Author Archives: operaramblings

Unknown's avatar

About operaramblings

Toronto based lover of opera, art song, related music and all forms of theatre.

Is it May already?

Posted on by
Reply

natdessYes it is and here’s what’s coming up.  Sadly Natalie Dessay’s Koerner gig tonight has been cancelled.  Get well soon and please come back!  Tomorrow at 8pm the TSO has a concert with Carla Huhtanen featuring Morawetz’ Carnival Overture, Boulez’ Le soleil des eaux and Rimsky-Korsakoff’s Scheherezade.  On Sunday Lyndsay Promane has a recital at 3pm at Islington United Church with works by Dowland, Faure, Schubert, Vaughan Williams and Strauss.  Admission is by donation

Next week there are a bunch of free concerts in the RBA at noon.  On Tuesday it’s Alysson McHardy and Rachel Andrist with a program of Schumann and Zemlinsky.  Wednesday sees Aaron Sheppard and Stéphane Mayer perform Finzi’s A Young Man’s Exhortation.  They will also be joined by Sam Pickett and Megan Quick.  Finally, on Thursday Lauren Eberwein, who is sounding really good recently, and members of the COC Orchestra will perform two J.S. Bach cantatas; Ich habe genug and Vergnügte Ruh.

Louis Riel and Tosca continue at the COC.

Opera 5’s Ethel Smyth double bill

Posted on by
Reply

SUFFDetails are now available for Opera 5’s double bill Suffragette featuring the works of Dame Ethel Smyth.  The show will feature two works; Fête Galante, a rather grim “dance dream”, in a somewhat Stravinskian style, and the feminist opera The Boatswain’s Mate, which makes extensive use of folksong tunes.  In her day Smythe tended to be written off by the critics for being too masculine so it will be interesting to see how the works have fared with time.

The cast features Sri Lankan tenor Asitha Tennekoon, mezzo-soprano Eugenia Dermentzis, soprano Alexandra Smither and tenor Kevin Myers. The show is being led by an all-women production team, headed by Opera 5 Production Manager and Stage Director, Jessica Derventzis (absolutely not to be confused with Dermentzis); Production Designer Erin Gerofsky; and Lighting Designer Jennifer Lennon. Evan Mitchell will conduct with a chamber orchestra performing composer-original reductions.

Suffragette will play at Theatre Passe Muraille, Mainspace – 16 Ryerson Ave, Toronto on June 22-24 at 7.30pm and June 25 at 6pm.

Tickets: At the door, online: www.opera5.ca/suffragettetix or phone: 416-504-7529.
More Info including complete cast and production team: www.opera5.ca/suffragette

Opera 5 have created some of the most interesting and innovative low budget opera in the city in the last few years so I would definitely recommend trying to see this show.

Tosca at the COC

Posted on by
2

Paul Curran’s production of Tosca, seen in 2008 and 2012, opened at the COC yesterday afternoon.  It didn’t feel like a routine revival production of a warhorse.  In fact it felt much fresher and focussed than last time around.  Perhaps Mr. Curran, who is again directing, found some new insights or, more likely, the chemistry between the principals is better this time.  The result is a very satisfactory show.

tosca1

Continue reading →

The Chocolate Soldier

Posted on by
1

Toronto Operetta Theatre’s current production is Oscar Straus’ The Chocolate Soldier in the English version.  It’s based on Shaw’s Arms and the Man but, as is usually the case with musical adaptations of Shaw, it’s rather less acerbic than the original.  In fact, it comes over as a somewhat farcical love story with a few gentle pot shots at the military and militarism.  There are some good comic lines and the music is tuneful and well crafted.

tcs1

Continue reading →

Rompin’ with Rossini

Posted on by
Reply

Even by the standards of Rossini comedies The Italian Girl in Algiers is a bit daft.  Mustafà, bey of Algiers, is tired of his wife and plans to get rid of her by marrying her off to his Italian servant Lindoro.  He wants an Italian girl because well squire, nudge nudge.  He instructs his sidekick and commander of the galleys Haly to procure one or be impaled (a somewhat pointed joke that runs through the piece).  He shows up with Isabella and her sidekick Taddeo.  Isabella just happens to be Lindoro’s squeeze.  She immediately starts to plot their escape and persuades Mustafà that to succeed with Italian girls he must become a Pappatacci which involves eating enormous amounts of food and not getting upset when his beloved gets off with other men.  With Mustafà in a pasta induced near coma the lovers escape and Mustafà reconciles with his wife.  Got that?

algiers1

Continue reading →

Signal boosting

Posted on by
Reply

If you are planning to go to Soundstreams Unsuk Chin concert on May 28th, which should be very interesting, there’s a special ticket price offer.  Discount code OPERA20 will get you 20% off on-line ticket purchases which you can find here.  The centerpiece of the concert is Cantatrix Sopranica, a humorous exploration of opera styles across history, sung by Carla Huhtanen, Eve-Lyn de la Haye, and Scott Belluz.  Chin’s music is rather unusual so this could be quite an afternoon.

cantata

Hausmusik

Posted on by
2

Hausmusik is Tafelmusik’s less formal concert series.  It’s not exactly a concert; more an “event”.  Last night director Alaina Viau mixed music (woodwind trio, harpsichord, soprano (Ellen McAteer) and electronics from SlowPitchSound) with film projections by Darren Bryant and dance by Libydo to create quite a varied series of effects but all, musically, (just about) within the range one would expect from Tafelmusik.

HausMusik-photobyDahliaKatz-5011 Continue reading →

Collaborations

Posted on by
Reply

Yesterday’s concert in the RBA was the annual collaboration between members of the COC Ensemble Studio and members of the Atelier Lyrique de l’Opéra de Montréal.  Danika Lorèn, Emily D’Angelo and Stéphane Mayer represented the COC with Baritone Geoffroy Salvas, tenor Keven Geddes, mezzo Caroline Gélinas and pianist Carol-Anne Fraser up for the visitors.  It was very much a program of “opera pops” but the quality of the performances was consistently more than decent and it made for a fun hour.

collaborations

Continue reading →

Intersections

Posted on by
2

The third concert in the Heliconian Hall series from Adanya Dunn, Brad Cherwin and Alice Hwang was titled Intersections and was designed to explore “the sphinx like mind of Robert Schumann” through his own music and music inspired by him.  First up was Kurtàg’s Hommage à Robert Schumann featuring Alice and Brad and guest violist Laila Zakzook.  This is a complex and difficult piece.  Some sections consist of short fragments of “conversation” between the instruments.  At other times there is a more obvious line and it varies in mood from extremely violent to almost lyrical.  It’s an interesting exploration of Schumann’s various musical personalities through a completely different sound world.

aphergisscore

Continue reading →

A Woman’s Life and Love

Posted on by
Reply

laureneYesterday’s lunchtime concert in the RBA featured mezzo Lauren Eberwin, soprano Danika Lorèn and pianists Hyejin Kwon and Stéphane Meyer.  Lauren and Hyejin were first up with Schumann’s Frauenliebe und -leben.  I’ve rarely seen this sung by a singer so obviously “in” the story.  There was a real sense of first person storytelling as well as rather good singing.  I thought Lauren sounded surprisingly sopranoish in the first seven numbers but they are optimistic and happy and a bright coloured voice seems apt.  She certainly darkened it nicely for the final grim song.  Hyejin was a most sympathetic partner.

Continue reading →