Category Archives: Toronto opera news and views

Ensemble Studio competition goes upmarket

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Ensemble2The COC’s Ensemble Studio competition; effectively the final auditions for potential new members of the program, gets a makeover this season.  Previously it was held in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre with each member performing two arias with piano accompaniment.  Now it becomes a gala event styled Centre Stage and held on the main stage of the Four Seasons Centre with accompaniment from the COC orchestra.  There’s also a cocktail reception and black tie dinner.

I understand that the format will be that each singer performs an aria of their choice for the judges behind closed doors and a second, of the judges’ choice, for the gala audience.  In any event, it’s on November 26th with doors open at 5.30pm.  Tickets for the reception and competition are $100 and for the dinner $1500.  More details here.

Simone Osborne on tour

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simone_osborneThe schedule and programme for the first part of Simone Osborne and Anne Larlee’s Jeunesse Musicale tour have been released.  They will perform in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre on November 12th at noon.  The other venues are mostly smaller centres in Ontario and Quebec.  The programme includes some Richard Strauss and two works by Brian Current including a new commission.  Full details are contained in the linked PDF below.

Simone Osborne JMC Tour Release – October 2013

New departure

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The COC is usually tighter than a duck’s arse when it comes to revealing information about future seasons so it was really quite surprising to find the leaflet illustrated below in last night’s programme.  It’s not exactly a secret of course.  I actually expected Falstaff to be in this season’s line up with the Verdi bicentennial and all.  It’s pretty well known that Gerry Finley will star and I have a pretty good guess on the Nanetta.

It’s an interesting ploy to piggy back on the Met HD season this way.

falstaff

Old Ben has gone missing

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It’s official.  Tony Dean Griffey will sing the title role in tomorrow night’s opening performance of Peter Grimes at the COC, replacing an indisposed Ben Heppner.  The party line is that Ben will sing the remaining performances.  We will see.  Certainly Tony is scheduled to start a run of Fledermaus in Houston on the 25th and the last Grimes is on the 26th.  This story isn’t over.  Whatever else goes down, let’s hope Ben makes a speedy recovery from whatever ails him.

Sundry announcements

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khalilThe lovely Miriam Khalil and Acadian pianist Julien LeBlanc will bring their recital Airs Chantés to Toronto for one performance at Gallery 345 on Oct. 24, 2013. The program comprises French and Spanish art songs of the Impressionistic and 20th-century period.  The first half of the recital will include excerpts from Ravel’s Shéhérazade, Debussy’s Ariettes Oubliées and will conclude with Poulenc’s well-known song cycle Airs Chantés. The second half is rounded out by three French melodies by Massenet, Ravel and Delibes in a Spanish style, Jesus Guridi’s uncommonly performed Seis Canciones Castellanas and three songs from Obrador’s Canciones Classicás españolas.  The show begins at 7:30 p.m. with doors opening at 7:00 p.m. Tickets are $25 and are available at http://www.miriamkhalil.com and at the door.

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Changes afoot

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There are some interesting tidbits scattered through the latest edition of the COC’s house magazine Prelude.  They include a return to a six production season from 2014/15 (the last few years there have been seven).  This is intended to free up cash to make the remaining productions more ambitious (as well as stem what was shaping up as an increasingly dodgy financial position).  There is talk of “more grand opera” and “a great amount of Wagner on the COC’s horizon”.  It’s also very clear that the current model of “challenging” productions (including Tcherniakov’s Don Giovanni) and encouraging established stars to make role debuts in Toronto will continue.

All of this makes sense to me from a business and an artistic viewpoint.  Going more populist in search of a probably non-existent fringe audience seems to me wishful thinking at best.  Giving the core audience a high quality product, aimed at those with real interest in the form, mixed with fiscal prudence just feels like the right way to go.

Heppner out of COC Grimes?

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griffeyAnthony Dean Griffey was flown into Toronto yesterday to replace Ben Heppner in the final dress rehearsal of the COC’s Peter Grimes which opens on Saturday.  There has been no official announcement of a cast change but I’m making enquiries.  Reports from the dress say that the einspringer was splendid.

This in from the COC… “Yes, it’s true that Anthony Dean-Griffey sang the dress rehearsal. Ben wasn’t feeling well and since he knows the role so well, he was resting up for opening night.”

It’s the day for announcements apparently

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Also in today’s mailbox, the season announcement from the Talisker Players; a group who specialize in mixing music and the spoken word.

citiesThe 2013/14 season kicks off with City of the Mind, a concert about cities, ancient and modern featuring soprano Erin Bardua, mezzo soprano Vicki St. Pierre and baritone Joel Allison.  The show begins in the 15th century, with Les Cris de Paris, a consort piece based on the cries of street vendors in the French capital. Moving ahead a couple of centuries, Tommasso Giordani’s Addio di Londra, for soprano with violin, viola and continuo, is an ode to a famous but unnamed personage upon his departure from London, entreating him to remember the sights of the city in his travels abroad.  The programme also features a rare North American performance of a selection of Wiener lieder and the Venetian Boat Song,  a 19th century salon piece by Jacques Blumenthal, for mezzo soprano, violin and piano. Very popular in its day, it is a reminder of the era of the “grand tour” of Europe.  Moving into the 20thcentury we start in New York City with excerpts from Leonard Bernstein’s iconic On the Town, arranged by Laura Jones for baritone, soprano and string quartet, and finishing in Toronto with two pieces; Andrew Ager’s Ellis Portal, for baritone, mezzo soprano, clarinet and string quartet, about the city at night; and Erik Ross’s Concrete Toronto for soprano and saxophone.

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