Opera in Concert opened their season at Trinity St. Paul’s on Saturday with the Canadian premiere of André Grétry’s 1784 opéra comique Richard Coeur-de-Lion. This is very loosely based on the story of Richard’s imprisonment by Leopold of Austria while returning from the Third Crusade. Richard’s man Blondel; disguised as a blind minstrel, discovers Richard’s place of imprisonment by playing a tune that Richard wrote. He then enlists the help of the Countess of Flanders, in love with Richard, (which would have come as a surprise to Berengaria of Navarre) and a Welsh knight; improbably styled Sir Williams, who his now (also improbably) running an inn in Austria and his daughter, Laurette. The governor of the castle where Richard is imprisoned, Florestan, in turn in love with Laurette, is tricked and Richard is freed to great rejoicing. (As opposed to a whopping ransom being paid!)
Sunday afternoon saw VOICEBOX:Opera in Concert’s first performance in their new home; Trinity St. Paul’s. The offering was Gluck’s Alceste in the French language 1776 Paris version. Lauren Margison sang the title role with Colin Ainsworth as Admète. Guillermo Silva-Marin directed.
The Canadian Nightingale: Bertha Crawford and the Dream of the Prima Donna is a biography by Jane Cooper of early 20th century Canadian coloratura soprano Bertha Crawford who became, rather improbably, an “A” list opera star in Poland before returning to Canada to die in relative obscurity. It’s the story of an unusual life but it’s also the story of how opera and vocal music was impacted by war, revolution, depression, jazz and the cinema. It offers interesting insights into the Toronto (and wider) Canadian musical scene in the first quarter of the 20th century which was curiously similar to today in some ways and very different in others. There was neither opera nor a symphony orchestra in Toronto in that period so professional opportunities were few and far between but then, as now, most aspiring singers first professional gig was a section lead in a church choir and a main route to fame and fortune was to head for Europe. At least steamers had bigger baggage allowances than Air Canada.
I didn’t actually see anything much in the Luminato line up that got my juices flowing but my attention has now been drawn to CHARLOTTE: A Tri-Coloured Play with Music. It’s a Singspiel about a young female Jewish artist struggling with her identity and art during the early 1940s. She ends up in Auschwitz. You get the picture. The title role is being played by Adanya Dunn and the musical director is Peter Tiefenbach which, frankly, are reasons enough to go see it. It plays June 16th to 18th at the Theatre Centre on Queen Street West. More details 
operaramblings 