Tag Archives: glenn gould school

Korngold’s Silent Serenade at the Glenn Gould School

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Joel Ivany

Joel Ivany

Korngold’s Silent Serenade is, to put it mildly, odd.  The plot could have been taken from Dario Fo and the only possible excuse for the schmaltzy music is that Korngold initiated many of the saccharine clichés he relies on.  Last night the students of the Glenn Gould School under the direction of Joel Ivany and the musical leadership of Pieter Tiefenbach bravely tried to rescue it from well deserved obscurity.

The plot concerns a dressmaker who is accused of breaking into the bedroom of, and trying to abduct, one of his clients; an actress who happens to be engaged to the Prime Minister.  In Naples this is a hanging offence.  Meanwhile someone has made an unsuccessful attempt to assassinate the unpopular Prime Minister with a bomb.  The king is dying and, we learn from his confessor, wishes to make a great act of mercy before he finally snuffs it.  He wishes to pardon the bomber.  Unfortunately the police don’t have a suspect.  The solution is obvious.  The dressmaker must confess to both crimes so that he can be pardoned and hanged for neither.  Unfortunately the king dies before signing the pardon and so the dressmaker must hang.  Following this so far?  Fortunately for him the unpopular Prime Minister is killed in a popular uprising and he is installed in his stead much to the annoyance of the anarchist who did plant the bomb.  They agree that the dressmaker will return to his salon and the actress, who has now fallen in love with him and is, conveniently, no longer engaged.  There’s also a subplot concerning a newspaper reporter and an aspiring actress.

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More upcoming shows; old and new

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The Ontario Philharmonic and Richard Margison are doing a show of Italian opera “greatest hits”.  There are two shows; December 10th at Koerner Hall and the Regent Theatre, Oshawa on December 7th.  Full details.

Up in Montreal a new outfit, Stu and Jess Productions, are doing Menotti’s The Medium with a cast drawn from current McGill graduate students.  That runs from November 7th to 9th in a converted church in Verdun.  Full details

Last, but not least, the Glenn Gould School annual production at Koerner Hall has been announced.  It’s The Cunning Little Vixen by Janáček and it plays at Koerner Hall on March 19th and 21st.  I’m interested to see how they handle the dance elements.  More details.

Smart and sexy Don Giovanni

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Last night saw the first of two performances of Don Giovanni by the students of the Glenn Gould School at Koerner Hall.  Koerner Hall isn’t the easiest venue to do fully staged opera since it is basically a concert hall with very limited lighting and stage facilities.  Ashlie Corcoran and Camellia Coo pulled off perhaps the most inventive staging I have seen there by using a giant staircase to link the part of the gallery that wraps around the stage to the stage itself.  Within this basic configuration they deployed a few bits and pieces of furniture, mostly couches. It made a very serviceable unit set for the various scenes.  The production was set in the 1960s and seemed to revolve around the basic idea of Don Giovanni as a “chick magnet”.  All the usual suspects are clearly attracted to him.  There’s no hint of coercion in the opening scene with Donna Anna and Zerlina is a very willing seductee.  The idea is reinforced in “Deh vieni” when, as Don Giovanni is serenading Donna Elvira’s maid, five or six women make their way to the staircase and down to the man himself.

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Don Giovanni at Koerner Hall

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Last night I saw the Glenn Gould School’s production of Don Giovanni at Koerner Hall.  I’ll do a proper review later but for now let’s just say that the staging is the best use of the Koerner Hall space I’ve seen and that the production is witty, sexy and well sung.  There’s only one more performance, on Friday night.  Well worth seeing if you are in the Toronto area.

Upcoming Toronto gigs

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(l – r) Laura Albino and Adam Luther in the Canadian Opera Company’s Xstrata Ensemble Studio School Tour production of The Brothers Grimm, 2009.
Photo Credit: Photo: Anand Maharaj © 2009

Since my last post on upcoming Toronto opera and opera related events a few extra things have come up.  November 16th is turning into a pretty crowded evening.  I’m going to Toronto Masque Theatre’s Purcell fest, Fairest Isle, which is also on on the 17th.  Also on that night is the Glenn Gould School’s fall performance; a double bill of Ned Rorem’s Three Sisters Who Are Not Sisters and François-Joseph Vézina’s Le Lauréat.  Finally, you can also catch Opera by Request performing Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin (also on the 25th) or catch them on the 17th when they are doing Bizet’s Les Pecheurs de Perles.

Later in the month there is the final audition for the COC’s Ensemble Studio.  This is always a great opportunity to see the best of the next generation of Canadian singers as they compete for a place in Canada’s premier young artists program.  There are still a few $15 standing room tickets available from the COC box office or website.

Into December when the COC Studio Ensemble are presenting three performances of Dean Burry’s The Brothers Grimm on December 7th and 8th.  The performance on the 7th will be the 500th for this work making it much the most performed classical work by a Canadian composer.  Finally, on December 15th there’s a holiday party/fundraiser for the awesome Against the Grain Theatre Company.  Folks who can stage an opera at the Tranzac ought to know how to party.