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.
So to February: Continue reading
Here’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.
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.
L-R: Duncan Stenhouse, Emily Rocha, Elisabeth St-Gelais
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.
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.
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.
On 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.
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 here. Saturday 30th is a busy day. At 7.30pm at Church of the Redeemer The Happenstancers have a concert.of mostly 20th century music for soprano and chamber ensemble. Details and tickets here. At the same time and repeated at 4pm on the Sunday Confluence Concerts have a concert of Irish music, both traditional and modern art song. That’s at Heliconian Hall. Details etc. Also from the 22nd to 24th Tafelmusik are performing Beethoven’s 4th and 5th symphonies at Koerner Hall. Their take on Beethoven symphonies is unusual and very interesting. And while Tafelmusik are absent from Jeanne Lamon Hall on the 22nd and 23rd, ther Toronto Mendelssohn Singers are presenting a programme including dance. A choreographed version of Handel’s Dixit Dominus is a rare event!
The story of Salome and John the Baptist may be the most twisted tale in the Western canon. Oscar Wilde’s take on the story, with music by Richard Strauss added, didn’t make it any less twisted. Nor did Atom Egoyan’s production of the opera for the COC and its several remounts. How, one might ask, could one ramp the twistedness up a notch? The answer, and a very successful one, is to have Egoyan make a film based around his production. And so, Seven Veils, which had its avant-premier, ahead of TIFF, at the Four Seasons Centre last night.
Ambur Braid as Salome (top left), Michael Kupfer-Radecky as Jochanaan (below), and Frédéric Antoun as Narraboth (top right) in the Canadian Opera Company’s production of Salome, 2023. Photo: Michael Cooper
The new season starts to ramp up in September. My month will start at Factory Theatre on the 7th with Mary Beath Badian’s The Waltz; a coming of age drama set in Saskatchewan. That runs until the 17th. The following night there’s a screening at the Four Seasons Centre of Atom Egoyan’s new film Seven Veils that was created in conjunction with last season’s production of Salome. A young woman is tasked with remounting her former mentor’s production of Salome. It stars Amanda Seyfried, Ambur Braid, Michael Schade and Michael Kupfer-Radecky. It’s a chance to see the film ahead of the official premier at TIFF. More details and tickets here.
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