There’s been a lot of opera related programming broadcast on BBC TV recently. Probably the biggest event was Jonas Kaufmann’s role debut as Otello in the Verdi opera conducted by Antonio Pappano but there’s also been a 90 minute documentary on Kaufmann and a two part series called Lucy Worsley’s Nights at the Opera and a broadcast of Brett Dean’s new Hamlet from Glyndebourne. I haven’t yet watched the Hamlet but here are some thoughts on the other three shows, plus an extra bonus.
Lynn Isnar – wearing one of the dresses she wore yesterday
Calixa Lavallée’s main, perhaps only, claim to fame is that he wrote the music for O Canada! He also wrote an operetta, The Widow. Yesterday I saw it at Toronto Operetta Theatre in a production by Guillermo Silva-Marin. It’s pretty silly. The plot turns on a scheming widow who pretends to drown herself while most of the rest of the characters pretend either to be someone else, or to be married to someone else, or both. Still, it’s fast paced and quite funny and the various sillinesses work out more or less logically. The music is pleasant and well crafted but not strikingly original. I don’t think I actually recall a single tune. So, a worthwhile enough piece but hardly an undiscovered masterpiece.
The production, in variations on concert wear for the most part, was quite kinetic with lots of rushing about and some dance elements. There are probably more entrances and exits than a Brian Rix farce (and for much the same reasons) so that helps. Performances were pretty good. Julie Nesrallah struck the right note as the somewhat overripe Spanish widow Donna Paquita de something-something-something. She sang well and her knowing, almost wink-at-the-audience, approach was just shy of over the top. It made a good anchor. The vocal star was Lynn Isnar as Nanine. It’s classic operetta soubrette territory and her bright tone, easy top and controlled coloratura were just right. She has a nice sense of timing too. Her aria which opened the second act was the vocal highlight of the afternoon. The rest of the cast was made up of TOT regulars and young singers. Everyone sang well and the acting was also good. The young lovers, of both flavours, were appropriately decorative and there was a bumbling ineffectual aristo for Greg Finney to play. Michael Rose accompanied perfectly competently at the piano. So, basically, all operetta boxes ticked.
All in all, a pleasant enough way to spend a really gloomy November Sunday afternoon.
Coming up this next week. Tomorrow Toronto Operetta Theatre are performing Calixa Lavallée’s The Widow. He’s the dude who wrote the music for O Canada! so no idea what to expect. It’s at the Jane Mallett Theatre at 3pm. Monday at 7pm at the Zoomerplex is the IRCPA Singing Stars of Tomorrow concert. My interview with Brett Polegato about it is here. And this is the link for ticket purchase.
The latest issue of Opera Canada arrived in my mailbox yesterday. It’s the first issue produced by Gianmarco Segato as editor and there are a few noticeable changes. The general structure and look is the same but there are some new bylines. I noticed Sara Schabas has a rather good piece on Marie Clements. I’d bet a fiver that Sara is the youngest contributor to the mag in a while. There’s also an article by Dean Burry on the Canadian Children’s Opera Company tour of Brundibár to the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary including a trip to Terezín. The obituaries include, sadly, Émile Belcourt who I saw sing Loge at ENO back in the 70s in the memorable run of The Rhinegold conducted by Reginald Goodall.
There’s lots more including my contributions; a piece profiling Marion Newman, plus reviews of a live performance, a CD and a DVD. And finally, there’s mention that Alexander Neef saw Gerry Finley in Reimann’s Lear in Salzburg. He couldn’t could he? No he couldn’t. Does to dunk head in cold water…
UoT Opera’s fall production of Don Giovanni will open in three weeks time. Today, in Walter Hall we got a few hints on what we may be seeing plus some semi staged excerpts.
For director Marilyn Gronsdale one way into Don Giovanni (and she accepts that there are many) is to see it as being about how the actions of the powerful impact the lives of the many. In a sexual context it’s clearly of relevance to our times with a serial groper in the White House, a British cabinet minister out on his ear for sexual impropriety and one of Hollywood’s most powerful figures rapidly being cast into outer darkness. One technique to be used to emphasise this is a silent chorus of women who will witness/bear witness to the action. Maybe this is something like the Land Assembly in Peter Hinton’s take on Louis Riel? We also learned that the design aesthetic will be stylized 1940s film noir and that we may be in for a surprise with the ending.
Act 2 sextet: Brendan Friesen, Matthew Cairns, Alyssa Durnie, Jamie Groote, Sarah Abelard, Alex Halliday (I think)
So last night was this year’s iteration of the COC’s glitzy competition with cash and places in the Ensemble Studio at stake. It’s a bit of a weird thing to write about because the public, and this year the media, only see a fraction of what the judges are judging. We saw each singer do one aria. There had been a closed round earlier in the day to which, unlike in previous years, the media were not invited. Then there’s what the judges have seen in rehearsal, reputation etc. All in all what happens on the night influences the outcome about as much as at an Olympic figure skating event. So, in many ways it’s surprising that my picks were as close to the judges as they were.
My second concert of the day was a Halloween themed recital given by soprano Jennifer Taverner at Atelier Rosemarie Umetsu. Now previously I had only heard Jennifer sing operetta, at which she is very good, so I had little idea what her range is. Last night I found out. The first part of the program was pretty normal recital fare. Ombre pallide from Handel’s Alcina was knocked off with flair and some bravura in the repeat. Then came some French chansons of spookiness including Saint Saens’ Danse macabre where Jennifer and pianist Andrea van Pelt were joined by Jennifer Murphy on violin. All nicely done with fine diction.
Yesterday lunchtime in the RBA soprano Lauren Eberwein and the Rosebud String Quartet (Sheila Jaffé, Aaron Schwebel, Keith Hamm and Rachel Desoer) entertained us with a program of Haydn and Schoenberg. First up was an arrangement of Haydn’s Arianna a Naxos. We got the recitative, Teseo mio ben, and the two arias, Dove sei and Ah! che morir vorrei. It’s basically a cantata with tessitura that sits very nicely for Lauren’s voice. It was an elegant performance all round with some passion in the concluding aria. And it’s always good to hear a Haydn vocal work.
That’s the title of a new CD from soprano Kira Braun and pianist Peter Krochak. Yesterday I got to hear them perform music from it at Rosemarie Umetsu’s new digs on Davenport. This is a great venue for small scale concerts and recitals and has a really good Yamaha piano. It’s also less awkward to get to than, say, Gallery 345 so check out their website and facebook page to see what’s happening.
Claude Vivier’s Musik für das Ende had to wait until 35 years after the composer’s death for its first fully staged performance. That happened last night at Crow’s Theatre under the auspices of Soundstreams. It forms the main and concluding part of a really interesting show directed by Chris Abraham.
The first part of the program is a monologue, Il faisait nuit, of Vivier returning to his Paris apartment and describing his life and his final composition. Written by Zack Russell and brilliantly played by Alex Ivanovici it’s a French/English piece based on extensive discussions with people who knew Vivier and is said to capture his verbal and physical mannerisms with uncanny accuracy. It also introduces us to key design elements of the evening. We, the audience, are lining the walls of a “black box”. The set is created by lighting effects and there is an electronic sound track. It’s a very immersive experience. Continue reading
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