On December 8th, 2019 Santa Claus came to south Etobicoke for the 2019 edition of the Etobicoke-Lakeshore Santa Claus Parade.
The parade included the Toronto Police’s Mounted unit, the Toronto Police Pipe Band, the Streetsville Pipe Band, various floats, and of course Santa Claus. Continue reading
The 107th edition of the Grey Cup goes down tonight at McMahon Stadium in Calgary, Alberta. The game features Eastern Division Champions the Hamilton Tiger-Cats facing off against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
The Tiger-Cats finished first in the East with the best record in the CFL (15-3), including going 9-0 at home – 10-0 when you count the Eastern Final (which they beat the Edmonton Eskimos.) The Blue Bombers finished with a record of 11-7, good for third place in the West and beat out the Calgary Stampeders and the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Continue reading
Today, November 11th 2019, we mark Remembrance Day in Canada and the sacrifices made by our military during the many conflicts Canada has been involved in.
Canadians have a long tradition of joining its allies in conflicts when required and to successfully fight in many difficult situations in order that we all may enjoy the freedoms that we enjoy today.
I attended the second of two performances of Jules Massenet’s opera Thaïs at Roy Thomson Hall on November 9th, 2019. The performance was by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, led by their Conductor Laureate, and Interm Artistic Director, Sir Andrew Davis. The performance also featured Erin Wall (Thaïs), Joshua Hopkins (Athanaël), Andrew Staples (Nicias), Nathan Berg (Palémon), Liv Redpath (Crobyle), Andrea Ludwig (Myrtale), Emilia Boteva (Albine), and Stacey Tappan (La charmeusa). The Toronto Mendelsson Choir also performed. Continue reading
Here are some pictures I have taken over the course of autumn this year:
On October 21st, 2019 the 43rd Federal election was held in Canada. The result was a victory for the Liberal Party under Justin Trudeau, who received enough support to gain a minority Government, despite having a majority in the last election.
There were 338 seats being contested, with 170 seats required to form a majority Government.
The Liberals faced stiff competition from the Conservatives led by Andrew Scheer. At dissolution, the Liberals had 177 seats, the Conservatives 95, the NDP 39, the Bloc Québécois 10, the Greens 2, and the People’s Party of Canada 1. Continue reading
The 2019 World Series, 115th series, is set to start tonight in Houston. Let’s look into the series:
The series features National League (NL) Pennant winners the Washington Nationals facing off against the American League (AL) Pennant winners the Houston Astros. Continue reading
Today I attended the Metropolitan Opera’s Live in HD broadcast of Puccini’s final opera, Turandot. The performance starred Christine Goerke (Turandot), Yusif Eyvazov (Calàf), Eleonora Buratto (Liù), and James Morris (Timur.) Met Opera Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducted. The production is by Franco Zeffirelli and this season’s run of Turandot (and La Boheme) are dedicated to his memoery as he passed away earlier this year.
The production is Mr. Zeffirelli’s lavish production which I have reviewed before. The production, while lavish, also helps to take us away from our world and into Turandot’s realm. And it allows the opera, not the director’s take on the opera, to take the lead and be the centre of attention. Continue reading
The 2019 Divisional Series have now been completed and the Amercian League Championship Series (ALCS) and National League Championship Series (NLCS) are now set.
Let’s look at the two series: Continue reading
The Four Seasons Centre.
I attended the October 3th, 2019 performance of the Robert Wilson production of Turandot at the Canadian Opera Company (COC.) Ther performance was well worth attending.
The performance starred Tamara Wilson (Turandot), Sergey Skorokhodov (Calaf), David Leigh (Timur), Joyce El-khoury (Liu), Adrian Timpau (Ping), Julius Ahn (Pang), and Joseph Hu (Pong). The COC Orchestra was lead by Maestro Carlo Rizzi. Continue reading
Edward Brain's Blog 