Author Archives: operaramblings

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About operaramblings

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

Seamen from a distant Eastern shore

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Berlioz’ Les Troyens is one of those pieces that really deserves the descriptor “sprawling epic” and, if anyone can make an epic sprawl it’s David McVicar.  This production, recorded at the Royal Opera House in 2012, is typical of McVicar’s more recent work.  It’s visually rather splendid and the action is well orchestrated but it’s short on ideas and long on McVicar visual cliches; acrobats, gore and urchins (but mercifully no animals).  I don’t want to be too hard on McVicar.  This piece is based on the sort of “Ancient History” one used to learn at prep school (British usage) and McVicar pretty much runs with that making no attempt to find deeper meaning, despite superficially translating at least the first two acts to the time of first performance; the era of European colonialism.

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Ash Roses release concert

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mireille The Ash Roses CD that I referred to a few days ago was officially launched at the Canadian Music Centre last night.  Lawrence Wiliford, Mireille Asselin, Sanya Eng and Liz Upchurch performed all the music on the album in the presence of the composer and his wife, assorted Toronto music glitterati and even more assorted others, like me.  It’s a very intimate setting and well suited for small scale art song recitals; especially when the complimentary wine and beer (Black Oak Chocolate Cherry Stout – recommended) is rather good.

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Kleiber’s Rosenkavalier

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Carlos Kleiber didn’t record much despite enjoying something of a cult following as a conductor.  In 1994, shortly before his death, he conducted four performances of Der Rosenkavalier at the Wiener Staatsoper; the first of which was recorded.  It’s clearly Kleiber’s night.  His appearances at the start of each act are greeted with cheers and wild applause.  One can only guess at the reception he got afterwards because the curtain calls don’t make it onto the recording.  And, yes, it is a masterly conducting performance with fine support for the singers, beautifully shaped lines and an infectious sense of fun.

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Another intriguing program from the Talisker Players

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BeastiaryThe Talisker Players are presenting a show called present Creature to Creature on March 16 and 18 at Trinity St. Paul’s Centre. It’s inspired by mediaeval bestiaries and takes on human foibles through the lens of animal behaviour.  It had better be good because I can scratch quite nastily. The Taliskers will be joined by mezzo soprano Norine Burgess, baritone Geoffrey Sirett (more impressive every time I see him), and theatre artist Ross Manson.

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New (more or less) works for two pianos

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adamsWorks for two pianos are comparatively rare and the chance to hear two contemporary works for them rarer still.  Today, in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre we got to do just that.  The program consisted of John Adams’ 1996 Hallelujah Junction, which i have heard a few times before, and Hans Thomalla’s 2004 piece Noema.  Both composers were there to introduce there works. Continue reading →

New Canadian works from Essential Opera

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Not sure how this managed to fly under the radar but Essential Opera have a show of three Canadian premieres at Heliconian Hall on April 5th.  The works are:

Etiquette
Composed by Monica Pearce, libretto by John Terauds
Pitting politeness and perfection against the harsher facts of life, through the eyes of Dorothy Parker, Emily Post and Nancy Astor.
Learn more about Monica and her music on her website: http://www.monicapearce.com

Regina
Composed by Elisha Denburg, libretto by Maya Rabinovitch
The story of Regina Jonas, the first woman to be ordained a rabbi – in 1935 Berlin – and the young student who discovers her truth.
Learn more about Elisha and his music on his website: http://www.elishadenburg.com

Heather (Cindy + Mindy = BFs 4EVER)
Composed by Christopher Thornborrow, libretto by Julie Tepperman
A hard-hitting introduction to the vicious reality of online bullying between girls and young women.
Learn more about Chris and his music on his website: http://christhornborrow.com/

A “first draft” of part of the last was featured at a Tapestry Shorts show not so long ago.

The performance team is:

MUSICAL TEAM:
Music director: Cheryl Duvall
Conductor: David Passmore
CAST:
Erin Bardua, soprano
Maureen Batt, soprano
Julia Morgan, mezzo
Keith O’Brien, baritone
Jesse Clark, baritone

There’s a crowd funding project and more details at http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/new-canadian-premieres-with-essential-opera

Exploring new media

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It’s hardly news to regular readers that I watch a lot of opera recordings on DVD and Blu-ray.  Until recently though I rarely watched streaming video off the internet as I’m not very keen about sitting in front of a computer for hours.  I do enough of that at work!  However, it was time to replace our aging TV with something more modern so I used it as an excuse to do some other upgrades (as well as decommissioning the VHS and cassette tape players which haven’t been used for at least 5 years).  Basically i hooked up Apple TV to the new TV and the home theatre sound system allowing me to stream anything from the lemur’s Macbook Air and be able to watch it on a large screen TV with 6.1 channel surround sound.  A lot of the stuff out there is a bit naff qualitywise but there are some gems.  Courtesy of another opera blogger who doesn’t want his bootleg publicising activities publicised I was able to view an extremely high quality feed of the Bregenz 2013 Die Zauberflõte which looked and sounded fantastic.  I’m now really looking forward to live streams from Glyndebourne and the Bayerische Staatsoper.

The Lady in Number 6

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Back in October I posted about The Lady in Number 6; a documentary about pianist and holocaust survivor Alice Herz-Sommer.  Some of you may have seen the news that she recently left us at the amazing age of 110.  The film has now been nominated for an Oscar in the Documentary Short Subject category.  You can see the trailer on my original post.

ETA March 3rd 2014:  The Lady in Number 6 won the Documentary Short Subject Oscar last night.