“Standing in golden early-evening sun on the lawn next to his Grey Highlands farmhouse, Michael Schmidt confidently assures one of his guests that the magic will happen,” writes John Terauds in Tuesday’s (8/7) Toronto Star. “This is Saturday, a couple of hours before the second evening of Symphony in the Barn, a three-day event at Glencolton Farms [in Priceville, Ontario]…. Did the magic actually happen? Yes…. There was a sound installation in the silo and an opera chorus of five sheep sharing a large paddock with free-ranging chickens…. We joined close to 300 people sitting on benches, chairs and on the cool, green grass by the barn, facing a newly-built wooden stage…. Pianist-composer Kati Gleiser led the 15-member string orchestra in a sweeping, semi-improvised rhapsody called Aqua…. Schmidt [conducted] Edvard Grieg’s beloved Holberg Suite … as stars poked through the dome of gathering dusk. ‘Baa,’ said one of the sheep right after the closing notes of the first movement. The audience chuckled…. Changes in local fire codes a couple of years ago meant that he could no longer use his big barn for concerts. Undaunted, he now has grand plans to build a multimedia performance venue on the property.”
Posted August 9, 2018
