Tag Archives: opera 5

Canadians win big in Digital Excellence in Opera Awards

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Two Canadian projects scooped first prizes at Opera America’s Digital Excellence in Opera awards earlier this week.  Sweat from Jenn Nichols, Larissa Koniuk and the Bicycle Opera gang won the big one; “Artistic Creation”.  What can I say?  I loved the stage show and I loved the film.  Well deserved.

Sweat - the film

The other winner was the very cute kids’ series Threepenny Submarine from Rachel Krehm and Opera5. This was joint winner in the “Noteworthy Projects” category.

threepennysubmarine

So two out of four of the top prizes went to Canadian projects.  Not bad eh?

McGill interns Turn the Screw

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The second performance of Opera 5’s production of Britten’s The Turn of the Screw on Thursday night was sung by the “apprentice” cast drawn from Opera McGill.  Curiously, it was an all female cast with women singing both Miles and Peter Quint.

Opera 5, The Turn of the Screw, Emily Ding Photography (Patricia Yates_ Peter Quint, Bri Jones_ Miss Jessel)

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What’s on in June?

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junebugHere’s an events listing for June as it currently stands:

  • Canadian Children’s Opera Company are doing Dean Burry’s The Hobbit at Harbourfront Centre on May 31st through June 2nd.
  • June 6th at 7.30pm at Arrayspace there’s Echoes of Bi-Sotoon; short operatic works by seven composers inspired by the ancient site of Bi-Sotoon (which) means the place of the gods).

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Indie Operas

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angelsboneComing up later this month is Angel’s Bone; an opera with music by Du Yun and a libretto by the amazing Royce Vavrek.  It’s a chamber opera for amplified voices and small ensemble.  The plot concerns two angels who fall to earth and are ruthlessly exploited by otherwise unremarkable people.  It’s a commentary on human trafficking and the exploitation of youth.  There’s a really good looking cast and it will play at Harbourfront Centre March 22nd to 24th.  It’s already attracted largely positive reviews in New York and Vancouver.  More details including casting and ticketing here. Continue reading →

Opera 5 are turning the screw

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Those who know me are probably fed up of hearing me lament how slow the indie opera scene in Toronto has been to recover post plague.  Well here’s some good news on that front.  Opera 5 will be mounting a fully staged version of Britten’s The Turn of the Screw with the proper thirteen piece chamber orchestra at Theatre Passe Muraille in June next year.  Yea!

turnofthescrew

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Threepenny Submarine

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Threepenny Submarine is a nine episode puppet animation series of videos on Youtube inspired by the idea that most of us got at least some of our exposure to classical music as kids from Looney Tunes and other cartoons.  It’s produced by Opera 5 and Gazelle Automations and concerns an underwater journey by the submarine Threepenny Submarine investigating a mysterious sound coming from the equally mysterious Salieri Sector.  The sub is commanded by a cockatiel called Iona (voiced by Lindsay Lee and sung by Caitlin Wood) assisted by a fox called Lydian (voiced and sung by Rachel Krehm).  They befriend a “sea monster” called Flute, represented, appropriately enough, by Amelia Lyon on flute.  Various adventures take place punctuated by well known arias using new text by Rachel Krehm.  For example, the first episode features “Una voce poca fa” and “Dich, teure Halle” in arrangements for string quartet.  There are also classical instrumentals used as incidental music.  It’s all arranged by Trevor Wager and directed by Evan Mitchell.

1.threepennycrew

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Sundry season announcements

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Some organisations hold off on their season announcements later than others!  Two came in today.

tapestryTapestry Opera announced a season that includes:

  • A remount of Rocking Horse Winner at Crow’s Theatre from November 1st to 12th 2023.
  • Songbook XIII at the Redwood Theatre on March 28th 2024.  It’s a lovely, restored theatre with a really good beer selection.  There will be music too.  Keith Klassen and Naomi Woo headline.
  • Juliane Gallant hosts Le Kitchen Party; a celebration of Acadian music and culture and, it says, food.  That’s me in then.  It’s on May 21st 2024 ant TBD.
  • And the following night Jenn Tung hosts Iron Chef d’Orchestre also at TBD.  Also involves food.  I scents a theme here.

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Threepenny Submarine

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Rachel Krehm and co’s latest project Threepenny Submarine is now live on the Opera 5 Youtube channel.  It’s a collaboration between Opera 5 and Gazelle Automations and features two (puppet) singers on a quest in a submarine.  It stars Caitlin Wood as a Rossini singing cockatiel with a tidiness fetish, which doesn’t seem terribly like Cait (at least the tidiness thing.  Of course she can sing Rossini), and Rachel Krehm as a messy Wagnerian vixen, which sounds about right.  It’s designed for kids but it’s quite funny and very cute and should work for kids of all ages.

threepennysubmarine

Also on the tubes, The Crossing have produced an animated watercolour video of one of the tracks from their recent recording of Gavin Bryars’ A Native Hill.

More tubes

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Here’s a round up of the latest on-line material to come my way:

  • From the Kingston Symphony, Opera 5 and all things Krehm/Mitchell plus assorted animated animals… the concluding episodes of Harmon in Space (available now) and a new project, premiering April 7th; Threepenny Submarine featuring puppets from Gazelle Automation, sopranos Rachel Krehm and Caitlin Wood and a chamber ensemble led by Evan Mitchell.
  • From Against the Grain… a continuation of the run of Messiah/Complex and a live chat “Making of” at 7pm tonight.
  • From Soundstreams… Electric Messiah is available again until April 11th.
  • From Calgary Opera… Opera Labs, a series devoted to innovation in opera. The first film is about Namwayut; a collaborative composition featuring, among others, Marion Newman, Yvette Nolan, Ian Cusson and Asitha Tennekoon.

Everything is on Youtube except the Calgary project.

marion

A few thoughts on web content

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I last saw a live show in a theatre on March 13th.  Eight months later I’ve watched a lot of web content as well as continuing to review commercial opera recordings.  A month ago I wrote in Opera Canada that “there’s no substitute for live” and I stand by that view.  I do think though that there’s an opportunity and a need to rethink how opera and song is produced for webstreaming.

renaissance

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