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.
Here’s what I’m looking forward to in February plus a few gigs I can’t make:
January 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.
October 11th to November 6th at Crow’s Theatre it’s Rajiv Joseph’s Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo. “During the chaos of the 2003 American occupation of Iraq the lives of two American marines intersect with an Iraqi gardener as they search through the rubble of war for friendship, redemption, and a toilet seat made of gold.”
October 26th at 8pm at Koerner Hall Philippe Jaroussky is appearing with Ensemble Artaserse. It’s a rare chance to hear somewhat controversial countertemor Jaroussky sing with orchestra in an ideal venue. The concert includes works by a range of baroque composers. Some of the material is relatively familiar; “Cara sposa” from Rinaldo for example, but much is by less well known composers such as Hasse and Ferrandini. Artaserse Ensemble is a leading period instrument band that, besides Jaroussky, has appeared with such singers as Cecilia Bartoli and Andreas Scholl.
In another nod to normality the COC’s free concert series in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre kicked off with the traditional concert with the members of the Ensemble Studio. It was reasonably well attended, which is good news. But unlike previous years one didn’t need to be there an hour early to get a seat. Which is not so good news. I’m really curious to see when and if we start to get back to pre-plague audiences.
Looking ahead to the next few weeks:
