It’s that time of year which marks the passing of the baton at the COC Ensemble Studio which is traditionally marked by a lunchtime farewell concert by some of the graduates. Today’s Les Adieux featured soprano Sasha Djihanian, baritone Cameron McPhail and pianist Michael Shannon.
Lunchtime today at the RBA saw members of the COC orchestra get together with soprano Sasha Djihanian for a concert of works by Handel and Albinoni. I realised that I really don’t listen to enough baroque chamber works. The first work on the program was Handel’s Trio Sonata No.2 in D Minor. It’s compact, playful and doesn’t overstay its welcome. I stupidly didn’t make a note of who played on what piece so I’ll just credit the ensemble at the end of the post. The other chamber work on the program was Albinoni’s Sonata à cinque in C major. This was fun too with lots of fugue elements and dance rhythms and some serious toe tapping by violist Keith Hamm.
Today’s recital in the RBA was given by Russell Braun. Carolyn Maule and members of the COC orchestra. The programme, Journeys of the Soul, divided into two quite distinct halves. In the first, Russell was joined by Marie Bedard and Dominique Laplants (violins), Keith Hamm (viola) and Paul Widner (cello) in a performance of Samuel Barber’s Dover Beach; a setting of a text by Matthew Arnold. It’s a very dark text and rather an extraordinary choice for a twenty year old. The music is equally dark and brooding. It’s a great work for Russell though and plays well to the colours of his voice and his keen attention to text. It was a pleasure to hear in the very intimate atmosphere of the RBA.
Allyson McHardy’s lunchtime recital in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre today was unusual and effective; combining contrasting works by Brahms, Robert Fleming and Britten. Accompanied by Liz Upchurch on piano throughout, she was joined for the first set; Brahms’ Two Songs for Alto, Viola and Piano, Op. 91 by the COC’s principal violist, Keith Hamm. They were rather beautifully sung and played and were true to music and text; both of which are a bit too German Romantic for my taste. Continue reading
I only managed to get to the first half of yesterday’s Ensemble Studio lunchtime concert. It was Brahm’s Liebeslieder-Walzer Op. 52 performed by Claire de Sévigné, Charlotte Burrage, Andrew Haji and Gordon Bintner with Liz Upchurch and Michael Shannon providing the four handed accompaniment. I’m not a huge Brahms fan and this was pretty much that late 19th century sentimental stuff I don’t really get; somewhat schmaltzy waltz rhythms setting somewhat schmaltzy texts. It was well done though. Haji, in particular, sang with a fine attack and the different voice combinations made interesting contrasts. I thought the music came off best when the girls sang together and when the guys sang together. Both pairs have voices quite different in timbre and blended to good effect. The more complex four voice sections seemed to come a bit unstuck in the RBA. I’m 99% sure it was the acoustic not the singers but certainly textures got quite muddy at times. The accompaniment was, unsurprisingly, very good indeed. Work pressures meant I had to leave before the second half of the programme which featured John Greer’s Liebesleid-Lieder.
The third Canadian Art Song Project annual concert was given yesterday lunchtime in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre. We were given four works; all by Canadian composers, and in a sufficient variety of musical idiom to make for a most interesting concert. Soprano Monica Whicher and pianist Kathryn Tremills gave us Dissidence (trois poèmes de Gabriel Charpentier) by Pierre Mercure. This 1955 work sounds rather like Ravel or perhaps early Poulenc with its symbolist poetry and rather literal musical setting. It sits very nicely for Monica’s voice though and she sang very beautifully. It seems not all modern composers hate sopranos.
Thursday lunchtime saw what seems to be becoming a March break tradition; an interactive concert with soprano/edutainer Kyra Millan and her pianist accomplice Christina Faye. This year she was backed up by Danielle MacMillan, Owen McCausland and Timothy Cheung.
Works 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
There was no doubt that the Four Seasons Centre was the place to be at noon today. Few opera fans would willingly miss a free recital by Sir Thomas Allen and I doubt that anyone who attended was disappointed. Perhaps the voice doesn’t have the bloom it had twenty years ago but it’s still exceptionally fine and the craftsmanship and sheer stage presence was little short of amazing. Above all, perhaps, it’s the humanity of the man that shone through for the hour and a bit he entertained us.
Young American tenor Paul Appleby has been delighting audiences in the current COC production of Così fan tutte where he sings Ferrando. Today he got to show us what he could do as a lieder singer in a lunchtime concert in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre. He started off with a stylish, if occasionally tentative, set of five Schubert songs. It was a promising start with some very stylish and controlled singing and unhistrionic acting with the voice. Hitting his stride, he gave us seven songs from Schumann’s Myrten cycle. These covered a wide range of moods from tender passion to drunken ecstasy. Again great skill and artistry and lovely accompaniment from Anne Larlee at the piano.
operaramblings 