Mahabharata is one of the great epics. It’s long (my somewhat abridged translation runs 1400 pages) and it’s complex. To condense it into five hours or so of theatre and still have it retain its essential qualities is astonishing but, based on the first part which I saw at the Bluma Appel Theatre last night, Why Not Theatre’s production does just that.
My review of Opera Atelier’s production of Charpentier’s David and Jonathan which opened at Koerner Hall last night is now available at Opera Canada.
Photo: Bruce Zinger
Duo Oriana consists of soprano Sinéad White and lutenist Jonathan Stuchbery. They gave a lunchtime concert in the RBA on Tuesday. Unsurprisingly most of their repertoire consists of lute songs from the 16th and 17th (and even 18th) century but they have recently branched out with the Toronto Book of Ayres which sets verse by contemporary Toronto poets. We got to hear that for the first time on Tuesday.
The Masque of the Red Death is a an interdisciplinary theatre piece created and directed by Stella Kulagowski currently playing at The Assembly Theatre. At its heart is a cabaret show where each performer represents a Virtue “complementary” to the canonical Seven Deadly Sins that Poe riffed off in his original short story. Each Virtue is also associated with a colour in the rainbow Pride flag.
L to R back row: Rosalind Saunders, Parham Rownaghi, Rachel Manson, Joy Thompson, Rennaldo Quinicot
Middle: Bryna Bella, Eli Holliday
Front: Nailah Renuka, Stella Kulagowski
This recording from the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland and their conductor Jean-Luc Tingaud contains 65 minutes of music; mostly written for the stage, though there are some songs for voice and orchestra.
The first set is based on the incidental music that Fauré wrote for an English language production of Maeterlinck’s Pelléas et Mélisande given in London in 1898. There’s a four movement suite and a bonus in “Mélisande’s song” from Act III Scene 1 sung here by Tara Erraught. It’s really tuneful, pleasant music that evokes the piece well. I particularly liked the third movement “Sicilienne” which features a wistful harp melody and the song which is sung with beauty and clarity. Continue reading
Schubert’s Four Seasons is a recital disk on the BIS label by soprano Carolyn Sampson and pianist Jioseph Middleton. It contains a generous 75 minutes of music made up of twenty Schubert songs about the seasons and nature generally (also death… there’s lots of death). Most of the songs are less well known ones but there are some more frequently heard one likes Die Forelle, Im Frühllind and Der Hirt auf dem Felsen (which also features Michael Collins on clarinet).
My review of Midori Marsh’s Women’s Musical Club of Toronto’s “sisterhood” themed recital with Frances Armstrong, Alex Hetherington and Rachel Szabo at Walter Hall on Thursday is now published at myscena.org.
My review of Matthias Goerne singing the orchestral version of Shostakovich ‘s Suite on Verses by Michelangelo Buonarroti is now published at myscena.org.
My review of the upcoming album Electric Fields from Barbara Hannigan and friends is now up at myscena.org.
Catalogue information: Alpha Classics ALPHA980
So it’s April Fools Day in Walter Hall and Ambur Braid is scheduled to give a masterclass to UoT Opera students. Were they having us on? I was doubly suspicious having just finished the really annoying Guardian April Fool crossword. But, no, it was real; though frankly funnier than most April Fool pranks. You can check it out for yourself because it’s all up on Youtube.
Since you can check it out for yourselves I’lljust make a few observations:
