Author Archives: operaramblings

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About operaramblings

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

Albert Herring fifty years on

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It was quite a party at the MacMillan Theatre this afternoon.  The MacMillan opened fifty years ago with a production of Britten’s Albert Herring and this afternoon marked the final performance of a new production to celebrate the occasion.  Directed by Joel Ivany, it was a straightforward but lively and very well characterised interpretation that brought out many of the very specific and quirky elements of the local culture while taking it mysteriously up market in some ways. (*).  Coupled with very good singing by any standard, and this was a student production, it made for a most enjoyable afternoon.

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Vogt and Nylund bring dead city to life

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Kasper Holten shows his customary inventiveness in his production of Korngold’s Die Tote Stadt, recorded at Finnish National Opera in 2010.  He places the whole opera inside Paul’s “Marie museum” with a chaotic, higgledy, piggledy model of the the city of Brugge as a back wall.  He emphasises the dream elements of acts 2 and 3 through devices such as having the troupe of players and their boat emerge through Paul’s bed or assorted ecclesiastics popping up randomly in the “city model”.  He also inserts a non-speaking Marie who is present throughout the piece, often to very interesting effect.

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April in Toronto

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RevolutionsPosterThe opening weekend of April is almost absurdly rich in opera going opportunities and I’ve already previewed it here.  There are updates on the Tapestry/Volcano show Revolutions.  This is going to be highly experimental and aims to “test the boundaries of how opera is presented in the 21st century.” by exploring the relationship between physical and musical expression.  Marie- Josée Chartier (contemporary dance), stage director Michael Mori, will work with four athletic young opera singers, Neema Bickersteth, Andrea Ludwig, Adrian Kramer and Andrew Love.  Unfortunately it’s one night only and I shall be at the opening of Peter Sellars’ production of Handel’s Hercules at the COC.  Eric Owens, Alice Coote, Richard Croft, David Daniels and Lucy Crowe are singing and Harry Bicket is in the pit.  If that’s not incentive enough the COC is offering a 25% discount if you buy tickets to any two of the three spring operas (the other two are Roberto Devereux and Don Quichotte).  Continue reading →

Charming Vixen from the Glenn Gould School

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ggsopera3_365sq_0This year’s opera offering from the Glenn Gould School at the Royal Conservatory is Janáček’s Cunning Little Vixen.  It’s a pretty good choice for a student production with a wide variety of roles and it’s a great vehicle for showing off  the excellent Royal Conservatory Orchestra.  The school has chosen to present the work in English translation which probably makes sense given the difficulties of training a whole new cast in Czech even though it somewhat undermines the composer’s extremely tight linkage of text and music.

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Lepage at TIFF

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lepageThere’s going to be a Robert Lepage retrospective at the TIFF Bell Lightbox from March 27th to April 1st.  Most of the screenings/events will focus, naturally enough, on Lepage’s output for cinema but there are a couple of showings of interest to opera fans.  On Saturday March 29th at noon there’s a showing of his production of Berlioz’ La Damnation de Faust first seen in the MetHD series and the following day at 12.30 pm one can see Susan Froemke’s documentary Wagner’s Dream about the making of the Metropolitan Opera Ring cycle.  Lepage will be present at both shows.

How sweet to be a sloth

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norine burgessYesterday’s Talisker Players concert Creature to Creature was a well balanced selection of music and readings inspired by the idea of a bestiary.

First up was a set of Poulenc settings of Apollinaire texts. These songs, for mezzo, string quartet, flute, clarinet and bassoon, are very short and deceptively simple being both textually and musically many layered. They were very beautifully sung by Norine Burgess. Her fairly bright mezzo seemed well suited and there was sensitive accompaniment from the band among whom clarinetist Peter Stoll was particularly impressive. Continue reading →

Stark Jenůfa from Madrid

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Stéphane Braunschweig’s production of Janáček’s Jenůfa, recorded at Madrid’s Teatro Real, is austere and effective.  The sets are almost empty.  Mill sails appear from a slot in the floor to suggest the family mill, there’s a cot for the baby in Act 2 and some church benches in Act 3.  That’s it.  The rest of the “setting” is carried by a very effective lighting plot.  I don’t think there are any big ideas here but it’s an effective, straightforward way of telling the story.  Braunschweig also makes effective use of the chorus, especially in Act 1.

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Maria Callas is Medea

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callasPasolini’s Medea, which I saw at the very comfortable TIFF Bell Lightbox on Thursday evening, is a striking and unusual film.  Visually, throughout, it is painterly in an almost surrealistic way.  Locations and costumes combine to provide a weird and disturbing visual language which is never less than beautiful even when the most violent and brutal acts are being portrayed.  The visuals were helped by the really good job that had been done on restoring the original print.

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Upcoming events

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There’s quite a lot happening before the COC season kicks off again with the opening of Handel’s Hercules on April 5th.  Here are some of the highlights including several rarities.

On March 22nd at 7:30pm and 23rd at 3pm the Cantemus Singers are putting on a concert performance of Purcell’s The Fairie Queene at the Church of the Holy Trinity. The cast includes Iris Krizmanic, soprano (Juno); Maria Soulis, soprano (Mopsa); and Michael Pius Taylor, tenor (Phoebus).  Tickets are $20; $15(sr/st); $10(child).

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