Tag Archives: ggs

Hannigan and more

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The amazing Barbara Hannigan is in town next week teaching at the UoT.  There are a number of events open to the public and free.  Here’s a list:

Tues, Jan 19, 10:30 am, Walter Hall
Lecture – Show and Share: Living and Surviving as a Singing Artist

Tues, Jan 19, 12:10 pm, Walter Hall
Master Class with U of T Opera students – featuring excerpts from the contemporary operatic repertoire centering on The Machine Stops, a new opera by the Faculty’s student composer collective.

Wed, Jan 20, 3:10 pm, Room 330 @ 80 Queen’s Park
Interactive session – Dare to Compare: session with composers, pianists and instrumentalists from U of T’s contemporary music ensemble.

Thu, Jan 21, 12:10 pm, Walter Hall
Master Class with U of T Voice students – featuring songs and chamber music of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Fri, Jan 22, 5 pm, Walter Hall
Concert – Performances by Faculty of Music singers and pianists after their training with Barbara, as well as from Barbara herself with pianist Professor Steven Philcox.

ETA: She’s also appearing with the TSO on Jan 27 and 28  singing Correspondances by Henri Dutilleux.  There’s no stopping her!

HanniganBarbara

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Kickin’ Puss

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Xavier Montsalvatge’s El Gato con Botas, given last night by the Glenn Gould School at Mazzoleni Hall, may not be the most profound thing in the opera canon but it is fun.  The 1948 score is jazzy and accessible and the libretto has fun with the fairy tale of the scheming cat and her gormless monkey servant.  The lighter, even absurdist, elements of the plot were rather played up, and to good effect, in Liza Balkan’s production.  Mazzoleni Hall is not the easiest place to present opera.  There’s no pit and no way to do surtitles.  Not much in the way of wing space or scenery handling either.  Balkan got round this by placing the band on stage and using very simple sets and props that often spilled over into the auditorium even getting Charles Sy, sitting in the front row, to take a selfie of the wedding party at the end.  Given that the Spanish numbers were not surtitled, it was smart to add extra English dialogue, much of it improvised.  I certainly didn’t have any difficulty following the story.  Credit too to lighting designer David Degrow too for making the most of the limited resources of Mazzoleni.

folksongs

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Second week of November

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stimpyA bit of a lull this week with the COC fall season over and Yaksmas festivities still, mercifully, some time away.  Still there are a couple of events of note.  Simone Osborne is singing with the TSO at Roy Thomson Hall on Thursday and Saturday in a program of Mahler, Dvoràk, Charpentier and Strauss.  There’s also the fall production from the Glenn Gould School.  It’s a double bill of Xavier Montsalvatge’s Puss in Boots and Luciano Berio’s Folk Songs.  Friday and Saturday at 7.30pm in Mazzoleni Hall.

The Royal Conservatory 2015/16 season

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PD32029780_Terfel__1514579cThe Royal Conservatory has now announced the 2015/16 season.  The full details plus how to subscribe, buy tickets etc is here.  It’s the usual rich mix of music in a wide range of genres.  Here are the things I will be looking out for:

April 24th 2016 in Koerner Hall at 3pm there’s a recital by Bryn Terfel with Natalia Katyukova.  This is definitely the big name vocal gig of the season.

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La belle Hélène from the GGS

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Christina Campsall

Christina Campsall

The Glenn Gould School’s production of Offenbach’s 1864 operetta La belle Hélène opened at Koerner Hall last night.  Overall, it’s an enjoyable show with some strong performances though there are aspects of it that, in my view, rather missed the mark.  Certainly it made me realise just what a difficult piece to really bring off really well La belle Hélène is.  There are some very difficult singing roles and yet they need to sound effortless.  It needs the exquisite comic timing of a bedroom farce.  There’s also a difficult to define quality; very French and with a sexiness of the “I know it when I see it” variety.  I think it was a shortage of this last that was largely the problem last night.

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