This is a list of amazing concerts we are attending, wishing we could attend, or thinking about attending between June 6 – 12, 2022. For more details on what’s happening around Toronto, visit our calendar here.
Trio Arkel | Légende
📅 Monday — June 6, 2022, 7:30 p.m. ET (repeats online starting June 12) 📍 LINK 💸 $40
The always thoughtful Trio Arkel is doing a spring concert at Trinity St. Paul’s this week, with three different pieces to be explored. You’ll hear a string trio by Haydn paired with Caplet’s Conte fantastique. The latter is a spine-chilling work inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s Masque of the Red Death. Things take flight with Ravel’s String Quartet. Guest artists include Heidi Elise Bearcroft (harp), Emily Kruspe (violin), and Kathleen Kajioka (narrator). | Details
Mirvish Productions | 25th Anniversary Production of 2 Pianos 4 Hands
📅 Tuesday — June 7, 2022, 8 p.m. ET (repeats through June 21) 📍 LINK 💸 $49+
The anniversary re-boot of the smash hit 2 Pianos 4 Hands starring the show’s creators and original stars continues this week. Richard Todd Adams and Max Roll will star on Tuesdays. Ted Dykstra and Richard Greenblatt will star in the performances Wednesdays through Sundays. You have until June 21 to see it, and tickets are selling fast. | Details
Esprit Orchestra | Esprit Live 2022!: Act 4
📅 Thursday — June 9, 2022, 8 p.m. ET 📍 LINK 💸 $20+
Contemporary music dynamos Esprit Orchestra wrap up their four-act concert series today with special guest Michael Bridge. Known as one of Canada’s finest accordion players, he’ll be playing Sofia Gubaidulina’s Fachwerk for accordion and orchestra. There will also be Alison Yun-Fei’s Jiang Sanctuary, and Thomas Adès’ Polaris. | Details
Toronto Symphony Orchestra | Gimeno Conducts Grieg & Mahler
📅 Thursday — June 9, 2022, 8 p.m. ET (repeats June 11) 📍 LINK 💸 $35+
It’s getting close to the end of the season, so there aren’t many TSO concerts left this year. Mahler lovers will want to add this to your calendar. The program includes Mahler’s Symphony No. 1, Grieg’s Piano Concerto, Francisco Coll’s Elysian, and Iman Habibi’s The Drastic Irony: Celebration Prelude. The latter two are world premieres! | Details
National Ballet of Canada | Swan Lake
📅 Friday — June 10, 2022, 7:30 p.m. ET (repeats through June 26) 📍 LINK 💸 $45+
The National Ballet of Canada is opening the long-awaited Swan Lake this week. Known as the epitome of classical ballet, this is a Karen Kain signature production. For complete casting details, be sure to check the National ballet website. | Details
North York Concert Orchestra | Brahms German Requiem
📅 Saturday — June 11, 2022, 8 p.m. ET 📍 LINK 💸 $15+
It’s not very often you get to hear a full performance of Brahms’ German Requiem live. Join the North York Concert Orchestra with soloists Midori Marsh (soprano), Adam Kuiack (baritone), the RESOUND Choir, and the Amadeus Choir. This has all the makings of an epic night out. | Details
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Anya Wassenberg is a Senior Writer and Digital Content Editor at Ludwig Van. She is an experienced freelance writer, blogger and writing instructor with OntarioLearn.
Anya Wassenberg is a Senior Writer and Digital Content Editor at Ludwig Van. She is an experienced freelance writer, blogger and writing instructor with OntarioLearn.
This is a list of amazing concerts we are attending, wishing we could attend, or thinking about attending between May 30 – June 5, 2022. For more details on what’s happening around Toronto, visit our calendar here.
