Tag Archives: coc

COC 2024/25 predictions

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Piacenza_Bronzeleber - By Lokilech - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1804667So the COC is set to release details of the 2024/25 season some time in late February so in the interests of tradition I’ll have a go at guessing what we will hear.  I have to admit that i have very little confidence in my predictions as the combination of COVID and new management has disrupted old patterns and new ones are not yet very apparent.  Even the sacrificial goat liver (see left) isn’t helping much.  There have been two complete seasons since COVID.  One featured five revivals and the other five “new to Toronto” productions sourced from other houses.  COC commissions, new productions or co-pros were noticeably absent.  It’s probably also fair to say that there was a distinctly conservative vibe to the productions.  I’m not saying horned helmets and crinolines but it’s noticeable that the revivals haven’t included any of the COC’s edgier efforts.

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Cunning Little Vixen at the COC

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Sometimes the Canadian Opera Company gets it right and the current production of Janáček’s Cunning Little Vixen is a good example.  It’s got all the things that might help boost a flagging audience.  It’s not over familiar.  Nobody is going to be complaining that they have seen the same old boring production five times already.  It’s a brilliant score.  The production is intelligent with enough for those who want more than a costume drama while not doing anything to shock the pearl clutchers.  It’s well sung; with a goodly quantity of local talent, and the orchestral playing and conducting is exemplary.  What more could one ask for?  One could I suppose add that it’s an opera one could happily take children to.

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February 2024 – concerts and opera

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Contemplating another production of “Carmen”

First a couple of 21C concerts inadvertently omitted from my January listings post.  On the 19th in Koerner Hall there’s Fazil Say and friends (including Beste Kalender) in a programme of mostly Turkish music and in the late show in Temerty Theatre the following night Brian Current presents and conducts a concert titled Indigena.

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January 2024

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jan2024Here’s a look at the start of 2024 in Toronto.

On the 7th and the 9th OPUS chamber music, who feature some of Canada’s best young chamber musicians, have a pair of concerts.  The first is at Trinity St. Paul’s and features music by Rebecca Clarke, Leo Weiner, Anton Webern and Robert Schumann.  The second is at the Arts and Letters Club and includes music by Tcherepini, Klein, Wegener and Beethoven.

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10th Annual Centre Stage Competition

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Thursday night at the Four Seasons Centre saw the tenth iteration of the COC’s Centre Stage: Ensemble Studio Competition.  It’s a competition for young singers for cash prizes and, more opaquely, potential places in the COC’s Ensemble Studio.

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L-R: Duncan Stenhouse, Emily Rocha, Elisabeth St-Gelais

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Jonelle Sills debuts in La Bohème at the COC

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It wasn’t supposed to happen for another couple of weeks but Jonelle Sills jumped into the COC’s production of Puccini’s La Bohème as Mimi on Sunday afternoon, replacing an indisposed Amina Edris.  It added some spice to a production I’ve seen rather a lot of times before.  I don’t have a lot to say about the production that I haven’t said before.  It’s still efficient and serviceable and it’s always looked a bit (not inappropriately) down at heel.  If it’s now a bit more worn and faded t doesn’t detract from that.  If you want more detail here’s a link to my May 2019 review.

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High musical values in the COC’s Fidelio

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The COC opened its 2023/24 season on Friday night with Matthew Ozawa’s production of Beethoven’s 1805 attack on corruption and tyranny; Fidelio.  Ozawa gives it a contemporary American setting with all the action playing out on a sort of multi-level rotating cage.  It’s pretty effective and efficient in allowing scenes to succeed each other quite seamlessly.

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OK, it’s official

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I’ve known for ages that Ian Cusson was working on an opera for the COC main stage and that it was a bout a Métis werewolf legend.  It’s the sort of thing that gets me howling at a full moon.  Anyway it’s all now official and talkaboutable.  It’s called Empire of the Wild and the libretto is by Cherie Dimaline based ion her 2019 novel of the same name.  It’s a co-commission of the COC and the NAC in Ottawa and there’s no date given for the premiere yet.  (And yes I do have a bit of “I’ll believe it when I see it” given that COC commissions seem to disappear mysteriously often enough to provide the plot for a werewolf novel).  I think it’s a great subject for an opera and Ian’s record of writing for vopice and the opera stage is good so, yeah, I really want to see this.  So keep your fingers crossed it actually happens!  All the details are in the press release which is here.

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The COC at Harbourfront

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harbourfrontOn Saturday evening the COC presented a teaser concert for their 2023/24 season on the outdoor stage at Harbourfront.  The weather stayed fair and there was no more than the usual aural background to distract a little from the music.  The full orchestra under Johannes Debus was on display along with half a dozen members of the Ensemble Studio.

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