It’s still mostly festival season with two events coming up in Toronto.
There’s Summer Opera Lyric Theatre It runs July 26th to August 4th and features three operas in piano score with young artist singers. The operas are Puccini’s La Bohème, Handel’s Serse and Mozart’s Idomeneo and the venue is the Alumnae Theatre on Berkeley Street. Full details, tickets etc. Continue reading
When I look at my calendar for July it’s all about two festivals, both of which include far more events than I could possibly cope with.
The first is the Toronto Fringe which runs July 2nd to 14th and features 77 shows in 16 venues. There really is something for everyone from clowns and comics to mass murderers and funeral directors. There’s even a musical. Most shows are $18 but that drops to $14 if one buys a ten ticket pass. I think I’ll be able to get to maybe half a dozen shows given an overlap with… Continue reading
Here’s an events listing for June as it currently stands:
It’s coming towards the end of the traditional “season” but there’s sill plenty happening. Here’s how I see may shaping up at present (I expect more theatre listings will come in. They tend to be somewhat less notice!):
I went to Opera Revue at Castro’s on Sunday afternoon. It’s the first time I’ve been to a regular Opera Revue show in a while because of geographic and scheduling constraints plus, of all their locations, I prefer Castro’s and they haven’t been there in a while.
The Toronto Symphony’s 2024/25 season is the usual mix of mainstream symphony/concerto rep, Pops, film music, kids’ concerts etc. My sense is that it has got more “popular” since the pandemic and that therefore there’s been less that’s caught my eye. That’s my story anyway!
There are some concerts of interest to me though in the 2024/24 season though; curiously mostly in November. The four that caught my eye were the following: Continue reading
Here are some upcoming shows for April:
Music
Opera Atelier have announced the line up for their 2024/25 season. As with other recent seasons there’s one show at the Elgin Theatre and one at Koerner Hall.
The first show, October 24th – 27th, 2024, is Handel’s Acis and Galatea at the Elgin. I’m not going to complain about more English language Handel! Bring it on. This show is indicative of the growing relationship between OA and Versailles with French tenor Antonin Rondepierre in the role of Acis and Blaise Rantoanina singing the role of Damon. The cast is completed by Meghan Lindsey as Galatea (yea!) and Douglas Williams as Polyphemus. Christopher Bagan conducts which is also nice to see. Continue reading
Coming up later this month is Angel’s Bone; an opera with music by Du Yun and a libretto by the amazing Royce Vavrek. It’s a chamber opera for amplified voices and small ensemble. The plot concerns two angels who fall to earth and are ruthlessly exploited by otherwise unremarkable people. It’s a commentary on human trafficking and the exploitation of youth. There’s a really good looking cast and it will play at Harbourfront Centre March 22nd to 24th. It’s already attracted largely positive reviews in New York and Vancouver. More details including casting and ticketing here. Continue reading
This year’s Toronto Summer Music festival is titled Voices Within and includes the expected eclectic mix of vocal and chamber music with a few surprises. There’s also the Academy Program, the Shuffle concerts, Community Choir and so on. Last night the main stage line up was officially announced. It’s quite exciting.
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