Toronto Symphony Orchestra | Oundjian Conducts Brahms
📅 Wednesday — June 1, 2022, 8 p.m. ET (repeats through June 5) 📍 LINK 💸 $35+
Conductor Emeritus Peter Oundjian is in town all week for a series of concerts. The most notable draw is composer Samy Moussa’s Nocturne for Orchestra and Brahms’ eternal Symphony No. 4. Another highlight is Clara Schumann’s Piano Concerto with Pianist Tony Siqi Yun (gold medallist at the first China International Music Competition in 2019) as soloist. | Details
Tapestry Opera | R.U.R. A Torrent Of Light
📅 Wednesday — June 1, 2022, 8 p.m. ET (repeats through June 5) 📍 LINK 💸 $60+
Today, Tapestry Opera’s OCAD University collaboration, R.U.R. A Torrent Of Light, enters its second week. The project is a multidisciplinary work that combines dance, music, multimedia design elements, and opera. To learn more about it, you can read our preview here. | Details
Tafelmusik | A Tafelmusik Tribute to Jeanne Lamon (online)
📅 Thursday — June 2, 2022, 8 p.m. ET 📍 LINK 💸 $19+
It’s hard to believe we are coming up on the first anniversary of the passing of Music Director Emerita Jeanne Lamon, C.M. O.Ont. In honour of this incredible artist, Tafelmusik has put together an online presentation of their musical homage by Tafelmusik colleagues Alison Mackay and Christina Mahler. This concert was initially performed live on April 2, 2022, so this is a great chance to tune in if you missed it. | Details
Toronto City Opera | Cavalleria Rusticana
📅 Thursday — June 2, 2022, 7:30 p.m. ET (repeats through June 5) 📍 LINK 💸 $52+
The love, betrayal and revenge are all the makings of good opera! Toronto City Opera’s Pietro Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana marks their season’s final production this week. It’s a story of the captivity and liberation of a nation and performed in celebration of Italian heritage in Toronto. | Details
Canadian Opera Company/Amplified Opera | The Queen In Me
📅 Thursday — June 2, 2022, 7:30 p.m. ET (repeats through June 4) 📍 LINK 💸 $65+
Opera lovers, particularly those looking for a more socially conscious exploration, should note interdisciplinary artist Teiya Kasahara’s 笠原貞野 latest creation, The Queen In Me.
The project combines comedy, drama, and opera. It explores timely questions about how race, gender, and sexuality are handled in the opera world. Highly recommended. | Details
It is a big week for the Toronto Children’s Chorus. For the first time in two years, all their choirs (KinderNotes, Training Choirs, Main Choir, and Toronto Youth Choir) will be performing on a single stage. The concert includes the Toronto premiere of Shireen Abu-Khader and Natalie Fasheh’s musical setting of the Arabic proverb, Tubb il jarra. | Details
Royal Conservatory | Joey Alexander Quartet and Selçuk Suna Quartet
For all the cool cats out there, we recommend considering Joey Alexander Quartet and Selçuk Suna Quartet at acoustically pristine Koerner Hall. Joey Alexander is one of the youngest musicians ever nominated for a Grammy Award in a jazz category, and the first Indonesian musician to chart on Billboard 200. Highly recommended. | Details
Mirvish Productions | 25th Anniversary Production of 2 Pianos 4 Hands
📅 Saturday — June 4, 2022, 8 p.m. ET (repeats through June 21, 2022) 📍 LINK 💸 $49+
Back by popular demand, 2 Pianos 4 Hands reopens in Toronto this week. Ted Dykstra and Richard Greenblatt will star in the performances Wednesdays through Sundays. Richard Todd Adams and Max Roll will star on Tuesdays. | Details
Join Toronto’s contemporary music community as they come together to honour R. Murray Schafer with a selection of his masterworks. Featured artists include Soprano Lindsay McIntyre, Molinari String Quartet, Choir 21, and conductor (to name a few). | Details
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Get the daily arts news straight to your inbox.
Sign up for the Ludwig van Daily — classical music and opera in five minutes or less HERE.
Michael Vincent is the Editor-in-chief Ludwig Van and CEO of Museland Media. He publishes regularly and writes occasionally. A specialist in digital media for over 15 years, he has worked as a senior editor and is a former freelance classical music critic for the Toronto Star. Michael holds a Doctorate in Music from the University of Toronto.
Michael Vincent is the Editor-in-chief Ludwig Van and CEO of Museland Media. He publishes regularly and writes occasionally. A specialist in digital media for over 15 years, he has worked as a senior editor and is a former freelance classical music critic for the Toronto Star. Michael holds a Doctorate in Music from the University of Toronto.
Anjana Srinivasan says she was in denial when the world closed its doors at the start of the pandemic.
