Tag Archives: coc

Cinematic Salome

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It comes as no surprise that an opera by Atom Egoyan comes across as somewhat cinematic but it’s hard not to use the term of his production of Richard Strauss’ Salome at Canadian Opera Company.  It’s quite a spare production.  There’s a raked stage; the raised end providing a sort of dungeon for Jochanaan and the back and side walls used for projections, especially of a giant mouth prophesying (shades of Big Brother here) and shadow puppets.  Costumes are simple and in shades of red, white and green.  The concept is based on the idea that Salome is a very young girl who has a history of sexual abuse at the hands of Herod that explains her “monstrousness”.  It’s most vividly explored during the dance of the seven veils where Salome rises above the stage on a swing and her robes form a scrim on which a video is projected.  It starts with a very young girl in a garden and gets progressively darker until it finishes up with today’s Salome being raped by her stepfather’s entourage.  Fittingly, the opera ends with Herod himself strangling Salome, perhaps more to silence her than out of disgust.

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Words and music and pictures?

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Richard Strauss’ Salome opens April 21st at Canadian Opera Company in a production by Atom Egoyan.  Curiously, this is a piece I know well in three languages as besides the Hedwig Lachmann German translation I own a bilingual edition containing both the original French text and Wilde’s own English translation.  My copy is one of a limited edition published by the Limited Edition Club in 1938.  It contains the English text with reproductions of the original Beardsley illustrations as well as a separate volume of the French text illustrated with pochoirs by Fauvist André Derain.  Here’s an example.

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There are a dozen photos of text and illustrations from the French volume here for people who like that sort of thing.

Don’t lose your head

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penguinsJust spotted new discount deals on the COC website. For the three spring productions; David Alden’s Lucia di Lammermoor, Robert Carsen’s Dialogues des Carmélites and Atom Egoyan’s Salome, they are offering 25% off if you buy two of the three and 33% off for all three.  You get to pick your dates and tickets are available in all sections except the cheapest and most expensive.  The 33% deal brings prices down to around season subscription rates.  There are also $22 and $35 tickets available for both the under 30s who attend COC performances.

On a per dead nun basis you won’t find cheaper anywhere!

And now for something completely different

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It’s March break in Toronto which means lots of children friendly activities.  Yesterday’s lunchtime concert at the Four Seasons Centre was one of them.  It was a session/performance by soprano/educator Kyra Millan together with sidekicks baritone Jesse Clark and pianist Christina Faye.  There were lots of kids, mostly quite young, there.  Some had even brought their parents.

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Ex Alden semper aliquot novis

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12-13-04-MC-D-814Last night saw the final performance of the COC’s run of La clemenza di Tito.  I had seen the Ensemble Studio performance a couple of weeks ago and really enjoyed it but had some questions and reservations about the production.  Last night many of those issues were resolved. It seemed more closely directed and the characterizations were more fully rehearsed.  A good example of this would be Michael Schade’s intensely neurotic Tito which was central to the concept.  Many things make sense if one sees Tito as being in love with an idea of himself.  In this context his betrayal by Sesto is particularly hurtful because it implies that his closest confidante isn’t buying it and his “clemency” is necessary to restore his faith in his own self-projection.  This Tito gives Robert Gleadow’s Publio space and reason to be more than the dutiful, rather thick plod.  He’s the one who has seen through Tito but must “play the game”.  His final, rather sharp, exchanges with Vitellia suggest a genuine capacity for malevolence.  This is, after all, an Imperial Court, where by definition life is dangerous and nothing what it seems.

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An anti-Valentine

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selig_franz_josefToday’s lunchtime recital in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre was a recital of Schubert and Strauss songs on the theme “Love’s Dark Shore”.  The performers were German bass Franz-Josef Selig, in town singing King Marke in Tristan und Isolde, and the COC’s own Rachel Andrist at the piano.  There wasn’t much about “Love” in the pieces chosen but there was plenty of death, depression and despair.  One might think it would be a complete downer but nobody could possibly be depressed witnessing the artistry of Selig.

Those who have heard Selig in Tristan know that he has a massive voice.  It was fascinating to hear him turn it to lieder.  He is a very German lieder singer in the best possible way.  He enunciates with great clarity and gets full value out of the meaning of every phrase.  He clearly loves the texts.  He also manages his huge voice wonderfully.  Mostly he sang quite quietly with beautiful legato and perfect control but when he wanted volume it was there in abundance and without strain.  He also has a real range of tone colour and sheer beauty of tone.  Often he sounded more like a baritone than a bass but he could get almost tectonically low when he needed to.  It was very impressive.  Rachel’s accompaniment was perfectly fine too though I think most of the audience was focussed on the voice.

I did hear a few grumbles about the unrelieved darkness of the material but I felt the works suited the singer and it was, as these things are, a fairly short programme so the lack of variety didn’t really bother me.  All in all, a very worthwhile way to spend one’s lunch break.