Emmanuel Ax is in town. He is curating 10 concerts in Toronto along
with impromptu concerts in train stations and hospitals and office
buildings. He has convinced many
internationally recognized pianists to join him in this 2 week long piano
extravanganza. I attend Pinchas
Zukerman’s concert, part of his farewell tour prior to his retirement as
conductor of the National Arts Centre orchestra. He makes his violin sing.
But then, my favourite instrument is still the
piano. And Manny Ax can certainly tease
out some pleasant sounds from those keys.
What makes the encounter even better is his affability. He comes off as everyone’s favourite doting
uncle. Oh those lucky students in his
master class session next week!
My introduction to Mr. Ax was from an errant
CD. Remember the days when one would
subscribe to Columbia records and receive a varying number of free CDs? My shipment arrived with an error. I did not order the CD featuring Yo-Yo Ma,
Emmanuel Ax, and Richard Stoltzman. However,
it has become one of my favourites.
Koerner Hall plays host to one of Manny's concerts--one of my favourite pianists in my favourite concert hall in Toronto for free. Hard to beat that.
No comments:
Post a Comment