Category Archives: Toronto opera news and views

News, news, news

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Various new production and season announcements…

LooseTEA Theatre have announced their season.  November 2nd to 4th, at Heliconian Hall, there’s a double bill of Anne Frank operas.  Singing Only Softly music by Cecilia Livingston, libretto by Monica Pearce and Alaina Viau will be presented with The Diary of Anne Frank by Grigory Frid.  The singers are Sara Schabas and Gillian Grossman and Cheryl Duvall will be at the piano.  Alaina Viau directs.  December 3rd to 5th , also at Heliconian, they will present the production version of Carmen #YesAllWomen.  (My thoughts on a 2016 WIP version).  This version will combine voices (Erica Iris and Keith Klassen), chamber orchestra and turntables (SlowPitchSound).  The libretto is by Alaina VIau and Monica Pearce, the music by Samuel Bisson.  Alaina Viau directs and Scott Christian conducts.  Tickets for both shows are available at www.looseteamusictheatre.com.

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Centre Stage line up

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The Canadian Opera Company’s ninth annual Ensemble Studio Competition is being held on October 30, 2019 at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. The 2019  finalists are: sopranos Kirsten LeBlanc (Moncton, NB), Midori Marsh (Cleveland, Ohio), and Charlotte Siegel (Toronto, ON); mezzo-soprano Sarah Bissonnette (Boucherville, QC); tenor Marcel d’Entremont (Merigomish, NS); bass-baritone Alex Halliday (St. John’s, NL); and bass Brenden Friesen (Langham, SK).

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And on other media…

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220px-Podcasting_icon.svgCanadian Art Song Project has just brought out a podcast on the important issue of how Ingigenous stories and music are represented in Western art music.  Besides regulars Lance Wiliford and Steven Philcox, the podcast features mezzo-soprano Marion Newman and composer Ian Cusson.  You can listen to or download the podcast here

Then on October 13th at 7:30 pm the CBC will livestream Against the Grain’s La Bohème from the Tranzac Club directly to your personal devices via CBC Gem.

Also… Turandot at the COC. My review will be up on Bachtrack once it’s through the editorial process.  I’ll post links.

A couple more things to do

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Confluence_Concets_Toronto_Music_Larry_Beckwith_Masque_Unique_ConcertImages-09September 28th is shaping up as a bit daft from a scheduling point of view.  I’ll be at the opening of Turandot at the COC but there are at least two other options.  Confluence have a celebration of Clara Schumann at St. Thomas’ Church on Huron Street at 8pm.  It features pianists Angela Park and Christopher Bagan, soprano Patricia O’Callaghan, actor Alison Beckwith, and violinist Ellie Sievers.  The same day at 4pm Toronto Operetta Theatre have their season opener; Viva la Zarzuela.  It’s at the St. Lawrence Centre and features tenor Rómulo Delgado.  I guess one could just about do that and one of the evening shows.

What’s on in October

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rusalka-1-1I can’t believe an October preview post already.  But here it is.  So what’s on?  Against the Grain’s Opera Pub kicks off again on the 5th at the Amsterdam Bicycle Club.  It’s the usual 9pm start but come really early if you want a table.  The 10th to the 12th sees Amplified Opera’s series of three shows at the Ernest Balmer Studio.  The 11th is the first Toronto date for Against the Grain’s La Bohème tour.  That’s 7.30pm at the Tranzac.  Other dates and other city information here.  The 12th is opening night for Dvořák’s Rusalka at the COC.  Full details on dates, cast, tickets etc here.  On the 19th UoT’s Early Music programme are doing Handel’s Acis and Galatea at the Heliconian Club at 2pm.

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News round up

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Various bits and pieces from the in basket:

The dynamic duo of Teija Kasahara and Aria Umezawa have a new project; Amplified Opera.  They are kicking off with a series of three concerts called Amplify! and it takes place Ocober 10th to 12th at the Ernest Balmer Studio.  The theme is diversity and equity.

