Usually things slow down a bit at the end of February but not, it seems, this year.  First a notice for this month.  Sara Schabas and Daniel Norman present a recital of music by Bernstein, Mozart, Schubert, Alma & Gustav Mahler & more.  It’s at the Church of the Redeemer on Bloor at 7.30 pm on February 27th.  Tickets here.  The first weekend of the month is busy with a “semi-staged” Le comte Ory at Trinity St. Paul’s on Saturday March 2nd at 7.30pm.  The production is by François racine and the cast includes Asitha Tennekoon, Marjorie Maltais and Caitlin Wood.  On Sunday at 3pm Toronto Operetta Thaetre are presenting Ivor Novello’s Perchance to Dream.  That’s at the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts.  Also on Friday night and Sunday afternoon Opera York are doing Don Giovanni.  The Donnas are Natalya Gennadi and Beste Kalender. That’s at the Richmond Hill Centre for the Arts.

On 6th-10th March Eclipse Theatre are presenting a run of Kiss of the Spider Woman at the Don Gaol.  Evening shows are at 7.30pm with weekend matinees at 1.30pm.  It’s directed by Evan Tsitsias and stars Tracy Michailidis and Kawa Ada.  I have no idea what to expect but I’m intrigued.  On the 7th at 8pm Pyretic Productions are doing Blood of Our Soil at the Tarragon Extra Space.  Again I’m not sure what to expect, this isn’t “musical” in any sense, but I’m intrigued.  In the words of the blurb Blood of Our Soil “gives voice to the people whose lives have been affected by the frozen conflict in Eastern Ukraine, Europe’s current “forgotten war,” where current Russian aggression has killed more than 10,000 people, and displaced millions. The play is inspired by the experiences of the playwright’s grandparents who fled Ukraine during WWII, and the true accounts of people interviewed in conflict zones in Eastern Ukraine.”

There are two student productions in March.  March 14th to 17th at 7.30pm except Sunday 2.30pm, UoT Opera are presenting Mozart’s La finta giardiniera with Russell Braun conducting and Michael Patrick Albano directing.  That’s in the MacMillan Theatre.  March 20th and 22nd at 7.30pm in Koerner Hall it’s the Glenn Gould School’s turn for Mozart.  This time it’s The Magic Flute in a production by Joel Ivany.

On the 11th at 7.30pm in Walter Hall, Nathalie Paulin and Stephen Philcox have a program inspired by Messiaen’s Chants de Terre et de Ciel.  More Messiaen!

In lunchtime concerts on March 5th at noon Ian Cusson is performing some of his songs with Marion Newman and Marjorie Maltais.  On the 14th there’s a March break “interactive” with members of the Ensemble Studio.  And on the 19th Musique 3 Femmes present The Next Wave in which they highlight winners from the inaugural Mécénat Musica Prix 3 Femmes, a new initiative to develop operatic creations by teams of emerging female composers and librettists in Canada.  All those at noon in the RBA.  And at the university on March 28th at 12:10pm it’s the recital by the winners of the Jim and Charlotte Norcop Prize in Song & Gwendolyn Williams Koldofsky Prize in Accompanying.  All these are free but the UoT Opera concert at 5pm on the 29th isn’t.  It’s a presentation of staged scenes from the UoT Opera back catalogue.

In regular events Against the Grain’ Opera Pub is at The Amsterdam Bicycle Club at 9pm on the 7th and Whose Opera Is It Anyway? is on the 26th at 8pm at The Social Capital.

Looking a wee bit further out Against the Grain’s much anticipated production of Claude Vivier’s Kopernikus; A Ritual Opera of Death opens at Theatre Passe Muraille on April 4th at 8pm for a six performance run.  Joel Ivany directs and Topher Mokrzewski conducts.  The stellar cast includes Daniele MacMillan,  Krisztina Szabó, Alain Coulombe, Dion Mazerolle, Nathalie Paulin, Jonelle Sills and Bruno Roy.