Friday lunchtime saw the annual appearance of the UoT Opera programme in the RBA lunchtime series. All the Master’s and PG Diploma students were on display for a series of semi-staged excerpts from Mozart operas directed by Mabel Wonnacott and her students.
I think it was mostly first years on display in the first scene; “Hm! Hm! Hm!” from Die Zauberflöte. There was some good acting and very decent singing here. Promising. Then there were four extracts from Le nozze di Figaro. So many Susannas! Of course all student opera programmes have lots of Susannas and there were some pretty decent ones on display here. What’s more interesting perhaps is to hear a convincing Marcellina and Delaney Dam was just that. There are some excellent male voices among the returning students too as well as some promising newcomers.
Two enjoyable excerpts from Don Giovanni were followed by, for me, the highlights of the show; “Alla bella Despinetta” and “V’ingannai, ma fu l’inganno” from Così fan tutte. The first was a chance for returning students to strut their stuff and it was very fine. For the finale, Mabel managed to work everybody in to create an exuberant finish.
It’s a strong group with some excellent returnees and some promising, if obviously less mature, voices among the newcomers. The standard of acting is remarkably good. I don’t feel it’s helpful (mostly) to comment on individual singers three weeks into the academic year. That can wait for later. But for the record we heard, in rough order of appearance; Zyion Stephens, Arushi Das, Mia Robles, Luca McCauley, Jayden Fraser, May Sadan, Delaney Dam, Josh Gibson, Sloane Ryan, Nicholas Kluftinger, Lucas White, Mena Lukic, Victoria Chan, Brooke Zarubin, Aimee Harness and Christian Matta. Christine Bae and Helen Becqué shared piano duties and Sandra Horst, of course, conducted.
This is probably a good place too to plug UoT Opera’s Fall production. It’s a newly commissioned work to celebrate 80 years of opera studies at UoT. It’s Fall River; the Legend of Lizzie Borden. Music is by Cecilia Livingston and libretto by Michael Patrick Albano and it will play at the Elgin Theatre November 19th to 22nd.
Photo credit: Karen E. Reeves
