Old Songs, New Songs

Yesterday Matthew Cairns and Rachel Kerr performed an unusually wide range of songs in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre.  It’s part of Matthew’s prep for his CBC recording session which was part of the prize at last year’s Centre Stage and which will be broadcast in the new year.  They kicked off with a contrasting pair of Duparc song’s.  First came the almost dreamy L’invitation au voyage with it’s arpeggio accompaniment followed by the much more dramatic Le manoir de Rosemonde.  These really set the tone for the recital.  There was power where it was needed but also considerable delicacy from both singer and pianist.

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A first look at UoT this year

The students of the post graduate program at UoT Opera were on show in the RBA yesterday with a show made up of staged opera excerpts curated and directed by Michael Patrick Albano.  It’s right at the beginning of the academic year and these sorts of concerts are a bit of a calibration exercise for those of us who follow the progress of young singers.  The starting point this year is decidedly high.

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The Maiden and the Nightingale

Yesterday’s lunchtime recital in the RBA was given by soprano, Vanessa Vasquez and pianist Miloš Repický.  It was a well constructed programme though there were few surprises.  The first set was three Strauss standards; Ständchen, Breit’ übermein Haupt and Befreit; the last dedicated to Vanessa’s teacher who died recently.  They were all well sung with appropriate emotional emphasis and, best of all, both performers appeared to be enjoying themselves.

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MIR trio

The MIR trio; Mark Skazintetsky (violin), Igor Gefter (cello) and Rachel Kerr (piano) played a programme of music by Jewish composers in the RBA at noon yesterday.  Most of the music was by contemporary composers but the opening set was the Three Nocturnes of Ernest Bloch.  This is superb music and it was beautifully played.  The first movement; Andante, is quite elegiac but things really kick in with the Andante quieto, which contains a quite lovely melody for the cello before the final Tempestoso which fully lives up to its marking.

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Here we go again

Yesterday, as has become customary, the 11th season of free concerts in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre began with a concert given by the COC Ensemble Studio.  It’s always interesting as there are always new members; some of whom I will be familiar with from UoT or the Conservatory and some not.  It’s also a “level setter” to see how much progress people make during the year because there are usually one or two singers who still seem to be finding their way into their voice.  I really didn’t see any of that yesterday.  I think what I saw and heard was the strongest line up I’ve seen yet with no obvious weak links.

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Sea Variations

This year’s Canadian Art Song Project commission is a setting of poems by EJ Pratt by Dean Burry entitled Sea Variations.  It was given its first performance yesterday in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre by Michael Colvin and Stephen Philcox.  The texts all deal with the moods of the sea and seem curiously archaic for the 1920s when they were written.  They are much more reminiscent of, say, Matthew Arnold than Yeats, let alone Eliot.  They have a certain power though and anybody who knows the North Atlantic will easily appreciate why they might appeal to fellow Newfoundlander Burry.

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From the Depths

Stéphane Mayer’s Les Adieux recital yesterday in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre was definitely out of the ordinary.  Rather than a concert or recital format we got a fully staged and costumed version of two Oscar Wilde related works.  First up was Saint Saëns’ version of The Nightingale and the Rose with Matt Pilipiak reading the story, Danika Lorèn as the Nightingale and Stéphane at the piano.  It was well done and a reminder of what a truly lovely voice Danika has.

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1001 Nights with Miriam Khalil

Yesterday’s lunchtime concert in the RBA was a song recital with an Oriental(ist) theme by polyglot soprano Miriam Khalil and pianist Topher Mokrzewski.  It kicked off with the two Suleika songs by Schubert to texts by Marianne von Willimer.  For my taste Miriam’s voice and treatment of the songs was decidedly on the dramatic side.  It was interesting and there’s no doubting the commitment but it’s not my favourite way to hear Schubert.  It was all uphill from there though.  Ravel’s Shéherazade; Debussy inspired music to texts by Tristan Klingsor, was given an equally dramatic treatment, and Miriam is very dramatic in both voice and body language,  but here it worked for me, especially the passionate invocation of the invented East in Asie.

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A Few of Liz Upchurch’s Favourite Things

Liz Upchurch has now been head of the COC Ensemble Studio for twenty years.  To put that in perspective, Alain Coulombe was an Ensemble Studio member back then.  So Liz has deeply influenced a whole generation of Canadian singers and it was fitting that there should be a concert in her honour in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre.  It’s named for the man who brought her to the COC and it’s been the venue for countless concerts by the Mama Bear’s cubs.

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Les Adieux: A Poetic Diary

This was baritone Sam Chan and pianist Stéphane Mayer’s farewell to the Ensemble Studio.  It was an all Schubert program; Poetisches Tagebuch (Schulze), the Impromptu in G flat and the Goethe Lieder.  It was a very classy performance by any standards.  There was no need here to make allowances for “young artists”.  One would have been happy to pay Koerner Hall prices to hear a recital of this quality.

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Stéphane Mayer and Samuel Chan performing in the Canadian Opera Company’s Free Concert Series in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre, photo: Dan Truong

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