Regular readers will know that I’ve seen my fair share of shows by Opera Revue but pretty much always in a bar or pub and as the band always says “The more you drink, the better we sound”. Thus it was with some trepidation that I went to see them in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre on Wednesday. It was the core gang; Danie Friesen, Alex Hajek, Claire Harris. No ringers (except for the person who forgot to turn off their phone).
Opera Atelier’s fall offering this year is a remount of the Magic Flute in essentially the version that first appeared in 1991. It’s sung in English and we got a preview in the RBA on Thursday. It was basically a working rehearsal of the opera’s opening plus a few other scenes with Chris Bagan at the piano.
Wednesday’s recital in the RBA was given by UoT Opera. It consisted of a series of arias/scenes drawn from the operas of Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven creatively staged by Mabel Wonnacott. It was lively and a lot of fun and the vocal standard was very high, especially for so early in the academic year.
Tuesday was the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and the COC programmed Innu soprano Elisabeth St-Gelais, with pianist Louise Pelletier, for the lunchtime concert series. They began very appropriately with Ian Cusson’s Le Récital des Anges; settings of two elegiac poems by Émile Nelligan about death and childhood. They are very beautiful and deeply sad songs that seemed just right for the occasion.
Tuesday’s lunchtime concert in the RBA featured soprano Teresa Tucci and baritone James Coole-Stevenson; both Rebanks fellows at the Conservatory, and pianist Vlad Soloviev. It was a carefully curated concert with a thematic line and featured far more duets than one usually gets in such a show.
The free concert series in the RBA kicked off on Wednesday with, as usual, a performance by the artists of the COC’s Ensemble Studio. Owing to illness only five singers performed and only one of those, Emily Rocha, was a returnee. The other four singers and both pianists were newcomers. It was short but enjoyable.
Life slowly returns to some version of normal.. Here’s what I’m seeing so far for Sptember.
The last concert of the season in the COC’s free concert season took place in the RBA on Thursday. It was the farewell concert for Queen Hezumuryango and Wesley Harrison plus a second farewell for Brian Cho and Mattia Senesi.
Last Wednesday’s lunchtime recital was given by soprano Lauren Fagan; currently appearing as Tatyana in the COC’s Eugene Onegin, and pianist Rachael Kerr. Things kicked off with a selection of three songs from Berg’s Sieben Frühe Lieder. What struck me here, apart from some really nice expressive singing, was Lauren’s ability too spin a line out coherently.
The first of this year’s Les Adieux concerts for departing members of the Ensemble Studio took place Tuesday lunchtime in the RBA. It was supposed to feature Brian Cho, Mattia Senesi, Korin Thomas-Smith and Karoline Podolak but Karoline was indisposed so Emily Rocha (not leaving) jumped in at the last minute.
The rearranged programme worked pretty well with maybe a bit more opportunity for the pianists. Sio, Mattia played the Intermezzo from Brahms’ Op 118. No. 2, which was very nicely done and Brian closed things out with just the piano part from Schumann’s Widmung which works surprisingly well, at least if one is familiar with the song. Continue reading
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