Tag Archives: handel

Comfort ye my people

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‘Tis the season to Hallelujah in Toronto and Handel’s Messiah is everywhere.  Last night was the first performance of the biggest of them all, the Toronto Symphony and the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir at Roy Thomson Hall.  Traditionally this is Toronto’s equivalent of John Barbirolli and the Huddersfield Choral Society so I was surprised to see a set up for a rather small orchestra.  In fact about thirty instrumentalists were used, playing modern instruments of course, with about 150 choristers.  It was something of a sign of things to come as conductor Grant Llewellyn took us through the piece quite briskly and rhythmically with even some ornamentation in the da capo repeats.  It’s becoming more common I think for conductors to get something approaching an HIP sound out of a modern orchestra as we’ve seen with Harry Bicket  in various opera houses.  The orchestra and chorus responded pretty well to the less staid approach with the sopranos sounding particularly spritely and incisive.

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To Die, to Sleep

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mtaylorBerlin based Canadian countertenor Michael Taylor’s album To Die, to Sleep is a collection of baroque arias recorded with the Quebec baroque chamber ensemble The Dansant.  The 15 arias are drawn from assorted Handel operas, mostly Orlando, from Vivaldi’s Orlando Furioso and Graun’s Montezuma (the Frederick the Great opera).  There are also some instrumental tracks with short pieces by de Murcia, Handel and Gabrielli.  As you might guess from the title the material is more contemplative than bravura which might disappoint the fireworks fans but makes for very pleasant, relaxed listening.  Mr. Taylor has a distinctly full sound for a countertenor and is clearly very much at home in this repertoire.  The accompaniment, on period instruments is interesting and tasteful. It’s worth a listen.  It’s available on iTunes (C$9.99) or from countertaylor.com.

COC’s Semele is Brooklyn bound

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New Yorkers will get a chance to see Zhang Huan’s somewhat controversial production of Handel’s Semele at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in March.  The COC is touring the production, seen in Toronto in 2012, with the wonderful Jane Archibald again taking the title role.  The supporting cast is, on paper at least, more than a match for the one seen at COC.  Colin Ainsworth is the god Jupiter, and Welsh contralto Hilary Summers portrays both Jupiter’s jealous wife, Juno, and Ino, Semele’s sister. Katherine Whyte playsJuno’s messenger, Iris and Kyle Ketelsen sings both Semele’s father, Cadmus, and the god of sleep, Somnus. Athamas will be sung by Lawrence Zazzo.  Christopher Moulds conducts with the COC Orchestra and Chorus.

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Opera Atelier projects a new approach

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Artists of Atelier Ballet with image of Meghan Lindsay as Alcina. Photo by Bruce Zinger.

Opera Atelier’s first real venture into Handel is accompanied by some significant shifts in aesthetic coupled with some slightly puzzling throwbacks.  The work chosen is Alcina.  It’s not Handel’s best known (or, indeed, best) but it’s a perfectly serviceable example of Handel’s Italian works for the London stage.  The plot, ultimately from Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso, concerns the sorceress Alcina who has an illusory kingdom made up of the souls of men she has ensnared.  Her most recent conquest is the knight Ruggiero.  His betrother, Bradamante, disguised as her brother, Ricciardo, shows up with Ruggiero’s former tutor, Melisso.  Melisso has a ring which shows things as they are, shorn of illusion.  Eventually they use this to return Ruggiero to his duty and Alcina’s kingdom goes up in smoke.  Along the way there’s also a sub-plot involving Alcina’s sister, Morgana, who falls in love with Ricciardo to the dismay of her lover Oronte.  In the original there’s also a boy looking for his father and a lion but they got cut in Marshalll Pynkoski’s version.  In fact there’s probably close to an hour in total cut from Handel’s score.

