…and not in a good way…

Posted on March 29, 2026 by operaramblings

Cyclops is the only satyr play by Euripides to come down to us though I guess whether it’s “complete” is a bit of an open question. A satyr play was a kind of weird hybrid of comedy and tragedy that closed out the Festival of Dionysos after the tragedies had been performed. Unlike most Athenian comedy it was usually based on mythological source material; in this case Odysseus’ encounter with the Cyclops from the Odyssey. It would have featured principals and a chorus of satyrs; half man, half goat with enormous erect phalluses.

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Lieder Nachmittag

Posted on March 28, 2026 by operaramblings

Thursday’s RBA concert featured members of the Ensemble Studio singing German Lieder. First up were tenor Angelo Moretti and pianist Kimly Wang with Beethoven’s An die ferne Geliebte. Although this is probably the first true “song cycle” in German I feel it doesn’t get done nearly as often as the better known Schubert and Schumann cycles and it’s really pretty interesting. I think it was also my first time hearing Angelo sing in German and he’s really very good. This was a well articulated, rather beautifully sung set with equally skilled accompaniment. Continue reading →

Love Songs

Posted on March 27, 2026 by operaramblings

Back in the dark days of December 2020 Tapestry Opera and New Music Concerts collaborated on a filmed version of Ana Sokolović’s Love Songs featuring soprano Xin Wang. Thursday night, a quite different version opened at the Nancy and Ed Jackman Performance Centre. It also features Xin Wang and is directed by Michael Mori but this time saxophone has been swapped out for a tap dancer Rumi Jeraj which fits with the body percussion elements of the score.

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Satisfying Theodora from UoT

Posted on March 25, 2026 by operaramblings

Handel’s Theodora may just be his best oratorio, even if nowadays it’s better known in fully staged versions. On Friday night it was presented by a combination of the Schola Cantorum, The Theatre of Early Music and assorted guests under the direction of Daniel Taylor at the Church of St. Mary Magdalene.

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Confluence Concerts 2026/27

Posted on March 24, 2026 by operaramblings

The Confluence Concert series for next season was announced last night. There are eight concerts:

August 20th – Side by Side. The Confluence team will spend a week in workshops with a group of young artists. The public concert resulting from that is on August 20th at Heliconian Hall (which is the venue for all their concerts unless otherwise specified).
September 25th and 27th – Global Voices. Suba Sankaran curates a concert of a cappella works from different musical traditions. The 27th show is at some place at Queen and Shaw that I didn’t catch! (the Shaw & Queen location is Youngspace (formerly an Artscape location) at 180 Shaw).

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Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote

Posted on March 22, 2026 by operaramblings

Coming up next month (along, one hopes, with spring):

Opera, Concerts etc

April 3rd. Bach’s St. John Passion is playing at Metropolitan United.
April 4th. There’s a bicycle powered percussion and multi-media show at That Arts Group Black Box Theatre. Thomas Li will perform Fish Yu’s Three Bagel-tales of DAIWAN and his own new solo multimedia work Pedal Memory.

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Even more Grimm

Posted on March 20, 2026 by operaramblings

Back in December 2012 I reviewed the 500th performance of Dean Burry’s opera for children, The Brothers Grimm. On Wednesday I went to the 25th anniversary performance in the RBA. It was packed; with loads of kids, some quite young.

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OperaQ’s La Maupin

Posted on March 19, 2026 by operaramblings

My review of OperaQ’s film, La Maupin, about a 17th century swashbuckling, gender fluid French mezzo is now available at Opera Canada.

Unusual double bill from the Glenn Gould School

Posted on March 19, 2026 by operaramblings

The Glenn Gould’s Spring Opera, which opened on Wednesday night, is an intriguing double bill. It pairs Rossini’s first, and rarely performed, opera; La cambiale di matrimonio with Puccini’s much better known Gianni Schicchi.

La cambiale di matrimonio (The Wedding Contract) is a one act screwball comedy (technically a farsa). It has all the plot elements that see will see over and over in later Rossini comedies; cunning servants, an old man trying to make money out of a marriage, young lovers facing obstacles etc. The plot elements are mirrored by the music; patter songs, breakneck ensembles and an impossibly florid soprano aria, inter alia. In this case they are used in the service of a plot that features a cash strapped English merchant who is trying to marry his daughter off to a rich Canadian who is seeking a suitable bride but she’s in love with a far less wealthy young man. Everyone seems to want to kill the Canadian but he’s fundamentally a nice chap (of course) and he engineers a happy ending

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Met Live in HD 2026/27

Posted on March 15, 2026 by operaramblings

Here’s my take on what’s coming up in the Met “Live in HD” cinema series in the 2026/27 series. There are again eight operas in the series. One is a work new to the Met, two are new productions and five are repertory shows. There’s also a special that goes out live on September 19th; Twenty Years of the Met in Cinemas: An Anniversary Celebration, hosted by soprano Renée Fleming. Expect a tightly scripted orgy of self congratulation!

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