannis Xenakis

Vancouver New Music Festival bravely takes on Iannis Xenakis

By Alexander Varty | October 25, 2011
How do you play a piece that can’t be played?
Vancouver Opera's West Side Story gets cool and gritty, to mixed response

Vancouver Opera's West Side Story gets cool and gritty, to mixed response

By Jessica Werb | October 23, 2011
While the singing voices here are important, it’s really the dancing and acting that makes or breaks the show
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Musica intima's Into the Wild a moving tribute to the seasons

Musica intima's Into the Wild a moving tribute to the seasons

By Lloyd Dykk | October 14, 2011
There’s something elegantly symmetrical about musica intima: 12 singers, 12 letters, all lower case.
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The Jerusalem String Quartet satisfies with a stylistically varied program

The Jerusalem String Quartet satisfies with a stylistically varied program

By Lloyd Dykk | October 3, 2011
The pieces in the order of Mozart, Shostakovich, and Brahms felt emotionally right, for lack of a better term.
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Jon Kimura Parker and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra make the most out of cultural clichés

Jon Kimura Parker and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra make the most out of cultural clichés

By Lloyd Dykk | September 26, 2011
The season-opening concert by the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, featuring locally raised pianist Jon Kimura Parker, offered moments of near perfection.
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Clara/Clara is a well-intended production

Clara/Clara is a well-intended production

By Lloyd Dykk | August 19, 2011
If you were like me, you may have been tempted to give up on following what was supposed to be happening and just enjoy the music.
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John Stetch and the Borealis String Quartet make a little magic in Vancouver

John Stetch and the Borealis String Quartet make a little magic in Vancouver

By Jessica Werb | August 12, 2011
It takes a special kind of self-assuredness to mess with the near-perfect sound of a Steinway grand piano—but jazz pianist and composer John Stetch is nothing if not audacious.