How does one do (if one does at all) a propagandistic Russian opera in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine. Dmitri Tcherniakov and Vladimir Jurowski’s approach to Prokofiev’s War and Peace, filmed at Bayerische Staatsoper, is radical, complex and controversial. See my full (and ridiculously long) review at La Scena Musicale.
My review of William Finn’s Elegies as performed by the interns at Toronto Opera Festival is now up at La Scena Musicale.
Photo credit: Emily Ding Photography
Tim Crouch’s An Oak Tree has been around for 20 years and has been performed about 400 times and it still feels very experimental and rather weird in a good way. It mucks about with time and space and identity while layering on multiple meta-theatrical elements that create an experience that is simultaneously engrossing and somewhat disorienting.
Saturday night Confluence presented a concert curated by Patricia O’Callaghan of a selection of works by Kurt Weill. Now I have.a bit of a love/hate relationship with Weill which will likely colour this review. Broadly speaking I love his earlier work, especially the collaborations with Brecht, but I’m just not into the Broadway stuff at all with a few exceptions such as Street Scene which has at least a bit of an edge. I also thoroughly dislike some of the American translations of the Brecht pieces that do all they can to take the edge off. Continue reading
Come Closer; libretto by Rachel Krehm, music by Ryan Trew, is a two act chamber opera about Rachel’s relationship with her younger sister Elizabeth who died as a consequence of heroin addiction. Some of it is based on Rachel’s memories and much on the writing and drawings that Elizabeth left. It premiered on Friday night and is currently playing in an Opera 5 production at Factory Theatre.
Opera 5 opened the first Toronto Opera Festival last night at Factory Theatre with a gala featuring Greg Dahl and the singers from their intern programme; most of whom have McGill connections.. It was basically a concert of opera arias and scenes and musical theatre numbers in about equal shares. It was quite varied ad theire was some excellent singing supported with versatility and flair by Nate Ben-Horin on a slightly battered looking piano (it sounded fine though!).
Nate Ben-Horin, piano; Gregory Dahl, baritone
Leaving Home is a 1972 play by David French set in Toronto in the 1950s and centring on a Newfoundland family that migrated to Toronto at the end of the war. It originally played at Tarragon Theatre and it’s now playing at Coal Mine Theatre in a production by Halifax’ Matchstick Theatre.
Unbroken is a CD of chamber music by contemporary Ukrainian composers played by Canadian-Ukrainian violinist Viktoria Grynenko and friends. My review is now available on the La Scena Musicale website.
My review of Chandos’ SACD release of Strauss’ Salome with Malin Byström in the title role and Edward Gardner conducting is now available on the La Scena Musicale website. Terrific conducting and great work by the recording engineers.
Immersed is an audio-visual performance piece created by Justin Gray. There are visuals but the raison d’etre of the piece is recorded music. The whole thing was written to be recorded and then played back using Dolby ATMOS to create a three dimensional moving soundscape. I got to experience it on Saturday night in the TD Music hall at Massey Hall which has a thirty eight speaker array for doing just this kind of thing. It was playing as part of Luminato.
There were thirty eight musicians involved in the project…
operaramblings 