Tag Archives: coc

May 2023

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wordcloudmay23Things happening next month…

But first this month… on April 27th to 29th male soprano Samuel Mariño is appearing with
Tafelmusik in a programme titled Higher Love: Virtuoso Arias.  Details here.

Crow’s Theatre has a couple of shows.  True Crime opens on the 2nd.  It’s a short run.  Preview on the 1st then closes on the 7th.  It’s basically a one man, semi-improvised show about an imprisoned con man.  The Chinese Lady, which runs 5th to 21st (previews 2nd to 4th) in the smaller Studio Theatre tells the story of the first Chinese woman in the USA.  Written by Lloyd Suh and directed by Marjorie Chan it should be interesting.  There’s also Boom X.  Rick Miller plays over a hundred characters to narrate events from 1969 t0 1995.  It runs from the 10th to the 28th.  More details at crowstheatre.com.

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April 2023

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april2023Here’s what I know about so far for April.

On April 6th at 1.30pm in Walter Hall, Music in the Afternoon is presenting a concert featuring Marion Newman, Melody Courage, Evan Korbut and Gordon Gerrard in a mix of classical song and contemporary works on Indigenous themes including music by Ian Cusson, Bramwell Tovey and Tomson Highway.

Later that day, at 7.30pm at Koerner Hall, Opera Atelier have the first of three performances of Handel’s The Resurrection.  This is the fully staged version of the production that streamed during lockdown.  There are further performances on the 8th at 7.30pm and the 9th at 2.30pm.

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COC season 23/24 reveal

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coc2324Things are a bit sub fusc at the COC these days.  The season reveal isn’t a glitzy gala with a big fight to grab the charcuterie.  It isn’t even a 10am doughnuts and coffee presser in the RBA where the ghost of Robert Everett-Green could ask what happened to the promised new Canadian operas .  It’s just an email arriving at the prescribed time.  There isn’t even an embargoed press only version to let us get our ducks in a row before the broader public get the news.  Such is life.

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COC 2023/24??

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2-saul-and-the-witch-of-endor-benjamin-westSo the COC will announce the upcoming season on the 23rd. I’m really hesitant to try and predict what might be in it because with the change of management and the COVID hangover old patterns don’t seem to mean much anymore. But here goes anyway.

Last year they did one new production and five revivals.  I can’t see them doing that again.  But then, finances being what they are I’d be surprised if they did more than two new shows.  There’s a hot rumour that one of those will be Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen.  It makes sense if it’s true.  It hasn’t been done by the COC since 1998, it’s a relatively easy sell and there are a bunch of recent productions out there for the COC to choose from thus avoiding creating one from scratch.

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Film of Salome

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It kind of makes sense I guess.  Atom Egoyan is making a film about a production of Richard Strauss’ Salome using the current COC production and cast as part of the process.  It’s to be called Seven Veils and is backed by Rhombus Media and will star Amanda Seyfried as Jeanine, a young woman who has been given the task of remounting a production of Salome originally created by her mentor.  One press release describes Jeanine as a “tortured opera director” which is an idea that might appeal to a certain section of the local opera audience.  No word on a prospective release date.  I guess this is about the only way many people will experience (at least part of) Ambur Braid’s amazing portrayal of the title role.

egoyanseyfried

February 2023

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february2023Here’s what I’m looking forward to in February plus a few gigs I can’t make:

  • February 1st and 2nd the Chicago Symphony and Riccardo Muti are performing at Koerner Hall.  It’s a rare opportunity to hear a top orchestra in the wonderful Koerner acoustic but it’s probably sold out already.
  • On February 3rd the COC opens a run of Richard Strauss’ Salome with Ambur Braid in the title role and a stellar supporting cast.  Hard core Braid fans (and that includes me) know that this is a role she was born to sing.  It’s an Atom Egoyan production and he’ll likely tweak it but here’s a link to my review of the 2013 run.
  • February 6th sees the return of the Quilico Awards; a competition for the singers of the Ensemble Studio.  That’s at 5.30pm in the RBA and it’s free.

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January 2023

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januarty wordcloudJanuary is looking quite promising on both the music and theatre front but there’s not a lot of opera…  Here’s what’s in my agenda.

January 11th to 14th the TSO have four performances of a concert that includes Mozart’s Requiem with a good looking line up of soloists.

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The Dutchman returns

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The COC’s 2022/23 season opened last night with a revival of David Alden’s production of Wagner’s Der fliegender Holländer with Marilyn Gronsdal directing.  It’s been eleven years since this production was last seen and, if memory serves, it created some controversy back then, chiefly on account of the Dutchman’s “zombie” crew.  Seeing it again it’s hard to see what the fuss was about.  It’s actually a very straightforward production where sailing ships are sailing ships and spinning sheds feature textile workers.  The only deviation from the libretto that I noticed was Senta’s death.  Here she’s shot by Erik while holding up a picture of the Dutchman.

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