”We figured, you know, a couple of weeks, a couple of months and be back in person,” said the family doctor and mother of two. “I don’t think anyone realized it would be for two years.”
Srinivasan is also an accomplished South Indian classical violinist, who can’t wait for the curtain to rise this Sunday in the first in-person event her Montreal-area cultural association will be hosting since the first wave.
“It’s very exciting because we’re going to be doing group performances and that energy will be there,” Srinivasan said.
Last year’s virtual event did feature group performances — through some careful editing by Srinivasan. She cut together separate audio and video recordings to make it seem like everyone was singing and playing together.
She’s become an online recording aficionado, turning part of her Town of Mount Royal home into a virtual concert hall and recording studio.
It’s what she had to do to keep the Indian community in the greater Montreal area connected to the arts when venues were shut down and people were confined to their homes.
“I bought a mic, I kind of learn things basically by watching YouTube,” Srinivasan said.
Srinivasan has a YouTube channel of her own, where she’s posted a series of videos, many in collaboration with other local artists and some in India, including her guru.
WATCH | Anjana Srinivasan performs a Carnatic version of Für Elise with her brother Ravi:
She has shared many of those videos to mark holidays such as Tamil New Year or the Hindu festival of Navaratri.
“I feel like I have gotten back to my roots,” she said.
Indian music and dance: Part of who we are
Srinivasan’s upbringing is much like my own. Both of us were born in Montreal, with our parents hailing from India.
Neither of us grew up watching Bollywood movies or performing Bollywood dances. As popular as the genre is, that was not part of our South Indian heritage.
Both of us had direct ties to the classical art forms of the region through our mothers, who are teachers in our community. That’s how Srinivasan learned South Indian classical, or Carnatic, music — a style that is centuries old, with a variety of scales or melodies known as ragas and beats or talas.
My mother taught me the Indian classical dance style of Bharatanatyam, also a centuries-old tradition with rhythmic movements, hand gestures and facial expressions — storytelling through dance. Srinivasan learned from my mother as well.
We both grew up performing in rented halls for local community events such as Deepavali, more commonly known as Diwali, and Pongal, the Tamil harvest season.
Srinivasan and I, along with other youth, would dress up in our Indian attire or costumes to sing or dance. After that, the community would gather and enjoy a meal, often cooked by our aunties — us kids all sitting together.
Our weekends were all about music and dance. When we weren’t performing, we were practising (I would later teach as well). We spent our summers on family trips to India. Our time away from school was about our art, our roots.
Srinivasan studied Carnatic violin as a teenager from teachers in India and still takes lessons from a renowned South Indian maestro. I still learn dance from my mother.
But those moments of connection have largely been over Zoom for two years. It’s allowed for an online dance class reunion of sorts, as I danced virtually with my sister, who now lives in Texas, and my other dance sisters, who have moved to Ontario and Arizona.
For Srinivasan and myself, Indian music and dance are part of who we are, our outlet that keeps us in touch — and sane — during the pandemic, amid our demanding careers.
It’s why I agreed to take part in an online Indian dance show that Srinivasan helped organize in March.
I practised almost every morning before I went into the office to anchor the late-night news.
One Sunday, I returned to the dance studio where my mother would, before the pandemic, hold her classes. Decked in my costume, jewellery and bells, I danced as Srinivasan and her husband set up the recording equipment. As soon as the music played through the speakers, I was overwhelmed with emotion. I fed off that energy and danced.
I felt the same way when my mother’s students finally returned to the studio for a rehearsal. My eyes welled up with tears watching them in person, realizing what the pandemic had taken away from us.
Virtual was ‘vital’ for the community’s youth
Srinivasan did not hesitate to keep her lessons going when the first wave hit.
“I think it was vital. It had to happen like that,” she said, adding that virtual community events kept students, including her teenage son, motivated.
“It’s hard to sit in your basement and just practise for the sake of practising.”
She felt the same way about the online dance classes for her daughter, who is now learning the craft from my mother.
Srinivasan believes teaching the community’s youth keeps their link to the culture alive, much like the same way our parents immersed us in music and dance growing up.
A direct connection to ‘back home’
Srinivasan’s first student, Shanmukh Iyer, says the violin strengthened his bond with relatives in India.
