Category Archives: Toronto opera news and views

Voicebox:Opera in Concert announces 2015/16 season

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Isis and Osiris JPGVoicebox:Opera in Concert closed out their 2014/15 season yesterday afternoon with Charpentier’s Louise (review to come in Opera Canada).  Thay also announced their plans for next season.  There will be, again, three productions.  The first two will be single performances, on November 22nd 2015 and February 7th 2016 of Borodin’s Prince Igor (presumably heavily cut) and Salieri’s Falstaff.  The third will be the premiere of Peter Anthony Togni’s and Sharon Singer’s Isis and Osiris which will run from March 29th to April 3rd 2016.  All performances are at the Jane Mallett Theatre.  The first two works will presumably be performed in Voicebox’s “minimally staged” style.  No word yet on staging or musical accompaniment for Isis and Osiris.

Watching singers aspire

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dornemannYesterday morning I got to sit in on one session of a two day workshop for young singers organised by the International Resource Centre for Performing Artists.  The workshop featured Metropolitan Opera assistant conductor Joan Dornemann.  The singers were all unknown to me but seemed, for the most part, to be recent graduates in their early to mid 20s and from what I could gather a fairly wide range of backgrounds in terms of origin and musical education.

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Future ROH broadcasts at the Bloor

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mahagonnyFollowing on from yesterday’s Der fliegende Holländer showing at the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema I followed up with them about future plans for the ROH opera broadcasts.  Here’s the scoop though dates may change.

June 28th.  Brecht/Weill The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny.  This is a new production by John Fulljames with Mark Wrigglesworth conducting.  The cast includes Anne-Sofie von Otter, Willard White and Christine Rice.  It’s going to be sung in English.

July 26th.  Puccini La Bohème.  It’s the old John Copley production dating from 1975 (which in turn replaced an 1896 production) and it was intended to be “traditional” and it is!  Joseph Calleja and Anna Netrebko headline with Dan Ettinger conducting.

August 30th.  Rossini Guillaume Tell.  This is another new production , this time by Damiano Michieletto.  Gerry Finley sings the title role with Malin Byström as Mathilde.  Antonio Pappano conducts.

So, some decent fillers for the traditionally quiet summer season.

Soundstreams announces 2015/16 season

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Adrianne-eventToronto contemporary music outfit Soundstreams have announced their 2015/16 season. Highlights from an operaramblings perdpective include a chance to hear Adrianne Pieczonka sing music ranging from George Crumb to The Beatles.  That one’s at Koerner Hall on September 29th and will also feature Kristina Szabó.  In November there’s the previously announced run of Boesman’s Julie at the Bluma Appel.  I’m eagerly awaiting casting information on that.  There’s also a concert dedicated to James MacMillan, including his Seven Last Words from the Cross.  That one is at Trinity St. Paul’s on March 8th next year.  There’s a 80th birthday bash for Steve Reich at Massey Hall on April 14th next year and for real masochists there’s a concert featuring multiple types of squeezebox music at Trinity St.Paul’s on February 10th.  Full details and ticket information can be found here.

A couple of late entries

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I thought I’d managed a pretty comprehensive update on the Toronto opera/choral/vocal music scene for March but there are a couple of gigs I got rather later info on.

On March 23rd at 7pm in Walter Hall, CASP have a concert of works from the more humorous end of the Canadian Art Song rep.  Mary-Lou Fallis, Geoff Sirett, peter Tiefenbach and Steven Philcox are performing.  Tickets are $40, $25 (senior) and $10 (student).

Then on Friday 27th Maureen Batt and Cheryl Duvall are performing a program of contemporary American and Canadian works, many of them written for Maureen, at Heliconian Hall.  It’s at 8pm and tickets are $20 in advance, $25 at the door and there are $15 early bird tickets available at https://www.bemusednetwork.com/events/detail/69

And in other news Voicebox:Opera in Concert have announced a cast change for their performance of Charpentier’s Louise on the 29th.  Keith Klassen replaces Adrian Kramer as the poet Julien.

Michael Mori on Tap:Ex Tables Turned

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Yesterday I met with Tapestry Opera Artistic Director Michael Mori to ask him about their upcoming how Tap:Ex Tables Turned.  What follows is an attempt to distill an hour and three quarters of wide ranging conversation into something readable without, I hope, distorting what Michael actually said too much.

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We started by talking about “How on Earth he came up with the idea?”.  There a few key themes here.  First, Tap:Ex is about exploration and experimentation with new forms of performance practice.  This is rooted in Michael’s belief that “opera is inherently a popular genre” and that the task is to find a way of doing “it” that connects with a modern audience.  He firmly believes that the audience for beautifully sung spectacle in a large opulent theatre is inherently limited and that we need to find ways to connect new audiences probably through different ways of presenting work (he mentioned choreography for example) and by using more intimate, less intimidating venues.  He cited Philadelphia’s willingness to take risks with second stages versus the compararive lack of success of companies that had tried to experiment in a large house.  He also quoted statistics that suggested that the “new audience” problem is less to do with getting people to the opera once but much more about how to get them to come back for a second and subsequent time.

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In like a lion

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7796132196_c04e8013c3_zGood heavens it’s March already!  There’s lots coming up in the Toronto vocal music scene.  This Saturday sees George Benjamin’s Written on Skin in concert performance with the TSO at Roy Thomson Hall.  Chris Purves and Barbara Hannigan from the original cast are singing with Bernhard Landauer coming in for Bejun Mehta as the Boy.  The composer conducts.

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More upcoming events

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1097-4243-Barbara-Hannigan-High-Res-7---credit-Elmer-de-HaasThere’s a 15% off offer for Christian Gerhaher’s 26th February recital at Koerner Hall.  Use Code CHRISTIAN15 on line or at the box office.

March 2nd at 2pm Barbara Hannigan is doing a workshop at UoT focussed on Hans Abrahamsen’s new work Let me tell you.  It’s at Walter Hall and it’s free.  The work itself will get its North American premier on March 4th with Barbara and the TSO at Roy Thomson Hall.

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