Today’s free lunchtime concert in the RBA was given by Topher Mokrzewski wearing his pianist hat; as opposed to his conductor, accompanist, music director, vocal coach or tap dancing hat.
Photo credit: Chris Hutcheson
It’s March break in Toronto which means lots of children friendly activities. Yesterday’s lunchtime concert at the Four Seasons Centre was one of them. It was a session/performance by soprano/educator Kyra Millan together with sidekicks baritone Jesse Clark and pianist Christina Faye. There were lots of kids, mostly quite young, there. Some had even brought their parents.
Today’s lunchtime recital in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre was a recital of Schubert and Strauss songs on the theme “Love’s Dark Shore”. The performers were German bass Franz-Josef Selig, in town singing King Marke in Tristan und Isolde, and the COC’s own Rachel Andrist at the piano. There wasn’t much about “Love” in the pieces chosen but there was plenty of death, depression and despair. One might think it would be a complete downer but nobody could possibly be depressed witnessing the artistry of Selig.
Those who have heard Selig in Tristan know that he has a massive voice. It was fascinating to hear him turn it to lieder. He is a very German lieder singer in the best possible way. He enunciates with great clarity and gets full value out of the meaning of every phrase. He clearly loves the texts. He also manages his huge voice wonderfully. Mostly he sang quite quietly with beautiful legato and perfect control but when he wanted volume it was there in abundance and without strain. He also has a real range of tone colour and sheer beauty of tone. Often he sounded more like a baritone than a bass but he could get almost tectonically low when he needed to. It was very impressive. Rachel’s accompaniment was perfectly fine too though I think most of the audience was focussed on the voice.
I did hear a few grumbles about the unrelieved darkness of the material but I felt the works suited the singer and it was, as these things are, a fairly short programme so the lack of variety didn’t really bother me. All in all, a very worthwhile way to spend one’s lunch break.
Yesterday saw the first free lunchtime concert of 2013 at the Four Seasons Centre. Five singers from the COC’s Ensemble Studio gave us a programme of works by Mozart and Salieri, mostly comparative rarities. I enjoy hearing the singers of the Ensemble Studio because it’s not just a chance to hear some good singing but also to see how voices are developing and make some guesses about whether one is seeing a future star.
It’s pretty Grimm in Toronto these days. Friday will see the 500th performance of Dean Burry’s 1999 opera for children The Brothers Grimm. Now, 500 performances for any recent opera is pretty remarkable. 500 performances for a Canadian work is extraordinary. Anyway, in the lead up to Friday there are a number of events scheduled including a concert yesterday lunchtime in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre with a Grimm theme.
Eric Domville introduced the music. He gave us a disquisition on the Grimm brothers, philology, the Great German Dictionary, folk tales and the oral tradition, his childhood, Romanticism as a reaction to Enlightenment, the plot of several folk tales in their English, French and German incarnations and a potted summary of the cultural, political and religious state of Germany in the mid 19th century. It was perhaps just a teeny bit more than one resally needed to explain three arias from Hansel and Gretel and one from Königskinder. Continue reading
Last night I was in a very full Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre for the second annual COC Studio Ensemble competition. Ten singers, selected down from 146 in auditions across Canada and in New York were competing for cash prizes and an opportunity to join the COC Ensemble Studio. COC General Director Alexander Neef chaired the panel of judges which included soprano and teacher Wendy Nielsen as well as assorted COC brass. Chorus Master Sandra Horst MC’d in her own inimitable fashion. The format was typical of such events. Each singer offered five arias. They got to sing one of their choice and then the judges requested a second from the remaining four. Piano accompaniment alternated between the equally excellent Rachel Andrist and Steven Philcox.
The COC has announced the line up for the 2012/13 series of free concerts in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre at the Four Seasons Centre. There’s the usual mix of vocal, instrumental, jazz, world music and dance. There are plenty of opportunities to see the Ensemble Studio members as well as solo gigs by Franz-Josef Selig and Anna Christy. For fans of Indian classical music there’s also a sarangi recital by Aruna Narayan. Also of interest is a concert by Queen of Puddings Music Theatre “Inspired by Lorca”.