“Especially with my paati,” he said, using the Tamil word for grandmother. “She would ask me to play something. So it’s definitely a direct way to connect back home.”
Born in India, Iyer moved here with his family when he was a child. He was seven years old when he first picked up the violin. At 18, the Vanier College student recalls how the first wave was such a confusing and isolating time, cut off from school and from seeing his friends.
Playing the violin from his Dorval, Que., home was his outlet. He says virtual concerts made him less anxious.
“When you’re online, it’s kind of, you know, performing for your computer. So it was different, but I guess a good kind of different,” Iyer said.
Still, Iyer is looking forward to playing on stage this weekend. Sunday’s in-person show will have limited seating, as the community still wants to play it safe as local artists do their part to keep music and dance alive.
This is a list of amazing concerts we are attending, wishing we could attend, or thinking about attending between April 4 – 10, 2022. For more details on what’s happening around Toronto, visit our calendar here.
Toronto Symphony Orchestra | Ehnes Plays Beethoven
📅 Wednesday — April 6, 2022, 8 p.m. ET (repeats April 7) 📍 LINK 💸 $29+
Violinist James Ehnes will be lending his magic to Beethoven’s first concerto and Vaughan Williams’ evocative Serenade to Music. TSO Conductor Laureate Sir Andrew Davis will also be on hand for the World Premiere of Emilie-LeBel’s Silk Road Concerto, and Strauss’ Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche (Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks). | Details
📅 Thursday— April 7, 2022, 8 p.m. ET 📍 LINK 💸 $19+
It’s a slow Thursday this week in Toronto, so recommend raising a glass with Tafelmusik’s latest online premiere at home. We’re especially looking forward to Mozart’s Symphony no. 39 in E-flat Major — a fun, cheeky work that works surprisingly well with period instruments. They will also be playing Bologne, Andreas Romberg, and another Mozart gem: Andante for flute & orchestra in C Major. K.315. | Details
Royal Conservatory | Eve Egoyan
📅 Friday — April 8, 2022, 8 p.m. ET 📍 LINK 💸 $20+ Contemporary piano music lovers, this one is for you. Pioneering pianist and composer Eve Egoyan returns to Koerner Hall with a truly innovative program. She will be premiering a series of works for augmented stereo piano (iPiano), designed by the celebrated French pianist Jean-Yves Fourtressier. | Details
Toronto Symphony Orchestra | Celebrate 100: Maestros’ Special Homecoming
📅 Saturday — April 9, 2022, 8 p.m. ET (repeats April 7) 📍 LINK 💸 $29+
If you’re a fan of the TSO, then you have likely been waiting for this all year. In a once in a lifetime experience, five esteemed TSO conductors are joining the orchestra to celebrate the TSO centennial season. This is one night only concert is history in the making. Be sure to return to LV to read our full review. | Details
Pax Christi Chorale | Considering Matthew Shepard
📅 Saturday — April 9, 2022, 7:30 p.m. ET 📍 LINK 💸 $25+
The Pax Christi Chorale will be performing Considering Matthew Shepard by Craig Hella Johnson. The work is based on Matthew Shepard — a name that has become a rallying cry for anti-gay discrimination. | Details
VOICEBOX: Opera in Concert | Vanessa
📅 Sunday — April 10, 2022, 8 p.m. ET 📍 LINK 💸 $38+
We recommend Voicebox’s production of Samuel Barber’s Vanessa for opera lovers out there. The plot is focused on three generations of women who confront society’s intrusions into their secluded world. The work explores a Gothic darkness that’s heavy on romanticism. | Details
Orchestra Toronto | Brahms And The Raums
📅 Sunday — April 10, 2022, 3 p.m. ET 📍 LINK 💸 $45+
Violinist Erika Raum joins Orchestra Toronto to perform a new concerto by Elizabeth Raum. It will be followed by Brahms’ Symphony No. 1. This is an excellent opportunity to see Erika Raum perform with a full orchestra. | Details
Amici Chamber Ensemble | Schubert Octet
📅 Sunday — April 10, 2022, 8 p.m. ET 📍 LINK 💸 $30+
Amici Chamber Ensemble is back this week with a range of works by Franz Schubert, including one of his greatest masterworks, the Octet in E flat Major. You can always depend on Amici for a stunning night of chamber music. | Details
New Music Concerts | Imagined Sounds Curated by Keiko Devaux
📅 Sunday — April 10, 2022, 8 p.m. ET 📍 LINK 💸 $30+
Azrieli Prize laureate composer Keiko Devaux is in town this weekend to curate a concert of exciting new works that examine our relationship with musical memory. This concert features the direction of Juliane Gallant in collaboration with Tapestry Opera’s Women in Musical Leadership Project. Details
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Get the daily arts news straight to your inbox.
