Empire of Wild; music by Ian Cusson, libretto by Cherie Dimaline, is based on the latter’s novel of the same name and will feature as part of the COC’s main stage season in May 2027. Last Wednesday the COC orchestra with soloists performed five excerpts from the opera in the RBA. The summary version is that it’s most unusual. It’s very grand, it’s tonal, it has numbers yet there is something very modern about it. I suppose one could just say it’s very Ian Cusson!
There was a time when site specific productions were very much part of the Toronto opera scene but, like much else, they seemed to disappear with the pandemic. So it was especially pleasing to see Tapestry Opera, Luminato and Metropolitan United Church combining for just such an event.
It’s been a while since I’ve been to a regular Opera Revue show and they were playing my favourite of their regular venues; Castro’s yesterday. Also, besides the usual gang of Alex Hajek, Dani Friesen and Claire Harris there was Alex Hetherington, so I went. I had a great time. It was classic Operas Revue; some arias, some music theatre, Kurt Weill and a couple of parodies. And Alex H. Boy does she sound loud in a small space like Castro’s! Plus this was a once in a lifetime opportunity to hear her sing the Countess from Marriage of Figaro (which will surely lead to expulsion from the Mezzos Guild).
My review of Midori Marsh’s Women’s Musical Club of Toronto’s “sisterhood” themed recital with Frances Armstrong, Alex Hetherington and Rachel Szabo at Walter Hall on Thursday is now published at myscena.org.
Wednesday evening’s Shuffle Hour concert at Toronto Summer Music was given by mezzo Alex Hetherington and pianist Vlad Soloviev in Heliconian Hall and carried the curious moniker The Tortured Poets Department. It kicked off with the letter aria from Massenet’s Werther and let’s face it if anyone deserves torturing it’s some combination of Werther himself and Goethe for inventing him (and possibly Massenet for prolonging the life of a character who might otherwise have fallen into obscurity). Whatever, Alex gave a fine, impassioned reading of the aria which set the stage well for what was to follow. Continue reading
Alex Hetherington and Ariane Cossette’s last recital as members of the Ensemble studio happened on thursday lunchtime in the RBA. It was charming. We got a varied selection of art songs bookended by a couple of opera duets. They opened with “Miro O Norma… Si, fino all’ora estreme”. They blended well with Ariane, as Norma, displaying considerable power and richness of tone without overwhelming her Adalgisa.
Cherubini’s Medea, in the 1909 Italian version being used by the COC, got there by a fairly circuitous route. Euripides 5th century BCE tragedy and Seneca’s 1st century CE play inspired a French verse version of 1635 by Thomas Corneille which was turned into an opera by Marc-Antoine Charpentier in 1693. In 1797 a version with music by Cherubini to a libretto by François-Benoît Hoffman; retaining much of Corneille’s version as spoken dialogue, premiered in Paris. In 1909, for the Italian premiere at La Scala an Italian translation with added recitatives was used and that became, more or less, the standard version for its rare 20th century revivals (most notably in the 1950s with Maria Callas) and that’s the version being given at the COC with Sondra Radvanovsky in the title role. Understandable really. It’s hard enough to find a cast that can do justice to the music. To expect them also to be expert at declaiming Alexandrines en français is probably expecting a bit too much.
Diasporic Bridges, at Trinity St. Paul’s on Sunday afternoon, was the Amici Chamber Ensemble’s final concert of the season. It celebrated the way that music binds emigrant communities together and provides a link to “home”. Most, though not all, of the pieces performed were by composers of diverse styles and backgrounds living and working in Canada and the live music was preceded by an excerpt from Amici’s upcoming film on the same topic. I’ll save writing about that until I’ve seen the whole thing.
It’s coming towards the end of the traditional “season” but there’s sill plenty happening. Here’s how I see may shaping up at present (I expect more theatre listings will come in. They tend to be somewhat less notice!):
My usual reaction to holiday season concerts is (polite version) “Bah humbug”. The less polite version involves reindeer placement. That said Thursday’s concert from the COC Ensemble Studio was really rather enjoyable.
It opened with Brian Cho and Mattia Senesi doing a four hands version of “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy”. Regrettably they didn’t dance. I guess Korin Thomas-Smith could have filled that role as later in the day he showed some very cool moves but that’s another story.
There was Handel of course; Queen Hezumuryango with “O Thou that Tellest Good Tidings to Zion” and Wesley Harrison with “Ev’ry Valley”. Both of those featured later in the day too. But that’s another story.
operaramblings 