Category Archives: Toronto opera news and views

Soundstreams 2023/24

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soundstreams2324Soundstreams has announced the line up for the 2023/24 season.  First up, and very exciting, is The Bright Divide, which will play Nov 10th and 11th at the TD Music Hall (the new performance space at Massey Hall).  It’s a staged show, directed by Tim Albery and featuring two works inspired by the work of Mark Rothko.  There’s Morton Feldman’s Rothko Chapel for viola, timpani and choir and a new work by Cecilia Livingston; mark for viola and voice.

Electric Messiah is back.  This time it’s at Theatre Passe Muraille from December 14th to 17th.  Adam Scime is in charge again for the Messiah where you don’t know what to expect.

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July 2023

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july2023So what’s coming up in July?  Let’s look first at a few late June shows I haven’t mentioned before.

  • This Saturday (17th) there’s a MAKEWAY Showcase Concert at St. George by the Grange.  It’s basically workshops of WIP including Rebecca Grey’s Bus Opera.  Tickets by donation.
  • The following Saturday, Opera by Request are presenting a concert version of Rossini’s Rarely seen Otello at College Street United Church.
  • June 22nd, 24th and 25th Toronto City Opera have a run of Die Fledermaus at the Fleck Dance Theatre.

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Opera Atelier 2023/24

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Opera Atelier have announced a two show Toronto season for 2023/24.  The fall show is Gluck’s Orphée et Eurydice which will play at the Elgin Theatre from October 26th to November 1st.  This is the 1774 version with Orphée sung by an haut-contre.  Colin Ainsworth should be just about ideal.  He’s partnered by Mireille Asselin, also pretty much ideal as Eurydice.  Anna Julia David sings Amour.  The orchestra is Tafelmusik and the chorus will consist of Tafelmusik Chamber Choir and the Nathaniel Dett Chorale.

4. Tenor Colin Ainsworth as Orpheus and Artists of Atelier Ballet in the Elysian Fields in Gluck's Orpheus and Eurydice. Photo by Bruce Zinger.

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June is almost upon us

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june2023June is fast approaching and, as ever, it’s one of the odder months in the performance calendar.  Here’s what has caught my eye (so far).

  • June 1st to 25th at Crow’s is Alex Bulmer’s Perceptual Archaeology (Or How to Travel Blind).  This is a show for blind and sighted people about, well, travelling blind (literally).  Since blindness is my worst fear I don’t know whether I can do this one.  We’ll see.
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Back end of May

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may2More May listings…

  • Sarah Porter’s L-E-A-K  opens tonight at the Theatre Centre and runs until Sunday.  It’s described as “an absurdist and poetic lesbian love letter to the ocean”.  I’m intrigued.
  • Nightwood Theatre and Tarragon Theatre are jointly presenting Fatima Adar’s She’s Not Special.  It runs at the Tarragon Theatre from May 24th to 28th.  Here’s the blurb… “Leave expectations at the door. We are not putting on a play, we are throwing a party. This is a concert, comedy show, and confessional all in one. Come celebrate your mediocrity with us!”
  • Soulpepper are opening a run of Athol Fugard’s 1972 classic Sizwe Banzi is Dead at the Young Centre on the 25th.  That runs until June 18th.
  • The weekend of the 26th to 28th is the Toronto Bach Festival.
  • Finally, on the 26th and 27th Confluence Concerts have a concert at Heliconian Hall called All the Diamonds.  It’s an eclectic mix of music about the night sky performed by the usual suspects.

Tapestry’s new digs

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You may have been following this saga.  Basically, Artscape had a twenty year lease on a lot of space in the Distillery District which they leased out various arts organisations and studio artists, including Tapestry Opera and Nightwood Theatre; who jointly occupied the Ernest Balmer Studio and adjacent space wherein I attended many, many performances, rehearsals, workshops and so on.  It’s what made the Distillery District more than a bunch of tourist tat and over-priced restaurants. But the lease ran out and the landlord declined to renew.  Tourist tat is more lucrative than art and the Distillery District’s owners have always struggled with the idea of any purpose other than maximising profits.

TapNightnewspace-photobyDahliaKatz-4618

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May 2023

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wordcloudmay23Things happening next month…

But first this month… on April 27th to 29th male soprano Samuel Mariño is appearing with
Tafelmusik in a programme titled Higher Love: Virtuoso Arias.  Details here.

Crow’s Theatre has a couple of shows.  True Crime opens on the 2nd.  It’s a short run.  Preview on the 1st then closes on the 7th.  It’s basically a one man, semi-improvised show about an imprisoned con man.  The Chinese Lady, which runs 5th to 21st (previews 2nd to 4th) in the smaller Studio Theatre tells the story of the first Chinese woman in the USA.  Written by Lloyd Suh and directed by Marjorie Chan it should be interesting.  There’s also Boom X.  Rick Miller plays over a hundred characters to narrate events from 1969 t0 1995.  It runs from the 10th to the 28th.  More details at crowstheatre.com.

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Opera Atelier’s upcoming production of Handel’s The Resurrection

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Ahead of Opera Atelier’s upcoming production of Handel’s The Resurrection (La resurrezione) at Koerner Hall next week (6th to 9th April) there was a lunchtime preview in the RBA on Tuesday.  Later that day I sat down with director Marshall Pynkoski to find out more about the work, OA’s relationship to it and its rather tortuous journey to the Koerner Hall stage.

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Toronto Mendelssohn Choir 2023/24

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Here’s what’s coming up at Toronto Mendelssohn Choir/Singers next season.

There are a couple of shows for the TM Singers; the professional core of the TMC:

  • September 22nd/23rd 2023 at trinity St. Paul’s there’s a multidisciplinary show featuring dance by Compagnie de la Citadelle.  The works on offer are Handel’s Dixit Dominus and Bach’s Christ Lag in Todesbanden.
  • March 16th 2024, also at Trinity St. Paul’s, it’s Schubert’s Winterreise in an arrangement for choir, baritone and piano featuring Brett Polegato and Philip Chiu.  The programme also includes works by Fanny Hersel and CClara Schumann.

TMC - Credit Taylor Long

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