Canoe; libretto by Spy Dénommé-Welch, music by the librettist and Catherine Magowan, had its world premier at Trinity St. Paul’s on Friday evening. It’s a complex work and adopts some interesting approaches to telling an Indigenous story within the conventions of European opera. It’s effectively directed, on quite a minimal but functional set (Lindy Kinoshameg), by Dénommé-Spy and Moynan King.
(L-R): “Gladys” Nicole Joy-Fraser, “Debaajimod” Michelle Lafferty, “Tree Spirit” Conlin Delbaere-Sawchuk, “Constance” Kristine Dandavino
There are a few adds for September. This Saturday (16th) you can catch Rachel Krehm in recital with Janelle Fung. That’s at 3pm. Details 
So one of the fun things about this writing project that I started twelve years ago is the unexpected ways that it has sometimes developed. One gets involved with projects, one meets people and one ends up connected with their other projects that may stray some way from, say, opera or art song. So last night I found myself at a film screening and CD release party for the new CD from Hilario Durán and His Latin Jazz Big Band. It was fascinating. First of all I really liked the music; original compositions and covers arranged for something like eighteen brass, woodwind, guitar/bass and percussion players with Hilario conducting from the piano and guests on some of the tracks including the amazing clarinet and sax player Paquito D’Rivera, vocalist/violinist Elizabeth Rodriguez, drummer Horacio “ElNegro” Hernández and bass player Marc Rogers.
This new CD recording of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas sets out to produce a version that might have been heard at court in the early 1680s. This is, of course, one of several theories about the work’s genesis and it’s the one I find most credible. Taking this as a starting point allows music director David Bates a framework in which to consider issues of style and casting.
operaramblings 