Category Archives: Toronto opera news and views

Opera Atelier 2023/24

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Opera Atelier have announced a two show Toronto season for 2023/24.  The fall show is Gluck’s Orphée et Eurydice which will play at the Elgin Theatre from October 26th to November 1st.  This is the 1774 version with Orphée sung by an haut-contre.  Colin Ainsworth should be just about ideal.  He’s partnered by Mireille Asselin, also pretty much ideal as Eurydice.  Anna Julia David sings Amour.  The orchestra is Tafelmusik and the chorus will consist of Tafelmusik Chamber Choir and the Nathaniel Dett Chorale.

4. Tenor Colin Ainsworth as Orpheus and Artists of Atelier Ballet in the Elysian Fields in Gluck's Orpheus and Eurydice. Photo by Bruce Zinger.

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June is almost upon us

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june2023June is fast approaching and, as ever, it’s one of the odder months in the performance calendar.  Here’s what has caught my eye (so far).

  • June 1st to 25th at Crow’s is Alex Bulmer’s Perceptual Archaeology (Or How to Travel Blind).  This is a show for blind and sighted people about, well, travelling blind (literally).  Since blindness is my worst fear I don’t know whether I can do this one.  We’ll see.
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Back end of May

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may2More May listings…

  • Sarah Porter’s L-E-A-K  opens tonight at the Theatre Centre and runs until Sunday.  It’s described as “an absurdist and poetic lesbian love letter to the ocean”.  I’m intrigued.
  • Nightwood Theatre and Tarragon Theatre are jointly presenting Fatima Adar’s She’s Not Special.  It runs at the Tarragon Theatre from May 24th to 28th.  Here’s the blurb… “Leave expectations at the door. We are not putting on a play, we are throwing a party. This is a concert, comedy show, and confessional all in one. Come celebrate your mediocrity with us!”
  • Soulpepper are opening a run of Athol Fugard’s 1972 classic Sizwe Banzi is Dead at the Young Centre on the 25th.  That runs until June 18th.
  • The weekend of the 26th to 28th is the Toronto Bach Festival.
  • Finally, on the 26th and 27th Confluence Concerts have a concert at Heliconian Hall called All the Diamonds.  It’s an eclectic mix of music about the night sky performed by the usual suspects.

Tapestry’s new digs

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You may have been following this saga.  Basically, Artscape had a twenty year lease on a lot of space in the Distillery District which they leased out various arts organisations and studio artists, including Tapestry Opera and Nightwood Theatre; who jointly occupied the Ernest Balmer Studio and adjacent space wherein I attended many, many performances, rehearsals, workshops and so on.  It’s what made the Distillery District more than a bunch of tourist tat and over-priced restaurants. But the lease ran out and the landlord declined to renew.  Tourist tat is more lucrative than art and the Distillery District’s owners have always struggled with the idea of any purpose other than maximising profits.

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May 2023

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wordcloudmay23Things happening next month…

But first this month… on April 27th to 29th male soprano Samuel Mariño is appearing with
Tafelmusik in a programme titled Higher Love: Virtuoso Arias.  Details here.

Crow’s Theatre has a couple of shows.  True Crime opens on the 2nd.  It’s a short run.  Preview on the 1st then closes on the 7th.  It’s basically a one man, semi-improvised show about an imprisoned con man.  The Chinese Lady, which runs 5th to 21st (previews 2nd to 4th) in the smaller Studio Theatre tells the story of the first Chinese woman in the USA.  Written by Lloyd Suh and directed by Marjorie Chan it should be interesting.  There’s also Boom X.  Rick Miller plays over a hundred characters to narrate events from 1969 t0 1995.  It runs from the 10th to the 28th.  More details at crowstheatre.com.

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Opera Atelier’s upcoming production of Handel’s The Resurrection

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Ahead of Opera Atelier’s upcoming production of Handel’s The Resurrection (La resurrezione) at Koerner Hall next week (6th to 9th April) there was a lunchtime preview in the RBA on Tuesday.  Later that day I sat down with director Marshall Pynkoski to find out more about the work, OA’s relationship to it and its rather tortuous journey to the Koerner Hall stage.

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Toronto Mendelssohn Choir 2023/24

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Here’s what’s coming up at Toronto Mendelssohn Choir/Singers next season.

There are a couple of shows for the TM Singers; the professional core of the TMC:

  • September 22nd/23rd 2023 at trinity St. Paul’s there’s a multidisciplinary show featuring dance by Compagnie de la Citadelle.  The works on offer are Handel’s Dixit Dominus and Bach’s Christ Lag in Todesbanden.
  • March 16th 2024, also at Trinity St. Paul’s, it’s Schubert’s Winterreise in an arrangement for choir, baritone and piano featuring Brett Polegato and Philip Chiu.  The programme also includes works by Fanny Hersel and CClara Schumann.

TMC - Credit Taylor Long

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April 2023

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april2023Here’s what I know about so far for April.

On April 6th at 1.30pm in Walter Hall, Music in the Afternoon is presenting a concert featuring Marion Newman, Melody Courage, Evan Korbut and Gordon Gerrard in a mix of classical song and contemporary works on Indigenous themes including music by Ian Cusson, Bramwell Tovey and Tomson Highway.

Later that day, at 7.30pm at Koerner Hall, Opera Atelier have the first of three performances of Handel’s The Resurrection.  This is the fully staged version of the production that streamed during lockdown.  There are further performances on the 8th at 7.30pm and the 9th at 2.30pm.

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More March events

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march2023suppHere are a few more events not listed in my previous March post.

On Saturday 18th the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir have a concert at 7.30pm at Church of the Holy Trinity featuring David Lang’s Little Match Girl Passion and a new work by Shireen Abu-Khader; Diaries of the Forgotten.

Theatre Smith-Gilmour are presenting Metamorphoses 2023 at Crow’s Theatre.  It’s a contemporary take on Ovid that combines mime, illusion, spoken word, silence and Bharatanatyam dance.  Previews are on the 21st through 23rd with the run proper from the 24th to April 9th.

Against the Grain’s reworking Of Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle with Gerald Finley in the title role plays at the Fleck Dance Theatre on March 29th and 31st at 7.30pm with a matinee on April 1st.  The new English language libretto is by Daisy Evans who also directs,  Stephen Higgins conducts.

Toronto Summer Music 2023

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Web-homepageMost of the line up for this year’s Toronto Summer Music, which is themed Metamorphosis, was unveiled last night at the Lula Lounge.  Basically it’s back to the full on festival with some exciting headline acts, some rising stars and the usual ReGen and Shuffle concerts, mentor programmes and community programming.  Plus a few surprises.  The festival runs July 6th to 29th in a variety of venues mostly around the Bloor Street Culture Corridor. Continue reading →