My second Walter Hall DMA recital on Tuesday featured one of Toronto’s most interesting, and least predictable, musical talents; countertenor Ryan McDonald.  Having seen Ryan perform as Dido and as a rather menacing nightmare figure in Rebecca Grey’s Bus Opera (as well as in several more conventional capacities!) I was expecting the unexpected.  The presence on stage of a drum kit rather reinforced that.

So, no big surprise that the opening number was “Mon coeur s’ouvre à ta voix” from Saint Saêns’ Samson et Delila (with Ivan Estey Jovanovic at the piano).  It was some gorgeous singing as long as one wasn’t distracted by the shiny back outfit topped by a transparent rain cape (really sorry there are not more photos!).  Then after a quick change to something that looked a like a very shiny vampire impersonating a boy in the lower school at Eton, we got a lovely account of John Dowland’s If my complaints could passions move which was bookended by electronics and some vocalising into the piano.  This was followed by a straightforwardly lovely version of Schumann’s “Der Nussbaum”.  And so to “Dido’s lament”.  I did mention that I’d seen Ryan sing the role some years ago in Opera Q’s gender bending Dido and Belinda.

And then Ivan departed to be replaced by an (uncredited) trio of drums, electric guitar and piano for a set of four songs associated with Klaus Nomi; who is one of Ryan’s research interests.  Ryan was miked for this set but what I found really interesting was the way he switched between vocal styles.  Some of it was countertenor, some of it was pretty normal pop/rock vocals in a sort of speech type vocal range and some of it was like you might get in 1930s German cabaret.  Really interesting.

Finally we got “The Cold Song” from Purcell’s King Arthur.  Classically excellent again, and with another change of outfit.

The second half was scheduled as a lecture on Nomi and as I’ve heard Ryan on that topic before I skipped it.