Meet "Vincent & Shauna"

In my post yesterday, I was talking about the New Creation Festival, and the concert  I attended at the closing night of the festival, where the first part of the concert, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra played the Three Pieces for Orchestra from Brian Current, and then the second part of the concert, the Orchestra played, and always conducted by Peter Oundjian, four pieces from the Composer Vincent Ho.. Beautiful four pieces (Dusk, Overdrive, Nighthawks and New Dawn)..

In writing his cello concerto, City Suite, Vincent Ho counts as his chief inspirations the Canadian cellist Shauna Rolston, whom he had in mind as the performer of the work.

And from Vincent notes on how Toronto inspired him to write his City Suite:

The first movement of City Suite, “Dusk”, he describes as “inspired by a melancholy evening I had in Toronto...sitting in front of my hotel window taking in the view of downtown. As dusk settled, a feeling of “coldness” crept in as I watched the city transform into its darker alter ego. Emotionally speaking, this movement represents the initial turmoil I felt many years ago that begun my period of sadness.” The second movement, “Overdrive,” was inspired by the fast pace of urban life, while personally, it “represents the anger I felt that followed the turmoil I spoke of in the first movement.”

The third movement is named after Edward Hopper’s famous painting, which Ho encountered in a book of the artist’s collected works. As Ho describes, “The sadness and desolation it evoked immediately resonated with me... I knew I needed to compose my own musical interpretation of the image. This movement also represents the next stage of the emotional process I was undergoing: sadness.” The final movement, entitled “New Dawn”, evokes the joy of a new day of life in a city. “This feeling of a fresh start provides a sense of comfort and a degree of optimism...as well as the closure I feel when I leave the day before behind. It also represents the reconciliation I needed to reach after all these years of carrying my inner conflicts.”
As the Award-Winning Canadian cellist Shauna Rolston, she injected more life to Vincent's music with her wonderful performance, so for a while I lost focus on the whole Orchestra and I was simply mesmerized by her, by her cello and this amazing relation between them.

I was so happy to discover in one night great Canadian artists and tomorrow I'll be writing about the third and last part of the concert.

You can listen to some of Vincent work on his website vinceho.com

And for Shauna captivating Cello play..

Meet "Linnea Olsson"

I shared yesterday in my post "Meet Ane Brun" how I booked my ticket for her concert at Salle L'Astral and how excited I was to attend that concert..

And while waiting for Ane to go on stage, a beautiful women wearing black, holding a cello came on stage, and started playing.. It was like magic.. And then she introduced herself.. Linnea Olsson, a Swedish Cellist.. it was the first time I heard of her..

She continued playing her music and started singing.. My God.. She had a very charming voice.. You can't get enough of it.. And I was so happy when she mentioned that we can get her first album "Ah" at the door.. Which I did.. The entire album is composed of only Olsson’s velvet, gravityless vocals and her cello.

After few songs, she left the stage for Ane, but then joined her again playing the cello and contributing with vocals.. They made a fantastic duo on stage

I was so happy discovering a new artist, a real talent, which I became a fan and we'll be definitely looking forward for more of her.. More songs, more cello music, and more outstanding performance.

Meet "Ane Brun"

Last year, My dear friend Michael downloaded for me three CDs for Ane Brun, and strongly recommended that I listen to her songs and her great voice.. It was the first time I hear of her, and I was so pleased with this discovery as I really fell in love with her amazing voice and her music.. And I started following her on Facebook to know know her updates and her latest releases..

Ane Brun is a Norwegian international songwriter, guitarist and vocalist. Since 2003 she has recorded eight albums, six of which are studio albums and one live DVD. She has lived in Stockholm, Sweden since 2001, where she writes, records and runs her own label (Balloon Ranger Recordings) when not on tour.

And couple of weeks ago I discovered she's coming to Canada in a tour and three concerts between Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal, and that weekend I was supposed to be in Montreal, so I looked for tickets but didn't book one waiting for my friend to confirm if he will join.. Then I kept postponing and the night I arrived to Montreal first thing I did is calling TicketMaster to check if there is any tickets left so they informed me that I have to call the venue as I'm calling super late..

