Spectacular Die frau ohne Schatten from the Mariinsky

Posted on May 4, 2014 by operaramblings

Richard Strauss’ Die Frau ohne Schatten is a problematic work on many levels. Hofmannsthal’s complicated and heavily symbolic libretto places considerable demands on both audience and director. There are ideas about women, marriage and child bearing in the libretto that sit very uncomfortably with modern audiences. It’s also a beast to cast requiring not just a truly Helden tenor and soprano but a second soprano of almost equal heft who can handle some fairly tricky coloratura. It’s also long and requires a large orchestra. In some ways it’s surprising that it gets performed as often as it does although when done well it’s a piece of quite extraordinary beauty and power.

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Revisiting Devereux

Posted on May 4, 2014 by operaramblings

I went back for a second look at Roberto Devereux at the COC last night. My original impressions pretty much stand but this time I remembered my opera glasses and was able to focus more on some of the details of this quite intricate production. I do still struggle a bit with the music. There’s this jaunty little tune (doo de doo doo doo doo dooo) that crops up all the time and often at the least emotionally appropriate moments and there’s the interminable overture and thank goodness for Lawless’ allegorical prelude because listening to it in front of a closed curtain would have been intolerable. Still, the drama was pretty intense and Sondra Radvanovsky has, if anything, grown into the role. The last scene, portraying the dying queen’s emotional disintegration is worth the price of admission. I also got more of a sense of Russell Braun and Allyson McHardy being in role and having developed some chemistry that was a bit absent on opening night.

There are four more peerformances between now and May 21st with Giuseppe Filianoti now replacing the excellent Leonardo Capalbo in the title role.

Photo credit – Michael Cooper

Just for fun 9/n

Posted on May 2, 2014 by operaramblings

From the Westben press release… oops

Season announcements

Posted on May 2, 2014 by operaramblings

Toronto Operetta Theatre has announced its 2014-15 season line up and both Stratford Summer Music and the Westben Festival have announced their programmes.

Toronto Operetta Theatre
The 2014/15 season features three productions. The season opens with Federico Chueca’s zarzuela La Gran Via on November 2nd. The Christmas season (December 27th to January 4th) will see six performances of Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado. (And I hope Rob Ford is on “the list” though hopefully by then he’ll be well on the way to being forgotten) Finally, and perhaps most interesting, the season closes with Victor Davies’ 2008 piece Earnest, the Importance of Being which is probably the only Canadian work that can properly be called an operetta. There’s no further information at this time but doubtless it will eventually make its way to http://www.torontooperetta.com/. Continue reading →

The Cousin from Nowhere

Posted on May 2, 2014 by operaramblings

The Cousin from Nowhere is a German operetta by Eduard Künneke that premiered in Berlin in 1921. Last night it received its Canadian premier, in English translation, at Toronto Operetta Theatre. It’s a light, charming romcom with few pretensions but much to enjoy. The plot is simple in outline though convoluted in almost Gilbertian way. Julia is an heiress under the guardianship of her aunt and uncle and about to come of age and, thus, come into the fortune that hitherto the older couple have been able to enjoy. She is in love (or thinks she is) with her third cousin twice removed Roderich, who left to make his fortune in the East Indies seven years ago. Aunt and uncle scheme to marry her to their nephew August. Various more or less improbable plot twists involve August impersonating Roderich and successfully winning the heart of Julia while Roderich returns and falls instantly in love with Hanna, Julia’s bestie. It all ends happily. The music is not unlike Viennese operetta with some nods to jazz and popular post war dance music but if you are expecting pre echoes of Berg or Weill you are going to be disappointed. It’s quite conventional but essentially well crafted light entertainment.

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Sondra Radvanovsky at the Zoomerplex

Posted on May 1, 2014 by operaramblings

So, Sondra made a live broadcast for 96.3 FM at lunchtime today. It was one of those media things where the audience was aggressively stage managed by the floor staff but otherwise quite enjoyable. Also there was lunch which was a definite plus. What was a bit annoying was the overall vibe of “fitting opera into the programming for old folks”. Way to build a new audience there!