Sign up for the Ludwig van Daily — classical music and opera in five minutes or less HERE.
Michael Vincent is the Editor-in-chief Ludwig Van and CEO of Museland Media. He publishes regularly and writes occasionally. A specialist in digital media for over 15 years, he has worked as a senior editor and is a former freelance classical music critic for the Toronto Star. Michael holds a Doctorate in Music from the University of Toronto.
Michael Vincent is the Editor-in-chief Ludwig Van and CEO of Museland Media. He publishes regularly and writes occasionally. A specialist in digital media for over 15 years, he has worked as a senior editor and is a former freelance classical music critic for the Toronto Star. Michael holds a Doctorate in Music from the University of Toronto.
This is a list of amazing concerts we are attending, wishing we could attend, or thinking about attending between February 28 – March 6, 2022. For more details on what’s happening around Toronto, visit our calendar here.
Toronto Symphony Orchestra | Final Fantasy VII Remake Orchestra World Tour
📅 Tuesday — March 1, 2022, 7:30 p.m. ET (Repeats March 2-3) 📍 LINK 💸 $51+
From the creators of Space Invaders comes an all-new, live orchestra experience that reimagines and reinvents one of the most cherished video game titles of all time. Whom will the hero of the game be? The TSO, of course. If video game music isn’t your thing, wait till Friday for The Princess Bride. | Details
The National Ballet Of Canada | A Streetcar Named Desire
📅 Wednesday — March 2, 2022, 7:30 p.m. ET (Runs through Mar. 6) 📍 LINK 💸 $42+
“Stella-a-a-a-a-!” If you haven’t seen the ballet production of Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire, it’s a must. This revival production was created in 1983 by John Neumeier, Director and Chief Choreographer of The Hamburg Ballet. Time-tested, we’d argue this is the definitive version. | Details
Music In The Afternoon | Andrew Haji
📅 Thursday — March 3, 2022, 1:30 p.m. ET 📍 LINK 💸 $42+
Opera lovers will know Canadian tenor Andrew Haji as a go-to voice from operatic and concert stages around the globe. With many opera venues yet to re-open, this is an excellent opportunity to see this talent in a more intimate setting. He’ll be singing songs by Franz Liszt, Britten, and Francesco Santoliquido. Pianist Stéphane Mayer accompanies. Note that the Music in the Afternoon series has moved to Grace Church on-the-Hill this season. | Details
Toronto Symphony Orchestra | The Princess Bride
📅 Friday — March 4, 2022, 7:30 p.m. ET (Repeats March 5 matinée + evening) 📍 LINK 💸 $71+
Missing seeing The Princess Bride on the big screen with a live orchestra at Roy Thomson Hall is inconceivable. If you’ve never seen it, or if you were just too darn young to remember it properly, this is the chance to see it exactly as it was meant to be seen — on a big screen, in glorious Technicolor, and with the incredible sounds of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. | Details
Sinfonia Toronto | Chopin & Dvorak
📅 Saturday — March 5, 2022, 8 p.m. ET 📍 LINK 💸 $15+
Pack your bags for a trip through time, as Sinfonia Toronto travels to three very different countries. From Chopin’s Poland to Vania Angelova’s Bulgaria and Dvorak’s American West, hear how composers from far away places found homes in other lands. | Details
Royal Conservatory | Jeremy Denk with Les Violons du Roy
Anything with pianist Jeremy Denk, let alone Les Violons du Roy, is a Sunday afternoon well spent. You’ll hear Bach and Biber with the Montreal legends, Les Violins de Roy with acclaimed pianist, award-winning virtuoso Jeremy Denk. If the tickets sell out, or you prefer to stay home, catch the livestream for just $20. | Details
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Get the daily arts news straight to your inbox.
