Sneak preview of Die Fledermaus

Posted on September 29, 2012 by operaramblings

Female chorus member – Sketch: Constance Hoffman

There’s an event on in Toronto this weekend called “CultureDays”. The COC’s contribution last night was an open orchestra dress rehearsal of Christopher Alden’s new production of Die Fledermaus preceded by a talk in the Richard Bradshaw Auditorium by set designer Allen Moyer and costume designer Constance Hoffman moderated by the CBC’s Brent Bambury. The event was “first come, first served” and restricted to 500 tickets so we decided to be early. Doors opened at 1815 for a 1830 talk so the plan was to meet the lemur at the opera house at 1700, grab a bite to eat and then join the line-up. I got there early as I was through at work and preferred to sit in the sunshine at the Four Seasons Centre rather than at my desk so I got there around 1615. There was already a line up! By the time the lemur showed up just before 1700 there was quite a line up so we changed plan and the lemur went off to fetch burritos to eat in the line. Just as well as they ended up turning people away. Continue reading →

The review – COC Studio Ensemble in concert

Posted on September 19, 2012 by operaramblings

(front row, l-r): Ambur Braid and Cameron McPhail; (second row, l-r): Jenna Douglas, Claire de Sévigné and Mireille Asselin; (third row, l-r): Neil Craighead, Owen McCausland and Sasha Djihanian; (fourth row, l-r): Rihab Chaieb and Timothy Cheung. Photo: Chris Hutcheson

So, as promised here are my thoughts on yesterday’s Ensemble Studio recital at the Four Seasons Centre. It’s always interesting to see the Ensemble Studio together; to see how returning members have developed since last heard and to hear the newcomers. This is what we got.
Soprano Claire de Sévigné gave us “Chacun le sait” from La fille du régiment. It’s a good piece for a young singer and shee sang it with spirit and enthusiasm and acted with gusto. Perfectly idiomatic French too of course. She has a lovely voice and is clearly one to watch.

Continue reading →

Here we go again

Posted on September 18, 2012 by operaramblings

Photo credit: Chris Hutcheson.

Today was the first concert of the season in the free concert series at the Four Seasons Centre featuring the very talented artists of the COC’s Ensemble Studio. I promise that there will be a proper review very soon but right now all I can offer is a treat for that section of my readership who have a thing for cross dressing mezzos. You know who you are!

Not a DVD review

Posted on September 12, 2012 by operaramblings

Nixon in China at the COC

There are an awful lot of opera DVDs about. It sometimes seems like there’s a new Tosca or Traviata out every week, often for no apparent reason. It’s perhaps surprising then that some works don’t make it to DVD. One particularly egregious case would seem to be John Adams’ Nixon in China. It’s a good piece and has had plenty of productions both in North America and elsewhere. A couple of years ago I saw it twice in 24 hours; on a Friday evening at COC followed by the HD broadcast from the Met the following afternoon and I’ve been listening to an audio recording of the COC version on my walk to and from work. But there’s no DVD! I guess that the Met probably planned to release the HD recording but James Maddalena, the Nixon in the recording, was so obviously ill I was actually surprised that he continued after the interval and I guess that scuppered that. Continue reading →

The Big COC Podcast

Posted on August 24, 2012 by operaramblings

The first in a new series of the Canadian Opera Company’s The Big COC Podcast is now up on the COC website and at iTunes. (On iTunes search for “The Big COC Podcast”). It features Gianmarco Segato of the COC, Wayne Gooding of Opera Canada, Leslie Barcza of barczablog and myself. You can hear us talk about operetta in general, the COC’s upcoming Die Fledermaus, Evgeni Nikitin’s tattoos, John Teraud’s “boulder and a hard place” article and the problems of getting the word out to potential audiences in a post-newspaper world.

Free Concert Series 2012/13

Posted on August 22, 2012 by operaramblings

The COC has announced the line up for the 2012/13 series of free concerts in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre at the Four Seasons Centre. There’s the usual mix of vocal, instrumental, jazz, world music and dance. There are plenty of opportunities to see the Ensemble Studio members as well as solo gigs by Franz-Josef Selig and Anna Christy. For fans of Indian classical music there’s also a sarangi recital by Aruna Narayan. Also of interest is a concert by Queen of Puddings Music Theatre “Inspired by Lorca”.

Full details

COC Radio

Posted on August 14, 2012 by operaramblings

Heaven only knows why it has taken me so long to discover this resource. COC Radio is awesome. Besides educational materials there are streamable audio recordings of every production from the last two seasons.

Portents of Regie

Posted on July 28, 2012 by operaramblings

Until very recently one of the few good restaurant options within easy walking distance of the COC offices and the Kitten Kondo (since only a couple of hundred metres separate them) was a pretty decent locavore resto called Veritas. I’ve seen COC General director Alexander Neef in there more than once. Alas Veritas is no more. It has been replaced by what looks to be a hideously trendy and overpriced bar called the Pacific Junction Hotel. What’s a bit disturbing though is that this doubles the number of eateries in the ‘hood with Stiegl on tap (the other being the rather good, but also overly trendy , breakfast/brunch spot Le Petit Dejeuner. Stiegl is, par excellence, the beer of Regie. If beer features in a production by a controversial European director one can pretty much guarantee it will be Stiegl. Is this an omen? The 2012/13 COC season has Atom Egoyan, Peter Sellars, Robert Carsen and the Alden brothers directing 6 of 7 productions (surely enough to induce apoplexy in the National Post‘s Kaptainis). Are the hop leaves predicting a further shift away from the Lotfi Mansouri aesthetic? With this much Stiegl around can Herheim or Bieito be far behind?

Good news

Posted on July 21, 2012 by operaramblings

Canadian Opera Company General Director Alexander Neef has signed a new contract to stay with the company through 2021. This is very good news indeed. Neef has shown a canny ability to programme imaginatively varied programmes while keeping the house full, mostly through carefully balancing the number of performances between the more adventurous repertoire and one or two “bums on seats” shows per season. Aided by the company having moved to the technically and acoustically excellent Four Seasons Centre he has also done a great job of making the COC a company that the best singers, conductors and directors want to come to(*). That’s a problem none of his predecessors managed to crack. It’s no idle boast now when COC describes itself as “home to the best”. I feel confident that we can now look forward to another eight years of varied, high quality opera at COC.

* Confirmed to me by Larry Brownlee but to be honest the line up in the last couple of years and going forward speaks for itself. Brownlee, Graham, Archibald, Radvanovsky, Pieczonka, Braun, Schade. Hereros-Casada, Sir Andrew Davis. Carsens, the Aldens, Sellars, Malfitano, Albery. Such a change from ten years ago!

The Frosch report

Posted on July 5, 2012 by operaramblings

Casting for the upcoming COC production of Die Fledermaus, to be directed by Christopher Alden, was announced back in February with one notable exception. There has been no word on who will take the speaking role of the drunken gaoler Frosch in Act 3. This part is usually played as a buffoon by a second rate comedian(1) so Toronto mayor Rob Ford would seem an obvious choice. Unfortunately it’s a speaking part so that rules him out. Now, apparently, we can expect a ‘crisis of capitalism’ Fledermaus but I’m not sure that leaves me any the wiser.