Category Archives: Performance review – RBA

Love and Song

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2021.8.16+Simone+McIntosh8799The Valentine’s Day recital in the RBA was given by Simone McIntosh and Rachael Kerr.  They served up fare appropriate to the occasion unlike in 2013 when Franz-Josef Selig gave us a Valentine recital mostly about Death!  It was an interesting mix of material starting with two of the Britten folk song arrangements; “The trees they grow so high” and “The miler of Dee”.  Quite a bold choice in some ways as the first one is almost, but not quite, a capella so there’s nowhere to hide.  It was good.  Not only was Simone’s voice accurate and expressive but she gave herself some metrical freedom.  There is nothing worse than a singer singing this material as if they have a broomstick up their ass.

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Sara Schabas – In a Dark Blue Night

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Tuesday’s lunchtime recital at the Four Seasons Centre was given by soprano Sara Schabas and pianist Isabelle David backed up by some (mercifully concise) musicological/historical background from Robin Elliott.  The concert was in two parts.  The first celebrated the work of Austrian-Jewish composers active in Vienna in the first third of the 20th century.  The second was a song cycle in Yiddish celebrating the Jewish immigrant experience in New York.

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Winter Celebrations

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DI-08628My usual reaction to holiday season concerts is (polite version) “Bah humbug”.  The less polite version involves reindeer placement.  That said Thursday’s concert from the COC Ensemble Studio was really rather enjoyable.

It opened with Brian Cho and Mattia Senesi doing a four hands version of “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy”.  Regrettably they didn’t dance.  I guess Korin Thomas-Smith could have filled that role as later in the day he showed some very cool moves but that’s another story.

There was Handel of course; Queen Hezumuryango with “O Thou that Tellest Good Tidings to Zion” and Wesley Harrison with “Ev’ry Valley”.  Both of those featured later in the day too.  But that’s another story.

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Songs of Cecilia Livingston

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DI-06213Tuesday’s lunchtime concert in the RBA consisted of works by Cecilia Livingston chosen and performed by members of the COC’s Ensemble Studio. It was a fairly varied programme considering it was all works by one composer.

Quieen Hezumuryango and Mattia Senesi kicked things off with Give Me Your Hand which sets a Duncan McFarlane text exploring aspects of Lady Macbeth. It uses extended piano technique and suits the dark colours of Queen’s voice.  It was followed by Moon; an evocative solo piano piece played by Brian Cho.  Not the only time the moon would figure in the programme.

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Four voices, four hands

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Monday’s concert in the RBA was made up of two song cycles for four voices with one piano played by four hands.  The first piece was the Brahms Liebeslieder Waltzes Op.52 which sets eighteen short folk songs and love poems from Georg Friedrich Daumer’s collection Polydora.  The second was John Greer’s 2001 piece Liebeslied-Lieder Op.20 which sets various playful texts exploring the foibles of love and romance by Dorothy Parker and others.

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Montreal baroque

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Wednesday’s lunchtime concert in the RBA featured three faculty members and two students from the Schulich School’s early music programme.  It was quite a varied programme.  It started with Dario Castello’s (1602-1631) Sonate concertate in stile moderno, Prima Sonata à due soprani which is a very early example of the sonata form played here by two violins (presumably the due soprani) with harpsichord and cello continuio.  Quite interesting and very well played.  Another very esarly piece followed; Frescobaldi’s Partita sopra la Follia for solo harpsichord.  Again, unusual, interesting and very well done.

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UoT Opera in the RBA

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UoT Opera presented a show of mostly Mozart arias/scenes in a semi staged fashion directed by Mabel Wonnacott in the RBA on Wednesday.  Although each scene was credited in the programme the parts weren’t specified and since I don’t know this new group of students I’m only gong to name names where I’m sure!

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Ensemble Studio in the RBA

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As tradition dictates the opening concert of this year’s free concert series in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre was given bt the singers and pianists of the COC’s Ensemble Studio.  It was reasonably well attended but the days when people queued around the block for this concert are long gone, which is symptomatic of the general state of the classical music world post COVID.

First up was Queen Hezumuryango with Sesto’s aria “Svegliatevi nel core” from Handel’s Guilio Cesare.  All the fire required for a revenge aria was there and some interesting dark colours in the lower end of the voice.  I’m not convinced though that it’s a voice I would cast in this role.  The darkness of the voice, appealing as it is in many ways, is likely not what Handel; writing for a soprano, had in mind.

Korin Thomas-Smith; last seen by me in his Norcop prize winner recital, gave a very smootgh and polished version of Malatesta’s aria “Bella siccone un angelo” from Don Pasquale.  I want to see more of him in opera because he’s a very fine Lieder singer.

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