The Toronto Symphony’s 2024/25 season is the usual mix of mainstream symphony/concerto rep, Pops, film music, kids’ concerts etc. My sense is that it has got more “popular” since the pandemic and that therefore there’s been less that’s caught my eye. That’s my story anyway!
There are some concerts of interest to me though in the 2024/24 season though; curiously mostly in November. The four that caught my eye were the following: Continue reading
Davide Livermore’s production of Puccini’s Manon Lescaut, performed and filmed at Barcelona’s Liceu in 2018 moves the setting of the piece from the 1700s to the 1880s and includes a spoken prologue (in English). In the prologue the elderly Des Grieux is visiting Ellis Island just before its closure and is reminiscing. The meaning of this will eventually become clear but what we get from the beginning is this elderly figure as a silent spectator to the action. We may even be seeing the whole thing narrated as a flashback by Des Grieux.
The COC has just announced it’s 2024/25 season. It’s a mixed bag. There are some very welcome examples of operas not seen in Toronto for a long time and a new co-commission. There’s a perhaps surprisingly earlier than expected remount of Eugene Onegin plus Madama Butterfly yet again but at least it’s a “new to Toronto” production. There are no new/new productions and no COC Theatre production though there’s one performance of a concert version of Cavalleria Rusticana at the Four Seasons Centre. It’s a bit light on star power too though there are plenty of opportunities for home grown favourites.
A scene from William Kentridge’s Wozzeck – photo: Ruth Walz
I first came across Russian soprano Ekaterina Siurina as Zerlina in the 2008 video recording of Mozart’s Don Giovanni from Salzburg. She had had plenty of success already in coloratura roles such as Gilda and Adina and was, I thought, the best Zerlina I had come across. Fast forward to 2015 and she sang a very fine Violetta at the Four Seasons Centre opposite her husband Charles Castronovo. A few years on and it’s not terribly surprising that she’s starting to venture into slightly heavier lyric-dramatic territory. This is reflected in her recent album Where is My Beloved? recorded in 2022 with the Kaunas Symphony Orchestra conducted by Constantin Orbelian. Continue reading
Puccini’s Tosca is a work that seems to turn the boldest directors conservative. Up until now the only one I had seen that wasn’t set in Rome in 1800 was Philip Himmelmann’s production in Baden-Baden. That starred Kristine Opolais and so does Martin Kušej’s 2022 production at the Theater an der Wien. And like the Baden-Baden work this sets the piece in some sort of Christofascist dystopia but a very different one from Himmelmann.
It wasn’t supposed to happen for another couple of weeks but Jonelle Sills jumped into the COC’s production of Puccini’s La Bohème as Mimi on Sunday afternoon, replacing an indisposed Amina Edris. It added some spice to a production I’ve seen rather a lot of times before. I don’t have a lot to say about the production that I haven’t said before. It’s still efficient and serviceable and it’s always looked a bit (not inappropriately) down at heel. If it’s now a bit more worn and faded t doesn’t detract from that. If you want more detail here’s a link to my May 2019 review.
It’s quite rare nowadays to stage all three Il Trittico operas in one evening and it will probably get rarer as financial pressures force shorter shows. Nonetheless it was done in Salzburg in 2022 in productions by Christof Loy. The USP was having Asmik Grigorian sing all three principal soprano roles so, not unreasonably, the usual order was switched up with Gianni Schicchi coming first and Suor Angelica closing things out. Unsurprisingly, and as intended, the evening increasingly became the Grigorian show as each opera succeeded the previous one.
I’ve been following developments in use of technology in the theatre for a few years now and, to be honest, I’ve seen lots of theory and not a lot of practice though Tapestry’s RUR: A Torrent of Light did use motion capture. The Turandot recorded at the Liceu in Barcelona in 2019 takes it to a whole new level though.
My review of the COC’s revival of Puccini’s Tosca is now up at Bachtrack.com. @bachtrack
Photo: Michael Cooper
Thursday’s concert in the Music in the Afternoon series at Walter Hall was curated by Marion Newman and featured herself, soprano Melody Courage, baritone Evan Korbut and pianist Gordon Gerrard. It featured some classic opera duets and trios ranging from the Flower Duet from Madama Butterfly to an exuberant “Dunque io son” from the Barber of Seville along with Berlioz’ “Vous soupirer” from Beatrice et Bénédict (which sounded like title should translate as “you will be immersed in warm soup”). These numbers were all very well done and there were a couple of solo pieces too with Melody singing the Poulenc La Fraicheur et le Feu with great verve and Evan chipping in with an exuberant “Sit down, you’re rocking the boat” from Guys and Doills.
operaramblings 