The final “Les Adieux” recital, by departing members of the COC’s Ensemble Studio, of the season was a performance by baritone Adrian Kramer of Schubert’s Die Schöne Müllerin, in its entirety, with Topher Mokrzewski at the piano. It was an ambitious choice and made for a somewhat longer performance than usual.
I’ve heard Die Schöne Müllerin often enough on record but this was the first time I had heard it live, in full. It really makes one realise that not only is it a very fine piece it’s also a far from easy sing encompassing a wide range of moods. Adrian is a fine singing actor and brought out the various moods with good German diction, careful attention to the text and good range of tone colour. He sounded best in the more lyrical numbers with some very sweet singing but was maybe having to push a little in the more dramatic sections. Continue reading
Today’s lunchtime concert in the RBA was a recital of Nordic art songs given by students from the University of Toronto’s music programme. The musical line up could certainly have been chosen for more variety. With the exception of some Sibelius at the end it was all a bit “Grieg and his buddies greatest hits”. This was rather reinforced by MC Steven Philcox’s rather prolix introductory remarks on each composer which can be summed up as as:
X was born into a wealthy family in Stockholm/Oslo/Copenhagen in 1840/50/60 and despite his father’s wish that he study law/medicine/for the Diplomatic he decided on a career in music and studied composition in Berlin/Dresden/Leipzig. His music was influenced by Swedish/Danish/Norwegian folklore. He wrote lots of stuff including no less than 200/400/800 songs for voice and piano
Ileana at the Stella Maris competition
It’s that time of year again. With a few months left in the opera season in Toronto today saw the first “farewell” concert by a departing member of the COC Ensemble Studio. It was a solo recital by dramatic soprano Ileana Montalbetti, quite possibly the best sounding thing ever to come out of Saskatoon. Ileana is the only full on dramatic soprano I’ve seen in the few years I’ve been following the Ensemble Studio and, as ES boss Liz Upchurch pointed out, they are rare so it’s always interesting to see another one come along. Fair to say too, I think, that it’s not the voice type that is treated most kindly by a piano recital in a fairly intimate space. That said, it was a very enjoyable performance.
Ileana kicked off with O Sachs! Mein Freund! from Die Meistersinger. Any reservations I have about dramatic sopranos and piano recitals come redoubled in spades where “big” opera arias are concerned. The kind of volume and tone needed to sing against a large orchestra in a big theatre tends not to sound too lovely when throttled back with only a piano for support and, honestly, I don’t think this piece was a great idea.
Things improved enormously in the next section though. This was the song cycle Ekho Poeta; Pushkin texts set by Benjamin Britten and written for the Rostropoviches. It’s a rarity; a Britten song cycle I don’t recall hearing before, and it’s very good. It was a much better vehicle for Ileana who displayed plenty of power, well controlled vibrato and pleasing and varied tone colours especially in the middle register. Her high end was much sweeter here than in the Wagner too. Where she needed a lot of attack, as in the rather spiteful Epigramma she could certainly produce it. Being Britten, the piano part in these pieces was really quite demanding too so kudos to pianist Rachel Andrist for excellent and sympathetic musicianship.
The second half of the programme was all Strauss. It started with Arabella’s final aria, which I enjoyed more than the Wagner but about which I have similar reservations as a recital piece. Then we got a selection of songs from Op. 37, Op. 48 and Op. 32 before finishing up with Zueignung from Op. 10. This was all good stuff with more excellent control and very good German diction. The final number was particularly lovely. For an encore we got a spirited rendering of Sweet Polly Oliver in the Britten setting.
I think Ileana is a very considerable talent and I’m sure she’ll do well in the wider operatic world. Liz Upchurch and the COC certainly seem to think so. Liz “leaked” that Ileana will be back in an as yet unannounced major role. Putting two and two together and making something like e^iπ and adding in a dose of wishful thinking I’m wondering if there is any connection between Ileana’s first piece today and the long rumoured Toronto debut of a certain ex-pat Canadian baritone.
Also, à propos not much, it was nice to see a certain world famous dramatic soprano in sneakers and sans make up watching from the standing room section.
operaramblings 