Well yesterday’s MYOpera season launch party was a blast with a very competitive game of what we are not allowed to call Jeopardy. Apart from being a fund raiser the real purpose was to announce the company’s 2017 show. It’s going to be Rossini’s L’italiana in Algeri. There will be three performances in the Aki Studio at the Daniels Spectrum; April 28 at 7:30 pm, April 29 at 4:30 pm and April 30 at 2:30 pm. Casting yet to be announced.
It’s a quiet week coming up. There’s just a couple of churchy things that I’m aware of and they are both on the afternoon of Sunday 18th. On the island the Anglican Church of St. Andrew-by-the-Lake is holding a Piano Fundraising Party in aid of acquiring a new grand piano for their music program. Works by Mozart, Debussy, Gounod, and Jazz standards will be performed by Vadim Serebryany, Melissa Scott, Gilles Thibodeau, Kristin Day, Louis Lawlor, Jonathan Krehm, Rachel Krehm, Mike Milligan and Roger Sharp. It’s from 3pm to 5pm. Tickets are $25 and can be purchased either in advance from Roger Sharp at 416-779-3886/ rogerandersonsharp@gmail.com, or at the door. There will also be art auctions and stuff.
The COC has just released the line up for the free lunchtime concert series in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre. It’s the usual rich and eclectic mix of vocal, chamber and piano music with world music, jazz and dance thrown in for good measure. Here are the highlights from my point of view:
Time to revive the “upcoming week” post I think. There are two items of interest in the next week. Evolving Symmetry at the Heliconian Club on Wednesday 7th at 7pm features soprano Adanya Dunn, clarinetist Brad Cherwin and pianist clarinet Alice Gi-Young Hwang in a program of music by Debussy, Françaix, Milhaud, and Poulenc. Then on Saturday 10th at Opera Bob’s at 5pm MYOpera have their season launch party. Last year’s was fun.
Tapestry Opera has now announced its upcoming season. There are three shows. The season begins in November with Naomi’s Road; libretto by Ann Hodges based on the novel by Joy Kogawa with music by Ramona Luengen. Set in Vancouver during the Second World War, the opera follows 9-year-old Japanese-Canadian girl Naomi and her brother, whose lives are upturned when they are sent to internment camps in the BC interior and Alberta. It runs November 16th to 20th at St. David’s Anglican Church, the home of the last Japanese-Canadian Anglican parish in Toronto. Continue reading
So it’s happened. Indie Opera Toronto is a go. Eleven companies have got it together to create a website showcasing all the upcoming shows and, mirabile dictu, they are going to co-ordinate schedules so I can stop trying to be Schrödinger’s critic. The new website is http://indieoperatoronto.ca
And here’s the intro video featuring more of my favourite people in sixty seconds than you can possibly imagine.
UoT Faculty of Music have just announced their 2016/17 season. It’s the usual broad range of performances so I’ll highlight the opera and vocal music contributions.
UoT Opera is offering four shows. The fall main production is Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld with new English dialogue and stage direction by Michael Patrick Albano. Choreography i by Anna Theodosakis and Russell Braun makes his podium debut. There are four performances November 24th to 27th. Spring sees a Handel rarity; Imeneo. Tim Albery directs and Daniel Taylor is in charge of the music. This one runs March 16th to 19th. Both shows are in the MacMillan Theatre.
Last year’s student composed opera; The Machine Stops
A co-production between the COC and Opéra de Lyon has just opened in France. It’s Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail with rewritten dialogues by Lebanese-Canadian-French playwright Wajdi Mouawad, who also directs. It can be watched online here. It’s geoblocked but you can use something like Tunnel Bear to watch it. There’s a very complete analysis of the production by Lydia Perovic over on her blog.
There are actually some up coming concerts and so on to talk about. The big event is, of course, the Toronto Summer Music Festival. This starts on July 14th and it seems incredible that it’s four months since I previewed it. There are a couple of additional TSMF events worth noting, notably an interview with Ben Heppner in Walter Hall on August 4th at 2pm. There are also master classes including one with Anne Schwanewilms on July 19th from 2pm to 5pm, also in Walter Hall.
Summer Opera Lyric Theatre has also announced its performance line up. There are three operas on offer:
All performances are at the Robert Gill Theatre, 214 College St. Three-performance subscription packages are $60; single tickets at $28, $22 (students & seniors). For tickets call 416-366-7723 or visit www.stlc.com.
It’s that quiet time of year but this week there’s a bit of an unexpected bonus. Canadian soprano Rachel Fenlon, usually based in Berlin, is giving a somewhat unusual recital at Gallery 345 at 8pm on Friday. It’s a recital of Schubert songs in which she accompanies herself at the piano. Rachel is an accomplished pianist and could have chosen a solo career on that instrument rather than singing. Since there isn’t a Schubert cycle written specifically for female voice she’s curated one for herself and called it Liebesbotschaft. I don’t know if the manner of performance would have been common in Schubert’s day but surely not unheard of. Anyway, it should be fun. It’s also a preview of sorts as Rachel plans to tour this program in Europe.
operaramblings 