The usual haruspication ahead of the COC 2017/18 season announcement has been taking place at the Kitten Kondo. Frankly the giblets are downright confusing this year. There are some hot rumours and a lot of much less hot stuff leading to much speculation based on the shape of the season and past patterns. Here’s some of the more probable stuff. It’s well known that the COC picked up the Carsen Eugene Onegin when the Met was about to bin it so presumably they intend to actually mount it some time. It’s got to the point where names have been associated with it in multiple places. Braun, Radvanovsky and El-Khoury have all been mentioned. Now, having been at the Dima concert at Koerner where the Russian chapter of Hell’s Grannies just about tore the place apart I reckon it should sell like hot blinis so a longish double cast run seems highly plausible.
This review first appeared in the print edition of 
This review first appeared in the print edition of 
This review first appeared in the print edition of 
I live with a musician. In an apartment. My partner practices, as musicians do. I work at home a lot; both for my day job and my music related writing. Neither of these are particularly easy to focus on when someone is tuning, playing scales, etc and listening to (other) music is close to impossible. I’m sure quite a few people reading this face a similar situation. My situation is further complicated by needing to review Blu-ray/DVD from far enough away from a large screen; which would involve either a ridiculously long (and cat vulnerable cable) or wireless. Was there a listening solution that would provide sound isolation and decent quality sound? Ideally, I also wanted something that could double up on a plane as I had found getting anything done on my recent Australia trip close to impossible.
Well the holidays are over and the music scene is coming back to life from its seasonal diet of musical plum pudding. There’s not a lot on this week but there is the first vocal concert of the year in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre. Mezzo-soprano Marion Newman will be joined by Kathleen Kajioka (violin) and Adam Sherkin (piano)in a programme of Canadian works exploring First Nations themes. It includes Dustin Peters’ song cycle, Echo|Sap’a, which explores the journey of The Echo (or Sap’a in Kwakwala), a para-natural entity that mimics the sounds and movements she encounters throughout the woods and waters, as well as Kinanu, a lullaby composed by Newman for her baby sister. Noon, of course, and free.
This review first appeared in the print edition of 
operaramblings 