March 2023

march2023Here’s a look ahead to March.

March 3rd and 5th, Opera York are presenting Mozart’s The Magic Flute at the Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts.  Details are here.  Also on the 5th at 1pm Opera Revue are playing a new venue; The Aviary in the Canary District.  (They are playing another new venue, Granite Brewery, on the 12th.  Opera Revue your source for craft beer!)  And the following night at 7.30pm it’s AtG’s Opera Pub at the Drake at 7.30pm.

From the 9th to the 12th it’s UoT Opera’s spring offering at the MacMillan Theatre.  This year it’s Arthur (not George) Benjamin’s A Tale of Two Cities.  Benjamin is probably the only opera composer to be shot down by Hermann Göring.  I’m not sure what, if anything, that says about his music.

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COC season 23/24 reveal

coc2324Things are a bit sub fusc at the COC these days.  The season reveal isn’t a glitzy gala with a big fight to grab the charcuterie.  It isn’t even a 10am doughnuts and coffee presser in the RBA where the ghost of Robert Everett-Green could ask what happened to the promised new Canadian operas .  It’s just an email arriving at the prescribed time.  There isn’t even an embargoed press only version to let us get our ducks in a row before the broader public get the news.  Such is life.

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Season announcements

koernerhallIt’s the time of year when people start to make season announcements.  First out of the blocks is the Royal Conservatory of Music with the Koerner hall line up.  It’s more a teaser than a comprehensive announcement but there’s some interesting dope in it.  On the vocal front Peter Sellars is back with the LA Master Chorale; this time with music by Heinrich Schütz.  That’s on February 7th 2024.  There’s also a recital by Ema Nikolovska with Charles Richard-Hamelin on March 24th 2024.  If you haven’t erased all memories of the pandemic you will probably remember that Ema’s streamed recital with Steven Philcox was the highlight of the grim summer of 2020.  The Glenn Gould spring opera will be on 2oth and 22nd March 2024.  There are also some pretty classy orchestral visits with Daniel Barenboim conducting the Staatskapelle Berlin and Yannick Nézet-Seguin bringing the Philadelphia Orchestra.  Full details of the season will be released in June but tickets go on sale next Tuesday.  There’s more information on programming and ticket options here.

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COC 2023/24??

2-saul-and-the-witch-of-endor-benjamin-westSo the COC will announce the upcoming season on the 23rd. I’m really hesitant to try and predict what might be in it because with the change of management and the COVID hangover old patterns don’t seem to mean much anymore. But here goes anyway.

Last year they did one new production and five revivals.  I can’t see them doing that again.  But then, finances being what they are I’d be surprised if they did more than two new shows.  There’s a hot rumour that one of those will be Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen.  It makes sense if it’s true.  It hasn’t been done by the COC since 1998, it’s a relatively easy sell and there are a bunch of recent productions out there for the COC to choose from thus avoiding creating one from scratch.

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More this month

feb23_2Here are a few more gigs that I didn’t check in my earlier February post.

This Saturday (18th) at 7.30pm at 918 Bathurst the Happenstancers have a concert.  It’s called Hypersuite and it will consist of movements from Bach works for solo instrument interspersed with contemporary works in like vein. Composers to be featured include Ana Sokolovic, Augusta Read Thomas and Elliot Carter.  More info and tickets here.

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Film of Salome

It kind of makes sense I guess.  Atom Egoyan is making a film about a production of Richard Strauss’ Salome using the current COC production and cast as part of the process.  It’s to be called Seven Veils and is backed by Rhombus Media and will star Amanda Seyfried as Jeanine, a young woman who has been given the task of remounting a production of Salome originally created by her mentor.  One press release describes Jeanine as a “tortured opera director” which is an idea that might appeal to a certain section of the local opera audience.  No word on a prospective release date.  I guess this is about the only way many people will experience (at least part of) Ambur Braid’s amazing portrayal of the title role.

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February 2023

february2023Here’s what I’m looking forward to in February plus a few gigs I can’t make:

  • February 1st and 2nd the Chicago Symphony and Riccardo Muti are performing at Koerner Hall.  It’s a rare opportunity to hear a top orchestra in the wonderful Koerner acoustic but it’s probably sold out already.
  • On February 3rd the COC opens a run of Richard Strauss’ Salome with Ambur Braid in the title role and a stellar supporting cast.  Hard core Braid fans (and that includes me) know that this is a role she was born to sing.  It’s an Atom Egoyan production and he’ll likely tweak it but here’s a link to my review of the 2013 run.
  • February 6th sees the return of the Quilico Awards; a competition for the singers of the Ensemble Studio.  That’s at 5.30pm in the RBA and it’s free.

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January 2023

januarty wordcloudJanuary is looking quite promising on both the music and theatre front but there’s not a lot of opera…  Here’s what’s in my agenda.

January 11th to 14th the TSO have four performances of a concert that includes Mozart’s Requiem with a good looking line up of soloists.

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It’s beginning to look a lot like Hannukwanzmas

dec22wordcloudSo what’s on as we move into the holiday season?

Closing out November there’s Opera Revue at Castro’s this afternoon at 3pm and a couple of concerts on Wednesday.  At lunchtime Wirth Prize winner Elisabeth Saint-Gelais and collaborative pianist Louise Pelletier present an intriguing looking programme in the RBA then at 7.30pm at Mazzoleni Hall the RCM’s Rebanks fellows are performing.  Both are free but the Mazzoleni concert is ticketed and may be sold out.

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21C 2022/23

21c_wordmark_carrier_croppedThe line up for this year’s (and a bit of next’s) 21C at the Royal Conservatory has been announced.  The full line up is here.

I’m particularly interested in the Kronos Quartet concerts on December 8th and 9th; especially the latter which features “Music for Change” including a world premiere of a piece by Tanya Tagaq.

I’ll also want to see three of the concerts in the new year.  On January 21st at 5pm there’s a Cinq à Sept concert in Temerty Hall which, among other things, features a new song cycle by Lembit Beecher and Lisa Balkan.  The following day at 3pm in Koerner Hall there’s a concert of new works by Ian Cusson and Stewart Goodyear.  Finally, on January 28th at 10pm in Temerty Hall Brian Current and the GGS New Music Ensemble have a candlelit concert of night related works including music by Bekkah Simms and R. Murray Schafer.

Lots of good stuff!