Monthly Archives: May 2013

What’s green and blue and Carsen all over?

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Robert Carsen’s production of Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is as visually striking as any of his productions.  It’s also one that’s done the rounds, playing in Aix and Lyon before being recorded by a strong cast at the Liceu in Barcelona in 2005.  The challenge with Dream is to create visual worlds for the Fairies and the Mortals that are different but work together.  Carsen and his usual design team do this very well in this case.  The Fairies are given striking green and blue costumes with red gloves.  The mortals mostly run to white and cream and gold and they seem to spend a lot of time in their underwear.  The lighting, as always with Carsen, forms an important part of the overall design.  Carsen completists will also notice certain other characteristic touches like starkly arranged furniture.

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Cendrillon

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Massenet’s Cendrillon is less often performed than Rossini’s take on the same basic story.  I’m really not sure why.  Rossini’s take is a bit weird (in a good way), especially in the Ponelle production, but Massenet’s is much more interesting musically.  Oddly enough there’s only one version on DVD; a 2011 recording from the Royal Opera House.  Fortunately it’s very good.  The production is by Laurent Pelly and it has quite a bit in common with his La Fille du Regiment.  Here the set is made up of pages from the original syory by Perrault rather than military maps but the effect is similar.  Costumes are quite cartoonish (shades of the recent Alice in Wonderland ballet) except for Cendrillon herself, the prince and her father.  There’s a strong emphasis on the humorous side of the piece and the “ballets” are thoroughly subverted.

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Figaro’s Prenup

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Today’s free lunchtime concert in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre was a preview of Against the Grain’s upcoming Figaro’s Wedding.  Its got a brand new English libretto by director Joel Ivany very much along the lines of the La Bohème they did at the Tranzac a few years back; setting the story in today’s Toronto but keeping the basic plot line roughly similar.  Today’s show featured excerpts from the piece plus interviews with the characters by Joel.  I don’t want to do spoilers but let’s just say it’s very clever and very funny.  It’s got a great cast of young local singers and it’s been arranged for piano and string quartet by the amazing Topher Mokrzewski. This is going to be really, really good and I’ve never heard anything get such an enthusiastic reception in the RBA.

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The full show is going to play at a real wedding hall, The Burroughes Building at 639 Queen Street West on May 29-31 and on June 2.  There’s no show on June 1 because the venue is booked for a wedding!  Tickets and more details are available at http://www.againstthegraintheatre.com.  Be warned, opening night is already sold out and I expect the remaining nights will also sell ahead of time.  This is going to be a hot ticket.

Sorry about the iPhone photo.  Expect better ones in due course.

Quilico Awards 2013

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Last night, for the second time (the first was in 2011) the singers of the COC Ensemble Studio competed for the Christina and Louis Quilico Awards; a prize competition created by Christina in memory of her husband, baritone Louis.  It was the usual competition format; the singers offer three arias, they sing one and then the judges choose which of the remaining two they will sing.  It being the Ensemble Studio on show the standard was extremely high.  Nine singers and eighteen arias is too much to report in detail so I’ll concentrate on the winners.

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Alan Walker of the Ontario Arts Foundation, Christina Quilico and the Ensemble Studio

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The Lessons of Love

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Last night Toronto Masque Theatre presented a double bill entitled The Lessons of Love.  First up was John Blow’s 1683 masque Venus and Adonis and it was followed by the premier of The Lesson of Da Ji; a fusion of Western and traditional Chinese elements by composer Alice Ping Yee Ho and librettist Marjorie Chan.

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Searing Carmélites from COC

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Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites is a strange and compelling piece.  Dramatically it is very “slow burn” with a narrative arc that builds over almost two hours to a final scene of searing intensity.  Without that final scene the piece would have no reason but it justifies all and only one “fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils” could possibly leave the theatre unmoved.  It’s not just moving, done well it’s emotionally devastating.  And that’s the state I left the Four Seasons Centre in last night after a near perfect performance of Robert Carsen’s extraordinary production.

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Photo Credit: Michael Cooper

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Another occupant for that little red dress

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el-khouryCanadian soprano Joyce El-Khoury will make her company debut as Violetta at De Nederlandse Opera tonight, replacing Marina Poplavskaya.  It’s that Willy Decker production that’s been seen everywhere.  Might be worth a look for anyone planning to be in Toronto in the fall as Joyce will sing both Mimi and Musetta in the upcoming La Bohème at COC (though not in the same performances, she’s leaving that to Placido Domingo).

You can get a preview of her performance here.

ETA: May 10 – Apparently Joyce will now sing the whole run at DNO.

On the Wing

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barduaLast night the Talisker Players and guest artists presented a series of readings and vocal pieces on the theme of winged creatures.  It was a very varied programme with the readings, winningly read by actor R.H. Thomson, ranging from Albert Manguel to Peter Matthiessen.  The readings also provided time for the set-up to be changed between numbers with minimum tedium.

The music was also very varied, ranging from Telemann to John Plant’s Sandpiper of 2011 with the rest being drawn from 20th century works from Pärt, Copland, Hoiby, Gideon and Foss.  The ensemble changed constantly with various combinations of strings, woodwind, piano, continuo and percussion.  Continue reading →

Ruth

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ruthLast night Tapestry and the Wilfred Laurier University Faculty of Music co-presented a workshop of Ruth, a new piece by Jeffrey Ryan to a libretto by Michael Lewis MacLennan.  It’s not exactly an opera, perhaps more like one of Britten’s Church Parables.  It is quite short; one act of nine scenes, six of which were given in full last night with a read through of the three not yet set.  The whole piece lasted maybe an hour.  The emphasis is very much on the voices; three soloists and the choir.  Last night it was given with piano accompaniment but the composer suggested that it would work for either organ and/or a small ensemble.

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