The Judgement of Paris. Photo: Max Telzerow

Overview

In recent years celebrated CBC Host Tom Allen has gathered a versatile cast of musical friends to help him create series of shows that combine chamber music, storytelling, original song and music history. He calls them Chamber Musicals. They include Bohemians in Brooklyn, The Judgment of Paris, From Weimar to Vaudeville, The Last Curlew and The Missing Pages.

The Missing Pages
Theodor Molt became the sole Canadian to meet Ludwig van Beethoven, but what could have happened between the two?

The Last Curlew
The Last Curlew brings to the stage the pioneering environmental novel by the Canadian naturalist Fred Bodsworth.

From Weimar to Vaudville
Two musical princes, one rich, one poor, reach to each other across hardship and time as the world tilts again toward war.

The Judgement of Paris
Debussy or Ravel, love or wealth, history or mythology and may the best composer win.

Bohemians in Brooklyn
What happens when a poet, an author, a composer, his lover, and a book-loving stripper all move into the same house?

Producing Partners

Tom Allen Productions

Our Role

Producing Consultant

Each ‘Chamber Musical’ is Available for Touring
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“[The Judgment of Paris included]…beautiful arrangements of works by both composers as well as evocative new compositions riffing on themes in their life and music.”

NOW Magazine
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“…love, war, history, art and beauty. I was entertained and moved as well as educated.”

Ottawa ChamberfestEmily Hanlon
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“[Bohemians in Brooklyn was]… Beautifully punctuated… and brought the songs to vivid life.”

NOW Magazine
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“… a fine early evening’s concert… made especially enjoyable by the finely crafted and moving introductions by the CBC’s Tom Allen. Beautifully placed, each heightened the emotional substance of the work it preceded.”

Toronto StarRobert Harris, October, 2009, Toronto Symphony Orchestra Afterworks Concert
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“Another great thing about Afterworks is CBC Radio host Tom Allen, who spent the first 15 minutes of the concert giving us some background on the composer and, with the help of the orchestra, acquainting us with the music’s main themes. Not a moment too long, Allen’s relaxed tour must have helped hundreds of fresh faces in the audience feel less intimidated by the classical music experience. Brilliant.”

Toronto StarJohn Terauds, December, 2008, Toronto Symphony Afterworks Concert
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“Allen returns as festival host, offering welcoming and witty introductions from the stage…. Fundamentally, he’s a storyteller, finding truth and folly in subjects as diverse as Beethoven and beer league hockey… For an orchestra like the Detroit Symphony, which continues to search for ways to find new audiences, Allen’s skills have been as welcome as another Detroit Stanley Cup.”

Detroit Free PressMark Stryker, June, 2008, Advance article for the 2nd 8 Days in June Festival
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"The great thing about Tom is that he presents the music in a very casual but also intellectual environment… The interaction he has with the audience is awesome. He encourages people to get into it and you don’t have to feel ashamed if you’re not familiar with the music. At the same time, those who know music will take something away, too."

Jeff ThompsonDetroit Symphony audience member, quoted in the Detroit Free Press, June 2008
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"Tom Allen was the narrator and, by implication, the devil. He read the words of the characters with a perfect combination of understatement and feeling. All in all it was as close to ideal a production that this listener has encountered."

Ottawa CitizenRichard Todd, August, 2008, Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival production of L’Histoire du Soldat
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"Allen provided an interesting and often humorous narrative. [He] interestingly wove a thesis into the musical offerings… it proved to be an entertaining and educational touch which truly heightened the enjoyment of the concert experience."

Kitchener-Waterloo RecordDaniel Ariaratnam, June, 2005, Industry of Music series, Perimeter Institute
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"…genial CBC radio host Tom Allen delivered a smart introduction… painting a picture of Vienna in 1808 as a city drenched in the upheaval of the Napoleonic wars… My heart stopped as the DSO kicked the powder off the wig of [Beethoven’s] Fifth with the coiled energy and surprise that knocked the wind out of the Viennese 200 years ago."

Detroit Free PressMark Stryker, June 2007, Opening of the first 8 Days in June Festival
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Production History

The Missing Pages

Written by Tom Allen

  • Directed by Richard Greenblatt
  • Ric Waugh – Ludwig van Beethoven
  • Tom Allen – Anton Schindler
  • Patricia O’Callaghan – Susannah Sotto
  • Bryce Kulak – Theodore Molt
  • Lori Gemmell – harpist
The Last Curlew
  • Lori Gemmell – Harp
  • Etsuko Kimura – Violin
  • Julia Aplin – Dance
  • Tom Allen and Annika Broadhead – Narration
From Weimar to Vaudeville

Written by Tom Allen

  • Tom Allen – narration, trombone, voice
  • Kevin Fox – voice, cello, guitar
  • Lori Gemmell – harp, trumpet, piano, voice
  • Bryce Kulak – piano, voice, accordion
  • Patricia O’Callaghan – voice
  • Peter Gemmell – clarinet, bass clarinet, flute, soprano sax, percussion
The Judgement of Paris

Written by Tom Allen

  • Tom Allen – narration, trombone, voice
  • Kevin Fox – voice, cello, guitar
  • Lori Gemmell – harp, trumpet, piano, voice
  • Bryce Kulak – piano, voice, accordion
  • Patricia O’Callaghan – voice, piano, percussion
Bohemians in Brooklyn

Written by Tom Allen

  • Tom Allen – narration & trombone
  • Lori Gemmell – harp
  • Bryce Kulak – piano & voice
  • Patricia O’Callaghan – voice