Opera 5’s interns for their Toronto Operas Festival gave a recital in the RBA on Monday.  It was a varied mix f opera, song and musical theatre; from Mozart and Strauss to Camelot and Spamalot.  Both the rep and the performances demonstrated the emphasis that the Schulich School; with which all the performers are affiliated, puts on musical theatre compared to some of its competitors.

The concert began with a spirited account of “Art is calling Me” from Herbert’s The Enchantress sung, danced and prance with lots of personality by AJJ Gauger.  And then from the ridiculous to the sublime with a very fine performance of “Sein wir wieder gut” from Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos by Angélique Brown.  It was accurate, powerful and nuanced which are no mean achievements with this aria.

Tristan Pritham, a knight to remember, gave us an exuberantly fun account of “C’est moi” from Camelot and Len Crino sang a very pleasing version Ponce’s Estrellita, followed by Hannah Mikita showing off a pretty voice with rather good coloratura in Arditi’s Il bacio.

That all paved the way for a gender fluid “Wie, wie,wie” from Mozarts The Magic Flute with Len Crino as Tamino, an under the weather Christopher Pitre-McBride as Papageno and Elizabeth Fast, Brenden Lengsfeld and Michal Aloni as the Three Ladies.  Yes they have a genuine countertenor in the group.  An interesting take!

Marissa Lake showed sparkling high notes in “poor Wandering One” from The Pirates of Penzance followed by a rather lovely “Pur ti miro” from Il coronazione di Poppea from Elizabeth and Brenden.  And then more gender bending with a “Habanera” shared between Brenden and Michal.

Liam Dooley was next with a pleasing account of “Mein Sehnen, mein Wähnen” from Korngold’s Die tote Stadt followed by Patricia Wrigglesworth with a gutsy and just OTT enough version of the very silly “Whatever Happened to My Part?” from Spamalot.  Which led up to Paige Robinson and Tristan Pritham joined by almost everyone else in “Suddenly Seymour” from Little Shop of Horrors.  Which makes me wonder what would have happened if Arthur and Bedivere had tried to buy a shrubbery there.

The super versatile pianist throughout was Spencer Kryzanowski who obviously didn’t have enough to do because he followed it up with a four hour music rehearsal before also accompanying for AtG’s Opera Pub in the evening.

You can catch more of the Opera 5 interns at Opera 5’s Toronto Opera festival which features a double bill of Puccini’s Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi plus the premiere of Cecilia Livingston’s Parélios.  (More details)

Photo credit: Karen E. Reeves