John Shand | Music & Other Spheres Posts

November 12, 2015 / Concert Reviews - Archive

Glebe Town Hall, November 7 Here was a concert to eliminate perceptions of the koto being an inherently limited instrument. The models ranged from five strings to the conventional 13 strings and the 17-string bass koto, the ensemble sizes extended from one to 16 and the compositions dated from 1630…

November 10, 2015 / Concert Reviews - Archive

Concert Hall, November 5 Despite all the evidence to the contrary the art of singing is not quite dead. Audra McDonald was the very embodiment of it, her work as finely nuanced and sophisticated as that of a great instrumentalist. So much was right: her apparent effortlessness, the absence of…

November 8, 2015 / Concert Reviews - Archive

Foundry 616, November 4 Cuba produces brilliant musicians at almost the same rate it does cigars, and it stands out among those countries – including as Turkey, Brazil, Ethiopia and South Africa – to enrich jazz as well as borrow from it. The Canadian soprano saxophonist/ flautist Jane Bunnett has…