Category Archives: Toronto opera news and views

COC 2024/25

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The COC has just announced it’s 2024/25 season.  It’s a mixed bag.  There are some very welcome examples of operas not seen in Toronto for a long time and a new co-commission.  There’s a perhaps surprisingly earlier than expected remount of Eugene Onegin plus Madama Butterfly yet again but at least it’s a “new to Toronto” production.  There are no new/new productions and no COC Theatre production though there’s one performance of a concert version of Cavalleria Rusticana at the Four Seasons Centre.  It’s a bit light on star power too though there are plenty of opportunities for home grown favourites.

WOZZECK

A scene from William Kentridge’s Wozzeck – photo: Ruth Walz

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Looking ahead to March

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march2024First some additional February shows

  • On the 23rd at Harbourfront Centre Art of Time Ensemble are presenting Music from the Weimar Republic.
  • On the 25th VOICEBOX have a concert performance of Verdi’s Ernani at the St. Lawrence Centre.

Opera

  • Opera York are presenting Verdi’s Rigoletto at the Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts on March 1st and 3rd.
  • March 14th to 17th UoT Opera are doing Massenet’s Cendrillon at a to be determined location.
  • March 20th and 22nd at Koerner Hall, the Glenn Gould School spring opera is Poulenc’s Dialogues of the Carmelites.  That one has me excited!

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February 2024 – mostly theatre

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feb2024theatreHere’s a round up of February shows not previously mentioned; mostly straight theatre.

  • Factory Theatre has two shows.  Rockabye by Joanna Murray-Smith deals with the travails of a female rock star who must reinvent herself before age pushes her onto the casino circuit.  That’s on the Main Stage from January 26th to February 11th.  Then on the 23rd and 24th illusionist Nick Wallace has a one man show in the Studio Theatre.

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February 2024 – concerts and opera

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groundhog

Contemplating another production of “Carmen”

First a couple of 21C concerts inadvertently omitted from my January listings post.  On the 19th in Koerner Hall there’s Fazil Say and friends (including Beste Kalender) in a programme of mostly Turkish music and in the late show in Temerty Theatre the following night Brian Current presents and conducts a concert titled Indigena.

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January 2024

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jan2024Here’s a look at the start of 2024 in Toronto.

On the 7th and the 9th OPUS chamber music, who feature some of Canada’s best young chamber musicians, have a pair of concerts.  The first is at Trinity St. Paul’s and features music by Rebecca Clarke, Leo Weiner, Anton Webern and Robert Schumann.  The second is at the Arts and Letters Club and includes music by Tcherepini, Klein, Wegener and Beethoven.

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Opera 5 are turning the screw

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Those who know me are probably fed up of hearing me lament how slow the indie opera scene in Toronto has been to recover post plague.  Well here’s some good news on that front.  Opera 5 will be mounting a fully staged version of Britten’s The Turn of the Screw with the proper thirteen piece chamber orchestra at Theatre Passe Muraille in June next year.  Yea!

turnofthescrew

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Into December

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dec23First some late calls for November:

  • The Early Music folks at UoT are doing Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas at Trinity St. Paul’s on the 21st and 22nd.
  • November 22nd and 23rd there’s a 20th anniversary concert for Autorickshaw at Heliconian Hall presented by Confluence Concerts.
  • Amici Chamber Ensemble have an afternoon concert on the 26th at Trinity St. Paul’s called The Winds of Time featuring chamber music for wind instruments from the 18th to 21st centuries.

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November gigs

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november24Here’s what I’m looking forward to in a busy November.

  • The reprise of Tapestry’s Rocking Horse Winner at Crow’s Theatre.  That’s November 1st to 12th.
  • The Glenn Gould School’s fall opera offering.  It’s a presentation of five of Tapestry’s short operas from the 2000s.  November 3rd and 4th in Mazzoleni Hall.
  • Voicebox are doing Verdi’s Un giorno di regno at the St. Lawrence Centre on the 5th.

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Sundry season announcements

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Some organisations hold off on their season announcements later than others!  Two came in today.

tapestryTapestry Opera announced a season that includes:

  • A remount of Rocking Horse Winner at Crow’s Theatre from November 1st to 12th 2023.
  • Songbook XIII at the Redwood Theatre on March 28th 2024.  It’s a lovely, restored theatre with a really good beer selection.  There will be music too.  Keith Klassen and Naomi Woo headline.
  • Juliane Gallant hosts Le Kitchen Party; a celebration of Acadian music and culture and, it says, food.  That’s me in then.  It’s on May 21st 2024 ant TBD.
  • And the following night Jenn Tung hosts Iron Chef d’Orchestre also at TBD.  Also involves food.  I scents a theme here.

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OK, it’s official

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I’ve known for ages that Ian Cusson was working on an opera for the COC main stage and that it was a bout a Métis werewolf legend.  It’s the sort of thing that gets me howling at a full moon.  Anyway it’s all now official and talkaboutable.  It’s called Empire of the Wild and the libretto is by Cherie Dimaline based ion her 2019 novel of the same name.  It’s a co-commission of the COC and the NAC in Ottawa and there’s no date given for the premiere yet.  (And yes I do have a bit of “I’ll believe it when I see it” given that COC commissions seem to disappear mysteriously often enough to provide the plot for a werewolf novel).  I think it’s a great subject for an opera and Ian’s record of writing for vopice and the opera stage is good so, yeah, I really want to see this.  So keep your fingers crossed it actually happens!  All the details are in the press release which is here.

cussondimaline