Arts News
Celebrating lay leadership with the sound of music [w/ audio]
By Evan Boudreau, The Catholic RegisterTORONTO - Three years of lay formation training was celebrated on Pentecost Sunday at a quasi-graduation ceremony for 66 people at Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish.
During the afternoon event, adults from 30 Archdiocese of Toronto parishes were recognized for their leadership accomplishments, dedication to the community’s faith and personal sacrifice of time.
“We (zeroed) in on basically the foundational foundations of the faith to try and help people understand what it is the Church actually teaches,” said Bill Targett, director of the office of formation who launched the project in 2009.
Brief news item about victims led priest to tackle issue of 'femicide'
By Elisabeth Deffner, Catholic News ServiceORANGE, Calif. - Father Rafael Luevano's life was never been the same, he says, since he spotted that small story in the newspaper almost 20 years ago.
"At the breakfast table one morning back in 1993, I read the briefest of newspaper accounts reporting on the discovery of what would be merely the first of the hundreds of women's bodies that would be found in the desert on the outskirts of Ciudad Juarez in northern Mexico.
"In that instant my life changed."
St. Michael’s Choir School alumnus to perform all 32 of Beethoven’s sonatas
By Allison Hunwicks, The Catholic RegisterTORONTO - Beethoven has long been hailed as one of the most emotionally charged and technically demanding composers of all time. So The Beethoven Marathon is shaping up as quite a demanding day for Toronto-born pianist Stewart Goodyear.
Goodyear will be playing all 32 of Beethoven’s sonatas. And, not just playing them — playing them all in a day and in order, no less.
Faith in the footlights: Religion gets a curtain call on Broadway
By David DiCerto, Catholic News ServiceNEW YORK - Can it be? Has Broadway found religion?
According to one recent article, a bumper crop of faith-themed shows, like "Jesus Christ Superstar," "Godspell," "Book of Mormon" and "Sister Act," has transformed Broadway into a "highway to heaven."
So why the great awakening on the Great White Way?
Dominican boils down 700 years of European art history
By Michael Swan, The Catholic RegisterTORONTO - There’s no time like the present, except of course the past. Dominican art historian Fr. Marius Zerafa knows the past and refuses to romanticize it.
“Human nature has remained very much as it was in the Old Testament,” he told The Catholic Register in an interview. The golden age of sacred art was never quite so golden as it’s generally portrayed. Even 450 years ago, cardinals and bishops at the Council of Trent worried over the degeneration, immorality and self-indulgence of contemporary art.
Salt+Light doc on St. Peter’s Seminary windows takes home Gabriel glory
By Vanessa Santilli-Raimondo, The Catholic RegisterFr. Michael Prieur has lived at St. Peter’s Seminary in London, Ont., for more than 50 years. For 40 of those years, he never paid attention to the stained glass windows in the chapel.
“And then one day I wondered why St. Jerome was dressed up like a cardinal when there was no such outfit in the days that he lived,” Prieur told The Catholic Register.
Festival co-founder Gordon Mansell discusses Organix 2012 [video]
By Catholic Register StaffOrganix festival co-founder Gordon Mansell talks with The WholeNote's David Perlman May 8 2012, one week into the 7th annual month long Toronto Organix Festival.
See http://www.organixconcerts.ca for more information.
Related Story
- Musical journey brings acclaimed organist Massimo Nosetti to Toronto [w/ audio]
22-year-old Patrick Murray bringing new life to sacred music
By Allison Hunwicks, The Catholic RegisterTORONTO - At first glance, Patrick Murray is pretty much the antithesis of a choral music composer. The lanky, plaid-wearing fellow with a quick laugh and easy smile has been making a name for himself with his impressive compositions, most recently for his work “Book of Lamentations,” a choral composition based on a 10th-century Christian text that will be premiered by the prestigious Canadian Men’s Chorus. And he’s just 22 years old.
“It is extremely structured, extremely singable and the structural complexity of it is extremely interesting and very advanced, I think, for someone who is 22 years old,” said Greg Rainville, founder and artistic director of the Canadian Men’s Chorus.
Fr. Stan Fortuna’s Renewal tour hits Toronto [w/ audio]
By Evan Boudreau, The Catholic RegisterTORONTO - The funky former professional jazz musician Fr. Stan Fortuna from New York’s Community of Franciscan Friars of the Renewal will perform two shows in Toronto this month.
Fortuna and his Fodera five-string bass will first appear on May 18 at the Poetry Jazz Cafe in Kensington Market.
“I’m going to be playing with a young Catholic-Italian pianist, Carmen Spada, and a drummer,” said Fortuna, ordained in 1990. “It’s going to be great, we’re just going to improvise and play some jazz standards and I’ll do some of my stuff too.”
Special Toronto Mass will commemorate church musicians
By Michael Swan, The Catholic RegisterTORONTO - There’s a lot to sing about in the revised Roman Missal, and hundreds of Catholic musicians plan to do just that at Toronto’s Annuciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary parish on Pentecost Sunday.
By late April, the Office of Lay Formation had already signed up more than 200 musicians for a May 27 Mass with Cardinal Thomas Collins. The Mass will celebrate the last year spent preparing for and then implementing new Mass texts musically. Registration for the event will be open right up until the baton drops for the entrance hymn, said Lay Formation executive director Bill Target.
Musical journey brings acclaimed organist Massimo Nosetti to Toronto [w/ audio]
By Allison Hunwicks, The Catholic RegisterTORONTO - Massimo Nosetti has just flown from Italy to Nashville (a.k.a. Music City, U.S.A.), but not to visit the Grand Ole Opry or to practice his country twang to the whine of a slide guitar. Rather, Nosetti’s allegiance lies with “The King of Instruments,” the organ, and he is one of its undisputed champions.
Nosetti is a hard man to get a hold of. Because he’s on the first leg of a tour that will take him through the United States and to Toronto for the opening gala of the 2012 Organix music festival, we exchange a number of e-mails, a dozen missed phone calls, and finally, through a rather exasperated Nashville hotel employee, we connect. Most people would be somewhat wearied by both the travel and the exertions of performing, but Nosetti is charming, engaging and excited by his upcoming appearances.