TONIGHT, TONIGHT: Tonight marks the Canadian debut concert of the world-famous Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela led by
superstar conductor Gustavo Dudamel, the new music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic — (60 Minutes called him “the hottest thing to hit classical music since Leonard Bernstein”) — at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. Special highlight tonight will be the presentation of the Glenn Gould Prize to Dr. José Antonio Abreu, whose visionary music education and youth orchestra system, El Sistema, has transformed the lives of over a million at-risk children and youth in Venezuela. Tonight’s gala concert kicks off a week of performances, education and outreach activities to illuminate, stimulate and communicate the passion for music. For more info, just click here.
SHARPS ‘N’ FLATS: Strumming queen Liona Boyd wants it known that despite the title of her new CD, Liona Boyd Sings Songs Of Love, she has not,
repeat, NOT given up guitar. “I might not quite be the virtuoso player I used to be,” the ageless entertainer confides to her fans, “but I can still perform beautiful melodies and incorporate many different guitar techniques, as you’ll clearly hear on my CD.” However, she’s more than partial to vocalizing as well. “I love singing and I practice my songs around the house at every opportunity … one of the great advantages of living alone!” … three dozen albums and one Midnight At The Oasis later, Maria Muldaur returns to her jug band roots with an intimate concert Wednesday night at Hugh’s Room … after almost four years and sales of four million copies of her debut album, Corinne Bailey Rae’s second
album, The Sea, is set for release in February …Geri Halliwell (a.k.a. Ginger Spice) is reportedly set to produce a new West End “pop extravaganza” which would tell the tale of the rise of The Spice Girls, the ‘90s English pop girl group who made a big-boxoffice reunion tour last year … attention Christmas shoppers: The much-anticipated, rumoured-to-be-breathtaking CD featuring Charles Aznavour performing some of his classics with the Clayton Hamilton Jazz Orchestra is due in local disc shops on Dec. 1 … A.M. on A.M.? You bet. You can hear AM740’s two-hour Anne Murray All of Me – the Radio Special at 1 pm today, on the radio or on the internet (in stereo) at www.am740.ca … the new Lighthouse CD/DVD
package, 40 Years Of Sunny Days, includes a new DVD of 16 recent Lighthouse videos in surround sound, commentary by band members,s a newly remastered CD of the most requested Lighthouse classics and a 42 page booklet about the band … and call it a sign of the times, but Chris Colepaugh’s new album Burning — a collection of live performances captured by his Cosmic Crew — is being released in digtal format only. To preview the new album, go to his website right here.
QUOTABLE QUOTES: “I’ve been through a lot of change in the 21 years I’ve been anchoring this program, and I can remember times we’ve switched the
theme music and our loyal viewers got really upset – some of them wrote to us explaining how their dogs used to fall asleep to the old theme music and now they’re barking like mad – so there’s no doubt there will be a few people who will initially be unsure of it.”
The speaker? Peter Mansbridge, in an interview with National Post reporter Vanessa Farquharson, commenting on the new-look changes we’ll see tonight on The National and CBC News.
TOMORROW:
Who gets to play Hef in the movie?