  •  October 10th, 2019: The Way I See It – American mezzo-soprano and author Laurie Rubin (Do You Dream in Color: Insights from a Girl Without Sight), and pianist Liz Upchurch will speak to their unique experiences as individuals with blindness and vision loss navigating the world of opera, and how this element of their identity has informed their creative process. The concert will be directed by Aria Umezawa. As you can imagine this particularly resonates with me.
  • October 11th, 2019: The Queen in Me – An exploration of the ways in which the classical music world tries to control and limit queerness, gender expressions, and identities. This one-person show features soprano Teiya Kasahara as the Queen of the Night who, after 228 years, has finally decided to reclaim their narrative and challenge the patriarchy. The show is accompanied by Trevor Chartrand, and directed by Andrea Donaldson.
  • October 12th, 2019: What’s Known to Me is Endless – A look at the African diaspora, and how experiences of Black identity differ in Canada and the United States. African American baritone Kenneth Overton is joined by Canadian pianist Rich Coburn to speak to how their understanding of Black identity was challenged while working on both sides of the Canadian-US border. Canadian American, Michael Mohammed, will direct the show.

Tickets are $25 for each show at the door or from the website.

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Looking ahead to September

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September starts the slow ramp up to the new season.  The first thing in my calendar is Mysterious Barricades on September 14th from 1pm to 2pm in Walter Hall.  This is a series of coast to coast, dawn to dusk concerts in aid of Suicide Awareness.  Russell Braun, Monica Whicher and Nathalie Paulin are all involved.  It’s free but ticketed.  Check the link for details.

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Voicebox: Opera in Concert 2019/20

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vblogoThe line up for Voicebox: Opera in Concert has been announced for the 2019/20 season.  There are four shows:

  • The season opens on Sunday, October 20, 2019, with a double bill by Maurice Ravel, L’enfant et les sortileges and L’heure Espagnole.  It’s a common pairing and often a very funny one. It’s piano score with Suzy Smith playing., The cast includes Holly Chaplin, Anika-France Forget, Danlie Rae Acebuque and Joshua Clemenger.
  • Sunday, December 1st, 2019 sees some welcome Janáček.  We don’t see near enough of his work in Toronto.  This time its Katya Kabanova.  It’s not the jolliest of pieces but it’s musically and dramatically top drawer.  The cast includes Lynn Isnar, Emilia Boteva, Michael Barrett and Cian Horrobin with Jo Greenaway at the piano.
  • There’s a remount of Charles M. Wilson’s Kamouraska, premiered by OiC in 2009, on Sunday, February 16th, 2020.  It’s based on Anne Hebert’s novel about a tumultuous love triangle that plays out near a village in Quebec, with tragic consequences.  The cast includes Jennifer Taverner , Aaron Dimoff and Matt Chittick. Robert Cooper leads the orchestra, cast and chorus.
  • The season closes on Sunday, April 5, 2020, with snobbery with violets in the form of Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur.   The cast includes Sally Dibblee, Romulo Delgado aand Geneviève Lévesque  Narmina Afandiyeva at the piano.

All shows are at the Jane Mallett Theatre.

 

Ukrainian Art Song Project

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The Ukrainian Art Song Project’s summer intensive has a concert in Temerty Hall on Sunday at 3pm.  It’s possible to sit in on the creation/rehearsal process so I went along yesterday to take a look.  I last went to one of the UASP’s concerts a couple of years ago and it was presented as a standard voice/piano recital in Koerner Hall.  This is going to be quite different.  The songs have been ordered in a way that creates a kind of narrative described as “A poet, having lost their inspiration, retraces their life, striving to reawaken in themselves the passion that once allowed them to create great works of art”. Also, it’s all being staged “in the round”.  I got to see the crew work on four or five numbers yesterday and I was impressed by the commitment and the high standard of the singing and acting as well of the sheer speed with which the singers picked up on the ideas thrown at them by “circus master” Pavlo Hunka.  It’s dramatic.  There’s even an orgy.

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