The performance was varied and interesting with Sondra on good form and the ever reliable Rachel Andrist on piano. There was no printed progrmme or lyric sheets so I’m going from my hastily scribbled notes but we got some Rachmaninov songs, which suited Sondra really well plus arias from Trovatore, Norma, Tosca and Andrea Chenier plus a Verdi song, Copland’s Simple Gifts and I could have danced all night. Nothing if not varied! It’s interesting how dropping from big opera rep to something like the Copland can be astonishingly effective. Simplicity and lack of artifice has it’s charms. And, yes, I want to hear her Norma and, if rumour is half way correct, probably will in the not too distant future.

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Opera Atelier does it again

Posted on May 1, 2014 by operaramblings

I had planned on giving Opera Atelier’s production of Lully’s Persée a miss but early reviews were positive and, more importantly for me, suggested there was something new and a bit different about the piece this time around. This production has been around since 2000 and was recorded for DVD four years later so I knew pretty much what to expect and to be honest that’s what we got last night. If there were changes, they were very minor. If anything it’s got even camper and I do wonder whether OA is in danger of becoming a sort of parody of itself. And it’s still three hours of OA doing Lully and if that’s your thing you will not be disappointed. If you are expecting anything else you won’t get it.

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Toronto opera news – lose one, win one

Posted on April 28, 2014 by operaramblings

Opera 5’s planned Offenbach and Hahn show this week has been postponed to the fall owing to construction delays at the Alliance Française (probably caused by striking air traffic controllers). By way of consolation there’s a pop up party on Saturday at 8pm, also at the Alliance Française (24 Spadina Road). Tickets are $15 on the door. It should be fun as these guys know how to party. Unfortunately I am otherwise engaged which may not be a bad thing. Last time I was at the Alliance Française the Americans started bombing Baghdad.

In a curiously symmetrical move, Tapestry have announced dates for the long delayed Toronto run of Shelter by Julie Salverson and Juliet Palmer. Described as “a darkly comic chamber opera which maps the journey of a family struggling to be ordinary in the atomic age.” The cast includes Christine Duncan, Teiya Kasahara, Keith Klassen, Andrea Ludwig and Peter McGillivray. Leslie Dala conducts and Keith Turnbull directs. It will play from June 12th to 15th at the Berkeley Street Theatre. Ticket prices range from $55-$75 + HST and can be purchased in person at the Canadian Stage Box Office at 26 Berkeley Street, by calling 416.368.3110 or online at CanadianStage. For more information visit TapestryOpera.

Inspired by Love

Posted on April 28, 2014 by operaramblings

Once in a while it’s fun to go to something almost entirely undemanding (for the audience at least!). So, yesterday afternoon I attended a concert of classical “lollipops” given by the TSO under the baton of young Portugese conductor Joana Carneiro. The chief attraction for me was that recent Ensemble Studio graduates Simone Osborne and Wallis Giunta were also performing. Things got going with the overture from Il Nozze di Figaro. It was a brisk and stylish performance with Ms. Carneiros displaying a very physical conducting style.

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Audiences

Posted on April 26, 2014 by operaramblings

Maybe this should be titled “The bear and lemur freak show”. Anyway, no surprise to anyone who knows us or reads this blog, the classic 19th century Italian rep is not our sweet spot. Give us Handel or Berg or Britten over Rossini or Verdi (let alone Donizetti) most days. (We’ll make an exception for Don Carlos!). So, last night as the Four Seasons Centre erupted in frenzied applause I couldn’t really share the wild enthusiasm, fine as the performance was, but what startled me was when I heard a smug, female voice to my left say “Well that makes up for Hercules”. I restrained an urge to remonstrate violently (I’ve been taking lessons from Peter Sellars) but I did leave the theatre puzzled and a bit upset; a feeling shared by the lemur and subject of much conversation on the subway home.

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