There have been a lot of announcements in the last few days. Tapestry announced that they had two companies “in residence” for next season at their new home at 877 Yonge Street. They are Opera Q ;led by Ryan Macdonald and Camille Rogers, who produced the pandemic video Medusa’s Children and Cultureland which is led by Afarin Mansouri and was responsible for Echoes of Bi-Sotoon. Continue reading
Tapestry Opera and Nightwood Theatre’s new digs at 877 Yonge Street are now officially open. I was unable to attend Saturday nignt’s opening gig and party but I did get to attend the free concert for the local community in the afternoon and get a tour of the premises.
So what looks fun in March?
Most new Canadian operas get an initial run (if they are lucky) and then disappear. Luna Pearl Woolf and Royce Vavrek’s Jacqueline is unusual in that following it’s premiere at Tapestry Opera in Toronto in 2020 it also played in San Francisco in 2024 and is now back in Toronto for a revival at Tapestry; once again directed by Michael Mori. There’s even, we are told, a fourth run at a yet to be disclosed company in the works. In some ways it’s not such a surprise. In these cash strapped times the appeal of a very good full length opera that only requires two soloists; no orchestra, no chorus, ought to be obvious!
Before looking forward to next month I want to mention a couple of things this weekend that I haven’t previously noticed. Saturday (Jan 25th) at 12.30pm there is a Met HD broadcast of new production of Aida with a pretty interesting looking cast. Later, at 6pm there’s a rather special concert at the Arts and letters Club to celebrate the 100th birthday of Morry Kernerman (former assistant concertmaster of both the TSO and OSM). The concert is presented by Canzona Chamber Players and wiull feature Trio Uchida-Crozman-Chiu. Continue reading
Roiyce Vavrek. Photo by Ser Amantio di Nicolao
Today’s big news is that Against the Grain Theatre have announced the appointment of a new Artistic Director and it’s Royce Vavrek. He’s probably best known to opera audiences as a librettist. He has written the libretti for 23 operas including a bunch with Missy Mazzoli of which perhaps my favourite is Proving Up, done in Calgary recently by Ammolite Opera. He’s also the writer for Ian Cusson’s Indians on Vacation and Luna Pearl Woolf’s Jacqueline which features in Tapestry’s recently announced season and is just out on CD. So not dead yet then!
And talking of Tapestry, they announced their season today. With the new space at 877 Yonge almost ready they have emerged from semi-hibernation. As implied above the first show is Luna pearl Woolf’s Jacqueline in The Betty Oliphant Theatre in February . I’m assuming it’s essentially the same show as five years ago (see Opera Canada Summer 2020). There’s also a venue launch concert for the new home on March 22nd. The first Tapestry show at the new venue will be Sanctuary Song; music by Abigail Richardson, libretto by Marjorie Chan, which, apparently, is about an elephant. Which may be an operatic first. Continue reading
Jennifer Tung
About a year ago I attended the Women in Musical Leadership‘s conducting masterclass with the TSO and Gustavo Gimeno at Roy Thomson Hall. Last night I went back for this year’s version. Three of last year’s participants; Jennifer Tung, Juliane Gallant and Naomi Woo were back. Last year’s fourth participant, Maria Fuller, was off in Poland conducting Hänsel and Gretel which I think says a lot for the programme. There were two new conductors; Monica Chen and Kelly Lin. Continue reading
The second Tapestry show this week which played Wednesday night at Theatre Passe Muraille was Jennifer Tung’s Iron Chef d’Orchestre. Knowing Jennifer’s kitchen prowess I expected this to be at least as food inspired as the previous night’s Le Kitchen Party but it wasn’t.
On Tuesday night Theatre Passe Muraille hosted the first of two “music and food” shows curated by members of the Women in Musical Leadership programme under the auspices of Tapestry Opera. Juliane Gallant trawled her Acadian roots to create Le Kitchen Party.fun.
Tapestry’s Tap:Ex shows are experimental by design. They combine “classical” music making with something else in the hope that some interesting, and maybe even useful, ideas will emerge for future projects. This year’s show; Tap:Ex Versus in the Great Hall at OCAD, combined piano improvisation with an “art battle”. There were two shows with different pianists. At the early show Morgan-Paige played while Julie Amlin and Enrique Bravo painted.
![TAP EX Versus - Photo by Brian Medina - 89[Cropped]](https://operaramblings.blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/tap-ex-versus-photo-by-brian-medina-89cropped.jpg?w=584)
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