I called L'Astral, where the concert is taking place, and I was so happy to know that there is 4 tickets left so I urged them to keep one for me as they don't take payment through the phone and I rushed to get mine..

By mistake I took the west side of Saint Catherine street where I had to go east, and when I realized I'm heading in the wrong direction I started running like a crazy in super cold Montreal until I reached the venue and got my ticket (huge smile)..

My mobile battery was dying, and I thought I need to take some picture of the concert, I had an hour left before the concert so I rushed to the hotel where I plugged it on the charger for 20 min and ran back to Salle L'Astral..

The venue wasn't huge but the ambiance was really warm and cosy, had a glass of wine waiting for Ane to come on stage..
I was alone but I was feeling so happy.. Listening to her wonderful voice knowing all the songs and enjoying her pleasant character..
I didn't want the concert to end -the whole audience didn't want it to end- and make her go on stage again for another round of 4 songs..

I will not talk much about her golden voice.. Her songs and let you enjoy few links..
After this concert I became a bigger fan of Ane, and her songs are my friends making my moments more enjoyable every time I listen to them.

Ane brun "One"

Ane brun "Do you remember"

Meet "Karim"

Meeting Karim was different from the other friends I met so far.. I met karim virtually and not in person yet.. but Toronto is behind the reason I met karim..

My friend Zina sent me a message introducing Karim, a friend of hers, he decided to leave Lebanon and move to Canada but he is confused where to move between Toronto or Montreal, and he wanted to ask some questions about the city as he’s never been here before and he can’t make up his mind.. lots of people convinced him to move to Montreal, especially that he’s fluent in French and he has family there, but he’s more leaning towards Toronto, so he need to talk to someone..

I met Karim through Skype and I made it clear to him that I moved here less that 3 month ago, so I can help him with what I know so far, and I felt happy that I managed to answer most of his questions, and I found myself a big fan of Toronto and I kind of assured him that picking Toronto is the right decision, and shared with him my short experience so far.. we talked about rent, condos, continuing education, subway, expenses, art scene as he’s an illustrator, night life and of course the beautiful weather J

We added each other on Facebook, and told karim to feel free to ask me any question he has before taking his final decision and wished him the best of luck and hoped to meet him for real soon in Toronto.

And if you like to have a look at Karim’s page on Facebook look at Karim Al-Dahdah illustration studio.. a really nice talent.. https://www.facebook.com/karimaldahdahillustration

Or check his website: www.Karimaldahdah.com

Meet "Yasmine"

After couple of days from moving to Toronto I received a message on Facebook from my dear friend Carole G. Putting me in contact with one of her close friends from the days she used to live in Cairo.. And she insist that we meet as she was sure that we have many things in common especially our love for art.. So we messaged each others couple of times until Yasmine asked me if I' m interested in attending a nude sketching class with her at OCAD, and my answer without hesitation was "of course" even though I wasn't sure if I was still able to do proper sketches and I felt it's a pity to lose that skill as the last time I did it was long time ago at the fine art school in Lebanon.

So went to a library got a sketchbook, a pencil and went to meet Yasmine in a very cold night at OCAD..

It was a pleasure meeting her and get to know her and discuss our backgrounds and she gave me some tips for my move and about her experience so far in Toronto since she moved from Cairo, Egypt and we kept talking until we had to stop our conversation the minute the class started.. Every week is a different model, and that night it was a male nude model.. And I got reminded that I have to hit the gym as soon as possible :).. It was a great feeling to be in a class again surrounded by very talented students and artists who some of them blew my mind with the sketches they did in the very short time we had for each sketch..

We both left before the end of the 3 hours class, as I was tired and Yasmine had a long way to commute back home.. But I was glad meeting her and I felt she will be a good friend and I'll be seeing her for sure again and again..