Wednesday’s recital in the RBA was given by UoT Opera. It consisted of a series of arias/scenes drawn from the operas of Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven creatively staged by Mabel Wonnacott. It was lively and a lot of fun and the vocal standard was very high, especially for so early in the academic year.
Tuesday was the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and the COC programmed Innu soprano Elisabeth St-Gelais, with pianist Louise Pelletier, for the lunchtime concert series. They began very appropriately with Ian Cusson’s Le Récital des Anges; settings of two elegiac poems by Émile Nelligan about death and childhood. They are very beautiful and deeply sad songs that seemed just right for the occasion.
Tuesday’s lunchtime concert in the RBA featured soprano Teresa Tucci and baritone James Coole-Stevenson; both Rebanks fellows at the Conservatory, and pianist Vlad Soloviev. It was a carefully curated concert with a thematic line and featured far more duets than one usually gets in such a show.
The free concert series in the RBA kicked off on Wednesday with, as usual, a performance by the artists of the COC’s Ensemble Studio. Owing to illness only five singers performed and only one of those, Emily Rocha, was a returnee. The other four singers and both pianists were newcomers. It was short but enjoyable.
The last concert of the season in the COC’s free concert season took place in the RBA on Thursday. It was the farewell concert for Queen Hezumuryango and Wesley Harrison plus a second farewell for Brian Cho and Mattia Senesi.
Last Wednesday’s lunchtime recital was given by soprano Lauren Fagan; currently appearing as Tatyana in the COC’s Eugene Onegin, and pianist Rachael Kerr. Things kicked off with a selection of three songs from Berg’s Sieben Frühe Lieder. What struck me here, apart from some really nice expressive singing, was Lauren’s ability too spin a line out coherently.
The first of this year’s Les Adieux concerts for departing members of the Ensemble Studio took place Tuesday lunchtime in the RBA. It was supposed to feature Brian Cho, Mattia Senesi, Korin Thomas-Smith and Karoline Podolak but Karoline was indisposed so Emily Rocha (not leaving) jumped in at the last minute.
The rearranged programme worked pretty well with maybe a bit more opportunity for the pianists. Sio, Mattia played the Intermezzo from Brahms’ Op 118. No. 2, which was very nicely done and Brian closed things out with just the piano part from Schumann’s Widmung which works surprisingly well, at least if one is familiar with the song. Continue reading
Last Tuesday lunchtime in the RBA we got a sneak preview of some of the music that will feature at this year’s 20th anniversary Toronto Summer Music.
There was soprano Caitlin Wood with Philip Chiu performing three French chansons; at least one of which will feature in Mary Bevan and Roger Vignoles’ Walter Hall recital. Cait herself will be performing as part of the cast of Brian Current’s opera Missing during the festival.
Come Closer is a new opera with music by Ryan Trew and text by Rachel Krehm. It’s scheduled to premiere at Factory Theatre on June 13th but last Wednesday in the RBA we got a preview of some extracts. Come Closer deals with Rachel Krehm’s relationship with her younger sister Elizabeth who died in 2012. It started out as a song cycle setting seven of Elizabeth’s poems and now has narrative added to create a stage work. Yesterday we heard four extracts with Rachel playing herself and Jacqueline Woodley (who I hadn’t seen for far too long) as Elizabeth. Accompaniment was piano trio with Evan Mitchell conducting.
Tuesday’s concert in the RBA was at the unusual time of 5.30pm and it was rammed. Whether that was a function of the time slot or the following that Schmaltz and Pepper have built up in the short time they have been around I don’t know but it was impressive. And so was the concert. Schmaltz and Pepper consists of some amazingly versatile and virtuosic musicians; Rebekah Wolkstein on violin and vocals, Eric Abramovitz on clarinet, Drew Jurecka on lots of stuff, Jeremy Ledbetter onb piano and Michael Herring on bass.
operaramblings 