Claire Harris and Danie Friesen’s take on social distancing.
plus me and my plague rat…
…on social distancing
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And another livestream
And here’s another live Youtube stream. Baritone Alexander Hajek is performing a programme of Italian songs and arias tomorrow at 4pm ET. You can catch it from his Facebook page or on his Youtube channel.
Tapestry redux
If you missed the livestream of Tapestry Songbook X it’s on again tonight. And it appears there is going to be a virtual party. Here’s what’s up…. (according to Tapestry):
Two weeks ago, we livestreamed Songbook X, a concert featuring Krisztina Szabó, mezzo-soprano, and Chris Foley, collaborative pianist. This reimagined concert united us in community at a time when we needed it most. We heard from folks who had a candle-light dinner as they watched and others who recognized friends in the livechat who they hadn’t heard from in a while. Join us for the show and get social! Invite a friend, plan your snacks and drinks, and join us for a night of beautiful piano and vocal music.
To attend, click here and select ‘Get Reminder’ – the streaming party will start on Facebook this Saturday at 8PM EST/5PM PST.
Be well, and see you online!
Concert Programme – Songbook X Livestream
7:00pm – Chill your refreshments
7:15pm – Break out the snacks
7:30pm – Home system sound check (make sure your speakers work!)
7:45pm – Start your video chat party
7:50pm – Pour libations
7:55pm – Pre-show toast with Artistic Director Michael Mori…everybody raise your glasses!
8:00pm – Concert time!
If you want to know what to expect you could always read my review.
Good and not so good news
Arts Anyway Episode 2 featuring some musical theatre performances and an interview with the the amazing Teiya Kasahara is up on their YouTube channel.
And, this year’s Toronto Bach Festival has been cancelled. Since that was scheduled for the last weekend in May that’s the furthest out cancelation yet.
Looking for some light relief…
This just in…
Pacific Opera Project (POP) announces an interactive watch party of a rebroadcast of POP’s hit production of Mozart’s Abduction from the Seraglio from The Ford Amphitheatre, recorded in September of 2016, on Wednesday, April 8, 2020 at 5pm PT. The watch party features interviews with the cast, an update from POP’s Artistic Director about the rest of the season, and interactive elements including costume contests, drink recipes, and more. The stream will be available on POP’s YouTube Channel and Facebook Page. In his time when “the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few,” POP invites homebound audiences to boldly go where no “quarantined” opera audience has gone before.
Nuits blanches
Nuits blanches is the title of a new CD from Karina Gauvin and the Pacific Baroque Orchestra. It’s largely a subset of the material they performed at Koerner Hall in November and I don’t see much point in repeating my thoughts which are indeed confirmed by the CD. There’s less music on the CD (about 55 minutes) so no Berezovsky sonata or Paisiello divertimento. It’s a collection of mostly arias with the odd instrumental piece by Bortniansky, Dall’Oglio, Berezovsky, Fomine and Gluck.
The performances are as good as at Koerner and the disk, which was recorded at the Église Saint-Augustin in Mirabel in October 2019 is nicely balanced and clear. There is very complete documentation in the accompanying booklet, albeit in cruelly small print.
Cancellation update
Here’s a summary of what’s been cancelled as I understand it at time of writing:
- The Canadian Opera Company (including the free concert series), Tafelmusik, Opera Atelier, Soundstreams and the Toronto Symphony have all cancelled the remainder of their 2019/20 seasons.
- The Women’s Musical Club of Toronto has cancelled through May 7th.
- Voicebox’ Adriana Lecouvreur and Against the Grain’s Bound have been postponed until further notice.
- Opera Pub April and May editions are off.
- Most RCM/Koerner Hall events have been cancelled but last I heard they were still discussing some future events.
- UoT Music cancelled through April 3rd but I imagine that will be extended.
At this point I haven’t heard anything definite about TOT’s Northern Lights or Tapestry’s Rocking Horse Winner.
A little something
So last night’s Venice to Constantinople web cast didn’t come off due to the general inability of people to get together right now. However Beste Kalender and Ryan Harper did manage to produce a short video. You can see Beste singing a piano accompanied version of Hahn’s À Chloris followed by three songs by Komitas recorded by Beste with Sinfonia Toronto and Nurhan Arman. The three songs are Cinar Es (Tall as a poplar tree), Tahsin Incirci (Varna Songs) and Al Ayloughs (My Red Shawl). It’s a nice way to spend fifteen minutes. The video can be found here.
The Other Cleopatra
Isabel Bayrakdarian’s latest CD is rather odd. The material is obscure. It’s all taken from 18th century operas about the Armenian king Tigranes and his daughter Cleopatra. The plots are basically the same. Tigranes wants Cleopatra to make a marriage of state but she is in love with Tigranes’ enemy Mithridates. The outcomes are predictable. Apparently, these operas are Bayrakdarian’s academic specialty and she has chosen excerpts from Cleopatra’s part in versions by Hasse, Vivaldi and Gluck.
Tapestry Songbook X
My review of Tapestry Songbook X is now up on the Opera Canada website.
Krisztina Szabó and Chris Foley in Tapestry Opera’s Songbook X livestream. Photo: Dahlia Katz
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