Soundstreams’ high concept show Electric Messiah opened at the Drake Underground last night. So what is Electric Messiah? It’s a potent mix of Handel/Jennens, four exceptional singers from varied backgrounds, electronics, turntable artists and electric guitars. It’s “staged” in the round in a dive bar with the audience and artists mixed up all over the place. Curator Kyle Brenders, dramaturg Ashlie Corcoran and lighting designer Patrick Lavender have created something that’s weird and dynamic and exciting and, just occasionally, a bit self indulgent and I really enjoyed it. Probably my biggest complaint would be that it’s too short at around an hour.
Handel plugged in
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Despite living locally Sondra Radvanovsky is not a frequent recitalist in Toronto so it’s perhaps not surprising that Koerner Hall was packed last night for her show presented by Show One Productions. I had been intrigued in advance by the promised program which looked extremely varied; baroque, bel canto, Strauss, Barber, verismo and more. We were, in fact, being used as most willing guinea pigs for some new departures, especially the Strauss.
Adam Scime’s L’Homme et le Ciel opened last night at The Music Gallery in a production created by FAWN Chamber Creative. The story of a 2nd century BCE slave’s struggle between his spiritual aspirations and his less spiritual attraction to his beautiful owner might seem a bit obscure for a modern audience but it does provide a framework for exploring human emotions free of the need to rush on with a linear narrative. So, perhaps rather like Pyramus and Thisbe at the COC this is a piece that explores and questions human motivations and emotions rather than focussing on telling a story.
Yesterday’s Riki Turofsky master class at the UoT Music faculty was given by Sondra Radvanovsky which probably accounted for the almost full Walter Hall. It was interesting. I’ve only ever seen Sondra glammed up and seeming very much the diva and so I was a bit surprised that she proved rather down to earth and very technique focussed. Four students sang but I’m going to focus on two. Partly to avoid being repetitive and partly because they happen to be singers I’ve heard quite a bit and so was more able to see what Sondra was doing with/to them.
The AGO has a new initiative; AGO Friday Nights. For the price of admission to the gallery one also gets to hear a one hour concert of music programmed by Tapestry’s Michael Mori to reflect something going on at the the gallery. Right now the big exhibition is 
Last night was the third memorial concert for Elizabeth Krehm in support of the ICU at St. Mike’s. This year the piece was Mahler’s Symphony No.2 appropriately enough. It’s a piece I’ve lived with for a very long time and it never fails to move. It’s a curious contrast with the Fourth which we heard at the symphony last week. If 4 gives a naive and optimistic view of the afterlife, 2 is much darker, more troubled and less certain. Even the very beautiful Urlicht is not without its sense of angst and the final movement is majestic, powerful and has the deepest possible sense of yearning.
operaramblings 