Wow. Congrats on getting Citterio to open up about what must have been an incredibly challenging situation with Tafelmusik. Your piece confirmed many things some of us who are 'in this world' suspected...especially around the intractability of this particular institution. Not at all surprised they would take such a hardline tack on Covid precautions - the fact they couldn't use that HUGE church space of theirs to record during the worst of the pandemic is ridiculous. But it also sounds like many of the musicians themselves were putting up the stop signs as well. And I'm sure she found it very difficult to contend with the memory of a beloved founder...especially when the make up of this orchestra seems to have barely changed in decades. It's a shame that we lost such a dynamic musician from the Toronto scene so quickly though...btw I couldn't find her concert listed on the RCM website...very strange, but their site is extremely not user friendly.
Maybe one day there'll be a study on why so many organizations reacted to the crisis with fear and lack of will, and others with opposite. The COC for ex wouldn't fare much better on this than Tafel. I think the ROM and city's historic museums chose to stay shut long after it became clear that exhibitions are among the least likely places to get you covid positive. I wonder if all those people just... hate their jobs? It's possible..
Entirely possible haha. In the case of some museum workers...perhaps, maybe, it is easier to 'work from home'. But in the case of musicians whose raison d'etre I assume to be to perform...it does seem from the outside that many preferred not to...or were so scared they couldn't bring themselves to? Yet as you say, that went on a lot longer in Canada than elsewhere where against all odds, even large scale performances took place early in the pandemic.
Her concert was available through the Vesuvius Ensemble that regularly performs out of Heliconian Hall. It was a wonderful concert, btw, very personal and passionate, and was capped by members of Vesuvius coming on stage to join her and her young daughter play and sing some Italian folk songs. A memorable evening.
Wow. Congrats on getting Citterio to open up about what must have been an incredibly challenging situation with Tafelmusik. Your piece confirmed many things some of us who are 'in this world' suspected...especially around the intractability of this particular institution. Not at all surprised they would take such a hardline tack on Covid precautions - the fact they couldn't use that HUGE church space of theirs to record during the worst of the pandemic is ridiculous. But it also sounds like many of the musicians themselves were putting up the stop signs as well. And I'm sure she found it very difficult to contend with the memory of a beloved founder...especially when the make up of this orchestra seems to have barely changed in decades. It's a shame that we lost such a dynamic musician from the Toronto scene so quickly though...btw I couldn't find her concert listed on the RCM website...very strange, but their site is extremely not user friendly.
Maybe one day there'll be a study on why so many organizations reacted to the crisis with fear and lack of will, and others with opposite. The COC for ex wouldn't fare much better on this than Tafel. I think the ROM and city's historic museums chose to stay shut long after it became clear that exhibitions are among the least likely places to get you covid positive. I wonder if all those people just... hate their jobs? It's possible..
Entirely possible haha. In the case of some museum workers...perhaps, maybe, it is easier to 'work from home'. But in the case of musicians whose raison d'etre I assume to be to perform...it does seem from the outside that many preferred not to...or were so scared they couldn't bring themselves to? Yet as you say, that went on a lot longer in Canada than elsewhere where against all odds, even large scale performances took place early in the pandemic.
Her concert was available through the Vesuvius Ensemble that regularly performs out of Heliconian Hall. It was a wonderful concert, btw, very personal and passionate, and was capped by members of Vesuvius coming on stage to join her and her young daughter play and sing some Italian folk songs. A memorable evening.