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Brush Up Your Shakespeare

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Charles Sy

Today’s free concert in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre was given by the University of Toronto’s Opera Program.  It was a semi staged assortment of songs and excerpts from operas, operettas and musicals based on the works of Shakespeare with a distinct leaning to the operetta/musical theatre side of things.  That’s understandable enough with young singers but it does make the game we all play (at least I do) of trying to guess who the next Jonas Kaufmann or Anna Netrebko is that much harder.  Not that I’m very good at it.  I’m far more able to predict what a newly bottled Bordeaux will taste like in ten years time than whether the young soprano I’m listening to might go on to sing Siegfried or Turandot at the Met!

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With tender pity swells

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Here’s another fine example of how well Handel’s oratorios can work when staged.  It’s a recording of Hercules made at Paris’ Palais Garnier in 2004.  The staging is by Luc Bondy and William Christie and Les Arts Florissants are joined by a youngish cast of extremely good singers.  It’s compelling stuff.  I think what, for me, makes the oratorios much more interesting than most of Handel’s opera seria is structural.  The operas tend to alternate recit and da capo aria with maybe a duet or chorus to close an act but they are pretty predictable.  In the oratorios Handel makes much more use of ensembles and the chorus and, for me, that’s vastly preferable.

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Roots

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durhamcathedralI was talking to Leslie Barcza of barczablog at a concert yesterday.  He asked me what I was most looking forward to in the upcoming season and I was a bit stumped for an answer because there’s lots of good stuff in Toronto this season but nothing that really sets my pulse racing.  Finally I answered with the TSO’s Dream of Gerontius, which, it turns out, is not exactly high on Lesley’s bucket list.  This led to a brief discussion about how origins affect our reactions; that is until the actual concert interrupted our talk.

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Toronto Operetta Theatre and Toronto Masque Theatre 14/15

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handbagToronto Operetta Theatre and Toronto Masque Theatre have announced their respective 2014/15 season line ups.  TOT will present three shows.  The first is a zarzuela; Federico Chueca’s La gran via.  Jose Hernandez conducts and the cast includes Margie Bernal, Fabian Arciniegas, Pablo Benitez and Diego Catala. There’s one performance on November 2nd.  The Christmas show will be Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado.  Singers include Lucia Cesaroni, Mia Lennox, David Ludwig and Giles Tomkins with Derek Bate conducting.  There are six performances scheduled between December 27th and January 4th.  Finally, and perhaps most exciting, is a revival of Victor Davies’ 2008 piece Ernest, the Importance of Being.  It’s based on the Wilde play and will star Jean Stilwell as Lady Bracknell.  Larry Beckwith conducts.  There will be four performances on April 29th and May 1st to 3rd.  All three shows will be directed by Guillermo Silva-Marin and will be staged at the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts. (www.stlc.com)

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War and Peace

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sasha-djihanianLunchtime today at the RBA saw members of the COC orchestra get together with soprano Sasha Djihanian for a concert of works by Handel and Albinoni.  I realised that I really don’t listen to enough baroque chamber works.  The first work on the program was Handel’s Trio Sonata No.2 in D Minor.  It’s compact, playful and doesn’t overstay its welcome.  I stupidly didn’t make a note of who played on what piece so I’ll just credit the ensemble at the end of the post.  The other chamber work on the program was Albinoni’s Sonata à cinque in C major.  This was fun too with lots of fugue elements and dance rhythms and some serious toe tapping by violist Keith Hamm.

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Audiences

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audienceMaybe this should be titled “The bear and lemur freak show”.  Anyway, no surprise to anyone who knows us or reads this blog, the classic 19th century Italian rep is not our sweet spot.  Give us Handel or Berg or Britten over Rossini or Verdi (let alone Donizetti) most days.  (We’ll make an exception for Don Carlos!).  So, last night as the Four Seasons Centre erupted in frenzied applause I couldn’t really share the wild enthusiasm, fine as the performance was, but what startled me was when I heard a smug, female voice to my left say “Well that makes up for Hercules”.  I restrained an urge to remonstrate violently (I’ve been taking lessons from Peter Sellars) but I did leave the theatre puzzled and a bit upset; a feeling shared by the lemur and subject of much conversation on the subway home.

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