Leon Fleisher and the Royal Conservatory Orchestra in Toronto

It was an evening of go big or go home. Koerner Hall is a world-class “acousticorium”. It has been praised for razor-sharp rendering of the sounds of soloists like guitarist John Williams, divas like Anne Sofie von Otter and Dee Dee Bridgewater, quartets like the Kronos and Takács, chamber orchestras such as the 28 strings of Gergiev’s Stradivarius Ensemble.

The Toronto Symphony Orchestra kicked off their new year with the Mozart@256 Festival. Thursday night’s concert warmly welcomed guest conductor and pianist Leon Fleisher, as well as pianists Stewart Goodyear and Katherine Jacobson Fleisher. Leon Fleisher, at 83 years of age, continues to wow audiences around the world as a conductor, soloist, recitalist, chamber musician and masterclass mentor.

L’Orchestre symphonique de Toronto prenait d’assaut la Maison symphonique en déployant un arsenal pour le moins impressionnant : Leon Fleisher (90 ans !) dans le Concerto pour piano n°12 de Mozart et la puissante Symphonie n°8 de Bruckner.

Serious music ill-matched by filmic limitations as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra tackles Messiaen’s epic “symphony” as part of the Southbank’s cross-genre festival. 

The road to immersion is paved with modish deflections as the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment performs 20th-century English string music. 

Giving their 27th performance of the oratorio, the London Symphony Chorus excel as angelic angels and demonic demons.