Sign up for the Ludwig van Daily — classical music and opera in five minutes or less HERE.
Michael Vincent is the Editor-in-chief Ludwig Van and CEO of Museland Media. He publishes regularly and writes occasionally. A specialist in digital media for over 15 years, he has worked as a senior editor and is a former freelance classical music critic for the Toronto Star. Michael holds a Doctorate in Music from the University of Toronto.
Michael Vincent is the Editor-in-chief Ludwig Van and CEO of Museland Media. He publishes regularly and writes occasionally. A specialist in digital media for over 15 years, he has worked as a senior editor and is a former freelance classical music critic for the Toronto Star. Michael holds a Doctorate in Music from the University of Toronto.
This is a list of amazing concerts we are attending, wishing we could attend, or thinking about attending between February 21 – 27, 2022. For more details on what’s happening around Toronto, visit our calendar here.
Toronto Symphony Orchestra | Find Your Dream: The Songs of Rodgers & Hammerstein
📅 Tuesday — February 22, 2022, 8 pm ET (Repeats Feb. 23) 📍 LINK 💸 $41+
If you’re a sucker for a good show tune, the TSO’s Pops series should be on your radar this week. Why? Conductor Steven Reineke will lead the Orchestra alongside two Broadway veterans Emily Padgett and Josh Young. You’ll hear classics from The Sound of Music, Carousel, Oklahoma!, and South Pacific. | Details
Royal Conservatory | Víkingur Ólafsson
📅 Thursday — February 24, 2022, 8 pm ET 📍 LINK 💸 $55+
Piano lovers should be lining up for this. Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson will be performing works from his latest Mozart-heavy CD at Koerner Hall. Ólafsson just might be the most exciting thing to come out of Iceland since Björk, and to hear him at the acoustically pristine Koerner Hall is a treasure. | Details
Royal Conservatory | Angèle Dubeau & La Pietà: Elle – 25th Anniversary Concert
📅 Friday — February 25, 2022, 8 pm ET 📍 LINK 💸 $21+
It’s hard to believe Angèle Dubeau’s La Pietà ensemble is 25 this year. This Friday, they will be in town to celebrate with a collection of classical music by mostly living composers such as Ludovico Einaudi, Olafur Arnalds, Max Richter, and more. Who should go? Besides fans of Dubeau, this is an excellent concert to bring a teenager too — especially one who’s never been to a concert like this. | Details
Toronto Symphony Orchestra | Beethoven’s 4th
📅 Saturday — February 26, 2022, 8 pm ET (Repeats Feb. 27) 📍 LINK 💸 $29+
For those looking for a more varied, slightly unusual program, this is your jam. You’ll hear celebrated Chinese-American conductor, Xian Zhang lead Principal Flute Kelly Zimba Luki in Carl Nielsen’s rarely heard Flute Concerto. The concert also features Nokuthula Ngwenyama’s haunting Primal Message for string orchestra. The show closes with Beethoven’s fourth. | Details
Elixir Baroque Ensemble | 2022 Elixir Mixer
📅 Sunday — February 27, 2022, 5 pm ET 📍 LINK 💸 $25
For those looking for a vibrato-free vibe and a cold elixir in hand, we recommend checking out the Elixir Baroque Ensemble this Sunday. This unique group was started over a decade ago by harpsichordist Sara-Anne Churchill. It grew into a duet, a trio, and a full chamber ensemble. Tickets will be sold at the door beginning at 4 pm. Capacities may be limited, so please arrive early. | Details
#LUDWIGVAN
Get the daily arts news straight to your inbox.
Sign up for the Ludwig van Daily — classical music and opera in five minutes or less HERE.
Michael Vincent is the Editor-in-chief Ludwig Van and CEO of Museland Media. He publishes regularly and writes occasionally. A specialist in digital media for over 15 years, he has worked as a senior editor and is a former freelance classical music critic for the Toronto Star. Michael holds a Doctorate in Music from the University of Toronto.
Michael Vincent is the Editor-in-chief Ludwig Van and CEO of Museland Media. He publishes regularly and writes occasionally. A specialist in digital media for over 15 years, he has worked as a senior editor and is a former freelance classical music critic for the Toronto Star. Michael holds a Doctorate in Music from the University of Toronto.