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.
Tuesday’s lunchtime concert in the RBA consisted of works by Cecilia Livingston chosen and performed by members of the COC’s Ensemble Studio. It was a fairly varied programme considering it was all works by one composer.
Quieen Hezumuryango and Mattia Senesi kicked things off with Give Me Your Hand which sets a Duncan McFarlane text exploring aspects of Lady Macbeth. It uses extended piano technique and suits the dark colours of Queen’s voice. It was followed by Moon; an evocative solo piano piece played by Brian Cho. Not the only time the moon would figure in the programme.
As tradition dictates the opening concert of this year’s free concert series in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre was given bt the singers and pianists of the COC’s Ensemble Studio. It was reasonably well attended but the days when people queued around the block for this concert are long gone, which is symptomatic of the general state of the classical music world post COVID.
First up was Queen Hezumuryango with Sesto’s aria “Svegliatevi nel core” from Handel’s Guilio Cesare. All the fire required for a revenge aria was there and some interesting dark colours in the lower end of the voice. I’m not convinced though that it’s a voice I would cast in this role. The darkness of the voice, appealing as it is in many ways, is likely not what Handel; writing for a soprano, had in mind.
Korin Thomas-Smith; last seen by me in his Norcop prize winner recital, gave a very smootgh and polished version of Malatesta’s aria “Bella siccone un angelo” from Don Pasquale. I want to see more of him in opera because he’s a very fine Lieder singer.
Last evening saw the first post-plague edition of the Christina and Louis Quilico Awards competed for by the singers of the COC Ensemble Studio. Six of Ensemble’s seven singers competed with Vladimir Soloviev and Brian Cho providing piano accompaniment. It wasn’t the most thrilling Quilico Awards ever. The judges; Perryn Leech, Carolyn Sproule and Steven Philcox probably had a pretty easy time of it. So herewith how it came out.
Yesterday the Ensemble Studio put on a really nicely curated tribute to Pauline Viardot. Viardot was a singer, pianist, composer and muse who was enormously influential in music circles in paris in the middle years of the 19th century. She came from a famous musical family and was the younger sister of Maria Malibran. Her own work is little performed today although the Royal Conservatory did her Cendrillon in 2016.
In another nod to normality the COC’s free concert series in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre kicked off with the traditional concert with the members of the Ensemble Studio. It was reasonably well attended, which is good news. But unlike previous years one didn’t need to be there an hour early to get a seat. Which is not so good news. I’m really curious to see when and if we start to get back to pre-plague audiences.
For me in previous years, this concert has been about taking stock; an opportunity to reflect on which members of the ES have progressed and how. Yesterday was much harder as I’ve seen little of any of them (live at least) for two and a half years. Some things though stood out. Midori Marsh, who kicked off the show with “Caro nome” has matured quite a lot. She’s always had a terrific voice but here she showed as a much more polished and poised performer. Alex Hetherington is also something of a known quality with her excellent 2021 Norcop Prize recital one of the better streamed events of the pandemic. She gets bonus points for singing “Lord, to Thee Each Night” from Handel’s Theodora. It’s a highly charged and technically awkward piece that demonstrated her technique and artistic sensibility nicely. Continue reading
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